In this seminar we will report the results of two series of investigations into the L2 listening performance of Hong Kong university students, and suggest using partial transcription as a tool for helping learners improve their ability to recognise words in connected English speech. In the first part of the talk, Richard will present findings from two sets of studies, carried out in the first case at HKUST and in the second case with PolyU, HKU and CUHK students, which are among the first to specifically focus on the spoken word recognition of L2 listeners. Both used transcription to provide insights into the ability of Hong Kong learners of English to catch words in connected speech (news broadcasts and documentaries). Results showed that learners at Intermediate level had worryingly high levels of difficulty: even with relatively slow speech rates, this group of learners consistently recognised at most only three out of every four of the 1,000 most frequent words of English – making successful comprehension extremely unlikely. The results suggest that the ability to recognise words (especially frequent ones) in connected speech is a vital prerequisite for comprehension and that too little attention is paid to developing spoken word recognition skills in Hong Kong. In the second part of the talk, Fun will look at the use of a novel methodology (partial transcription) for investigating online processing problems in L2 listening and challenge the widely held assumption that L2 listening comprehension is an interactive process. She will discuss 1) some of the processing problems experienced by L2 listeners; 2) why partial transcription could improve listeners' inferencing skills and their perception of both segmental and suprasegmental speech features; and 3) how partial transcription can be devised for classroom and self-access use. Practical considerations such as material, transcription gap selection and learners' proficiency will also be discussed.

There are numerous types of English-listening problems which Hong Kong students face. These include recognized limitations in English vocabulary, as well as the problems which teachers create due to structural complexity or unfamiliar references. Students may also experience a "blur" factor in listening to English, i.e., when the combination of familiar words is merely perceived as a stream of sounds. Liu's (1998) preliminary study of the extent to which university students recognize and understand words in a short piece of English expository discourse presented on CD-ROM found that:
• Students may encounter two major difficulties: unfamiliar vocabulary and failure to segment or divide sound streams into words.
• Low proficiency students often cannot identify sounds of words that they know in writing.
• Use of English grade D and E students recognize less than 40% of the words they hear.
Apart from problems related to features of English speech, there remains a more "listener-external" problem, i.e., the intrinsic cognitive load of the lecture discourse. The nature of cognitive load is explored and examples of what might constitute high cognitive load are looked at. In what ways could teachers alleviate some of the problems associated with high cognitive load and low English proficiency?
A small trial was carried out to explore ways in which university teachers can adjust lecture-support materials in English, in order to increase student comprehension and learning. Forty-one students at Hong Kong Baptist University participated in this study. Three types of lecture support materials (knowledge map, full outline, partial outline) were used.
Although this exploratory study does not conclusively show the learning advantages (in terms of quiz scores) of one type of lecture aid over another, several important points emerge:
• the knowledge map is perceived as enhancing lecture comprehension by students, even though students are not familiar

This research is motivated by the scarcity of investigation into L2 learners' online processing problems in listening comprehension, in particular those relating to L2 proficiency. It aims to identify the online processing problems encountered by Hong Kong students of differing L2 proficiency and whether these problems can be overcome by compensatory schema use. Two questions are addressed: 1) Given the same listening situation, do high and low proficiency students experience the same online processing problems? 2) Does success in compensatory schema use vary according to L2 proficiency? Four data collection methods (semi-structured interviews, questionnaire survey, partial transcription, and introspection) and both quantitative and qualitative data analyses are employed. Exploratory semi-structured interviews indicate that apart from the problems of unfamiliar topics, vocabulary and accents, students report experiencing what might be called an "acoustic blur" during L2 listening. They hear streams of English speech sounds but cannot identify the key words. Even when they think they have identified the words, these words often do not fit the context. The questionnaire survey was designed using the data gathered from the semi-structured interviews. The survey results show that practice frequency has a significant effect on students' perception of overall listening difficulty; the more often the practice, the less often listening problems are perceived. Slightly more than one third of respondents have almost no listening practice in English outside class. L2 proficiency impacts significantly on students' perceptions of processing problems such as those caused by unfamiliar topics and vocabulary, and failure in sound segmentation and word recognition. In their self-assessment of word recognition, low proficiency students' word recognition in an average lecture and TV program is less than 50% and 40% respectively, whereas that of proficient students is 80% and 65%. These

This paper focuses on peer feedback in relation to assessment processes. It examines the rationale for peer feedback, emphasizing its potential for enhanced student learning. We draw on relevant literature to argue that the dominance of peer assessment processes using grades can undermine the potential of peer feedback for improving student learning. The paper throws further light on the issue by drawing on a large-scale questionnaire survey of tertiary students (1740) and academics (460) in Hong Kong, supplemented by interview data. The findings indicate that a significant number of academics and students resist peer assessment using grades and that the majority report that students never or rarely grade each other in assessment activities. This paper explores why there is resistance, in particular, by academics to peer assessment and argues the case for a peer feedback process as an end in itself or as a precursor to peer assessment insolving the awarding of marks, It also recommends some strategies for promoting peer feedback, through engaging students with criteria and for embedding peer involvement within normal course processes.
[Copyright of Teaching in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562510600680582]