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What is signposting language?
Signposting language (ngôn ngữ chỉ dẫn) can be understood simply as words or phrases used to introduce, guide, and direct the content of information to listeners through various stages seamlessly, clearly, and effectively.
Signposting language is used to emphasize and track the content, information just mentioned in a more seamless, tightly knit manner. It helps listeners anticipate the information, content that will be presented next.
Why is signposting language important?
Signposting language is often used in academic contexts. It could be a lecture, a speech by an expert, or a presentation by a university student. And then, signposting language will be used.
Signposting language will be used to clarify the connection, relationship between arguments or supplement examples. Therefore, if you do not understand signposting language, you will not be able to keep up with the presentation or speech that the speaker is referring to.
And if your listening skills are weak, you will easily lose your direction, not knowing where the speaker is heading. Therefore, understanding the structure and grasping signposting language clearly will help you easily understand how the speaker guides in the speech, helping you grasp the information and content that the speaker wants to convey.
Effectively Using Signposting Language in Section 4
As we know, Section 4 is mostly a Presentation. A Presentation consists of smaller sections. Here's a typical Section 4:
Based on the signposting languages below, we will know where the Speaker is referring to, thus enabling us to catch up with keywords and keep track of the content of the Presentation.
| Mục đích | Ngôn ngữ chỉ dẫn |
| Giới thiệu về chủ đề của bài diễn thuyết
| – Today we are going to talk about… – The topic of today’s lecture is… – This morning we are going to take a look at… – Today I’ll be talking about / discussing… – What I’m going to be talking about today is… – The purpose of today’s lecture is… – The subject/topic of my talk is … |
| Giải thích về cấu trúc của bài diễn thuyết (các mục nhỏ) | – In today’s lecture I’m going to cover three points.- I’m going to divide this talk into three parts. – First we’ll look at….. Then we’ll go on to … And finally I’ll… |
| Giới thiệu mục đầu tiên hoặc luận điểm đầu tiên trong một loạt các luận điểm | – Let’s start by talking about… – To begin,… – Firstly,… – I’ll start with,… – The first advantage / reason / cause etc. is… |
| Kết thúc một mục | – We’ve looked at… – I’ve talked about…. |
| Bắt đầu một mục mới | – Let’s move on to… – Now, let’s turn to… – And I’d now like to talk about… – The next / second … – I’d like now to discuss… – The next issue/topic/area I’d like to focus on … |
| Kết thúc bài diễn thuyết hoặc Tổng kết lại bài diễn thuyết | – To sum up, … – So it is clear from what we have discussed today that… – I’d like now to recap… – Let’s summarise briefly what we’ve looked at… – In conclusion, … – To summarise, … – In summary, … – Overall, … – The three main points are … |
NOTE: The table above only lists familiar words and phrases of Signposting Language, there are many ways of transitioning ideas applied, but if you have a keen sense to detect Signposting Language in the Presentation, then our Listening test will become much easier.
Practice
Identify the signposting languages and their functions in the following sentences:
1. Tonight I’m going to talk to you about that remarkable continent, Antarctica.
2. To start with, let's look at some facts and statistics.
3. Today, I've been tasked with discussing the urban environment with you.
4. My talk will primarily focus on two main areas.
5. Continuing from where we left off this morning, let's delve into life in the East End.
6. Beginning with a brief overview of the district's history, I'll then shift the focus to life in the first half of the 20th century.
Response:
1. Tonight I’m going to talk to you about that remarkable continent, Antarctica.
-> Giới thiệu về chủ đề của bài diễn thuyết
2. First, some facts and figures.
-> Giới thiệu mục đầu tiên hoặc luận điểm đầu tiên trong một loạt các luận điểm
3. I have been asked to talk to you today about the urban landscape.
-> Giới thiệu về chủ đề của bài diễn thuyết
4.There are two major areas that I will focus on in my talk.
-> Giải thích về cấu trúc của bài diễn thuyết
5. And this morning we’re continuing with a look at life in the area called the East End.
-> Bắt đầu một mục mới
5. I’ll start with a brief history of the districtand then focus on life in the first half of the 20th century.
-> Giải thích về cấu trúc của bài diễn thuyết (các mục nhỏ)
We hope the information shared by Mytour will help you achieve a high score in the Listening section! Wishing you all success in your IELTS studies!Mytour
