For each exercise, record your spoken response.
At the bottom of the page you will find the audio transcripts. At the real TOEFL iBT test, you do not have access to the transcripts. We’re including them here so you can learn from them, but you should look at them after you complete the tasks.
Exercise 3.6.A
For this task, you will read a short passage, listen to a lecture on the same topic, and then speak in response to a question about what you have read and heard. Do not look at the question until the lecture has ended. Do not look at the reading passage while you are speaking.
Read the following information from a textbook.
Reading Time – 50 seconds
First, set your timer to count down from 50 seconds. Next, click here and read the text.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotional intelligence consists of self–awareness, self–control, self–motivation, enthusiasm, and social ability. People with emotional intelligence understand their feelings and manage them in ways that are positive and helpful. They make decisions about life — what job to pursue, what direction to take, and whom to marry—with greater confidence and skill than people with low or no emotional intelligence. Their people skills make them more likely to succeed at relationships, cooperation, and leadership, and less likely to engage in risky or criminal behavior.
Now close the passage and listen to the lecture. You may take notes, and you may use your notes to help you answer the question. After you hear the question, begin preparing your response. You may look at the question, but NOT at the passage. You have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.
Click to see the prompt. (Get your timer ready!)
Explain emotional intelligence and how the examples given by the professor illustrate the concept.
Preparation Time – 30 seconds
Response Time – 60 seconds
Exercise 3.6.B
For this task, you will read a short passage, listen to a lecture on the same topic, and then speak in response to a question about what you have read and heard. Do not look at the question until the lecture has ended. Do not look at the reading passage while you are speaking.
Read the following information from a textbook.
Reading Time – 50 seconds
First, set your timer to count down from 50 seconds. Next, click here and read the text.
ROLE CONFLICT
Everyone has a role in a social system. One person may have a number of roles because he or she belongs to various social systems, such as home, school, workplace, and community. A person in a particular social role will follow the rules of behavior for that role. Each role in a social system is related to other roles in the system. Relationships such as parent and child, student and teacher, and supervisor and staff are known as role partners. When there is competition or conflict between the expectations of different role partners, we have something called role conflict.
Now close the passage and listen to the lecture. You may take notes, and you may use your notes to help you answer the question. After you hear the question, begin preparing your response. You may look at the question, but NOT at the passage. You have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.
Click to see the prompt. (Get your timer ready!)
Explain role conflict and how the examples given by the professor illustrate the concept.
Response Time – 60 seconds
Exercise 3.6.C
For this task, you will read a short passage, listen to a lecture on the same topic, and then speak in response to a question about what you have read and heard. Do not look at the question until the lecture has ended. Do not look at the reading passage while you are speaking.
Read the following information from a textbook.
Reading Time – 50 seconds
First, set your timer to count down from 50 seconds. Next, click here and read the text.
SPATIAL MEMORY
An important survival skill of animals is their spatial memory, the ability to remember objects based on their relationship to other things in the environment. Animals use their spatial memory to make a list of paths leading to various goals. Navigating by landmarks,
such as rocks or trees, is a simple but effective procedure. An animal learns from experience that turning right at one landmark and then left at another will lead to its destination. Some animals can recognize a landmark from different directions, making it possible to find their way to a familiar goal even when approaching from an unfamiliar direction.
Now close the passage and listen to the lecture. You may take notes, and you may use your notes to help you answer the question. After you hear the question, begin preparing your response. You may look at the question, but NOT at the passage. You have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.
Click to see the prompt. (Get your timer ready!)
The professor describes the behavior of a species of bird. Explain how the birds’ behavior illustrates the concept of spatial memory.
Response Time – 60 seconds Do not look at the transcripts until after you finish the tasks.
Transcript for Exercise 3.6.A
Now listen to part of a lecture in a psychology class.
In a recent study on emotional intelligence, the researcher interviewed gifted students from 12 to 17 years old. All of the subjects were extremely enthusiastic young people with high intellectual and artistic abilities. Many were active in the performing arts, such as theater and music, which involve working cooperatively with others. Many were active in student government or various community service clubs, where their leadership and social skills could be engaged.
