A Simple Guide To The Listening Test Of The TOEFL

The Listening test of the TOEFL consists of a total of 34-51 questions and will last between 60 and 90 minutes. There will be 4-6 lectures with 6 questions each and 2-3 conversations with 5 questions each.

There are three types of questions:

1. short conversations

2. long conversations and class discussions

3. lectures

You will have a headset that will allow you to adjust the volume of the recording. Short conversations will begin with a picture to provide orientation. With longer conversations and lectures, you will be provided with several pictures and visual cues.

Tips for the Listening Section
The listening section requires you to demonstrate your ability to understand verbal information and use pragmatic understanding to interpret content, tone, and purpose.

Tip 1: Listening for basic comprehension
When preparing for the test, take some time to find English radio, lectures, podcasts, and videos to watch and listen to. You should pick different types of sources because during this section of the test, you will be exposed to both academic and everyday English. Practice taking mental notes of what is said and try listening for main points.

Tip 2: Listening for pragmatic understanding
Speakers use tone and emphasis in speech to create a certain mood or to accomplish a certain goal. After you are comfortable with listening for basic comprehension, try listening for tone and try to identify a speaker’s purpose. Try also to identify whether a speaker is talking more casually or informatively and if there is a particular emotion conveyed.

Tip 3: Connecting and synthesizing information
As you listen to speakers talk, you will have to connect information to form conclusions. Try to notice if two speakers make opposing points or if there is a reason behind what is said. After you listen to a sample of speech, practice summarizing and restating information, then listen again to check yourself.

Listening Skills
Use the Pictures
The pictures are provided to orient you to the atmosphere and environment in which the speakers are conducting their conversation. Use those pictures as much as possible. Try to put yourself in that environment. Become one of the pictured speakers and you will be able to better appreciate the conversation and what it means.

Use Multiple Inputs
The questions will be read to you at the same time they are exposed on the screen in the form of text. Take advantage of this. Use both the visual and auditory information being presented to better understand what is being asked. Some people are better visual and some better auditory receivers of information. Since both methods of presenting questions are given, use them both to your maximum advantage.

Main Ideas
Important words and main ideas in conversation are ones that will come up again and again. Listen carefully for any word or words that come up repeatedly. What words come up in nearly every statement made? These words with high frequency are likely to be in the main idea of the conversation. For example, in a conversation about class size in the business department of a college, the term “class size” is likely to appear in nearly every statement made by either speaker in the discussion.

Voice Changes
On the TOEFL, you are expected to be able to recognize and interpret nuances of speech. Be on the alert for any changes in voice, which might register surprise, excitement, or another emotion. If a speaker is talking in a normal monotone voice and suddenly raises their voice to a high pitch, that is a huge clue that something critical is being stated. Listen for a speaker to change their voice and understand the meaning of what they are saying.

Example:
Man: Let’s go to Wal-mart.
Woman: There’s a Wal-mart in this small town?
If the woman’s statement was higher pitched, indicating surprise and shock, then she probably did not expect there to be a Wal-mart in that town.

Speakers may also place stronger stress on words that are important, which helps in understanding the focal point of a sentence or can even change sentence meaning.

Example:
Man: Did you play baseball over the weekend?
Woman: We didn’t play baseball. We watched a baseball game over the weekend.

Example:
Man: Did you play baseball over the weekend?
Woman: We didn’t play baseball; we played tennis instead.
In these examples, the subject of the man’s question changes based on which word receives the stress.

Specifics
Listen carefully for specific pieces of information. Adjectives are commonly asked about in TOEFL questions. Try to remember any main adjectives that are mentioned. Pick out adjectives such as numbers, colors, or sizes.

Example:
Man: Let’s go to the store and get some apples to make the pie.
Woman: How many do we need?
Man: We’ll need five apples to make the pie.
A typical question might be about how many apples were needed.

Interpret
As you are listening to the conversation, put yourself in the person’s shoes. Think about why someone would make a statement. You’ll need to do more than just regurgitate the spoken words; you must also interpret them.

Example:
Woman: I think I’m sick with the flu.
Man: Why don’t you go see the campus doctor?
Sample Question: Why did the man mention the campus doctor?
Answer: The campus doctor would be able to determine if the woman had the flu.

Find the Hidden Meaning
Look for the meaning behind a statement. When a speaker answers a question with a statement that doesn’t immediately seem to answer the question, the response probably contains a hidden meaning that you will need to recognize and explain.

Man: Are you going to be ready for your presentation?
Woman: I’ve only got half of it finished and it’s taken me five hours just to do this much. There’s only an hour left before the presentation is due.

