Test 1

SECTION 1

Man: Green Travel Agency. What can I do for you?

Woman: Hi, good morning. My family and I intend to go on a vacation for Vancouver, and could you please help us reserve a hotel?

Man: Sure, with pleasure. First, I’ll take some notes down of your personal details. May I have your full name, please?

Woman: Anna Hardie.

Man: Hi Anna, there is a hotel in Vancouver named Holiday Chilcotin, which is very popular with guests on vacation.

Woman: Mmm, Chilcotin, can you spell it?

Man: C-H-I-L-C-O-T-I-N, a local hotel.

Woman: Where is it? Is it in the downtown? You see, my family member prefers to stay in a quieter zone during vacation. Not too buzzy you know.

Man: Uh, no worries. Actually it’s ten miles from the city centre, near a train station.

Woman: Oh, I think that’s okay. I am travelling with my husband. Is it expensive to live in that hotel?

Man: Well, in your case, I think a double room would suit you well. Normally, it's 210 dollars, but if you can make a reservation in advance, you can pay 169 dollars for a night.

Woman: That sounds pretty reasonable. I'd like to book for 5 days from 27

June through 1 July. Are there still rooms available?

Man: Oh, let me check. Ah, yes, they still have some vacant rooms. Would you like to book it now?

Woman: Wait. One more question: any meals are included in the price?

Man: Well, you need to pay separately for lunch and dinner, except the breakfast, which is provided from 7 to 9.

Woman: Alright, please book it for me. Is there anything we can do near the hotel ?

Man:

Woman: Yeah, it only takes 10 minutes to walk to a science museum

SECTION 2

Right. Now, let me bring you up to date with arrangements for our cycling tour next month. First of all, think of the tents. You know at the beginning, the idea was that I arranged to borrow some tents from the college, but it proves that they will be used by the hiking club at the same time, so fm afraid you will have to bring your own. So, do remember to tell me whether you prefer to use a single tent or share with others. In this case, Til know how many tents there’!! be when I make the reservation at the various campsites. Last time some of you said you would like to hire bikes and pick them up when you arrive instead of taking your own. Well, I’ve asked lots of shops or agencies about bike hiring in St. Andrews, the town where we’ll be arriving, and unfortunately there aren’t any shops that offer this service, so which, 1 am afraid, means taking your own.

I’ll book them on the train when 1 book the train tickets, which reminds me, I’ll need to know the exact number of people going to, so that I can get a group discount on the train fare. Another one that'll need to be booked is tickets for the football match we discussed last time. I’ve enquired about availability and there are only a few scats left so anyone who wants to go will need to get tickets very soon, ideally today or tomorrow.

At our next meeting, I’ll be able to give you all individual packs with the final program and something about the area we’ll be cycling through and places we’ll be visiting. I’m afraid I haven’t had the time to do that yet.

Now, I’ll tell you briefly about some of the attractions in the places we’ll be staying, as I said we'll be taking the train to St. Andrews where there is one or two very good restaurants. One thing that’s definitely worth visiting there is the sites where the original town was constructed nearly 1,000 years ago. There's not much of the original buildings left but there’s still plenty to see. The site is being excavated and you’ll be able to help out if you want to. Our next overnight stop will be in the village of Cluny. There are a number of ancient barns here that have been modernised into a museum indicating the significance of sheep in the area over the centuries. The wool used to be sold for cloth and it brought richness to the district. There are also several photos describing how agricultural workers lived.

From there we’ll leave for Pennerley. Pennerley is well known for its museum of village life but that’s been refurbished at the moment and isn’t likely to reopen by the time wc go there, but there’s an open-air farmer market everyday selling fruits, vegetables, cheese and meat all grown or processed within a few miles of the town and sold by the farmers themselves. It’s definitely worth a visit.

In Farlow, which is one of the oldest towns in the region, there’s a museum that shows how horses used to be the most universal way of travelling around, and how they were gradually substituted by steam and later, of course, electric trains, buses, cars and bicycles. Right, now, I’ll pass around this sheet of paper...

SECTION 3

Tutor: Come in, Helen, what can I do for you?

Helen: Well, I’m doing researeh for the anthropology project. And I was hoping to ask some help for a few details.

Tutor: Sure. I remember you opted Pacific tapa cloth as the topic, didn’t you? What do you figure out so far?

Helen: Well, I was going to introduce my project by stating that tapa cloth is fibre made from bark, just the out layer of the trees, which particularly universal among the Pacific Islands, but not exclusive to them. Actually, people in other parts of the world have also produced high-quality cloth from bark. But what set pacific tapa apart is the incredible variety role it’s played in this region.

Tutor: Nice! So what about raw materials that used in the production?

Helen: Well, tapa cloth is made from many species of tree. In the Pacific, the paper mulberry tree is most common, but it doesn’t thrive in all conditions. In fact, it wasn’t discovered in the islands at first, but was carried in canoes by the first migrants. Tapa is also made from the breadfruit tree, which is a more convenient way, because its fruit is the staple food. The paper mulberry tree is only grown for tapa making mill.

Tutor: Yes, that’s right. Then how about the Maori people here in New Zealand?

Helen: But al present the Maori don’t produce tapa.

Tutor: Yeah, but I suggest you should take it into account. Wc know that when Maori migrate here from other pacific islands, they were ready to produce tapa because they took the paper mulberry tree with them. The thing was after they'd been in New Zealand a bit, they found the flax plant is superior to tapa, because it makes stronger fabric. By the time Europeans arrived in the 18th century, Mao were producing all their fabric from flax rather than the tapa and had been for some time.

Helen: OK. So in terms of the production process itself, first the inner bark is beaten with wooden hammer to soften the fibres; then the various pieces are glued together using adhesive paste made from the aloe root tuber, which is the only way to fabricate large pieces of cloth because bark strings are too fine to be woven together and stitch isn’t strong enough.

Tutor: So now you should do more researeh on the details about different countries.

Helen: Where should 1 go into now?

Tutor: Well, I think Samoa is the typical place known for its Scaplc, which is hand-painted with representations of the ancestors. Till now, at the most profound events in lives, such as births, funerals, weddings and the investiture of chief, some are with Seapie ropes to add significance and eating to the ceremony.

Helen: OK. Then I can talk about Tonga. It seems to me that the great innovation in Tonga has been developing a simple coarse cloth, w hich is quick and easy to produce. This is suitable for all sorts of daily functions around the house like bed covers, nets and curtains.

Tutor: Good point. Now what about Cook Islands tapa?

Helen: Well, the Swcallicr is of poor quality; consequently, the bread fruit tree is often used. One type of thick cloth, called Tikoda, was wrapped around the poles and used to make the entrances to places of worship, and therefore, was highly regarded in local culture.

Tutor: You might mention Fiji as well, which is interesting, because tapa was actually used as currency there. Fijians used to sail between the islands and exchange tapa for other commodities like canoes or pigs.

Helen:

I know that in Tahiti, the tapa cloth is regarded differently, because the patterns are in colour, which is considered more valuable than the usual patterns.

Tutor: You are right about the Tahitians using coloured pigments, but they aren’t more valuable. The colours are only decoration. People enjoy wearing bright robes especially for dancing and competitive games and do it just for fun.

Helen: Oh, I’ll take a note of it. Well, the last place I was going to mention was Tikopia. Even today it’s a common place to see wearing clothes made of tapa cloth. And on many of the other islands, the tapa only come out on special occasions. But here you see people working in the gardens wearing tapa.

Tutor: Sound promising, Helen. I’ll look forward to the presentation of your proj ect

SECTION 4

We were required to do the investigation regarding survival strategies of particular animals, and I chose to study how the butterflies will do for survival when cold weather and food shortage could easily influence their life cycle.

I concentrated on a number of main strategies butterflies adopt to handle these harsh conditions: hibernation, and migration.

First let’s talk about the hibernation, which means a long term sleep, in which an animal’s metabolism slows to conserve strength.

Various butterfly species have formed different patterns of hibernation, at continuous periods of their life cycle.

For example, the 'Banded Hair Freak’ hardly hibernates in its full grown adult form, but as an egg. And another species, the 'Dappled White’, breathes during the winter in a crystallise stage, and during this time, it’s able to draw on the energy it stimulated earlier on in its larval stage.

Though the slowing of the metabolism in hibernation functions with many of the difficulties faced in winter, it can’t prevent them all. In addition, some butterflies have extra plans for survival. For instance, they develop a substance in their blood, usually in glycerol, or sorbitol, which serves as ’anti-freeze’, thereby adding extra resistance against lower temperatures.

Actually, there is a positive side about the cold weather, fewer predators exist around to cause problems, this is because they are actively mainly in warm weather. So, now let’s move on to the second type of survival strategy the butterflies used in winter: migration. That means moving to regions with a more suitable environment. I’m going to start this topic with a detailed study about particular cases of migratory species, the ‘Monareh Butterfly’.

Many butterfly species are found in various zones of the world migrate, like ‘the Red Admiral', a British butterfly which ‘winters' in North Africa, but the ‘Monareh Butterfly' is the sole example to do this in North America.

At any stage of the life cycle, the Monareh cannot survive in the low winter temperatures, so when it gets cold, the Monarehs begin to gather in huge groups and fly south. They can travel up to 3,500 miles.

But only the last summer generation of Monarehs migrate. Normal generations only live for a maximum of 10 days, in fact the last migration generation, as reported, do for 6 months, which enables them to take such a long journey.

These huge teams of migrating monarehs only fly during daylight hours, and at night they usually have a rest in trees, again often in vast groups.

Researeh is now being exercised into what encourages them to reach the destination. It has been known for years that they find their way on the journey by following rivers, and there are a feur these along their migratory route. However, the new researeh indicates they may also treat the sun as a navigational aid.

