An exploratory study on the teaching and learning of TOEIC listening skill at a university in Hanoi = Nghiên cứu khảo sát việc dạy và học kỹ năng nghe TOEIC tại

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THU TRANG

AN EXPLORATOTY STUDY ON THE TEACHING
AND LEARNING OF TOEIC LISTENING SKILL
AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI
(NGHIÊN CỨU KHẢO SÁT VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ
NĂNG NGHE TOEIC TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG
ĐẠI HỌC Ở HÀ NỘI)
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field

: English Teaching Methodology

Code

: 60 14 10

HÀ NỘI – 2013


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THU TRANG

AN EXPLORATOTY STUDY ON THE TEACHING
AND LEARNING OF TOEIC LISTENING SKILL
AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI
(NGHIÊN CỨU KHẢO SÁT VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ
NĂNG NGHE TOEIC TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG
ĐẠI HỌC Ở HÀ NỘI)
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field

: English Teaching Methodology

Code

: 60 14 10

Supervisor

: Kiều Thị Thu Hương, Ph.D

HÀ NỘI – 2013


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ……………………………………………………………………... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ……………………………...…………………………… ii
ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………….... iv
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS ………………………………………………. vii
ABBREVIATIONS ……………………………………………………………….. viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………...... ………… 1
1. Rationale …………………………………………………………………..………. 1
2. Objectives of the study ……………………………………………………..…….. 1
3. Significance of the study ………………………………………………………….. 2
4. Scope of the study …………………………………………………………...…….. 2
5. Methodology ………………………………………………………………...…….. 2
6. Organization ………………………………………………………………………..2
PART B: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………………..….. 4
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ………………………..………… 4
1.1 Notions of listening ……………………………………………………..……….. 4
1.2 Process of listening…………………………………………………………….… 5
1.3 Classification of listening …………………………………………...…………….6
1.4 Affective factors in listening …………………………………………………...…7
1.4.1 Listener factor ……………………………………………………………….11
1.4.1.1 Experien ce and practice in listening …………………………...…… .11
1.4.1.2 Background knowledge ……………………………………………… 11
1.4.1.3 Knowledge of the target language ………………………….…………12
1.4.1.4 Psychological factors ………………………………………………… 12
1.4.2 Speaker factor ……………………………………………………………… 12
1.4.2.1 Speaker’s production …………………………………….…………… 12
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1.4.2.2 Speed of delivery ………………………………………………...…… 12
1.4.3 Material and medium ………………………………………………..………13
1.4.3.1 The language used ……………………………………………..………13
1.4.3.2 Content and concepts ………………………………………….………13
1.4.3.4 The support provided ………………………………………………… 13
1.5 Stages of a listening lesson ………………………………………………………13
1.5.1 Pre-listening ………………………………………………….......…………13

1.5.2 While-listening ………………………………………………..…………….14
1.5.3 Post-listening ……………………………………………………….……….14
1.6 TOEIC …………………………………………………………………………. .15
1.6.1 Overview of a TOEIC test …………………………………………………..15
1.6.2 TOEIC listening ……………………………………………….……………17
1.7 Review of previous studies ………………………………………………………20
1.8 Situation of teaching and learning TOEIC listening skill at HLU …...………22
CHAPTER II: THE STUDY…………………………………………………..…… .23
2.1 Subjects …………………………………………………………………………..23
2.2 Research instruments ……………………………………………………………23
2.3 Procedure …………………………………………………………………..…… 24
2.4 Results and discussion ………………………………………...…………………24
2.4.1 The teaching of TOEIC listening …………………………………………… .24
2.4.1.1 Teachers’ genera information………………………………….……… .24
2.4.1.2 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching TOEIC listening ……………………..27
2.4.2 The learning of TOEIC listening ………………………………………..…….30
2.4.2.1 Students’ general information ……………………………………………… ..30
2.4.2.2 Students’ general difficulties in learning TOEIC listening ………………… ..34
2.4.2.3 Students’ specific difficulties in TOEIC listening parts ………………..……..36
2.5 Recommendations ………………………………………………………..…… ..39
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2.5.1 To the teachers ………………………………………………………………….39
2.5.2 To the students …………………………………………………………….……41
PART C: CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………..43
1. Summary of the study………………………………………………………..… ..43
2. Limitations of the study………………………………………………………… .44
3. Suggestions for further study …………………………………………………….45
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………..………………..46

