Preparing for the Oxford Test of English Listening module – identifying opinions and purpose

The Oxford Test of English (OTE) is an online general English test that evaluates a candidate’s proficiency across all key language skills. It has been developed for learners aged 16+, and assesses a candidate’s ability across three levels: A2, B1 and B2. You can read more about the Oxford Test of English here.  

As with any part of the test, preparing for the listening section of the Oxford Test of English is crucial. This module not only tests your ability to understand spoken English but also challenges you to understand deeper layers of meaning, such as the speaker’s opinions and purposes. 

Let’s look at the structure of the listening section of the Oxford Test of English. 

Structure of the listening test 

• The listening module of the Oxford Test of English is approximately 30 minutes. 
• You listen to each piece of audio twice. 
• This part of the test includes a mix of conversations and monologues, ranging from short exchanges to longer discussions. The questions that follow are varied, including multiple-choice, matching activities, note completion tasks and interpreting pictures.
• There’s allocated time to review your answers, which is crucial for catching any mistakes or reconsidering your responses.

The listening test is divided into four parts:

• Parts 1 and 2: These parts focus on extracting specific information from the conversations and monologues you listen to.
• Parts 3 and 4: These are designed to assess your ability to understand speakers’ attitudes, opinions, and reasons, as well as to grasp the implied meanings behind their words.

Tips for listening parts 3 & 4

Listening for specific information in Parts 1 & 2 may be more of a familiar task to you, so let’s look at parts 3 & 4, where the challenge lies in identifying not just what is being said, but how and why it’s being said. 

Let’s look at some examples from the test, starting with Listening part 3. 

Identifying purpose

‘…we need to think about how we’re going to do this project on what our town was like 50 years ago.’ 

‘… the deadline’s not far off … deciding which topics we should focus on.’ 

The purpose of the talk is often said at the beginning of the audio, to set the context. However, this is not always the case. You may need to infer why the speakers are talking, with words and phrases such as suggest, recommend, advise, or using modal verbs like must, should and can. 

Identifying attitudes

‘…I’m interested in…’

‘…the more we find out about things beforehand, the better the interviews will go.’

‘…the problem is that …’

‘…I’d rather we…’

When listening for a speaker’s attitude, listen for phrases which talk about the person’s feelings towards something, e.g. I’m interested/keen to/not sure about/don’t like etc. You can also listen for phrases which express someone’s preferences, e.g. I’d prefer, I’d rather, I think and their agreement or disagreement, e.g. that’s right, I don’t think so, I tend to agree with you etc. 

Remember to listen for paraphrasing or synonyms of the words in the questions. For example, It is advisable to interview more people = It might be worth doing more. 

Now let’s look at some examples from listening part 4.

Look at the question. Now, identify some of the language in the audio that tells you the man is phoning to complain about something (the tickets weren’t exactly cheap, …problem I had was … so noisy … not the place to be) 

When you read the question, think about the type of language you would expect to see for each emotion, e.g. apologise – sorry about/for/to, apologies, I didn’t realise …, I regret…; suggest – why don’t… how about …, we could…, what if we …, let’s …, have you thought about…, it might be a good idea to…

Preparing for the OTE Listening test requires you to use a variety of listening skills. You  need to develop your ear to hear the language used that gives more subtle clues as to the speaker’s opinion, purpose or attitude. To help yourself prepare, listen to different audio materials in English – from podcasts to TV programmes, and familiarise yourself with the task types.  

You can find more about improving your listening skills here, and ways to prepare for the Oxford test of English here.  

Activity

Choose if the answers are true (T) or false (F). 

1. The OTE test mentioned in this blog is for learners aged 8-16. T/F
2. The listening part of the OTE is around half an hour. T/F
3. Listening parts 1 & 2 test a different sub-skill to parts 3 & 4. T/F 
4. You listen to each recording once. T/F
5. You should listen for synonyms or paraphrasing of the question. T/F
6. In parts 3 & 4, you need to listen for specific information. T/F

Answers

1. F
2. T
3. T
4. F
5. T
6. F