Includes bibliographical references (pages 142-151) and index.

"Rethinking the Second Language Listening Test argues that the key to more valid testing of second language listening lies in a better understanding of the nature of the skill and of the signal that listeners have to decode. Using this information as a point of departure, it takes a critical look at many of the myths and conventions behind listening tests and provides practical suggestions as to the ways in which they might be rethought.

The book begins with an account of the various processes that contribute to listening in order to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by second language learners. The information feeds in to a new set of descriptors of listening behaviour across proficiency levels and informs much of the discussion in later chapters. The main body of the book critically examines the various components of a listening test, challenging some of the false assumptions behind them and proposing practical alternatives. The discussion covers: the recording-as-text, the recording-as-speech, conventions of test delivery, standard task formats and item design. Major themes are the critical role played by the recorded material and the degree to which tests impose demands that go beyond those of real-world listening. The following section focuses on two types of listener with different needs from the general candidate: those aiming to demonstrate academic or professional proficiency in English and young language learners, where level of cognitive development is an issue for test design. There is a brief reflection on the extent to which integrated listening tests reflect the reality of listening events. The book concludes with a report of a study into how feasible it is to identify the information load of a listening text, a factor potentially contributing to difficulty." (Book Cover)

CONTENTS:

Lists of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction

A Cognitive Model for Testing Listening

1. What Does Expert Listening Consist Of?
The role of cognitive criteria
A model of expert listening

2. The Second Language Listener
Language-related knowledge
Cultural knowledge Expertise in handling connected speech
Strategic competence

3. Performance at different proficiency levels
Criteria for listening descriptors
Towards cognitively based descriptors of L2 listening
Perceptual processing
Processing for meaning

RECORDED CONTENT

4. Recording as Text

Language
General comments
Vocabulary
Grammar
Conclusions for practice

Length

Topic familiarity

Abstractness

Discourse type

Less cited features
Length of utterance
Information density and complexity
Redundancy, repetition and exemplification

5. Recording as speech
Origin of recording
Visual input
Monologue vs interaction / presentational vs conversational mode
Voice
Speech rate
Accent
The role of the recording

TASK CHARACTERISTICS

6. Listening test conventions
Modality
Pre-presentation
Double play
Order of presentation
Rubric
Computer-based solutions

7. Task formats
Conventional formats
Some thoughts on scoring

8. Items
Lexical overlap
Item length and complexity
Item targeting
Item targeting at different proficiency levels
Are targets necessarily met?

LISTENER ROLES

9. Special cases

Academic listeners
What types of listening event?
What topics and discourse patterns? What processes should items target?
What task formats to use?
Can we replicate the lecture context?

Young Learners
What makes young listeners cognitively different?
What recorded content is appropriate?
What task formats to use?
What to target?

Further special cases

10. Listening plus other skills
Tests of oral communication
Listening into...

POSTSCRIPT

11. Information load: an investigative study

12. Final remarks

APPENDICES
A. Examples of Processes Contributing to Listening
B. Sample Scripts

End Matter

References

Index