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 wont have time for the minor, unimportant details

Major Points: In 2007, Plutos status as a planet was revoked

Minor Points: Plutos status change cause much uproar on the internet

The speakers emotional tone

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 cant be easily done)

Pay attention when one speaker asks questions, its a clue that information is about to delivered
Make special note of conclusions, outcomes or results in the conversationthing that indicate what was changed or what will happen.

Lectures
Lectures follow formats which are similar to essays Introduction: includes the thesis or main idea Body paragraphs: containing the arguments, each beginning with a topic sentence Conclusion: may contain clue word like wrapping up or in the end; they may restate the thesis statement. Also may contain the lectures 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 cant 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.