[Help]English Native Speakers Needed For A Pilot Study~

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laiyuda
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 6:27 pm

[Help]English Native Speakers Needed For A Pilot Study~

Post by laiyuda » Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:00 pm

Dear all,

I'm conducting a case study of SLA in Taiwan. It's a controlled cloze test, and I am in great need of native speakers' responses and answers as baseline. Could anyone whose mother tongue is English kindly fill in the blanks in the passages?
Thank you very much. :D



Instruciton: Please supply the missing word or words in the blank by using the base words in parenthesis.

P1.
Once upon a time, in rural England, there lived a little boy named James. In a morning, he (wake up) _________ and (find) _________ that it (turn) __________ white outside. Overjoyed, James got dressed. He (put on) __________ the clothes, hat, and shoes, and (rush) _______ downstairs. His mother (see) ________ him running into the garden.

P2.
Tumbling outside where it (snow) ___________, he (build) ___________ a snowman. He (make) __________ a pile of snow, making it bigger and bigger. He (feel) __________ cold and (go) ___________ back into the house. He (run) _________ out again while Mom (talk) _________ to him. He (put) __________ a big snowball on top.
He thought that the snowman still (need) __________ something. He (add) __________ a scarf and hat on the head of the snowman, an orange for a nose, and coal for eyes and buttons. James finally (finish) _________ the snowman, just like a man who (stand) ________ and (smile) _______ at him.

P3.
James and his parents were inside the house. But he was restless. His parents (watch) _________ TV and he (lean) ________ upon the sofa, looking out of the window. The snowman was standing alone in the snow. Before he went to bed, he (peep) ________ from his window.
He (sleep) __________ fitfully. At midnight, he (wake up) __________ to check on his snowman. He (open) __________ the back door…. He couldn’t believe his eyes; something incredible (happen) _________. He saw the snowman coming to life! The snowman (move) ___________.
P4.
James (meet) _________ the snowman face to face introducing himself with a smile and a polite doff of his hat. The little boy invited him in to tour his house. The snowman (take off) _________ his hat. James showed the snowman all the wondrous things that were fascinating: the electric lights, the furnace, the faucet, TV…etc.
P6.
They (sneak) ___________ upstairs. James secretly opened the door of his parents’ room. The snowman (wait) __________ outside. They (enter) _______ the room where James’ parents (sleep) ________ deeply. The snowman, who (seem) ________ pretty curious just like a little child, was wondered by all the stuffs in the room, including the denture, picture. He then tried on the glasses and necktie.
P.7
James led the snowman to his room. Again, he showed him a lot of wondrous stuffs. James (play) _________ the skateboard and the snowman (watch) __________ aside. Then the snowman stood on the skateboard, but suddenly he (slip) __________ and (fall) ___________.
p.9
They then went to the kitchen. The snowman (sit) ____________ on the chair. The little boy put on the napkin around his neck. He set the table, and served dishes. The snowman (wait) ____________ aside quietly and pleasantly. The food (smell) ___________ delicious and (taste) __________ good. They (enjoy) _________ the meals together. The snowman (want) __________ to thank James.
p.10-13
The snowman took the little boy outside of the house. They ran and flew up into the sky.
The wind (blow) _______ heavily, and it was snowing. They soared through the air, flying over England, over water, to the North Pole. They (land) __________ in a far-off land where they (have) _________ much jollity. But it was so late, and the little boy was tired out. The snowman with the little boy flew home.
p.14
They (arrive) _________ safely at homeland. They walked back home together. As the little boy (go) ____________ inside, the snowman (wave) _________ good-bye. The snowman (resume) __________ his position in the garden, who (stand) __________ still alone at the dark and cold night.
p.15-16
Being exhausted, James fell asleep. It was a sunny day in the next morning. Upon awakening, the little boy rushed out of his bedroom and downstairs. His parents (eat) __________ breakfast while he was him running out. What James found outside was just a few lumps of coal and an old hat. The snowman had gone. The sun (melt) ___________ the snowman all away.

eslweb
Posts: 208
Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 1:46 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Maybe some trouble with this Cloze test...

Post by eslweb » Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:11 am

There seem to be some grammar problems with the test itself. :?:

----------Looking at the first paragraph------

Once upon a time, in rural England, there lived a little boy named James. >In a<1 morning, he (wake up) woke up and (find) found that it (turn) had turned white outside. Overjoyed, James got dressed. He (put on) put on >the<2 clothes, hat, and shoes, and (rush) rushed downstairs. His mother (see) saw him running into the garden.

1. Perhaps this should be one morning, because the existing form suggests it happens every day or regularly....

2. We don't say the clothes, maybe you mean his clothes. Also we'd either list all of the clothes or just say that he put on his clothes (We'd assume that included shoes and a hat)

----------

I don't know if anybody else has had the time to correct the whole passage for you, but my suggestion is to buy some grammar books, use Cloze tests already on the Internet or use an existing passage and put in the Clozes.

Making your own is very difficult and if you haven't got people who are proficient to help check your English then it's going to be a very troublesome exercise...

James

laiyuda
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 6:27 pm

Post by laiyuda » Sat Jul 08, 2006 2:47 am

Dear James,

Thanks for your kind reply. It is a tough job for me to come up with a cloze test by myself. As the stimuli required, I have to write the description by myself since I cannot find any version of "Snowman" with text in it. :(

As a non-native speaker, I tried my best to collect every possible description about "Snowman" on the Internet, based on which I wrote my own version of the cloze test...

Best,

Steven

eslweb
Posts: 208
Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 1:46 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Other Snowman exercises...

Post by eslweb » Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:42 pm

Steven,

Not sure why you need this particular Cloze exercise, but have you seen the following two exercises based on snowmen:

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/kids/sto ... owman.html

http://www.terriebittner.com/snowmangrammar.htm

I think they're quite good places to start.

James
http://www.jamesabela.co.uk/

laiyuda wrote:Dear James,

Thanks for your kind reply. It is a tough job for me to come up with a cloze test by myself. As the stimuli required, I have to write the description by myself since I cannot find any version of "Snowman" with text in it. :(

As a non-native speaker, I tried my best to collect every possible description about "Snowman" on the Internet, based on which I wrote my own version of the cloze test...

Best,

Steven

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