The Horton Castle site — Cambridge IELTS 12 Academic 2017 TEST 3 — IELTS Test

Cambridge IELTS 12 Academic 2017 TEST 3

The Horton Castle site

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(0:00) Section 3 You will hear two tourism students, called (0:07) Natalie and Dave, talking about the tourism case study they are doing. (0:15) First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26. (0:50) Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26.

(0:58) Dave, I'm worried about our case study. (1:02) I've done a bit of reading, but I'm not sure what's involved in actually writing (1:07) a case study. (1:08) I missed the lecture where Dr Baker talked us through it.

(1:12) OK, well, it's quite straightforward. (1:15) We've got our focus, that's tourism at the Horton Castle site. (1:21) And you said you'd done some reading about it? (1:24) Yes, I found some articles and made notes of the main points.

(1:28) Did you remember to keep a record of where you got the information from? (1:33) Sure, I know what a pain it is when you forget that. (1:36) OK, so we can compare what we've read. (1:40) Then we have to decide on a particular problem or need at our site.

(1:46) And then think about who we're going to interview to get more information. (1:51) OK, so who'd that be? (1:54) The people who work there and presumably some of the tourists too? (1:59) Yes, both those groups. (2:02) So we'll have to go to the site to do that, I suppose.

(2:06) But we might also do some of our interviewing away from the site. (2:11) We could even contact some people here in the city, like administrators involved in (2:17) overseeing tourism. (2:18) OK, so we'll need to think about our interview questions and fix times and (2:25) places for the meetings.

(2:27) It's all going to take a lot of time. (2:29) And if we can, we should ask our interviewees if they can bring along (2:34) some numerical data that we can add to support our findings. (2:39) And photographs? (2:41) I think we have plenty of those already.

(2:44) But Dr Baker also said we have to establish with our interviewees whether (2:49) we can identify them in our case study or whether they want to be anonymous. (2:55) Oh, I wouldn't have thought of that. (2:59) OK, once we've got all this information, I suppose we have to analyse it.

(3:04) Yes, put it all together and choose what's relevant to the problem we're (3:09) focussing on and analyse that carefully to find out if we can identify any (3:15) trends or regularities there. (3:18) That's the main thing at this stage, rather than concentrating on details or (3:24) lots of facts. (3:25) OK, and then once we've analysed that, what next? (3:30) Well, then we need to think about what we do with the data we've selected to make (3:35) it as clear as possible to our readers.

(3:38) Things like graphs or tables or charts. (3:42) Right. (3:43) Then the case study itself is mostly quite standard.

(3:48) We begin by presenting the problem and giving some background, then go through (3:53) the main sections. (3:55) But the thing that surprised me is that in a normal report, we'd end with some (4:00) suggestions to deal with the problem or need we identified. (4:04) But in a case study, we end up with a question or a series of questions to our (4:10) readers and they decide what ought to be done.

(4:14) Oh, I hadn't realised that. (4:20) Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at (4:24) questions 27 to 30. (4:57) Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.

(5:04) So, basically, the problem we're addressing in our case study of the Horton (5:09) Castle site is why so few tourists are visiting it. (5:15) And we'll find out more from our interviews, but I did find one report on (5:20) the internet that suggested that one reason might be because, as far as (5:24) transport goes, access is difficult. (5:27) I read that too, but that report was actually written 10 years ago when the (5:33) road there was really bad, but that's been improved now.

(5:37) And I think there's plenty of fascinating stuff there for a really good day out, (5:43) but you'd never realise it from the castle website. (5:47) Maybe that's the problem. (5:48) Yes, it's really dry and boring.

(5:51) I read somewhere a suggestion that what the castle needs is a visitor centre. (5:57) So we could have a look for some information about that on the internet. (6:02) What would we need to know? (6:05) Well, who'd use it for a start? (6:08) It'd be good to know what categories the visitors fell into too, like school (6:12) parties or retired people.

(6:15) But I think we'd have to talk to staff to get that information. (6:19) OK, and as we're thinking of suggesting a visitor centre, we'd also have to (6:24) look at potential problems. (6:26) I mean, obviously, it wouldn't be cheap to set up.

(6:29) No, but it could be a really good investment. (6:33) And as it's on a historical site, it'd need to get special planning (6:37) permission, I expect. (6:39) That might be hard.

(6:40) Right, especially as the only possible place for it would be at the entrance, (6:45) and that's right in front of the castle. (6:48) But it could be a good thing for the town of Horton. (6:52) At present, it's a bit of a ghost town.

(6:55) Once they've left school and got any skills or qualifications, the young (7:00) people all get out as fast as they can to get jobs in the city. (7:05) And the only people left are children and those who've retired. (7:09) Right.

(7:11) Something else we could investigate would be the potential damage that (7:15) tourists might cause to the castle site. (7:18) I mean, their environmental impact. (7:21) At present, the tourists can just wander around wherever they want.

(7:24) But if numbers increase, there might have to be some restrictions, like (7:29) sticking to marked ways. (7:32) And there'd need to be guides and wardens around to make sure these are (7:35) enforced. (7:36) Yes, we could look at that too.

(7:39) Okay, well, we certainly might... (7:44) That is the end of section three. (7:48) You now have half a minute to check your answers.

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