Academic listening plays an important role in an ESL university student's academic success. Research in EAP has begun to show that ESL students have difficulty in English academic listening at American universities. Chinese students, who are from a different educational system and cultural environment, experience particular challenges in English academic listening. This study focuses on their challenges as reported by Chinese students in understanding English lectures. Seventy-eight Chinese students at an American university were asked to complete a questionnaire that consisted of 30 items and an open-ended question. Most of the items required them to mark their responses on a five-point Likert scale. Chinese students report that the following instructional factors affect their English academic listening at an American university: (1) lecture organization, (2) use of textbooks, (3) blackboard writing, (4) lecture summary, (5) amount of student participation, and (6) amount of group work. The paper offers suggestions for American professors about how to make their lectures more accessible to Chinese students.