APPENDICES …………………………………………………..…….……………….I
APPENDIX 1 …….………………………………………………...…..………………I
APPENDIX 2 …………………………………………………………………….…..IV

vi


LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS AND TABLES
Figure 1:

A classification of aural texts

7

Table 1:

Affective factors in listening

9

Table 2:

TOEIC test structure

16

Table 3.1:

Teachers’ difficulties at pre-listening stage

27

Table 3.2:

Teachers’ difficulties at while-listening stage

28

Table 3.3:

Teachers’ difficulties at post-listening stage

29

Table 3.4:

Teachers’ other difficulties

29

Table 4:

Students’ feelings in learning TOEIC listening

33

Table 5.1

Students’ difficulties related to Listener factor

35

Table 5.2

Students’ difficulties related to Speaker’s factor

36

Table 5.3

Students’ difficulties related to Material/medium factor

36

Table 5.4

Students’ difficulties in Part 1

37

Table 5.5

Students’ difficulties in Part 2

38

Table 5.6

Students’ difficulties in Part 3

38

Table 5.7

Students’ difficulties in Part 4

39

Chart 1.1:

Teachers’ age ranges

25

Chart 1.2:

Teachers’ teaching qualifications

25

Chart 1.3:

Teachers’ extra responsibilities

26

Chart 1.4:

Teachers’ length of time teaching TOEIC listening

26

Chart 2.1

Students’ gender ratio

30

Chart 2.2

Students’ reasons for studying TOEIC

31

Chart 2.3

Students’ length of time studying TOEIC

31

Chart 2.4

Students’ listening practice

32

Chart 2.5

Students’ evaluation of the level of difficulties of TOEIC listening

33

Chart 2.6

Students’ evaluation of the most difficult part of TOEIC listening

34

vii


test
ABBREVIATIONS

HLU

Hanoi Law University

TOEIC

Test of English for International Communication

IELTS

International English Language Testing System

TOEFL

Test of English as a Foreign Language

ESL

English as a Second Language

viii


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
As English nowadays has become a prerequisite for job seekers, there is a growing
number of English learners who wish to sit for worldwide standardized English tests
such as IELTS, TOEFL or TOEIC. Among these, TOEIC (Test of English for
International Communication) has been increasingly applied in both workplace and
educational institutions. Many universities offer English courses basing on the
students’ TOEIC test scores. Enterprises and organizations also use TOEIC scores as
one criterion for employing new recruits and promoting employees.
At Hanoi Law University (HLU), the TOEIC test has been used since 2010 as a
standardized test to classify students’ English proficiency, place them into the right
classes and evaluate their learning progress. Students have to get at least TOEIC 450
scores to meet the requirements for graduation.
Traditionally, a TOEIC test consists of two sections, which are designed to test
candidates’ two skills: listening and reading. Generally, listening skill is always
considered the most essential as well as the most difficult skill for both teachers to
teach and for learners to learn. Listening in TOEIC is not an exception because it
comprises different task types with various topics. “An exploratory study on the
teaching and learning of TOEIC listening skill at a university in Hanoi” has been
conducted to gain insights into the difficulties encountered by teachers and students in
TOEIC listening with the hope to contribute to the improvement of English teaching
and learning at HLU.
2. Objectives of the study

The purpose of this study is to explore the real situation of teaching and learning
TOEIC listening skill at HLU. Therefore, the study aims to answer the following
research questions:
1


