Speaking Task Based on TOEIC Listening
Kumazawa Takaaki
Ibaraki University
<takaakikumazawa@hotmail.com>
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Key Words: Speaking, listening, TOEIC
Learner English Level: Low intermediate and above
Learner Maturity Level: College to adult
Preparation Time: 10 to 30 minutes
Activity Time: 60 to 90 minutes
It is often difficult to find motivating, fun exercises
when teaching and practicing the TOEIC test. This activity turns
TOEIC preparation into an interactive exercise by focusing mainly
on listening and speaking using the pictures from the first section
of the listening test in TOEIC. This is an information-gap exercise
where each student has information that the other student does
not, making both students responsible for the completion of the
task. With the material used in this activity, low-intermediate-level
students and above can practice in pairs for the TOEIC examination
in a motivating atmosphere. The pre-teaching of vocabulary items
and/or formulaic phrases that enable students to ask for repetition
and clarification may also be necessary for lower-level students.
Procedure
- Pre-teach vocabulary items or formulaic phrases and write
them on the board.
Example:
"Student
A, Picture 1 (a list of relevant vocabulary)"
"Student
B, Picture 2 (a list of relevant vocabulary)"
"Can
you say that again?" "What?" "Excuse me?"
- Pair up the students. One will be Student A and one will
be Student B. Hand out half of the pictures from the first section
of the TOEIC listening test to Student A and the other half to
Student B (ten pictures each). Inform students that they should
not show their pictures to each other.
- Student A must clearly describe the first two pictures to
Student B according to the following criteria: people (i.e.,
number, gender, appearance, and activities), general/specific
locations, and objects. Encourage Student A to use the vocabulary
and phrases written on the board, as these will quite often occur
later in the listening section. Student B should be encouraged
to ask for clarification and repetition where necessary.
- Next, students will listen to the four statements from the
listening section, which match each picture. Student B must choose
the statement that most The teacher should then demonstrate describing
the picture using the vocabulary items on the board, and repeat
the four statements once again. The answers can then be discussed
and explained.
- After the first two pictures have been completed, Student
B should describe the next two pictures to Student A. This continues
until all 20 pictures have been completed. The entire activity
takes 60 to 90 minutes, depending on how much pre-teaching is
required.
Observations and further suggestions
It is a good idea to limit descriptions to only two pictures
at a time before listening to the statements. Any more than this
will make it difficult for students to remember the details.
When pre-teaching low-frequency words, direct translations
are a reasonable method for quick retrieval or for teaching vocabulary
for receptive purposes only. When dealing with high-frequency
words, a fair amount of class time should be devoted to formally
teaching the meanings, grammatical functions, and/or collocated
words.
I have implemented speaking tasks based on the listening sections
of TOEIC in my intensive TOEIC course, and have found that students
tend to do better when they are familiar with the material. This
is very motivating for them. Section II of the TOEIC test is a
question-response format, where students hear a question and are
asked to select the correct answer from one of four responses.
As a pre-task prior to listening, students are instructed to work
in pairs with one student reading a question in the script (total
of 30 questions), and the other must try to respond correctly
without seeing the choices available. Then, both can confirm whether
the response was appropriate for the question and discuss the
other responses.
Using a speaking activity based on a listening activity as
a pre-task exercise has worked well in my lessons and is more
motivating for students than working on their own.