During this time, they are able to feed, mainly from a type of flower called ‘milkweed’, but they are not able to reproduce during this period.

The Monarehs ‘hand in their lineage’ to a particular region in Mexico, known as the ‘Pier A Sequoia’.

The Monarehs are anticipated with great interest within the region, and over recent years, there annual arrival has gained great popularity among tourists. However, their habitat is being increasingly threatened...

Test 2

SECTION 1

Woman: Morning, thanks for calling Metro Link. Is there anything I can do for you?

Man: Good morning, I would like to go to Harbour City tomorrow before 11 a.m., eh, from Bayswater.

Woman: Well, for Bayswater...

Man: Oh..., no, no. From Bayswater, where I am currently living, but Harbour City is my destination.

Woman: Sorry. That means, Bayswater to Harbour City. Which mode of vehicles do you prefer, by bus or train?

Man: In fact, I have no preference, only if it brought me to Harbour faster.

Woman: Well, if you take an express train, you’ll be right in Harbour within an hour from departure. Let’s see. yes, 1 recommend you to get on the 9:30 a.m. express.

Man: Sounds perfect. So, at which station should I get on the train?

Woman: Helendale is the nearest station to you.

Man: Henlcnsvalc? Did you say that?

Woman: No, Helendale, that’s H-E-L-E-N-D-A-L-E.

Man: Then how can I get there fastest?

Woman: Umm... Let me see, please wait a minute, I need to have a look. It says you probably have two options for the routes: the first one is the 706 bus from Bayswater Shopping Centre to Central Street; there will be another bus that can take you to the train station. Or if you don’t mind walking directly to the Central Street, like couple of kilometres, then you can take the bus there bringing you to the train station.

Man: Sure, but which bus is that, the one in Central Street?

Woman: The 702 will take... oh, sorry, it’s the 782 that will take you to the station.

Man: I believe walking will be fine, so option two might seem better to me. When should I arrive at Central street to catch the bus?

Woman: There are two buses that you can catch up and get the station on time, one just before 9 o’clock, one right after. Yet in the morning, it might be better to take the earlier one just in case of a traffic jam or something like that. I’d like to say the 8:55 one is more reassuring than the 9:05 one.

Man: Sure, I don’t want to miss the train, so the five to nine one will be better.

Man: One more thing, how much would the fares cost?

Woman: Well, the bus is $1.8 in cash and the train is $10 each way. But, do you have a Travel Link Card?

Man: No, but I may get one before tomorrow.

Woman: Alright, if you have the card, you can pay considerably less. The bus will cost you $1.5 and the train to Harbour... sorry, wait, it will still cost you $10 because it is during rush hours in the morning. I’m afraid. Yet, if you could return at an off-peak time...

Man: What do you mean by that?

Woman: All right, if you could begin your returning journey before 5 in the afternoon or later than 7:45 (a quarter to eight) in the evening...

Man: In fact, my plan is that I won’t start to go back home until 8 o’clock anyway.

Woman: Then you can save a lot ofcash using your Travel Link Card. You did mention that you were planning to buy one, didn’t you?

Man: Yes, today, maybe later, I’ll pick one up.

Woman: It means, with cash, it would cost you S10, but if with your card, you will only pay $7.15 for returning.

Man: Thank you.

Woman: Is there anything else I can help you with?

Man: Ah, yes. In fact, I would like to know if the Travel Link Card supports ferry services?

Woman: If the ferry services you say is Harbour City ferries that connect the northern and southern banks, then yes. They are commuter ferries, one-way trip costs S4.5, but with the Travel Link Card you will enjoy a 20% discount, and the cost will be $3.55.

Man: So, $3.55 for it... What about the tour boats?

Woman: You mean those ferries going upriver on sightseeing tours for tourists? No, they do not belong to Travel Link company, and they only take cash and credit card.

Man: Oh, I see. So. 1 may believe that you might not know how much they cost for one tour?

Woman: Actually, I do know. 1 took a friend to the trip up river just last week. We determined to go an afternoon tour and it cost us $35 each. There is also a whole-day option costing $65.

Man: Thank you. You really helped me a lot.

Woman: With pleasure. Do enjoy your trip!

SECTION 2

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for returning to Action Radio We are here talking about current affairs and global issues. I am Jill, and todaj our focus will be on discussing the very concerning issue of the significance 01 water conservation and how you can make your own contribution at home.

The most universal wasted energy of all the domestic kinds is heat. Yet since my house has well-insulated walls. I’m lucky enough to do nothing with this problem. Yet I still found out that a large amount of water was wasted owing tc my way of life. I looked into a few approaches online trying to reduce my watei usage as much as possible and have been pleasantly surprised to figure out that there are experts in that field who can make some instant changes to my home But the only dark side is these works are so costly that there are no means foi me to get financial help.

Now, if any of you listeners are interested in reducing your energy usage, hert are a couple of easy and positive changes you can make immediately. A lot ol

the magazines will recommend that you change your bulbs for those with energy saving capabilities. However, I have found that these make little difference to your electricity bills and they also severely reduce the light levels in your home. Instead, simply switch off all plug sockets and appliances to make an immediate saving on your electricity consumption. If this doesn’t make enough of a saving for you, you could later turn down the thermostat as well.

Even though my energy provider gave me discount on my bills for prompt payment, this doesn't make enough of a saving for my monthly bill considering the amount of energy that I was using. So. I felt like switching to another provider. Not only could I do a considerable monthly saving and get other perks from the new company. The bills can now be paid online, for instance, which was a thrill to me because it saves me from driving to the bank. If our contract endures more than one year, they will also provide me with a deduction for all the energy-saving appliances I am currently using.

Now, many of you listeners will have an electricity meter at home so I’m very sure that all of you will know the problems associated with them. These meters can occupy a lot of room in your home and can be very unsightly if you cannot tuck them away in a cupboard. Mine is as well so large which measures both gas and electricity usage. But it is nicely hidden in the coat cupboard and I’m lucky enough to escape from accessing it easily. But the cons about this is that whenever I need to take a meter reading, I’ll have to use a torch because it is hidden in darkness, and without a flashlight I can’t read the numbers on the screen correctly.

I recently extended my house with a new room that takes up as bathroom with a low energy boiler so I am able to take long showers guilty-free. My walls are nice and thick and well-insulted, but disappointingly the window is a little draughty; thus 1 am about to make some investments by doing some upgrading. Given the renewable energy, I initially thought about installing solar panels on the roof to heat the water rather than applying a new low energy boiler, which was the price-friendly alternative. But I finally determined that the panels would make my house ugly on the exterior, in spite of their easiness on technical operation.

Now if you are keen to taking long showers as I am, switching from baths to

showers doesn’t change much on your total water usage. Instead, some small effective changes can be quite helpful and efficient. When making a cup of tea, for instance, before boiling water, measure out the amount that you need during the procedure. Also, when brushing teeth, use a cup of water instead of letting the tap water running. 1 would recommend you not to fill up washing machine before switching it on, because I found out that the clothes were not thoroughly cleaned. Also, call a plumber to fix your dripping taps; this will give rise to a great reduction of water being wasted.

Before finishing today’s show, I’d like to address two questions that we often get asked by listeners. We had some great feedback about our answer to last week’s question on how to calculate the price involved in powering domestic appliances, so let’s see how we do this week. One of the most commonly asked questions this week was which device is the lowest energy option for watching films. The simplest answer is that the smaller the screen, the lower the energy used.

One of our listeners wrote in with a question that made me chuckle, and the answer is yes, solar panels only work when the sun is out! Now, on a more serious note, a number of you wanted to know what the most efficient temperature is to set the thermostat to. The answer is that the closer you set it to room temperature, the lower the energy used. Before saying goodbye today, I’ll give you one last tip: turn off all the lights when you leave the room.

SECTION 3

Tim: Morning, Jenny.

Jenny: Hi Tim, how’s everything going on?

Tim: Not bad, but I’m really nervous about our geography assessment next week. Have you done any work on it yet?

Jenny: I’ve just gone over some of the slides where there are a few difficult terms, but I think it would be helpful if someone else can discuss it together. Would you like to talk about it with me?

Tim: It sounds great! Have you got any information about the requirements for the assessment?

Jenny: For our Test last semester, all of us tried our best to collect raw data to meet the requirements so as to achieve a pass. But according to what the tutor has said, this term there won’t be any need for us to do so.

Tim: I read through the notes and they said that we are all going to be given a set of instructions that we can choose to follow if we wish, but it’s not mandatory and we can complete the exam as we wish.

Jenny: I don’t think that it would be hard for us to pass the assessment. As long as we don’t copy the answers from anyone else’s exam paper, I think we’ll be sure to pass.

Tim:

Definitely, I agree. Shall we put on a slide show presentation with information of all kinds of volcanoes? I think it will really help us to revise the recognition.

Jenny:

Ok, great. First, let’s look at Pompeii, which is regarded as the most famous one among all the volcanoes; therefore we might find much easier to seareh a large amount of information about it on the Net.

Tim: I think I should exclude some of the pictures in the presentation, since many people were killed and some of them can be quite disturbing. It is so lucky that there is going to be a double free break today, so we will have a couple of time to modify this together.

Jenny: Well, the next one to mention is Mount Fago. This is an ancient, mythical volcano, whose site is still ambiguous. In Mexico as well as the USA, there are mountainous regions, both of which are rumoured to be the location of this volcano.

Tim: It’s not that reasonable to list two unrelated locations for one volcano, but since no one has been capable of figuring out which is the correct one, there has been no choice left for us yet. It’s amazing that we cannot find any other example of a volcano in existence today that is haunted by so much mystery.

Jenny Definitely yes. I suggest we'd better surf some information online about Mount Etna in Sicily, which is well known for the stunning panoramas that one can appreciate from its peak.

