How Much Do They Understand? Lectures, students and comprehension

A recent study into tertiary literacy (Reid, Kirkpatrick, & Mulligan, 1998) found that many students have problems with comprehension and note-taking in lectures and that students from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) reported particular difficulty. Despite the increase in the number of international students attending Australian universities over the past decade, it seems that many lecturers are still failing to accommodate the cultural and linguistic diversity of the classes they teach. The study reported here aimed to determine the nature and extent of problems experienced by NESB students in comprehending lectures and found significant gaps in understanding: slightly fewer than 1 in 10 NESB students was able to understand the content and intent of their lectures very well. More disturbingly, almost one-quarter of them had not understood much of the lectures at all. The paper offers some suggested strategies for change-for those who prepare students for university study, for the students themselves, and for the lecturers who teach them.