Strategies for TOEFL Listening Section

TOEFL iBT Listening section is delivered immediately after the Reading section. The Listening section of TOEFL iBT measures your ability to understand spoken English in academic settings. In TOEFL iBT the listening is done for 3 major purposes:

1. Listening for basic comprehension.
2. Listening for pragmatic understanding.
3. To connect and combine ideas presented in multiple information sources.

Each part of the Listening section (2 or 3 parts) consists of 1 long conversation and two lectures. The test takers hear each lecture or conversation only once. Lectures and conversations are 3-5 minutes long. During the listening the time is not running. The allotted time of 10 minutes for each part is only for answering the questions.

Preparation Strategies

·         Listen to spoken English from multiple sources as much as possible. Listen to English spoken movies and English spoken TV channels, listen to the radio and as many other listening sources as you may find. It would be better if your passages are academic or close to what is in TOEFL iBT. The more you practice listening, the better listener you will become.

·         Listen for the main idea. It is usually found at the beginning of the listening passages, while the details are dispersed throughout the lecture. The main idea will give you understanding of what the conversation/lecture is about. Then you may listen for details.

·         Learn to find how the ideas are presented in the listening passage. Some of the main relations between ideas include cause/effect, compare/contrast, and steps in a process.

·         Learn to listen for signal words that indicate different part of the passage - introduction, major steps, examples, conclusions, etc.

·         Build your vocabulary. While listening, try to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from context. It is very important since there is a big chance to come across words you don't know at the real test. Then, you should guess their meaning. Write down every word you don't know and include it in your wordlist. Try to memorize it and use it in your speaking and writing. Flashcards could be a great way to improve your vocabulary.

·         Listen to conversations or lectures with variety of accents. In TOEFL iBT Listening section there is a variety of accents and pronunciations. For this reason, you should practice listening to a people with different accents and pronunciation patterns.

·         Practice note-taking. Note-taking is allowed during all sections of TOEFL iBT. Effective note-taking may highly improve your performance. It is almost impossible to memorize all clues and details provided in the Listening section. Moreover, you can hear the passages ONLY ONCE. Therefore, to answer the questions you have to rely on what you remember from the passage and your notes. See also our Effective Note-Taking Strategies.

·         Summarize in writing what you have heard, using your notes. Thus, you will learn to find the purpose and main idea of the listening, and also the most important details. You will also learn to take and use notes. It also helps in improving your writing skills.

·         Familiarize yourself with the type of questions in TOEFL iBT. Make sure that during the preparation you learn what answers are required by the different types of question. Some questions may ask you to provide two answers, others to click in a chart box. If you are familiar with the question types, you may save important time.

At the exam strategies

·         Forget about the Reading section. Now it is time to fully concentrate on the Listening section.

·         The clock is ticking only when you are answering the questions and not when you are listening to the passages. So, when you listen, forget about the clock.

·         Prepare for note-taking. Before the section starts, write down the words 'main idea', 'major points', and 'important details'. Under which word you will place your notes from the listening passage.

·         Do not be distracted by the speaker's accent, speaking style and delivery. Focus on the content and flow of information the speaker(s) deliver.

·         Listen to find clues that will help you understand what the speaker's purpose, attitude and degree of certainty is. Listen for words that show relationship between ideas.

·         Pay attention to the visual materials. Some of the visual materials in the Listening section bring important information. Blackboards show important words or phrases that are discussed during the lecture. Illustrations and graphics support the information presented in the lecture. They are available only when the lecturer refers to them.

·         Answering is different. In the Listening section you may not return to the previous questions to correct your answers. Nevertheless, you have to confirm twice that you want to move to the next question. First, when you provide your answer you have to press the NEXT button. After pressing the NEXT button you may alter you answer. To move to the next question you have to press OK button. Sometimes test takers forget this and lose important time. Please, set your mind that you have to press two buttons.

·         Take a guess. There is no penalty for an incorrect answer in TOEFL iBT. It doesn't bring any points. If you see you are running out of time, just take a guess and mark answers for all remaining questions. There is 25 % chance to guess the right answer.

Sumber : http://i-courses.org/listening-tips

LISTENING STRATEGY FOR ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN THE TOEFL TEST

Research and experience a lot of English language learners shows that listening comprehension (listening and understanding) is difficult skills to master. Growing challenges in the context of language tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC, or IELTS. On this occasion, the author would like to give you some tips for getting the most appropriate message-course proficiency levels, respectively-from an oral discourse that generally only played one time only.

TOEFL TEST consisting of three (3) major sections, namely Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, and Reading Comprehension.