Tim:

According to Google, it's a relatively new volcano compared to others in the nearby region. That’s the reason why it has very few of the features found in older volcanoes. Oh, interesting.

Jenny:

Might we present any information on Mount Herton? Because I don’t think that any of the other students have carried out much survey into it, even though it has several unique traits.

Tim: Well, then I think we can just ignore it, since it’s a man-made volcano and not that closely linked to our syllabus and probably won't be Tested in the exam questions.

Tim: Have you gotten feedback from your tutor on your presentation last week?

Jenny Yes, but I don’t think he was satisfied with the work. He was impressed by the amount of researeh that I had carried out before I started, but he criticized that I was just mostly writing a summary of the facts instead of giving my own opinion.

Tim: Oh, that’s a pity.

Jenny It was depressing that my work is not appreciated, but in the end I learned a lot from my tutor’s feedback. He suggested me that next time I should present my work as a short documentary film, which he thinks will help me to strengthen my arguments. What topic was your presentation based on?

Tim: 1 opt to discuss about the lack of knowledge that most people have about volcanoes and the awareness that they look at them in such a negative way. During documentaries and lectures, the scientific experts often neglect to mention the positive features that volcanoes possess.

Jenny That sounds really interesting. Well done!

Tim: I think everyone had a really good time, but 1 was really nervous about speaking in front of the audience. Also, I felt very under-prepared, since I didn't fulfil the presentation until the night before and therefore there had been no time for rehearsal.

Jenny:

I’m sure it was great! Is there any other information that you think we should include in our slide show for revision?

Tim: Yes, I think it’s important that we list all of the differences between active and extinct volcanoes as there will definitely be a question on this topic. There are no documentaries on the subject, but there’s a very informative website that discusses the geological structure of each volcano type.

Jenny: Ok, well I’ll continue collecting images and you can carry on with the online researeh...

SECTION 4

Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon. In this session, we’re going to talk about birds indigenous to New Zealand, delving into the facts and analysing methods of protecting these species from extinction.

It may be a surprise to you to know that there are millions of bird species that are endemic to New Zealand; in other words, they are rarely found anywhere else throughout the world. Because quite a large number of these birds lead a living on a diet of freshly-caught fish, they often nest alongside the coastline or, follow the neighboring river, if necessary to track freshwater fish. Once they have mated, the female will collect twigs and pieces of debris to build nests where she can hatch her eggs under safe circumstances, like out the reach of predators.

When first immigrants landed on New Zealand roughly 7 centuries ago, rats were carried on the ships with them. The rats flourished in the warm climate and gradually became a threat to the native bird populations, particularly to the flightless species. In 1984, researehers discovered that just 3 pairs of flightless bird species remained in existence, and that even these faced severe pressure. Now, New Zealand is a global pioneer in facilitating the recovery of severely endangered species from the brink of extinction.

Every year, researehers conduct certain surveys aimed at monitoring the fluctuation in the levels of bird numbers and species living in New Zealand. Owing to migration patterns of a few bird species, it is far from easy to accurately estimate the bird numbers since many may have flown to other regions in seareh of mates and warmer climates, and thus not be included in the investigation.

Probably, there is a sensitive link between bird numbers and environmental influences, especially those closely linked to human activities. Routine activities, such as farming or building houses, can have a massive impact on the local populations. Forests that play a role of a habitat for thousands of birds can be entirely eradicated to produce fields for cropping or to provide wood for construction, which is such a catastrophic impact.

It is not only the activities of humans that threaten the living conditions of bird species, but the population of many predatory animal species has dramatically risen in New Zealand. One of these predators is the Mantane snake, which was introduced from Australia and has decimated the population of Killdeer birds. These birds nest on the ground, and often return to find their eggs have been devoured by the egg-eating snakes.

One cannot dismiss; of course, it is the disadvantage of that nature itself that imposes on the survival of many bird species. Natural disasters such as storms can be devastating, tearing apart forests and leaving thousands of destroyed nests in their wake. Monsoons flood the rivers and often drown many of the flightless bird species that are unable to escape.

Unfortunately, illegal hunting, which is the greaTest threat to bird species in New Zealand, is nearly impossible to prohibit. Several bird species, which are going to be extinct, now appear on display at the national zoo, and there is such a crucial need that urgent policies are adopted to protect them. The zoo recently employed an expert in bird protection, who strongly suggested that a guard should be employed to protect their birds from poachers.

The expert also lays much stress on the fact that the birds can be haunted by quite a stressed situation where the public can approach them too closely, suggesting that the administration install a fence network to keep the public a safe distance away from the birds. In spite of this threat to birds in captivity, it is the freely roaming birds that are most at risk. Many efforts are being made to educate the public in terms of how they can contribute towards protecting birds that are living in the wild.

Finally, researeh has indicated that one of the most feasible measures of keeping the public noticed about the significance of protecting the bird populations is through the media. I advise you all to read the related articles in specialist journals, and also do some researeh on the Internet. Everyone can make your own contribution if you put your mind upon it!

Test 3

SECTION 1

Receptionist: Hello, this is the complaints centre of the service department at Clifton Antiques. Before we start, I’ll just need to take more details from you, OK?

Caller: Sure, no problem.

Receptionist: Well, could you please tell me your full name, madam?

Caller: It is Anna Lumley, that’s Anna, L-U-M-L-E-Y.

Receptionist: All right, L-U-M-O-E-Y.

Caller: Not exactly. The fourth letter is L, not 0.

Receptionist: Oh, sorry. Let me rewrite it... and may I have your contact number that we can use to reach you during the week?

Caller: Sure, my mobile phone number is O-double 7-8-7-6-3-4-5.

Receptionist: Great. Now, what can I do for you today, Anna?

Caller: 1 produced an order of a large quantity of items from you last week on the 20th February, and has been expecting them to arrive at the office in a week. However, only half of the shipment has been delivered. 1 just would like to ensure that they haven’t been missing in transit.

Receptionist: All right, madam. It’s a pity that we brought the inconvenience to you. I’ll look for the pareel track record and sec if I can give you a date when it is okay to receive the rest of your orderings. What was your delivery address listed?

Caller: I made the arrangements for the pareel to be conveyed from your warehouse on Ardalc Road to my office address at 235 Akcndale Road.

Receptionist: Sorry, could you say it again, the address?

Caller: 235 Akendale Road. A-K-E-N-D-A-L-E.

Receptionist: In cast sea?

Caller: Yes, sir.

Receptionist: Well, OK. Our system has tracked your pareel, which shows that your shipment has been received; however, there’s no record about the lost items. I would suggest that you wait for two days, and if the other items don’t arrive then you might necessarily consider to claim insurance coverage for the value of the rest. How much are them worth?

Caller: Umm, they cost me $34,500 in total.

Receptionist: All right. For this amount, I think 10% will be covered by the insurance company, therefore, you could claim $3450 from them. If you like to, there is a form on our website that you can fill in and when the loss is confirmed, you will get the money within five workdays. The rest of the money will be refunded to you in a month, so you won’t suffer a financial loss.

Caller: It sounds reasonable.

Receptionist:

Yet it is necessary to make a list of your lost items so we can recheck it against our records, is that ok?

Caller: Of course, okay. It is unfortunate that a few missing items are the sole one of a kind and thus, irreplaceable. Also, there were many small items that aren't very valuable, like lamps and chairs. However, there was a large item of antique furniture and a bag filled with first edition books, which were some of the first ever to be printed on a press.

Receptionist: Right, ok. Anything else?

Caller: Yeah, there were also some important items, a Victorian rocking horse for my daughter, some large oil paintings originating from the Edwardian period and some few decorative fruit bowls.

Receptionist:

Right, ok. I’ve taken down the list of these missing items, so I’ll call the warehouse to see if any of them are still there.

Caller:

Ah, I almost forgot! There are several other pieces that I’ve spotted on your website and wanted to order. May I do that now?

Receptionist: It is definitely okay. Would you describe me a little about the items that you are looking to buy?

Caller: There is a gold clock and a golden framed vintage mirror.

Receptionist: Ok, perfect. The charge will be taken from payment card that you used before, you can expect them to be delivered within the next week. Is there anything else that I can do for you today?

Caller: Yes, 1 received two damaged items in the shipment, so I need to claim for a partial refund.

Receptionist: Oh, sorry. I need to know more about the details of the actual damage over the phoneline before you put in a full report. What kinds of pieces are damaged?

Caller: A drawer is missing from the antique mahogany desk, and I also spotted a dent on one of the corners, so it’s basically unusable.

Receptionist: I see. Do you know how much will it cost to repair it?

Caller: No. Well, I don’t think it’s repairable. I will have to buy a new one.

Receptionist: Sorry. I’ll take a note of that and see what we can do for compensation. Anything else?

Caller: I also purchased a set of dining chairs with navy leather padding. However, the colour is faded and one of the legs has completely split down the middle.

Receptionist: Ok, are there any other damaged pieces?

Caller: Yes, there is a set of Chinese crockery to furnish my dining room table. But when I opened the case I found that a cup was lost and that some plates had smashed—four, actually.

Receptionist: And is that all of the items?

Caller: Yes. Think that’s all.

Receptionist: Right, I’ll estimate the value of the damaged and a refund will be issued.

Caller: Ok, cheers for your great help.

Receptionist: No problem, my pleasure. Goodbye!

SECTION 2

An unspoiled splendid scenery take its shape in the valley and estuary of river Treloar, abundant with wildlife as well as views of historic interest. There are lots of channels to explore the area with the wonderful public transport networks. With just short walks in between spots, it is possible for you to leave the car behind and travel by boat, train or bus.

