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.

2. Statement of Purposes

After gathering and analyzing learners’ characteristics and needs, the writer started to state the purposes of the study. In Research and Information Collecting, the writer reviewed and observed the curriculum implemented in SMK Negeri 5 Yogyakarta. The writers examined the recent curriculum of English subject for Vocational High School. It was aimed to determine the purposes of the study. The goal in which stated on the competence standard is “to master knowledge and basic skill of English to support the achievement of vocational program competence and to communicate using English in elementary level.” The goal of the competence standard was applied on the purpose of this study. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to achieve English basic skill to support students’ specific competence related to their vocational program that is Visual Communication Design Program. Furthermore, the purpose of this study was elaborated in the basic competence. The basic competence covered all objectives of all the topics. In addition, the basic competence was adapted from the recent curriculum applied in SMK Negeri 5 Yogyakarta. The basic competence was presented below. Table 4.3: Basic Competence No Basic Competence 1 Understanding interpersonal conversation and transactional spoken text in daily context related to describing people’s job and educational background. 2 Understanding interpersonal conversation and transactional spoken text in form of narrative and descriptive expositions related to past events and future plans. 3 Understanding interpersonal conversation and transactional spoken text in daily context that involves expressions about invitations and opinions. 4 Understanding interpersonal conversation and transactional spoken text in daily context that involves expression about describing process and announcement.

3. Syllabus

Before working on the syllabus, the writer chose a type of syllabus that is suitable with the purposes of the study and also the situation described on the learners’ characteristics and needs. Here, the writer employed functional syllabus design. According to Krahnke 1987: 10, functional syllabus is a syllabus in which the content of the language teaching is a set of functions that are performed when language is used. Functional syllabus design was chosen since it is appropriately used to define specific content of materials that are related to students’ vocational program. Using the type of functional syllabus, the writer then chose the topics which reflecting functional discussion. The topics were also chosen based on the basic competence of this study. In deciding the topics, the writer referred to the following considerations: 1 The learners’ characteristics and needs From the learners’ characteristics and needs, students need simple and interesting listening materials related to their vocational programs. Therefore, the writer should choose topics that are simple and interesting for the students. Furthermore, students need to have listening activities regularly. Listening activities can be carried out regularly if it is involved in the English lesson. Therefore, the topics chosen should be relevant or similar to the English syllabus applied in the school so that listening activities can be carried out regularly. 2 The result of observation and study of related literatures In the study of related literatures, the writer examined the curriculum including the English syllabus, books, and any existing materials used in the school. This study applied the schools standard competence as the purposes of the study. Therefore, the writer considered the topics and materials listed in the English syllabus to determine the topics of the designed materials. 3 The situation mostly faced by the students in their vocational program. Referring to the topics listed in English syllabus and materials used in the school, the writer adapted the topics that are mostly faced by the students in Visual Communication Design Program field. The adapted topics and materials, which are related to students’ vocational program, hopefully can fulfill the learners’ needs. From the three considerations above, there were eight topics chosen. The time allocation for each topic was 90 minutes. Each topic had the learning objectives that hopefully are achieved by the students at the end of the program. The learning objectives were stated as the learning indicators. The topic, unit title and the learning indicators are listed in the table below. Table 4.4: Topics, Unit Title, and Learning Indicators No Topic Unit Title Learning Indicators 1 Describing People’s job Jobs in Visual Communication Design Program. Students are able to: 1. Answer the questions related to the spoken text correctly. 2. Identify language features used in the spoken text accurately. 3. Pronounce some words related to the spoken text accurately. 4. Retell the spoken text. 5. Describe people’s job accurately. 2 Describing People’s Educational background She graduated from… Students are able to: 1. Answer the questions related to the spoken text correctly. 2. Identify language features used in the spoken text accurately. 3. Pronounce some words related to the No Topic Unit Title Learning Indicators spoken text accurately. 4. Retell the spoken text. 5. Describe people’s educational background accurately. 3 Talking about Past Events Childhood Moments Students are able to: 1. Answer the questions related to the spoken text correctly. 2. Identify language features used in narrative and descriptive expositions related to past events accurately. 3. Pronounce some words related to the spoken text accurately. 4. Retell the spoken text. 5. Present narrative orand descriptive exposition related to past events. 4 Talking about Future Plans I’m going to …. Students are able to: 1. Answer the questions related to the spoken text correctly. 2. Identify language features used in narrative and descriptive expositions related to future plans accurately. 3. Pronounce some words related to the spoken text accurately. 4. Retell the spoken text. 5. Present narrative orand descriptive exposition related to future plans. 5 Inviting Someone Join us Students are able to: 1. Answer the questions related to the spoken text correctly. 2. Identify and mention expressions used in inviting, accepting and refusing invitation accurately.