1. What difficulties do students encounter in learning TOEIC listening skill?
2. What difficulties do teachers encounter in teaching TOEIC listening skill?
3. What are some suggestions to improve the teaching and learning of TOEIC
listening skill at HLU?
3. Significance of the study
This study investigates the real difficulties that teachers and students at HLU face in
the listening part of the TOEIC test. By doing this research, the researcher wishes to
help HLU students foresee the problems and overcome them in order to improve their
listening scores. Also, the study has been done to help HLU teachers beware of some
teaching problems and adopt appropriate techniques to teach listening skill.
4. Scope of the study
The study focuses on the teaching and learning of TOEIC listening skill at HLU. The
study has been conducted under the scope of an exploratory study with a small number
of teachers and students who are teaching and studying TOEIC courses at the
university.
5. Methodology
The major research method used in the study is quantitative. The data are collected
from two survey questionnaires which intend to find out the difficulties teachers and
students encounter in the teaching and learning of TOEIC listening skill at HLU.
Basing on the data collected from the respondents, the researcher examines and
analyzes the causes of those difficulties and suggests some solutions to improve the
quality of teaching and learning TOEIC listening at HLU.
6. Organization
Part A Introduction

presents the rationale, objectives, significance, scope,

methodology and organization of the study.
Part B Development is divided into two chapters:
2


Chapter 1 Theoretical Background lays the theoretical foundation for the research and
reviews the previous studies.
Chapter 2 The study deals with the subjects, research instruments, and procedure as
well as results and discussions. Some recommendations based on the findings are also
provided in this chapter.
Part C Conclusion summarizes the major findings of the study. Limitations of the study
and some suggestions for further research are mentioned as well.
The Appendices where the survey questionnaires can be found come after the
References .

3


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 Notions of listening
There have been numerous definitions of listening, which present different views of
linguists towards the concept.
According to Underwood (1989), “listening is the activity of paying attention to and
trying to get meaning from something we hear” (p.1). In other words, to be a good
listener, one does not only need to understand the words themselves but also has to
figure out the meaning implied by the speaker.

Another definition is given by Brown and Yule (1983), who distinguish the literal
meaning of the words and the speaker’s intended meaning. The authors conclude that
listening is actually the process where the listener achieves “a reasonable
interpretation” of the speaker’s intention in the communication.
In 1989, O’Malley and Chamot claim that listening is “an active and conscious
process" in which the meaning is constructed from “contextual information” and
“existing knowledge” (p.420). This view is shared by Field (1998) who states that
listening is “an invisible mental process” in which the listener must “discriminate
between sounds, understand vocabulary and grammar structures, interpret stress and
intention, retain and interpret this within the immediate as well as the large sociocultural context of the utterance” (p.38).
From the above definition, it can be concluded that listening is a process in which the
listener constructs meaning out of the information provided by the speakers. This
process involves the understanding a speaker’s accent or pronunciation, grammar and
vocabulary and grasping his meaning. Rost (1994) points out:
4


Listening is vital in the language classroom because it provides input for the learner.
Without understanding input at the right level, any learning simply cannot begin.
Rost (1994:141)

Listening fosters the learning of a second language because it provides input for the
learning process. Thus, listening plays an important role in the acquisition of a
language.
1.2 Process of listening
Listening process involves complex physiological and cognitive processes. Listening
process is proposed to consist of three different processes. They are perceptual
processing, parsing and utilization. In the perceptual processing, the sounds enter the
echoic memory and are organized into meaningful units basing on the listener’s
linguistic knowledge. In the parsing, the meaning is constructed in the short-term

memory by comparing the incoming information with the previous knowledge. The
utilization involves the transfer of short-term information to the long-term memory for
other purposes (Underwood, 1989; O’Malley and Chamot, 1989).
Duzer (1997) agrees, for the most part, listing the following nine stages in listening
process: (1) determining a reason for listening; (2) taking the raw speech and
depositing an image of it in short-term memory; (3) attempting to organize the
information by identifying the type of speech event (a conversation, a lecture, a radio
ad) and the function of the message (to persuade/inform/request); (4) predicting
information expected to be included in the message; (5) recalling background
information to help interpret the message; (6) assigning a meaning to the message; (7)
checking that the message has been understood; (8) determining the information to be
held in long-term memory; and (9) deleting the original form of the message that has
been received into the short term memory.
5


