nn All learners make mistakes. This is not confined to language learners. We all make mistakes when we are speaking our mother tongue. Whether we bother to correct ourselves or not seems to depend on whether we think our hearers have noticed, and how urgently we want to get on with what we are saying. We know how to correct them; we can recognize our own mistakes for what they are. This is not usually the case with mistakes made by a learner. Not only does he not always recognize his mistakes, but when his attention is drawn to them, he often cannot correct them; he may even commit another error in trying to do so. Furthermore, the majority of learners’ errors are linguistically quite different from those made by a native speaker. We judge a foreigner’s knowledge of our language by the number and sort of mistakes he makes. We are inclined to think that he knows our language quite well if he does not make many mistakes. It does not usually occur to us that he may be avoiding taking risks and confining himself to doing only what he knows he can do right. Non-specialist people assess a foreigner’s ability in their language in the first place by how haltingly he speaks and by how good his pronunciation is, that is in linguistic terms, but in its most superficial aspect. Contrary to language professionals, they tend to assume that one can equate a poorer pronunciation with a generalilack of knowledge of the language, and that a halting speech is confined to those who do not know the language well.14. It is clearly stated in the passage that native speakers ---, A) are thought to be quite beneficial to language leamers if they commit no errors in communication B) share mostof the linguistic characteristics of the mistakes made bylanguage learners C) recognize and correct their mistakes faster. than language leamers D) may not easily correct their errors while talking to language leamers —) make mistakes characterized differently from those of learners of another language 15. According to the passage, the author's view regarding foreign language speaker’s not making many mistakes ----. A) is that this might not stem from good knowledge of language but from little risk-taking strategy and using only the best-known knowledge B) contradicts what many other linguists view that mistakes are constructive in developing knowledge of language C) could be related to the context in which foreign language is performed as a part of natural communication D) is generally highlighting the lack of knowledge of pronunciation acquired inadequately from different sources £) overlaps with learners’ mistakes in that both believe in the contribution of mistakes to the learning process16. It can be inferred from the passage that language professionals ----. A) know that fluency is a quality that changes according to the speech situation and the topic of conversation B) revise their superficial judgements once they have been long exposed to the foreign language speaking C) do not assess 4 learner's language knowledge with reference to speaking performance, but consider the nature of his or her knowledge D) think that the fewer mistakes a learner makes, the more and better he knows the language and uses it fluently E) have not taken any risks while performing language as much as learners have, as mistakes are not a part of language learning for them| In 1980, Paul Meara characterized vocabulary as a ‘neglected aspect of language learning’. Researchers in the 1970s and early 1980s were drawn to syntax and morphology because of the way error patterns and developmental sequences of these features might reveal something about universals in languages and language acquisition. Just as Meara was commenting on the state of neglect, an explosion of research on vocabulary learning was beginning, and the acquisition of vocabulary has become one of the most active areas in second language acquisition research. For most people, the importance of vocabulary seems very clear. As it has often been remarked, we can communicate by using words that are not placed in the proper order, pronounced perfectly, or marked with the proper grammatical morphemes, but communication often breaks down if we do not use the correct word. Although circumlocution and gestures can sometimes compensate, the importance of vocabulary can hardly. be underestimated.14. According to the passage, vocabulary ----. A) is sometimes exaggerated in terms of its: significance B) was not a major area of importance in language learning until more recently C) can include syntax and morphology according to some researchers D) is the first thing that.children learn as they experience the target language E) should be studied elaborately to\get accurate results of importance 15. As it is clearly stated in the passage, Meara —. A) wasted his time and energy trying to convince his peers B) and his work did not have such an impact on the profession C) focused heavily on error patterns and universals in language acquisition D) was timely in his criticism of the lackof focus on vocabulary E) would believe pronunciation was almost as important as vocabulary16. One can understand from the passage that ----. A) vocabulary may be the most essential part of successful, though ungrammatical, forms of communication B) it is time to return to more traditional schools of thought in language learning that deal with syntax and morphology C) morphemes provide the simplest ways