Shadowing Practice: TOEFL Listening 2026 Guide | New Format, Tips, and Strategy - Learn English Speaking with Video
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If you're preparing for the TOEFL listening in 2026, unfortunately, most of the advice you're going to find is outdated.
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On January 21st, 2026, the TOEFL test completely changed.
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The TOEFL listening completely changed.
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That means new task types, new questions, new strategies, and new traps that you have to be careful of.
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So in this video, I'm going to talk about the structure of new tests
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so you know exactly what to expect on test day, and then I will talk about the tips and tricks and strategies that are really going to help you improve your score.
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So let's start with what actually changed on the TOEFL.
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Well now there are four tasks in the TOEFL listening.
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There is listen and choose, listen to a conversation, listen to an announcement, and listen to an academic talk.
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Listen and choose looks something like this.
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It's pretty simple and straightforward.
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You will hear a question, and your job is to find the correct answer, A, B, C, or D.
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Pretty simple.
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The next question type is listen to a conversation, which looks something like this, and you have to answer two questions about the conversation.
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The conversations are very short, they're only about 30 seconds long, and the questions come after you listen.
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So make sure you listen carefully, and I'll talk a little bit more about that when we get to the tips part, if you have to actually take notes or not.
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Similar to listen to a conversation is listen to an announcement.
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It's similar to a conversation, except it's just one person talking instead of two people talking, and it lasts just 20-30 seconds.
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So again, really short, and then it's followed by two questions.
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The last task type is called listen to an academic talk.
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It is similar to what you've seen in the past from TOEFL where it is a lecture
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that you will hear in a college campus.
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But the good news is that it only lasts about 90 seconds.
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So it's a very short lecture and the topics are something you would see at a freshman level at a university.
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It could be about biology, could be about history, lots of different types of topics, but it's pretty short, just 90 seconds.
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After you listen, there will be four questions, and you have to answer those four questions correctly, of course.
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So that is the general structure.
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So the TOEFL listening has two modules, just like the reading.
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Module is like a fancy way to say part, so there's two parts.
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The first part, whether you have a high level of English or a lower level of English, it's always the same.
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It's the same for everybody.
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The second part, module two, will change depending on how you did in module one.
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If you didn't do so well in module one, module two will be a little bit easier.
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There won't be an academic talk.
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If you do well in module one,
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module two will be a little bit more difficult and it'll have a academic talk that you have to answer questions for.
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All right, let's talk about the first tip, which is to understand the difference between explicit and implicit meaning.
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This is for the listen and choose questions.
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Now, I know that's a fancy phrase, let me explain it with an example.
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Here is an explicit example, so it's very direct, where the speaker will ask and I'll just play the audio so you can hear it.
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Did you pick up your dry cleaning?
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Pretty simple.
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Did you pick up your dry cleaning?
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And you have to answer it directly.
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It's very explicit.
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So here the answer is going to be A, yes, but they forgot one of my shirts, right?
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So it's very simple.
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Did you pick up your dry cleaning?
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Yes, I did.
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No, I didn't.
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It's explicit.
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It's direct.
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But a lot of these listen and choose questions are implicit.
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What that means is that you have to figure out what's the right thing to say.
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It's not very direct.
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it's indirect.
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Let's look at an example.
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I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your party.
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So, I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your party.
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Now, I'm not asking you a direct question, you have to figure out in this social situation what's the best thing to say here.
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And for here, the answer is that's okay, maybe next time, right?
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D. So, that is the difference between the two.
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Now, this is important because there's a couple different types of statements you will see and you will hear, I should say, for listen and choose.
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There are five that I've identified.
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Let me know in the comments if you notice more.
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But WH questions, which are like, you know, where did you go yesterday?
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What time is it?
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Yes, no questions.
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Did you go to the movies?
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Did you like dinner last night?
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So pretty simple.
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Yes, I did.
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No, I didn't.
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Right.
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Did you pick up your dry cleaning?
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Negative questions.
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These are a little tricky where they'll say something like, you went to the movies yesterday, didn't you?
