Listening Assessment

Test takers Information: Age: 18 years old Grade and major: freshmen in college, majoring in computer science Number: 3 Language level: intermediate Native language: Chinese Location: China Objectives & KSDE (Kansas State Department of Education) Standards: Grade 6 -12 High Intermediate Vocabulary 1. Demonstrate comprehension of grade-level and content-specific vocabulary, including idiomatic and figurative language, with context clues. 2. Demonstrate recognition of word structure to determine the meaning of words, using context clues. Pronunciation 3. Apply knowledge of phonemes and phonemic patterns to and Intonation decode multisyllabic words. Patterns 4. Demonstrate recognition of pronunciation patterns that affect meaning including pacing, intonation, and pitch in a variety of verbal messages. Comprehension 5. Respond appropriately to complex instructions, questions and of Oral prompts to complete grade-level tasks, with occasional support. Instructions, Questions, and Prompts Comprehension 6. Demonstrate listening comprehension of familiar and unfamiliar of Information content information in a variety of settings, with occasional Presented support. Orally

Test Description/Information Direction

There are two sessions of this listening test. Students are not allowed to take notes when they are listening. There will be no verbal communication between students and invigilator during the whole test. Session One is a VOA news. Students will listen to the separated material twice and answer the following multiple choice question (the questions will be read by the tester). The tester will pause the listening when students are answering the questions.

There are five questions in this section (for the same news, but different parts). Session Two is a conversation between a college student and a librarian. The environment is on campus. Students will listen to the material twice and answer the following five multiple choice questions. Test instruments This test will be presented via Skype to students, materials will be played by Window Media Player. The answer sheet will be sent to students before the test. Scoring

A total of 10 points (1 point for each correct answer) will be awarded. There is no penalty for wrong answers. The following rubric is based on the Kansas Curricular Standards for English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Scaled score for this listening assessment Raw points 0-4 points Level Early/low intermediate. Students demonstrate comprehension of general meaning and some specific meaning. Intermediate. Students demonstrate good comprehension of general meaning, increased comprehension of specific meaning High intermediate. See KSDE standards Grade 6-12.

5-7points

8-10points

Listening Test Section One Listen to the English news, and answer the following questions. The listening will be played twice. You have five seconds to write each answer on the answer sheet. In an effort to improve Haitis economy, boost its agricultural output, improve food security and nutrition, and increase incomes in the countrys northern reaches, the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, through the Feed the Future initiative and Haiti's Ministry of Agriculture launched a new agricultural development program in Haiti called Feed the Future North. Haitis agricultural productivity has systematically declined over the past three decades due to a combination of factors including: terrain that is difficult to farm, prone to erosion, flooding and environmental degradation, and diminishing fresh water sources. Question 1: Why did Haitis agricultural productivity decline? A. Because farmers in Haiti are lazy. B. Because weather is not good. C. Because Haiti government does not support agriculture. D. Because a combination of factors make the productivity hard to continue. Feed the Future, the U.S. Governments global hunger and food security initiative focuses on small holder farmers and supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sector to spur economic growth that increases incomes and reduces hunger, poverty and undernutrtion. The new program is modeled on the successful Feed the Future West, a five-year program launched in 2009 that introduced better seeds and fertilizer, new farming technologies and improved infrastructure to support the growth of Haitis agriculture. As a result, some 30,000 Haitian farmers increased their crop yields and raised their incomes from about 200 dollars per hectare to more than 1,100 dollars per hectare since the programs inception. Question 2: Which of the following is the strategy from the new program? A. Ask for help from volunteers. B. Using new farming technologies. C. More financial support. D. Ask for help from other countries. Feed the Future North is an 88 million dollar, five-year program that will focus on five key crops: maize, beans, rice, plantains and cocoa. Its objective is to increase agricultural incomes in Haitis Northern Corridor for at least 40,000 small holder