Problem listening comprehension as many as 15 items, consisting of:
Part I: Photographs as much as 3 problems
Part II: Question - Response by 4 questions
Part III: Short about the conversation as much as 4
Part IV: Short talk about as much as 4

LISTENING SECTION
• PICTURE matter consists of 3 items:
     1. Location of things
     2. On-going activities
     3. Describing people / events
• QUESTION RESPONSE matter consists of 4 items:
     1. Giving sugestion
     2. preference
     3. Invitation
     4. Giving direction
• SHORT DIALOGUE / SHORT CONVERSATION matter consists of 4 items:
   1. Introduction
   2. Daily activities
   3. Planning
   4. Degrees of Comparation
• SHORT Talks matter consists of 4 items:
    1. Monologe commercial radio
    2. Announcement

MATERIALS PROBLEMS:
     1. Greeting, salutation able to choose according to the time and purpose
     2. Introduction, introduced himself / introduce others
     3. Describing, describe objects, people, situations, processes
     4. Degree of comparasion, compare two or more objects, people or situations
    5. Guest handling, handling guests / customers in person or over the phone
    6. Imperative, sentence order, prohibition, request, direction
    7. Offering, offering a product at a cafeteria / customers
    8. Agreeing, express approval and disapproval and its response
    9. Ordering, ordering of a good or service
    10. Giving suggestion, opinion and advice, give advice, opinions and advice, receive
          and reject suggestions, opinions and advice
    11. Ability, the ability
    12. Permision, ask for permission and the response
    13. Possibility, the possibility
    14. Necessity, necessity
    15. Thank giving, gratitude
    16. Invition, extended an invitation
    17. Congretulation, congratulated and thanked
    18. Present / past continouos, shape ongoing
    19. Simple present tense, day-to-day activities
    20. Present / past perfect tense, ongoing activities
    21. Future tense, which will come
    22. Simple past tense, repeated in the past
    23. Conditional clause, sentence modality
    24. Relative Pronoun, pronouns continued

PART-I: PICTURES
In the first part of the Listening, you will see the pictures and then asked to choose the sentence that best describes the picture. To answer this question properly is to look at the pictures carefully. Look at the picture at the 'direction' is being played (for instructions about every year is always the same). Hence, in the matter of playing, you're ready. Ask yourself, that picture of who, what, where or why.
In this section, there are 3 problems black and white images that depict everyday facts. One or two pictures showing the activities of people and other objects in the form of objects. Then you will be exposed to four statements (a, b, c and d) for each image and you are asked to select the statement that most accurately describes the content of the image. When read "direction", then you must have seen and look at each image, so that when the sentence was read - a sentence each - each about the capital you already have an understanding of each image.

Skills required in this section are:
  1. The ability to capture and mengenterprestasikan images quickly.
  2. Ability to understand and compare the oral statement to what is seen
      in the picture.
  3. The ability to distinguish between words with sound - sound almost the same.

Tactics are necessary:

1.      Always mark your answer as fast as you can so that you can immediately see the next picture. You do not have to wait for the reader about the (speaker) to see the next picture.

2.      If you see an image of an object, ask yourself things the following:
This is the what?
Where these objects are usually there / seen?
The objects made of?

3.      If you look at the activity, ask yourself things the following:
What are they doing?
What did they wear?
Where they carry out these activities?
How the expression on his face?
If there is more than one person, what sets them apart?
 What is one higher than the other?
 Does one wear a hat, jacket, tie while others do not?
 Is he male or female?

4.      Do not ever answer before finished reading all four statements. When the statement is read, place the tip of a pencil on the answer, if you think it's the best answer. Do the same for (B), C), or (D). If you change your mind after hearing more choices, move the tip of your pencil to answer a replacement. Then after you hear the fourth sentence, scapegoating answer where you are pencil tip. This technique avoids you from forgetfulness on which answer you think is most appropriate.

5.      Try to reduce the possibility of incorrect answers with distinctive techniques of sound (sound confusion) and discrete categories. Some sentences had nothing to do with the image.

6.      Never leave an answer blank. All questions must be answered, if at all do not know the right answer, speculate

7.      Do not be stuck staring at pictures for too long, even though the picture of a very pretty girl, or a handsome man, after finding the correct answer immediately move to the next image on the matter.

PART-II: QUESTION - RESPONSE
In the listening part 2 you will hear a question, then you should choose the one most appropriate response to that question. You should be aware of are:
There are words that sound similar to the word in question.
example:
question: How much does it cost?
answer: Tank you very much.
Although both have the word much, but the answer was not the appropriate response to the question 'How much does it cost?'
Notice the question words at the beginning of the sentence (WH question; who, what, when, where, why, what, How, etc..) Beware also use 'question tags'
If you are in doubt, just select responses / answers that you think makes the most sense for the question. Most importantly do not get your answer sheet blank.

PART-III: SHORT CONVERSATION
In the third section, you will hear a short dialogue and then you got a question about the dialogue. In this case you need to use short-term memory as well. The best strategy is to be aware of:
The similarity of the sound of the words in the answer to that in the dialogue
Negative word (do not, hardly, will not, etc.)
Words related to time (always, seldom, etc.)
Try reading the question, and in fact may be the answer, before you hear the dialogue. Check all the options and do not choose too fast.

