TOEFL - Listening Tips (1)

Listen Actively

• Take Notes• Infer Meaning• Generalize• Ask Questions• Recognize key points and make Connections• What are they talking about?• How do they feel about the subject?• What are the key phrase in this conversation?• What is the tone of the conversation

Classify It

Determine if you are listening to a lecture or a conversation

Lecture:

• Mostly one side

• Academic topic

Conversation:

• Equal exchange between two people

or more

• Informal language

Record Important Details

• Recognize the major details of the passage and record these, you won’t have time for the minor, unimportant details

Major Points:

• In 2007, Pluto’s status as a planet

was revoked

• The speaker’s emotional tone

Minor Points:

• Pluto’s status change cause much

uproar on the internet

• What the speaker had for lunch

Look for Cohesive Devices

• These are often clues to the connection and the main points of the passage

• Pay special attention to : Pronoun Adjectives Transitions Repetitions Synonyms

Listening is not Reading

• This is a dialogue, not a passage with one voice.• Watch out for:

– Interruptions– Confused speakers asking for clarifications– Self-clarification– Fragmented sentences

Watch for Paraphrasing

• Remember, TOEFL is about comprehension, so often the correct answer is a paraphrase of something from the passage

• Be wary of answers that contain a lot of words directly from the passage, this may be done to trick you

Conversations

• Be prepared for delayed answers for questions

• Focus on the need, desires, and direct response of each speaker

• Create a separate note column for each speaker

• Make note of the complicating factors (reasons why something can’t be easily done)

• Pay attention when one speaker asks questions, it’s a clue that information is about to delivered

• Make special note of conclusions, outcomes or results in the conversation-thing that indicate what was changed or what will happen.

Lectures

• Lectures follow formats which are similar to essays

Introduction: includes the thesis or main ideaBody paragraphs: containing the arguments, each beginning with a topic sentenceConclusion: may contain clue word like “wrapping up” or “in the end”; they may restate the thesis statement. Also may contain the lecture’s thoughts and opinions on the subject.

• Watch for student interruptions for clarifications of expansion of ideas, these often indicate the key points.

• Realize that you can’t take note on everything, work on understanding concepts presented. The focus of this Listening section is not to test your memory, but a strong memory will help.