IELTS Listening Test Questions
10. Hopes & Dreams
LISTENING
IELTS Listening Test Part:
3
Questions 1 & 2
Which TWO POINTS does Becky make about the applications of goal-setting theory?
A It could be used in relationships with relatives.
B It’s mainly useful in business management.
C It is important to the success of a business.
D It plays a role in staying motivated while studying.
E It determines how likely students are to graduate.
Questions 3 & 4
What TWO aspects of setting goals does Chris mention were investigated by Locke and Latham?
A Setting demanding goals.
B Deciding on specific goals.
C Setting financial goals.
D Giving clear instructions.
E Creating actionable goals.
Questions 5 - 10
5 What did Becky say about how difficult goals should be
A People need to be satisfied with the level of difficulty.
B Making the goals very difficult will demotivate people.
C Easy goals can be very motivating in the short term.
D Difficult goals drive people to work hard over a long period.
6 What did Chris say about giving feedback?
A Feedback is closely connected to motivation.
B The right kind of feedback is even more important than the goal.
C It’s easy to forget to give feedback.
D The research highlighted the importance of feedback.
7 What did Becky say about the goal setting process?
A Goals should not be optional.
B It’s best to set personalised goals.
C People should be reminded of their goals on a regular basis.
D People need to participate in the setting of their goals.
8 According to the students, how has the research been used in education?
A To help teachers working in international contexts.
B To increase teacher motivation.
C To lower student dropout rates in the sciences.
D To improve the motivation of mathematics students.
9 What does Chris say about the SMART framework?
A There is a clear connection to Locke and Latham’s study.
B It has helped many people achieve their goals.
C It has become less popular in recent years.
D Locke and Latham didn’t agree with it.
10. According to Chris, why do sports coaches use the research findings?
A To design more effective training programmes.
B To set more effective goals during training.
C To help athletes perform as well as possible.
D To help them perform their jobs more effectively.
Audioscript
CHRIS: Right, Becky, now that we’ve done all the reading on goal-setting theory, we need to think about how we’re going to organise our presentation.
BECKY: Yes, I think we should begin by talking about why it’s so important. We could try to grab the audience’s attention at the beginning by showing them how the theory applies to their lives. What do you think Chris?
CHRIS: Yes, I agree, and the truth is, goal setting theory really does play a role in many aspects of life, even for us students.
BECKY: Absolutely. At first I thought it would just be about business success and management techniques, but the more I read up on it, the more I realised that it had wider applications. (Q1)For example, I could improve my own motivation while studying and it could help me get a better degree. And, it’s also really important when you’re working with others,(Q2) like family members, and especially if you have kids. Setting good goals for your children could really affect the way they behave.
CHRIS: Right. So, next should we introduce everyone to the research by Locke and Latham?
BECKY: Sure, that makes sense. After all, it’s the foundation of a lot of the other work done in the field recently. I’m just not sure where to start though.
CHRIS: We could begin by talking about their focus on the kinds of goals that work best. They looked at (Q3)how important it is to set challenging goals, how that affects task performance, and also the impact of (Q4)creating goals with a very particular aim or focus, goals which people could clearly see. If they’re at all ambiguous, they lose their power.
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BECKY: So next we could go through what their research revealed. So, they found that you have to be careful when you give people targets to reach.(Q5)If they’re too easy, then obviously it’s not very motivating, especially in the long term, but place them too high, and people will give up. You have to find a happy medium.
CHRIS: They also highlighted the importance of feedback to motivation. In fact, they pointed out (Q6)how they’re basically interdependent. So, if you don’t have the right kind of feedback on top of the right kind of goal, a person’s drive can easily be negatively impacted. I thought that was a really important thing to highlight, as people often don’t focus much on how to give quality feedback.
BECKY: Right, and we shouldn’t forget to mention that people have to commit to their goals. (Q7) You can’t just mandate that people should achieve certain targets, it’s much better if you involve them in the goal setting process.
CHRIS: Their work has had a surprisingly big impact on many fields, hasn’t it Becky? We could discuss that next. I read that one of the areas where it’s been successfully used is in education. I believe it's been particularly important in the teaching of sciences like chemistry and physics.
BECKY: Are you sure?, I read about that and, although goal-setting theory has been used across education, it seems it was especially important in mathematics. (Q8)The theory was used to help teachers in response to falling standards around the world. The idea was to use goal-setting to help better motivate the students.
CHRIS: Yes, I think you're right actually, and it’s also led to some of the popular goal-setting frameworks too. Have you heard of SMART goals? Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. (Q9)It’s easy to see how the SMART framework uses a lot of the ideas coming out of the Locke and Latham research.
BECKY: Is there anything you think we’ve missed?
CHRIS: I would just like to add a bit more about sport. Did you know that many professional sports have adopted the findings into their professional training programmes. So, sports ranging from athletics and cycling to basketball and tennis now incorporate these ideas on goal setting (Q10)in order to help athletes reach peak performance.
BECKY: Right, I read that in tennis it’s been used by professional coaches to improve serve speed and endurance. I also saw that there was a case in basketball where...
Listening Answer Key:
1/2 A/D, 3/4 A/B, 5B, 6A, 7D, 8D, 9A, 10C