ESL Legal Listening

As well as reading and writing, listening is important: this ESL legal listening page will give you experience of doing this. Once you have completed the exercises on this page you will be better able to listen to spoken language in legal situations.

This page has 4 exercise for you to do. In each of them you will need to listen to a recording and then answer questions or do an exercise. The ESL legal vocabulary page has a recording of the pronunciation of the vocabulary items spoken by a native English speaker so you can learn the correct sound before starting the exercises on this page.

The 4 tasks on this page are:

• Identification of spoken word order
• Identify the meaning of a spoken definition
• Listening comprehension
• Dictation

ESL Legal Listening Exercises

Exercise 1 – Identification of Spoken Word Order

The first ESL legal listening exercise has 5 questions with 5 groups of words in each question. You need to listen to the following recording and decide which option (A-D) in each question has the order the same as in the recording. Listen a few times if you need to. When you have finished you can click the get score button to see how you did.

ESL Legal Identification of Spoken Word Order

Listen to the recording of the five groups of five words each given above and decide which option (A-D) in the five questions in this test has the correct order.

1) Which is the correct order for group of words one?

    A) Trial, Illegal, Take the stand, Precedent, Barrister
    B) Trial, Precedent, Barrister, Illegal, Take the stand
    C) Take the stand, Barrister, Precedent, Illegal, Trial
    D) Barrister, Trial, Take the stand, Precedent, Illegal

2) Which is the correct order for group of words two?

    A) Manslaughter, Death penalty, Hijack, Lawsuit, Dock
    B) Manslaughter, Lawsuit, Dock, Death penalty, Hijack
    C) Hijack, Dock, Lawsuit, Death penalty, Manslaughter
    D) Dock, Manslaughter, Hijack, Lawsuit, Death penalty

3) Which is the correct order for group of words three?

    A) Criminal, Terrorism, Appeal-court, Bailiff, Victim
    B) Criminal, Bailiff, Victim, Terrorism, Appeal-court
    C) Appeal-court, Victim, Bailiff, Terrorism, Criminal
    D) Victim, Criminal, Appeal-court, Bailiff, Terrorism

4) Which is the correct order for group of words four?

    A) The stand, Felony, Charge, Robbery, Courtroom
    B) The stand, Robbery, Courtroom, Felony, Charge
    C) Charge, Courtroom, Robbery, Felony, The stand
    D) Courtroom, The stand, Charge, Robbery, Felony

5) Which is the correct order for group of words five?

    A) Break-the-law, Case, Vandalism, Juvenile, Foreperson
    B) Break-the-law, Juvenile, Foreperson, Case, Vandalism
    C) Vandalism, Foreperson, Juvenile, Case, Break-the-law
    D) Foreperson, Break-the-law, Vandalism, Juvenile, Case

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 2 – Identification of Spoken Definition

For the second ESL legal listening exercise the recording has 5 definitions spoken, and in each question you need to decide which option (A-D) has the word that matches the definition. Again you can use the get score button to see the correct answers.

ESL Legal Listening Identification of Vocabulary Meaning

Listen to the recording of the meanings of the five vocabulary words given above and decide which word out of the options (A-D) in each question matches the meaning.

1) What is the meaning of the first definition in the recording?

    A) Juvenile
    B) Acquit
    C) Criminal law
    D) Court clerk

2) What is the meaning of the second definition in the recording?

    A) Assault
    B) Compensate
    C) Jury room
    D) Appeal

3) What is the meaning of the third definition in the recording?

    A) Offense
    B) Legal
    C) Lawsuit
    D) Allege

4) What is the meaning of the fourth definition in the recording?

    A) Defendant
    B) Advocate
    C) Ban
    D) Barrister

5) What is the meaning of the fifth definition in the recording?

    A) Public gallery
    B) Illegal
    C) Drink-driving
    D) Barrister

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 3 – Listening Comprehension

The recording in this ESL legal listening task has a passage being read quite slowly. You need to listen to it and understand it before answering the questions that follow. Listen to it a few times if you need to. Then click the get score button to see how many you got correct.

At the end of the page there is a link that you can click to show the text of the passage so you can check your understanding. Only look once you have finished everything.

ESL Legal Listening Comprehension

Listen to the recording of the passage about Legal above and answer the following five questions.

1) What happens if a person is caught doing a crime?

    A) They have to apologize.
    B) They have to go to court.
    C) They have to go to prison.
    D) They are allowed to go away.

2) What is the crime called when you enter a place without permission?

    A) Manslaughter
    B) Embezzlement
    C) Robbery
    D) trespass

3) How many types of stealing are described in the passage?

    A) 1
    B) 2
    C) 3
    D) 4

4) What is the name of the crime of giving false information to get something?

    A) Robbery
    B) Fraud
    C) Trespass
    D) Embezzlement

5) Why is manslaughter less serious than murder?

    A) It was done by accident.
    B) It was done on purpose.
    C) There is not difference.
    D) It is only stealing something that can be given back.

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 4 – Dictation

The final ESL legal listening exercise is a dictation task where you have to write down the recorded passage exactly. The recording has the passage read at a quite a slow speed first, and then again with pauses after every few words and the punctuation spoken. If you need to, you can listen a few times.

Again there is a link at the end of the page for you to click to show the text of the passage so you can check your answer.

Listening Comprehension Passage
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Dictation Passage
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