farmers, including women. The program will introduce new agricultural technologies; facilitate access to financing, better agricultural inputs, post-harvest processing facilities and market information; develop or extend irrigation systems and protect watersheds; and improve roads to some of the most fertile but difficult to reach farming areas to connect them to markets. Question 3: Which of the following does NOT belong to the new program? A. Introducing new agricultural technologies. B. Facilitating access to financing. C. Lecturing the farmers. D. Developing or extending irrigation systems and protect watersheds. To support a Haitian-led process of growth, Feed the Future North will also develop the capacity of local organizations to become direct USAID implementing partners, who will then run projects for USAID with some 40 million dollars in additional Feed the Future North funding. The North is a key region of Haiti, said U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Pamela A. White at the projects announcement. Working here on food security benefits the entire country. We will be working alongside the Ministry of Agriculture to increase agricultural production and improve farmers lives. Question 4: Which of the following will the USAID also employ? A. Organizing volunteer work. B. Developing the capacity of local organizations. C. Developing their own ability. D. Organizing global organizations. Questions 5: Which of the following is right about USAID? A. It aims to help educational development. B. It aims to help art development. C. It developed a new program for Haiti agricultural productivity. D. It developed a new program for Haiti educational development. Section Two Listen to the conversation between a student and a librarian, answer the following questions. The listening will be played twice. You have five seconds to write each answer on the answer sheet. Narrator Listen to part of a conversation between a student and a librarian.

Student Hi, um, I really hope you can help me. Librarian Thats why Im here.What can I do for you? Student Im supposed to do a literature review for my psychology course, but um having a hard time finding articles. I dont even know where to start looking. Librarian You said this is for your psychology course, right? So your focus is on Student Dream Interpretation. Librarian Well, you have a focus, so thats already a good start. Hmmm well, therere a few things oh wait have you checked to see if your professor put any material for you to look at on reserve? Student Aha, thats one thing I did know to do. I just copied an article, but I still need three more on my topic from three different journals. Librarian Lets get you going on looking for those then. We have printed versions of twenty psychology journals in the Reference Section. These are the ones published within the last year. Then I think about it theres a journal named Sleep and Dream. Student Oh, yeah, the article I just copied is from that journal, so Ive got to look at other sources. Librarian Ok, actually, most of our materials are available electronically now. You can access psychology databases or electronic journals and articles through the librarys computers, and if you want to search by title with the word dream for example, just type it in and all the articles with dream in the title will come up on the screen. Student Cool, thats great! Too bad I cannot do this from home. Librarian But you can. All of the librarys databases and electronic sources can be accessed through any computer connected to the university network. Student Really?! I cant believe I didnt know that. It still sounds like its going to take a while though, you know, going through all of that information, all of those sources. Librarian Maybe, but you already narrow your search down to articles on Dream Interpretation, so it shouldnt be too bad. And you probably notice that theres an

abstract or summary at the top of the first page of the article you copied. When you go into the databases and electronic sources, you have the option to display the abstracts on the computer screen, skimming those to decide whether or not you want to read the whole article should cut down some time. Student Right, abstracts! Theyll definitely make the project more durable. I guess I should try out the electronic search while Im still here then, you know, just in case. Librarian Sure, er that computers free over there, and Ill be here till five this afternoon. Student Thanks, I feel a lot better about this assignment now. Questions: 1. Why does the student go to see the librarian? A. To sign up for a seminar on using electronic source for research. B. To report that a journal is missing. C. To find out the procedure for checking out journal articles. D. To ask about how to look for resources for a class paper. 2. What does the librarian say about the availability of journals and articles in the library? A. They are not easy to find if a professor put them on reserve. B. Most of them are accessible in an electronic format. C. Most of them can be checked out for three weeks. D. Printed versions from the past three years are located in the reference section. 3. What does the librarian suggest the student should do to save time? A. Choose an easier research topic. B. Concentrate on five journals. C. Read the summaries of the article first. D. Install a new program on her home computer. 4. What did the woman think about the electronic resources before the librarian told her? A. She cannot get them from home. B. They are not useful for her paper. C. She needs to set up a special account. D. The electronic resources are only for graduate students. 5. What can be inferred about why the woman decides to use the computer in the library? A. She does not have a computer at home. B. She has to hand in her assignment by the end of the day. C. She thinks she might need additional help from the man. D. She will be meeting a friend in the library later on.

Students Answer Sheets Student #1

Wrong items: Section 1 (4); Section 2 (5) score: 8/10 Student #2

Wrong items: Section 1 (5); Section 2 (1) (3) (5) Student #3

score: 6/10

Wrong items: Section 1 (3) (4)

score: 8/10