Lecture On The Current And Future Use Of Mobile Phones – IELTS Listening Sample Answer

IELTS Listening section examines a candidate’s listening skills through four parts. There are two conversations and two monologues in IELTS listening section. This topic – A lecture on the current and future use of mobile phones, is an IELTS listening topic part. The candidate needs to answer the following IELTS listening question types:

• Sentence completion
• Identifying information

Audio Transcript:

You will hear part of a lecture on the current and future use of mobile phones. You now have 30 seconds to read questions 31 to 35.

Okay. Now, today we're looking at changes in communication and specifically changes that have just happened or are likely to happen in the next few years. Key to this, is the mobile phones, which is increasingly being seen as an all-purpose system, rather than just a phone. If you only use your phone for texting and making calls now, you will be amazed at how you'll be using it in the future. The technology has been developed for a range of other uses. For example, phones could be used so that if you were meeting someone and they get lost, you could send them a map of your location to help them. This will save all those complicated explanations over the phone and our poor friends or colleagues trying to drive and find out where they are at the same time. And if you get bored waiting or if you're travelling, for example, you will soon be able to see TV news on your phone as it is actually being broadcast. This means that you won't have to miss any of your favorites if you were away for a few days. Most people have got used to texting now and young people send pictures to each other. But what is exciting is the possibility of putting music with them, before you send them. And it's not all frivolous.

Phones are going to become even more critical in business and education. Some recent developments have a highly practical usage. So for example, as lecturers, we will be able to send everybody, a text, to let them know if lectures have been canceled. And the new phones could have a further use in education as well as business, as they will enable us to go to any destination such as, when we are doing a field trip, for instance, and from there to send data directly to a computer so that we can access it when we get home. This means we will no longer be limited by what the phone can store.

You now have 30 seconds to read questions 36 to 40.

And it is interesting to look at the different ways that men and women use phones now, as that does affect how the technology will develop. So research has been done on how people use phones and some of the results are surprising. One of the increasing usages of mobile phones is to get all sorts of data such as phone numbers, the weather, train times etc. And well, there has been an attempt to set up connections with things that women might be interested in accessing. It is overwhelmingly men who do this. But what about the traditional use of a phone? To speak to people. I suppose we would predict that it is mainly women who use phones as a method of contact for friends and family. But, in fact, the genders exploit this facility equally. I’ve spoken about the increased business usages that phones will offer and I suppose we would associate this usage with men. The survey picked up though, that women are often working from home or catching up with work in the evenings. So they use phones in this way, as much as men do. Most of us are aware, we can store photos on our phones. It is an ideal method of capturing a moment wherever you are. Women tend to be the group that keeps photos on their phones. But it seems that men use their phones to actually take pictures much more than women do. And of course all this knowledge affects the marketing that the companies would do in order to sell………………….

Section 4

Questions 31-40
Questions 31-35

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

Mobile phones now have the technology to

send 31_____________________________of where the sender is.

watch 32_______________________in real-time.

send 33_______________________- with texts.

inform students about lectures which are 34_________________________________

transfer 35____________________________ to a computer.

Question 31:

Answer: map

Explanation: Phones can now be used to send your location to someone in case you’re lost. This is a result of advanced technology.

Also, Check:

Question 32:

Answer: television news

Explanation: People can watch television news on their phones and not miss out on any of their favourite shows while they are away.

Question 33:

Answer: music

Explanation: People can not only text each other or send pictures but also attach music with them while sending.

Question 34:

Answer: cancelled

Explanation: Phones are becoming very crucial in education sector, as stated by the lecturer, they can use the phone to let students know if any lecture has been cancelled.

Question 35:

Answer: data

Explanation: Data can be transferred directly from computers to phones for immediate use.

Questions 36-40

Write the correct letter, A, B, or C next to Questions 36-40 on your answer sheet.

Which group of people are the main users of mobile phones for the following purposes?

1. women
2. men
3. men and women

Ways of Using Mobile Phones

36 to access information _____________________

37 to stay in touch __________________________

38 for business__________________________

39 to store personal photos _______________________

40 as a camera ________________________

Question 36:

Answer: B

Explanation: Women are the ones who uses phones mostly for accessing information.

Question 37:

Answer: C

Explanation: Both men and women equally use phones for staying connected to people.

Question 38:

Answer: C

Explanation: Both men and women utilizes phones for business purposes. It is a very important requirement for both of them.

Question 39:

Answer: A

Explanation: Women uses phones for storing their personal photos for future use.

Question 40:

Answer: B

Explanation: Men makes use of phones for using the camera and photography purposes.