Misunderstanding of academic monologues by nonnative speakers of English

Over the past several decades, extensive reading research has shown the beneficial role that contextualization markers play in written text comprehension. However, far less is known about their effects on L2 spoken text comprehension. The few studies concerning the effects of markers on L2 listening comprehension failed to examine their role through a qualitative analysis. To fill this gap, the current study attempts to provide a qualitative analysis of the role of markers in L2 listening comprehension. More specifically, the analysis focuses on how L2 learners misunderstood the text when the markers were absent in the academic monologue. The results show that the lack of markers seems to contribute significantly to L2 learners’ misinterpretation of the text. The current findings extend previous research documenting the facilitating role of the markers in listening comprehension. That is, in communication, speakers and listeners share the expectation that listeners are aided in their interpretation of the message by speakers’ use of contextualization markers. Listeners expect to be guided in their understanding of message via markers that overtly highlight the relative importance of ideas, and signal cohesive links between ideas. When these markers are missing, listeners experience difficulty understanding the message, and communication problems ensue.