There is Treloar Valley passenger ferry running between villages, alongside the river estuary and serves as a link with the train station at Barry, from which it takes only 1 O-minute walk from the riverside village of Carlton. In the past, the main transport way in the area was the river and as the past, the ferry timetable varied from day to day according to the time and height of the tide. The ferry is also seasonal, usually running its businesses during the period between April and September depending on the weather. Visiting our website, www. treloarferry.co.uk, it’s convenient to download the timetable. If you would like to relax and enjoy the wonderful scenery, just take a river cruise to Carlton and back from the nearby City of Plymouth. Visitors were carried along the same route by steamships in the past. Queen Victoria and her family also enjoyed such trip in 1856.

Today, it takes you few hours during journey; the round trip only lasts for 4 to 5 hours, varying in terms of the tides and weather. You can travel up river by boat and return to Plymouth by train if you prefer. There will be wheelchair access on all the cruise boats and trains. For more information and departure times, please ring Plymouth boat cruise on 01752823104.

Trains travel between Carlton and Plymouth many times a day with different stations in between throughout the year. Local commuters as well as visitors who fancy the lovely scenery prefer to use the service. What highlighted the journey most is going across the river on the amazing viaduct which was constructed at the early period of the 20th century, and it towers 120 feet over the water. Tickets can be directly bought on the train so it is unnecessary to book ahead. You can reach National Rail Inquiries by phone or online for more details about fares and timetables. The bus service is now linking all train stations and villages in the zone, specially for holidaymakers. There is a rover ticket including unlimited journeys, which can be used on weekends and national holidays. The rover ticket offers great value for money and is now even cheaper than it was last year. For adults, a ticket costs 5.50 pounds per day, for senior citizens the cost is 4.50 pounds and a family ticket for up to 5 people only costs 12 pounds. You can purchase tickets on the bus.

At the centre of the Treloar estuary area is the historic riverside village of Carlton. The main road comes into the village from the south and for those who are riding by bus it turns left just before the bridge and stops in the lay-by on the left hand.

From there, it’s just a short walk to Carlton’s various attractions. If you are arriving by car you have to leave it in the main car park. Go over the bridge, take the first turning on the right, then go on until you come to the end of that road. It’s the only place to park in Carlton but there’s no charge.

If you’re interested in local history, there is a museum in Carlton with farming, fishing and household implements from the late 19th century. As you come in from the south, cross the river and go straight on the same road until you reach the end. Also, on the subject of history you can go and see the old mill which is recently been renovated and put back into use. Turn left before you come to the bridge then go straight on and take the first turning on the right. This leads straight there.

If you're interested in arts and crafts there’s a potter studio where you can watch the artist at work. After crossing the bridge, turn left and it’s the second building on the left. Finally when you in need of refreshments, there’s a cafe opposite the old boat house, and a picnic area near the mill.

SECTION 3

Tutor: So I gave you both a task to select an article about a small-scale researeh project.

Both: Yes.

Tutor: And 1 required you to have a trial to replicate the procedures of the researeh in your own context, I mean, try it out yourself.

Jake: Yeah, and we’ve done that.

Tutor: Nice, in this way I want you to tell me a little bit about the article and explain why it started applying crosswords to assist the students to review the exam terminologies.

Lila: All right, the article was written by two university professors who had initially used crosswords to help the students revise the terminology for exams.

Jake: And the crosswords were designed and installed on computers.

Lila: And we selected the article because though we weren’t familiar

with the technique, it seems an accessible topic. You know, using IT to design crosswords for higher education.

Tutor: That’s a good reason. So both of the professors would like to see how well this innovation was received by their students?

Both: Yes.

Tutor: So what has been going on with your reproducing the researeh?

Lila: Well, we collected a series of some terms from our own modules and put them in a list, then we designed a crossword to revise them.

Jake: Then we invited some of our classmates to try out our crossword and then ask for some feedback from them, you know, like their feelings, views, as well as some suggestions about using this technique.

Tutor: Did you find easy to have people participated in?

Jake: Not really. At first, you know, it was actually hard, but later when we convinced them by talking about the actual benefit that they will get from participating in this researeh on preparing for an exam which is coming up later this semester...

Lila: ...it functioned.

Tutor: Great, so how did you get the feedback from the students that tells you their thought about the crosswords?

Jake: By a questionnaire. There were two pages in the original questionnaire and it included lots of x-linked questions. But the whole SECTION about difficulties using IT is now out of date. Even the questionnaire had just been finished a few years ago.

Tutor: So have you done a shorter version?

Lila: Sure, and then we emailed it to 40 students and received 28 replies. I was disappointed by the fact, but... this was a relatively good result, I mean the responses from we got were well-written. you know, people did take a lot of care on them, but I was still taken aback with the low numbers.

Tutor: Yes, for an apprentice researeher, it’s an important lesson to learn.

Both: Yeah.

Tutor: So what was your result?

Jake: Well, basically their feedback was extremely positive. The students said that crosswords on a computer really helped them not to get distracted and stay focus on the work in hand, which is better than other ways of doing the revision that are often disturbed by other things.

Lila: Yeah, that was really clear. But I was struck by the fact that they hardly featured having fun in their responses. Nor did anything to do with spelling of hard words, which I thought would apparently be a benefit.

Tutor: No? Okay.

Lila: Their responses also said that the crosswords hadn’t really prompted their general motivation to study, but it had highlighted the gaps in their memory so they can figure out what kind of work was necessary to do further.

Tutor: Right, so how did your findings cope with those done by the original researehers?

Jake: There were a couple of similarities but...

Lila: We still found two primary differences. Compared with females, more males liked the technique, yet the original findings were the reverse case.

Jake: Also, our respondents said they wouldn’t mind doing a crossword in the final official exam, even in the original study, it showed that even if crossword makes exams shorter, they would not like it to be included.

Lila: But for informal purposes, of course, both sets of respondents said doing more crosswords would be a great interest to them, like revision or so.

Tutor: Right, so let’s think about the whole project, and what you’ve learned from it?

Lila: Well. It really took a long time.

Jake: Yeah, and I don’t think we handled that aspect well.

Lila: It could have gone worse. I mean there was not much data collected, so we didn’t have to spend ages dealing with it, and since we’d already done a course on numerical data processing, so there wasn’t much new for us.

Jake: Yeah, definitely. Anyway, I think our questions designed was good so that the data we collected was manageable.

Lila: Yeah. It really helped having the original study to guide us, as it were. And that helped us to see what a good researeh instrument is.

Jake: What questionnaire should be like.

Lila: Absolutely, we got a lot from that. But when we were writing up the project, I’m not sure whether we’ll know how to acknowledge the work of the original study, you know, our referencing.

Jake: No, that’s what we both need to learn in the future.

Lila: Actually, that part’s been great, find ways to share and support another person.

Jake: That’s the real plus from the project, learning ways to do that.

Tutor: Well, it’s obviously been very successful.

SECTION 4

Today, I would like to share something with you about time. Particularly, I’ll be looking at the way we think about time, and how these perspectives of time structure our life. Social psychologists have pointed out that there are six ways of thinking about time, which they regard as personal time zones.

The first two types of time zones are based in the past. Past positive thinkers usually spend a major part of their time looking back to the past, which means they are in a state of nostalgia, where they fancy remembering moments of happiness such as birthdays, marriages and important success time in their lives. They are those who have the habit of keeping family records, books and photo albums. The kinds of people living in a past negative time zone are also absorbed by earlier times, but they concentrate on all the negative sides of a life picture such as regrets, failures or poor decisions. They spend plenty of time imagining what life could have been.

Then, it is those who live in the present. Present hedonists live their life in pleasure and immediate sensation. Their life motto should be having a good time and avoiding painful experiences. Present fatalists live in the present as well; however, they think this moment is the product of circumstances entirely

beyond their control, but it is more a fate. Whether it’s poverty, religion or society itself, something prohibits fatalists from thinking that they do perform a role in changing their life outcomes. Life is simply what it is.

How about the future time zone? People who are sorted into future active group are those who do plans and go for their plans. They don’t play but work, and resist temptation. They make decisions in terms of potential consequences, rather than experience itself. The other type of future-oriented perspective is future fatalistic. This group of people holds a belief that there will be a certainty of life after death and certain kind of judgement day when they will be assessed on how virtuously they have had a life and what achievements they have had in their lives.

Okay, so much for all the types. You now may ask ‘in what ways are our lives influenced by these time zones?’ Well, let’s start at the beginning. When we were bom, no exceptions, everyone was a present hedonist. All the initial needs and demands like being warm, secure, fed and watered were all from that time. But formal education will change the way we think. Each one of us is taught to prevent focusing only on the moment and start to make estimates about the future. But you might be surprised, every nine seconds a child drops out of school in the US. More interestingly, there’re much more boys dropping out than girls doing. We may easily draw a conclusion: ‘boys aren't as intelligent as girls.’ But the evidence doesn’t support this. A recent suivey indicates that when American boys reach the age of 21, they have spent roughly 10,000 hours on video games and also suggests that they’ll never fit in the traditional classroom, because there is a stronger need for those boys to have a certain circumstance in which they are capable of managing their own learning environment.

Now, let’s move on to how wc do prevention education. All kinds of prevention education are usually targeted at the future time zone. Wc say ‘don’t smoke or you’ll get cancer’, ‘get good grades or you won’t get a good job.’ But as for present-oriented kids, it doesn’t make sense. Though they do know the potentially detrimental consequences of their actions, they insist on how they behave because they’re not living for the future. They are in the present right now. Logics won’t be helping and it’s no use reminding them of potential fallout from their decisions or previous judgement errors. We have to get in their minds just as they’re about to make a choice.

Test 4

SECTION 1

Harry: Hi, Andrea. The exams have been over, how are you feeling?

Andrea: It’s fantastic that it eventually ended, isn’t it? And every morning, more sleep. What about you?

