Hello and welcome to this learning presentation on how to approach
the extended listening sections of the Linguaskill Listening and Reading test.
First, here's some information about the Linguaskill test.
It's a computer-based multilevel test,
meaning that it can be taken anywhere by test takers of all ability levels.
Linguaskill assesses your English language proficiency using
a huge variety of test questions and accurately gives test takers
a language proficiency level
on the CEFR scale. It's an adaptive test,
meaning that an algorithm is used to give test takers questions of various
difficulties, depending on their performance,
in order to accurately determine the test takers' level of English at the end of
the test.
First, I'll go through some advice on how to approach an extended listening test.
Tip one: Read the questions carefully and pick out keywords.
It's best to look through the questions and options before you play the audio.
This will help you to follow the long listening
and to understand what you need to listen for.
Look out for keywords in the questions and options that you think you may hear in
the audio. In the example here, you need to listen for preference.
That is, what the people like.
You may hear information about all three options,
but only one of the options will be something the people like.
In other words, the correct answer.
Test designers often paraphrase the words you hear in the audio when writing
the test questions and options, so you may not hear the same words that you read.
Test designers, however, use some of the keywords in the audio to help you follow
the information you hear, acting as signposts.
Remember, you may hear the same word in the audio that you read in one of the options,
but that doesn't mean that option is the correct answer.
We'll apply this tip in the extended listening test on the next slides. Tip two:
Don't freeze up if you miss some information.
Stay relaxed and just move on to the next question.
Keep up with the audio and don't fall behind. The information delivered in
the audio is presented in the same order as the questions,
so you need to keep up with the audio to answer the next questions. Tip three:
In Linguaskill, you can listen twice, and you control the play button.
This is a great advantage because you can relax easier and move through
the test at your own pace. Let's look at
an extended listening task from Linguaskill. First, look at the black box.
This gives you instructions and sets the context.
Before we listen, let's look through the questions and options.
It's a good idea to take note of words and expressions that stand out in
the questions and options, to help you follow the recording.
I've highlighted some of the keywords you'll hear when you listen. These act
as signposts to help you follow the audio.
Take a minute now to look through the questions and options.
It's important that you spend a bit of time reading before you listen.
This preparation enables you to quickly locate the question being talked about
and focus on the detail of what's being said, so you can choose the correct option.
And remember, just because you hear a word that's written in
the option doesn't mean that's the correct option.
You really need to focus on the detail of the talk.
Also, you don't always hear the options spoken about in the order
they're written in the questions, so keep this in mind when you listen.
Finally, it's important to note that keywords in each question,
for example, "meals" in question four and "guides" in five, indicate what
the speaker is going to talk about in the particular part of the audio.
So identifying keywords in the questions will help you to focus on
the appropriate part of the audio.
We're going to listen to Sally now.
But we're not going to answer the questions this time round.
We'll listen a second time and answer the questions later. This time,
just follow the questions in order as the speaker gives information on each one
and listen out for the signposting words that I've highlighted
so you don't lose your place.
All I want you to do is listen for the general meaning, not for the answer.
OK, let's listen now.
My name is Sally Cruz, and I'm going to tell you about a fabulous vacation
I had white-water rafting on a river in the USA.
I was with my son and daughter and 20 other people in large rubber boats
on this very rough, fast river—my first time ever white-water rafting.
I knew I'd get cold and wet, but that was part of the adventure.
I thought I'd find the wild water scary, and I did at first, but my children just said,
"Come on, Mom, you'll be fine", and I soon found my courage.
The river was beautiful, with waterfalls and quiet pools where we could swim.
I loved the landscape. Each day we spent about five or six hours on the river,
then ended the day on beautiful sandy beaches.
It was a real delight watching my kids unplug from their computers
and spend hours playing in the river, on the sand and simply enjoying nature.
This was something they couldn't really do at home.
The tents in the campsites weren't very comfortable,
but because of the fresh air and exercise, I had no problem sleeping.
The youngsters on the trip stayed up late talking round the campfire,
but I could never keep my eyes open long enough to join in.
One of the best things for me was waking up in the morning
and looking out of my tent at the beautiful view.
The food was the best camp food ever.
Breakfasts included eggs or pancakes. For lunch, we'd stop on a beach for a picnic.
The children sometimes complained there were too many salads
and they didn't get burgers, but there were always cookies available,
so they accepted the healthy diet. Dinners were delicious.
We once had freshly caught fish. And best of all? I didn't have to cook any of it.
Actually, I love cooking, but it's nice to take a break
occasionally. The young men and women who were our guides were incredible.
Their days lasted from 6 am until 10 pm. They were responsible for 20 of us
and our gear for five days.
They cooked our meals, rode our rafts, set up our tents,
played games with us on the beach, all with big smiles on their faces.
White-water rafting was truly an adventure I'll not forget.
It's a long audio, almost three minutes,
and it's challenging to concentrate for this amount of time.
Hopefully, the highlighted words helped you to follow the information given in
the audio. But remember, just because you hear a word given in
the option doesn't mean that option is the correct answer.
In question two, for example, all the options contain words that you hear,
but only one option is correct.
Let's break the audio into three parts, and we'll answer and analyse the questions.
Let's answer question one first.
Read the question and the options.
Now, we're going to listen to the first part of the audio and answer question
one only. Here's the beginning of the audio transcribed, so you can listen to it
as you listen. We know we'll find the answer to question one here
because the test questions run in the same order as the information in the audio
and also because the questions states "at the beginning of the trip".
