TOEFL : Listening

Lectures
  • 4-6 minutes long
  • One person talking
  • Similar to texts in reading section
  • Pictures :-
    • Picture of the professor
    • Important words on black board
    • Some diagrams or illustrations
Conversation
  • 2-4 minutes long
  • One student, one university employee
  • Picture :-
    • Picture of 2 people at start
    • No important information
    • Helps to stay focused (helps you to imagine real people in real place)
Classroom Discussion
  • Its not really a discussion, merely a lecture. We call it discussion because some student do ask some question or answer something
  • 4-6 minutes long
  • Mostly just the professor
    •  Questions and comments from 2-3 students
  • Basically the same as lectures
  • Picture
    • Picture of professor/class
    • Diagram or illustrations
 Question Types
  • Main Idea
    • First question after each recording
    •  Main
      • Topic (what)
      • Purpose (why)      (Especially for conversation)
    • Remember the beginning of conversation
    • No later details are important
      • Later sections as a whole are important
    •  Question Format
      • What is the main topic of the conversation?
      • What trend in child development does the professor mainly discuss?
      • What is the main purpose of the lecture?
      • Why does the student go to speak with his advisor?
    • Where is the main idea?
      • Beginning and the rest
      • The main idea is in first 10 seconds or first 20 seconds
        • Especially in conversations as conversation purpose can change
      • Normally it is in the beginning
      •  Don't ignore the rest
        • All details connect
  • Detail
    • One fact or idea
      • Understand the concepts and meaning
      • Not usually about the numbers or years
    • 2 facts or 3 facts if toefl ask multiple answer questions
    • ~2 per recording
      • Very High Frequency
    • In order to answer them correctly, Focus is everything
    • Question Format
      • According to the professor, what is "heat lightning"?
      • What does the student say about his car?
      • What point does the professor make about modern psychology?
      • According to the secretary,  who should the student contact?
    • Use your notes to answer the Detail Question
      • Understand, don't memorize
  • Function
    • Why something is said
    • 0-2 per recording(~1 on average)
      • Medium Frequency
    • Think about context - the big picture
    •  Question Format
      • Why does the professor say this? (Listen again)
      •  What does the student mean when she say this?(Listen again)
      • What does the student imply about her knowledge of European history when she say this? (Listen again) (seems like a inference but it is a function question)
    • Why does the student describe her friend's appearance?
    • Get in the speaker's head
      • Imagine the scene
      • No notes during replays
      • Pay attention to asides(A->B->A)
        •  sudden speed change
        • Question in the middle of sentence
        • Signals like "by the way" or "incidentally"
      • Focus on the context, not the words
  • Attitude
    • What are they thinking? (Similar to function questions)
    •  Function question don't ask about opinion but attitude question ask about opinion
    • 0-1 per recording
      • Low Frequency
    • Both what is said and how it's said
    • Question Format
      • What is the professor's opinion of algae that is grown for fuel?
      • What is the women's attitude towards the professor's suggestion  for working with a classmate?
      • What can be inferred about the man's opinion of his class schedule?
      • What is the professor's attitude toward modernism?
  • Using Tone of Voice
    • helpful in function and attitude question
    • Pay attention to 
      • certainty -  "They are clearly quite different from coal, right?"
      • hesitation and repetition
        • "My friend Amy ..... Amy Mahon, who sits next to me .."
      • questions
        • "If there is no rhyming, then we can use any word we want, right? That sounds easy."
      • stressed words
        • "I don't know if me talking with these other students would really help all that much"
  • Organization
    • How is the lecture structured?
    • 0-1 per recording
      • Low Frequency
    •  Note : examples, stories, cause and effect, problems and solutions, comparison, etc.
    • Question Format
      • How is the lecture organized?
      • Why does the professor describe the coastal weather patterns?(its like a function question of big topic)
      • How does the professor introduce insect reproduction?
  • Structural Keywords
    •  Compare/Contrast
      • Meanwhile
      • On the other hand
      • Conversely
      • In contrast
      • Nevertheless
      • Similarly
      • Likewise
    • Listing
      • Secondly
      • Besides
      • Next
      • Moving on
      • Finally
    • Cause and Effect
      • As a result 
      • Consequently
      • Because of that
      • It's for that reason that
    •  Examples
      • For example
      • For instance
      • Picture/ Imagine
      • By the way of illustration
      • Take _____/ Take the case of 
    • Summarizing
      • Basically
      • In short
      • Essentially 
      • So that's how/what/...
  •  Inference
    • Figure out the information that is not in the text
    • ~1 per recording
      • Medium frequency
    • Only make a small logical jump
  •  Fill in the table
    • Drag and Drop sentences into blank tables
    • 0-1 per recording
      • Low Frequency
    •   Ask you 
      • Match
      • Categorize
      • Ordering
      • Mark yes/no