CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
To support this study, the writer does a literature review related to the topic of this study that is about the Characteristics of Junior High School Students, Songs as a
Teaching Media, The Definition of a Song, The Elements of Songs, Songs in the Language Learning, Teaching Pronunciation, The Elements of Pronunciation,
Students’ Problems in Pronouncing English Words, Songs to Improve Achievement in Pronunciation.
2.1 Characteristics of Junior High School Students
According to Hurlock as quoted by Soeparwoto 2004: 62 that students of Junior high school have some characteristics. They are as follows:
1 The ages of the students are between 13 to 16.
2 They can not be said as young children or adult.
3 The students of these ages will have changes on their body and their
psychology and it will improve the way they think about something. 4
The students of these ages are better in practice rather than in theory. 5
They like to try new life style and decide what kind of attitude or character, as they want.
6 They are less self-confident and do not believe about their ability.
7 They like to attract people’s attention because they want people realize about
their appearance by doing something out of social norm.
From the points mentioned above, it can be said that the students of these ages do not like something formal and they usually like to show outright attitude.
Therefore, it is better for the teacher to bring the students into the real life rather than to give them a lot of theory in the learning process.
Generally, the age of the students is very important for the teacher to decide about what to teach and how to teach them. The different age levels of the students
will influence their competence in acquiring new languages. People say that children are fast language learners than adults. However students of different age levels have
their own characteristics in learning a language. Harmer 2000: 38-40 divides students into three age levels: young children, adolescents and adults. And the
students of Junior High school can be grouped into adolescents. Students of Junior High School are very special, as they cannot be said as
children or adults. They are usually called as teenagers or adolescents. The students of these ages have special characteristics as they are in a transitional age. Callahan
1977:7 states that adolescence, including transition, is a period of change, of a new experience, of learning new roles of uncertainty, and instability undoubtedly one of
the most trying times in life. On the other hand, Harmer 2000: 37 states that adolescents are believed to be
unmotivated, surly, and uncooperative and therefore they make poor language. While Puchta and Schrats as quoted by Harmer 2000: 38 state that teenagers seemed to be
less lively and humorous than adults, they are so much less motivated and they present outright of discipline problems.
From the statements above, the writer concludes that students of Junior High School level are usually less motivated and they also show contrast behaviors.
However, teenage students also could be the best language learners. Therefore, as the teachers of teenage learners they should be able to plan the learning process that
would make the students involve in the learning activities without any pressure in taking parts.
2.2 Songs as a Teaching Media
Kategori