What will Hector and Ms. Farrell do on Thursday?
Listen to a Classroom Conversation · ELPAC Grades 9–10 listening. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
A multiple-turn conversation between two speakers, followed by three questions.
Listen to the conversation between Ms. Farrell and Hector about his research paper. Then answer the questions.
Sources for the Research Paper
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Show transcript
Ms. Farrell: Hector, I read your draft on the Central Valley water debate. The writing itself is clear, but eight of your nine sources are news articles from the same week.
Hector: I searched the topic and those were the first results that came up.
Ms. Farrell: That is the problem. You have one week of coverage, so your paper argues that the dispute began this spring. It did not. It has been running since the nineteen twenties.
Hector: Should I take the news articles out?
Ms. Farrell: Keep two of them for the current situation. Then go find the history. The water district publishes its own annual reports, and the university library has an oral history collection with interviews from farmers and city engineers.
Hector: I have never used an oral history before.
Ms. Farrell: Come to the library with me during fourth period on Thursday, and I will show you how to search it.
The question
Choose the best answer.
What will Hector and Ms. Farrell do on Thursday?
- Read through the water district's annual reports together.
- Remove all of the news articles from his list of sources.
- Interview a farmer and a city engineer about the dispute.
- Go to the library so she can show him how to search the oral history collection.Correct answer
Why “Go to the library so she can show him how to search the oral history collection.” is correct
This tests listening for a next step, which in a classroom conversation usually lands in the final line. Ms. Farrell names the day, the period and the purpose: the library on Thursday during fourth period, to learn how to search the oral history collection. The wrong answers all use material from earlier in the conversation, so a student has to attach the plan to the right sentence.
Why the other answers are wrong
- Read through the water district's annual reports together. — The annual reports are one source she suggests he find, not something they agree to read together.
- Remove all of the news articles from his list of sources. — She tells him to keep two news articles for the current situation.
- Interview a farmer and a city engineer about the dispute. — The interviews already exist inside the oral history collection; neither of them is conducting one.
Practice more of this
More listening practice for Grades 9–10, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 9–10. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.