What Listening for Understanding Measures
Levels of difficulty range from Level 1, which reflects the lowest level of skill, to Level 5. Each incorporates the skills assessed at preceding levels: Level 5 scores reflect skills assessed at Levels 1–5.
Examinees listen to spoken information and answer multiple-choice questions about the information they heard.
The lowest levels require examinees to correctly respond to questions about spoken information presented directly using short, simple sentences. Higher levels feature spoken information that is longer, more complex, and often indirectly stated. At Level 1, information is typically presented by one speaker; Levels 4–5 typically include information presented by two speakers.
Level 1
- Identify main ideas or main details that are explicitly stated.
- Understand a simple instruction.
Level 2
- Recognize straightforward, concrete statements and answer questions about directly stated main points and details.
- Understand straightforward instructions presented in multiple steps.
- Determine the meaning of one or two words based on context.
- Understand basic sequence and time relationships.
Level 3
- Identify directly stated main points and details provided in moderately complex spoken information in which the context is somewhat clear and direct but the information might be unfamiliar.
- Understand complex multiple-step instructions that might contain conditional terms that are not absolute.
- Determine the meaning of a few words based on context clues.
- Determine sequence and time relationships from words with meanings that may not be obvious.
- Make simple inferences about the setting and/or the topic of conversation.
Level 4
- Identify main points that are directly stated but might be difficult to identify within complex spoken information.
- Determine the meaning of some words, including jargon, using context clues provided within complex spoken information.
- Make inferences related to information that may not be directly stated and/or fully explained.
- Understand reason or cause and effect from context clues.
Level 5
- Identify relevant details that are not directly stated, including those that might be difficult to identify within complex spoken information.
- Derive the meaning of certain words, including jargon, from complex spoken information that contains minimal or no context clues.
- Make inferences about very complex and abstract information, e.g., principles, policies, generalizations.
- Understand reason or cause and effect using minimal context clues.