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You know, so those famous negative questions, sometimes students like, yes, I know what?
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Make sure you know how to form those correctly.
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A little trick is that it's the same either way.
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Did you go to the movies?
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Yes, I did.
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Didn't you go to the movies?
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Yes, I did.
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Requests or offers.
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You know, could you help me with fixing my car?
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Could you you help me move to a new building.
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So these are asking for some, you need somebody need something.
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And the last one is the most common, which is the implicit one, a statement that implies a response.
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That's what you just heard.
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And let me give you one more example here as well.
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My laptop battery is almost dead.
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So my laptop battery is almost dead.
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What is he implying?
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What am I supposed to say here?
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How should I react to this, right?
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So a very natural thing to say would be B, you can borrow my charger if you need it.
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So if you want some more practice with these kind of tricky statements, definitely check out tstprep.com.
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We have an offer just for the YouTube audience, which is the TOEFL emergency course.
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You can have a study plan for two days, one week, two weeks, or one month.
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This has everything you need, all of the practice you need, all the test questions you need, all the advice you need, everything updated for 2026.
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So if you want to just get your score as quickly and easily as possible, you don't want to look around at the internet for a bunch of practice, people you don't trust or you're not sure about,
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check out tstprep.com and check out our emergency course today.
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Link in the description to the offer just for the YouTube audience.
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All right, but let me get to the next tip.
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So the next tip is for conversations and this is to know what to expect.
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So you're sitting down to do the TOEFL listening, you're a little nervous, you have a conversation to listen to, you know, without knowing anything about it, it's much harder.
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If you have some ideas about what to expect, what the conversations are going to sound like, what the people are probably going to talk about,
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it'll be much easier for you to follow.
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So let me give you four types of conversations that I find the most common in ETS's material so far.
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They're making future plans, they're finding solutions to a problem, trying something new, or sharing an opinion.
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Pretty simple.
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And again, they're short as well.
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Making future plans is probably the most common.
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So let's listen to the conversation and let's listen to the plans that they're going to make.
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Listen to a conversation.
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Did you end up booking the train tickets for next weekend?
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Not yet.
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I checked this morning, but the earlier trains were already full.
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The only ones left were in the afternoon, and I wasn't sure if you wanted to leave that late, since it would mean arriving after dinner.
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So, did you catch all that?
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So, you know, it's a simple conversation.
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It's not done yet, by the way.
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I stopped in the middle.
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But it's a simple conversation, but you can see they kind of spoke a little fast.
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And if you weren't paying attention, if you weren't sure about the topic, it would have been hard to follow.
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And in this case, they're making plans.
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They're making plans for, what is it, the train tickets for next weekend.
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So they're talking about plans and trying to decide what to do about them.
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And so let me just finish the audio.
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Listen to a conversation.
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Did you end up booking the train tickets for next weekend?
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Not yet.
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I checked this morning, but the earlier trains were already full.
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The only ones left were in the afternoon and I wasn't sure
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if you wanted to leave that late since it would mean arriving after dinner.
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That's fine.
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I'd rather travel later than rush in the morning.
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OK.
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I'll grab those seats before the price goes up.
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Perfect.
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Let me know if I owe you anything.
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So it was probably a little easier to follow after I explained it a little bit.
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So knowing a bit about what to expect from the conversations will help you understand more of it.
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It also helps you understand what's important by knowing what type of questions to expect.
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So, there are four question types.
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We have factual information, which is very general questions like, you know, what did the man say?
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What did the woman say?
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It's pretty direct.
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Suggest is what does the man suggest the woman do, or what does the woman suggest the man does?
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So, somebody suggests something or gives a recommendation.
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There is an inference question, which is a like, what can you infer about the man?
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Like, what can you guess about the man or what can you guess about the woman?
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And prediction, what do you think is going to happen next?
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The most common by far is factual information.
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You will definitely have at least one of those after the conversation.
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So, there's two questions after the conversation at least one's going to be factual information.
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For example, here, what does the man ask the woman to do?
