Name : Pramagusti Tsabit Sabili
Class : 3EB10
NPM : 25216774
A.
TOEFL Strategies for Listening Section
TOEFL
listening section, tests the ability of a student, especially a non-native
English speaker, to understand spoken English (accentuated) in educational
setting. Listening is an important skill to understand the concepts and ideas.
Only when the concepts are understood completely it becomes a lighter task to
score in the listening section of TOEFL test. In order to develop the listening
skills for TOEFL, there are certain set of listening strategies or steps. They
are explained in detail given below.
Requirements
for TOEFL Listening Strategy
Listening
strategies for TOEFL aims at providing each and every minute detail that are
required to respond to all the questions within the given time in this section.
Responding to the questions in time is very important because, it will help
TOEFL candidates to save time, which they might spend on, one specific part of
the test section.
There are
certain steps in strategies that would help in managing time in each part of
listening test section (recordings). There are some basic requirements for
listening skills which serves the steps in TOEFL listening strategies as
detailed below:
§ Basic
Comprehension
When students listen to a recorded
lecture or a conversation, they should understand the central or main idea in
it. Then they should skim the recording for key points, important facts,
purpose and the relevant details that connects the key points.
§
Practical Understanding
It may also
be called as “pragmatic understanding” where the meaning of a word should be
taken, according to the context. Students are needed to find the intended
meaning of the speaker i.e. from his point of view. A wide range of vocabulary
is necessary for this process because, the recordings in listening test are usually
from academic background. Practical understanding also becomes a must to find
the purpose of a lecture or a conversation.
§
Relate Ideas given in multiple information
sources
Relating
ideas is the final state where the key points and the important facts are
compared to find the relationship between them. This method would initially
lead to construct an argument. Then a string of supportive and non supportive
elements are categorized and as a result the causes for the events are traced.
This is where a student would end up identifying the conclusion which is
expressed indirectly.
§
Inference
Inference is
to find the implied conclusion in recordings from the author’s point of view.
The conclusion might be implied or expressed indirectly anywhere in the passage.
These are
the basic requirements necessary, in each part of the strategy of listening
section, which consists of two recorded lectures and one long conversation.
These fundamentals are to be followed, in the following few preparatory steps.
Strategies in
Preparation
§
Spoken English From Various Sources And Accents
There are
variations between the accents of English. It is the best to listen to English
from various sources like television, music, radio etc. And also it is good to
listen to the native speakers of English with different pronunciation and
dialect. By doing this students would be able to improve their listening skills
and also they will get used to different kinds of accents. It will be helpful
very much if they listen to academic passages or conversations.
§
Making Notes
While
listening to a recording, notes should be jot down. These notes would help you
to remember the important points given by speaker. The reason is also that,
during the test you will be given only one chance to listen to a passage. Note
making will help you to remember the details and the clues effectively.
§
Main Idea
The main
idea of a passage should be identified in a recording, as a first task while
taking notes. Main idea of a lecture is usually given in the introductory part.
The other details would be given in the rest of a lecture. Once the main idea
is found it becomes a lighter task to find the purpose of the speaker.
§
Pointer Words, Important Facts And Relationship
Between The Facts
The pointer
words may be defined as signal words or clues, given by the speaker. These
keywords should be collected along with important facts and events. This should
be done in order to compare them and identify the relationship between them. In
turn this would give you the cause of the events.
§
Summary of Observation
Give a
summary of the recording which was listened, using the notes that are taken
down. During this process, only important facts, relevant details, main idea
and the key facts are covered. This is a good time saving technique, to prevent
going through the notes again and again.
§ Building your
Vocabulary
Above all it
is also important to build a student’s vocabulary, to find the meaning of a
word, according to the context of the speaker. Students should get familiar
with the words which they consider as new ones and practice them in their everyday
life.
The steps
and the requirements in TOEFL strategies for listening section, which are
elaborated above should be followed and practiced to manage time while taking
up the test. The most important part in listening section is to concentrate on
the subject of the speaker, and a student does not have to be distracted by the
accent.
