Comparing reading fluency with listening fluency
Graduation Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of
English Language and Literature
Notre Dame Seishin University
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts
Manami Kinoshita
2013
Contents
Abstract
1
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
2
1.2 Reading and listening aims
3
1.2.1 Introduction
3
1.2.2 Reading
3
1.2.3 Listening
4
1.3 Reading and listening fluency
4
1.3.1 Introduction
4
1.3.2 Reading and listening speed
5
1.3.3 Difference by learners
6
1.3.4 Problems of reading and listening learning
7
1.3.5 How to acquire reading and listening skill
8
1.4 Research questions
11
1.5 Conclusion
11
Chapter Two: The experiment data
2.1 Introduction
12
2.2 The experiment
12
2.2.1 Introduction to experiment
12
2.2.2 Method
12
1) Subjects
12
2) Text design-the experiment
12
3) Procedure
14
2.3 Results
16
2.4 Summary
21
Chapter Three: Discussion of the experiment
3.1 Introduction
22
3.2 Summary of the results
22
3.3 Detailed discussion of the results
22
3.3.1 Analyze of the result of reading and listening speed
22
1. Reading speed
2. Listening speed
3.3.2 Analyze of the result of their comprehension score
30
1. Reading comprehension
2. Listening comprehension
3.3.3 Comparing reading with listening speed and ability
29
1. Comparing reading with listening speed
2. Comparing reading with listening comprehension
3.4. Implications
31
3.5 Limitation of the questionnaire
31
3.6 Further research
32
3.7 Conclusion
32
References
34
Appendices
35
Abstract
Japanese people have learned English since they were junior and high school
students. They have not learned speaking and writing well and they have studied mainly
reading and listening. However, they have not learned how to improve their reading and
listening skill. They have only read books or text book. There was not enough time to practice
listening. They also did not pay attention to reading and listening speed. In this thesis, we will
look at reading and listening fluency to find the difference and way to learning of reading and
listening effectively.
In Chapter One, we dealt with what is reading and listening fluency. At first, we saw
reading and listening aims. We could find what is reading and listening and why we study
them. Then, we looked at reading and listening fluency including difference, problems and
way to acquire their skill, carefully.
In Chapter Two, 40 subjects were given reading and listening test. They read and
listened to texts and took comprehension tests. This result of questionnaire helped us to
understand and know their reading speed and listening speed, difference between them and
how is this affected by text difficulty.
In Chapter Three, we presented the results of questionnaire. The results showed
reading speed was different from listening speed and text difficulty affected their score.
Comparing reading and listening comprehension, there was a difference between them and we
could find out the good point and bad point of them. They are ways of learning to improve
their ability.
1
Chapter One：Introduction
1.1 . Introduction
English is important to communicate and many people have learned English since
they were students. Most Japanese have learned English since they were in junior high school.
They have studied mainly reading and listening to take entrance examination, English
certificate examinations, TOEIC tests and so on. They have to study both reading and
listening to improve their English ability. However, there is difference between them.
Learners have their own reading speed. They can read texts in their own speed. However,
listening is constrained by time and meanings often change in stress, intonation, pitch and
volume and so on. Therefore, learners cannot listen to texts in their own speed. Most Japanese
people have studied mainly reading, so they are used to reading English text. They always use
textbooks in class.
However, they have not learned how to study listening. They have not also learned
how to read texts quickly. Nowadays there are a lot of listening materials, for example “Speed
Learning” (website, http://www.espritline.jp/) it is CD material and the contents of story are
focused on shopping and business and so on. People can also acquire listening, speaking,
dictation and shadowing skill.
If learners understand about the characteristics of reading and listening correctly,
they can improve their English skill more and more. They have to know about reading and
listening’s characteristics at first. There are both good points and bad points too. If people see
the difference between their ability and speed of reading and listening, they could improve
English skill and understand how important each of them is. In this thesis, it is focused on
what reading and listening speed are, how to acquire their skill, problems and difference by
learners.
2
1.2 The aims of Reading and listening
1.2.1 Introduction
In this section, we will look at the aims of reading and listening. We need to know
what reading and listening is and why we study them. If we know reading and listening, we
can improve their skill more and more.
1.2.2 Reading
There are a lot of ways to study reading. For example, reading books, news
magazines or papers, reading against the clock, reading aloud and so on. READ is a useful
guide. (The Extensive Reading Foundation, 2011)
Reading something quickly, and
Enjoyably with
Adequate Comprehension so the learners
Do not need a dictionary
Reading skill involves automatic word recognition, a large recognition vocabulary,
skilled grammatical processing and the formation of basic meaning proposition units for
reading comprehension. (Grabe, 2009)
Extensive reading means students read as much as possible, a variety of materials on
a wide range of topics is available, students select what they want to read, the purposes of the
reading are usually related to pleasure, information, and general understanding, reading is its
own reward, reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students,
reading is individual and silent, reading is usually faster rather than slower, teachers orient
students to the goals of the program and the teacher is the role model of a reader for students.
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(Day & Bamford, 1998)
1.2.3 Listening
The learning of listening usually involves listening to CD, TV, DVD, cassettes,
partners, listening while reading and so on. Nowadays, there are also a lot of listening
materials. For example, the website, Espritline, suggests people use “Speed Learning”, a
material of only listening to CD, people can study English without the textbooks and while
they are commuting and so on.
According to Waring (2006), Extensive listening involves listening to massive
amounts of text, text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly, with high levels of
comprehension, listening without being constrained by pre-set question or text and listening at
or below one’s comfortable fluent listening ability. People study listening
1) to improve our automaticity in recognizing spoken text,
2) to enjoy the listening,
3) to practice the listening skill and
4) to get knock on effects such as tuning into pronunciation and noticing intonation
patterns.
1.3 Reading and listening fluency
1.3.1 Introduction
In this section, we will look at reading and listening fluency. Above, we looked at
what reading and listening speed are. Secondly, we looked at difference of reading and
listening levels by learners. Thirdly, we looked at problems of reading and listening. Finally,
we looked at how to acquire reading and listening skill and improve their speed. Reading
fluency defines “a person reading at a reasonable reading rate” (Grabe, 2010), “the ability to
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read rapidly with ease and accuracy, and to read with appropriate expression and phrasing”
and “skills in rapid word recognition, rapid reading rate, extensive “exposure to print”(large
reading amounts), accuracy in comprehension, and incremental learning. (Grabe, 2009)
Listening fluency can be defined as the ability to recognize and understand words and phrases
quickly when hearing them. (Nation and Newton, 2009: 158)
1.3.2 Reading and listening speed
Reading speed is the ability to read texts rapidly, smoothly, easily and automatically.
Reading fluency is the ability to process text quickly not only at the alphabetic, word sentence
and discourse levels but the lexico-grammatical and background knowledge and so on. The
readers can stop and go back when they meet unknown words or cannot understand the
meaning. They can also control the speed and look up dictionary. In reading, they can pause,
reread parts of the text that they do not understand, and skip some of the words or sentences
or even a whole paragraph. (Buck 1995; Field 2003) However, when they read fast, they
cannot go back and look at the meaning in a dictionary. They have to continue reading and
guess the meaning. Reading speed helps learners to understand language fast and better.
Fluent reading has been characterized as a cornerstone of the development of overall language
skill. (Grabe, 2009)
According to Waring (Undated), listening is constrained by time and people cannot
stop and go back easily. Sounds and meanings change from speaker to speaker and because of
accents, background noise and so on. Meanings often change due to changes in stress,
intonation, pitch and volume and so on. Listeners cannot control the speed without special
recording equipment. They can do that at home, individually, but they cannot do that in the
class because they have to listen to same texts at the same time. Generally, listeners cannot
control the speed.
5
According to Waring (Undated), most Japanese people’s listening speed is much
slower than their reading speed. Their listening level is two levels lower (easier) than reading
level.
1.3.3 Difference by learners
The learner levels are Beginner, Elementary and Lower intermediate level. (Waring,
Undated) Beginner level students can read the books including the simplest grammar (no
past tenses and difficult constructions). Intermediate level student can read higher level books
containing grammar and vocabulary which are little harder. Lower intermediate level student
can understand and read more words and slightly harder vocabulary. Learners who can read
300 words per minute have a high comprehension rate. The reading rate (about 138 wpm) is
slow. A reasonable reading rate is between 250-300 WPM for natives and over 150 wpm for
non-natives. (Grabe, 2010)
According to Waring (Undated), building listening speed means understanding
almost everything listeners are listening to. There are three levels, a beginner level, an
intermediate and an advanced student. A beginner level student can listen to something with
very few unknown words and the simplest grammar. They can match the sounds and spelling.
An intermediate student can choose the listening text that has a wide range of vocabulary and
grammar. They can listen to long graded texts, easy songs and simplified lectures. Advanced
learners can listen to radio, songs and lots of natural conversation. The difficulty is not
difficulty of texts, it is of the listeners.
According to Norris (1995), there are two levels’ students, lower-level and high- level
student. Lower-level student may not recognize vocabulary and may miss its existence
entirely when they listen to informal natural speech. High-level students have high-level
English proficiency and can infer the meaning from the context even if they cannot catch
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some parts of connected speech. However, most Japanese university students cannot use the
ability of inferring meaning and predicting what language will be used. (Norris, 1993)
1.3.4 Problems of reading and listening learning
If the reading is difficult and learners have few chances to build reading speed and
fluency. In reading, it includes only the learner and a text. There is no aural re-enforcement as
learners cannot hear pronunciation. Most learners also do not know how to use pronunciation
dictionaries. (Waring, Undated)
People cannot go back and listen again easily. They have to listen to texts at the
speed of that tape, CD and so on. Their listening speed is slower than their reading speed, so it
takes a lot of time and learners get tired. They should listen to small sections at a time.
According to Zeng (2007), there are 10 listening problems. There are speaking rate,
distraction, unable to recognize words they knew, new vocabulary, missing subsequent input,
nervousness, sentence complexity, background knowledge, anxiety and frustration and
unfamiliar pronunciation. The most important source of listening problem is the fast rate of
speech. If the speed is too fast, the listeners cannot catch the words.
