LISTENING - Chapter 1 - Theme: History

Taking Notes

As you listen to lectures on the TOEFL, you should take notes, trying to:

• Write down key words, names, numbers, dates, or anything else you think is important
• Listen for strong general statements by the speaker, because they may be topic sentences or concluding sentences for paragraphs

The note that you take as you are listening will help you answer questions such as:

• What is the main idea of the lecture?
• What is the purpose of this lecture: to inform, to persuade, to evaluate, to recommend?
• What are the important details in this lecture?

Outlining

An outlining is a skeletal structure of a text.It contains the main and supporting ideas in the order they are presented, but does not necessarilly include any specific details. Usually, an outlinie does not contain full sentences. Each subsection is listed in order using Roman numerals, and supporting ideas will be listed under each subsction using letters or numerals.

Creating an outline as you listen to a conversation or lecture on the TOEFL sill provide you with a more structured set of notes that you can then use to anserw questions. Here is an example of the beginning of an outline:

• I. War that produced Amercian national anthem
• II. War of 1812 strongly opposed
• A. Key for negotiations, not war
• B. Others fed up with British interference in American transatlantic trade
• C.War finally declared

Question Types

There are several different question types on the Listening section of the TOEFL. This lesson will cover two of these question types:

• Understanding Rhetorical Function
• Understanding an Idiomatic Expression in Context

Understanding Rhetorical Function

There are 2 conversations and 4 lectures in the Listening section; each lecture is followed by 1 or 2 rhetorical function questions, for a total of 5 or 6 rhetorical function questions in the Listening section.

On type of question that you will find on lectures - but generally not on conversations - in the Listening section of the TOEFL asks about rhetorical function. This type of question asks about the speaker's intent - for example, is the speaker defining, exemplifying, explaining, or doing something else. In order to answer this type of question correctly, you will need to be able to recognize the rhetorical devices used to achieve various rhetorical functions, as well as order context and intonation cues.

Understanding an Idiomatic Expression in Context

There are 1 or 2 idiomatic expression questions on the lectures in the Listening section of the TOEFL.

Idiomatic expressions are words or phrases in which the literal meaning of each word does not necessarily help you understand the meaning of the words together. Look at the following examples:

• John really looks blue today.
• John is looking a bit green.

Neither sentence is saying that John's skin is blue- o r green- colored. Which sentence means that John looks sad? Which means that John looks sick?

You will probably encounter one question, sometimes two, on the lectures - but generally not on the conversations- in the Listening section of the TOEFL that tests your understanding of an idiomatic expression in context. You can often guess at the meaning of an idiomatic expression by looking at the parts of the sentence that you do understand.