This textbook is a 4 skill-based teaching & learning material for EFL learners created using overseas news from the U.S. national broadcaster Voice of America.

Many learners of English point out that although they have been studying English for decades, they cannot hear the lyrics of western music or understand western movies without subtitles. Even those who pride themselves on being able to communicate in business negotiations and everyday conversations have difficulty with authentic material such as western music and movies. However, this should not be the case in your native language.

Even elementary school students can easily understand conversations and song lyrics in their native language word for word. Partial incomprehension occurs only when you lack vocabulary or background knowledge, and speech recognition or perception in your native language is nearly perfect. However, why is this not the case with foreign languages? When it comes to acquiring a second language, if a large amount of speech in the target language is input before the early grades of elementary school, then the speech recognition or perception ability can be as good as that of a native speaker. It is common knowledge among language experts that it is difficult to obtain.