When learners listen to texts or a story, they have to pay attention to connected
speech. Connected speech can be defined as “spoken language when analyzed as continuous
sequence, as in normal utterances and conversations” (Crystal, 1980： 81) Connected speech
includes contraction, elision, assimilation, reduction and resyllabification.
Contraction (e.g., I’ve, they’ll, we’re) refers to “a way of showing the reduced
characteristics of spoken language in written language” (Brown & Brown, 2006, p.4)
Elision (e.g., in last night the /t/ of “last” is deleted) refers to “a process of
elimination of dropping of phonemes (vowels or consonants) that would be present in the
citation of a word or phrase” (Brown & Brown, 2006: 3) and most commonly occurs with /t/
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and /d/ at the end of words (Field, 2008).
Assimilation (e.g., in don’t you the /t/ + /j/ becomes /t∫u/) refers to “ a process
whereby one phenomenon is changed into another because of the influence of nearby
phenomena” (Brown & Brown, 2006 : 4).
Reduction (e.g., vowels in unstressed syllables are reduced to schwa /∂/:could →/k
∂d/) refers to “ a process that occurs in connected speech, in which phonemes of the language
are changed, minimized, or eliminated in order to facilitate pronunciation.” (Brown & Brown,
2006: 3).
Resyllabification (e.g., went →/when tin/) refers to “transferring a consonant from
the previous syllable” (Field, 2008: 144) It is natural to drop and add sounds when speaking.
Because of this, learners sound so different from when they are pronounced in isolation. For
example, “What is up?” may be reduced to “Sup?” where the question word “what” and the
vowel sound /i/ in ‘is’ are dropped. (Buck, 1995 and Field 2003)
Listening difficulty comes not only from not being able to catch the sounds or the
words but also from missing the point or important details of the spoken text. (Willy and
Thomas, 2010) Any increase in speech rate tends to result in a decrease in comprehension,
and when speech rate reaches a critical level. (Buck 1995; Field 2003)
1.3.5 How to acquire reading and listening skill
Learners need to meet words and grammar patterns many times. Reading is best
learned through reading”. (Adams, 1998:73) The reason why extensive reading is strong is
that it can improve students’ word recognition skills, vocabulary, reading comprehension,
fluency, and general language proficiency. In addition, they can also develop more positive
attitudes towards reading and language learning. (Adams, 1998) When learners read
extensively, they read very easy, enjoyable books to build their reading speed and fluency.
(Waring, Undated) Extensive reading can also improve vocabulary development. (Nation,
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2001: Pigada & Schmitt 2006) Extensive reading increases not only general reading ability
but also general motivation for English as a whole.
The difficulty of the texts depends on the learners, not the text itself. Therefore,
learners should read materials that they can enjoy and understand on their own. They have to
read a lot of these materials to find right materials. They have to choose a comfortable one. If
they read something too hard, they will not be able to read fast. If they can read a given level’s
texts smoothly and comfortably, they move up the next level. Therefore, they have to know
how to select books they can read well. According to Figure 1 (Waring, Undated), texts with
10% unknown words results in very low comprehension and poor fluency. Learners feel pain
when they are reading. If they understand from 90 to 98% words, it is good for learning new
things. However, the reading speed is slow and they have to look up words in the dictionary
quite frequently. If they understand over 98% words in the texts, they can read very fast,
fluently and enjoyable and their comprehension is high. Therefore, they have to choose texts
which know about above 98 % of the words. It is good for building reading speed.
Figure 1: Type of reading characterized by lexical density
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There are some ideas to help build reading fluency. Learners have to try to re-read 10
percent faster, read against the clock, race read their partner to a certain part of the book, read
for 10 minutes, then re-read the same section and try to go 20 percent further and record their
feelings of the book as they read and re-read the same story to see if their feelings are
different. (Waring, 2010)
Learners need top-down skills and bottom-up skills to acquire listening skill.
Top-down skills means “using background knowledge or previous knowledge of the situation,
context and topic to interpret meaning in order to enhance listening fluency”. (Norris, 1995:
47) bottom-up skill means “decoding the sounds of language into words, clauses, sentences
and using one’s knowledge of grammatical or syntactic rules to interpret meaning. (Norris,
1995: 47)
A beginner level student should learn the phonemic alphabet. (e.g. /a/ /p/ /j/) An
intermediate student should do repeated listening. Low-level students need to recognize
connected speech rapidly and accurately. Connected speech using songs is a useful way of
improving listening fluency. According to Newton and Newton (2009), learners should
incorporate meaning-focused repetitive activities in order to develop listening fluency.
According to Waring (Undated), it is a good idea to listen to the same texts again a few times,
so listening speed will increase. Most Japanese’s people’s listening speed is much slower than
their reading speed - often 2 levels lower than their reading level. The difficulty is not
difficulty of texts, it is of the listeners. Therefore, learners should choose the right materials. If
learners want to improve listening speed and ability, they have to listen to English at their
level every day. It is necessary to make it regular habit to do that.
There are some ideas to build listening fluency. Learners have to use the CD (2 levels
lower than reading level), one chapter of a story each week, listen and repeat (shadowing) and
study intonation and pronunciation on the CD. (Waring, 2010)
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1.4 Research questions
This chapter described the importance and fluency of reading and listening. We also
know facts that listening speed is slower than reading speed. However, we do not have data
and really know whether the fact is true. In addition, we do not know how text difficulty is
affected.
The research questions for this thesis are:
1. What’s the difference between listening and reading speed?
2. How is this affected by text difficulty?
1.5 Conclusion
This chapter introduced an overall outline of reading and listening and described
factors that improve reading and listening fluency.
Most Japanese people study mainly reading and listening to study for entrance
examination, TOEIC tests and English certificate examination and so on. They have to study
both of them. However, the benefit and way to learn is different. They have to know each
characteristic of them. The fluency is different from each person. They have own way to learn
and have to choose right materials. They should know their skill and the best way to learn.
In Chapter Two, we will look at the reading and listening speed and comprehension.
We can also know how the text difficulty is affected by different level’s text. It also helps us
to find the best way to study and choose right materials.
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Chapter Two: The Experimental data
2.1 Introduction
In Chapter One, we looked at the aims of reading and listening and reading and listening
fluency. We discussed what reading and listening fluency are, the difference by learner, the
problem of reading and listening and how to acquire reading and listening skill. Now, in
Chapter Two, we will look at learner’s reading and listening speed and ability in an
experiment.
2.2 The experiment
2.2.1 Introduction to experiment
The aim of this experiment was to compare listening speed with reading speed. The
subjects read and listened to texts and took comprehension tests in the experiments. Through
the experiments and results of test scores, we could see the difference between reading and
listening speed and how was this affected by text difficulty.
2.2.2 Method
1) Subjects
40 female Japanese were subjects in this experiment. They were at Notre Dame
Seishin University and in English department, 11 students were juniors and 29 students were
seniors. They had studied English for at least 8 or 9 years while they were junior high school,
high school and university.
2) Text design- the experiment
Subjects had to write name and year on the top page of the text booklet. They could not open
the next page until they finish reading and listening to CD. The experiment was designed to
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find out their speed and ability of reading and listening.
(a) Reading
Subjects read three different texts each at different levels within three minutes. Texts were Sk8
for Jake, Who’s Best and Do It (Group 1), Trouble at the Zoo, The Big Test and Love Online
(Group 2). All of them were easy texts. The texts levels are written as below. There were 3
levels of texts. (Level 2, 5 and 7) There were 3 different reading tests and 3 different listening
tests. The aim of using different level’s text was to find out how their speed and score were
affected by text difficulty. They were divided into the easiest, medium and hardest texts’ level.
We used six books published by Cengage Learning.
Table 1: The Reading texts
Level / Group
Group 1
Group 2
Easiest (Level 2)
Sk8 for Jake
Trouble at the Zoo
Medium (Level 5)
Who’s Best
The Big Test
Harder (Level 7)
Do It!
Love Online
The aim was to find out how much text they could read in 3 minutes.
(b) Listening
Subjects had to understand three stories by listening to CD. Group 1 listened to Trouble at the
Zoo, The Big Test and Love Online consecutively. Group 2 listened to Sk8 for Jake, Who’s
Best and Do It. It took about 15 minutes to finished listening to the texts. The time for each
text is written in Table 4.
Listening text was same as reading one. CD’s speed was comparatively slow and text was
easy. It takes a long time to listen to CD, but they could take notes. It helped them to
remember the story.
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Table 2: The Listening text
Level / Group
Group 1
Group 2
Easiest (Level 2)
Trouble at the Zoo
Sk8 for Jake
Medium (Level 5)
The Big Test
Who’s Best
Harder (Level 7)
Love Online
Do It!
Comprehension questions
Each text had comprehension questions to check for their understanding. There were 10 easy
questions on each comprehension tests’ page. Here are some examples of questions.
1. Where does Mr. Jenkins work?
2. Give the name of the zoo.
3. What did one of the boy see at first?
These questions including other ones are in the Appendix. There were a lot of easy questions.
If they could read and listen to the text correctly, they could answer. However, if they could
not understand the story, they were difficult questions. They wrote the answer on the right
side of a blank box within two minutes. The aim of writing answer was to find out how well
they really understand. The spelling was checked. The questionnaire is in the Appendix.
3) Procedure
There were 6 reading and listening texts and a total of 60 questions. At first, the subjects read
the text and after 3 minutes and they had to check where in the text they finished reading.
After that, they took a comprehension test. There were 3 different reading texts. Secondly,
they listened to the text. They were different text from each of their own reading texts. Then,
they also took comprehension tests. There were 3 different listening texts too. They could not
see the question page until CD ended, but they could take notes. They could not return the
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previous page. If they had been allowed to go back to the previous page, it would have
become easier to write a correct answer. They were divided into two groups, they took
different tests. Twenty subjects, seniors were group 1 and others, 11 juniors and 9 seniors
were group 2. Aim of dividing into two groups was confirm that ability was not a factor but
that the only variables in the test were the listening and reading scores. Group 1’s reading
texts and comprehension tests were the same as Group 2’s. If they had not been divided into
two groups, it would not have been clear that which ability is better.
All the students took about 30 minutes to read and listen to texts and answer the questions.
After tests, all the test books were collected. Table 3 shows the exact procedure.
