Listening

LSS2 Listening Assessment

The listening exam will be based on a short, academic lecture. You will watch and listen to the video-lecture whilst making notes. You will watch the lecture only once. You will then be given a number of questions to answer, before being asked to write a short summary of part of the lecture.

Assignment information

• The listening assessment will be in exam conditions and will be approximately 1.5 hours in total.
• The lecture will be around 20 mins long and will be on a generic topic which is accessible to all students.
• You will receive some brief, pre-listening information which will help you prepare for the lecture.
• Note-making is a key skill which contributes to how well you can listen in an academic context. Therefore, it is important you practise you note-making as well as listening. However, your notes won’t be marked.
• Date of the exam: The exam will be in week 13. Check your timetable. Your teacher and coordinator will give you full details nearer the time.
• You will have a formative exam in week 5. It is important you take this exam seriously and learn from the feedback.

Learning outcomes

Everything you have studied during your time at the IPC will contribute to your performance on this exam. By the time you take this exam, you will be able to:

• recognise and understand main points and specific detail in simple general academic lectures, talks and discussions
• make notes and summarise lecture content
• understand explicit and implied views
• understand spoken descriptions of research and data
• follow argument and critically respond to content

What can you do to prepare and improve?

• Look back at what you have studied on previous modules. It is important you connect and apply the skills and knowledge you have learnt on other modules.
• Attend class, engage with the content, do the homework, use the materials on the VLE and/or Classroom.
• Look at the ‘listening and note-taking’ section on the EAP Toolkit on the VLE.
• Watch lectures and listen to audio which might be relevant to your future degree programme, e.g. The Economics Network, Khan Academy Science, and The Science Show.
• There are a number of academic lectures available on the University of Reading website. Listen and take notes. Try and summarise the content.
• TED and TED-Ed have a wealth of videos that you can watch and practise your notemaking and summarising skills.
• The BBC has many resources that can improve your listening, including the Learning English page, 6-minute English, and the Academic Listening page.
• Go out and make English speaking friends, speak and listen to them!

How will your work be marked?

In order to do well on the exam, you will need to incorporate the listening and note-making skills that you have studied during your time at the IPC.

Part 1: Various questions (e.g. multiple-choice, open questions)

You will get one mark for each correct answer. Look carefully because for some questions there will be more than one mark available or you might need to choose more than one answer. For those where you have to provide your own answer, spelling does not need to be perfect but the marker needs to understand what you are saying.

Part 2: Summarising

The marker will be looking to see if you have identified and understood the main purpose or argument of the section of the lecture. They will be looking to see if you have included all the essential information (and not included minor, unnecessary details!). They will be looking to see if you have supported key points with relevant details. Remember – you will be asked to summarise one part of the lecture only, not the whole lecture. The assessment criteria for part 2 can be found here.