Most of the subjects experienced emotional highs and lows that caused intense happiness, but also conflict, pain, and a tendency to get overexcited. For example, one 16–year–old, a gifted musician, said, “People think that my life is easy because I am talented, but I have a lot of problems just because of these talents. I am a very sensitive and emotional person. I get angered or saddened very easily.” What that student said shows us that people with emotional intelligence understand their feelings.
Almost half of the subjects reported sometimes feeling embarrassed and guilty for being “different” from everyone else. However, all of them said they had at least one close friend and a “good” or “very good” relationship with their parents.
Explain emotional intelligence and how the examples given by the professor illustrate the concept.
Transcript for Exercise 3.6.B
Now listen to part of a lecture in a sociology class.
Each of us plays more than one social role, so conflict among our various roles is a fact of life. When we experience stress and confusion, it’s often because our different roles have different scripts for how we should behave.
For example, the role of student requires you to study, earn good grades, and ultimately complete a degree. As a college student, you’ve probably noticed that your parents and your friends—both role partners to you—often expect different behavior from you. Your parents want you to stay home and study hard, while your friends say, “You’ve studied enough; let’s go out and party.” In this case, you feel the stress of the conflict between your role as a child and your role as a friend.
You might also feel stress over choosing an academic major. Your parents may want you to study medicine or business, but you play guitar and write songs, and all of your friends are musicians. You dream about playing in a band with your friends. In this case, you feel the pressure of your parents’ expectation, but you also feel drawn to your friends, your role partners in the music world.
Explain role conflict and how the examples given by the professor illustrate the concept.
Transcript for Exercise 3.6.C
Now listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.
Birds spend most of their day in search of food. A few species will store food in hiding places for later use. These birds appear to have highly developed memories. For example, nutcrackers bury food and are able to remember the locations of the hiding places with great accuracy. They use landscape features—like distinctive rocks, logs, and other landmarks—as spatial cues that signal where their food is buried. Recognition of these landmarks allows the birds to return later and dig up the food.
And here’s the interesting part. In one study of nutcrackers, after the birds had buried their food, the researchers went to the area where the food was buried and moved a log or a rock. When the birds returned to that area, they were observed digging for the food. But in the places where a log or rock had been moved, the birds appeared to search in a particular spatial relationship to the object. For example, if food had been buried three meters to the west of a large flat rock, and the rock was moved two meters to the north, the birds would dig three meters to the west of the rock in its new location.
The professor describes the behavior of a species of bird. Explain how the birds’ behavior illustrates the concept of spatial memory.
Extension
1
Listen to your recorded response to one of the speaking tasks in Exercise 3.6.A through 3.6.C. Analyze and evaluate your response by answering the following questions:
a. What key points from the lecture does my response convey?
b. What examples, explanation, or details does my response include?
c. Does my response answer the question effectively? Why or why not?
d. How can I improve my responses for this type of question in the future?
2
Share and discuss your recorded response to one of the speaking questions in Exercises 3.6.A through 3.6.C. Work in a group of three or four students. Listen to each student’s recorded response. Discuss each student’s response by answering the following questions:
a. What key points from the lecture does the response convey?
b. What examples, explanation, or other details does the response include? Do these details accurately convey information from the lecture?
c. Can the response be easily understood? Why or why not?
d. Does the response answer the question effectively? Why or why not?
Make suggestions that will help each student improve in the future.
3
As you listen to the conversations and lectures for units 3.7 through 3.10, take notes about the main idea, key points, and important details. Use the format shown below. Do not try to write down every word that you hear. Train your listening to focus on the essential information.
Main idea/problem: ____________________________
Key points: ____________________________
Details: ____________________________
4
Obtain a recording of a real college or university lecture. Topics in history, anthropology, sociology, and psychology are good choices. Bring the recording to class. With the whole class, listen to two minutes of the recording. While you are listening, takes notes about important information in the lecture. Do not try to write down everything. Write only the key words and phrases that you think are important to remember.
Then break into groups of three or four students. Compare your notes with the notes taken by the others in your group. Listen again to the same two–minute recording. In your group, discuss the key points made in the lecture. Choose one person to read your group’s list of key points to the whole class.