Table 3: Procedure
Group 1
Group 2
1 Reading 1
Read Sk8 for Jake
Read Trouble at the zoo
2 Test
Take a test
Take a test
3 Reading 2
Read Who’s Best
Read The Big Test
4 Test
Take a test
Take a test
5 Reading 3
Read Do It!
Read Love Online
6 Test
Take a test
Take a test
7 Listening 1
Listen to Trouble at the zoo
Listen to Sk8 for Jake
8 Test
Take a test
Take a test
9 Listening 2
Listen to The Big Test
Listen to Who’s Best
10 Test
Take a test
Take a test
11 Listening 3
Listen to Love Online
Listen to Do It!
12 Test
Take a test
Take a test
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2.3. Results
2.3.1 Overall data
First, we will look at the reading speed data and scores. Second, we will look at the
listening speed data and scores. Finally we will compare the reading and listening speed and
skill.
(a) Reading speed and skill
Table 4 shows the average of reading speed by text. Total number of words read within 3
minutes was about 487 (the easiest one), 463 and 434 (the hardest one). The mean reading
speed was about 461. The highest number of words read by any subject was 915, the lowest
was 378 words. In case of Text 2, 924 words was the highest. The lowest number was 289
words. 892 words was the high score of Text 3. The lowest score was 219 words. They are
same age, but there is big difference of reading speed between them.
Table 5 shows the average of the 40 subjects’ reading speed of Texts 1, 2 and 3 per minute.
Table 4: Average of reading speeds by text
Text
R1
R2
R3
Average
Total number of words read
487.55
463.55
434.7
461.9
Highest speed
915
924
892
910.3
Lowest speed
378
289
219
295.3
within 3 minutes
Text 1 was the easiest text and Text 3 was the most difficult one. The average of Text1 (the
easiest one)’s Reading speed was about 162 words per one minute. The average of Text 2’s
Reading speed was about 154 words per one minute. The average of Text 3 (the hardest one)’s
Reading speed was about 144 words per one minute. The mean reading speed was 153.92.
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Table 5: Average of reading speeds per minute
Text
R1
R2
Words per minute
162.345 154.53
R3
Average
144.87
153.92
Comprehension scores
Table 6 shows each question’s score of reading.
Table 6: The percentage of correct answers
Group 1
Group 2
Question
Question
R1
R2
R3
number
R1
R2
R3
number
1
40%
95%
50%
1
75%
40%
80%
2
65%
85%
100%
2
15%
50%
75%
3
40%
20%
90%
3
80%
75%
65%
4
50%
65%
90%
4
30%
55%
60%
5
50%
30%
85%
5
60%
65%
35%
6
55%
25%
70%
6
60%
30%
55%
7
40%
75%
50%
7
35%
25%
35%
8
20%
35%
35%
8
20%
15%
10%
9
10%
15%
25%
9
10%
5%
15%
10
10%
5%
5%
10
30%
20%
0%
Average
38%
45%
57%
Average
41.50%
38%
43%
In group 1, 20 subjects, all of them could answer number 2 of reading 3. In Group 1, the
percentage of correct answers was 38% (R1, the easiest one), 45% (R2) and 57% (R3, the
hardest one). In Group 2, it was 41.5 % (R1), 38% (R2) and 43% (R3). The average
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percentage of correct answers was raised when the text levels were raised. These data are in
the following table.
(b) Listening speed and skill
The subjects could not adjust their listening speed because they could only listen to
the CD and take notes therefore, their listening speed was constant. Even if they could not
catch the meaning and understand the story, they could not listen to CD again. Table 7 shows
the text’s length and time they listened to. The length was 426 words (L1, the easiest one),
446 words (L2) and 407 words (L3, the hardest one). The time was 4 minutes and 45 seconds
(L1), 5 minutes and 16 seconds (L2) and 4 minutes and 41 seconds (L3). In case of group 2,
the length was 429 (L1), 482 (L2) and 467 (L3), the time was 5 minutes and 5 seconds (L1), 4
minutes and 25 seconds (L2) and 4 minutes (L3). In one minute, the speed was 89.7 words
(L1), 84.8 words (L2) and 87 words (L3). Group 2, the speed was 84.4 words (L1), 109.5
words (L2) and 116.8 words (L3).
Table 7: listening length and time
Group 1
Length
Time
Words per
Group 2
Length
Time
minute
Listening
426
Text 1
Listening
Text 3
89.7
45 seconds
446
Text 2
Listening
4minutes
5 minutes
16 seconds
407
4 minutes
41 seconds
minute
Listening
429
Text 1
84.8
Listening
Listening
5 minutes
84.4
5 seconds
482
Text 2
87
Words per
4 minutes
109.5
25 seconds
467
4 minutes
116.8
Text 3
Table 8 shows the data for listening. Group 1, the average percentage of correct
answers was 60.5% (L1, the easiest one), 54% (L2) and 53% (L3, the difficult one). The
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higher the percentage of correct answers was, the more difficult the texts were. Group 2, it
was 48% (L1), 39.5% (L2) and 48% (L3). L3’s percentage was same as L1’s one, but the
result was comparatively same as Group 1. The percentage was also raised when the texts’
level was easy.
Table 8: The percentage of correct answers on the Listening Comprehension questions
Group 1
Group 2
Question L1
L2
L3
number
Question L1
L2
L3
number
1
90%
35%
70%
1
50%
80%
25%
2
60%
60%
70%
2
75%
85%
75%
3
65%
90%
70%
3
70%
20%
75%
4
45%
80%
65%
4
75%
50%
55%
5
55%
85%
50%
5
60%
25%
50%
6
40%
60%
65%
6
65%
20%
35%
7
60%
10%
25%
7
40%
50%
60%
8
25%
25%
35%
8
15%
40%
35%
9
80%
60%
55%
9
15%
5%
40%
10
85%
35%
25%
10
15%
20%
30%
Average
60.5% 54%
53%
Average
48%
39.5%
48%
(c) Reading and listening
Table 9 shows the reading and listening mean score. The average of Text 1 (the easiest one)
was 4, reading 2’s score was 4.25 and Reading 3 (the hardest one)’s score was 5.125. The
better score was, the more difficult the texts were. The highest score was 9 (R1), 7 (R2) and 9.
19
The lowest score was 0 (R1), 1 (R2) and 1 (R3). The Listening Comprehension test’s scores
were high. The average score was 5.5 (L1, the easiest one), 4.5 (L2) and 4.9 (L3, the hardest
one). Comparatively, the worse the subject’s scores were, the more difficult the texts were and
the faster the CD’s speed. The highest score was 10 (L1), 7 (L2) and 10 (L3). The lowest
score was 2 (L1), 1 (L2) and 1 (L3). All subjects’ score of reading and listening are in
Appendix. Comparing Reading 3 with Listening 3, the number of reading test’s correct
answer was higher than the listening one. However, in case of Text 1 and 2, the Listening
Comprehension test’s score was higher than reading one. Reading average score was 4.46 and
listening average score was 5.02. Through this data, we could find out that their listening
score was higher than their reading score.
Table 10 shows Group 1 and 2’s Reading and Listening Speed and Comprehension.
Listening and Reading speed was per minute.
Table 9: Reading and listening mean score
Text 1
Text2
Text3
Average
Reading
4.00
4.25
5.13
4.46
Listening
5.50
4.58
4.98
5.02
Table 10: Comparing reading with listening
Group 1
Group 2
Easiest Middle Hardest Easiest Middle Hardest
Listening Speed
89.7
84.8
Reading Speed
165.72 155.88
87
84.4
109.5
116.8
149.61
158.97 153.18
140.13
Listening Comprehension 6.25
5.35
5.25
4.75
3.8
4.7
Reading Comprehension
4.7
6
4.2
3.8
4.25
3.8
2.4. Summary
20
In this chapter, we saw the data from reading and listening test’s results. Through the data, we
could find out how fast they can read in one minute and understand story. 3 different level’s
text helped us to find out how was they affected by text difficulty. We can also compare
reading with listening speed and skill by using data we could get. In Chapter 3, we will
discuss the result.
21
Chapter Three: Discussion of the experiment
3.1 Introduction
In Chapter One, we looked at the importance of reading and listening, fluency and
the way to improve their skill. In Chapter 2, we saw the learners’ reading and listening speed
and ability from data of reading and listening test’s result. In Chapter 3, we will look at the
results carefully.
3.2 Summary of the results
In Chapter 2, there were interesting results about the reading and listening speed and
comprehension. For example, the highest reading speed was 910 and the lowest score was 295.
There was a big difference between subjects who could read a lot of words per a minute and
subjects who could not read fast. For example, subjects’ reading mean score was 4.46 and
listening mean score was 5.02. Listening comprehension score was higher than reading
comprehension score. It was also an interesting result.
In addition, however, there are also results which we expected. We will look at the
results of the subjects’ reading and listening speed and tests in the next section.
3.3 Detailed discussion of the results
In this section, the results of subjects’ reading and listening speed and comprehension
will be discussed, and we will answer to two research questions at last.
3.3.1 Analysis of the result of the reading and listening speed
1. Reading speed
In this experiment, subjects read texts in three minutes. Reading speed means words
they could read in three minutes. On average, subjects could read 461.9 words in three
22
minutes. The average of Text 1(the easiest one)’s Reading speed was 487.55 words, Text 2’s
Reading speed was 463.55 words and Text 3 (the hardest one)’s Reading speed was 461.9
words in three minutes. The average of Text 1’s Reading speed was 162 words, Text 2’s
Reading speed was 154 words and Text 3’s Reading score was 144. The slower the reading
speed was, the more difficult the reading text was. It was the result we expected. If the text is
difficult and they meet a lot of unknown words, they had to guess the meaning and it took a
long time to read the texts. Therefore, the reading speed was slow when the text difficulty was
raised. Their average reading speed was 153.92 per minute. As was mentioned in Chapter One,
the reading rate (about 138 wpm) is slow. Therefore, 153.92 words were a normal average
score. The highest reading speed in three minutes was 915 (Reading Text1), 924 (R2) and 892
(R3) words. On the contrary, the lowest one was 378 (R1), 289 (R2) and 219 (R3) words.
Subjects are almost the same age and they belong to the same department, but there were big
difference between the highest reading speed and the lowest one. Subjects who read about 300
words per one minute were a high comprehension rate.