Harry: Well, I’ve also been sleeping a lot recently. But I have many things to handle before I leave for England. Perhaps you can help me with it. I’ve had too many stuff that are unlikely to take back with me, but I have no idea how to deal with them.

Andrea: Well, what kind of stuff they are, and you prefer to selling them or just giving them away? It depends.

Harry: Umm, basically, everything I have: the printer, the fridge and other cooking stuff that I bought from the former renter, but the sleeping bag may be helpful on some occasions. But the new comers have already bought what they need, so they won’t be interested in what I have. And giving them away will cost me too much. I’m not sure how to sell it. Oh, I’ve also got some clothes and books.

Andrea: Why don't you just take those with you?

Harry:

The books weigh a lot, so it will easily surpass the airline’s baggage allowance, and that will be another huge expense. And my suitcase can’t hold that much clothes I have. Unbelievable, how much things I’ve got during my living here. Anyway, those summer clothes I have here in Australia won’t be very useful in England.

Andrea: I understand. Well, there is something you can do. First of all, you can put up notices around the campus about the books. You know, in the Student Union Building and in the economics department. There’re many notice boards. And also, any places that second and third-year students will see them. People always want to buy cheap textbooks.

Harry: Good idea, but what should I write on the notices?

Andrea: Just list the titles and authors of the books, and also with the price you want to charge. Also some basic information of you, of course, like your name, phone number, and you can also put on a little tear of a text.

Harry: Sounds great, and what about the furniture?

Andrea: You could try to put on notices about furniture, too. But normally students won’t be around all summer, so they may have no interest in buying furniture now. You may also try at a second-hand shop. The store will send someone here and give you a free quote, then you decide whether you want to make a deal. But usually you can’t expect a really rewardable price offer.

Andrea: You can also choose to post an advertisement on the Trading Post. Have you heard about that paper? Every week it comes out with advertisements people put about what they want to sell. But you have to pay to have your notice on and then wait for calling. Give as much information as possible and if anyone is interested with your stuff, invite them to come by and check. But making a deal is always difficult.

Harry: I haven’t heard about the Post before, but I should read it now and I will put the advertisement about the fridge, the microwave and the furniture on. But I’m not sure whether kitchen stuff is good with this idea.

Andrea: Well, you can donate the kitchen stuff to charity shop or just sell them. Like the Salvation Army or St Vincent de Paul. But maybe you can call a second-hand shop and it can give you a quote first.

Harry: Sure, I will do that, wait for the evaluation result and sec whether I should sell them or just give them away. But how about my clothes, still don’t know what to do.

Andrea: A charity shop will take them too. So long as the clothes are in good condition and although you don’t get paid for them, you know someone who really needs those help will be benefited from your clothes.

Harry: That’s very true. I will put the expensive stuff, like the furniture, on advertisements, and donate the clothes and kitchen things. Come on, let’s go and buy Trading Post and we can write the offer together.

Andrea: Well, in fact, I’m interested in buying your microwave as well as fridge, depending on your offer, of course.

Harry: Okay, let’s see how good you are at bargaining.

SECTION 2

Good morning, boys and girls. I’m Steven, working as the counselling administrator at College’s counselling administration. Today I would like to talk with you about the counselling team of the school and the services you can be offered.

There are now three professional counsellors in our team here at St. Court. They are Louise Bagshaw, Tony Denby and Naomi Flynn. Each of them holds regular one-on-one sessions with students, but you cannot start counselling with them until you should make an appointment with Naomi Flynn first. Naomi is an expert in meeting freshmen and delivers a preliminary session in which she will tell you what you can expect from counselling; also she would ask you a few simple questions related to what you would like to discuss. For those who are feeling a bit of worried about the counselling steps, this can be indeed helpful. Naomi is also the best choice for students who can only communicate with a counsellor beyond office hours. She’s not in the office on Mondays, but she will start working on Wednesday mornings and works late on Thursday evenings, so before your first class or after your last class on those days, you can see her. Louise is in our drop-in centre office a whole day. If you want to ask some counsellors for help without a prior appointment, she will be the optimal one. But do notice that if you choose this service, Louise will either see you herself, or send you to the next available counsellor. If you want to see certain counsellor each time when you visit, an appointment in advance is strongly recommended. Online or at reception during office hours are booking forms now available.

Tuny is our laTest-joined member of the counselling team. He is the sole male counsellor and has solid foundation and expertise in stress management and relaxation techniques. Anyone who is trying to handle anxiety is encouraged to see him. A variety of techniques, like body awareness, time management and positive reinforcement will be introduced to you by Tony to help you address this problem.

Each term, there will be some small team workshops operated by the counselling team, which last for two hours and are all free to the enrolled students.

The first workshop we offer is Adjusting. For some people, college education is found to be a big shock. It tends to be simple to get lost after the structured learning surroundings of school. Therefore, what is essential for academic success in this workshop will be shared. As anticipated, this offering is targeting first-year students.

Getting organised is the service that the second workshop offers, where we are active to motivate you to break off the habit of putting things off. We will try to help you get the most out of your time and find out the optimal balance between academic and recreational activities. In this workshop, we're catering to a broader crowd, ranging from undergraduates to postgraduates.

The next one is a Communication workshop. If you’ve come from overseas, the way people interact here may be quite different to what you’re used to. This workshop will recommend some ways to foreign students about handling many situations. For example, they might find struggling on how to talk with teachers and other staff. It will also cover all aspects of multicultural communication. International students will learn a lot from this class, so we particularly encourage you to come along, but I have to say that occasionally local students can find it helpful as well. Everyone is welcome!

The workshop called Anxiety will be available later on in the year and it will target something you might be familiar with, that is the nerves and the anxiety brought by the coming exams. Lots of students experience their entire academic careers like this, but surely there is a way to solve problems. Welcome to Anxiety workshop and you could learn several ways of relaxation and the proper way of breathe, as well as meditation and other methods to keep calm. This workshop is designed for everyone who is going to take exams.

The last workshop we have is the Motivation workshop. The theme for this workshop is how to stay on target and be motivated during the long-run projects. This workshop is only available for researeh students. Less-advanced students already have some workshops dealing with their needs. Well, that’s it, thanks for listening. If you would like to learn more information about our services, do visit us at Counselling Service.

SECTION 3

Bill: Oh, hi Jen and Irene! You two are heading to class, aren’t you?

Irene: Hey Bill, yes, we are just walking there now. It’s a little bit early now, though. We still would like to make some preparations for our apparatus for the experiment practice! How about walking with us, come on?

Bill: Of course, it’s really great to catch up! How’s it going with your experiment? Have you already chosen the subject you’re going to Test yet?

Jen: To be honest, so far it is going well, and we’re now serving as the laboratory partners responsible for conducting the Test. Also, we’ve decided to Test the impacts of the gravitation force on a variety of objects with a number of densities.

Irene: Interesting indeed, but surely plenty of work for you to do. During the last two weeks, I’ve been thinking of and planning the Test and eventually did it yesterday.

Bill: Goodness Irene, your hard work really left me with a deep impression.

Irene: Frankly, I’m into chemistry so much, so for me it’s not very much like work. Whenever there is a little free time for me at the weekend, I’d like to spend it in the laboratory on my experiment, which almost feels like a second home to me.

Jen: What about you, Bill? Which partner are you currently working with?

Bill: Me and Kim, we were partnered by the tutor. I’ve never worked with him before, so I was worried at first that he wouldn’t do that well in the lab work, but later it turns out he’s so capable.

Irene: I’ve noticed that he’s always very well dressed.

Bill: Yeah, we share the same tastes in clothes; he’s very stylish. But that doesn’t keep him from getting hands dirty. He works very hard and makes significant contributions, which I really appreciate.

Jen: Ah, it’s great that you and your partner get along with each other well, which I think will bring much more pleasure to your experiments when both of you work well together.

Irene: What do you think of the other people in our group?

Bill: Most boys are really good at math, which is really helpful when it comes to calculation.

Jen: Irene is also good at math, so she contributes a lot because she can do all the equations. I am mainly responsible for all the writing parts, since she finds it difficult. Without help between our partners, we’d probably fail.

Irene: It can’t be too true. And I’m so pleased that we’ve nearly completed it!

Jen: Only because you finished the data analysis!

Irene: Come on Jen, you give me too much credit!

Bill: I’m so happy that Linda has not been my partner again. In last experiment, Jen and I were grouped with her, which was really like a nightmare.

Jen: Yeah, though she always submitted her part of the group work on

time, but she never took her phone with her, so it was unlikely for anyone to reach her and vice versa.

Bill: We were quite annoyed at her attitude, but she was such a hard worker in all fairness, because she realised the amount of work that needed to get a high score.

Irene: Jen is so hard-working in fact; she has been invited to work on the professor’s individual project.

Bill: Wow, really? That’s amazing! Congrats! Do you know why he picked you?

Jen: I thought that was because I was closer to him, but he told me he was impressed by my always completing reading assignments in time for class.

Irene: I bet you will be really popular between the other students when they find out. All of them want to hear about the project.

Irene: You can distribute tasks to everyone, so all of them will get the chance to be part in it.

Jen: It actually sounds quite good! Could you help me decide who to assign each task to?

Bill: Sure! Now, let’s see. Well, Irene finds writing difficult, but that might be a good opportunity for her to practice it by reviewing the bibliography?

Irene: Bibliography, I think, may be a bit too long for me, so the methodology shall be a better choice.

Jen: Sure, that makes sense. Bill, you said that Kate is a hard-working girl. So I think she could be given the conclusion part, as it requires plenty of effort.

Bill: Ok, sure. And I know that Kyle hasn’t been feeling well recently, so she could be tasked with the abstract and the acknowledgement for there is very little work involved.

Irene: Jen, would you like to do the literature review part? Basically, there is a lot of work to do but I believe you really enjoy writing. so I think you'll do a good job.