of communication especially when younger children are involved D) gestures should also be investigated to see how they represent vocabulary E) a frequent error pattern that occurs in vocabulary can be easily prevented with circumlocutionan Chinese students have recently become the largest single ethnic group of overseas students enrolled in Australian institutions dealing with services. Due to cultural differences in communication styles, these students find it difficult to adjust to local communication norms that encourage students to speak out in class and in interaction with academic staff. Cindy Gallois and her associates studied this phenomenon in 1992. They prepared twenty-four carefully scripted videotapes of communication between a student and a lecturer, in which the student adopted a submissive, assertive or aggressive communication style to ask for help with an assignment or to complain about a grade. Gallois and her associates had Australian students, ethnic Chinese students and lecturers view the videos and rate the students on a number of behavioural dimensions and on the effectiveness of their communication style. All participants agreed that the aggressive style was inappropriate and atypical of students of any ethnic background. Consistent with stereotypes, submissiveness was considered more typical of Chinese than Australian students, and assertiveness more typical of Australian than Chinese students. Chinese students felt that the submissive style was more effective than the assertive style. However, lecturers and Australian students interpreted the submissive style as being less effective and as indicating less need for assistance.14. It can be inferred from the passage that -—-. A) the research conducted by Gallois and hernassociates could not yield reliable results associated with communication styles B) a certain communication style might be considered inconvenient for interaction irrespective of any ethnic background C) thé more assertive a student's communication style is, the less willing he or she is to ask for help D) communication norms in Australia lead both students and lecturers to adopt a submissive style E) interaction between Australian and Chinese students is dramatically influenced by the communication style chosen by the lecturers14. It can be inferred from the passage that -—-. A) the research conducted by Gallois and hernassociates could not yield reliable results associated with communication styles B) a certain communication style might be considered inconvenient for interaction irrespective of any ethnic background C) thé more assertive a student's communication style is, the less willing he or she is to ask for help D) communication norms in Australia lead both students and lecturers to adopt a submissive style E) interaction between Australian and Chinese students is dramatically influenced by the communication style chosen by the lecturers15. One can understand from the passage that —--. A) interaction patterns of Chinese students were partly ignored in the research performed by Gallois and her associates B) although communication styles may differ, in an academic setting, students are expected to demonstrate similar behaviours C) Chinese students are more:eligible to work in the Australian service industry than other overseas students since they can easily adjust themselves to Australian communication norms D) the assertive communication style of Australian students makes it easier to interact with academic staff and their peers E) the language barrier can be a major obstacle to effective communicationin an academic setting even though students are highly motivated by the lecturers to interact with each other16. The primary purpose of thelauthor is to --—. A) reveal that the submissive styleis closely linked to cultural background while the assertive style can be taken into consideration regardless of ethnic factors 'B) nourishia view that Chinese students are more talented than their Australian counterparts with respect to interactive activities C) explain why the interpretations of Australian students: and lecturers differed completely on the effectiveness of the assertive style D) draw attention to the sharp increase in the number of Chinese students working at Australian institutions although they have various communication problems E) underline the essential role played by communication styles to enable effective communication and facilitate interactionCd The more pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge a learner has and the more accurately the two are mapped onto each other, the more likely it is that the learner will be successful in cross-cultural communication. However, is it easier for some people to acquire this knowledge than for others? In other words, is there a predisposition, even an aptitude, for successful cross-cultural performance? Because much pragmalinguistic competence is reinforced by general L2 knowledge, learners with a high L2 aptitude often have an easier time building their pragmalinguistic competence. Sociopragmatic competence, on the other hand, has much to do with interpersonal relations, understanding why people react the way they do, and fundamentally caring about what other people think. Some leamers are extremely good at establishing a friendly relationship despite limited general L2 competence, mostly because they interact in a way that is felt to be positive and engaging. For