The Academic Encounters series uses a sustained-content approach to help students develop the skills they need to take college courses in English-speaking environments. Academic Listening Encounters: Life in Society is a listening, note-taking, and discussion text for intermediate to high-intermediate students. It introduces them to stimulating topics within the field of sociology, including such high interest topics as peer pressure, gender roles, and the influence of the media. Listening materials include a variety of warm-up activities, informal interviews, and a formal academic lecture for every chapter. Students have the opportunity to practice crucial listening skills, such as listening for main ideas or listening for examples; the materials also serve as stimuli for discussion and note-taking activities. Pre-listening tasks expose students to vocabulary they will encounter in the interviews and lectures and help them acquire important skills such as building background knowledge of the topic and guessing meaning from context.