Into the mind of the academic listener

Abstract

This paper argues that we know too little of the mental processes in which a listener engages during an academic lecture; and that a better understanding of these processes would assist EAP instructors on pre-sessional courses to target their teaching more precisely. The account provides insights into listener behaviour from three possible perspectives, using three different methods of investigation. Firstly, it attempts to determine what proportion of a piece of monologic lecture-style input is likely to be decoded accurately by an intermediate range listener and, by extension, how dependent such a listener is likely to be upon strategies that compensate for gaps in understanding. Secondly, there is an examination of verbal reports produced by language learners undertaking two conventional comprehension tasks, in order to establish the extent to which the processes engaged differ from those that would be relevant in a lecture context. Finally, a model of the listening skill is briefly outlined; and attention is drawn to one area in particular (information handling) that, for reasons connected with the design of comprehension tasks, is not usually covered in L2 academic listening programmes.