Deciding how much detail a listening task requires
A listening passage is played twice. A teacher and student discuss a conversation between two students, Jae and Yuna. Yuna says: '재야, 오늘 방과 후에 뭐 해? 나는 도서관에서 숙제를 해. 같이 할래?' Jae replies: '미안, 오늘은 축구 연습이 있어. 내일은 시간이 있어. 내일 같이 하자.' The question asks: 'What will Jae and Yuna do together, and when?' A student answers: 'They will do homework at the library today.' The student says they heard '도서관' and '숙제' and stopped listening.
1. Explain why the student's answer is wrong, quoting the words that resolve the question.
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The student has matched keywords (도서관, 숙제) but ignored who does what and when.
Yuna invites Jae: 같이 할래? ('shall we do it together?'). Jae declines today: 오늘은 축구 연습이 있어 ('today I have soccer practice'). He then offers 내일은 시간이 있어. 내일 같이 하자 ('tomorrow I have time. Let's do it together tomorrow').
So the correct answer is: they will do homework together at the library tomorrow, not today. The words 오늘 and 내일 are the deciding information, and both appear in Jae's turn, which the student did not process.
2. The teacher says 'the answer is in the second speaker's turn'. Explain what strategy a student should use on the second listening, and why the first listening alone is risky here.
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Why the first listening is risky: the passage opens with Yuna naming the activity and place (도서관에서 숙제를 해), which sounds like the answer. A student who grabs that early will miss the change of plan in Jae's reply.
Strategy for the second listening:
- Before listening, note what the question asks - what and when - and listen for time words (오늘, 내일, 방과 후).
- Track who agrees: an invitation is not a plan until the other person accepts.
- Listen for contrast markers such as 미안 ('sorry') and 그런데/하지만, which signal a refusal or change.
- Confirm the final arrangement, which in this passage is Jae's 내일 같이 하자.
Keyword matching without tracking agreement and time is the main cause of error in this kind of task.