Listening: Listening for Inference, Attitude, & Opinion B1 - Lesson 2: Identifying Speaker's Basic Attitude (e.g., interested, bored, annoyed) from Tone of Voice

Listening Between the Lines: Understanding a Speaker's Attitude

CEFR Level B1

Lesson Goals

In this lesson, you will practice listening for inference. This means understanding a speaker's true attitude (their feeling or opinion) by listening to their tone of voice, not just their words.

How Tone of Voice Shows Attitude

In English, the way someone says something is often more important than the words they use. For example, your friend might say "The food was okay," but their flat, slow tone of voice tells you they didn't really like it. This is inference.

Listen for these clues in a speaker's voice:

• An interested voice often sounds faster, with a higher pitch.
• A bored voice often sounds slow and flat, with no change in pitch (monotone).
• An annoyed voice often sounds sharp, quick, and impatient.

Example 1: "That's very interesting."

This sentence can mean two opposite things. Listen to the same words said with two different attitudes.

Attitude 1: Genuinely Interested

Attitude 2: Bored and Uninterested

Did you hear how the first version was faster and higher, while the second was slow and flat?

Example 2: "Do you have any questions?"

Let's listen to a teacher ask this question. The tone shows their real attitude.

Attitude 1: Genuinely Helpful

Attitude 2: Annoyed and Impatient

The helpful tone is friendly and inviting. The annoyed tone is sharp and suggests the teacher does not want any questions.

Key Concept: Sarcasm

When a speaker's tone of voice shows the opposite meaning of their words, it is often called sarcasm. For example, if it starts raining heavily and someone says, "What beautiful weather," with a flat or annoyed tone, they are being sarcastic. They mean the weather is actually terrible. Recognizing sarcasm is an important B1 listening skill.

Quiz: What's the Attitude?

For each item, listen to the audio and decide which attitude the speaker is showing.

1. "Oh, great. More work."

   What is the speaker's attitude?

   • (a) Happy
   • (b) Annoyed
   • (c) Interested
2. "Wow, tell me more about that!"

   What is the speaker's attitude?

   • (a) Annoyed
   • (b) Bored
   • (c) Interested

Show Answers

Answers: 1-b (The voice is sharp and impatient, showing sarcasm). 2-c (The voice is faster and higher-pitched, showing genuine interest).

Vocabulary

• Attitude (noun) [ឥរិយាបថ]

  A feeling or opinion about someone or something, often shown in your behavior or tone of voice.

• Tone of Voice (noun phrase) [សំនៀង]

  The way a person's voice sounds, which shows their emotion or attitude.

• Interested (adjective) [ចាប់អារម្មណ៍]

  Showing curiosity or wanting to know more about something.

• Annoyed (adjective) [រំខាន]

  Feeling slightly angry or impatient.

Your Mission

Improve your inference skills with these two tasks.

1. Attitude in TV Shows: Watch a 2-minute scene from an English TV show or movie. Choose one character and focus only on their tone of voice. What is their attitude? Pause the video and say your guess out loud (e.g., "I think she is annoyed.").
2. Practice Different Tones: Record yourself saying the phrase "Thank you so much" in three different ways: 1. Genuinely happy and grateful. 2. Bored and automatic. 3. Annoyed and sarcastic. Listen to the recording. Can you clearly hear the difference?