Using Authentic Materials to Teach Listening

D. Using Authentic Materials to Teach Listening

The main function of the second-language classroom is be to provide learners with authentic language Ciccone, 1995: 203-215. According to Herron and Seay 1991: 487-495, the teacher should exploit more authentic texts in all levels of language instruction in order to involve students in activities that reflect real-life listening. Morrison 1989: 14-18 also believes that authentic listening materials could and should be used at all levels from beginners to advanced. Even beginning students needed exposure to authentic language since it is the medium of everyday communication Oxford, Lavine, Crookall, 1989; Porter Roberts, 1981; Scarcella Oxford, 1992 Classroom listening should prepare students for real listening; aural authentic texts would expose students to real language from the beginning of their language study Bacon, 1992; Morton, 1999. Students working with authentic materials gained valuable practice in the specific skill of making sense of live speech without necessarily understanding every word of structure; then, an increase in listening comprehension is a natural consequence of this practice Herron Seay, 1991. Herron and Seay 1991: 487-495 believe that students, with proper instructional planning by the teacher, can be led to extract general and specific meaning from oral authentic texts while improving general listening- comprehension skills. Using authentic materials allowed students to experience early in their study the rewards of learning a language. Bacon and Finnemann 1990: 459-473 find that when students are properly prepared, authentic materials had a positive effect on both perpustakaan.uns.ac.id commit to user comprehension and motivation. The challenge for the second-language teacher, therefore, is to identify authentic materials of potential interest to students and to prepare the students for dealing with these texts in a meaningful way. Lund 1990: 105-115 even recommends a trend toward bringing classroom-listening instruction and practice as close to real world listening as is possible. In conclusion, since a goal of classroom listening is to prepare students for reallife listening outside the classroom, it is necessary to implement authentic materials at all levels of language instruction and listening-comprehension training . Finally, the researcher observed teachers‟ beliefs on the use of authentic materials to teach listening.

E. Review of Relevant Studies