Learners’ Characteristics and Needs
Communication Design Program. The study is also aimed to help the teachers in developing listening materials and to make the students interested in English
lesson, especially listening. From the result of the interview, teachers expected that this study would be beneficial and give more information about listening
materials which are intended for particular vocational program. They also hoped that the result of the study can be a model to develop and create suitable listening
materials.
b. The result of interview with students
The interview was carried out to four students from the second grade of Visual Communication Design Program in SMK Negeri 5 Yogyakarta. Based on
the result of the interview, students said that they rarely obtained listening activities. One student explained that there was no fixed schedule for particular
meeting which was intended to listening activities. Some others said that listening activities were usually integrated with speaking activities. The students shared that
they got listening activities two or three time from their teachers. The activities that students performed when they had listening activities
are listening and drilling difficult words, listening to a song and filling the missing lyric, listening to recording of conversation and then doing exercises, watching
movies and analyzing the film. Moreover, the students said that teachers had used different kinds of media such as VCD player and tape recorder.
Dealing with the media provided to support the listening activities, three students said that their school had provided sufficient media to carry out listening
activities. Only one student argued that the facilities in the school were not adequate enough. The students mentioned some media that had provided in the
school. They are tape recorder, VCD player, and LCD projector. In addition, the school does not provide a facility such as language laboratory but they can have
listening activities in the multimedia room. The media, such as VCD player and LCD Projector, are provided in the multimedia room. However, all students said
that not all classes were lucky to use the multimedia room effectively for the listening activities. It was happen because the school only has two multimedia
rooms for students of all vocational programs. Furthermore, three students said that they were interested in English
lesson, as well as listening. They were quite active in taking part on the listening activities. All students agreed that listening skill is important in mastering English
competence. Three students added that all skills in English are important to learn but they said that listening is the basic skill before they learn to speak in English
and learn other skills. From the result of the interview, students also shared their difficulties in
listening. The following are some difficulties they have faced: 1
They could not understand the spoken materials because of the unclear pronunciations.
2 They were not accustomed to English accent.
3 The recordings materials were not clear enough or too fast
4 The listening materials provided were not sufficient enough.
5 They have limited vocabulary so they were difficult to guess what they heard.
In order to develop listening skill, some improvements can be performed by both teachers and students. The students themselves argued that the listening
activities should be carried out regularly. For instance, if they have three meetings each week for the English subject, one meeting can be used specifically to carry
out listening activities. One student added that if the students had regular meeting for listening, students might have better preparation before the meeting. All
students mentioned that the teachers should give more interesting materials, so the students will not get bored. One student shared that he usually got bored when
teachers merely gave structure and grammar lesson. Another student also argued that there were some teachers who could not give effective techniques and
activities to students. It would be more enjoyable if teachers can give alternative techniques and more activities such as speaking or listening activities.
This study presented English listening materials using task based language teaching which are intended for the students of Visual Communication Design
Program. All students agreed that specific materials of Visual Communication Design Program will help them in developing their listening skill and also help
them in learning their program. One student added that learning listening with those kinds of materials seemed to be more interesting for the students since they
could apply the learning to their own program. In addition, the students also gave some suggestions and expectation on
this study. Most of them wished that this study would design simple listening materials that can be understood by all students of Visual Communication Design
Program. In addition, all students expected that the designed materials would use
interesting sources such as films, stories, or songs which were related to Visual Communication Design Program.
Besides conducting the interview, the data was also obtained from observing the English syllabus, English books, other existing materials, media and
facilities provided in the school. The English syllabus for the second grade was used for all vocational programs. It could be said that there was no specific
English guidelines for particular vocational program. The English book provided in the school was based on current school based curriculum. Furthermore, the
school did not provide a language laboratory. Instead, there was a multimedia room which can be used to conduct listening activities. The school had provided
listening materials in form of CD and cassette, but only in limited amount. In addition, the listening materials mostly related to TOEIC and exercise preparation
for the final exam. Based on the interview results, the writer concluded some points of
learners’ needs and characteristics that were considered for designing the listening materials. The summary are divided into two parts, they are:
Table 4.1: Summary of Learners’ Characteristics
Learners’ Characteristics a.
Most students of Visual Communication Design Program have proper basic English from junior high school and they have better competences
comparing to students from other vocational programs. b.
Students have high motivation to learn so that they are enthusiastic and actively take part in the lesson.
c. Students are more interested in listening activity since it is fun.
d. Students have problem in understanding spoken English. They get lack of
exposure to English. e.
Students recognized limited vocabulary that makes them difficult to guess of what they heard.
f. Students were not accustomed to listening activities. Students might upset
and it caused the lesson run slower.
Table 4.2: Summary of Learners’ Needs
Learners’ Needs a.
Students need more listening activities and they are expected to get the activities regularly.
b. Students need more interesting sources and materials which are related to
visual communication design program. c.
Students need simple listening materials that can be understood by all students.
d. Students need proper preparation before having listening activities so that
they can follow the lesson well.