This task can be completed by pencil and paper or online (with auto-marking).

In order to follow the same procedure as the resource trial and thereby ensure the reliability of the difficulty estimates, we suggest you follow these instructions.

• Hand out the student sheets which should be turned upside down until you have finished reading the passage.
• Say: "This is a test of your listening skills. I will read the passage and then you will answer questions about it. Listen carefully."
• Read the introduction and passage. (Please note the suggested reading time of the text is 3 minutes.)
• Say: "Now turn over your sheet. Listen to each question and circle the best possible answer. Circle only one answer per question. If you wish to change your answer, cross out your first answer and circle your new answer."
• Read out each question and set of options with an approximately 10 second gap between each question.
• Except in the case of a significant interruption, read each part of the passage and each question and its options only once.

This is a folktale from India about a crab, a crocodile, and a jackal. Listen carefully to how the story goes.

A crab and a crocodile once lived on a river bank in India. They were the greatest of friends. While the crocodile slept in the sun, the crab looked for animals that the crocodile might catch. In return, the crocodile gave some of his food to the crab. But one day, the crab looked all along the river bank and could find nothing for the crocodile to eat. So the crocodile said to the crab, "I'll lie down here in the mud and pretend I'm dead. You go into the forest and fetch the jackal. Tell him you need his help to bury me. He's sure to come – he's a very nosy fellow. Then I can leap up and we will have him for our dinner."

The crab eagerly waved his claws about and scuttled off to find the jackal. The jackal was lying in the shade of a banyan tree, very still, but wide awake. "Come quickly," said the crab. "My friend the crocodile is dead. I need your help to bury him." Well, this sounded rather fishy to the jackal. But he wanted to find out what was going on, so he followed the crab back to the river. There, sure enough, was the biggest crocodile he'd ever seen, lying in the soft river mud with both eyes closed. "Help me drag the poor animal up to the bank," said the crab.

"Just a minute," said the jackal. "I don't think that crocodile's dead at all."

"Yes he is," said the crab, jumping up and down. He didn't want the plan to fail now.

"No," said the jackal. "He can't be dead. Everybody knows that dead crocodiles always swish their tails about. I've never seen one yet that lay so still." At these words, the crocodile started to thump his tail on the mud – up and down, up and down – and the cunning jackal started to laugh. "That old crocodile's just pretending," he said, as he ran off into the forest. "You won't have me for dinner!"

Text source: Traditional Folktale