B. TOEFL Listening Free Practice Sample
1. What was Claudia upset about?
a. The status of a group
project for her philosophy class
b. A difficult project
designing a bridge for her engineering class
c. She was having trouble
understanding Aristotle’s philosophies and influences
d. Receiving a poor grade on
her midterm exams
2. What were the components of the group project assignment? Mark
the two correct choices.
a. A 10-page paper
b. A 20-page paper
c. A 20-minute presentation
d. A 10-minute presentation
3. In Claudia’s sentence: “Thanks for commiserating with me
Miguel,” the word commiserating most nearly means which of the following?
a. Communicating
b. Correcting
c. Agreeing
d. Sympathizing
4. Why does Claudia think her group is not taking the project
seriously? Pick two correct answers.
a. Because one student does not
enjoy philosophy class
b. Because one student did a
poor job covering his material
c. Because two group members
have not yet started on the project
d. Because they know the
project will not impact their grade
5. Read the following statement from the conversation and then
answer the question:
Male student:
I had to carry the weight of the whole group since no one held up their end.
What does the
male student mean when he says he “had to carry the weight of the whole group”?
a. His bridge design had to
hold the entire load dictated by the assignment
b. He needed to manage everyone
in his group and assign them various roles in the project
c. He had to take on the bulk
of the group work by himself
d. He had to demonstrate how
much weight the bridge could hold before it collapsed
6. Why does the female student say: “Before this, I always loved
group projects, but now, my opinion has shifted”?
a. She used to enjoy group
projects, but after the current negative experience, she no longer likes them
b. She didn’t used to like
group projects, but after the current negative experience, she now enjoys them
c. She has changed her views of
things after learning about the ideals of notable philosophers
d. She didn’t used to like
philosophy class, but after this project, she now enjoys it
Answer Explanations
1. A: At
the beginning of the conversation, listeners should recall that the female
student, Claudia, informs the male student, Miguel, that she is stressed about
a big project in her philosophy class. She says, “I love the material we are
learning but I’m frustrated by a big assignment that’s due next week.” She
later reveals to Miguel that it’s a midterm group project. Miguel was the one
who had the bridge project for engineering, so Choice B is incorrect. There is
no mention of the fact that she is struggling to understand the philosophies;
in fact, she says she’s enjoying the material, so Choice C is wrong. She has
not yet received the grade for the midterm because the project is due on
Monday, so Choice D is incorrect.
2. A, C:
Claudia says that they must write a 10-page paper and give a 20-minute
presentation on notable philosophers.
3. D:
Commiserating means to sympathize of feel pity for someone else. Miguel has
been in a similar situation before – when he had to work on the bridge project
with his engineering group by had to do most of the work himself – so he is
able to relate to Claudia’s situation and feels badly for her. He also says: “I
don’t envy the situation you’re in.” This means that he is glad he is not in
her situation, because he knows it is not a good one to be in.
4. B & C:
Claudia says that she feels the people in her group are not taking the project
seriously. She tells Miguel: “It’s due on Monday and two of the people have yet
to start their sections and the other student’s piece was terrible.” Choice A
is incorrect because there is no mention that anyone in the group doesn’t enjoy
the material, just that one did not cover the assigned requirements in his
section. Choice D is incorrect because there is no mention that anyone in the
group doesn’t think the project will impact their grade. In contrast, it is
mentioned that the project is worth 40% of one’s overall course grade.
5. C: When
Miguel says that he “had to carry the weight of the whole group since no one
held up their end” he means that he had to take on the bulk of the work. He
adds, “It was so much work to do by myself.” This is a figure of speech and not
to be taken literally; it does not relate to the bridge supporting a certain
weight before collapsing as indicated in the other answer choices.
6. A:
Claudia says, “Before this, I always loved group projects, but now, my opinion
has shifted” to convey that she used to love group projects but now that has
changed (shifted) due to the current negative experience with her group, so she
no longer likes them. Choice B essentially reverses her shift. Choices C and D
may be attractive answers because they relate to philosophy but her statement
does not actually relate to the course material but rather, to the assignment,
so they are also incorrect.
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