Concerning how the knowledge is applied to the incoming sounds, there are two
critical views of bottom-up and top-down processes in second language listening
instruction (Nunan, 1991). In the bottom-up process, the meaning is constructed by
combining increasing larger units of meaning from the phoneme-level up to discourselevel features. In other words, in this process learners attempt to understand a listening
passage by decoding sounds to form words, linking words to form phrases and
sentences. These sentences build a complex text, the meaning of which is then
constructed by the listener.
On the contrary, in the top-down process, the contextual and prior knowledge of the
listener is utilized to build a conceptual framework for comprehension. This view
emphasizes the prominence of background knowledge already possessed by the
learners in making sense of the information they hear. As such, a significant lack of
background knowledge can trouble the attempts to comprehend a particular utterance.
Anderson and Lynch (1988) compare the bottom-up view of listener as “tape recorder”
with the top-down view of listener as “model builder”. An able listener should utilize

both bottom-up and top-down knowledge in order to get the meaning of the spoken
discourse.
1.3 Classification of listening
Listening can be categorized differently on the basis of different grounds. Regarding
the reasons for listening, Galvin (1985) divides listening into five categories: (1) to
exchange in social rituals; (2) to exchange information; (3) to exert control; (4) to share
feelings; and (5) to enjoy yourself.
Basing on the situations in which listening occurs, Underwood (1989) forwards a
detailed classification which consists of listening to live conversations in which one
takes no part ; listening to announcements; listening to the news, the weather forecast;
6


listening to the radio for entertainment; watching a live performance of a play;
watching a film in a cinema; listening to records; following a lesson; attending a
lecture; listening on the telephone; following instructions; and listening to someone
giving a public address.
In a later work, Nunan (1991) classifies the aural texts into monologues and dialogues
with the first being produced by only one speaker and the latter being created by two or
more speakers. The monologue can be either carefully structured, planned or
unplanned. The dialogue can be sub-divided basing on its purposes into interpersonal
and transactional dialogues. An interpersonal dialogue is socially oriented talk while
the aim of a transactional dialogue is obtaining and providing information. A further
distinction is made between familiar and unfamiliar interpersonal dialogues on the
ground of whether the interactants are acquaintances or strangers. This can be
schematized as below:
Planned
Monologue

Unplanned

Unfamiliar

Aural texts
Interpersonal

Familiar

Dialogue
Transactional

Figure 1: A classification of aural texts (extracted from Nunan, 1991, p.21)
1.4 Affective factors in listening
There are a great number of studies conducted in order to find out the factors
contributing to listening difficulties. According to Brown and Yule (1983), there are
four groups of factors which can affect the difficulty of oral language tasks. These are
7


the speaker (the number of speakers, the speaker’s speaking speed and the speaker’s
accent ); the listener (the role of the listener, the requirement of listening task and the
listener’s interest in the subject); the content (grammar, vocabulary, information
structure, and background knowledge); and the support (pictures, diagrams, and visual
aids).
This view is shared by Boyle (1984), who details the affective factors in listening as
follows:
A. LISTENER FACTOR
GENERAL
1 Experience/practice in listening to the target language: use of the media (cinema, TV,
radio, etc.)
2 General intelligence

3 General background knowledge of the world
MORE SPECIFIC
4 Physical and educational (age/sex, home background, size of family, educational
background and type of school, physical health and alertness)
5 Intellectual (knowledge of the target language in its various aspects: phonology,
lexis,
syntax, and cohesion; powers of analysis and selection: ability to distinguish between
main and supporting points; knowledge of the specific topic or subject; memory (short
term and long term)

