TOEFL Official Website
Special Report
"The general problems with the TOEFL listening test!"
Here is an article that one of our
paid students, Seo Mun-Kyo, and Jack
put together to help you develop your
listening skills, which in turn will
help you think only in English when
you are writing.
** The general problems with
the TOEFL listening test.
By Seo Mun-Kyo and Jack
Case (1) Poor listening.
Case (2) Poor understanding in
spite of good listening skills.
We may categorize case (2) into more detailed ones: poor understanding of culture-based conversations, and unfamiliarity with idioms.
** What are the solutions?
1. Dictations or memorizing expressions may be helpful to those students whose listening skills are awfully poor. Never open your book before making enough effort to listen. Consulting a tape-script should be the last resort.
2. Listen over and over again, especially, to the part you had difficulty in recognizing. Do it as many times as possible so that you are able to quickly catch the problematic expression the next time you listen.
3. Memorizing the whole expression is always helpful; not only does it help to improve your listening skill, but it also enables you to understand what you are listening to in a shorter time.
4. When practicing, set the playing speed of the recorder as high as possible. If you practice listening at a lower playing speed, you will be frustrated in an actual test which is at a higher speed.
5. Do not wear earphones, nor rely on a hi-fi speaker. The actual sound at the test center is often of a low quality. Therefore, you need to be familiar with unclear sound.
6. Learn the basic idiomatic expressions first. After that, study the specific patterns of the question with suitable textbooks. In other words, you first study the idioms and then work with the practice questions.
7. After you get up in the morning, try to first listen to English before you hear any Korean. For example, listening to the CNN in the morning is a good practice.
8. Keep in mind that the Part B is getting harder and harder. The level of the sentences is approaching that of the RC section, both in length and complexity. This means that you have to simultaneously work hard with the RC section.
9. Practice everyday. Your listening skill will DECREASE every time you happen not to work on your listening skills.
10. Exploit all the knowledge on both the situation and the underlying culture of the conversation. This will be helpful in case (2).
11. If you absolutely lack preparation time, go straight with the actual practice questions. Actually, it takes a fairly long time for a broader approach to English listening, such as listening to the radio, to start to elevate your TOEFL score. However, if you have the time, listening to English on the radio and TV will enhance your ability, by enhancing your feel for how English is supposed to sound when spoken. Another thing to remember is that a test of your written English is how well it sounds when read out loud.
12. "The Longman Preparation" is recommended for the beginners. It is effectively patterned after the actual tests, so will be helpful, giving you an overview of the test.
13. Never give up on the LC section,
since you cannot get an overall high
score without learning to listen to
English. Learning to listen to
English also requires you to learn to
think only in English, which is
required when you write in English.
It is too late to learn to listen to
English when you are sitting in the
test center. Listening skills are not
developed overnight, so please give
yourself plenty of time, and remember
to practice each and every day.