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Based on the elaboration above, the construct of listening for kindergarten students can be defined as follows: listening is understanding speech which consists
phonemes, words, phrases, and simple sentences. It includes the dimensions of recognizing the sounds, discriminating similar sounds, and understanding words,
phrases, and simple sentences.
B. The Nature of Phonics
Since phonics is one of the variables in the study of “The Effectiveness of Phonics to teach Listening
Viewed from the Students’ Self-Confidence”, there are some discussions to be elaborated. They are the definitions of phonics, the selection of phonics
pattern, two kinds of phonics, and the lesson plans for teaching phonics.
1. The Definitions of Phonics
Phonic is a method of teaching on how to connect the spoken English sounds
with letters or groups of letters www.wikipedia.com. For example, the representation of c, k, ck or ch spellings is in the form of k sound. Paul 2003: 86
explains that phonics is a method where children learn phonic sounds e.g. „ar’ or
„ee’ and pronunciation rules e.g. special „e’: cap + e = cape, hat + e = hate. The children also break down words up into their component sounds. Teaching phonics
can be done through listening first, and then followed by reading or speaking and writing. The students should know the spelling of a word through listening in order
to read it. Then, they would be able to pronounce it correctly and write the combination of the letters by matching it with the sound Kaboodvand: 2008.
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In learning English, the students need to understand the words, patterns and chunks in order to internalize them deeply and to be able to produce actively and
flexibly Paul, 2003: 73. Therefore, the students need more exposures to listen to the target language.
Mahurt 2005: 20 states that phonics can be applied in listening by guiding the students to hear sounds in words and then choose the correct answer or write the
representative letters of the sounds. Listening through phonics emphasizes on the letter forms, letter sequences, letter cluster, and their relationship to letter-sounds
correspondence. It means that listening through phonics focuses on how words work where it breaks down the word into letters, so does the other way round.
Listening to phonic sounds is important for developing the childs language and literacy skills. By listening and becoming familiar with them, the student will realize
that letters stand for the sounds they hear in words www.atozphonics.com so that they finally understand the words in context.
2. Phonics Method
