CHAPTER 1 THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE: SUCCESS IN COLLEGE LISTENING 1 Short Conversations -- Get Ready to Listen -- Activity 1 Brainstorming and Discussion -- Responding to Questions and Giving Advice -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 2 Listen to Conversations -- Activity 3 Give Advice
LISTENING 2 Min-Lecture: Community Colleges vs. Universities -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 4 Vocabulary Practice -- Taking Notes -- Discourse Markers -- What is a Discourse Marker? -- Determine What’s Important -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 5 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Discourse Markers -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Activity 6 Answer Questions about the Mini-Lecture
LISTENING 3 Listening Strategy: Listen for Context -- Activity 7 Guess Meaning from Context
LISTENING 4 Extended Lecture: About Note Taking -- Activity 8 Check the Definitions -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 9 Vocabulary Practice -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 10 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Discourse Markers -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Activity 11 Compare Notes -- Activity 12 Think Critically: About You
SPEAKING Interviewing -- Activity 13 Conduct Interviews: Analyze Study Skills and Academic Goals -- Activity 14 Expand Your Interview Questions

CHAPTER 2 FROM THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: PSYCHOLOGY
LISTENING 1 Short Conversations -- Get Ready to Listen -- Activity 1 Brainstorming and Discussion -- Activity 2 Read for Inference -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 3 Listen to Conversation
LISTENING 2 Mini-Lecture: Kinds of Psychologists -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 4 Vocabulary Practice -- Taking Notes: Outlines -- Using Outlines -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 5 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Vocabulary -- Second Listening: Listen and Outline -- Activity 6 Answer Questions about the Mini-Lecture
LISTENING 3 Listening Strategy: Identify Differences -- Activity 7 Listen for Pronunciation Differences
LISTENING 4 Extended Lecture: Research Methods in Psychology -- Discourse Markers: Various Functions -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 8 Vocabulary Practice -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 9 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- Fist Listening: Listen for Discourse Markers -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Activity 10 Answer Questions about the Extended Lecture -- Activity 11 Think Critically: Evaluate and Compare Information from the Lecture
SPEAKING Surveying -- Survey: Strategies for Working in Groups -- Activity 12 Survey: Come Up with a Technique to Study Twins -- Activity 13 Compare Psychology Syllabi Online

CHAPTER 3 FROM BUSINESS: INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND MARKETING
LISTENING 1 Short Conversations -- Get Ready to Listen -- Activity 1 Brainstorming and Discussion -- Understand Time Relationships -- Activity 2 Explain Events in Relation to Time -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 3 Listen to Conversations
LISTENING 2 Mini-Lecture: International Trade -- Taking Notes: Word Maps -- Using Word Maps -- Activity 4 Take Notes in a Word Map -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 5 Vocabulary Practice -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 6 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen and Connect Words -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Activity 7 Answer Questions about the Mini-Lecture -- Activity 8 Think Critically -- Activity 9 Academic Word List Review: Word Forms -- Discourse Markers: Sequencing -- Activity 10 Sequencing with Discourse Markers
LISTENING 3 Listening Strategy: Past Tense and Participles Activity 11 Listen for Past Forms
LISTENING 4 Extended Lecture: The Global Marketplace -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 12 Vocabulary Practice -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 13 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Vocabulary -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Activity 14 Answer Questions about the Extended Lecture
SPEAKING Extemporaneous Speaking -- Activity 15 Give an Extemporaneous Speech -- Activity 16 Ask Questions