2. Listening speed
Listening speed was same because all of subjects listened to the same CD and they
could not stop, go back and adjust listening speed. It took about 5 minutes to listen to each
CD. It took a long time to listen to texts. The listening speed of Listening 1(the easiest one)
was 89.7 words, Listening 2 was 84.8 and Listening 3 was 87 words per a minute (Group 1).
The listening speed of Listening 1 was 84.4 words, Listening 2 was 109.5 words and
Listening 3 was 116.8 words per a minute (Group 2). In case of Group 2’s listening CD, the
faster the listening speed was, the more difficult the texts were. It means that subjects felt that
listening speed was fast if the listening texts’ level was high. They had to listen to a lot more
difficult words in the texts per minute than the easy texts. Even if they did not catch the words,
they could not stop the CD. However, they could take notes. In case of the difficult texts, they
23
had to write down a lot of information.
3.3.2 Analysis of the result of their comprehension score
1. Reading comprehension
The mean reading comprehension score was 4 (Reading Text 1, the easiest texts),
4.25 (Reading Text 2) and 5.13 (Reading Text 3, the hardest one). The full score was 10. The
better the score was, the more difficult the texts were. We expected that the worse the score
was, the more difficult the texts were because they had to read a lot of words and grammar
was difficult in case of difficult reading texts. Therefore, it was an interesting result. We
expect that they were used to answering questions and they could know the question form, so
the better the score was, the more difficult the texts were.
We will look at questions which subjects wrote carefully.
In Group 1
Reading 1:
Sk8 for Jake (the easiest text)
The average percentage of correct answers was 38%. The highest percentage of
correct answer was 65%, question number 2. The question was “Who jumped over the bench
with her skateboard?” It was the easy question, so many subjects could remember the name
and write the correct answer. The lowest percentage of correct answer was 10%, question
number 9 and 10. The questions were “Give the number of the main characters.” and “What
did Mr. Walker suggest?” In case of the question number 9, subjects had to 3 main characters’
name. If they write only one or two names, it could not add their score, it was no point. Some
subjects misspelled it. It also got no score. In case of question number 10, they had to write
long sentences. They did not have a long time, so they had to write it fast. Therefore, their
comprehension scores of number 9 and 10 were low.
24
Reading 2: Who’s Best
The average percentage of correct answer was 45%. The highest percentage of
correct answer was 95%, for question number 1. The question was “What did Kate lose?” The
answer was “money”. The conversation with Kate and Scott happened at the beginning of the
story and it was easy question, so 95% of subjects could answer this question. On the contrary,
the lowest percentage of correct answer was 5%, question number 10. The question was
“Why did Gemma say that Kate was lucky.” They had to read at least 400 words to answer
this question and they had to understand the story correctly. Therefore, this question’s correct
answer percentage was lowest.
Reading 3: Do It! (the hardest book)
The average percentage of correct answer was 57%. All of subjects could answer the
question, “What was class playing?” On the contrary, only 5% of subjects could answer the
question of number 10, “What did Kenji tell the answer to Ryan”. The answer was “The
answer is 257.” It looks easy answer, but subjects had to remember the number, 257.
Therefore, a few subjects could answer the question.
In Group 2
Reading 1: Trouble at the Zoo (the easiest text)
The average of percentage of correct answers was 41.5 %. The highest percentage of
correct answers was 80%, question number 3. The question was “What did one of the boy see
at first?” There was also the question “What did they see next?” This question’s
comprehension score was lower than question number 3. Subjects could remember the former
question, but it was difficult to remember the latter one. The lowest percentage of correct
answer was 10%, question number 9. The question was “Who picked up baby?” It looks easy
25
question, but there were a lot of name in this story. Therefore, many subjects were confused
and wrote wrong name.
Reading 2: The Big Test
The average percentage of correct answer was 38%. The highest percentage of
correct answers was 75 %, question number 3. The question was “Where were they studying?”
This answer was “library” Surprisingly, some subjects wrote the wrong spelling, for example,
“liburary” They had to write answer fast, so some of them misspelled it. If they had not
written wrong spelling, this question’s percentage of correct answer would have been higher.
The lowest percentage of correct answers was 5 %, question number 9. The question was
“Who are were studying in the library?” They had to write two people’s name. 55% of
subjects could answer the question, “Who weren’t studying in the library?” The former
question’s name did not appear often, but the latter’s one often appeared. Therefore, many of
them could not answer question number 9.
Reading 3: Love Online (the hardest text)
The average percentage of correct answers was 43%. The highest percentage of
correct answers was 80%, question number 1. The question was “Who liked Sarah?” On the
contrary, none of them answer question number 10, “Who picked up Sarah’s books?” These
were questions of giving name and were easy, but they had to read at least 480 words to
answer this question. Therefore, the percentage of correct answers for number 10 was lower
than number 1.
They could answer simple questions, but a lot of them could not answer complex
questions which they had to write long sentences. The questions of giving name of characters
were also low scores. They often wrote the wrong spelling and completely different names. It
26
means that they did not pay attention to people’s names much. Texts were easy, so they could
understand the story easily, but there were some questions and words they could not
remember.
2. Listening comprehension
The mean listening comprehension score was 5.50 (Listening Text 1, the easiest
texts), 4.58 (Listening 2) and 4.98 (Listening 3, the hardest one). The lower the
comprehension score was, the more difficult the texts were. It was a result which was
expected. If the texts are difficult, the comprehension rate was low.
In Group 1
Listening 1: Trouble at the Zoo (the easiest texts)
The average percentage of correct answers was 60.5%. The comprehension rate was
high. The highest percentage of correct answers was 90%, question number 1. The question
was “Where does Mr. Jenkins work?” The lowest percentage of correct answers was 25%,
question number 8. The answer was “Give the name of baby kangaroo.” Subjects had to
concentrate on listening for a long time to answer this question. They also had to listen to very
carefully because they could not go back and stop CD.
Listening 2: The Big Test
The average percentage of correct answers was 54%. The highest percentage of
correct answers was 90%, for question number 3. The question was “Where were they
studying?” The lowest percentage of correct answer was 10%, question number 7. The
question was “What did Steve put into the back of the computer?” The answer was
“transmitter”. 5 subjects wrote it “transmeter”. They knew the answer and understood the
story. However, they only listened to CD and they could not check the spell, so they wrote the
27
wrong spelling.
Listening 3: Love Online (the hardest text)
The average percentage of correct answer was 53%. The highest percentage of
correct answers was 70%, for question number 1, 2 and 3. These questions were “Who liked
Sarah?”, “Why can’t Sarah have lunch with Scott?” and “What day is it tomorrow?” The
lowest percentage of correct answers was 25%, question number 7. The question was “What
did Scott do against Ji-Sung. The next question was “What did Ji-Sung do against Scott?”
They were confused and they had to understand story correctly.
In Group 2
Listening 1: Sk8 for Jake (the easiest text)
The average percentage of correct answers was 48%. The highest percentage of
correct answer was 75% for question number 2 and 4. The lowest percentage of correct
answers was 15%, question number 8, 9 and 10. They had to continue to concentrate on
listening and these questions were complex, so these questions’ had low comprehension
scores.
Listening 2: Who’s Best
The average percentage of correct answers was 39.5%. The highest percentage of
correct answer was 85%, question number 2. The question was “Give the name of the café.”
The lowest percentage of correct answer was 5%, question number 9. The question was “Why
did Scott get angry?” Only one subject could answer the question and only three subjects
wrote the answer including the wrong answer. It means that they could not understand the end
of the story well. Therefore, very few people could answer this question.
28
Listening 3: Do It! (the hardest book)
The average percentage of correct answers was 48%. The highest percentage of
correct answers was 75%, for question number 2 and 3. These were simple questions. The
lowest percentage of correct answers was 25%, question number 1. It was also a simple
question, but they did not care about the time much. Number 9 was a long question, “What
was Ryan’s lie?” However, the percentage of this question’s correct answer was 40 percent.
In listening, subjects could answer long question and understand the story correctly.
However, if it was a simple question, they could not answer it. Even if they did not catch the
words, they could not go back and stop the CD. They sometimes wrote the wrong spelling.
They could not confirm the spell because they were only listening to CD without the text
book.
3.3.3 Comparing reading with listening speed and ability
1. Comparing reading with listening speed
As we mentioned, the reading speed was different for each person, but the listening
speed was the same because the time was constrained by the CD. On average, subjects could
read 162 words (R1), 154 words (R2) and 144 words (R3) in one minute. On the contrary, the
listening speed was 103 and 82 words (L1), 92 and 124 words (L2) and 95 and 107 words
(L3) in one minute. Comparing Reading 1 with Listening 1, 100% of the subjects could read
faster than they could listen to. In the case of comparing Reading 2 with Listening 2, only 3
subjects’ reading speed was slower than their listening speed. 92.5% of subjects’ reading
speed was faster than listening speed. 7 subjects’ listening speed faster than reading speed to
compare reading 3 with Listening 3. 82.5% of subjects could read texts faster than listening.
Through this data, we could find out that their reading speed was faster than their listening
speed.
29
2. Comparing reading with listening comprehension
The reading average score was 4.46 and listening average score was 5.02. Listening
score was higher than reading score. It was interesting result. It was expected that listening is
more difficult than reading because listening is constrained on time and we cannot stop and go
back. We expected that reading score was higher than listening score because most Japanese
study reading much than listening in school. For example, we have studied grammar, read text
books and so on. There were a few chances to study listening in school, so it was interesting
result. However, some subjects’ listening comprehension score were lower than reading
comprehension score. Some subjects’ were good at reading. Most of them could answer only
one or two questions of listening. Therefore, subjects could listen to texts almost perfectly and
got good listening scores. On the contrary, if the subjects could not understand the story or
catch sounds correctly they did not get a good score. In the case of listening, they could not go
back and confirm the meaning or contents of story if they could not catch sounds and
understand. It means that once they could not understand the meaning, they did not
understand whole meaning of the story.
