A Syllabus for an Advanced ESL Lecture Comprehension and Note-taking Course

Abstract

This thesis presents a semester-long syllabus with sample materials for a lecture comprehension and note-taking class for advanced ESL students in a university setting. The syllabus presupposes a high level of grammatical competence on the part of the students, taking for granted that it is not on the level of lexical or sentential comprehension that the student has difficulty. Rather, problems are assumed to stem from insufficient time of processing due to lack of familiarity with the language and the assumptions concerning lecture discourse in that language. Background information is cited regarding research in connected discourse processing, the effect of culture on that processing, lecture discourse analyses, and lecture comprehension and note-taking pedagogy and skill needs. A needs analysis concerning the listening comprehension, note-taking, and production requirements of university students is presented and discussed.This thesis presents a semester-long syllabus with sample materials for a lecture comprehension and note-taking class for advanced ESL students in a university setting. The syllabus presupposes a high level of grammatical competence on the part of the students, taking for granted that it is not on the level of lexical or sentential comprehension that the student has difficulty. Rather, problems are assumed to stem from insufficient time of processing due to lack of familiarity with the language and the assumptions concerning lecture discourse in that language. Background information is cited regarding research in connected discourse processing, the effect of culture on that processing, lecture discourse analyses, and lecture comprehension and note-taking pedagogy and skill needs. A needs analysis concerning the listening comprehension, note-taking, and production requirements of university students is presented and discussed.