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The Listening section of the TOEFL iBT test measures your ability to
understand spoken English. You will see photographs of students and
professors speaking and hear parts of conversations and academic lectures
lasting from three to five minutes. Some of the lectures include classroom
discussions. Each listening passage is followed by five or six questions. Each
listening passage begins with a spoken statement that sets the context. For example,
you will hear, ‘Listen to part of a conversation between a student and an
advisor.’
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Strategies to Use for Building Listening Skills
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1
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Listen to spoken English as much as possible.
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2
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Listen to natural speech.
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3
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Listen to different accents.
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4
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Listen to authentic academic lectures.
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5
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Listen for stance.
When you listen to lectures and conversations in
English, practice listening for clues that will help you understand the
speaker’s purpose, attitude, and degree of certainty. Look at the examples
below:
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Strategies to Use for the Listening Section of the
TOEFL iBT Test
Strategies
for listening to the conversations or lectures
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1
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Take notes
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2
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Identify the main idea and the important details that support it.
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3
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Understand the purpose of the visual material
There are three types of visual material that will
appear on the screen in the Listening section of the TOEFL test. Each type
has a different purpose, as described below:
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4
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Pay attention to stance
Listening for clues help you understand the speaker’s stance. Stance refers to the speaker’s
purpose, attitude, or degree of certainty. Being aware of these features
will help you answer some of the questions on the test.
Questions about stance often begin by repeating a short section of
the passage. This repeated section gives the context for the question that
follows. Read this conversation and the example of this question type that
follows it:
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Strategies
for choosing answers
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1
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Be familiar with the types of questions on the test.
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2
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Listen to and read the question carefully.
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3
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Read the answer choices carefully
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4
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Pay attention to time
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5
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Check your answer before moving on to the next
question.
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6
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Answer every question.
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