Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter includes different literature and studies local and foreign.

Each of the ideas gathered were selected according to its relevance to the

researcher’s study. This chapter consists of facts needed by the researcher to

support the study.

Foreign Literature

In order to understand a reading text the reader needs to extract the

required information from it as efficiently as possible (Grellet, 1981). Reading

comprehension is a complicated understanding that includes many levels of

procedures. The ability to deal with unfamiliar words encountered in text is one of

the most basic aspects of comprehension (Paynter, et al, 2005). Reading

comprehension is also the process of making meaning from the text, alike our

study it means that if the students fully understand the text that he/she freads the

previous lesson can retain or be remembered by the students easily with the help

of guided notes. The objective, therefore, is to fully understand what is described

in the text rather than to gain meaning from secluded words or sentences

(Khoshsima & Pourjam, 2014).

The first one to develop the term “cloze test “was Wilson Taylor in 1953.

The term cloze derived from the Gestatt psychology concept of closure as what

Rye explained (Rye, 1982). It draws a tendency that humans need to complete a

familiar, but not quite finished pattern.hok

reason why it is not difficult to get people to take a cloze test. In the “Cloze Test

Procedure”, the students are instructed by the teacher to restore neglected words

in a reading passage (Brown, 2004). The teacher can determined the accurate

level of comprehension, based on reviewing students’ restored words from the

text passages (Khoshsima & Pourjam 2014 ).

Bligh (2000) shows that if students had a record on their notes they recall

more lecture material and another study added that students who take down

notes ultimately perform better on tests of recall and synthesis than students who

do not take notes (Kiewra et al 1991). More specifically, note-taking serves two

distinct functions for students: external storage and cognitive encoding. External

storage means to have something to review after the discussion notes obviously

serve as a place to keep knowledge and information– this is the primary purpose

of notes that most students likely see (Kiewra 1985; Kiewra et al 1991). Encoding

of information means the note taking process also serves a vital function in

helping to write information on the brain though this might not be realize by the

students. According to the literature that shows that if people have generated the

materials by themselves they can better retain or remember the material than the

materials generated by others (Foos, Mora & Tkacz 1994; Katayama 2005).

Foreign Studies

Asking the students to take notes is certainly not without its own

risks. With respect to note-taking, a study by Gayle A. Brazeau in 2006 states

is provided with prominent organizational clues and immediacy by the teacher.

One of the useful aids for students’ note-taking and learning are handouts.

Thus, a key question education struggle with is about how much information they

should contain and in what format they should be, it is not about whether to

provide handouts. Some of the discussion revolves around whether instructor-

prepared handouts so students’ can concentrate more on what is actually being

said or students learn better by transcribing lectures in their own words

(Elizabeth Moore Stacy, 2015).

The ability of the students to effectively listen and organize concepts at the

same time in a lecture format is a critical study skill since it is often the major

pedagogical component in our program. Gayle A. Brazeau in 2006 states that the

disadvantage of extensive handouts, in this case, is that it tends to free the

students from the burden of having to take meaningful notes and to later build

from them a complete picture of the material.

Some people who discuss about the use of presentation handouts states

that those handouts takes attention away from the speaker. They believe that

handouts divert the attention of the audience because instead of watching and

listening to the message of the speaker, the audience will be reading and

focusing on the given handouts. At the same time, all of the effort of the speaker

into crafting a compelling story will go to waste if the audience has handouts that

they can read ahead and a guide to know what’s coming.

ease of creation and usefulness in classes across the curriculum. There is only

one possible answer that is correct that’s why fill-in-blank questions are

considered an objective question (Melissa Kelly, 2018).

The effectiveness of the worksheets depends on the large degree function

of how the teacher uses them. Students will often divert their attention or lose

their focus in a very short time, and they are meant to grapple, not to struggle,

with what they do not know or understand (Lorraine Caplan, 2019).

For a long time worksheets have been used in teaching practices. In

modern time, worksheets have even become a driving force of curriculum in

some countries (Martin, et al. 2012). In the study of (Anderson et al. 1985) it is

being reported that in 1985, approximately 1, 000 worksheets per person were

being completed by the thousands of elementary students in the United States to

acquire literacy in a school year. In order to support studying, promote active

learning, raising interest in learning science, and assessment the teachers’ uses

worksheets. To have positive impacts on students’ learning achievement many

studies suggested that well-designed worksheets should be given to the

students’ (Sasmaz-Oren & Ormanci, 2012). However, there were many

inappropriately designed and misused worksheets that hindered learning

observed by the reasearchers (Lesley & Labbo, 2003). In this exploratory study,

in the 32 countries the relationships between worksheet usage and science are

examined.
 In addition there are still negative impacts of worksheets on academic

achievement, despite of its positive impacts. According to the study of (Lesley

and Labbo, 2003) it is being argued that mass-produced worksheets are not

helpful for achieving educational goals. Despite the fact that the worksheets they

observed were focused on literacy learning, their findings can still shed some

light on worksheet usage for science learning. According to their observation, the

aspects of worksheet challenges included the arrangement of texts (e.g., that

the print and the spaces allotted for students to write in are too small); reading

demand (e.g., that the language of instruction was too complex and required

teacher explanation); openness of questions, some of which offered only one

correct way to respond and could not reward students for their natural curiosity;

the challenge of tasks (e.g., that tasks were boring or designed for practicing

skills repeatedly instead of making students learn new strategies or techniques),

and the relationship between students’ interests and tasks. In addition to the

quality issues, the students’ cognitive processes can also make worksheets

invalid as they are completing the worksheets. According to an article entitled

Active Learning Strategies it is being noted that students use a word-matching

strategy, they match words in questions with the corresponding sentences in the

textbook, and this keeps them in a passive learning status, like in our study the

