Cakap English Club

Lesson 12. Listening

TOEFL ITP
Listening
Mechanics
Lesson Objectives

After this lesson, students will be able to:

• Analyze the format of the Listening Test
• Recognize how scores are marked
• Identify different parts of the test and its question types

Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 2

Warm Up

A quick look at TOEFL ITP Listening

The Listening Comprehension section of TOEFL is
always given first The purpose of this section is to test
your understanding of spoken English The directions for
this section are given on the audio as well as printed in
your test book There are four speakers, two men, and
two women The speakers read the items at a normal
speed All four have standard North American accents
The tone of the items is conversational, much less
formal than the items in the two other test sections

Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 3

Skills Check

The questions in TOEFL ITP will test your ability to

understand:
The opinions and attitudes of the
speaker

The factual information and main

ideas of the talks

The ability to follow the purpose

and idea development

Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 4

Listening Part Details

Dialog
For each of the 30 short dialogues in this part of the test, you will hear
01 cv
a two-line dialogue between two speakers followed by a multiple-
choice question.
For example; a short conversation about hobbies and daily activities.

Extended conversation
cv In Part B of the Listening Comprehension section of the paper TOEFL
02
test. You will hear 2 conversations and 7-8 questions on a recording.
The conversation is often about some aspect of life.

Mini Talk
03
Like the conversations in Part B, the talks are often about some social and
academic topics in the news. It is also very common for the talks to be
shortened versions of lectures from courses taught in American colleges
and universities. There are 3 talks with 12-13 questions in the test.
Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 5
Listening Part A - Dialog
In Part A, you will hear short conversations between 2 people. After each conversation, you will hear
a question about the conversation.
Grammatically, there are three types of answer choices: 1. Complete sentences (about 75%) 2. Incomplete
sentences, usually beginning with verb forms most often the simple form of the verb (about 20%) 3. Short
nouns or prepositional phrases The form of the answer choice can sometimes help you guess what the
question will be, and you can therefore focus your listening.

Question types and example Usual form of answer choice and example

Meaning questions “What does the man mean?” a) He prefers coffee to tea.
b) He’d like some lemon in his tea.
Questions about inferences: “what does the woman a) She will probably read it today.
imply about the article?” b) She wasn’t able to find it in the library
Questions about suggestions: “what does the woman Incomplete sentences beginning with simple forms of
suggest John do?” verbs or –ing forms:
a) Call his cousin.
b) Take his cousin home
Questions about future actions: “what will the Incomplete sentences beginning with simple forms of
speakers probably do next?” verbs:
a) Park their car
b) Get some gasoline
Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 6
Listening Part A - Dialog
Question types and example
Topic questions: “What are the speakers discussing?”
Questions about opinions: “What was their opinion of
the play?”
Questions about assumptions: “What had the man
assumed about Kathy?”
Questions about questions: “what does the woman
ask about Professor Tolbert?”
Questions about time: “When will the man play the
piano?”
Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics
Usual form of answer choice and example
a) The man’s new schedule
b) A homework assignment
a) They didn’t enjoyed it very much
b) They liked it more than they thought they would
Incomplete sentences Complete sentences often
containing the auxiliary verb would or had:
a) She had already finished the paper.
b) She wouldn't finish the research on time.
Incomplete sentences beginning with the word if or
one of the WH words or noun phrases:
a) If she is still in her office.
b) Where her office is.
Prepositional phrases of time:
a) At noon.
b) Before the ceremony.
7
Listening Part B – Extended Conversation
The extended conversations are similar to the
Part A dialogs in style but are longer. They Example
frequently take place in a campus setting
between two students or between a professor
and a student

Introductory comments
• "Questions 31 to 34: Listen to two
students talk about their psychology
class."
• "Questions 31 to 35: Listen to a
conversation about plans for a class trip."
Not only do these introductory comments tell
you to get ready to listen; but they also tell
you how many questions in your test book to
preview at one time. Moreover, they give you a
general idea of what to expect as you listen.

Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 8

Listening Part B – Extended Conversation
The questions may be overview questions or detail questions The first question after the
conversation is often an overview question Overview questions require a broad understanding
of the entire conversation To answer them correctly, you must understand what both speakers
say There are several types of overview questions:

Type of Overview Question Sample Question

Topic question
Questions about setting (time and
location)
Questions about the speakers
“What are the speakers discussing?”
“Where did this conversation take place?”
“When did this conversation take place?”
“Who are the speakers?”
“What is the probable relationship between the
speakers?”

Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 9

Listening Part C – Mini Talk
The third part of Section 1 consists of Mini Talks These are monologues (talks involving only one speaker)
Each Mini Talk lasts from thirty to ninety seconds Like the Extended Conversations, they are preceded by
introductory comments After each talk, there are three to five questions The questions are separated by a
twelve-second pause.

Example

1
Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 0
Listening Part C – Mini Talk

As with the Extended Conversations, the questions about Mini Talks may be overview questions or detail
questions The first question after the talk is usually an overview question Overview questions require an
understanding of the entire conversation There are several types of overview questions

Type of Overview Question Sample Question

Topic/main idea purpose questions
"What is the lecture mainly about?"
"What is the speaker mainly talking about?"
"What is the main idea of this lecture?“
"Why is the speaker giving this talk?"
"What is the main point of this lecture?"

"In what course was this lecture probably given?"

Questions about setting (course, time, and
"Where was this talk probably given?"
location) "When was this talk probably given?"

"Who is the speaker?"

Questions about the speakers
"What is the speaker's occupation?"
1
Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 1
The Scoring

TOEFL ITP Listening

TOEFL listening score is calculated

on a range of 0 - 30. TOEFL listening
section scoring is done by converting
the raw score to the scaled score.
The raw score is the total number of
correct questions answered by the
candidate. Each raw score carries
one point. ETS has score descriptors
to determine the performance level
of a candidate.
1
Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 2
Mini Quiz

Listen to the audio and identify whether the audio is a part of Listening Part A, Part
B, or Part C.

01 cv 02 cv 03 cv

Audio 12.1 Audio 12.2 Audio 12.3

Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 13

References

• Deborah Phillips. Longman Complete Course for TOEFL Test. 2021. Pearson
Education Co.
• Bruce Rogers. The Complete Guide to TOEFL Test. 2011. Sherise Roehr
• ETS. Official Guide to the TOEFL ITP Test. 2013. Educational Testing Service
• Pyle A, M. and Page M, E. Cliff’s TOEFL Preparation Guide Fifth Edition. 1995.
Cliffs Note.

Cakap English Club. TOEFL ITP Listening Mechanics 14

 Terima kasih
Thank you

谢谢 Xièxiè
ありがとうございまし
Arigatōgozaimashita

감사함니다
Kamsahamnida

PT. CERDAS DIGITAL NUSANTARA

Jl. Makaliwe Raya No. 36. Grogol,
Grogol Petamburan. Jakarta Barat 11450.