Group 1’s reading text was same as Group 2’s listening text and Group 1‘s listening
text was the same as Group2’s reading text. The text and the questionnaire was the same, but
their score was different. Only one subject of Group 1 could answer question number 10 of
reading 2, but 4 subjects could answer this question when listening. In case of reading, none
of them could answer the question “What did Kenji tell the answer to Ryan?” but 5 people
could answer this question when listening. The listening question with a low percentage of
correct answers was also bad in the case of reading. Subjects could take notes, so notes they
wrote helped them to remember the story. Therefore, as we see, we could find out the
listening score was better than the reading score probably because the listening speed was
50% slower than the reading text.
30
3.4 Answering the research questions
1. What’s the difference between listening and reading speed?
The subjects’ listening speed was the same because they listened to the same CD and
they could not go back and stop. Comparing Listening text 1 (the easiest one) with Reading
text 1 (the easiest one), 100% of subjects’ reading speed was faster than their listening speed.
When the texts level rose, some of them could not read texts faster than listening speed.
However, almost all of the subjects’ reading speed was faster than their listening speed.
2. How is this affected by text difficulty?
In reading, the slower the subject’s reading speed was, the more difficult the texts
were. In addition, the better the comprehension score was, the more difficult the texts were. In
listening, the worse the comprehension score was, the more difficult the texts were.
3.5 Implications
According to the results of the test, their reading speed was faster than listening
speed. Therefore, when they have to study in short time, reading learning is good. Listening
comprehension is better than reading. However, when listening, many subjects misspelled and
completely different name. They could not go back and stop the CD, so when they have to
remember the words, only listening is not good. They have to check the written words and
spell. In reading, they had to read fast and they could not understand the story easily.
Therefore, if they want to learn sentences or understand the story, only reading is not good.
Thus there are good and bad points of both reading and listening. It is good to study both of
them. We have to know about characteristics of them well.
31
3.6 Limitations of the questionnaire
We could get some good results from these data, but there were some limitations of
the study. First, all the subjects belong to English department. This experiment needed to
more subjects who do not belong to English department and study English often. Therefore,
we need to collect more data from for different subjects.
Secondly, all of the subjects were female. We need to know reading and listening
fluency and ability of male. If we get the data of male, we also can compare male reading and
listening fluency with female one.
Thirdly, in Group 1 there were no juniors and in Group 2, 11 junior students took this
test. Therefore, we need to divide them into two groups.
3.7 Further research
Through the experiments, we could see the learner’s reading and listening speed and
comprehension. Considering the results, we could think of more possibilities of some research
in the future. For example, we could give questionnaire to subjects. The questionnaire
includes question that “What do you do to improve reading speed?” “How often do you read
books in a week or listen to English CD?” “What kind of things do you pay attention to when
you are reading or listening?” “How do you study listening?” Through this questionnaire, we
could have found difference of way to study reading and listening between subjects who have
high reading speed and reading and listening comprehension and low ones.
3.8 Conclusion
From this experiment, it can be said that the students comparatively have good
reading and listening fluency. Their average reading speed was not slow, but there is a big
difference between students who have high reading speed and students who cannot read texts
32
fast. Reading speed is also affected by text difficulty. The more difficult the texts were the
slower the reading speed was. We got interesting results from the reading comprehension data.
We expected that if the texts levels were raised, their comprehension rate was low. However,
the more difficult the texts were, the better their reading score was. Listening speed was the
same because they listened to the same CD. Listening speed was slower than reading speed.
For almost all of the students’ reading speed was faster than listening speed as expected. The
more difficult the texts were, the lower listening comprehension was. If people listen to
difficult texts, they cannot understand it easily.
When reading, students can read many times and if they cannot understand and they
meet unknown words, they can go back easily and guess the meaning. However, in listening,
they cannot do that. Many subjects wrote the wrong spelling and completely incorrect names.
In this experiment, they had to read fast, so they could not go back so often. Therefore, they
could answer simple questions, but some of them could not understand and remember the
story.
Many Japanese people have learned mainly reading and listening. However, they
have learned how to improve and get good reading and listening fluency. In this experiment,
we could find out reading speed was different by each subjects, the texts difficulty affected
reading and listening fluency and their listening fluency is better than reading one. We have to
know about reading and listening fluency well to improve them.
33
References
Carreira Matsuzaki J. Undated. How can we enhance EFL learner’s listening fluency?
Teaching connected speech to Japanese university students using songs.
Grabe, W. 2010. Fluency in reading-Thirty-five years later. Cambridge University Press.
Retrieved undated, from http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl
Renandya, W. and Farrell, T. S.C. 2010. ‘Teacher, the tape is too fast!’ Extensive listening in
ELT. Oxford University Press. Retrieved undated, from http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/
Waring. R. Undated. Building Fluency with Extensive Reading.
Waring. R. 2008. ER Scale. Retrieved undated, from
http://www.robwaring.org/er/scale/rw_scale.htm
Waring, R. 2012 Starting Extensive Listening. Retrieved undated, from
http://www.robwaring.org/el/starting_extensive_listening.htm
Websites
2012. Espritline Inc. Accessed November 6, 2012
< http://www.espritline.jp/>
34
Appendices
Reading speed, words subjects’ could read in three minutes and one minute
Group1
R1
R2
R3
words
wpm
words
wpm
words
wpm
393
131
408
136
346
115.3
393
131
454
151.3
367
122.3
610
203.3
616
205.3
663
221
411
137
414
138
351
117
523
174.3
435
145
447
149
381
127
369
123
290
96.6
381
127
327
109
280
93.3
504
168
405
135
486
162
337
112.3
313
104.3
219
73
582
194
525
175
418
139.3
499
163.3
501
167
424
141.3
394
131.3
319
106.3
345
115
546
182
525
175
486
162
915
305
924
308
892
297.3
655
218.3
482
160.6
527
175.6
378
126
289
96.3
288
96
518
172.6
464
154.6
496
165.3
627
209
650
216.6
606
202
477
159
459
153
509
169.6
429
143
475
158.3
538
179.3
35
Group 2
430
143.3
462
154
549
183
609
203
526
175.3
513
171
562
187.3
567
189
429
143
430
143.3
310
103.3
237
79
426
142
365
121.6
312
104
499
163.3
467
155.6
435
145
365
121.6
401
133.6
388
129.3
365
121.6
369
123
338
112.6
442
147.3
440
146.6
407
135.6
502
167.3
415
138.3
320
106.6
419
139.6
456
152
395
131.6
538
179.3
380
126.6
289
96.3
426
142
440
146.6
529
176.3
570
190
546
182
539
179.6
640
213.3
638
212.6
578
192.6
517
172.3
533
177.6
550
183.3
439
146.3
484
161.6
416
138.6
352
117.3
388
129.3
300
100
567
189
525
175
479
159.6
451
150.3
480
160
407
135.6
487.55
162.345
463.65
154.53
434.7
144.87
36
Reading comprehension score
Group 1
Group 2
R1
R2
R3
R1
R2
R3
4
5
6
2
2
5
4
5
5
3
1
3
5
6
6
6
5
5
3
5
5
3
1
3
6
6
8
5
4
3
2
3
5
3
3
3
3
3
4
5
3
7
3
4
7
3
4
4
5
3
5
3
3
6
7
6
7
1
3
1
2
4
4
3
3
6
2
4
5
2
2
1
7
5
6
6
6
7
3
5
8
8
7
6
2
6
7
9
6
5
3
3
6
6
5
4
3
5
6
7
6
4
3
6
9
4
4
3
5
4
5
0
3
2
4
6
6
5
5
7
4 (R1)
4.25 (R2)
5.125 (R3)
37
Listening comprehension score
Group 1
Group 2
L1
L2
L3
L1
L2
L3
6
6
4
7
2
2
5
6
6
6
6
8
6
6
6
7
5
10
8
7
6
4
2
5
6
6
5
5
2
4
6
5
2
4
3
4
5
4
3
3
4
5
8
5
6
4
5
5
4
3
4
2
6
7
8
7
9
3
2
2
4
4
4
5
3
2
6
5
5
2
3
2
8
7
9
5
5
4
10
7
9
8
7
9
4
1
1
9
5
7
5
3
1
5
5
4
6
6
7
4
3
3
8
7
8
2
2
4
6
5
6
3
2
1
6
7
4
7
4
6
5.5 (L1)
4.575 (L2)
4.975 (L3)
38
Appendix 2: Reading and listening questionnaire
Questionnaire
Group
Text
1
R1
"Look at me," says John. "I'm flying!" John is jumping with his skateboard. John, Eric, and
Yoko are skating in the park. They are good skateboarders. Wow, John, that’s great, says Eric.
Watch this, says Yoko. She jumps over the bench with her skateboard.
A man comes to them. He is Mr. Walker and he works in the park. Mr. Walker is angry. “Stop
that!” he says. “Do not play on the benches!” Yoko says, “But we like skating here, Mr.
Walker.” Mr. Walker says, “The benches are for people, not for skateboards. No skating here.
Go away.”
Yoko, John, and Eric are in town. They have their skateboards, but they are not happy. They
want to skate in the park. Yoko sees a poster. She runs to it. “Hey!” says Yoko. “Come and
look at this!” Eric and John go over to Yoko.
She shows them the poster. “Wow!” they say. “Look, it’s Jake Montoya and his Skate Stage!”
says John.
Eric says, “They’re coming here to Bayview Park. That’s great!”
“Wow, Jake Montoya!” says Yoko. He’s the number one skateboarder in the world!”
Eric says, “Let’s go. Let’s go and buy the tickets today.”
It is the big day! Jake Montoya’s men and their truck come. The men make the skate
stage.
39
“Look at that,” says John. He’s looking at the skate stage. “I want to skate on that.” Yoko says,
“I want a skate park like this here in Bayview.” “But where’s Jake Montoya?” asks John.
Yoko says, “I don’t know.”
Yoko asks Mr. Walker, “Where’s Jake Montoya? Is he here?” Mr. Walker says, “No. He’s late.
The show starts at one o’clock.” They look up the street. They do not see Jake.
“Look at the time,” says Mr. Walker. “Where is he?” Mr. Walker is not happy. He is worried.
Jake is late.
A man is talking on the phone. “Oh no!” he says. “Really? Oh, okay. Bye.” “Where’s Jake
now?” asks his friend. The man says, “Jake’s late. He’s coming at two o’clock.” Mr. Walker
is listening to the man. Now he is very worried. Many people have tickets for the show.
