SINA IELTS

2.1 Developing Listening Skills

Session Aim:
By the end of this session you will have: (a) (b) (c) (d) A clear picture of what the IELTS listening exam entails. A clear picture of how questions are to be understood. Identified the key skills, sub skills and strategies required to attempt listening test. Practiced and analyzed activities with discussion on problems and their solutions.

Instructor: Mazhar Ellahi

Module Format
(a) Listening test comprises four sections with 40 questions in total. (b) Each section comprises ten items (or questions) (c) Each question is worth one mark (d) The test is of 30 minutes with 10 minutes extras to transfer answers onto an answer sheet (e) During the test, the time is given to candidates to read questions and check answers (f) Questions are designed so that the answers appear in order in listening passage (g) Forms/Notes/Table/Flow-chart/Summary completion, MCQs, short-answer questions, Sentence completion, Labeling a diagram/Plan/Map, Matching, Classification (h) Each section is played once only (i) Recording include a range of accents like British, Australian, New Zealand and American

What each section contains and what to focus on:

Section 1:(a) Ten questions (b) Social Needs (c) Conversation between two people (d) Transactional purpose e.g finding out about travel services (e) Specific factual information
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Section 2:(a) Ten Questions (b) Social Needs (c) Monologue or prompted monologue (d) Transactional purpose e.g giving information about a public event (e) Specific factual information

Section 3:(a) Ten Questions (b) Education and Training (c) Discussion between 2 4 people (d) Academic context e.g tutorial or seminar (e) Specific information, attitudes and speakers opinion

Section 4:(a) Ten Questions (b) Education and Training (c) Monologue (d) Academic context e.g lecture (e) Main idea, specific information, attitude and speakers opinion

Listening Sub Skills

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Specific information Prediction of content Identifying details

Listening Stress,rhyth m and intonation listening for gist

signpost/refe rencing words

infer underlying meaning

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Section 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Thatd be great Good evening and welcome to The port d be fine , Ive got transport that end We begin our series of lectures on Ive never learnt how to organize my work Finally I would suggest They left a wealth of evidence of their These seem to have replaced sometime. Im ringing to make enquiries about So Im going to talk first about Im glad Ive bumped into you. Various theories attribute the decline of.. But first can you tell me, you know, Yes theres.theres also some toys I found I needed to maintain a high level.. My other suggestion is that. Oh Ive been stung before with economy.. Ive been asked to talk to you briefly about What makes it easier that the degree is made.. The prehistoric cultures of the American south..

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

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Listening Strategies:1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Understanding accent/accents. Understanding question/theme of the question. Knowing contextual meaning of words spoken/written. Be well-versed with grammar rules and their application. Get used to understanding stress, rhythm and intonation in listening Practice many times listening to English programs and avoid watching too much movies. 7. Become skilled in making pace with voice you hear. 8. Practice writing simultaneously when listening is going on. 9. Listen instruction if not be alert on Now we shall begin. 10. Understand map, charts or diagram (answer is hidden). 11. Scan next question when asked to check the one done before. 12. Use abbreviation or track sound but be clear in your head. 13. Be with the speaker but not stuck to one word/sentence. 14. The word before and after the Blank is important. 15. Get yourself familiarized with shifts. 16. Understand the difference of words in question and in answer. 17. Listen to key words but synonyms. 18. Be alert while transferring answers onto the answer sheet. 19. Guess for what you could understand. 20. Be clear about singular, plural, capital, small and group words.

Listening for answers:Conversations;

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Repeated words. Repeated phrases. Group words. Interrupted words. Spelled words.

Monologues;
1. Stressed words. 2. Stressed phrases. 3. Shift words.
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4. Shift phrases. 5. Expressions

Conversations/Monologues;
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Names/Nouns. Number/Figures/Digits. Terminologies Scientific terms. Idiomatic expressions. Phrasal verbs. References. Examples.

Skill Assessment Criteria.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Accent and Pronunciation. Complexity of sentence structure. Grammar rules, grammatical shifts. Lexical understanding. Pace.

Listening Problems.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Focus. Looking for similar words. Writing lengthy words. Getting not the correct spellings. Ignoring key words/main words. Confusion/stress. Map/diagram understanding. Indecisive.

Listening Solutions.
1. Making pace using pencil. 2. Identifying synonyms. 3. Appropriate abbreviation.
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4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Sound track. Know the difference between key words/main words. Depend on guess trick rather than passionate about specific. Focus on gaps on map/diagram and given option in question. Swift in selecting closest option.

Understanding listening band descriptor.

Total Questions 40 Number of correct answers 4-5 6-7 8-10 10-12 13-15 16-17 18-22 23-25 26-29 30-31 32-34 35-36 37-38 39-40 Band 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9

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