Jen: Sure, sounds great.

Bill: Right, so now bibliography and the discussion are left to assign. I think Linda will be struggling with the referencing, considering the amount of work. So perhaps, I will take care of that task and she could do bibliography.

Irene: That’s great, guys. Thanks for your help! I’ll tell the tutor when he arrives.

SECTION 4

Good morning, everyone! I would like to present the summary of work I’ve done by now on my researeh project to look into expertise in creative writing. More importantly, I’m going to share with you the procedure I underwent to collect my interim findings.

At first, I think certain relevant background information about myself should be known to you all. Before I started my current degree course in cognitive psychology, I studied English literature. And as you can imagine, this meant I spent great deal of time thinking about the notion of creativity, and what makes people develop into successful writers.

However, the idea for this researeh project resulted from a very specific source. I became fascinated with the idea of what makes an expert creative writer. When I read a well-known twentieth century writer's autobiography. 1 won’t say which one at this stage, because I think that might prejudice your interpretation... anyway, this got me thinking about the different routes to expertise. Specifically, I wondered why some people become experts at things whilst others failed to do so, in spite of the fact that they may be equally gifted and work equally hard. I started to read about how other researehers had explored similar questions in other fields. I began to see a pattern, that those studies which involves researehing a lab was too controlled for my purpose, and 1 decided to avoid reading them. I was quite surprised to find that the clearest guidance for my topic came from investigations into what 1 call practical skills, as such as hairdresser or waiting tables. Most of these studies tended to use a similar set of procedures which I eventually adopted for my own project.

I’ll now explain what these procedures were. I decided to compare what inexperience writers do with what experience writers do. In order to investigate this, I looked for 4 people whom I regarded as real novelists in this field, which proved easy, perhaps unsurprisingly. It proved much harder to locate people with suitably extensive experience, who are willing to take part in my study. I asked the first four to do a SAT writing task and as they wrote to talk into a tape recorder, a technique known as ‘think aloud’. This was in order to get experimental data. Whilst they were doing this, a researeh assistant recorded them with video. I thought it might be helpful for me and my transcriptions later on. I then asked four experienced writers to do it exactly the same task. After this, I made a comparison between the two sets of data and this helps me to produce a framework for analysis. In particular, I identify 5 major stages which all creative writing seemed to go through when generating this genre text. I think it was fairly effective but still needed some work, so I intended to tighten this up later for use with subsequent data sets. And then I wanted to see whether experience writers were actually producing the better pieces of writing. So I asked an editor, an expert in reviewing creative writing, to decide which were the best pieces of evaluations. I was then able to work out which sequence of the five stages seem to lead to the best writing.

Now my findings are by no means conclusive at this point. I still have a long way to go, but if any of you have any questions I’d be happy to answer them.

Test 5

SECTION 1

Man: Nature Farm Speaking. How can 1 help you?

Woman: Hi, morning! I’d like to get some information about the part-time job of fruit picking on the advertisement. 1 was wondering if you still need some extra hands?

Man: Yes, I do. May I take some of your information first? What’s your name?

Woman: Sophie Harries, that’s H-A-doublc R-LE-S.

Man: Nice to talk with you, Sophie, and where are you currently staying?

Woman: Well, I am native in London, but now I am staying in Central Hostel, Sydney.

Man: Uh okay, may I have your contact number? I can see from the website your number is 0452 832727. Right?

Woman: Oh, sorry, the last digit should be one, not seven.

Man: Got that, and now, you know we only recruit part-time employees over 18, so could I have your age, please?

Woman: lam 18, but I will have my 19th birthday at the end of this month, so you can put 19.

Man: Cool. Happy birthday, Sophie! Well, let’s move on to the real business. We now have two working sites. One is a fruit farm in North Queensland and the other one is near the coast. Which do you prefer?

Woman: Uh, Hmm... 1 think it would be better if I can spend some time on the beach after work, so I guess the second place sounds best to me.

Man: No problem, Sophie. When do you think it is ready to join us?

Woman: It’s July now, and I’d like to do some travelling around here. What about August?

Man: Yes, August is the busiest month for us. We are always short of hands.

Woman: And could you please tell me how I will get paid?

Man: We can pay you by every basket of fruits or by the hour. It’s up to you.

Woman: You know, I haven’t done fruit picking before. So I guess pay by the hour suits me better.

Man: Ok, I’ve got that. And there are now three types of fruits: bananas, mangoes and avocados. Which fruit would you like to pick?

Woman: 1 prefer mangoes. I think it will be easier for me

Man: Cool, I am sure you will enjoy that.

Man: OK, now I’d like to ask you a few more questions about yourself. Do you have any medical problems, like high blood pressure, heart disease, or anything like that?

Woman: Actually 1 just had a medical check-up recently, and everything seemed fine. Well, I hurt my back when I played badminton with my roommate last year, but it’s okay now.

Man: Aha, great. And all of our workers are required to have medical insurance in case people hurt themselves while working, like falling down a ladder. Have you got one now?

Woman: Yes. And I definitely hope it won’t happen during working.

Man: Uh ha, yet you still need to take much care. By the way, do you have a driver’s license? You know, the fruit farm is huge. Sometimes you will need to drive a car.

Woman: Yes, I got my driver’s license last year. But I am afraid I don’t have a license for driving large trucks.

Man: No worries, you are not responsible for delivering the picked to the supermarkets. There have been some drivers doing that work. And lastly, one more question, where would you like to live?

Woman: Any options for me?

Man: Well, two choices. You can either stay in a cottage on the farm or we can arrange accommodation in a town nearby.

Woman: I don’t think I’d like to stay at the workplace all day long. I think the second one is better for me.

Man: Ok, let’s do that. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Woman: Many thanks. See you then.

SECTION 2

Well, good evening everyone, and thanks for coming tonight. As you all know, I’ve been asked to report to local School Committees in the new Grace’s Creek Activity Camp, which is in the final stages of construction as we speak. So, let’s first of all have a look at a sketch of the overall layout. I’ll point out the major features and show you a few slides of the facilities as we go. Remember that some of them are a work in progress.

Well, as you see, the site is roughly rectangular, and... emm... it’s bordered on the South by Grace’s Creek. This is a narrow and fairly slow-moving stream that’s been cleaned up a lot in recent years, actually. Now, if you approach from the South, you cross Grace’s Creek and turn right into the camp.

So, coming from the north, you’ll see a bus stop just before you get to the camp itself. From the main gate, the driveway turns immediately left around the edge of the camp and while you’re on the driveway, if you look right, down to the opposite end of the space across the lake, you can see the student dormitory, the largest building on the site.

Emm... You’ll see that there’s a shared jogging and walking track which runs next to the driveway and in fact runs all around the perimeter of the camp, next to the wall.

Now, going back to the driveway, just before the drive turns right, there are a couple of tennis courts, but they’re not quite ready for use yet. And in the comer there, opposite the tennis courts, is the basketball court. It seems to be more popular with the kids than tennis these days.

OK, so the path turns left into that large rectangular space, which is the car park obviously, with space for about 80 cars and up to 5 coaches. So, coming back out of the car park, you can turn left onto the jogging track, to walk around to the student dormitory. And as you go, you pass a couple of small chalets on the right, which are the permanent staff houses.

While we’re on the topic of accommodation, there is also a guest hostel, in the centre of the south side. That’s directly overlooking the lake, and it’s for business groups. The climbing wall is just to the left of it.

The lake, by the way, is arterial, but it is just deep enough for kayak training and even windsurfing or paddle boarding. That small building on the edge of the lake is the boat house, for the storage of all the water sports equipment. Now, the stream can also be used for kayaking, and there’s a small gate in the south wall leading out to it. It’s a great spot for picnics, too, so there’s a picnic shelter just there.

Emm... there are a few facilities which were in the original plans, but haven’t so far made it into the final design phase. We do have one building next to the dormitory, which we’re a bit unsure how to proceed with.

The favourite suggestion is a gym and pool, though frankly that’s a bit optimistic, given the cost of those facilities. The most likely outcome will be some kind of food outlet, because that could contribute towards the overall running, costs, with another option being a conference room.

The facility will, of course, be partly funded by visits from the general public during school terms, and we’ve already had some interest from companies who could use it for corporate events and retreats. That will contribute a lot to the upkeep and development because council funding won’t cover everything, though it does cover the bulk of the ongoing expenses.

Well, the site might seem a little far from most of the schools in the Council area, but I should just mention that one of the attractions of this location was the easy road access and proximity to transports hubs. But not only that, the nearby Parkdale forest has some excellent walking tracks and mountain biking trails. If there’s a drawback, I’d say it’s the lack of grocery stores within walking distance. It’s going to be a great addition to the facilities available to everyone in the area, and it’s the end result of a long consultation process with schools and the public.

Now, we haven’t been able to do everything that we’re wanted, not particularly because of budget constraints, but more because of the extent to which we were limited by the existing structures from previous commercial use, but wc have listened to both the parents and the students who are going to use the facility.

Now, I’m sure you’ll have a lot of questions, so let’s take a short break, and when we come back we can open up the meeting for discussion.

SECTION 3

Joanne: Hi, Howard. Haven’t seen you for a while.

Howard: Hi Joanne. Yeah, they are keeping us really busy on the postgraduate program, but how are you? You’ll be starting your dissertation soon, aren’t you?

Joanne: Yeah, tutorials start next week. I’ve got Dr. Peterson. You'll remember still from last year, of course.

Howard: It’s not something you forget easily. But seriously, although I didn’t expect to enjoy writing my dissertation, and in fact, I didn’t really find it much fun, I wouldn’t miss the experience. I found it really improved my understanding of the whole degree program, you know, from the first year on.

Joanne: Right.

Howard:

Joanne: So what are you doing yours on?

