Which description correctly defines intensive reading/listening?

• A. In-depth engagement with a text/listen with specific aims and tasks
• B. Reading with a focus on broad coverage
• C. Skimming for main ideas
• D. Listening for general entertainment

Answer: (A)

Intensive reading/listening is about close, detailed engagement with a text or audio. It means approaching the material with clear aims and specific tasks that require you to dig into details, language features, and how ideas are organized. For reading, you’d focus on things like grammar in context, vocabulary nuances, discourse markers, how cohesive ties connect ideas, and how information is structured paragraph by paragraph. For listening, you’d pay attention to exact information, pronunciation, intonation, and how the speaker uses language to achieve a function or purpose, often reconstructing meaning from details rather than just getting the gist.

This approach contrasts with broad coverage, which aims to get a general sense of the topic rather than analyze language or structure in depth. Skimming for main ideas is about quickly locating the overarching message rather than details. Listening for general entertainment isn’t oriented toward language learning tasks or analysis at all.

So the best description is the one that emphasizes in-depth engagement with a text or listen with explicit aims and tasks, focusing on the details of language, structure, and meaning.