This paper, presented in English and in Spanish, isolates one area of English for Academic Purposes, listening comprehension, and makes some preliminary suggestions as to factors that might be relevant in course planning and, particularly, in the design of materials. In preparing a language program, a highly instrumental approach should be adopted, and the students must be helped to carry out those types of language operations most in line with their needs. Understanding lectures and taking relatively efficient notes is one "terminal skill" in a wider matrix of academic activities which university students must develop. The materials writer could make the student's task easier by equipping him with strategies that will act as stepping stones towards the skill he needs to acquire. In an examination of factors potentially involved in decisions about sequencing, a basic distinction might be made between "localized" understanding (largely phonological) and "global" understanding (largely semantic). The student should be trained first to recognize at the "verbatim" level and then be helped to make the transition to global understanding as soon as possible. (Author/CFM)