Lesson 6: Listening Comprehension Practice

🟦 Introduction

You’ve learned the skills—now it’s time to apply them. This final lesson in Module 11 is a practice-based guide to help you improve your performance in WASSCE Listening Comprehension. You’ll tackle multiple practice tasks modeled after real exam questions involving sounds, word stress, intonation, dialogues, and narratives.

In this lesson, you will:

• Practice all the suprasegmental features you’ve studied

• Answer sample WASSCE-style objective questions

• Evaluate your accuracy and review explanations

🟩 Key Concepts and Exam Areas

The WASSCE Listening Paper (Paper 3) may cover:

1. Consonant and vowel discrimination

   • Distinguishing between similar sounds (e.g., ship/sheep)

2. Minimal pairs and rhyme

   • Recognizing words that rhyme or differ by one sound

3. Consonant clusters

   • Identifying sounds at word beginnings or ends

4. Word stress

   • Locating the stressed syllable in multi-syllable words

5. Sentence stress and rhythm

   • Spotting which words are stressed for meaning

6. Emphatic stress

   • Recognizing contrast or correction through tone

7. Intonation patterns

   • Identifying rising/falling tones and speaker attitudes

8. Dialogue and narrative comprehension

   • Answering factual and inferential questions

🧭 Practice Walkthroughs

🎧 Section A: Vowel Sound Discrimination

Question: In which option is the vowel sound different from the rest?
A. sheep
B. seat
C. ship
D. beat

✅ Answer: C. ship – it has /ɪ/ while others have /iː/

🎧 Section B: Rhyme Recognition

Question: Which word rhymes with light?
A. late
B. kite
C. sit
D. lift

✅ Answer: B. kite – both end in the /aɪt/ sound

🎧 Section C: Word Stress

Question: In which word is the stress on the second syllable?
A. ‘Pilot
B. En’gage
C. ‘Doctor
D. ‘River

✅ Answer: B. Engage

🎧 Section D: Sentence Stress

Listen to:

“She gave the book to Mary.”
Question: What is being emphasized?
A. The object (book)
B. The person (Mary)
C. The action (gave)
D. The time

✅ Answer: A. Book is stressed.

🎧 Section E: Emphatic Stress

Listen to:

“I said John, not James.”
Question: The speaker is…
A. Confirming a name
B. Making a suggestion
C. Emphasizing contrast
D. Apologizing

✅ Answer: C. Emphasizing contrast between names

🎧 Section F: Intonation

Listen to:

“Can you help me?” (with rising pitch)
Question: What is the speaker’s attitude?
A. Giving a command
B. Showing confidence
C. Asking politely
D. Making a statement

✅ Answer: C. Asking politely (Yes/No question with rising tone)

🎧 Section G: Dialogue Comprehension

Listen to:

A: “Have you seen the new math teacher?”
B: “Yes, she taught us yesterday. She seems very kind.”

Question: What is the speaker’s opinion of the teacher?
A. She is strict
B. She is intelligent
C. She is kind
D. She is unknown

✅ Answer: C. She is kind

🎧 Section H: Narrative Comprehension

Listen to the passage:

“Last week, I lost my phone at the bus station. I reported it to the police. Luckily, someone returned it the next day.”

Questions:

1. Where did the speaker lose the phone?

2. Who did the speaker report to?

3. Was the phone found?

✅ Answers:

1. Bus station

2. The police

3. Yes, someone returned it

🟨 Self-Assessment

Score yourself:

• 0–3: Review earlier lessons on pronunciation and stress

• 4–6: Good! Review listening strategies and intonation

• 7–8: Excellent! You’re WASSCE-ready

🔁 Recap

This lesson gave you real WASSCE-style listening questions on:

• Vowels and consonants

• Stress and rhythm

• Intonation and tone

• Dialogues and narratives

To succeed, listen actively for keywords, tone, and context. Practice regularly using past papers or audio recordings.

🪞 Reflection Prompt

Find a 2–3 minute English conversation (from a video, podcast, or radio). Listen twice. Then:

• Write down key facts

• Identify the tone of the speakers

• What was the overall message or story?