students of this department or the alumnus from this department are the most often asked to perform either in this country or abroad.
4. Theory of Teaching Language
There are four parts in the theory of teaching language. Those are a teaching listening, 2 teaching speaking, 3 teaching reading, and 4 teaching
writing. The theory is according to Nunan 2003.
a. Teaching Listening
Theory of teaching listening referred to a chapter in Nunan’s book which is written by Marc Helgesen, Miyagi Gakuin Women’s College Japan. He stated
that listening is an active, purposeful process of making sense of what we hear. Listening is included in receptive skill. It means people require receiving and
understanding the information. The principles of teaching listening are:
1 Expose students to different ways of processing information There are two ways of processing information. Those are bottom-up and top-
down. Processing information as bottom-up means the processing information way begins with the learners’ knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and sounds.
The opposite is top-down. The processing information way in top-down begins with the listener’s life knowledge. These two ways can be integrated in
the listening activity. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
2 Expose students to different types of listening It is important to give different types of activities in listening. The students
need different types of listening activities because different activity has different purpose. The different type of listening will enrich the students’
ability in listening. The types of listening are listening for specific information, global or gist listening and inference. In listening for specific
information, the students are asked about the specific information from the listening passage, such as names, time, the language form, etc. In global or
gist listening, the students’ tasks are identify the main idea and to note a sequence of events. In inference, the students listen to the implied meaning
that is implied but not stated directly. 3 Teach a variety of tasks
The variety of tasks can be done according the students’ level. In the beginning, they can have a simple task, such as asking the students to choose
the right choices of the listening passage’s summary. The next task level, students are asked to make their own summary. Developing the listening task
can also increase the students’ interest. 4 Consider text, difficulty, and authenticity
Brown as quoted by Helgesen 2003:33, stated that the six factors which can increase or decrease the ease of understanding are the number of
individuals or objects in a text; how clearly the individuals or object are distinct from one another; simple, specific spatial relationship are easier to
understand than complex ones; the order of events; the number of inferences PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
needed; and the information is consistent with what the listener already knows.
Brown and Menasche as quoted by Helgesen 2003, 34, suggested the authenticity looking at two aspects. The first is task authenticity which
includes simulated such as filling a form and minimalincidental such as checks understanding and numbering pictures to show the sequence. The
second is input authenticity which includes genuine created only for the realm of real life but used in language teaching, altered no meaning change,
but the original is no longer as it was, adapted words and grammatical structures changed to simplify the text, simulated, and minimalincidental.
5 Teach listening strategies Rost, as quoted by Helgesen 2003:35, identified six strategies in teaching
listening. They are: 1 predicting what the effective listeners think about what they hear; 2 inferring which is useful for learners to infer; 3 monitoring
which is the listeners notice what they do and don’t understand; 4 clarifying which is the efficient learner’s questions and give feedback; 5 responding
which is the learners react what they hear; and 6 evaluating which the learners check on how well they have understood.
There are two types of listening, extensive listening and intensive listening Harmer, 2004: 228. In extensive listening, the teacher encourages the students to
find their own listening passage to listen to for their improvement in English. In intensive language, the teacher provides the material. Teacher can use taped
material or ‘live’ listening. For taped material, the teacher can look for the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
materials from radio, disk, provided listening passage, and other sources which are recorded. For ‘live’ listening, the teacher can do the reading aloud, story-
telling, interviews, and conversations.
b. Teaching Speaking