students remain in a passive learning status throughout the discussion because

while listening to the teacher students are filling in the blanks on the given

handouts with the necessary information’s that are missing (Ueckert and Gess-

Newsome, 2008).
 In an effective teaching practices the Instructional written materials play

an important roles as teachers’ agents (Lee, 2014). One of the most frequently

used materials is worksheets. In the researcher’s exploratory study, through the

use of TIMSS and PIRLS data and multiple regression analysis the relationships

between worksheet usage and science achievement in 32 countries were

examined. Based on two dimensions, there are five types of relationships among

science achievement, worksheet usage, and other related variables being

identified. The first dimension is whether the status of importance in the affiliation

of worksheets used as a basis and science achievement changes before and

after controlling four teacher and school variables: schools’ emphases on

academic success, the school orderliness and safety, the confidence of the

teachers’ in teaching science, and the students’ instructional engagement. The

second dimension is the interaction of worksheets as a basis and classes’ lack of

readiness. The relation between worksheets as a basis and reading

accomplishment in science achievement is found to be not significantly different

from zero in all participating countries. Four directions of further investigation are

suggested based on the results.

Since worksheets are a kind of written material, so reading demand may

be a barrier to students with low reading abilities. To support students, teachers

should use easier language as what the researchers suggested (Rix, 2006). For

example, a format of worksheets with low average reading difficulty was being

designed by O’Leary (2011). Subsequent questions require increasing levels of

literacy and questions in the beginning are carefully matched with low reading
ability students. This kind of worksheets can improve student engagement and

on-task behavior during independent worksheet activities as what the result

showed. Organization of materials, syntax, word length, sentence length, word

frequency, typeface, and line spacing are some of the factors contributing to

reading difficulty (Department of Education and Science, 2007; Meyer, 2003;

O’Leary, 2011). The association between worksheet usage and science

achievements will be the same regardless of students’ reading achievements, If

teachers carefully control these factors and use available readability formulas to

reduce the reading demand, or offer oral explanations to words in worksheets.

Using guided notes, which have similar concepts with fill-me-up strategy,

helps the students in organizing the content of the lecture and at the same time

gives them the opportunity to actively respond in the class, which in turn

positively affects academic performance. The effects of guided notes in

academic performance have been demonstrated convincingly in several studies.

Guided notes have shown that they can be effective strategy to use in the

classroom. They teach students how to take notes effectively and absorb more

course content while the information is being provided. (Campana, 2009)

Local Literature

Both foreign countries and Philippines have a hard time when in it comes

to note-taking.

Mapúa adheres to global academic standards and upholds essential core

values, one of the best Technical Communication schools in Manila. However,

study habits is also important in students’ learning, apart from the curricula a

school is using. Taking notes is a good integral study habit that students must

have (Mapúa, 2016). Writing, whether done with pen or keyboard, bring into play

different cognitive processes as what a study has shown. It leads to increased

learning, as it develops thinking, reasoning, imagining, and remembering.

Taking notes is always encouraged though students may have different

ways of taking note. With this habit, students will be able to improve his/her

ability to summarize information and comprehend. Teacher can use this

knowledge to their advantage in becoming more effective as what the study of

(Mapúa, 2016) states.

Local Studies

In adjusting to college life first year students really takes time. In the

tertiary level a number of priorities are considered in order to survive. Complying

with the academic requirements is one of the many things that is being

considered in the tertiary level. The study described the study skills of the first

year students in the College of Education, La Salle University, Ozamiz City,

Philippines. In identifying the study skills of the first year students the framework

being used was adopted from (Lucas and Corpuz 2007). Using Kendall’s Tau B,

Chi-square, and Multiple Regression tests these study skills were correlated to

the students’ academic performance. The respondents of the study were 128 first

year students. First year students have the skills in organizing and planning their

work, preparing assignments or projects, and note-taking and reading as what

working with others and utilizing resources and feedback; note-taking and

reading; and preparing an assignment/project correlate with their grades. Note-

taking and reading is the best predictor of students’ academic performance. To

improve their academic performance first year college students need to improve

the habit of studying their lessons, reading, and taking down notes.

The study of Parantar in 2016 attempted to describe the essence of note-

taking and the favorable and unfavorable experiences of the students who take

and do not take notes. This work engaged a qualitative phenomenological

approach to explore and describe the experiences of two groups of college

students who take and do not take notes. Liberal Arts, Engineering, Pharmacy

and HRM (Hotel and Restaurant Management) of the University of the

Immaculate Conception, Davao City was the departments were the students

came from. The first group of students who keep the habit of note-taking is

composed of eight students. While the second group of students don’t have the

habit of note-taking and composed of eight students. Purposive was the basis of

selection of students to comprise the grouping. It was determined in the initial

invitation that they either take or do not take notes and with the gauge of their

open attitude to expressing or communicating their experiences clearly.

The note-takers consider notes to activate the mind, to make learning

personal, to help in test preparations, to complete their learning materials, and to

work well with the visual and kinesthetic learners as what the result of the study

revealed. On the other hand, it states that non-note takers unveiled their
positions that notes were limiting and limited, burdensome, time-consuming, and

unnecessary for auditory learners. The finding of the study revealed that note

taking is both necessary and depending on the types of learners because for the

visual and kinesthetic, it is indispensable; but for auditory learner it is not needed.

The teaching strategies must adjust with the types of learners a mentor has as

what the study suggested. In addition, students must not be asked to take note

as a compulsory requirement; it shall rather be taken just as one of the multiple

way of learning, because every student has its own way of learning.