At first, the woman did not seem to answer the question the man presented. She responded with a statement that only seemed loosely related. Once you look deeper, then you can find the true meaning of what she said. If it took the woman five hours to do the first half of the presentation, then it would logically take her another five hours to do the second half. Since she only has one hour until her presentation is due, she would probably NOT be ready for the presentation. So, while an answer was not immediately visible to the man’s question, when you applied logic to her response, you could find the hidden meaning.

Types of Listening Problems
Types of Conversations on the TOEFL
On your test, you will encounter a variety of listening prompts which may include one or more speakers. These may include more academic or more informal speakers who may either agree or disagree with one another. You must be able to determine main ideas and viewpoints when encountering conversations.

Academic Conversations
Academic conversations are conversations on a college campus between professors, students, and other campus members. You will need to be able to summarize main ideas and recall important details.

Class Discussions
Class discussions are conversations in a classroom between professors and students. You will need to be able to summarize main ideas, but usually NOT need to recall important details.

Academic Talks
Academic talks are conversations in an orientation meeting on academic courses and procedures or where a professor might discuss a variety of college topics. You will need to be able to summarize main ideas, but usually NOT need to recall important details.

Lectures
Lectures are conversations in a classroom about academic topics. You will need to be able to summarize main ideas, and be able to answer questions such as: who, what, when, where, or why?

Active Listening
Although listening appears to be a passive process, it must be active in order to be effective. Indeed, the listener should have a purpose for listening. The precise purpose of listening need not be conscious in the mind of the listener.

In general, there are four distinguished intentions of listening: comprehension, criticism, empathy, and appreciation. These intentions are often intermingled in the same act of listening.

When we listen for comprehension, we are trying to understand the message the speaker is communicating. In order to listen for comprehension, we need to know the standards of grammar and punctuation in English. We also need to know the common forms of argument. We also need to have an understanding of the context in which the words are spoken so that we can understand the relationship between message and context.

Listening for the purposes of criticism
In order to listen for the purposes of criticism, one must usually also be listening for comprehension. It is true that in order to accurately assess the quality of a verbal communication, you will need to understand the content of the communication first.

To a certain degree, however, we all apply critical listening skills to communication we have yet to fully understand. For instance, when we hear an advertisement on the radio, we know immediately that the speaker is trying to sell us something, and so we are naturally receptive or skeptical of the message, depending on our preexisting interest in the product or service. In this case, our critical listening skills are influencing our listening even before we have begun to comprehend the content.

Listening for content
In almost every listening situation, the audience is required to listen for information. A communication can only be considered effective if the message communicates the information intended by the speaker.

The feedback issued by the audience indicates the degree to which the information has been received accurately. When the audience is required to ask for clarification or repetition of the message, it is possible that the speaker has been ineffective in delivering his or her information. Moreover, if the audience provides no verbal feedback about a delivered message, it is possible that they either do not understand any of the message or are simply not interested in it. Of course, when there is no verbal feedback it is also possible that the audience simply understands the transmitted message perfectly and requires no clarification or elaboration.

Listening for comprehension
There are five basic kinds of intentional listening: appreciative, therapeutic, discriminative, comprehensive, and critical.

Listening for comprehension is probably the most familiar form of listening. Students in a classroom are engaged in listening for comprehension when they take notes during a lecture. Whenever we listen to an informative or persuasive speech in order to obtain information about a subject, we are engaged in listening for comprehension. The validity and accuracy of other forms of listening, such as critical listening and discriminative listening, depend on effective listening for comprehension. If an individual is unable to understand the message that is being presented, he or she will not be able to critique it insightfully.

Assessing the characteristics of the speaker
As part of the overall critique of a speech, an audience member should consider the personal characteristics of the speaker. For instance, the audience member might consider what he or she knew about the speaker before the speech, and then decide whether this information had any influence on his or her interpretation of the speaker's message. The audience member might also consider whether the speaker's personal presentation indicated credibility or made his or her message difficult to believe. Many times, a speaker with a good message and solid supporting materials comes across as vague and disorganized because of his or her physical appearance and vocal mannerisms. Audience members should try to distinguish between weaknesses in the speaker's message and weaknesses in the speaker's personal presentation.

Analyzing the message of the speech
When an audience member listens to a speech, he or she should be attending to three fundamental factors: ideas, organization, and support. The most important thing to consider is whether the speaker's main ideas are logical and clearly expressed. If the ideas are comprehensible, an audience member can then consider whether they have been expressed in the logical order, or whether the speaker has presented them in a disorganized fashion. Finally, the audience member needs to consider whether the speaker's main ideas have been adequately supported by argument or factual evidence. Does the speaker provide enough support for his arguments to remain credible? Is the evidence provided relevant to the main ideas of the speech?