linguistic knowledge, pragmatic knowledge, cultural knowledge, content knowl-
edge, etc. According to the teachers’and students’questionnaire survey, main
factors representative of task demands of LCC framework are input decoding,
macro and micro discourse construction and note-taking. The consensus of main
factors among teachers and students proves that these components are key task
demands of academic lecture comprehension.
Competence domainis the research focus of the current project, represented by
test-takers’cognitive processes.In the verified LCC framework, cognitive pro-
cesses are regarded asindicatorsof test-takers’academic listening competence.
Based on the verbal protocol analysis in the current project, we have already arrived
at the conclusion that the task domain and competence domain are highly inter-
active. The two-domain-match, i.e. the task-competence match can be ensured
under the condition that the test-taking cognitive processes to differentiate
test-takers’competence levels are thoroughly investigated so that sensible and
suitable task targets are calibrated toward these cognitive processes. In the current
framework, the interaction between the task domain and competence domain is
enhanced by the dual-direction arrows. Constructing the dialogue between the task
domain and competence domain is significant in terms of LCC framework.
The test-taking cognitive processes indicating competence mainly consist of
decoding and selective attention, with detailed cognitive operations like reading
notes/task, memorizing words, parsing the structure, etc.; meaning and discourse
construction, with detailed cognitive operations such as interpreting, inferring from
notes/task, summarizing, building coherence, identifying key words, etc.; and
monitoring process, with detailed cognitive operations including assessing com-
prehension, checking semantic coherence, checking grammatical acceptability,
checking quantity, etc.
Furthermore, high achievers and low achievers have been compared based on
rigorous analysis of their TAPs and retelling protocols and differences between their
cognitive operations in the test-taking phase and retelling phase are explored and
explicated so that the argument that cognitive processes can serve as intrinsic
indicators of competence is substantially validated.
9.3 Answers to Research Questions
9.3.1 Research Question 1
What are the task demands of listening to an academic mini-lecture and completing
a structured listen-to-summarize cloze task?
Based on the teachers’ and students’questionnaire survey data, the factors
representative of task demands extracted from both sets of data are decoding, macro
and micro discourse construction and note-taking. Teachers’perception on the
skills representative of academic listening construct is rather homogeneous for
teachers largely agree upon thefirst dominant factor-macro discourse construction.
9.2 Verified LCC Framework 157