LECTURE NOTES

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

Week 1

Basic Comprehension

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

 LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. LO 1 : Demonstrate The Intermediate-level Academic English Listening

skills of Basic Comprehension, Pragmatic Understanding, and Connecting
Information (a minimum of iBT TOEFL Listening scaled score of 15 of
scale 30)

2. LO 3 : Demonstrate The Intermediate-level Business English speaking

skills in terms of Delivery, Clarity and Appropriacy (a minimum of
BINUS English Speaking scaled score of 15 of scale 30)

MATERIALS OUTLINE:

 Introduction
 Listening Review & Exercise: Skills 1-2
 Communication: Good communicators
 Language Function: Giving Opinion
 Speaking Practice: Giving Opinion
 Conclusion

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

 INTRODUCTION

What is TOEFL? TOEFL which stands for Test of English as Foreign

Language is actually a test for every non English-speaker if they want to go to
United States of America. At first the old TOEFL test has three sections. They are;
Listening, Reading, and Structure. This kind of TOEFL test is called PBT or
Paper-Based TOEFL. Over the time, TOEFL has evolved and has changed into
what we call as IBT or Internet Based TOEFL. The new IBT has four sections,
which are Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. Here in our first online
class, we will study about Listening skill 1 and 2.

CONTENT

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

A. Listening Review & Exercise: Skills 1-2

1. Listening Skill 1
Understand the Gist
In IBT Listening TOEFL Test, there are six basic skills. The first skill is about
how to understand the gist. Many Indonesian people don’t know about what the
gist is. In simple terms, when we are about to make an orange juice, first we take
off the peel. Next, we we squueze the oranges to get some juice. Basically, that is
what we call as the gist. It is the essence from something.

In IBT TOEFL, gist questions are questions that ask about the overall ideas of a
passage as a whole. They may ask about the subject, topic, or main idea of a
passage. They may also what overall purpose the passage serves. It is important to
understand that the gist of a passage may be directly stated in the passage, or you
may have to synthesize (bring together) information from different parts of the
passage to understand the overall gist.

Questions about the gist of a passage

How to identify the question What is the subject of the passage?

What is the topic of the passage?

What is the main idea of the passage?

What is the purpose of the passage?

Why… in the passage?

Where to find the answer Information to help you understand the gist

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

 may be directly stated at the beginning of the

passage. It may also be necessary for you to

draw a conclusion about the gist upon

information provided throughout the passage.

How to answer the question  Listen carefully to the beginning of the

passage to develop an initial idea about

the gist of the passage

 Then, as you listen to the rest of the

passage, adjust your idea of the gist of

the passage as you consider what the

speakers are saying.

2. Listening Skill 2
Understand the Details
In IBT TOEFL Listening, there are questions that ask you about specific piece of
information that are stated in a passage. As you listen to each passage, you should
focus on the details from the passage because questions about details quite
commonly accompany the passages. Multiple-choice questions are used to test
details, and these multiple-choice questions may have one correct answer or two
correct answers.

Questions about the details in a passage

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

How to identify the question What is stated in the passage ...?

What is indicated in the passage ..?

According to the speaker, ...?

What does the lecturer say about ...?

Where to find the answer Information needed to answer detail questions is

directly stated in the passage. The answers to
detail questions are generally found in order in
the passage.

How to answer the question
 Listen carefully to the details in the passage
 Look for an answer that restates the
information from the passage.
 Eliminate the definitely wrong answers and
choose the best answers from the remaining
choices.

B. Communication: Good communicators

S : Hi Tania, how are you? Long time no see.
T : Hi, Susan. I’m fine, and you?
S : I’m fine too. Uhmm...what are you doing here?
T : Oh, this? This is a letter from Garuda Airlines. I’ve been accepted
to work there.

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

 S : Really!? That’s terrific! What are you going to do? A flight
attendant?
T : Hmm, no. Starting from next month, I will work as a co-pilot
there.
S : Co-Pilot!? But isn’t that a man’s job?
T : No, it’s not Susan! Don’t you know, women can work as pilot or
co-pilot nowadays. It’s quite common.
S : But Tania, isn’t it dangerous? Why do you want to work as co-pilot?
T : Because it’s my dream. I always want to travel around the world Ana
I can also fly an airplane. Isn’t it exciting?
S : Yeah it is, but I still think you would be better work as a flight
attendant. Being a pilot is not easy for a woman. It is man’s job,
isn’t it? You have to handle the heavy steering wheel.
T : Don’t worry. I have taken the training program for pilot. It’s quite
easy and the steering wheel is not that difficult.
S : Well, if you say so. Good luck to you Tania. I hope someday I will
be on the same plane with you.
T : Thank you, Susan. I’ll look forward to it.

C. Language Function: Giving Opinion

 As far as I'm concerned, …
 As the old saying goes, …
 I am of the opinion that …
 I know this is a minority view, but ...
 I’m in the minority in thinking that …
 I tend towards the opinion that …, etc.

D. Speaking Practice: Giving Opinion

Think about good communicators you know? In your opinion, why they
are good in communicating? Please record and submit your recording.

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

 CONCLUSION

In this first meeting, we reviewed on IBT TOEFL listening skills. In this

section, it is important to synthesize information to from all different parts of a
dialogue to get the main idea of a passage. While in the second listening section,
it is important to listen carefully to the details of a passage. After that, there is an
example of giving opinion in good way. There are also some expressions that
commonly use in giving opinion. Lastly, you should practice to give your opinion
related to the topic given.

ENGL6163 - English Profesional

 REFERENCES

1. Deborah Phillips. (2007). Longman preparation course for the TOEFL

test : iBT. 2nd Edition. Pearson Longman. New Jersey. ISBN:
9780132056922.
2. Cotton D. Falvey & Kent S. (2001). Market Leader Course Book: Upper
Intermediate Business English. 1st Edition. Pearson Education
Limited. Essex. ISBN: 0582434645.
3. https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/fl-giving-opinions.htm

ENGL6163 - English Profesional