8


6 Psychological (motivation and sense of purpose while listening; attitude of the
listener to the speaker; attitude of the listener to the message: level of interest;
listener’s powers of attention and concentration)
B SPEAKER FACTORS
1 Language ability of the speaker: native speaker - beginner-level non-native
speaker
2 Speaker’s production: pronunciation, accent, variation, voice, etc.
3 Speed of delivery
4 Prestige and personality of the speaker
C FACTORS IN THE MATERIAL AND MEDIUM
1 The language used to convey the message: phonological features, including
stress, intonation, weak forms (especially in conversation), lexis, syntax,
cohesion, etc.
2 Difficulty of content and concepts, especially if the material is abstract, abstruse,
highly specialized or technical, esoteric, lengthy, or poorly organized.
3 Acoustic environment: noise and interference.
4 Amount of support provided by gestures, visuals, etc.

Table 1: Affective factors in listening (extracted from Boyle (1984, p.35))
9


Byrnes (1986) identifies three main problems in learning to listen. The first listening
problem is learners’ limited experience of the language. Therefore, beginning-level
listeners must concentrate very hard on form and might fail in getting the meaning. The
second problem is that the learners must listen - often for a longer time than listening
in real life - and respond to a task which has been designed beforehand. In practice, a
lengthy spoken discourse often makes listeners physically tired and bored. People
listen for many purposes in their real life, not just to complete a given task. The third
problem that makes listening difficult is that the learners are divorced from the
context. Listeners cannot either look at the speakers and their meaning expressed via
the gesture, eye contact and body movements or witness the setting in which the
discourse occurs. Thus, the process of grasping the meaning becomes much more
challenging.
Anderson and Lynch’s work (1988) asserts that the affective factors in listening fall
into three principal categories: the type of language; the purpose in listening and the
context in which the listening takes place. After a series of experiments, the authors
finally found out the five most influential factors in listening. They include the
organization of information; the familiarity of the topic; the explicitness and
sufficiency of the information; the type of referring expressions used; and the type of
relationship described in the text.
In 1989, Underwood claim that one of the reasons why listening is challenging comes
from the special features of spoken English. First, the English language contains many
unknown or unusual sounds for foreign listeners. Second, English has a rhythmic
intonation. Next, unlike the written discourse, the spoken discourse is generally not
well-organized, which makes it really hard for the listener to follow. Another
problematic aspect comes from the syntax and vocabulary of the utterance, which is

much simpler and less specific. The use of incomplete sentences, interactive
10


expressions, pauses and fillers also contribute to the listening difficulties. Finally, the
utilization of colloquial language causes troubles to students who get used to formal
and academic language used in the classroom.
Some potential problems for learners in learning to listen to English as pointed by
Underwood (1989) include (1) lack of control over the speech; (2) not being able to get
things repeated; (3) the limited vocabulary; (4) failure to recognize the signals; (5)
problems of interpretation; (6) inability to concentrate; (7) established learning habits.
In this study, the researcher will focus on the factors proposed by Boyle (1984).
However, only some of the most prominent aspects will be selected and discussed. As
such, difficulties in learning to listen will be categorized into the Listener factor, the
Speaker factor and the Material/Medium factor. The following section discusses each
characteristic.
1.4.1 Listener factor
1.4.1.1 Experience and practice in listening
Practice makes perfect. Apart from the formal listening lessons conducted in class,
learners are advised to practice listening by watching movies, watching news, listening
to the radio or listening to songs. The frequent exposure to the target language will help
“train the ears” and bring about more experience to the learners in listening.
1.4.1.2 Background knowledge
According to Rubin (1994), background knowledge has an impact on understanding a
subject. Learners construct meaning during the comprehension process by segmenting
input into meaningful units, then matching the intake with their existing knowledge and
filling the gaps with logical guesses. Therefore, students who have broad background
knowledge are said to be better listeners.
11

