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John Field is Reader in Cognitive Approaches to Language Learning at the CRELLA Research Institute, University of Bedfordshire. He previously taught at the University of Reading, UK. He has a long-term interest in second language listening, on which he has written and researched widely; his Listening in the Language Classroom (CUP, 2008) has become a standard work in the field. His thinking is very much formed by his background in psycholinguistics, on which he has published a reference work. He has given consultancy advice on the testing of listening to several international test providers; and has fostered a new area of study evaluating the extent to which tests of second language skills elicit the kind of processes that candidates use in the real world. Recent research projects include advising on listening standards in Rwandan schools and investigating the effects of double play upon scores and candidate behaviour in listening tests. In an earlier life, John was an ELT teacher trainer, schools inspector and materials writer. Besides listening materials, he wrote national coursebooks for Saudi Arabia, radio programmes for the BBC World Service and TV programmes for the Open University of China.