Strategies for effective use of lectures Do some【L25】________ 【L26】________and sit where you can see and hear easily. Be【L27】___

I: I see your point. However, surely this also depends on whether students are able to understand and follow the lecture well. What strategies do you recommend to help students get the most out of lectures?
P: I would say that, first of all, it is important to do some pre-reading. By doing this you get an orientation to the topic, you will become familiar with the key terms, and you will be able to follow the lecture points more easily. I also think it is good to ar-rive early to collect handouts, and to find a seat where it is easy to see and hear what is going on. Then, importantly, during the lecture itself, you need to be attentive.
I: I know from experience that it is often difficult to be attentive. What can students do to improve their attentiveness during the lecture?
P: I think that there are two keys to following a lecture successfully:  using the visual cues, and using active listening techniques.  By maintaining eye contact with the  lecturer  and  following how the lecturer makes use of the slides, whiteboard and so on, you are using the lecturer’s visual cues, which help make the structure of the information clear, and give you a sense of what’s important. Then using active listening techniques will also help you to process the information.
I: What do you mean by active listening techniques?
P: Well, you need to pay attention to the methods the lecturer uses to highlight important information.
As I said before, in the spoken language of a lecture we get the benefit of things such as stress and intonation, use of examples and anecdotes, as well as the language signals used to show relationships between ideas.
I: Yes, I see what you mean. These things will be missing in written summaries. And what about taking notes? Does that help?
P: Taking notes helps you to concentrate, so I would certainly advise you to do that. It is difficult to listen and write good notes at the same time, so it does take some training.
I: Yes, taking notes needs a lot of practice, I’ve found. Do you have any other advice?
P: Well, I can’t finish without stressing the importance of formulating questions while you are listening. During the lecture, you should ask yourself questions about the content of the lecture and the points you are following. Ask questions like: what are the benefits or problems? What other examples are there? How does it work? Why does this happen? This will keep you focused and actively engaged in the content of the lecture.
I: Professor Green, thank you very much for your valuable tips and your time today.
P: You are very welcome.