1.4.1.3 Knowledge of the target language
Listeners’ knowledge of the target language includes the knowledge of the language’s
phonology, vocabulary, grammar, and cohesion. During the listening process, an able
listener must recognize the sounds, decode them into words, understand the
grammatical structures that connect words together, as well as catch the signals that
make the discourse cohesive. Also, successful listening requires the power of analysis
and selection (that is, the ability to distinguish between main and supporting points).
1.4.1.4 Psychological factors
Learners’ psychological factors can be categorized into motivation, sense of purpose,
attitude of the listener to the speaker, attitude of the listener to the message, level of
interest, and listener’s power of attention and concentration.
1.4.2 Speaker factor
1.4.2.1 Speaker’s production
As English nowadays has been globalized, the voice of speakers recorded in listening
tapes varies greatly in terms of pronunciation and accent. The different pronunciations
of English versions (British, American, Indian, Canadian, Australian) make it difficult
to perceive the sounds. Especially students who are used to the accent of their teachers
might feel dismayed when they cannot listen to other speakers.
1.4.2.2 Speed of delivery
Listeners cannot control how fast a speaker speaks. Very often, beginning listeners
cannot keep up with the speed of the information delivered. While dealing with the
meaning of one part, they might miss the next part or ignore the whole chunk because
they fail to sort it out quickly enough.
12


1.4.3 Material and medium
1.4.3.1 The language used
The type of language (formal/informal) can cause troubles for the learners’ listening

process. In general, colloquial/informal language used in spoken discourse affects the
pronunciation, the lexis and the syntax in use. Students who are familiar with the
formal and academic language uttered in educational setting might find it very difficult
to deal with this kind of language.
1.4.3.2 Content and concepts
Listening becomes much more difficult if the material is abstract, highly specialized or
technical. Furthermore, a lengthy or poorly organized discourse can lead to learners’
fatigue or lapse of concentration because an overtly informative message cannot be
stored easily in memory.
1.4.3.3 Acoustic environment
Outside factors such as background noise on the recordings and environmental noise
can interfere with the listeners’ mind and badly affect their performance. Other
environmental distractions such as ringing telephones and learners’ voices can affect
listening comprehension as well.
1.4.3.4 The support provided
Barriers in listening comprehension can be associated with lack of visual support such
as speakers’ gestures or visuals.
1.5 Stages of a listening lesson
1.5.1 Pre-listening
13


This is the stage in which the context of the listening passage is established, the tasks
are explained and assistance is offered. There are various activities that students can do
in pre-listening stage, such as reading something relevant, looking at pictures,
discussing a topic, answering questions, doing written exercises, considering strategies
for the tasks. These activities can either help activate students’ relevant prior linguistic
and background knowledge or provide them clues for the following listening passage.
However, the choice of pre-listening activities depends on a number of factors: the
time available; the material available; the ability of the class; the interests of the class;

the interests of the teacher; the place in which the work is being carried out; the nature
and content of the listening text itself.
1.5.2 While-listening
At this stage, the students listen to the passage and fulfill their tasks. During this phase,
there can be a period when students discuss their responses. The listening can be
repeated for students to complete the activity or to clarify their missing information.
Examples of while-listening activities include putting pictures in order, completing
pictures, drawing pictures, arranging items, following a route, completing grids,
completing chart, labeling, deciding True/False statements, doing multiple-choice
questions, gap-filling, spotting mistakes, and predicting. Whatever activities, it is
highly suggested that teachers provide immediate feedback on students’ performance.
1.5.3 Post-listening
The purpose of post-listening stage is to encourage learners to use what they have got
from the listening text and reinforce their overall command of English through a
combination of skills. To be more specific, students needs to act upon what they have
heard to clarify meaning and extend their thinking. Well-planned post-listening
activities are just important as those before and during listening. There are a variety of
14


post-listening activities such as summarizing the speaker’s presentation, reflecting on
what they have listened to, using information from the listening text for problemsolving and decision-making activities, identifying relationships between speakers,
establishing mood/attitude/behavior of the speaker, role-play and so on.
1.6 TOEIC
1.6.1 Overview of a TOEIC test
TOEIC, which was developed by Educational Testing System (ETS) in Japan in 1979,
is an English-language proficiency test for non-native learners. It measures the
everyday English skills of people working in an international environment in business,
commerce, and industry.
Traditionally, TOEIC is a two-hour paper-and-pencil test. It consists of 200 multiplechoice questions which are divided into two sections: Listening and Reading. Separate

scaled scores are provided for each section, the part score scales ranging from 5 to 495
and the total score scales ranging from 10 to 990. The Listening section tests how well
the test taker understands spoken English and the Reading section written English. The
overall structure of the test is summarized as below.
TOEIC Listening and Reading Test
Listening Comprehension

