Internationalization and Academic Listening Instruction and Assessment

Abstract

In the process of educational internationalization, English has been the major means of instruction in universities worldwide. Some of Chinese universities have started to incorporate English-mediated courses into their curriculum development in order to equip their students with adequate EAP skills. With more academic lectures delivered in English at the tertiary level, it has become significant to implement practical and valid academic listening instruction and assessment. The paper revisits challenges and requirements in academic listening research pertaining to the modern internationalized context and urges investigations on the nature and construct of academic lecture comprehension. Solid research in this line enables us to understand students’ cognitive processes involved in lecture comprehension and develop more effective and efficient academic listening instruction and assessment approaches to improve students’ academic listening ability.