TOEFL Listening - Strategies
TYPE 1: LISTENING GIST-CONTENT AND GIST-PURPOSE QUESTIONS
To get the gist of something, you need to understand the main point or key idea. Therefore, gist-content questions ask you to identify the main topic or main point of the lecture, classroom discussion, or conversation.
Two important tips for the gist-content and gist-purpose questions
1. During the TOEFL listening section, you will NEVER be asked a gist-content and gist-purpose question in the same passage. The listening passage will only list one of these two types of questions.
2. In both types of questions, you may have to choose 2 of the 4 answer choice To improve your understanding of main idea gist and purpose questions, listen to academic lectures as often as you can.
TOEFL likes to use lectures from many different subject areas. As a result, here are some ideas for your online TOEFL listening practice:
- Therefore, listen to science, business, arts, math, social science, English lectures.
- At first, practice listening to short lectures on topics with which you are familiar.
- Then practice listening to long lectures on unfamiliar topics. Listen to the lectures as many times as you need to. That way you will have a good understanding of the information.
TYPE 2: INFERENCE QUESTION
This type of TOEFL listening question asks you to answer something based on what is indirectly stated or implied in the conversation or lecture. Phrases such as “What are the implications of….?”, What does the speaker imply…?”, “What can be concluded from this conversation?”, and “It can be inferred from this conversation that….”
To improve your inference skills for the listening section of the TOEFL iBT, try the following for your Online TOEFL listening practice:
- Find recordings of speakers who have different viewpoints on the same topic.
- Pay close attention to the words the speakers use to explain their view points. Are the words negative or positive? How do the speakers imply these negative or positive ideas without saying these viewpoints directly.
TYPE 3: ORGANIZATION QUESTION
In this case, you need to understand how the lecture is organized. “Why does the professor mention…?” and “Why does the professor discuss….?” resemble the organization type question you will see during the listening section of the TOEFL iBT?”
Organization questions often ask about the examples used in an academic lecture.
As a result, pay attention to examples that the professor uses.
Ask yourself, “Why is the professor using these examples?” In addition, speakers typically explain the organization of a passage by using signal words as clues to help you understand the introduction, major ideas, examples, summaries, and conclusions.
For your Online TOEFL listening practice, listen to words such as first, second, third, next, and then can help you pay attention to the order of events mentioned in a lecture. In other cases, speakers may use cause-effect (“therefore”, “hence”, “thus”, “as a result”, and so on) and comparison/contrast (“similarly”, “in the same manner”, “likewise”, “in contrast”, “unlike”, “however”, and so on) to show how the ideas are organized.
TYPE 4: ATTITUDE QUESTION
Attitude questions on the listening section of the TOEFL exam often ask you how the speaker feels about something. In other words, you need to understand the speaker’s attitude toward the topic. “What is the speaker’s atttitude…?” “What does the student think about…?” and ‘What can be inferred about….from this conversation?”
To help you answer this type of question, pay attention to the tone of the speaker’s voice and pay attention to the following phrases and their meanings:
“What I think…?
‘It seems to me…”
A TOEFL attitude question refers to how valid the speaker’s argument is or how sure (or unsure) the speaker is of the facts.
TYPE 5: CONNECTING CONTENT QUESTION
Connecting content questions require you to know how the ideas in a listening passage are connected. For these types of questions, you may have to complete a table or chart. Therefore, you will need to be able to put together information from different sentences or from different parts of the conversations or lectures. To answer connecting content questions correctly, you need to understand be able to do/understand the following:
- Steps in a process
- Cause/effect relationships
- Classification organization
- Make a prediction
TYPE 6: FUNCTION QUESTION
Function questions ask you to identify the meaning of a statement according to the context of a conversation. To illustrate, the real meaning of the statement is different from the surface or literal meaning. For example, if you are talking to someone in a library, and someone nearby says, “You are talking loudly.” What s/he might be saying is, “Please talk more quietly.”
Surface or literal meaning: “You are talking loudly.”
Real Meaning: “Please talk more quietly.”
It is easy to identify this type of question on the listening section of the TOEFL exam:
“What does the professor mean when he says…?”
“Why does the student say….?” You will be able to listen to part of the conversation again
As you practice listening to conversations and lectures, which is a great for online TOEFL listening practice, try to understand what the speaker is doing when s/he says certain things: direction, recommendation, complaint, agreement, disagreement, question, and confirmation. In addition, with these types of language functions, the speakers often do and say things below the surface. Your goal is to get practice identifying the function of what is said with less effort. Consequently, it will be easier for you to answer these types of TOEFL listening questions.
TYPE 7: DETAIL QUESTION
The detail TOEFL listening question asks you about facts from the listening passage; therefore, it is a directly stated question. Phrases like “according to” and “what is” is often stated in this type of question. This type of question will usually focus on detailed concepts and not minor detailed information.
As you heed my advice by listening to news, history, documentary, and science segments, identify the main idea of the talk first. Then pay attention to the details and facts in support of that main point. Lastly, remember not to worry much about the minor detail information.
- Cause/effect relationships
- Classification organization
- Make a prediction
TYPE 6: FUNCTION QUESTION
Function questions ask you to identify the meaning of a statement according to the context of a conversation. To illustrate, the real meaning of the statement is different from the surface or literal meaning. For example, if you are talking to someone in a library, and someone nearby says, “You are talking loudly.” What s/he might be saying is, “Please talk more quietly.”
Surface or literal meaning: “You are talking loudly.”
Real Meaning: “Please talk more quietly.”
It is easy to identify this type of question on the listening section of the TOEFL exam:
“What does the professor mean when he says…?”
“Why does the student say….?” You will be able to listen to part of the conversation again
As you practice listening to conversations and lectures, which is a great for online TOEFL listening practice, try to understand what the speaker is doing when s/he says certain things: direction, recommendation, complaint, agreement, disagreement, question, and confirmation. In addition, with these types of language functions, the speakers often do and say things below the surface. Your goal is to get practice identifying the function of what is said with less effort. Consequently, it will be easier for you to answer these types of TOEFL listening questions.
TYPE 7: DETAIL QUESTION
The detail TOEFL listening question asks you about facts from the listening passage; therefore, it is a directly stated question. Phrases like “according to” and “what is” is often stated in this type of question. This type of question will usually focus on detailed concepts and not minor detailed information.
As you heed my advice by listening to news, history, documentary, and science segments, identify the main idea of the talk first. Then pay attention to the details and facts in support of that main point. Lastly, remember not to worry much about the minor detail information.
