IELTS LISTENING STRATEGIES FOR CONVERSATIONS & LECTURES

Previously, I already discussed a handful number of effective strategies that can be applied in the all sections of the IELTS listening test. When talking about IELTS listening module strategies over the conversations and lectures’ talk in particular, there are also a series of powerful guides which you can implement them to assist you in hearing what the speakers say during the section of your IELTS listening test. Thus, the following advice which I am going to elaborate below is practically referred to the effective strategies used in the IELTS listening comprehension, both for the conversations and the lectures’ talk. Hence, let’s have a look at them one by one.

1^st STRATEGY – CREATE ONE COLUMN FOR EACH SPEAKER IN YOUR NOTES TO AVOID CONFUSION WHEN YOU READ THEM

Should you decide to make notes, it is important to keep them neatly organized. Therefore, in order for you to do this, try to create one column for each speaker during the conversation presented. Although names are useful when they are being mentioned, however, you will never be asked to specifically name any of the speakers who deliver the talk. So, depending on the type of conversation spoken, it is better for you if you could identify each speaker such as which one is acting as:

a. Professor and the student

b. Man and Woman

c. Student 1 and Student 2

2^nd STRATEGY – BE PREPARED FOR THE UNIQUE ELEMENTS OF SPOKEN ENGLISH (INTERRUPTIONS)

In most cases, the speaker during the section of your listening test for conversations as well as lectures will not sound as if they are reading an essay. To put it simply, their speech will be perfectly natural instead and the way they sound will resemble everyday spoken English, which include interruptions and self-corrections.

As we know, such an interruption occurs when a listener in a conversation or lecture says something before the speaker has done making a point of statement or observation. A speaker, in fact, could be interrupted by a question or comment, and the speaker will have to resolve the interruption arose before returning to the original topic. So, in that case, you will have to remember exactly what was being spoken prior to the interruption in order for you to understand fully what was being said afterwards.

Here are the most common words or vocabularies spoken during the interruption:

a. ‘Excuse me, but ...’

b. ‘I’m sorry, but ...’

c. ‘I don’t want to be rude, but ...’

d. ‘Hold on a minute ...’

e. ‘Hang on a second ...’

f. ‘Can I just say that ...’

 

While on the other hand, the typical self-correction occurs when you hear the speaker suddenly mispronounces the words while he or she is delivering the talk. Obviously, it is not a surprise to notice the fact that anyone can speak incorrectly whenever there is a conversation going on. When people misspeak their words or vocabularies during their conversations, it is very natural to observe that they tend to interrupt themselves and then restate their idea correctly. Thus, self-correction could practically involve a certain number of expressions such as:

1. ‘Actually ...’

2. ‘That’s not exactly right, I suppose ...’

3. ‘Let me rephrase that in case if you don’t mind ...’

4. ‘Let me start again ...’

In a nutshell, such mistakes occurred are usually used as distracters in the listening examinations. That is when you hear the incorrect information and you literally think that it is the correct answer. So, it is crucial for you to be fully aware of those distracters and be prepared to change your answers accordingly.

3^rd STRATEGY – BE PREPARED TO INFER OR INTERPRET

Although it is possible at some point of time, however, a speaker will probably not state how his or her talk is organized directly. Hence, try not to rely on the explicit (obvious) statement such as ‘Let’s organize our discussions by types of energy sources bla...bla...bla...’ or ‘I want to begin with the best solution and then continue with the least suitable option bla...bla...bla...’

Therefore, it is also imperative that you must train yourself to predict and anticipate how the speaker’s talk is organized indirectly. Meaning to say, you will probably have to recognize how the element of speech is being thoroughly presented on your own.