Lectures: this programme takes a look at a range of techniques to make listening to lectures easier. This is not an accurate word-for-word transcript of the programme. Группа Learning English: http://vkontakte.ru/club17650165 Продолжение транскрипта: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/al_02.pdf
ANNOUNCER: It’s time for Academic Listening - a series for students at English-speaking universities. Many students find that lectures are the most daunting aspect of their university life. In this programme we’ll start to look at a range of techniques to make listening to lectures easier - with presenter Susan Fearn and members of the World Service class of 2001. CLIP: Lecture “Taxes, Quality of Life and Happiness” In this talk, I will first note a recent political emphasis on "quality of life". Secondly, I will suggest that this contrasts with economic growth as a main - or the main - concern of government… Susan: Do you, like me, wish you had second chance to hear those university lectures? CLIP: Lecture “Taxes, Quality of Life and Happiness” In this talk, I will first note a recent political emphasis on "quality of life". Secondly, I will suggest that this contrasts with economic growth as a main - or the main - concern of government… Susan: Sadly it’s never quite like that in real life! You can re-read a book; you can replay a cassette, but you can’t rewind a lecturer. CLIP: Simon Williams The main point of a lecture for students must be to acquire information on a topic in a quick and efficient way. Susan: Simon Williams teaches English in the Language Centre at University College London. CLIP: Simon Williams Of course, they could get a photocopy from another student later and not turn up, but it’s one way of knowing how the subject is viewed by people in your department: whether it's thought to be old-fashioned or crucial and very modern, contemporary, and how controversial it may be: seeing where fits into whole syllabus. Susan: Lectures can be important social occasions, a chance to meet with the other students on your course. But, of course, they’re also an important way of getting an overview of your subject or a particular element of your course. This is something you may not be able to achieve through self-study or by reading someone else’s notes. University teachers also have specific aims and objectives when they lecture. Simon Williams again. CLIP: Simon Williams The purpose of a lecture is probably to stimulate students to do work by themselves. The end result of a course must be to try and make a student autonomous, happy to find things out for themselves, not being given things to accept uncritically. Learners need to know that’s the aim of their course – that they’ll become individual and independent learners. So a lecturer will aim to present just part of a topic and stimulate student to want to find out more. May be there's a good reason – may be a written assignment on that topic. So that's another reason for paying attention. But it can only happen if you know what to pay attention to – you can’t pay attention to everything all at same time. Susan: Understanding the aim or purpose of a lecture helps you decide where to focus your attention. This is useful because you can’t concentrate on everything at once. You may already be using large amounts of mental energy to cope with other problems, as these students can confirm. CLIP: Students Two students describe their problems understanding the language of lectures. (Transcript is not available.) Susan: And that’s only the start of it! It can difficult to hear what a lecturer is saying because you’re sitting in a large, echo-ey [does this word exist?] hall. Speakers may have a strange accent; they might speak too quickly or too quietly. Some might use unfamiliar technical or academic vocabulary. ...