Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. deliberately
    • ex. The teacher deliberately spoke slowly so all the students could understand the instructions.
  2. outrage
    • ex. The students showed outrage when their favorite club was suddenly closed.
  3. provocative
    • ex. His provocative joke made a few classmates uncomfortable.
  4. emerging
    • ex. Scientists are studying emerging diseases to keep people safe.
  5. significance
    • ex. The discovery has great significance for medical research.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Oxford University Press has chosen “rage bait’’ as its 2025 word of the year. The phrase means online content that is deliberately made to create outrage. This content is often provocative or offensive, and the goal is to make people angry so they comment and share it. Oxford said people usually react more to negative posts, so this kind of content gets a lot of attention.

“Rage bait’’ won over two other words: “aura farming’’ and “biohack.’’ “Aura farming’’ means trying to create a special public image that shows confidence or mystery. “Biohack’’ means trying to improve the body or mind to live better or longer. These words show new and emerging ways people behave online and in daily life. According to Oxford, its team chooses words that have cultural significance.

Oxford University Press has picked a word of the year since 2004. Past winners include “podcast’’ in 2005, “emoji’’ in 2015, and “goblin mode’’ in 2022, which described people who wanted to stay relaxed at home after the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization says the word of the year helps show how society and language continue to change.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Rage Bait

  • Rage bait means online content that is deliberately made to create outrage. How common is rage bait content in your social media pages? Discuss.
  • The article says people often react more strongly to negative content online. Do you agree that negative posts get more attention than positive ones? Discuss.
  • “Rage bait” is used a lot now since people react more to negative posts. If you could create content online and post it on social media, what kind of content would you create? Discuss.

Choosing the Word of the Year

  • Oxford University Press chooses a “word of the year’’ to show how society is changing. Which of the top 3 words of the year do you like the most: “rage bait,” “aura farming,” or “biohack?” Discuss.
  • According to Oxford, its team chooses words that have cultural significance. What words in your country do you think have cultural significance? Discuss.
  • If you were to choose the word of the year, what would it be and why? Discuss.