Ali Talebi PTE-PRACTICE GROUP

Summarize spoken text

A pamphlet to find key points from lectures

March 2019

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PREFACE

The purpose of the summarize spoken text task is to test your

ability to comprehend, analyze and combine information from
a lecture and then summarize the key points in writing. This is
one of the most important tasks in PTE academic (Pearson Test
of English Academic) which gives test-takers scores in both
writing and listening skills. To gain full marks in the tasks,
dragging key points plays a key role. This pamphlet teaches
you some ways to find key points from lectures and helps you
to have a smart listening.
To drag key points, we need to know indicators in the speech
of a lecturer. Indicators, actually, are some words or phrases
that are promising for coming key points. The main focus of
this pamphlet is to help you to be familiar with indicators in
order to recognize key points.

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 1- Indicators in main ideas
A speaker usually introduces main ideas with signal phrases which can be

indicators for dragging key points from lectures. For example:

1- In the first half, you'll hear about ....

2- In the second half, we'll discuss ...

3- Today's lecture will focus on ...

4- This afternoon will look at ...

5- I'd like to begin with ...

6- Today's lecture will be divided into two parts ... First ... second

7- What I intend to say is …

8- What I'd like to do is to discuss …

9- What I intend to do is to explain …

10- In my talk today, …

11- My topic today is …

12- Today, I'm going to talk about …

13- I'm going to talk to you about …

14- My colleagues and I are going to give a short presentation on …

15- Today I want to consider …

16- In this talk, I would like to concentrate on …

17- The subject of this talk is …

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 18- The purpose of this talk is to …

19- This talk is designed to …

2- Indicators in comparisons

2-1) At the beginning of a lecture that compares ideas, a speaker often will

say how the lecture is going to be organized. Any words and phrases

using for comparison are indicators of coming key points.

For example:

Today's you'll hear two contrasting points of view about learning English.

This afternoon we'll compare American English and British English.

We'll look at some of the differences between written and spoken English.

2-2) In a lecture that includes comparisons and contrast, it is important to

note how items are similar or different. The words on the top are used to

indicate similarities, or comparisons. Those on the bottom indicate

differences, or contrasts.

2-2-1) indicators in similarities

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Like- Likewise- in a similar manner- in the same way- as with...so too with-

both ... and ... - as .. as- not only ... but also .. - parallels - also- similar to/

similarly - in like fashion –

2-2-2) Indicators in differences

But- more(than) - on the other hand- however- whereas- in contrast-

conversely- different from- unlike- while- less(than)- although

3- TOPICS AND SUBTOPICS as indicators

In the lecture, there is usually one main topic and one or more subtopics.

Subtopics are more specific subjects under the main topic. There are key

points in sentences including topics and subtopics.

Today we're going to talk about types of restaurants. (main topic) I want to focus first on

fast-food restaurants. (subtopics) then I plan to consider upscale restaurants (subtopic)

This afternoon I'm going to discuss creating a menu. (main topic). specially, we'll look at

two aspects: the design of the menu (subtopic) and what food categories to include

(subtopic)

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4- KEY WORDS as indicators
Speakers use a variety of cues to let you know when they are about to focus

on a key word in the lecture. They may give any of the following cues:

*pause

*slow down

*speak more loudly

*repeat the key word

*spell the key word

*define the key word using an introductory phrase. For example:

One is called ..

One (example) is ...

The first (type) is ...

5- EMPHASISING as an indicator

During a lecture, you hear a lot of information quickly. Lecturers will often use

signal phrases or emphasize words to focus your attention on important

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information. If they want to check in to see if you are following along, lecturers

may cue you with questions.

For example:

*signaling phrases

To highlight what I've said so far ...

I want to emphasize that ...

I want to stress ...

It's important to understand ...

The fundamental point is …

What I'm saying is ...

*Checking in

Is everyone clear on this?

Is this clear?

Are there any question?

Are you with me?

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6- LECTURE ORGANIZATION as an indicator
One way speakers can indicate lecture organization is by enumerating and

repeating key phrases. For example:

Today I'm going to present seven principles of good journalism.

I'm going to focus on four seasons some people prefer the Internet as their news source.

A speaker will present one characteristic, principle, or reason at a time, and then will

indicate what's next by stating a new number and repeating the key phrase(A). Speakers

also often let you know when a topic is finished.

(A) Characteris c 1: A good news website provides accurate informa on ...

Characteris c 2: A good news website has many types of stories: sports, poli cs, ...

(B) Now I want to turn to .... Moving on now to .... Let's now look at ...

*Characteris cs: 1) provides accurate informa on 2)has many types of stories

*Example/ Details : check facts sports, politics

7- SIGNAL WORDS TO DESCRIBE A PROCESS (SEQUENCE MARKERS

TO ORGANIZE NOTES) as indicators
A speaker often uses the following signal words when describing a process.

Moreover, lecturers will often use sequence markers to signal when they are

about to introduce the next point or part of a lecture or the next item in a

list. Being able to identify these markers can help you distinguish different

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ideas and better organize your notes. Some commonly used sequence

markers or signal words include the following:

They start by / First ...

