time; thereafter, since 1984 revision, one or more constructed response tasks have
been part of the listening subtest (Boroughs 2003). Constructed response tasks
involve the completion of notes, sentences, forms, tables or a summary (Elliott and
Wilson 2013). In IELTS listening composed of four sections, the last section is
always note completion with the focus of testing listening skills in an academic
context and the test input is part of a lecture. Meanwhile, in order to constrain
possible keys, word limit is strictly enforced (Weir 2013: 402).
3.5 Conclusion...........................................
This chapter attempts to answer two questions. Thefirst concerns the importance of
investigating the construct of lecture comprehension, for without thoroughly
understanding the ability of lecture comprehension and its major components, it is
impossible to ensure validity of lecture comprehension assessment in thefirst place.
Practically, there are two approaches to investigating this construct, i.e.,
competence-based approach and task-based approach. The two approaches can
compensate each other to help construct a more comprehensive framework of
lecture comprehension construct.
The task-based approach of lecture comprehension construct is inherently
associated with approaches to assessment of lecture comprehension. In terms of the
widely-accepted academic English tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, criticism arises
from insufficient methods to tap into the predictive validity of test-takers’academic
success in college. Therefore, more empirical research is needed to investigate to
what extent a constructive test format can reveal test-takers’active construction of
the lecture meaning.
32 3 Approaches to Assessment of Lecture Comprehension