Glaciated landscapes. Although I haven’t decided exactly what aspect yet.

Howard: I did mine on climate systems, so I can’t help you much, I’m afraid. But you’ll be fine once you start your tutorials. Dr. Peterson will help you focus.

Joanne: I know, and he’ll set me deadlines for the different stages, which is what I need. My concern is that I’ve got tons of material on the topic, and I won’t be able to stick to the word limit, you know?

Howard: I remember I had different concerns when I was doing my dissertation.

Joanne: Last year?

Howard: Yeah, before my first trial, I did a lot of fairly general reading because I haven’t fixed on my topic at that stage. I actually enjoyed that quite a lot, and you know, it improved my reading speed. I had gotten through a lot of material, but I was frightened I wouldn’t remember it all, so I got into the habit of making very detailed notes.

Joanne: So, did you find your tutor helpful in getting you started?

Howard: Yeah, we certainly had some interesting discussions. But it’s funny I saw a brilliant program about climate change, and it was that that fired me up. It was talking about some recent researeh which seemed to contradict some of the articles I’ve been reading.

Howard: So you see your tutorials start next week.

Joanne: Yeah.

Howard: Well, the first month was crucial. You’ve got to meet your tutor and decide your focus, but don’t become too dependent on him. You know' you don’t sec him every week, only when you want to check something.

Joanne: Right.

Howard: Once you got the focus, you’ve got to get reading. It’s helpful to look through the bibliographies for all the course modules relating to your topic and get hold of any books you think you’ll need.

Joanne: I haven’t got much money.

Howard: I mean get the books from the library, far better.

Joanne: And I suppose I should prepare a detailed outline of the chapters.

Howard: Yeah, absolutely. But don’t feel you have to follow it slavishly. It’s meant to be flexible.

Joanne: Okay. Now I’m someone who likes to get writing quickly. I can’t just sit and read for a month.

Howard: Not like me then. But if that’s what suits you, you know, your natural approach, then you want to start immediately and write the first chapter.

Joanne: Right.

Howard: Now, Joanne. About the library, it’s not worthwhile getting on good terms with the staff; they aren’t always helpful with undergraduates.

Joanne: I suppose they focus on post-grads more.

Howard: Maybe. But show them you are serious about wanting to do good work.

Joanne: And what if I can’t find what I need?

Howard:

Joanne: Well, there’re inter-library loans.

Borrowing books from the libraries. But I’ve heard it isn’t all that reliable.

Howard: Hmm, you’re right, but you probably won’t need it anyway, be positive I The library is likely to have most things you need, and during the dissertation writing period, you can take out 15 instead of the usual 10 books.

Joanne: Should I look at previous years’ dissertations?

Howard: You can do.

Joanne: But I don’t know which are the good ones.

Howard: The library only keeps the best, and the staff can advise you.

Joanne: Are they willing to do that?

Howard: Oh yeah!

Joanne: And I’m worried about getting journal articles from the electronic library.

Howard: Well, have you tried to find any yet?

Joanne: No.

Howard: Well you should; it’s really straightforward.

Joanne: That’s obviously something I’ll have to look into

Howard: Dr. Peterson will help.

Joanne: Yeah, 1 know I can go to him if I have any worries.

Howard: Except he will he away in the second month. It’s the holidays. You

should ask him what to do while he’s away.

Joanne: Gosh yeah, but I suppose I can get a lot of support from a couple of people who are thinking of doing the same topic as me.

Howard: Take care, collaboration can become dependency! I think you’d better see how it works out, what the people are like.

Joanne: You’re probably right. About the reading, I suppose Dr. Peterson would recommend plenty of articles to get me started.

Howard: One thing I find out is what his attitude is to internet sources.

Joanne: Surely not in this day and age. I’d better get that sorted out right at

the beginning.

Howard: I would if I were you.

Joanne: And I’ve also got some questions about the researeh SECTIONs. How much time should I spend explaining the process?

Howard: Well, I think that’s up to you. You can see how it develops as you’re writing.

Joanne: Okay.

Howard: It’s the same with things like time management. That’s something a tutor can’t really help you with.

Joanne: I agree.

Howard: So is there anything else you need me to go over.

SECTION 4

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the second lecture in our series on chain stores in the UK. Today, I will be focusing on a very successful global petrol company called Telsa, paying particular attention to their expansion and future development. There will be time for questions at the end, so please refrain from interrupting during the talk.

When it was founded, the company was a family-run organization with only one shop open in a small town in southern England. The family was able to compete with other local companies by offering special discounts for returning customers, which resulted in a massive expansion of their client base. This strategy was so successful that they were able to open petrol stations across the country, subsequently increasing their market share in England.

Within a decade, Telsa was running establishments throughout the UK, including Wales and Scotland. By comparing the sales income from all of their stores, they were able to collate data that highlighted which areas were the most profitable stations in the south of Scotland. They discovered that by closing the less useful stations in the south of Scotland, they could increase the income from their other more profitable stations. This example demonstrates the importance of continually monitoring and maintaining a clear view of the finances of the company.

Once the expertise required to run the company had exceeded the abilities of the family, they needed to hire professional consultants. After assessing the company’s financial statements, the consultants advised that Telsa close the head office of the convenience stores in Oxford. They deemed the head office unnecessary and identified it as a financial drain on the company as the premises were expensive to run and generated no income. To avoid firing any employees, they transferred over 200 staff to other offices and retrained them to carry out their new roles.

Now that Telsa had conquered the petrol market in the UK, they were able to branch out into other niche areas that offered prospects for profits. They realized that they could establish a new environmentally-friendly brand image by selling

fresh food in their convenience stores that had been growr. by local farmers. This strategy would not only broaden the scope of the company but also help to strengthen its relationships with local communities.

Every year, Telsa holds a meeting in London where all of the consultants and managers meet to discuss plans for development and improvement. These meetings are essential to the evolution of the company, as feedback is heard from all level of the organization, from the sales staff to the CEOs. They did this by assigning every manager the task of holding staff discussions, at which ideas and concerns would be passed on for evaluation at the meeting.

Telsa decided to accommodate the individuality of each of their stores instead of forcing them to conform to one overriding company identity. They realized that by increasing the flexibility of the profit-making strategies of each of the retail stores, they subsequently became more commercially successful. The level of staff satisfaction also doubled as a result, as the individuals felt that they were not being constrained to one way of thinking. To avoid misunderstandings and mistakes, any future changes were introduced in stages to familiarize the staff with the new regulations.

Now, it’s time to conclude the lecture for today, so I will leave you with some food for thought before you go. To run a successful business, one cannot underestimate the importance of maintaining open-minded when deciding on strategies for expansion. Sometimes it’s necessary to employ an independent consultant who can offer an objective and unbiased view on the running of your company. Emotion will only ever cloud your ability to make business-related decisions.

Researeh suitable case studies and look at how department stores, for example, were able to alter their organizational structure while minimizing costs and staff redundancies. Precedents are an essential resource when it comes to making decisions for your own business, so don’t undervalue them!

Well, that wraps up our lecture for today. If there are any questions...

Test 6

SECTION 1

Girl: Good morning, what can I do for you?

Peter: Uh, yes, I am currently visiting this area, but I injured myself when I was doing sports a while ago, and I still feel painful, so I wondered whether 1 could go for a doctor here.

Girl: Sure sir, we can take you on as a temporary patient. I’ll just take down some personal details of you. May I have your name, please?

Peter: Yes, it’s Peter Smith.

Girl: All right, Peter. And where are you currently staying here?

Peter: At 95 Cross Street.

Girl: And the county?

Peter: Walk Icy. That’s W-a-l-k-l-c-y.

Girl: OK, and can I have a contact number?

Peter: Uh, it’s 4689 5324.

Girl: OK, thanks. May you just wait down there! The doctor will sec you in a minute.

Doctor: Now, how can I help you? It’s Peter Smith, isn’t it?

Peter: Yes, I had a sporting accident, and a doctor at home treated me, but I’m still getting some pain.

Doctor: Hum, right. Uh, first of all, I want to ask you a few questions.

Peter: Okay.

Doctor: Well, what sport were you doing when you got injured?

Peter: Playing tennis with my friends.

Doctor: Now, I sec. Did you hurt your elbow or wrist?

Peter: Oh, no. I had my knee sprained, which was the original problem.

Doctor: Right, and when did this happen?

Peter: Uh, that was three weeks ago now, so it was about June 18th.

Doctor: Hum. And, you said you had medical treatment at home?

Peter: Uh, yeah. The doctor said I didn’t need an X-ray or things alike, and he just told me to use an ice pack.

Doctor: Fine, anything else?

Peter: Yes, and I’ve been using a walking stick to help me get around.

Doctor: Right, now what problems are you having during walking?

Peter: Well, actually I can walk, yet I still can't go upstairs, so I’ve been sleeping downstairs.

Doctor: Hum, now you said your knee still gets hurt?

Peter: Well, no. Actually, it’s getting better. It’s my back that’s hurting me now. It really aches at night, and I cannot sleep well.

Doctor: Hum, I have several suggestions for that.

Peter: Great.

Doctor: First you should put the stick away as that’s probably the source of

the problem.

Peter: Oh, really? I wish I’d know.

Doctor: After that, I can prescribe you something to relax the muscles in your back.

Peter: Oh, sorry to be difficult, but I’ve had something like that in the past, and there were many side effects, and I don’t want to take it. Would you recommend anything else?

Doctor: Well, yes. We do have a leaflet showing some exercises you can do yourself at home. If you do them every day, they’ll soon be effective.

Peter: Great. I’ll do that.

SECTION 2

Hello, welcome you all to Pine Garden. My name is Manuel. Before you wander off and begin your exploration of the garden, I am going to keep all of you informed of several things about this building. I know you are eager to start your wandering and exploring, so I will try to keep this as short as possible.