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And that comes towards the end.
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He asks how much he owes for the tickets.
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So you have to listen really carefully, right?
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So it goes really fast.
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It seems simple because it's so short, but you have to be very focused on what you're listening to.
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And also knowing the structure of the conversations
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and knowing what type of questions to expect will help you answer them and yeah, just do better on this in general.
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One more thing about conversations and announcements as well is that they're really not trying to trick you.
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In the past TOEFL was pretty tricky and they did things that would purposely kind of try to mess you up.
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This newer version is not as tricky, so it's pretty straightforward.
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It's just things go fast and you have to just listen carefully.
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So that's the that's the tricky part really.
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It's just knowing what to expect, knowing what questions are probably going to show up and just being able to focus in on what you're listening to.
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So the next tip is pretty simple to keep your eyes on your computer or on your desk.
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You want to make your desk and your computer your world.
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The reason is is because when your eyes are looking around the room, you're distracted.
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You're not able to focus in on what you're listening to.
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If notes help you stay focused and do that, the biggest way to lose points in the TOEFL listening is to lose focus.
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I'll say that again.
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The biggest way to lose points in the TOEFL listening is to lose focus.
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It's just about your mind and being able to focus.
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That's if you can do that, focus on the TOEFL listening, you're going to do great.
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So make sure you keep your eyes in
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in front of you and make sure that you do your best to make your desk, your computer screen, your world.
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Once you start looking away, it's easy to get distracted.
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The next tip is for the announcements and that is that the question types are actually almost always the same.
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So conversations, you could have factual information, inference, prediction, or suggestion.
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By the way, that's not what ETS calls it.
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They haven't officially named these question types yet as I record this, but that's what I'm calling them for now based on the past and based on the patterns that I see.
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This one, just content and factual information, it's almost always these two questions.
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Now what does that mean?
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So just content is basically like the main idea.
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The question wording is almost always the same.
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What is the main purpose of the announcement?
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They might say why did the speaker make this announcement, but usually is what is the main purpose of this announcement.
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So the announcement is very short.
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Here is a transcript of an example.
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Listen to an announcement at a campus event.
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Good afternoon everyone.
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The department of philosophy is hosting a guest lecture next monday
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at 3 pm in the main auditorium dr alicia morgan a
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leading researcher in digital ethics will discuss how artificial intelligence is changing privacy
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and communication the talk is open to all students and questions will be taken at the end
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seats are limited so please arrive early
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so what do you think the answer the first question is what is the main purpose of the announcement
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so it's pretty simple and straightforward uh she's talking about a guest lecture, right, inviting students to attend,
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so that's C, and they're almost always worried the same and it's almost always the first question.
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Factual information is almost always the second question.
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A lot of times it says, the question is like, what does the speaker hope the listener will do?
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So usually the announcement, they give the announcement and then they say, you know, you should do this, you should try to come early, you should bring some water,
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you should you know, sign up in the lecture hall.
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You know, there's usually some type of little bit of advice in the actual announcement, and a lot of times that's the second question.
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For this one here, for question number two, the question is, what are students encouraged to do?
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So, did you hear that?
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What did she say towards the end?
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Hopefully you heard it was C, arrive early since seating is limited.
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So, you got to pay careful attention.
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Just if you lose focus, if you just miss one second, you can really lose points because a lot of the questions are just based on something that goes pretty fast, comes and goes.
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The next tip is for the academic talk, and this is to be an active listener.
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What do I mean?
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Most of us are passive listeners.
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We turn on a YouTube video and we just wait for information to come, not really knowing what to expect, just kind of waiting for the information.
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Just feed my brain.
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Give me the information.
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Active listening is before you listen, you have a goal in mind.
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There's some type of detail you want to remember, things that you're looking for.
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This is active listening.
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A couple of goals when you listen.
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What are those goals?
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You want to identify the topic in the first 30 seconds.
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The talk is really short, it's just 90 seconds long, so they have to talk about, they have to tell you what this is about very quickly.
