means to get their meaning across. Although this may lead to over- generalizing of rules, grammatical or lexical inaccuracies, teachers
should try to provide opportunities for meaningful communication activities wherever possible.
6 Teachers need to create a balance in their classrooms between providing support and providing a challenge. If all language work
is over-guided then it becomes too easy, safe or repetitive. Similarly, if all work is so challenging, too difficult or threatening,
learners become demotivated. 7 When learning their L1, children seem to be good risk-takers
and experimenters. Their willingness to ‘have a go’ should be encouraged and should not be dampened too much by constant
correction or an overly strict atmosphere Brewster, Ellis, and Girard, 2002: 40
2. The Teaching of Listening Skill a. The Nature of Listening
To have a better understanding of listening, the researcher consider that it is important to examine the listening process from the psychological
theory. According to Brown 2008: 248, various listening inputs from outside world that go through the human ears will be caught by the
sensory memory. This information is given attention and sent to short-term memory or the working memory. The information in the short-term
memory will be forgotten if it is not rehearsed. Through rehearsal that can
be done either through elaborative practice or memorization, information can be sent through long-term memory in order to be retained longer. The
information-processing model of memory as explained by Brown is called the Three-Box Model of Memory.
According to Klatzky, listening process happens through the stages of information registration, pattern recognition, information registration,
rehearsal, and information preservation. The two models of listening process suggest the importance of attention pattern recognition and
rehearsal. This implies that in the teaching of listening students need to be involved in the listening activities that require their undivided attention.
Moreover, opportunities should be given to students to listen to the listening materials repeatedly so that they could recognize both the sounds
of the spoken English and the message conveyed in the listening materials. Teaching listening skills is one of the most difficult tasks for any
ESL teacher. This is because successful listening skills are acquired over time and with lots of practice. It can be frustrating activity for students
because there are no rules as in grammar teaching. Speaking and writing also have very specific exercises that can lead to skill improvement. This
is not to say that there are not ways of improving listening skills, however they are difficult to quantify.
By developing learners’ listening abilities, a teacher is enabling learners to participate at an early stage in the
communication exchanges that are happening in their community Field,
2007: 34.
