Academic Listening Chapter 7

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.