Testing Lecture Comprehension Through Listening-to-summarize Cloze Tasks

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meaning and discourse construction. High achievers’and low achievers’meaning
and discourse construction is vastly different, especially in relation to crucial
cognitive operations such as associating propositional units and assigning those
units to their corresponding structures, integrating new information to the existent
discourse representation and simultaneously building contextual coherence. Finally,
the key differences drawing the line between more competent academic listeners
and less competent academic listeners are condensed with the acronyms asSAIC—
selection, association, integration and coherence. Therefore, cognitive processes
can be regarded as intrinsic indicators of academic listening competence.


9.4 Implications for Assessing Academic Lecture


Comprehension


Implications for assessing academic listening basically result from researchfindings
in the cognitive processes with qualitative research methods.


Task format


Based on researchfindings from the current study, the task format as a structured
summary discourse is validated. Though teachers and students perceive the task
demand for academic listening differently, they can both be triangulated with
test-taking cognitive processes. Teachers believe lecture comprehension is based
upon solid mastery of the general content and macro structure of the lecture while
students pay considerable attention to note-taking, the only reference for com-
pleting the gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. However, as a written form of
discourse representation, the task demand of note-taking is a result of meaning and
discourse construction, involving different cognitive processes such as selecting
words to write down, structuring notes, retrieving information from notes and
transferring it to the gaps. Those cognitive processes do not contradict processes
involved in discourse construction. On the whole, different perceptions from
teachers and students arrive at a consensus that forming a discourse structure is the
result of lecture comprehension. Therefore, the task format in the form of a
structured summary is valid for academic listening assessment.


Task targets (item/gap types)


Writing listening test items is unique, for listening is an irreversible track. In
reading, test-takers can refer back to the reading materials while in listening, the
only information test-takers can refer back to is the information retained in the
working memory or notes. This unique feature determines the ground on which
test-designers write listening test items. When there emerges a conflict between
what is supposed to be key points from the perspective of test-designers and those
from the perspective of test-takers, a possible reason could be different key points
from different channels-the audio input and the written script. Zou (2004: 35)


9.3 Answers to Research Questions 159

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