TOEIC Listening Part 4 Tips for Short Talks

Hi there, it’s Riiid TUTOR! TOEIC, an international accredited language test, consists of a total of 7 parts. Parts 1 through 4 are areas that evaluate listening skills, commonly called the LC. Parts 5 through 7 are areas that evaluate reading skills, also known as the RC. Among them, we are going to find out how to target TOEIC part 4 as well as learn vocabularies that have previously appeared on the test.

Like part 3, TOEIC part 4 is an area that evaluates communication skills needed throughout business and daily life. A total of 30 questions will be given, 3 questions for each passage. The passages of part 4 include descriptions of phone messages, news articles, advertisements, etc., and there is only one speaker. Passages by type have certain patterns in terms of topics, situations, and flows, so being familiar with these patterns is a key tip for getting a high score in TOEIC Part 4! Shall we take a look?

TOEIC Part 4 Text Type 1: Telephone Message

A telephone message is a message that the speaker leaves to the listener on the phone. This type of passage often asks the purpose of the call, details related to the call, and what the speaker asks the listener to do. The main purpose of a lot of these questions is sharing, reporting, or checking work or order related issues, making work-related requests or customer inquiries, or protesting. Speakers and listeners are often co-workers, sellers/repairers – customers, practitioners – clients. So, passages usually begin with the speaker introducing his or her name and/or identity and proceed to verify the listener’s name, conveying his/her business, and then stating details (especially requests).

The vocabularies that are frequently used in phone message passages are as follows.

TOEIC Part 4 Text Type 2: Advertisement

An advertisement advertises products, services, and events. These passages frequently ask what is being advertised, features of advertised products and/or services, and questions about benefits or special offers that customers may receive. Sales or event companies very often deliver such content to consumers. The content mainly begins with an appealing phrase that attracts the public’s attention, introduces what is advertised, and appeals to the characteristics of the product, service, or event. There are many cases where the passage ends by mentioning benefits or additional information.

The TOEIC vocabs from advertisement passages can be classified into words related to product features, discounts, benefits, and additional information.

<Product Features>

<Discounts>

<Benefits and Additional Information>

TOEIC Part 4 Text Type 3: Announcement

Announcements have to do with a person representing a company or organization informing an unspecified number of people of certain content that must be shared. These passages frequently ask the subject, audience, or place of the notice and ask what listeners are requested. The subject usually has to do with changes or guidance in using a facility, place, or service, and depending on the subject, the relationship between the speaker and listener varies from airport/station and passengers, to store and customer/guests, to specific teams/employees in the company and all employees. Passages have a flow of calling for attention, greetings, and then the sharing of topics/issues, details/requests, and ending with words of thanks or apology.

TOEIC part 4’s notice and information type questions frequently involve in-flight broadcasts, flight boarding announcements, etc. In such cases, the vocabularies below appear often.

TOEIC Part 4 Text Type 4: News Report

News reports are news delivered by newscasters to listeners, and TOEIC presents a lot of content on traffic information and weather forecasts.This passage frequently asks questions about the topic of the report, details related to the topic, and what listeners are requested or recommended to do.

The following are the vocabularies related to traffic information and weather forecasts in news report passages.

<Traffic Information>

<Weather Forecast>

TOEIC Part 4 Text Type 5: Broadcast

Broadcast passages usually include questions about the topic of the broadcast, details about the topic or guest, and what listeners are suggested or recommended to do.

The related vocabularies are as follows.

TOEIC Part 4 Text Type 6: Excerpt from a Meeting

An excerpt from a meeting is a certain selected part of a meeting. In this passage, there are often questions about the topic or purpose of the meeting, details related to the topic, what the listeners are asked, and what listeners must do next. It mainly starts by sharing the meeting topic (agenda) and/or purpose, goes on to give details, instructions, and then presents what to do next.

The vocabularies that appear frequently in excerpts of the meeting type questions are as follows.

Do you now understand the storylines of part 4? If you learn these storylines, you will be able to master TOEIC part 4. If you try solving as many of the problems, you will find yourself solving the problem by predicting how the story will unfold, just by listening to only the beginning part of the story. Another tip is to improve your ability to interpret the multiple choice options so you can read them in advance and interpret them accurately before the listening passage begins. Then you can listen to what you have to listen to without missing it. Please remember what I have told you today and remember them when you take the TOEIC test!

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