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So the first 30 seconds you should know what the topic is about.
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The next thing is to identify how the professor elaborates on the talk.
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So the professor has to explain the talk in some way.
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Let's look at an example.
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So in this example, this is the transcript here.
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I'm just going to read a couple parts from it.
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Notice in the beginning the professor in a physics class has to explain what is supercooling.
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So this is an English test, it's not a physics class, it's not a physics test.
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So it has to be explained in a way that an English language learner would understand.
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Under normal conditions, water freezes at zero degrees Celsius, but in some situations it can stay liquid even when the temperature drops below that point.
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This unusual process is called supercooling.
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So that's what this is about and it's going to explain supercooling in a few more details.
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Now this second paragraph, this next part, is going to give an example of supercooling in the world.
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In nature, this ability can be a powerful survival tool.
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Some insects, fish, and frogs use supercooling to survive harsh winters.
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The wood frog is one of the most striking examples.
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During cold months, most of its body actually freezes,
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but special substances inside its cells stop ice from forming in the organs that matter most.
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So that's an example of supercooling in the world to help you understand it with more detail.
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Now they might not give examples, they might talk about the history, they might talk about some different properties of supercooling,
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but that's how it is explained and that's what you want to listen for.
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Those explanations that take a little bit of time.
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They talk about the wood frog for a few sentences.
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When something's talked about over a couple of sentences, it's probably pretty important.
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So that is the second goal.
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The third goal is to identify what will come after the passage.
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So a lot of times in the academic talk, the last question is what will the professor discuss next?
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And a lot of times in the lecture, they will say at the end, next time we'll talk about.
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So this example here doesn't have it.
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Studying supercooling reveals how living things adapt to extreme cold.
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So there's probably not a next question here.
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But if we look at another example, this one is about the Zygarnik effect.
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And it says here, next, let's take a look at some popular apps and inventions
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that people use today to improve their focus and reduce the impact of the Zygarnik effect.
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So probably going to have a question.
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The last question, fourth question is about this, about this, what the professor is going to discuss next.
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So listen very carefully for that.
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Those are your three goals of how to be an active listener.
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The last tip, one of the most important, And before I get to that, don't forget to hit that subscribe button.
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It would be a big help.
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And don't forget to visit TST Prep.
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Don't forget to visit TST Prep dot com.
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We have free practice questions, free tests, more free resources.
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All you have to do is make an account totally free.
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Link in the description.
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TST Prep dot com.
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All right.
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Last tip.
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And this is really important.
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Take a few notes.
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Now, I know you probably hate hearing that because taking notes is hard.
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It's hard to listen and take notes at the same time.
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I will say that this is totally optional.
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You don't have to take notes if you don't want to.
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A lot of people claim that they listen better, they can focus more, and they do better if they don't take notes.
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This is a pretty short lecture.
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It's just 90 seconds long, so I think you'll be fine if you don't take notes.
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The reason why I recommend taking notes is because it helps you stay focused,
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stay active, and also you can remember some things that you might forget when it's time to answer the question.
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You know, for example, the questions go in order one, two, three, four.
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Maybe questions one and two, you remember everything pretty easily, but when you get to three and four, there's more time between the lecture and your memory,
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so it's and the experience of the lecture, so it might be harder to remember exactly what was said.
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A couple of notes.
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Let me show you a few examples of how I would take notes.
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You're going to take notes that are just based on basically the active listening idea, what you're listening for.
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First thing you want to write down is the class.
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In the beginning, they'll say, now listen to a talk in a history class, psychology class, physics class.
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Helps you give you some context.
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And then write down the topic if you can, if you think you can identify it.
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Write down important points of elaboration, and I'll show you some examples of that in a minute.
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and what's going to come next, if you would like.
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Don't have to do this, just a couple recommendations for you.
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Let me show you an example.
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You can see there's not a lot of words here.
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I know you probably can't read my notes.
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I can read my notes, that's the most important thing.
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This is about the Zygarnik effect.
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Of course when I'm listening, I'm like, I have no idea how to spell Zygarnik.
