4 Questions
What are some interactional difficulties that students with academic listening difficulties may face?
asking and answering questions; discussing issues outside the class with their foreign peers
Listening, per se, was not considered a language skill that required much attention until the 1970s.
True
Which methodological approaches to researching academic listening emerged before the 1970s? (Select all that apply)
Psychometric experiments
Ethnography is the study of the behavior and beliefs of ________.
groups
Study Notes
Why Is Academic Listening Important?
- English-medium universities require English for Science and Technology (EST)
- Interactional difficulties in academic listening involve asking and answering questions, discussing issues outside the classroom with foreign teachers
- Academic listening difficulties can be a problem for students
What Is Academic Listening?
- The processing of spoken language in academic contexts (lectures, seminars, tutorials, online media)
- Concerned with the transmission and acquisition of knowledge
- Involves comprehension of attitudes, beliefs, values, and culture
- Includes paralinguistic features such as body language
History of Academic Listening
- Until the 1970s, listening was not considered a language skill that required much attention
- Reasons for this include:
- Speech and grammar were considered more important than listening
- Researchers themselves had not been taught how to listen in a second language
- Listening was considered a skill that could be "picked up" without overt instruction
Research into Academic Listening
- Four methodological approaches to researching academic listening emerged:
- Psychometric
- Discourse analysis
- Research into listening strategies
- Ethnographic
Psychometric Research
- Investigates listening using tests
- Measures the effects of variation in input on students' levels of comprehension
- Examples of research topics include:
- Speech rate and pausology
- Syntactic and discourse level modifications
- Foreign accents and lexis
Discourse Analysis Research
- Examines spoken texts in detail to discover features that listeners need to identify
- Examples of research topics include:
- Lexical phrases and main ideas in a text
- Length of texts and silent periods
- Slang and non-relevant information in talk
Research into Listening Strategies
- Identifies listening strategies that L2 learners use
- Assesses the efficiency of these strategies
- Examples of research topics include:
- Analysis of listening tests and questionnaires
- Students' talk-aloud procedures
- Taxonomy of listening strategies
Taxonomy of Academic Listening Skills
- Developed by J.C. Richards (1983)
- Skills are useful in the preparation of academic listening materials
Ethnographic Research
- The study of the behavior and beliefs of groups (L2 students who need to listen in their L2)
- Challenges include:
- Ensuring triangulation of data
- Completing research in a long time
- Involving two or more researchers to ensure data verification
Pedagogical Model for Second Language Listening
- Aims to prepare learners for second language listening
- Can be used to design effective listening materials
- Includes three main cognitive characteristics:
- Bottom-up processing
- Top-down processing
- Interactive processing
Distinct Dimensions of Listening
- Cross-sectional
- Industrialized
- Contextualized
- Strategic
- Intertextual
- Critical
- Affective
Classroom Application
- A case study of a unit of academic listening material
- Focuses on helping students with their lecture listening comprehension at the university
- Includes a 15-week listening course based on authentic lectures
- Aims to develop a pedagogical model for second language listening
This quiz covers the importance of academic listening in English-medium universities, including difficulties with interaction, asking and answering questions, and discussing issues outside the class.
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