EAP Listening - Structure http://www.uefap.com/listen/exercise/structur/liststru.

htm#background

Recognising lecture structure

Listen for the signals in the following extracts. These signals can help you understand the
lectures.

1. Introducing

At the beginning of a lecture, or a section of a lecture, the lecturer will give you some idea about
the structure of the lecture. Listen for these signals as it will help you understand what the lecturer
is saying.

What I intend to say is

What I'd like to do is to discuss
What I intend to do is to explain
In my talk today,
My topic today is
Today, I'm going to talk about
I'm going to talk to you about ...
My colleagues and I are going to give a short presentation on
Today I want to consider
In this talk, I would like to concentrate on
The subject of this talk is
The purpose of this talk is to
This talk is designed to

The lecturer will then often be explicit about the order in which the points will be mentioned. To
make the order clear we use various links and connectives.

Firstly
Secondly
Next
Then
Thirdly
Lastly
Finally ...

First of all
In the first place
For one thing
To begin with
In the second place

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For another thing

The first point I'd like to make

second
is
next
My last point

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4

^
2. Giving background information

Before the new information is given, the lecturer will often summarise what you are expected to
know about the subject to be covered. This could refer back to a previous lecture or to some
background reading you should have done.

As we know
As we have already seen
As we have all read
It's clear that
...
It goes without saying
We all understand
It is understood
You'll remember

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 5 Exercise 6 Exercise 7 Exercise 8

^
3. Defining

In a lecture, it is often necessary to define the terms that will be used. This is important as familiar
words can have specific meanings in different subjects.

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is
is called
X is known as
may be defined as
is a type of Y that/which
...

By X, I mean

This term is used generally to mean

In the field of Y, the term refers to

A type of Y which . is X.

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 9 Exercise 10 Exercise 11

^
4. Enumerating/Listing

The lecturer will often be explicit about the order in which new points will be mentioned. To make
the order clear we use various links and connectives.

Firstly
Secondly
Next
Then
Thirdly
Lastly
Finally ...

First of all
In the first place
For one thing
To begin with

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In the second place

For another thing

The first point I'd like to make

second
is
next
My last point

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 12 Exercise 13 Exercise 14

^
5. Giving examples

In lectures, it is common to make generalisations. These generalisations are often supported with
examples. These signals can help you to understand which generalisations the examples refer to.

shown
This
is exemplified by
...
illustrated

...
For example,
For instance,
You only have to think of
Remember,

shows this.
A key experiment exemplifies
illustrates
...

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This is shown by the following examples:

The following are examples of this:
...
The following is a case in point:
Let me give you a couple of examples:

X is a case in point.

for example
Take X
for instance

... such as ...

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 15 Exercise 16 Exercise 17 Exercise 18

^
6. Showing importance/Emphasising

When you are taking notes, you cannot write down every word. You need to distinguish between
important and less important information. The lecturer can use these signals to draw your
attention to the important points.

I want to stress
I want to highlight
I'd like to emphasise
I'd like to put emphasis on
It's important to remember that
...
We should bear in mind that
Don't forget that
The crucial point is
The essential point is
The fundamental point is

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Furthermore,
What's more,
This supports my argument that, ...
It follows, therefore, that
What (in effect) we are saying is

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 19 Exercise 20 Exercise 21

^
7. Clarifying/Explaining/Putting it in other words

The lecturer will try to explain the meaning of difficult concepts. To do this he or she may repeat
the information using different words. It is important for you to recognise that this is the same
information expressed differently and not new information.

In other words,
Or rather,
That is to say,
Basically
To put it another way,
If we put that another way,
By which I mean
Or you could say
The point I'm making is
That is to say,
...
That is,
Namely,
i.e.
That means

'm suggesting
'm trying to say
What I is
meant to say
should have said

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Let me put it another way.

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 22 Exercise 23 Exercise 24

^
8. Moving on/Changing direction

The lecture will be organised around several different points. It is important to notice when the
lecturer moves from one point to the next. Listen for these signals.

That's all I want to say about X.

OK
Now
All right

Having looked at ., I'd now like to consider

I'd like now to move on to
Turning now to
So let's turn to
Moving on now to
I now want to turn to
...
The next point is
Another interesting point is
The next aspect I'd like to consider is
I'd now like to turn to
Let's now look at
If we could now move on to

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 25 Exercise 26 Exercise 27 Exercise 28

^
9. Giving further information

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These signals show that the lecturer is proceeding in the same direction and giving more
information.

Furthermore,
An additional point
Another point
A further point
A similar point
In addition
Moreover
Similarly ...
Apart from,
Not only ., but
We can add
I could add that
Further
As well as,
Besides

also.
... too.
as well.

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 29 Exercise 30 Exercise 31

^
10. Giving contrasting information

These signals show that the lecturer is proceeding in a different direction and giving unexpected
or contrasting information. It is important to listen to this.

Although
However
On the other hand ...
Whereas
Despite
Nevertheless

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But
Alternatively

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 32 Exercise 33 Exercise 34

^
11. Classifying

When we classify, we arrange members of a group. The lecturer may use the following signals to
show that a classification is being made.

types : Y and Z.
There are kinds
. These are Y and Z.
classes
N of X
categories
sorts
The varieties are Y and Z.

categories
consists of classes
. These are Y and Z.
X comprises N kinds
: Y and Z.
can be divided into types
varieties

classes
kinds
Y and Z are types of X.
categories
varieties

according to
X may be classified on the basis of ...
depending on

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Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 35 Exercise 36

^
12. Digressing

Sometimes the lecturer may leave the main subject of the lecture for a while and then come back
to it.

Incidentally
By the way
...
While I remember
Before I forget

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 37

^
13. Referring to visuals

The following signals can be used to refer to a handout or an OHT or PowerPoint slide.

On this graph,
Take a look at this.
Let's have a look at this.
I'd like you to look at this.
I'd like to draw your attention to
Here we can see
...
The ... shows
The graph illustrates
The horizontal axis represents
The vertical axis represents
As you can see,
If you look closely, you'll see

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

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Exercise 38 Exercise 39

^
14. Concluding

The lecture should end with a summary of the main points made. The following signals will help
you to identify this.

So,
We've seen that
What I've been saying is that
First we looked at ... and we saw that
Then we considered ... and I argued that ...
In short,
To sum up
To summarise
In conclusion, I'd like to emphasise that

That completes my lecture.

That's the end of this talk.

Listen to the following talks and identify phrases the same as, or similar to, the ones given above:

Exercise 40 Exercise 41 Exercise 42

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