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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
In this study, the researcher discusses six main parts of this chapter. They are: 1 background of the study, 2 limitation of the study, 3 problem
formulation, 4 objectives of the study, 5 benefits of the study, and 6 definition of terms.
A. Background of the Study
Language has a central role in human’s development. Language helps people to develop their intellectual ability, social ability, and also their emotional
ability. Through a language, people can express their opinions, feelings, imagination and creativity in their mind.
English is an international language. It is spoken by many people all over the world where people use it to communicate to other people. English is also the
key which opens door to scientific and technological knowledge. Much knowledge, science, technology, and other crucial things are presented in English
language. From the fact above, it is obvious that everybody needs to learn English to encounter the globalization era. Therefore, students in Indonesia today are
required to master English to enter the globalization era. Learning English means learning all of its elements pronunciation,
grammar, and vocabulary and its four English skills speaking, reading, writing and listening. Among these four English skills, listening is included as receptive
skill like reading. For many years, this skill did not receive priority in language teaching. The language teaching is mostly focused on the productive skills
speaking and writing. However, Richards and Renandya 2002: 239, as cited by Rost 1994: 141-142 stated that listening is crucial in the language classroom
which provides input for the learners and it is fundamental to speaking. Furthermore, listening is considered as the hardest skill to most students Riddel,
2001: 108. Students must concentrate carefully and must be able to catch information they listen to.
Gramb and Carr 1991: 247, as cited by Strother 1991: 241, added that “listening develops more reliably if it is taught directly.” It means that teachers
must consider the important areas for the development of listening skill, including classroom atmosphere and techniques used in teaching listening. Therefore, task-
based learning is applied in this study as the basic theory to develop the materials in the communicative learning process. It provides students with a natural context
for language used Larsen-Freeman, 2000: 144. Besides, task-based learning gives students many opportunities to interact through the tasks. By giving many
kinds of tasks, it is hoped that students will have opportunities to practice listening as a receptive skill. Furthermore, giving tasks will strengthen students’ immediate
recall in order to increase their memory. Task-based learning also focuses on the classroom processes Richard, 2005: 33, where students practice themselves and
teacher provides feedback. Nunan 1989: 10 added that task-based learning is one kind of learning through which learners are given many tasks in the target
language. Hence, they can comprehend, manipulate, produce and interact using
the target language. Those are the main reasons why the writer is interested in conducting a study, which has a purpose to produce a set of listening instructional
materials based on the task-based learning for the ninth grade students of SMP Negeri 11 Yogyakarta.
The reasons the writer chooses the ninth grade students of junior high school of SMP Negeri 11 Yogyakarta are that the students have learned English
for more than three years and are expected to possess the basic theory on English. In addition, to graduate from the junior high school, the students have to pass the
English test, which one of them is listening test. Whereas, based on the interview with the English teacher, the students find difficulties in listening because of the
lack of vocabulary and grammar mastery. Therefore, the preparation in dealing with listening test in order to graduate from junior high school is needed.
Furthermore, listening instructional materials for teaching in SMP Negeri 11 Yogyakarta are not available. Hence, the purposes of designing the materials are
to provide listening materials, to improve students’ ability in listening skill and to encourage them to communicate in the target language.
According to the previous explanation, it is expected that the materials can help the ninth grade students of SMP Negeri 11 Yogyakarta to improve their
English listening skill to communicate in the target language and to practice and to prepare the students to face the National School Examination. Besides, it is also
important for them to prepare themselves for the next level, that is, senior high school.
B. Problem Formulation
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