“What do I do now?” he thinks.
Yoko and Eric look at the skate stage. It says Jake Montoya Sk8 Stage.
“Wow! Look at that,” says Yoko. “I like Jake’s stage!”
Mr. Walker is listening to them. He knows they are good skateboarders. He has an idea.
Mr. Walker says, “Jake Montoya’s late. Do you want to go on Jake Montoya’s skate stage?”
he asks. “Oh yes, please,” they say. “Yes, please!”
Mr. Walker talks to the man. He tells the man about Eric, Yoko, and John.
Mr. Walker says, “Jake Montoya’s late. They want to go on the skate stage. They are very
good skateboarders. People can watch them. Is that okay?”
That’s a great idea!” says the man.
Yoko is very excited. “Great! Thanks!” she says.
“Let’s go! John, Eric, come on.”
40
They go to the skate stage. They start to skate. Everybody watches them.
“This is great!” says Yoko. “Yeah,” says Eric. “Really great!” John says, “Watch this!” He
jumps very high. People buy tickets for the Jake Montoya Show. Many people buy ice cream
and hot dogs, too.
Then Jake Montoya comes to the park. Yoko sees Jake. “Jake Montoya! Wow. Umm... Hi, Mr.
Montoya.” “Hi. Call me Jake,” he says. “Thanks for helping us.”
“You’re welcome, Jake,” says Eric. Jake says, “You’re very good skateboarders!”
“Do you want to skate with me?” asks Jake. “Yes, please,” say Eric and Yoko. They go on the
skate stage. Yoko, Eric, and John are very excited. They are skating with Jake Montoya! They
have a great time with Jake. He shows them many things. Everybody is very happy.
“Thanks for the show, Jake,” says Mr. Walker. “Really great.”
“Thanks again, everybody. You’re really good skateboarders,” says Jake. “Here are some
T-shirts for you.” John says, Wow! Thanks, Jake!” “I want to say thank you, too,” thinks Mr.
Walker. He has an idea.
Four weeks later, John, Eric, and Yoko come to Bayview Park. There is a new skate park. Eric
says, “Wow, look at that!” ‘This is for you and your friends,” says Mr. Walker to Yoko.
Thanks, Mr. Walker,” says Yoko. John says, Let’s go, everybody!”
“I want to try, too,” says Mr. Walker.
Don’t turn back please.
41
Comprehension test R1
Answer the questions. I’ll give you 2 minutes.
1. Who was jumping with skateboard?
(
2. Who jumped over the bench with her skateboard?
)
(
)
3. Where were they skating at first?
(
)
4. Where does Mr.Walker work?
(
)
5. What did Yoko find and see?
(
)
6. Who is Jake Montaya?
(
)
7. Where is he coming?
(
)
8. What time is he coming?
(
)
9. Give the name of the main characters.
10. What did Mr.Walker suggest?
(
・
)
・
(
)
Text R2
"I can't find my money," says a girl. "Please wait." She is buying a drink. She opens her bag
and looks for her money. But she cannot find it.
Many people are in The Lagoon café. Everybody is watching her. I’m sorry. It’s here in my
bag. I know,” she says. But she still cannot find it.
A boy speaks to her. “Excuse me,” he says. “Here, please take this.” He gives her some money.
“But . . . ,” says the girl. “I have some money. I just can’t find it.”
42
“It’s okay,” he says. “It’s only a drink. It’s only a little money.” The girl says, “Thank you. I’ll
give you the money later.”
“It’s okay. Are you new here?” he asks. The girl says, “Yes, I’m new here. I’m Kate.” “Hi, I’m
Scott,” he says. They both smile.
Scott takes Kate to meet his friends. “Gemma, Yoon-Hee,” he says. “This is Kate.” He smiles
at her. Kate sits down with Scott, Gemma and Yoon-Hee.
“When did you move to Bayview?” asks Yoon-Hee. “Yesterday. My family moved here from
New York,” she answers. Today is my first day here in Bayview.” They talk together for a
long time. They become friends.
“Sorry, Kate. I can’t stay. I must go now,” says Scott. “But . . . , umm . . . , Kate?” he asks
slowly. “What are you doing on Saturday afternoon?” Kate says, “I have my art class on
Saturday. Why?”
“Oh, I see,” he says. “Well, after the class do you want to see a movie?” he asks. “I can meet
you after your art class.” “Oh yes. Thanks, Scott,” she replies. “I’d really like that. I love
movies. Let’s meet at 3 o’clock.”
“Okay,” he says. “See you then. Goodbye.”
As Scott leaves, she thinks, “He’s really nice. I like him a lot!” He likes her very much,
too.Scott is not looking where he is going. He does not see a boy in a wheelchair.
“Hey! Look out!” says the boy. Scott does not hear the boy. He’s thinking about Kate.
Scott turns and falls over the boy’s wheelchair. “Ouch!” says the boy.
Scott is angry with him. “Jimmy! Be careful. Look where you’re going!” shouts Scott.
“But, you didn’t look where you’re going!” says Jimmy. “You were looking at that girl.”
“You shouldn’t be here in your wheelchair,” says Scott. “You’re dangerous. Go away!”
43
Jimmy says, “Scott, you fell over me!”
Kate sees everything. Why did Scott get angry with Jimmy? Scott wasn’t looking,” Kate
thinks. “Maybe he’s not so nice.”
Yoon-Hee talks to Kate. “Wow! Scott asked you to go to a movie, Kate!” she says excitedly.
“You’re so lucky,” says Gemma. “Scott’s really good looking.”
Kate says, “Yes, he’s very nice.” “Nice? Nice!!!” says Gemma. “He’s the best boy in
Bayview!” “I don’t know,” says Kate. She is thinking about Scott and Jimmy.
“Oh, Kate!” says Gemma. “All the girls want to go out with Scott!”
“He’s really nice and everything,” says Kate. “And he’s so good looking. But I don’t know
him very well.” Yoon-Hee asks, “What do you want to know, Kate? All the girls are in love
with him.” “Yes. They are, Kate,” says Gemma.
“Hmm . . .,” thinks Kate.
On Saturday afternoon, Kate goes to her art class.
“Good afternoon, everybody,” says the teacher. “My name’s Mrs. Chen. I’m going to teach
you to draw.” Mrs. Chen says, “Let’s start with drawing the face. Find a partner and sit
together. Please start.” “Hi,” says the boy next to Kate. “Do you want to work together?”
Kate smiles, “Hi, okay.”
“I’m new here,” she says.
“Really? I’m new, too. My name’s Adib,” he says. “I’m from Chicago. Where are you from?”
Kate says, “I’m Kate, I’m from New York. My family came here a week ago.”
“Really,” says Adib. “The best art galleries are in New York.”
Kate starts to draw Adib. They talk a lot. They talk about art and artists. Kate likes Adib.
44
“He knows a lot about art. He’s nice and very easy to talk to,” she thinks.
Mrs. Chen says, “Show your pictures to your partner, please.” Kate shows her picture to Adib.
“Do you like it?” she asks. “I’m sorry, the hair is strange.” “It’s a nice picture,” he replies.
“That’s okay, because my hair’s always strange.” Adib smiles. He shows Kate his drawing.
She looks at it for a long time.
“It’s really great,” she says. “You’re e a very good artist, Adib.”
“The eyes are very hard to draw,” says Adib. “But you have . . . , nice eyes . . . They are
easy to draw.”
Comprehension test R2
Answer the questions. I’ll give you 2 minutes.
1. What did Kate lose?
(
)
2. Who gave her the money?
(
)
3. Give the name of café.
(
)
4. When did Kate move to Bayview.
(
)
5. Why did she Kate move to Bayview?
(
)
6. Give the name of Kate’s friends.
(
)
7. Which class did she have on Saturday?
(
)
8. What time was she planning to meet with Scott?
9. Why did Scott get angry?
(
)
(
)
10. Why did Gemma say that Kate was lucky? (
)
45
Text R3
“Come on, Kenji!” said Ryan. “Take the ball.” Tuesday afternoon was gym class. The class
was playing basketball. Everybody was very excited. They were enjoying the game. Ryan
threw the ball to Kenji. Kenji was alone near the basket. He caught the ball. “Come on, Kenji.
Throw it!” said Ryan. “We can win the game.”
Kenji ran to the basket and jumped. It was a very easy basket. “We’re going to win,” thought
Ryan.
Kenji missed the basket! The ball didn’t go in. Kenji’s team was very angry with him. “Kenji!
What happened?” shouted Ryan. “That was terrible. You missed! And that was so easy!”
Kenji turned and shouted at Ryan. “I don’t care, Ryan,” said Kenji. “It’s only a game, and I
don’t like basketball!” “A game? Basketball is not only a game!” shouted Ryan. “I want to
win, Kenji.” “And I don’t want to win. I hate sports,” Kenji replied.
“I hate you, Kenji,” said Ryan angrily. “You only study. Books. Books. Books. You’re not
strong. You’re not fast. Nobody likes you, Kenji.” “I have friends, Ryan. And I hate you, too,”
shouted Kenji angrily. “Basketball! Soccer! Tennis! Sports are not important. I like smart
people, like Adib. He’s smarter than you. What’s 2 and 2, Ryan? Do you know? Can you write
your name?”
Mrs. Ho, the teacher, saw them shouting. She quickly ran to the boys.
“Stop it, boys!” said Mrs. Ho. “Stop shouting!” “But . . .” said Ryan. “He missed the basket.
He wanted to miss it.” “Kenji’s okay, Ryan,” said Mrs. Ho. “He just isn’t good at basketball.
So, stop it.” The two boys looked at each other angrily. “Now go to class. Gym class is
46
finished today,” said Mrs. Ho.
Later that afternoon it was science class. Ryan was not good at science. He was not good at
studying. He was only interested in sports. “Okay,” said Mrs. Ho. “What’s the answer to
Question 2 . . . , Ryan?” “Umm . . . ,” he said. “I . . . umm . . . just a minute, Mrs. Ho.” Mrs.
Ho asked, “Did you do your homework, Ryan?” “Yes, Mrs. Ho. I did my homework. I guess
it’s in my bag,” he lied.
“Then look in your bag again,” she said.
