Comprehending and taking notes during academic lectures can be the difference between success and failure at university. Given that taking notes is a complex process in which learners must listen, filter, and record vitally important pieces of information under real-time constraints, it is clear that for language learners studying in their L2, this represents a great challenge. This presentation reports on multiple iterations of an action research study in the Japanese EFL context that looks to replicate the studies of Siegel (2018). Attendees at this session will get an overview of the whole study, and an introduction to the methods used to teach notetaking to learners preparing for entry into EMI/CLIL courses (marking, chunking, verbatim notes, simplifying, free-writing/discussion). The presentation will also introduce the most recent results from the study that suggest that the addition of free-writing and discussion can lead to statistically significant increases in comprehension of lectures as well as improvements in notetaking ability.