I've highlighted the place where you find the answer in the transcript,
so you should pay special attention to the words in green as you listen,
then answer the question.
My name is Sally Cruz, and I'm going to tell you about a fabulous vacation
I had white-water rafting on a river in the USA.
I was with my son and daughter and 20 other people in large rubber boats
on this very rough, fast river—my first time ever white-water rafting.
I knew I'd get cold and wet, but that was part of the adventure.
I thought I'd find the wild water scary,
and I did at first, but my children just said, "Come on, Mom, you'll be fine",
and I soon found my courage.
Did you get the answer? It's "frightened of the river water". Here,
the test designer has used synonyms — frightened and scared or scary.
The incorrect options may use words and expressions directly taken from the audio,
such as cold and wet, but don't be fooled.
Listen carefully, and you'll get the correct answer.
Although Sally mentions being cold and wet, she doesn't say she was unhappy about it.
She says this was "part of the adventure". So, this option is not the correct answer.
She also talks about her children but doesn't mention their safety.
So, that's not correct either.
Now, let's look at questions two and three.
As the answers to these questions appear close together in the audio, before we listen,
read through questions two and three and the options, noting the words that stand out.
In question two, you probably took note of words in the options, rather than
the question. The nouns "children",
"natural world", "water" and "computer" stand out
because they are mostly objects that are easy to picture in your mind.
Listen for these in the audio.
But remember that hearing a word from an option doesn't always mean that option is
the correct answer. OK, let's listen now and read,
noting the words I've highlighted in green to answer question two
and the words I've highlighted in blue to answer question three.
The river was beautiful, with waterfalls and quiet pools where we could swim.
I loved the landscape. Each day we spent about five or six hours on the river,
then ended the day on beautiful sandy beaches.
It was a real delight watching my kids unplug from their computers
and spend hours playing in the river, on the sand and simply enjoying nature.
This was something they couldn't really do at home.
The tents in the campsites weren't very comfortable,
but because of the fresh air and exercise, I had no problem sleeping.
The youngsters on the trip stayed up late talking round the campfire,
but I could never keep my eyes open long enough to join in.
One of the best things for me was waking up in the morning
and looking out of my tent at the beautiful view.
Did you get the answers? Let's take some time now to look at
the words highlighted green and blue and notice how these are paraphrased in
the correct options. Question two uses the expression "special pleasure",
to paraphrase "real delight" in the audio and
"natural world" in the option is expressed as "nature" in the audio.
The answer to question three is a bit harder to get as
an idiomatic expression is used in the audio.
Sally says, "I could never keep my eyes open",
which means she was so tired she slept easily.
Question three is made more difficult by directly lifting part of
the audio into one of the incorrect options:
"stay up late talking with people round the campfire".
This is a very clear example to show that just
because you hear it in the audio doesn't mean it's the correct option.
Again, you can see that incorrect options use words and expressions directly from
the audio. Test designers do this to test that candidates can understand
the meaning of the audio and aren't just matching words they hear with words in
the options without paying attention to what the speaker is actually saying.
We've come to the last two questions now, so again,
read the questions and the options and identify the keywords.
You probably took note of the noun phrases such as "healthy diet",
"local food" and "20 people", and that's
a good start in preparing you to listen. In these questions,
however, we have some added difficulty from keywords in
the questions that you may have missed. In question
four, "particularly satisfied" is important to consider when preparing to listen.
It tells us that we can expect to hear a lot of good things said about the meals,
but just one thing Sally liked best, which will give you the answer. In question
five, we need to listen carefully to find out why she admired the guides.
Sally will mention all the options given in question five,
but only one will be about admiration. OK, now let's listen and read,
paying attention to the words highlighted green to answer question four and
the words highlighted in blue to answer question five.
The food was the best camp food ever.
Breakfasts included eggs or pancakes. For lunch, we'd stop on a beach for a picnic.
The children sometimes complained there were too many salads
and they didn't get burgers, but there were always cookies available,
so they accepted the healthy diet. Dinners were delicious.
We once had freshly caught fish. And best of all? I didn't have to cook any of it.
Actually, I love cooking, but it's nice to take a break occasionally.
The young men and women who were our guides were incredible.
Their days lasted from 6
am until 10 pm. They were responsible for 20 of us and our gear for five days.
They cooked our meals, rode our rafts, set up our tents,
played games with us on the beach, all with big smiles on their faces.
White-water rafting was truly an adventure I'll not forget.
Did you get the answers?
Now, take some time to read the words highlighted in green and blue
and notice how they are paraphrased in the correct options.
Question four uses the synonyms "rest" in the option
and "break" in the audio and paraphrases "particularly satisfied" in
the question with "best of all" in the audio.
One of the incorrect options directly lifts the expression "healthy diet" from
the audio, although the audio doesn't say that the children enjoyed the healthy diet,
only that they accepted the healthy diet.
And finally, regarding question five, Sally doesn't directly say what she admired.
So, we have to infer this from the context.
At the end of her speech, she says the guides worked with big smiles on their faces,
which is paraphrased as "very cheerful" in the correct option.
Sally does not mention the incorrect options,
too. Sally does mention the incorrect options, too,
although she doesn't speak about the guides being young or that they were few as
a source of her admiration for them. So, these options are not correct.
Here's the full transcript.
You can note down any interesting or useful words and expressions.
I hope you found this presentation useful.
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Good luck with your studies and good luck with your English test. Goodbye.