Testing Lecture Comprehension Through Listening-to-summarize Cloze Tasks

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8.4.1 Decoding


We just discussed that decoding is the weakest factor amongst the four. In quali-
tative part of the research, we find TAP and retelling data straightforwardly
demonstrate different decoding results between successful and less successful lis-
teners. Though we might assume decoding should not be a big problem for students
who have already passed TEM 4, the fact is decoding is a prerequisite to successful
lecture comprehension. Simply put, the ability to identify sounds of key words and
the speaker’s intention and attitude by discriminating sound and intonation patterns
is thefirst step leading to meaning construction.


8.4.2 Discourse Construction


Macro discourse construction can be decomposed into identifying key points,
building connections between key points and building the macro structure of the
discourse while micro discourse construction can be decomposed into identifying
details and building connection between details. In one word, discourse construc-
tion involvesfirst, identifying key points and details, second, building connections
and third, constructing a discourse structure. These can all be triangulated with
cognitive processes involved in discourse representation: identifying key points and
details serves as a purpose to select the relevant propositional units for information
processing; building connections between key ideas or details is echoed in the
cognitive process of building connections between propositional units and assign-
ing those units to their corresponding structures;finally, building a discourse
structure is also the last step in forming a mental discourse representation.


8.4.3 Note-Taking


Actually, note-taking itself involves 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 involved in note-taking can be
triangulated with selective attention, meaning and discourse construction in the
TAP and retelling protocol analysis. In Sect.2.7, we have noticed studies centering
upon the function of students’note-taking in their academic lecture comprehension
are two-sided. Researches have concluded that quality or quantity of students’notes
does not necessarily reflect their level of understanding (Alexander et al. 2008;
Chaudron 1994; Rost 1990). Notes can only be a record of decoded words without
any logical relation amongst them. Note-taking quality cannot be considered as a
direct measure of comprehension. On the contrary, Song (2011) found notes and the
organization of these notes can reflect test takers’ L2 academic listening


136 8 Linking Task Demands, Cognitive Processes...

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