Reading

100 items/45 minutes

100 items/ 75 minutes

 Photographs: 10 questions

 Incomplete Sentences: 40 questions

 Question-Response: 30 questions

 Text Completion: 12 questions

 Conversations: 30 questions; 10
15


conversations with 3 questions each
 Talks: 30 questions; 10 talks with 3

 Reading Comprehension:
Single

questions each

Passages:

28

questions

Double Passages: 20 questions

Table 2: TOEIC test structure
Examples of the topics that examiners may find in the TOEIC test questions include
the following:
 Corporate Development: research, product development
 Dining Out: business and informal lunches, banquets, receptions, restaurant
reservations
 Entertainment: cinema, theater, music, art, exhibitions, museums, media
 Finance and Budgeting: banking, investments, taxes, accounting, billing
 General Business: contracts, negotiations, mergers, marketing, sales,
warranties, business planning, conferences, labor relations
 Health: medical insurance, visiting doctors, dentists, clinics, hospitals
 Housing/Corporate Property: construction, specifications, buying and renting,
electric and gas services
 Manufacturing: assembly lines, plant management, quality control
 Offices: board meetings, committees, letters, memoranda, telephone, fax and email messages, office equipment and furniture, office procedures

16

 Personnel: recruiting, hiring, retiring, salaries, promotions, job applications, job
advertisements, pensions, awards
 Purchasing: shopping, ordering supplies, shipping, invoices
 Technical Areas: electronics, technology, computers, laboratories and related
equipment, technical specifications
 Travel: trains, airplanes, taxis, buses, ships, ferries, tickets, schedules, station
and airport announcements, car rentals, hotels, reservations, delays and
cancellations
(Extracted from “TOEIC Examinees Handbook” (2008, p.3))
1.6.2 TOEIC Listening
The entire listening test, which lasts approximately 45 minutes, is broken up into four
main parts differing in the length and structure of the listening passage.
Part 1: Photographs (approximately 5 minutes)
In part 1, for each of the ten questions, the candidate will see a photograph either about
people or things and hear four descriptive statements related to the photograph.
Examinees are asked to select the one statement that best describes the picture. The
difficulty in this part may come from (1) words that sound like the correct answer; (2)
words related to the correct answer; (3) words used out of context; (4) incorrect details
provided; and (5) incorrect inferences made.
For example:

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(A) The girl is stretching. (incorrect detail)
(B) The girl is next to the dog. (correct answer)
(C) The girl is dancing. (incorrect detail)
(D) The girl is under the dog. (related words: girl, dog)
(Extracted from Taylor and Byrne, Very Easy TOEIC, p.46)
Part 2: Question-Response (approximately 15 minutes)

In part 2, the candidate will hear 30 questions or statements that may ask about time,
people, an opinion, a choice, a suggestion, a reason, or a location. For each of the
questions or statements there are three possible responses. The candidate’s job is to
select the best response to the question or statement. Generally, the questions in Part 2
are informative questions belonging to one of the following types: (1) Interrogative
questions (using Who, Whose, Whom, Which, What, Where, When, How, Why); (2)
Non-interrogative questions (using Be/Do, auxiliary verbs); and (3) other question
types like Indirect questions, Tag questions, Negative questions, Alternative questions,
Declarative sentences and Suggestions.
The choices in this part may be difficult and confusing due to (1) similar-sound words,
(2) repeated words, (3) words used in a different context, (4) incorrect verb tense or
person, and (5) inappropriate response to the type of question.
For example:
Mary is never late for her meetings.
(A) He is always on time.

(incorrect person)

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