中学英語の「to」「of」「and」が聞き取れない。英語学習者がつまずく“小さな単語”の研究

Q1. What is the passage mainly about?

1. AWhy difficult words are hard to learn
2. BHow to write English sentences
3. CWhy English has so many words
4. DWhy learners often miss small, easy words

学習者が to や of のような小さな単語を聞き落とす、という内容が中心なので D。

Q2. Why could the learners not hear words like "to" and "of"?

1. ABecause the words became short and weak in speech
2. BBecause they did not know the words
3. CBecause the words were new to them
4. DBecause the speakers did not say them

They knew these words well とあり、知識の問題ではない。these small words become very short and weak とあるので A。

Q3. In this passage, "miss" in "which words do you miss most" means ...

1. Afeel sad about
2. Bremember well
3. Cfail to hear or notice
4. Dsay loudly

直後で「知っているのに聞き取れなかった」と説明されており、miss は「聞き落とす」の意味なので C。

Q1. What did Field ask the learners to do in his study?

1. ARead a script aloud
2. BTranslate sentences into their first language
3. CWrite down the last few words when the audio stopped
4. DChoose the correct picture

stopped the audio from time to time, and asked them to write down the last few words とあるので C。

Q2. Which statement is true according to the passage?

1. AOnly Japanese learners had trouble with function words.
2. BAdvanced learners had no trouble with function words.
3. CContent words were harder to recognize than function words.
4. DThe result was the same across different first languages and levels.

This was true regardless of their first language or level とあるので D。

Q3. What can we infer from the example "a cup of tea"?

1. AWords can join together so that their boundaries are hard to hear.
2. B"Tea" is a function word.
3. CLearners do not know the word "cup."
4. DNative speakers say every word separately.

機能語が周りの語とくっつき1語のように聞こえる例なので、単語の切れ目が聞き取りにくくなると推測できる。正解は A。

Q1. What is the main point of the passage?

1. ALearners often fail to perceive familiar function words because of how they are pronounced.
2. BLearners need to memorize more difficult vocabulary.
3. CNative speakers do not use function words in speech.
4. DTranscripts make listening practice less effective.

よく知っている機能語が弱形のために知覚されにくい、というのが全体の主旨なので A。

Q2. According to the passage, how do native listeners find where words begin?

1. ABy listening for function words
2. BBy looking at the speaker's mouth
3. CBy using strong syllables as cues
4. DBy counting the number of vowels

native listeners treat strong syllables as cues for where words begin とあるので C。

Q3. Why does the author say the problem is probably not a lack of knowledge?

1. ABecause the learners had never seen function words before
2. BBecause the recordings were of poor quality
3. CBecause content words were pronounced too fast
4. DBecause the learners surely knew these very frequent words

直前に these are among the most frequent words in English とあり、知らないはずがない語なので、原因は知識不足ではない、という論理。正解は D。