example, Richard Schmidt's case study using a native speaker of Japanese, Wes, in 1983, showed that despite substantial gaps in his general command of English, Wes was quite successful in his English-language interactions thanks to his polite manner.14. It is clear from the passage that people can be quite successful in cross-cultural communication A) they have an innate, natural predisposition towards establishing harmonious relationships with speakers of their first language B) their general L2 knowledge is sufficient enough to communicate effectively, irrespective of certain personality traits C) their pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge are closely intertwined with each other D) their L2 aptitude is high enough to enable them to engage in interactions using the target language E) they have developed pragmalinguistic competence despite lacking sociopragmatic competence15. According to the passage, those with a high L2 aptitude ----. A) tend to have few problems with sociopragmatic competence B) can easily develop sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic competence at the same time C) think that sociopragmatic competence is not as essential as pragmalinguistic competence D) are utilized in studies to answer questions about pragmalinguistic competence E) tend to acquire pragmalinguistic competence with less effort16. The author gives Wes, whose first language is Japanese, as an example in order to ----. A) prove that one can face several communication problems while speaking a foreign language if he or she does not have a high L2 aptitude B) reveal that equal blending of sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic knowledge is required if one aims to improve his or her communicative skills C) show that Japanese people are highly competent in establishing effective interpersonal relations and thus developing sociopragmatic competence D) stress the importance of developing social skills such as displaying favourable behaviours, which help to communicate competently in the target language E) highlight that pragmalinguistic competence is relatively easier to develop than sociopragmatic competenceExposing children to more words would seem simple enough in language acquisition. But language delivered by television, audiobook, Internet, or smartphone — no matter how educational — does not appear to do the job. That is what researchers led by Patricia Kuhl, a neuroscientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, learned from a study of nine-month-old children. In their study, they exposed nine-month-olds from English-speaking families to Mandarin. Some of the children interacted with native Mandarin-speaking tutors, who played with them and read to them. Another group of children saw and heard the same Mandarin-speaking tutors through a video presentation. And a third group heard only the audio track. After all the children had been through 12 sessions, they were tested on their ability to discriminate between similar phonetic sounds in Mandarin. The researchers expected the children who had watched the videos to show the same kind of learning as the kids tutored face-to-face. Instead they found a huge difference. The children exposed to the language through human interaction were able to discriminate between similar Mandarin sounds as well as native speakers. But the other infants showed no learning whatsoever. This led Kuhl to propose what she calls social gating hypothesis — the idea that social experience is a portal to linguistic development.14, Which of the following is true about the study, conducted on the nine-month-old children? A) Nine-month-olds who watched the.video recordings were better at distinguishing between similar Mandarin ssounds,than those who only listened to them. B) Nine-month-olds who watched a video presentation demonstrated high levels of language learning ability atthe end of the study. C) Nine-month-olds were divided into three groups based ‘on the educational value of the linguistic input which they were exposed to. D) Nine-month-olds who had direct interaction with the tutors were able to differentiate between similar sounds in, Mandarin. E) Nine-month-olds who engaged in face-to-face interaction with the tutors and who watched the video recordings had similar learning experiences.15. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? A) The sounds of a foreign language are difficult for infants to discriminate regardless of how they are exposed to the language. B) Language can be leamed in any way if one is highly exposed to linguistic input at an early age. C) The results of Kuhl's study were obviously different from what the researchers had foreseen. D) Exposing children to more words is\crucial in language learning irrespective of the way it is done. E) The results of Kuhl's study would have been different if the Mandarin-speaking tutors had spoken English.16. According to the passage, the social gating hypothesis ----. A) proposes that language learning, particularly in children's early years, should be supported by technological devices B) applies to foreign language acquisition rather than first language acquisition C) claims that how an infant is exposed to language has nothing to do with learning D) emphasises the importance of interaction with others while learning a language E) demonstrates the necessity of providing children with linguistic input via different means.