Ryan looked into his bag. But he didn’t have his homework. He didn’t do it. Ryan looked at
Kenji. He wanted the answer. “Give me the answer, Kenji,” said Ryan quietly. “Give me the
answer now! If you don’t, you’ll be in trouble after class.” Kenji wasn’t frightened of Ryan.
He looked at Ryan. Quietly, he said, “The answer is 257.” Ryan told the answer to Mrs. Ho.
“Mrs. Ho, the answer is 257.” Mrs. Ho saw Kenji give the answer to Ryan. Kenji watched
Ryan’s face.
She said, “No. That’s the wrong answer! You don’t know the answer because you didn’t do
your homework!” Ryan was very angry with Kenji and gave Kenji a dark look. “Kenji gave
me the wrong answer! He lied to me!” he thought. “He wants to get me into trouble! I hate
him!” Kenji smiled back at him. He was happy Ryan was in trouble with the teacher. “Kenji,”
said Mrs. Ho. “What’s the answer?” “It’s 42,” he said.
“That’s right,” she replied. “Kenji, you’re very smart. I want you to work with Ryan on the
science presentation. Ryan may learn something from you, and you could learn something
from him, too.”
“What?” thought Kenji. “I have to work with Ryan on a science presentation? I don’t want to work with
47
him. I hate him.”
Ryan thought the same thing. “Oh no! I have to work with Kenji.” The boys looked at each other. “But, Mrs.
Ho . . . !” said Kenji. “Be quiet, Kenji,” the teacher replied.
Mrs. Ho said, “You all have to make a science presentation with another person. You have to talk for 15
minutes in front of the class. You have one month to write your presentation.”
Ryan and Kenji looked at each other. I don’t want to work with you on any presentation,” said Kenji.
“Good,” said Ryan. “And I never want to work with you!”
Kenji replied, “I want to work with Adib. He’s smart.” “Okay, so we agree,” said Ryan. “Let’s go and tell
Mrs. Ho.” At the end of class, they went to see Mrs. Ho. They didn’t want to work together.
“Mrs. Ho,” said Kenji. I don’t want to do the presentation with Ryan.”
Ryan said, “And I don’t want to work with Kenji. We want to work with other people.”
Mrs. Ho replied, I’m sorry, but you must work together. Do your best.”
“But Mrs. Ho . . . ,” both the boys said together.
She was not listening. “No! I want you to work together. I’m sorry, you must do it!!”
Comprehension test R3
Answer the questions. I’ll give you 2 minutes.
1. When was gym class?
(
)
2. What was the class playing?
(
)
3. Who was alone near the basket?
4. Who was angry with him?
(
(
)
)
48
5. What was Kenji good at?
(
)
6. Who is the teacher?
(
)
7. Which class was there later that afternoon? (
)
8. What did Kenji forget to bring?
(
)
9. What was Ryan’s lie?
(
)
10. What did Kenji tell the answer to Ryan? (
)
Listening 1
Please listen to the CD for about 4 minutes. After that, please answer the questions. There are
3 different texts. You CANNOT see the question page until the CD ends.
You may take notes.
Comprehension test L1
1. Where does Mr.Jenkins work?
(
2. Give the name of the zoo.
(
)
)
3. What did one of the boy see at first?
(
)
4. Give the name of characters.
(
)
5. What did they see next?
(
)
6. What did he hit the cage with?
(
)
7. What did he give to the big old bear?
(
)
8. Give the name of the baby kangaroo.
(
)
9. Who picked up the baby?
(
)
10. Why was the big kangaroo angry with him? (
)
49
Comprehension test L2
1. Who asked “Are you ready for the test”?
(
)
2. What’s teacher’s name?
(
)
3. Where were they studying?
(
)
4. Who weren’t studying in the library?
(
)
5. Who hurt their legs?
(
6. Who weren’t studying for the test?
)
(
7. What did Steve put into the back of the computer?
)
(
)
8. Why did Steve meet Ryan?
(
)
9. Who were studying the library?
(
)
10. Why couldn’t Steve take Ryan to the school nurse? (
)
You may take notes.
Comprehension test L3
1. Who liked Sarah?
(
)
2. Why can’t Sarah have lunch with Scott? (
3. What day is it tomorrow?
)
(
4. Who did Sarah talk to?
)
(
5. What did Ji-Sung decide to ask Sarah tomorrow? (
6. What did Ji-Sung have?
)
)
(
)
7. What did Scott do against Ji-Sung? (
)
8. What did Ji-Sung do against Scott? (
)
9. Who came back in the room?
(
10. Who picked up Sarah’s books?
(
That’s all. Thank you very much!!!!!
Manami Kinoshita
50
)
)
Group 2
Text R1
“Welcome to Bayview Zoo,” says Mr. Jenkins. He works at the zoo.
Today, some students from Bayview High School are at Bayview Zoo.
“Have a good time at the zoo,” says Mr. Jenkins.
“But please look at this,” he says. He shows them a notice.
The boys and girls look around the zoo. One of the boys is Mike. He sees a lion.
“Look at that lion!” Mike says to his friend, Scott. Mike goes near the lion’s cage.
The lion makes a very loud noise at Mike.
Mike says to the lion, “Hey lion, I’m not scared of you!”
A girl watches Mike. She is very worried. Her name is Jenny.
Mr. Jenkins says, “Please do not go near these bears. They are dangerous.”
Mike does not listen to Mr. Jenkins. He picks up a stick.
Mike says to his friend, Scott, “Hey, Scott, watch this!”
He hits the cage with the stick. Now the bear is angry, too.
Mr. Jenkins sees Mike and says, “Stop! Don’t do that! Bears are dangerous.”
“Sorry, Mr. Jenkins,” says Mike. But he is smiling. He is not sorry.
Mike gives a sandwich to the big old bear. “Here you are, bears,” he says.
Mr. Jenkins sees Mike and says, “Stop that! Sandwiches are very bad for bears. Don’t give
food to the animals!”
“Sorry,” says Mike. But he is not sorry.
51
“Oh, it’s really small,” says Jenny’s friend, Sarah. She is looking at a baby kangaroo.
The baby kangaroo’s name is Joey.
I want to take a picture with him,” she says.
Mr. Jenkins says, “Yes, they’re small, but they’re very strong. Don’t go near them, please.”
“Kangaroos are not dangerous,” Mike says to Scott. “Look, it’s very small.”
Mr. Jenkins goes away. Mike goes over the fence. He picks up the baby kangaroo.
“Jenny, do you want a picture with Joey?” asks Mike.
“Stop, Mike, put him down. He doesn’t like it,” says Jenny.
Jenny goes over the fence to Mike and says, “Stop it!”
“Put him down, Mike,” says Jenny. “Put him down.”
Mike says, “It’s okay, Jenny. He’s okay with me.”
But Jenny is angry with Mike. “Give him to me. Now!” she says.
There is a big kangaroo. It is the baby kangaroo’s mother.
She looks at Mike.
The kangaroo’s mother comes to Mike and Jenny. She does not look happy.
“Look,” says Mike. “It’s a big kangaroo. Do you want a picture, Jenny?”
Mr. Jenkins sees Jenny and Mike near the kangaroos.
“Jenny! Mike!” he says. “The mother’s angry. You have her baby.”
The kangaroo comes very close to Mike and Jenny. She is very big. Very, very big.
Mike and Jenny are very worried and scared now.
52
“I’m scared, Mike. Help me,” says Jenny.
Mike is scared too. “Umm . . . Hello, Mrs. Kangaroo,” says Mike.
“How are you today?” Mike says.
“Umm . . . here, Jenny, you take Joey.” He gives the baby kangaroo to Jenny.
The mother kangaroo is very close. She looks down at Mike and Jenny. She is very, very
angry.
Mike looks at the mother kangaroo. The mother looks at her baby.
The big kangaroo makes a very loud noise at Mike.
Let’s go! Now! Run, Jenny!” he says.
Mr. Jenkins says, “Stop! No, don’t run! Wait there.”
Jenny does not run, but Mike runs to the gate. He goes through the gate and closes it.
Jenny is with the very angry kangaroo! She has its baby.
And the mother kangaroo wants her baby back!
“Help me, Mr. Jenkins!” she says.
Mr. Jenkins talks to Jenny.
“It’s okay, Jenny,” says Mr. Jenkins. “You can get out. I can help you.”
Jenny says, “I’m scared, Mr. Jenkins. What do I do?”
“Listen to me. Don’t run away. Put the baby kangaroo down, Jenny,” he says.
Don’t turn back please.
53
Comprehension test R1
Answer the questions. I’ll give you 2 minutes.
1. Where does Mr.Jenkins work? (
)
2. Give the name of the zoo. (
)
3. What did one of the boy see at first?
(
)
4. Give the name of characters. (
)
5. What did they see next? (
)
6. What did he hit the cage with? (
)
7. What did he give to the big old bear?
(
)
8. Give the name of the baby kangaroo.
(
)
9. Who picked up the baby? (
)
10. Why was the big kangaroo angry with him? (
Text R2
“Are you ready for the test?” asks Jenny.
Everybody is studying in the library for tomorrow’s test. Jenny and her boyfriend Alex are
studying hard. They are worried about the test.
“No, I’m not ready,” says Alex. “I hate tests!”
“Me too!” says Jenny. I’m not going to be ready. I can’t pass the test,” she says sadly.
54
)
“Steve, why aren’t you studying?” Alex asks. “Are you ready for the test?”
“Of course, I’m ready,” he says. “I’m not worried. It’ll be okay.”
Alex says, “But you aren’t studying! The test is tomorrow!”
“It’s okay, we aren’t worried,” says Ryan. “We can pass the test.”
“You’re not studying. How can you pass the test?” asks Alex. “Yes, how can you pass?” asks
Jenny. Ryan says, “It’s our secret! We’re not going to tell you.” “Yeah, it’s our secret,” says
Steve. They are smiling because they have a plan.
After lunch, Ryan and Steve are walking near Mr.Harris’s room. “Are you ready?” asks Steve.
“Yeah. Okay, let’s do it!” says Ryan. Ryan falls down near Mr. Harris’s room.
“Ouch, my leg, it hurts,” Ryan shouts. “I can’t move! My leg! Help! Help! Help!”
