Shadowing Practice: Vol 3 - test 4 - section 4 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Now turn to Section 4 on page 7.

Section 4.

You will hear part of a talk about research into learner persistence given by a university lecturer to her colleagues.

First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40 on pages 7 and 8.

Thank you.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.

My talk is about a research study I did over a period of five years on learner persistence,

why some people stick at academic study better than others.

As teachers, you will know that there is a tremendous variation in the learner's response to certain things.

For example, a short period of illness might completely destabilize some students and cause them to give up their degree studies.

Other learners might overcome tremendous difficulties to stay the course.

I am particularly interested in this second group, who are the ones with learner persistence.

What I decided to do was design a research study using a sample of my university's third-year undergraduate students,

295 in all who obviously had already stayed the course pretty well.

The sample was drawn from a range of ages, but there was deliberately a significant number of mature students,

and all respondents were living at home in the local region.

I wanted to have this element of consistency, not having some coming from outside the area and living in university accommodation.

It should be noted, though, that there was significant variation in home background to reflect the variation in our student population.

I designed questionnaires which were devised to elicit what their concerns had been as they started the course

and what had sustained them throughout the three years.

Findings from the first section indicated that their worries when they started varied from financial concerns,

though this had not been as strong as I expected, to career prospects.

but mature students with children tended to emphasize uncertainties about their relationship with them

the second section of my questionnaire looked at learner persistence under three main headings social

and environmental factors other factors and intrinsic

or personal characteristics I identified three levels of importance for each

of these at the first level those points identified by participants

as most important in learner persistence for social factors many respondents

said how crucial it had been to have good support though

there was no one specific source it could be family

or friends as regards other factors students are heartened not

so much by high grades but by what they regard as success in study

and for personal characteristics many respondents reported that they took pleasure in challenge and

that this was regarded as very significant at the second level

of importance in the first category a sizable percentage talked about the fact

that they had enjoyed themselves in school as an important social

factor in the second column other factors a number of people said

that what was of most importance was decent health this had

a fairly strong influence on their persistence in their studies

and then under the heading of personal characteristics there were quite

a large percentage of respondents who who mentioned they felt it was important to have lots of interests in their everyday lives.

This gave them a depth and sense of perspective, which less persistent learners might lack.

And then, on to the third level.

Under social factors, several respondents talked about good relationships with their tutors.

For other factors, they mentioned lack or absence of any problems in their families

and Finally under column three they identified an ability to juggle several roles what we might call their capacity for multitasking

Now these findings obviously helped inform the design of activities as I mentioned

But in addition a number of further recommendations emerged

firstly I propose

that the department distributes questionnaires to first-year students to help get an idea of their maturity

when starting the course this is really our overriding concern secondly

I recommend we look into ways of offering induction courses for

some selected students to allow them to take on the role

of advisors we think they are the best people to act in

that role this policy will make support much more accessible to

our students thirdly this help is often most needed in the evening

and night when offices are closed and

so we should set up online services instead of the more traditional telephone services research has shown

that these services are actually more accessible to the majority of students.

And finally, it is often important to be proactive.

If students are not meeting deadlines, then someone should contact them rather than wait for them to come to us.

Now, are there any questions about the points that you have to ask?

That is the end of Section 4.

You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Thank you.

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Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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