CHAPTER 4 FROM THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
LISTENING 1 Short Conversations -- Get Ready to Listen -- Activity 1 Brainstorming and Discussion --Understand Phrasal Verbs Through Content -- Phrasal Verbs with More than One Meaning -- Some Phrasal Verbs Indivisible -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 2 Listen for Phrasal Verbs
LISTENING 2 Mini-Lecture: The United States Government -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 3 Vocabulary Practice -- Taking Notes: The Cornell Method -- Activity 4 Practice the Cornell Method -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 5 Listen and Use -- Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Vocabulary -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Activity 6 Answer Comprehension Questions about the Mini-Lecture
LISTENING 3 Listening Strategy: Reduce a Sound -- Activity 7 Listen for Vowel Reductions
LISTENING 4 Extended Lecture: The Constitution and the Government -- Activity 8 Vocabulary Practice -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 9 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Vocabulary -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Activity 10 Answer Comprehension -- Questions about the Extended Lecture -- Activity 11 Think Critically: What Do You Remember? -- Discourse Markers Transitions -- Activity 12 Define Transition Signals
SPEAKING Debating -- Activity 13 Participate in a Debate -- Activity 14 Find Out about More Key Concepts

CHAPTER 5 FROM THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES: BIOLOGY
LISTENING 1 Short Conversations -- Get Ready to Listen -- Activity 1 Brainstorming and Discussion -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 2 Listen for Phrasal Verbs
LISTENING 2 Min-Lecture: The Theory of Natural Selection -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 3 Vocabulary Practice -- Taking Notes: Key Words -- Use Key Words -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 4 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Discourse Markers -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes with Key Words -- Activity 5 Check Information about the Mini-Lecture
LISTENING 3 Listening Strategy: Sound Groups -- Activity 6 Identify Sound Groups
LISTENING 4 Extended Lecture: Natural Selection in Finches -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 7 Vocabulary Practice -- Discourse Markers: More Transition Signals -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 8 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Discourse Markers -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes with Key Notes -- Activity 10 Write without Notes -- Activity 11 Think Critically
SPEAKING Presentations -- Activity 13 Give a Group Presentation -- Activity 14 Use the Internet

CHAPTER 6 FROM THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: PHILOSOPHY
LISTENING 1 Short Conversations -- Get Ready to Listen -- Activity 1 Brainstorming and Discussion -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 2 Listen for Phrasal Verbs
LISTENING 2 Min-Lecture: Overview of Philosophy -- Vocabulary: Academic Word List -- Activity 3 Vocabulary Practice -- Taking Notes: Paragraph Method -- Using Paragraphs in Note Taking -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 4 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Second Listening: Listen for Discourse Markers -- Activity 5 Answer Questions about the Mini-Lecture LISTENING 3 Listening Strategy: Understand Reduction Strings -- Activity 6 Listen and Write Sentences
LISTENING 4 Extended Lecture: Existentialism -- Activity 7 Vocabulary Practice -- Activity 8 Use Discourse Markers -- Listen and Respond -- Activity 9 Listen and Use Strategies You Learned -- First Listening: Listen for Vocabulary Words -- Second Listening: Listen and Take Notes -- Activity 10 Answer Questions about the Extended Lecture -- Activity 11 Think Critically
SPEAKING Summarizing -- Activity 12 Research and Summarize Topics -- Activity 13 Find Out about More Key Concepts

APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: Academic Word List Vocabulary -- APPENDIX 2: Speaking in Class: Strategies for Presentations and Interactive Communication -- APPENDIX 3: Sample Evaluation Forms (Gradesheets) for Oral Presentations -- APPENDIX 4: Note-Taking Symbols -- APPENDIX 5: Note-Taking Strategies -- APPENDIX 6: Discourse Markers -- APPENDIX 7: Common Phrasal Verbs

Key Concepts covers academic material – discipline-based lectures, academic vocabulary, and structured speaking – that students are bound to encounter in higher education. In Key Concepts, students gain not only academic knowledge but also valuable note-taking skills necessary for success in college. These combined skill sets raise students’ comfort levels with academic information while giving them ample opportunity to interact with each other and the instructor. Chapters are categorized into the most common disciplines students will encounter in community colleges and universities, such as psychology, American history, philosophy, biological sciences, and business, and vocabulary items come from the Academic Word List, a comprehensive list of the most frequently used vocabulary items in higher education. The lectures presented in Key Concepts are similar to the ones tested on the new TOEFL, integrating the skills of note taking and answering questions from various college disciplines. Key Concepts audio CDs include short dialogues, longer lectures, and discrete pronunciation items.” (Book Cover)