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.
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.
As for other
sources that explain strategies for listening part of the toefl. The following
is Listening Methods. Let’s see
- Only Study The
English That Toefl Uses
Strictly English's tutors only focus on the
English you need for the Listening Section of the TOEFL. For example, because
almost every TOEFL lecture uses adverbials and adverbial phrases to introduce
an opposing point of view, we make sure that you understand that grammatical
pattern.
- Improve Your
Knowledge Of Academic Content
The TOEFL listening section has you listen to
lectures and class discussions from various academic subjects like biology,
psychology, art history, geology, literature, etc. This is why our Listening
Package gives your close to 300 lectures on various academic topics. These
lectures will make you more confident when listening to university lectures.
- Strengthen Your
Listening By Reading. Presenting, And Transcribing
Many people think that the best way to
improve your listening is to listen, listen, listen. And, yes: this will help.
But listening to English is just one of four ways to improve your listening. In
addition, we have our students read academic lecture, give presentations on
academic topics, and copy written versions of lectures.
- Ear Training
Many students have trouble understanding
lectures and conversations because they are unable to hear the words that
native speakers of English either verbally contract together or
"swallow" when talking. Our ear training exercises help you hear these
verbal contractions and these swallowed words so that you will have a better
understanding of what you're listening to.
- Explain Wrong
Answers
It's not only important to know which answer
choice is correct. It is also very important to know why a wrong answer choice
is wrong. As we train you to explain why an incorrect answer choice is wrong,
you will strengthen your critical ability to answer questions more quickly.
- Write Toefl Test
Questions
If you can begin thinking like a TOEFL-test
writer, then you'll be able to identify the tricks and traps TOEFL puts into
their answer choices. So we have you wr ite
your own TOEFL questions to various TOEFL lectures.
- Align The Toefl
Books From Easiest To Hardest
Because some TOEFL books are more advanced
than others, Strictly English has sequenced the TOEFL books on the market from
easiest to hardest so that as your study of Listening will become more
challenging as you go.
That some TOEFL STRATEGIES FOR LISTENING
SECTION from a variety of sources that I can describe. may be useful for all of
us.
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