Steve is laughing. Ryan’s leg is not hurt.
Mr. Harris comes out of his room. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?” he asks.
Steve says to Mr. Harris, “Please help, Mr. Harris. Ryan’s hurt.”
Ryan says, “Mr. Harris, I hurt my leg. Please help me.”
“But your leg looks okay,” says Mr. Harris.
Ryan’s leg is not hurt. Steve and Ryan want Mr. Harris to leave his room.
Ryan says, “But Mr. Harris, my leg hurts. Please take me to the school nurse.”
Don’t worry, Ryan. It’s okay,” says Mr. Harris.
He speaks to Steve. “Steve, take Ryan to the school nurse, please. Quickly!” he says.
Sorry Mr. Harris, I can’t. I have class now,” Steve replies.
55
“Okay, Ryan. Come with me. I’ll take you,” says Mr. Harris. “Are you okay?”
“No, not really. It hurts,” says Ryan.
Mr. Harris takes Ryan to the school nurse.
Steve does not go to class. He watches Mr. Harris and Ryan. He is smiling.
Steve waits for them to leave. Then he looks around. He has a plan.
He does not see anybody. “Good,” he thinks. He goes into Mr. Harris’s room quietly.
He does not want anybody to see him.
“Good,” he thinks again. “The plan is working!”
Steve goes to the computer. He puts a transmitter into the back of the computer. The
transmitter turns red. “Good, it’s working,” he thinks. He smiles. “Our plan is working, too!”
Steve leaves the room quietly.
Later, Steve meets Ryan in the computer room.
“How’s your leg?” asks Steve. Ryan and Steve laugh. They know Ryan’s leg does not hurt.
“Mr. Harris doesn’t know. He thinks my leg hurts,” says Ryan.
“Good job, Ryan!” says Steve. “Did you put the transmitter in?” asks Ryan.
”Yeah, sure,” says Steve.
Ryan asks, “Did anybody see you go into his room?”
“No,” says Steve. “Great! Is it working?” Ryan asks.
Steve says, “Of course. See!” He shows Ryan the transmitter. Then he shows him the screen.
Mr. Harris is at the computer. The transmitter in the back of his computer is red, too. Now
Ryan and Steve can see Mr. Harris’s computer screen. Ryan and Steve both look at their
56
screen. Mr. Harris is writing tomorrow’s test. They can see Mr. Harris’s test on their computer.
“Look,” says Ryan. “There it is. It’s the test! The plan worked!”
Steve and Ryan smile. They now have the test. Ryan says, “Great job, Steve!”
“Let’s go to the library to find the answers,” says Ryan. “And we can make some money, too.”
Ryan and Steve go to the library. They find the answers for the test.
Ryan sees his friend, Mike. “Do you want the answers for tomorrow’s test?” he asks.
“Yeah, of course. How did you get the answers?” asks Mike.
Ryan says, “That’s our secret.” He shows the answers to Mike.
Mike asks, “What are the answers?”
Don’t turn back please.
Comprehension test R2
1. Who asked “Are you ready for the test”? (
)
2. What’s teacher’s name? (
)
3. Where were they studying? (
)
4. Who weren’t studying in the library? (
)
5. Who hurt their legs? (
)
6. Who weren’t studying for the test? (
)
7. What did Steve put into the back of the computer? (
)
8. Where did Steve meet Ryan?
(
)
57
9. Who were studying the library? (
)
10. Why couldn’t Steve take Ryan to the school nurse? (
)
Text R3
“Let’s have lunch,” said Scott to Sarah. Scott liked Sarah very much. Everybody liked Sarah.
“Sorry, I can’t,” she replied. “I’m having lunch with Yoko today.” Yoko was her best friend.
“Oh, okay,” he replied. I’ll see you later.” Sarah said, “Okay, bye.”
Scott watched her leave. “I really like her,” he thought. I’ll ask her to go to the Valentine’s
Day dance tomorrow.”
Scott saw Sarah talk to Ji-Sung. “Hi, Ji-Sung,” she said, smiling.
Scott watched them. ”Sarah likes Ji-Sung,” he thought.
“Hi, Sarah,” Ji-Sung said, smiling back. Ji-Sung really liked Sarah, too. “Where are you
going?” he asked. “I’m having lunch with Yoko,” she replied. “I’ll see you later.”
“Okay, bye,” said Ji-Sung. “Have a nice day.”
Ji-Sung watched Sarah leave. He liked her very much. ”I want her to be my girlfriend,” he
said to his friend, Kenji. “But, isn’t she going out with Scott?” asked Kenji.
Ji-Sung replied, “No, I think they’re just good friends. But I don’t care. I’ve decided to ask
her to the dance tomorrow. It’s Valentine’s Day.” Ji-Sung showed Kenji his Valentine’s Day
card for Sarah. “I’m going to give her this,” he said, smiling.
Scott heard Ji-Sung and Kenji talking about Sarah. He saw Ji-Sung’s Valentine’s Day card.
Scott went to Ji-Sung and asked, “Is that card for Sarah?”
“Yes,” Ji-Sung replied. “I’m going to ask her out to the dance tomorrow. Why?”
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“Sarah is mine!” Scott said. “You can’t give her that card. Sarah’s mine, do you understand?
I’m going to ask her out for tomorrow, not you.” Ji-Sung and Kenji were very surprised.
Ji-Sung said, “Don’t talk about Sarah like that, Scott.” Scott did not answer. He took the card
from Ji-Sung. “Hey, don’t touch that!” Ji-Sung shouted.
But Scott did not listen. He tore the card in half.
“Hey, that’s my card! That was important to me,” shouted Ji-Sung angrily. “Why did you do
that? That’s for Sarah!” “It’s not for Sarah now!” Scott said angrily. “I told you. Sarah’s mine.
Leave her alone, or you’ll be in big trouble.” Ji-Sung was very angry with Scott. He saw
Scott’s books on the table. Suddenly, he threw them on the floor.
Scott was very surprised. “Hey! Don’t do that!” said Scott. “You tore my card!” said Ji-Sung,
pointing at the card.
Sarah came back in the room. She saw the books on the floor. Scott quickly put the card
behind his back. “What’s happening?” she asked.
Scott and Ji-Sung were very surprised to see her. “Oh, nothing,” said Ji-Sung. His face went
red. Sarah asked, “Scott, I forgot my books. Did you see them?”
“Yes, they’re here,” said Scott, looking at Ji-Sung. “Ji-Sung threw them on the floor.”
“Why did you do that, Ji-Sung?” she asked angrily.
He just looked at Sarah and said, “I’m sorry.”
Scott said, “Come on, Sarah. Let’s go.” He picked up Sarah’s books and gave them to her. He
was happy because Sarah did not like Ji-Sung now. “Good,” he thought.
Scott, Yoko, and Sarah walked to the next class. “Why did Ji-Sung do that?” Sarah asked
Yoko. “I don’t know. Ji-Sung usually isn’t like that,” Yoko said. “He’s really cool.”
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Sarah said, “I think so, too. He’s really nice. So I’m really surprised. It’s not like him. Maybe
he’s having a bad day?”
Scott was listening. “Sarah likes Ji-Sung,” he thought. He did not like Sarah saying nice
things about Ji-Sung. “But I want Sarah for myself. I need to stop Ji-Sung from liking her. I’ll
ask her to the dance tomorrow.”
“Sarah,” Scott said slowly. ”Would you like to go with me to the dance tomorrow?” he asked.
Sarah did not answer. She was thinking.
“What’s she thinking about?” he thought. “Why doesn’t she answer? Does she want to go
with Ji-Sung?”
Scott continued, “Sarah, please come to the dance. It’ll be really exciting and fun.”
“Okay. I guess so,” she said. “Let’s meet at the café at 6 o’clock, then we can go to the dance
together.”
Scott was very happy. “Great. I’ll see you then,” he said.
Later that morning, Ji-Sung saw Sarah in the lunchroom with her friend, Yoko. He spoke to
her. Scott was listening. “Sarah, hi. I’m sorry about the books. I didn’t know they were
yours.”
“What do you want, Ji-Sung?” Sarah asked coldly.
Ji-Sung said, “Well, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.
Don’t turn back please.
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Comprehension test R3
1. Who liked Sarah? (
)
2. Why can’t Sarah have lunch with Scott? (
)
3. What day is it tomorrow? (
)
4. Who did Sarah talk to? (
)
5. What did Ji-Sung decide to ask Sarah tomorrow? (
)
6. What did Ji-Sung have?
7. What did Scott do against Ji-Sung? (
)
8. What did Ji-Sung do against Scott? (
)
9. Who came back in the room? (
)
10. Who picked up Sarah’s books? (
)
Listening 1
Please listen to the CD for about 4 minutes. After that, please answer the questions. There are
3 different texts. You CANNOT see the question page until the CD ends.
You may take notes.
Comprehension test L1
1. Who was jumping with skateboard? (
)
2. Who jumped over the bench with her skateboard? (
3. Where were they skating at first? (
)
)
4. Where does Mr.Walker work? (
)
5. What did Yoko find and see? (
)
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6. Who is Jake Montaya? (
)
7. Where is he coming? (
)
8. What time is he coming? (
)
・
9. Give the name of the main characters. (
10. What did Mr.Walker suggest?
・
)
（
）
You may take notes.
Comprehension test L2
1. What did Kate lose? (
)
2. Who gave her the money? (
)
3. Give the name of café. (
)
4. When did Kate move to Bayview. (
)
5. Why did she move to Bayview? (
)
6. Give the name of Kate’s friends. (
)
7. Which class did she have on Saturday? (
)
8. What time was she planning to meet with Scott? (
)
9. Why did Scott get angry? (
)
10. Why did Gemma say that Kate was lucky? (
)
Comprehension test L3
1. When was gym class? (
)
2. What was the class playing? (
)
3. Who was alone near the basket? (
)
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4. Who was angry with him? (
)
5. What was Kenji good at? (
)
6. Who is the teacher? (
)
7. Which class was there later that afternoon? (
)
8. What did Kenji forget to bring? (
)
9. What was Ryan’s lie? (
)
10. What did Kenji tell the answer to Ryan? (
)
That’s all. Thank you very much!!!!!
Manami Kinoshita
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