A Systematically Designed Curriculum for ELI Introductory Academic Listening

Abstract

This reports on a curriculum development project at the University of Hawaii at Manoa conducted during the summer of 1989. The purpose of the project was to develop a systematically designed curriculum for the introductory academic listening course offered by the English Language Institute (ELI). The immediate aim was to identify the distinct needs of foreign academic listening students at the introductory level, and to address those needs by developing goals and objectives that will dovetail with the advanced academic listening curriculum. The project was conducted with the cooperation of the ELI administrators, listening faculty, and students. The needs assessment was based on a records analysis, students and faculty questionnaires, in-class observations, interviews, surveys, and a literature review that included earlier class syllabuses and needs analysis. Descriptive statistics and a correlational analysis were calculated from the answers on the student questionnaires.