This research studied the impact of language barriers and cultural experiences on students' perceptions at the University of North Texas. The population of this study were students who had taken a class with a non-native speaking instructor and those who hadn't. Following a mixed-method research approach, online surveys were distributed to the…

This article reports on a study which aimed to determine the effect of strength of accent on listening comprehension of interactive lectures. Test takers (N = 21,726) listened to an interactive lecture given by one of nine speakers and responded to six comprehension items. The test taker responses were analyzed with the Rasch computer program…

Instructors from an Intensive English Program (IEP) conducted classroom observations in university courses commonly attended by international students to answer two questions: 1) What listening and speaking demands do international students face in courses at our university? 2) How can instructors in our IEP better prepare our students for these…

Academic listening skill is an indispensable necessity for English for academic purposes (EAP) students in English-medium universities and also critical for their future success in comprehending conference lectures. But due to the specific nature of such academic lectures, nonnative students all too often face challenges in getting a full command…

Research in English for Academic Purposes has begun to show that non-native speakers of English have much difficulty in English academic listening at American universities. Chinese students, who are from a very different educational system and cultural environment, experience special challenges in English academic listening. This paper focuses on…

This study sought to determine what a group of first-year English as a Second Language (ESL) university students learned from a series of lectures in English, how the students learned what they appeared to learn, and what features of the lecturer's presentation most affected the learning of the students. Twelve international ESL business students…

Survey responses of faculty in six graduate study fields and undergraduate English faculty identified nine listening skills that they perceived as particularly important to academic success in lecture classes. Faculty believed that non-native English speakers had greater difficulty with listening activities. Research suggestions are presented…