Authenticity of Discourse Signaling Cues in Second Language Lecture Comprehension Tasks

Abstract

Abstract-The paper aims to explore authenticity of discourse signaling cues in L2 lecture comprehension tasks by contrasting the quantity of discourse signaling cues in the script of an authentic lecture taken from Michigan's Academic Spoken Corpus and that of a mini-lecture taken from a TEM 8 listening comprehension subtest. The findings have shown that there is a higher frequency of macromarkers and a lower frequency of micromarkers in the TEM 8 script. In order to improve authenticity of academic listening tests, it is important to add authentic discourse signaling cues to the script or the test-takers' academic listening competence might not be tested as expected.