TUGAS SOFSTKILL 1 BAHASA INGGRIS BISNIS 2 "STRATEGY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS LISTENING TOEFL"

Strategy Listening Toefl

The listening section of the TOEFL test measures your ability to understand spoken English. Listening is an important skill to understand the concepts and ideas. Only when the concepts are understood completely it becomes a lighter task to score in the listening section of TOEFL test. In order to develop the listening skills for TOEFL, there are certain set of listening strategies or steps. They are explained in detail given below.

Requirements for TOEFL Listening Strategy

Listening strategies for TOEFL aims at providing each and every minute detail that are required to respond to all the questions within the given time in this section. Responding to the questions in time is very important because, it will help TOEFL candidates to save time, which they might spend on, one specific part of the test section.

There are certain steps in strategies that would help in managing time in each part of listening test section (recordings). There are some basic requirements for listening skills which serves the steps in TOEFL listening strategies as detailed below:

• Basic Comprehension

When students listen to a recorded lecture or a conversation, they should understand the central or main idea in it. Then they should skim the recording for key points, important facts, purpose and the relevant details that connects the key points.

• Practical Understanding

It may also be called as “pragmatic understanding” where the meaning of a word should be taken, according to the context. Students are needed to find the intended meaning of the speaker i.e. from his point of view. A wide range of vocabulary is necessary for this process because, the recordings in listening test are usually from academic background. Practical understanding also becomes a must to find the purpose of a lecture or a conversation.

•  Relate Ideas given in multiple information sources

Relating ideas is the final state where the key points and the important facts are compared to find the relationship between them. This method would initially lead to construct an argument. Then a string of supportive and non supportive elements are categorized and as a result the causes for the events are traced. This is where a student would end up identifying the conclusion which is expressed indirectly.

•  Inference

Inference is to find the implied conclusion in recordings from the author’s point of view. The conclusion might be implied or expressed indirectly anywhere in the passage.

These are the basic requirements necessary, in each part of the strategy of listening section, which consists of two recorded lectures and one long conversation. These fundamentals are to be followed, in the following few preparatory steps.

Strategies in Preparation

• Spoken English From Various Sources And Accents

There are variations between the accents of English. It is the best to listen to English from various sources like television, music, radio etc. And also it is good to listen to the native speakers of English with different pronunciation and dialect. By doing this students would be able to improve their listening skills and also they will get used to different kinds of accents. It will be helpful very much if they listen to academic passages or conversations.

• Making Notes

While listening to a recording, notes should be jot down. These notes would help you to remember the important points given by speaker. The reason is also that, during the test you will be given only one chance to listen to a passage. Note making will help you to remember the details and the clues effectively.

• Main Idea

The main idea of a passage should be identified in a recording, as a first task while taking notes. Main idea of a lecture is usually given in the introductory part. The other details would be given in the rest of a lecture. Once the main idea is found it becomes a lighter task to find the purpose of the speaker.

• Pointer Words, Important Facts And Relationship Between The Facts

The pointer words may be defined as signal words or clues, given by the speaker. These keywords should be collected along with important facts and events. This should be done in order to compare them and identify the relationship between them. In turn this would give you the cause of the events.

• Summary of Observation

Give a summary of the recording which was listened, using the notes that are taken down. During this process, only important facts, relevant details, main idea and the key facts are covered. This is a good time saving technique, to prevent going through the notes again and again.

• Building your Vocabulary

Above all it is also important to build a student’s vocabulary, to find the meaning of a word, according to the context of the speaker. Students should get familiar with the words which they consider as new ones and practice them in their everyday life.

The steps and the requirements in TOEFL strategies for listening section, which are elaborated above should be followed and practiced to manage time while taking up the test. The most important part in listening section is to concentrate on the subject of the speaker, and a student does not have to be distracted by the accent. 

There  are three parts in the listening comprehension section of the test, and you are faced with three different listening tasks: 

1. Responding to one question that follows a short exchange between two speakers (Part A). 
2. Answering several questions about a longer conversation between two speakers (Part B). 
3. Answering spesific question about information contained in a short lecture, which is similar to the task you have to perform when listening to a professor in a lecture class (Part C).

Answer the question Listening Strategies

Part A: Short Dialogue
Strategy :

Focus on the last line

Choosing synonymous answer with keywords

Avoiding the same sound with keywords

Make conclusions about "Who", "What", "Where"

Pay attention to the type of sentence, Passive or Active?

Noting the negative expressions used

Noting expression indicating approval, uncertainty, advice, astonishment, Desire

Noting sentence modality

Part B: Longer Conversation
Strategy :

Determining the dialogue topic

Make conclusions "Who", "What", "When", "Where"

Part C: Talks
Strategy :

Determining the explanation topic

Make conclusions "Who", "What", "When", "Where"

Example of a short dialogue in Part A:

Woman            : Could you tell me what time the next train is due to arrive?

Man                 : At six. I think It’s little behind schedule.

Question          : What does the man mean?

The multiple choice items for this short dialogue might be:

(A) The train is behind the station

(B) The next train is due in six hours

(C) The train may arrive late

(D) The schedule is wrong

Answer            : C

Example of a dialogue in part B:

Man                 : This beach is really dirty. Look at all these of pieces of plastic and litter  everywhere.

Woman            : It’s terrible. I’m sure some of it has washed up from the ocean.

Man                 : I’m surprised yhat waste can just be receptacle for both industrial and city garbage. It is a disaster for sea birds and all forms of marine life.

Woman            : You can say that again. Birds get caught in the plastic bags and packing materials that are dumped in the water. Why is such pollution allowed to happen?

Man                 : You should have seen what the sea water looked like just five years ago. The pumping of waste water into the ocean had continued for decades. Finally, new laws prohibit dumping industrial or city waste in the ocean. So hopefully, over time, both the water and the beaches will become cleaner.

Woman            : It’s a good thing. Who knows, the entire marine environment could have been spoiled by garbage.

            The dialogue is followed by sereval question, each spoken only once. In your test booket or computer screen, you will see the multiple-choice selection for each question. The quest ion and answer choices for the preceding dialogue might be:                 

QUESTION 1: Where does this conversation take place?

                          (A) At a garbage dump

                          (B) In the city.

                          (C) On the seashore

                          (D) In a marine lab.

  Answer (C)

QUESTION 2: What is said about the condition of the ocean water?

                          (A) They are stromy

                          (B) They are unpopulated

                          (C) They are polluted

                          (D) They are deep

  Answer (C)

QUESTION 3: According to the dialogoe, why is wates dumping dangerous for sea birds?

                          (A) They lose their habitats

                          (B) They become entangled in waste products

                          (C) They seek shelter on the shore

                          (D) They are being dumped into the ocean

  Answer (B)

QUESTION 4: How does the law protect the ocean from pollution?

                          (A) The beaches are cleaned regulary

                          (B) Marine life lost to pollution has to be restored

                          (C) Disposing of waste in the ocean is forbidden

                          (D) Garbage must be retrived from the ocean

  Answer (C)

Reference:

* Hinkel, Eli. 2004. TOEFL Test Strategies: Barron's Educational Series
* Fauzy, Eka Rahmat, Fauzi Yudiashari dan Lidya Cristina. 2013. BREAK DOWN! Soal-Soal TOEFL. Ruang Kata
* Kasmini, Mien & Kadarmo, Siwi . 2014 . 99% Sukses Menghadapi TOEFL: Metode Terbaik melejitkan Skor TOEFL : Cmedia
* http://www.studyabroad18.com