Abbreviations; List of Figures; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Background; 1.2 Limited Research in Listening Comprehension; 1.3 New Challenges in Academic Listening Research; 1.4 Gaps Between Requirement and Reality; 1.5 Aims and Scope of the Empirical Research Reported in This Volume; 2 The Theory of Academic Lecture Comprehension; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 The Nature of Academic Lecture Comprehension; 2.3 Discourse Structure of Academic Lectures; 2.4 Macro Structure of Academic Lectures; 2.5 Discourse Signaling Cues of Academic Lectures; 2.6 Construction of Discourse Structure

2.7 Note-Taking of Academic Lectures2.8 Importance of Investigating Lecture Comprehension Construct; 2.9 Conclusion; 3 Approaches to Assessment of Lecture Comprehension; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 The Competence-Based Construct; 3.2.1 The Sub-skill Approach; 3.2.2 The Strategy Approach; 3.2.3 The Cognitive Approach; 3.2.3.1 Bottom-up and Top-Down Processes; 3.2.3.2 Field's Listening Model; 3.2.3.3 Cognitive Demands of Lecture Comprehension; 3.2.3.4 Higher Levels of Cognitive Processes; 3.2.3.5 Bridging Result-Oriented and Process-Oriented Approaches; 3.3 Task-Based Construct

3.4 Approaches to Assessment of Lecture Comprehension3.5 Conclusion; 4 Task Characteristics of TEM 8 Mini-Lecture Comprehension; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Task Characteristics of TEM 8 Mini-Lecture Comprehension; 4.3 The Test Format of TEM 8 Mini-Lecture Comprehension; 4.4 A Proposed Construct Framework for Lecture Comprehension; 4.5 Conclusion; 5 Exploring Task Demands of TEM 8 Mini-Lecture Comprehension; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 Participants in the Quantitative Part of the Research; 5.3 Design of Questionnaire; 5.4 Questionnaire Collection; 5.5 Results of Questionnaire Survey

5.5.1 Descriptive Statistics5.5.1.1 Teachers; 5.5.1.2 Students; 5.5.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis; 5.5.2.1 Sample Size for Factor Analysis; 5.5.2.2 Teachers; 5.5.2.3 Rotated Component (Factor) Matrix of Teachers' Questionnaire Data; 5.5.2.4 Students; 5.5.2.5 Rotated Component (Factor) Matrix of Students' Questionnaire Data; 5.5.3 Similarities and Differences Between Teachers' and Students' Perception; 5.6 Discussion on Task Demands; 5.6.1 Main Factors Representative of Task Demands; 5.6.1.1 Teachers' Perspective; 5.6.1.2 Students' Perspective; 5.7 Conclusion

6 Employing the Think-Alound Method to Explore Listeners' Test-Taking Cognitive Processes6.1 Introduction; 6.2 Participants in the Qualitative Part of the Research; 6.2.1 Participant Selection; 6.2.2 Rationale of Grouping; 6.2.3 Participants' Background Information; 6.2.4 Research Instruments; 6.2.4.1 Readability of the Scripts of the Two Tasks (2010 and 2013) in the Research Version; 6.2.4.2 Scoring Criteria of TEM 8 Mini-Lecture and Gap-Filling Tasks; 6.3 Qualitative Data Collection; 6.3.1 Pilot Study of the Qualitative Part of the Research