In this section, read the question and followed three answer choices.
Questions and answers are not written in the matter.
So it does not matter unless there is something in the order "Mark your answer in your answer sheet", so this really - really real listening test.
So when working on this part, in the matter of the manuscript aside first.
A text reader (speaker) introduced about by reading the numbers matter, then the second speaker (can be male or female) and read the script about the speaker to three (men) read the answer choices. Skills required in this section:

1.      The ability to distinguish types - types of verbal questions (information question, yes no question, alternative question, suggestion and other offers - other). Ability to know the appropriate response to the question type.

2.      The ability to distinguish words that sound almost the same. Tactics to work on the problems in this section.

3.      Try to identify the type of question. Correct response usually depends on the type of questions asked. Do not ever answer before finished reading all four statements.

4.      Never leave an answer blank. All questions must be answered, if at all do not know the right answer, speculate

PART-IV: SHORT Talks
In the fourth section, you will hear a monologue and then got a question about it. What should you do about the same as in the previous section, but you need to be more careful in listening and attention to detail information context. Try to read the questions before the monologue is played, and listen to the whole conversation before choosing an answer. Use your time wisely, do not fall behind or miss important information related to the next question.

In this section are presented some short talk or monologue (short talks) are monologues. Each short talk followed by two or three questions that relate to what you hear. Short talk or monologue can be advertisment (ad), announcement (announcement), telephone massage, briffing in the workplace and so on. Tactics to work on the problems in this section:

1.      When read "direction", then you must have read and examine questions about the matter in question with a short talk and the four answer choices, so when you've got a monologue recited capital understanding of what will be asked.

2.      Each monologue will be read twice, you can try to answer when finished reading the first monologue, so that when the monologue is read for the second time, you can read about the question for the next monologue along with four answer choices. And so on.

3.      Determine the question words are used, what is being asked, whether, what, who, when, why, where, how, how long, etc.. By knowing what is being asked, you can focus in seeking information from the monologue.

4.      Try to imagine, the setting of the monologue. This will help you in making an analysis of who is speaking, where the monologue was read, for whom it is intended and monologue for what purposes.

5.      Never leave an answer blank. All questions must be answered, if at all do not know the right answer, speculate

For most people, listening is the hardest part when TOEFL tests. I also included. Take the test many times and always got the lowest point compared to other parts. Well, this time I will try to summarize the strategies that I have just learned about how to properly answer the listening part.

1.      Read the answer choices before listening to conversation or before the conversation begins. By reading the answer choices will help us better understand the content of the conversation.

2.      Listen to the first row of the conversation carefully. The first row of the conversation often contains the main idea, subject or topic of conversation. Questions about the main idea, subject and topic often ask in Listening in Part B.

3.      When our ears to listen to the conversation, at the same time our eyes have seen the answer choices in the test book and cobalan to determine the correct answer. Question that is given is usually assigned sequentially in the conversation. Answer to question number 1 is usually found in the beginning of the conversation, answer question number 2 & 3 are usually there in the middle of a conversation and question number 4 is usually there at the end of the conversation.

4.      If we are not sure of the answer, we have to guess the answer. Never empty the answers, but all must be answered. Wrong answers will not reduce the score because in TOEFL Test, only the correct answer is calculated.

5.      If there is time after answering the question, reread answer choices for the question. The time interval for each question about 8-12 seconds, so use the time left to read the answer choices.

6.      Usually the answer to the question is often found in the second voice in a brief conversation. So focus on the second ballot.

7.      Usually the conversation at the beginning of the structure will be quite easy and difficult at the end of the session.

8.      Never leave any questions. Even if you are not sure or do not understand the same though, just guess. For there is no reduction in value if you are wrong.

9.      Use the remaining time when it has finished answering the question, to look at options in the answer the next question. So it could be easier for you to just focus on the conversation alone.

10.  If you get a little idea of ​​the conversation, select the answer that contains the statement as an idea that you know.

11.  If you do not understand the conversation, choose a different answer than what you listen to. Because usually it is a trap for to choose the wrong answer. Apartment with examples such as appointments, or search by research and church.

12.  If you know the exact words used, but is not found in the options there is so look for synonyms of the word.

13.  We must be familiar with the test instructions / test direction. Direction or instructions for each TOEFL test must be the same everywhere. So when we do the Listening Comprehension section, you do not have to always listen to the direction or instructions that are read by the narrator. For that we should already be familiar with and understand the instructions before carrying out tests TOEFL test.

14.  Listen to conversations and speeches carefully and cautiously. We have to fully concentrate on what is being discussed because of conversations and speeches in perdengarkan only once.

15.  Knowing where the easy and difficult questions are usually found. In Listening Comprehension, questions are usually given starting from the easiest to the most difficult.

16.  Never leave any questions on the answer sheet. Even if we are not sure of the answer, we must still answer because here is no reduction in value for incorrect answers.

17.  Use the remaining time to read the question. When we finished answering questions and still have the rest of the time, try to read and look at the answer choices for the next question.