At the very first, I think I should explain to you something that you can do with your ticket. If you would like to be much more into nature, the optimal SECTION is our planting area, where all the visitors can plant small flowers and bulbs on their own. These plants will gradually grow and then become part of our garden. The activities of planting are totally free. However, if your hands are sensitive, we strongly recommend you to buy a pair of garden gloves in order to protect your skin.

Also, here at Pine Garden, we use wooden materials from the trees that have been felled in our very own pine forest to make carved goods! If you are interested and want to get involved and try by yourself, you can join one of our bush timbering lessons for free, where you will have the opportunity to make your own key ring with the help of a skilled craftsman.

Our aviary is the most popular attraction, where you can see a whole range of bird species. More surprisingly, it is free to enter this SECTION, yet you should pay a small amount of supplement for the entry to the hummingbird SECTION. Also, the insect SECTION that is not far from the aviary might arouse your interest. There you will find a number of interesting insects, such as butterflies, pocket ladybugs, dragonflies and so on, and no extra fee for it will be paid.

Unfortunately, some areas are now temporarily limited to visitors today. For example, the gift shop that has been closed earlier this year will remain out of boundary for another month or so. As I have said before, the restaurant still offers free food and snacks for you, and if you do feel like purchasing a gift, why not buy that special potted bush or orchid from our plant care centre? What’s more, our new treetop cafe is now in the process of construction; it will be very compelling when it’s finished. Actually, our model town has already opened in advance, and that is such great interest to the public. Also, our tourist office is ordinarily available to give tourists many aids. But the officer is sick at home. Please do not be disappointed by this, since our opening visiting areas also provide quite an experience!

I’d also like to introduce our plant experts responsible for the wonderful plant exhibitions here at Pine Garden. Mrs. Mary is one of our specialists, who is personally in charge of our awesome displays that can all be found in the local wild nature. Mr. Berson is responsible for looking after some varieties of plants that grow in much drier and hotter climates than ours with difficult tasks, which means there is no need to conserve much water for it on site. If you go into the glass house, there are a large number of plants that he has managed to grow without any need for raining or irrigation. Mr. Smith is in charge of keeping all the visitors fed at our restaurant, which contains some of the varieties that grow under the ground and those that on trees and bushes. Now, Mr. Nuncc here is our specialist on the most universally growing plant in the world: grass! You may have noticed how beautifully green and lush our grounds are thanks to his specialist knowledge. Mr. Acanlan guarantees our soil is compiled with nutrients; all the specialists’ habitat is hence supported and encouraged. He succeeded in doing this by fertilizing the earth with his special formula that originally constructed by himself. At last, I’d like to invite you all to meet Dr. Mandelson, the manager of our landscaping team, who works closely with all other experts to make sure everybody works together to create a landscape that is pretty as well as sustainable.

Well, that just about rounds it up. Now, if anyone has any questions...

SECTION 3

Professor: Good morning, Lorna and Ian! I’m glad that you both chose to make it. You’re the only two who take the names down for this literature Test. So let’s get started, shall we? I would like to go through some aspects of the novel, The Secret Garden, with you before the Test next week. Do take some notes and feel free to interrupt me if you have questions.

Ian: i ley Loma, have you got a spare pen?

Lorna: Yeah, here you are.

Professor: All right, so, the story follows two key characters. You should refer to them as protagonists who go by the names of Mary Lennox and Colin Craven. The story is set shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, and the narrative tracks the development of the protagonists as they learn to overcome their own personal troubles together.

Lorna: That’s quite a common storyline, isn’t it?

Professor: Yes, you’re right, Lorna. So could you share something you’ve already known about the character of Mary?

Lorna: Veil, in the beginning, she is an angry and rude child who is orphaned after a cholera outbreak and forces to leave India for the United Kingdom to her uncle’s house in Yorkshire.

Professor: Exactly, and there she comes across Colin who spends his days in an isolated room, believing himself to be permanently crippled with no hope of being ever possible of walking. The two strike up a friendship and gradually learn by encouraging each other that both of them can have a healthy, happy and fulfilled life.

Ian: Is there any need for us to remember these details for the exam?

Professor: Just the fundamental structure. Examiners don’t want to read a plot summary. They know what the book is about. Focus on narrative techniques instead, such as point of view.

Lorna: What docs that mean?

Professor: It’s all about how we see the story. For example, it's written based on what is called an ‘omniscient narrator’, which means all- knowing. So, readers can feel the same as how all the characters do about things, including what they like and don’t like, and what their motivations are in the story.

Ian: Won’t it be that difficult to perform a technical analysis? After all, it's a kid’s book.

Professor: Well, it was initially pitched at adults, you know, but over the years it has shifted to a more youth-orientated work. In this case, your understanding is correct in some way. The simple lexical items and absence of foreshadowing make the story relatively easy to follow and supposedly suited for children. But that doesn't mean there isn’t much to analyse. Look at the symbolism, for instance.

Lorna: Symbols are things, right? Material things like objects that stand for abstract ideas.

Professor: Absolutely right. The author also uses many of them. There’s the robin redbreast, for example, which symbolises the wise and gentle nature that Mary will soon adopt. Note that the robin is regarded as ‘not at all like the birds in India’. Roses are treated as well as a personal symbol for Mistress Craven. You’ll see they’re always mentioned alongside her name. And Mistress Craven’s portrait can also be interpreted as a symbol of her spirit.

Ian: Are symbols just another name for motifs?

Professor: No, motifs are a bit different. They don't have a direct connection with something the way a symbol does. Motifs are simpl recurring elements of the story that support the mood.

Lorna: Are there any in this novel?

Professor: Yes, two very key ones. The Garden of Eden is a motif, which comes up a few times in association with the garden of the story. And then you've got the role that secrets play in the story. At the very beginning, everything is steeped in secrecy, and slowly the characters share their secrets and in the process move from darkness to lightness, metaphorically, but also in the case of Colin, quite literally. Uis room used to have the curtains drawn, but in the end, he appears in the brightness of the garden.

Ian: Anything else needed to know about?

Professor: Yes. Nearly all novels explore universal concepts that everyone has witnessed, things like love, family, loneliness, friendship. These are called themes. The Secret Garden has a few themes that all concentrate on the idea of connections. The novel explores, for example, the way that health can determine and be determined by our outlook on life. As Colin’s health conditions get improved, so do his perceptions of his strength and possibility. The author also examines the relationship between our surroundings and our physical and spiritual prosperity. The dark, cramped rooms of the manor house stifle the development of our protagonists; the garden and natural environments allow them to blossom, just as the flowers do. Finally, this book looks at the connections between individuals, namely Mary and Colin. This necessity of human companionship is the novel’s most important theme because none of their development as individuals would have appeared without their knowing each other. Well, thaï about sums it up, I think.

Lorna: That’s a great help, thanks.

Ian: Yes, thanks very much.

SECTION 4

Hello, everyone! Today, I would like to talk about an assignment that I did recently. The brief of my presentation was to analyse the methods used in a small survey about job satisfaction and then to put forward some suggestions for further researehes in the similar field. The correlation between differences in gender and differences in working hours, and levels of job satisfaction among employees have been investigated in the study I conducted. For this reason, employees at a call centre had been interviewed by filling in a questionnaire about their work. Now, I’ll briefly introduce the summary of the study findings.

One primary conclusion I’ve got is female full-time workers gained slightly higher levels of job satisfaction than male ones. More interestingly, among all the female workers, female workers on a part-time basis reported somewhat higher levels of satisfaction than the full-time ones did. On the contrary, from the perspective of male employees, part-time male workers held slightly less job satisfaction than how much the full-time ones felt. Although it seemed these results sounded interesting and capable of explanation, perhaps the most crucial thing to mention here is that in statistical terms they were inconclusive.

I was personally shocked at the fact that the results hadn’t been more definite, because I would have predicted to see both men and women, as well as full and part-time workers, would go into various levels of satisfaction. Therefore, I can pay higher attention to the methodology applied by the researehers, to figure out where problems may have aroused. So, the next part of the presentation today is detailed aspects of what I found.

First, it is probable that the sample size was too small since the total number of workers who did the questionnaire in the survey was 223, which perhaps sounds quite a lot. But they had to be divided up into several subgroups. Also, between those separate subgroups, the numbers were unequal. For instance, in the full- time group there were 154 samples, but only 69 in the part-time group. And only 10 of them in the part-time group were male, compared to the rest of 59 who were female. In addition, although quite a large quantity of workers were interviewed in the survey, the response has been disappointingly low, with a couple of them just ignoring the invitation. And workers who did respond may have differed in important perspectives from those who didn’t. Also, as the questionnaires had been posted to the call centre for distribution, the researehers had had minimal control over the conditions in which participants completed them. For example, their responses to questions may have caused the results to be biased.

In the last part of my assignment, there were some possible suggestions made for a similar study, which attempts to remove the problems that I’ve just mentioned before. First, a target sample size should be much larger, and consideration should be taken to make sure equal numbers of both genders and both full-time and part-time workers are surveyed. Second, the researehers should

recheck that they are present to administer the questionnaires to the workers themselves. And they should require the workers to complete the questionnaire under supervised conditions so that the likelihood of the impacts from other colleagues is eliminated. Finally, as workers may be unwilling to mention the details of their job satisfaction, when they are on work premises, it's critical that the researehers reassure their responses will keep confidential, and also that they have the right to withdraw from the study at any time if they want to. In this case, it is possible that the responses to the questionnaires get increasing reliability and any comparisons that are made are more valid.

Well, that was a summary of my assignment, does anyone have any questions?

Ielts Reading Tests

Thứ Sáu, 27 tháng 8, 2021

IELTS Listening Recent Actual Test Vol 5

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