Listening

1
Listening: General Strategies

2
This Listening Comprehension for TOEFL Test is divided
into four types:

3
4
 SHORT DIALOGUES
Short dialogues are found in Part A in the Listening Comprehension
section of the paper TOEFL test. For each of the thirty short dialogues in this
part of the test, you will hear a two-line dialogue between two speakers followed
by a multiple choice question. After you listen to the dialogue and the question,
you must choose the best answer to the question from your test book. Look at
the example of a short dialogue from the paper TOEFL test.

5
Procedures for The Short Dialogues

6
7
 Short Conversations
Strategies
1. FOCUS ON THE LAST LINE
The short dialogues involve conversations between two people,
each followed by a question. It is important to understand that the answer
to this type of question is most often (but not always!) found in the last line
of the conversation.

8
9
2. CHOOSE ANSWERS WITH SYNONYMS

10
3. AVOID SIMILAR SOUNDS

11
Go to Exercise 1
(Skills 1 – 3)

12
4. DRAW CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WHO, WHAT, WHERE

13
14
5. LISTEN FOR WHO AND WHAT IN PASSIVES

15
Go to Exercise 2
(Skills 4 – 6)

16
6. LISTEN FOR EXPRESSIONS OF AGREEMENT

17
18
7. LISTEN FOR EXPRESSIONS OF UNCERTAINTY AND SUGGESTION

19
20
8. LISTEN FOR EMPHATIC EXPRESSIONS OF SURPRISE

Emphatic expressions of surprise are common in the short

dialogues, so you should become familiar with them. When surprise is
expressed, it implies that the speaker did not expect something to be true.

21
22
Go to Exercise 3
(Skills 11 – 13)

23
 Contrary Meanings
1. LISTEN FOR WISHES

Conversations
about wishes can
appear in the short
dialogues. The
important idea to
remember about
wishes is that a
wish implies that
the opposite of the
wish is true.

24
25
2. LISTEN FOR UNTRUE CONDITIONS

26
27
Go to Exercise 4
(Skills 14 – 15)

28
 Idiomatic Language
1. LISTEN FOR TWO AND THREE PART VERBS

Two and three part verbs appear in some questions in

the short dialogue. These verbs are expressions that include a
verb and one or more particles (such as in, on, or at); the
particle changes the meaning of the verb. Questions involving
two-and three-part verbs can be difficult for students because
the addition of the particle changes the meaning of the verb
in an idiomatic way.

29
30
2. LISTEN FOR IDIOMS

Idioms appear in some questions in the short

dialogues section. Idioms are special expressions in a
language that all speakers of the language know.
These special expressions describe one situation in
life but are applied to many different areas of life.
Idioms can be a serious challenge for students
learning English as a second/ foreign language
because they cannot be understood by literal
translation.

31
Example:

32
Go to Exercise 5
(Skills 16 – 17)

33
 Long Conversations
(Part B)
Procedures for The Long Conversations

34
35
36
37
 1. THE QUESTIONS
It is very helpful to your ability to answer individual questions
accompanying the long conversations if you can anticipate what the
questions will be and listen specifically for the answers to the questions.

38
2. THE TOPIC
As you listen to each long conversation, you should be thinking
about the topic (subject) or main idea for each conversation. Since the
first one or two sentences generally given the topic, you should be asking
yourself what the topic is while you are listening carefully to the first part
of the conversation.

39
3. THE ORDER OF THE
ANSWERS

The answers to
questions
accompanying long
conversations are
generally found in order
in the conversation. This
means that as you listen
to the conversation, you
should be thinking
about the answers to
the questions in order
that they listed in the
test book.

40
Go to Exercise 22

41
 Long Talks
(Part C)

Part C Listening Comprehension section of the paper

TOEFL test consists of three long talks, each followed by a
number of questions. You will hear the talks and the questions
on a recording: they are not written in your test book. You must
choose the best answer to each question from the four choices
that are written in your test book. Like the conversations in
Listening Part B, the talks are often about some aspect of school
life or topics currently in the news. It is also very common for the
talks to be shortened versions of the lectures from courses
thought in American colleges and universities.

42
Procedures for The Long Talks:

43
1. THE QUESTIONS

It is very helpful to your ability to answer individual

questions accompanying the long talks if you can anticipate what
the questions will be and listen specifically for the answers to
those questions (as you did with the long conversation).

44
2. THE TOPIC

As you listen to each long talk, you should be thinking

about the topic (subject) or main idea for each talk (as you did
with the long conversations). Since the first sentence generally a
topic sentence, you should be asking yourself what the topic is
while you are listening carefully to the first part of the talk.

45
3. THE ORDER OF THE ANSWERS

46
Go to Exercise 27

47