Cognitive Strategies for Academic Reading and Listening in EFL

Abstract

Recent research has shown that reading and listening share cognitive strategies for comprehension. Nevertheless, it has been argued that intonation provides a more consistent cue than text structure for the reconstruction of the hierarchy of ideas in lectures. Neither of these connections has been clearly established in studies involving EFL learners. In this study three groups of EFL university students underwent different training programs in reading and listening comprehension for major topics and subtopics of academic discourse. Results indicate: a) that students who learned rhetorical patterns of written expository texts and text mapping strategies demonstrated better comprehension of lectures than students who performed other activities, and b) that overt teaching of phonological features signalling macro-units of discourse has a further facilitating effect on lecture comprehension.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ana María Morra de de la Peña

Ana María Morra de de la Peña Professor of English as a Foreign Language and head of the research project in EFL comprehension processes at the Center of Language Research, School of Languages, National University of Córdoba, Argentina. Lidia Rosa Soler (MA in Phonetics, Leeds University) Professor of English Phonetics and Phonology at the School of Languages, National University of Córdoba, Argentina.

Lidia Rosa Soler

Ana María Morra de de la Peña Professor of English as a Foreign Language and head of the research project in EFL comprehension processes at the Center of Language Research, School of Languages, National University of Córdoba, Argentina. Lidia Rosa Soler (MA in Phonetics, Leeds University) Professor of English Phonetics and Phonology at the School of Languages, National University of Córdoba, Argentina.