Second, .... ; Third, ....

next ....

then ...

After that ....

And then ...

At that point ...

Moving on, ...

Another point/ idea ...

Let's move on to ...

Last, ...

Finally ...

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8- KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS as indicators
In a lecture, speakers will often define key terms that may be new to students

and/ or have a special meaning. When lecturers are focusing (or about to

focus) on a key term, they often give one of these cues:

*repeat it

*spell it

*pause

*slow down

*speak more loudly

*confirm that the term was understood

*Use an introductory phrase:

there is (one key concept), ..... One (example) is .... The first (theory) is ... Let's look at

(this idea of) ...

prestige is elevated social status.

Having prestige means you'll enjoy wealth and power.

prestige, which is elevated social status, ...

Showing off your wealth, called conspicuous conception, is ...

Buying in order to signal success, referred to as conspicuous consumption, is ...

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People buy luxury goods to show their status. This is what's known as conspicuous

consumption.

9- CAUSE-AND-EFFECT RELATIONSHIPS

Academic lectures often include information about cause-and-effect

relationships. These relationships are very important because they clarify how

different aspects of a topic relate to one another. Understanding cause-and-

effect relationships will help you remember the information in the lecture.

Here are some ways lectures might express a cause-and-effect relationship:

If you hear something, then your auditory memory will be activated.

You remember this theory because we talked about it for almost an hour.

Because of this research, our understanding of memory is clearer.

Using more senses causes us to remember more.

Emotion affects how well we remember events.

The effect of repeating information is better recall.

Better memory results in more learning.

Cause ......... Effect

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10- LISTS as indicators

Lecturers will sometimes give information in the form of a list. For instance,

this could be lists of causes, effects, characteristics, or types of something.

These lists are important because they often concern key information in the

lecture; thus, this information needs to be part of your notes if you are to

understand the lecture completely. When adding a list to your notes, be sure

to number each item on the list(e.g., 1, 2, 3, ..)

The following are some ways lecturers might indicate they are going to list

something:

Scientists have identified three causes for ...

There are four important affects of ...

I would next like to discuss the three major characteristics of ...

We currently believe that there are four types of ...

11- Giving background information as indicators

Before the new information is given, the lecturer will often

summarize what you are expected to know about the subject to

be covered. This could refer back to a previous lecture or to

some background reading you should have done.

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 For example:

As we know …

As we have already seen …

As we have all read…

It's clear that…

It goes without saying…

We all understand…

It is understood…

You'll remember…

12- Clarifying/Explaining/Putting it in other words as indicators

The lecturer will try to explain the meaning of difficult concepts.

To do this he or she may repeat the information using different

words. It is important for you to recognize that this is the same

information expressed differently and not new information.

In other words,

Or rather,

That is to say,

Basically, ..

To put it another way,

If we put that another way,

By which I mean

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 Or you could say

The point I'm making is

That is to say,

That is,

Namely,

i.e.

That means, ..

13- Giving further information as indicators

These signals show that the lecturer is proceeding in the same direction

and giving more information.

Furthermore,

An additional point

Another point

A further point

A similar point

In addition

Moreover

Similarly, ..

Apart from

Not only …, but also …

We can add …

I could add that …

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 Further, …

As well as, …

Besides …

14- Asking questions as indicators

Sometimes, lecturer ask questions to attract the attention of

listeners. They are indicators for coming key points:

How …?

Where …?

Who …?

15- Concluding as indicators

The lecture should end with a summary of the main points made. The

following signals will help you to identify this.

So,

We've seen that

First we looked at ... and we saw that

Then we considered... and I argued that

In short,

To sum up

In conclusion, I'd like to emphasize that

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Example:

Key points

Indicators

DNA also known as deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule, it's a bunch of atoms

stuck together. In the case of DNA these atoms combine to form the shape of a

long spiraling ladder sort of like this one here. If you ever studied biology or saw

the movie Jurassic Park, you probably heard that DNA acts as a blueprint or a

recipe for a living thing. But how on earth can a mere molecule? This here is a

simplified model of DNA. It shows us that the steps of the ladder are made up of

four different kinds of chemicals shown here by different colors and letters. If you

look at just one half of the molecule, you can read its chemical sequence or

genetic code from top to bottom sort of like a book. A single strand of DNA is

extremely long millions of letters long it spends most of its life coiled up like a noodle

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living inside the nucleus or the centerpiece of a cell. Special chemicals inside the

nucleus make partial copies of the DNA code these partial copies called RNA look

a lot like DNA but they're shorter of course and they're missing one of their sides.

They're small shape and size allows them to fit through tiny pores in the nucleus out

to the cytoplasm and into the mouth of another particle called a ribosome. DNA

is a molecular blueprint for a living thing. How does it work? DNA creates RNA. RNA

creates protein. proteins go on to form Life. This entire process is complicated as

sophisticated as magical as it might seem is entirely based in chemistry it can be

studied it can be understood.

FINISH

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