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I just write Z-effect.
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So don't worry about spelling, this is not a, you know, you don't have to transcribe anything here.
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You just want to listen for important information.
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So I write down the Z effect and what does it mean?
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I've never heard about this before.
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It means that when we have incomplete tasks, we remember them more.
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I use arrows.
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I use some symbols to help me remember.
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You help me connect information.
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I wrote, you know, there's apps that people use today at the end as well because I'm listening for that next, what they're going to talk about next.
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And when I look at the actual questions, I see that it came up, right?
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So the next question came up and so my notes helped me here.
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So how did I know what is important?
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I kind of talked about this already, but basically the test is not going to ask you about small details.
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So this is in response to a popular question I get from students like, okay, I guess I can take notes but I don't know what's important.
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Something that is explained over a few sentences is important, especially when it's such a short lecture.
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Another example is from the supercooling lecture.
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So here, for example, the question, what does the speaker say about the wood frog?
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Now this is here because they talk, the speaker talked about the wood frog for a few sentences.
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I don't need to write down usually small bits of dust
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or rough surfaces give the ice crystals a place to start growing
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because it's something that is just a specific detail for that one sentence that's not explained in depth.
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So the things that you write down, again, you don't have to write down a lot, just something that's explained a little while that you think is important.
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Also, don't take notes if you don't understand them.
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If you're just writing words you hear, oh I heard a word so I'm going to write it down, it's not going to be so helpful.
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So I wouldn't take notes that way, if I were you.
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Take notes on what you understand, take notes on the class, the topic, a few important details, and what's going to be talked about next.
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And again, this is totally optional, it's up to you, you don't have to do this if you don't want to.
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But, because I know students hate notes, but I recommend it.
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Well, I hope you found that helpful.
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Check out this video here for some more practice.
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Don't forget to subscribe, it's really, really helpful for me and for us to continue growing.
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And that's it.
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Good luck, Topol test takers on the 2026.
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And let me know if you have any extra tips that I missed.
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All right, I'll see you in the next one.
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Master TOEFL Listening 2026: New Format & Shadowing Tips to Boost Your Score
The Scenario: Preparing for the Updated TOEFL Listening
If you’re gearing up for the 2026 TOEFL Listening, you know the game has changed. The test now features four task types—listen and choose, short conversations, announcements, and 90-second academic talks—split into two modules. Module 2 adapts to your performance, so nailing the first part is key. But here’s the real challenge: understanding both explicit (direct) and implicit (hidden) meaning, especially in listen-and-choose questions. For example, a simple question like “Did you pick up your dry cleaning?” might have a direct “yes” or “no” answer, but you’ll also need to catch nuances, like “Yes, but they forgot a shirt.” This is where the shadowing technique becomes your secret weapon.Useful Chunks & Collocations for TOEFL Success
To tackle these tasks, memorize these natural word groups:- “pick up dry cleaning” (common daily phrase)
- “freshman level” (describes academic difficulty)
- “module two adapts” (key test structure term)
- “implicit meaning” (critical for question types)
- “90-second academic talk” (new task description)
Your Shadowing Challenge: Practice Like a Pro
Ready to try shadowspeak (yes, that’s the fun term for shadowing!)? Here’s your task: Find a short TOEFL-style conversation (30 seconds max) or announcement. Play it once to understand the gist, then hit play again and repeat immediately after the speaker—mimic their tone, speed, and pauses. Do this 5 times. Next, try an academic talk clip (90 seconds). Shadowing helps you catch implicit meaning by training your ear to recognize subtle cues. For extra support, use a shadowing app or shadowing site to record yourself and compare. You’ll be amazed how quickly you start noticing the details that boost your score. Remember, the 2026 TOEFL Listening rewards active listening, and shadowing isn’t just practice—it’s a strategy. Start small, stay consistent, and you’ll master those new task types in no time!Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is outdated · is called · will be taken |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | tip, which is · questions, which are · common, which is |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've seen · I've identified · I've never heard |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.