The influences of reading texts as a pre-listening material to students` understanding - USD Repository

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

THE INFLUENCES OF READING TEXTS
AS A PRE-LISTENING MATERIAL
TO STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING
A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
Dianing Padmi
Student Number: 031214047

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2008

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

THE INFLUENCES OF READING TEXTS
AS A PRE-LISTENING MATERIAL
TO STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING
A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
Dianing Padmi
Student Number: 031214047

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA
2008
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I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked God for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn to obey.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power and the praise of men;
I was given weakness to sense my need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing I asked for, but everything I hoped for;
In spite of myself, my prayers were answered –
I am among all men most richly blessed.
Anon

“a big gift” for mom, dad, brother, sister, and friends

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Finishing this thesis is the evidence of Jesus’ love to me. His kind and
blessings accompanied me in the process of accomplishing this thesis in both my ups
and downs. My gratefulness is worth giving to Him, my only Lord, Jesus Christ.

This thesis has been greatly improved by the help and comment of people
who have been kind enough to be involved during the writing of my thesis. I am
greatly indebted to Christina Kristiyani, my great major sponsor, who was willing
to sacrifice her precious times, attention, motivation, detailed feedbacks, and
guidance, for the sake of improving the content of my thesis. I thank her for being
my friendly advisor and for unceasing encouragement. Moreover, I also owe
immeasurable debts to Laurentina Sumarni, my co-sponsor, for valuable feedbacks
in correcting my writing, support, and guidance. My sincere gratefulness also goes to
all PBI lecturers, who always provided valuable lessons for my future life, and
secretariat staff, Mbak Danik and Mbak Tari, for all help and kindness during my
five-year study. However, I would also like to acknowledge Ag. Suwardi, the head
of SMA Stella Duce Bantul, who allowed me to conduct the research at the school.
I realize that the completion of this thesis would not have happened without
the help of great people around me. Therefore, I thank my greatest family, my “fat”
father, Teguh Santoso, my mother, Yutiati, my only brother and sister, Djatu
Poerwoko and Bacillia Resmi, my brother and sister in law, Nug and Merry for
unfailing support, prayer, love, fund, and time we share together. I hardly imagine
accomplishing this big final project without these great people.
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My deepest gratitude goes to all my friends of PBI’03, especially Priyatno
Ardi, for all brilliant ideas, his kindness to guide me to conduct the research, to write
and to correct my thesis, Mesya, for the hardest time and discussion we shared
together in the process of accomplishing my thesis, cewe-cewe and cowo-cowo
populer: Dame ’Batak’, Dita, ‘mak’ Miertah, Neti, Neng Tika, Bagong, Si Be, Jii,
‘Babah’ Lukas, Punto, Suki, Yessi, for all laughs, tears, love, jobs, discussion,
surprises, unending support, money, prizes, foods, fool we shared during the last five
years, Ozzi, Retha, Lintang, Melani, Ratna, Happy, ‘pon’ Nina, Tony, Devi, Ari,
Meiske, Daniel, Paulina, Layung, Proti, for friendship, jokes, life experiences, and
support, Joyce, Erlin, Mbak Ida, Mbak Etik, and all the members of Kasuari 7
who always remind me of finishing my thesis soon. Lastly, in completing this final
project, I also owe a debt of gratitude to all of my participants: Tia, Novi, Silas,
Berta, Santi, Mia, Puput, Tri, Tya, Pipit, for spending time to give me precious
data.

Dianing Padmi

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE .......................................................................................................

i

APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................................

ii

PAGE OF BOARD OF EXAMINERS ..............................................................

iii

PAGE OF DEDICATION ...................................................................................

iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................

v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ...............................

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................

ix

LIST OF TABLES ...............................................................................................

xii

LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... xiii
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................... xiv
ABSTRAK .............................................................................................................

xv

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study ................................................................................ 1
B. Problem Formulation ...................................................................................... 6
C. Problem Limitation ......................................................................................... 6
D. Objectives of the Study ................................................................................... 6
E. Benefits of the Study ....................................................................................... 7
F. Definition of Terms ......................................................................................... 8

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CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Theoretical Description ................................................................................... 11
1. Theory of Prior Knowledge ...................................................................... 11
2. Theory of Listening ................................................................................... 13
a. Listening as a Skill .............................................................................. 14
b. Difficulties in Listening ...................................................................... 15
c. Bottom Up and Top Down Process ..................................................... 17
3. Theory of Reading .................................................................................... 19
a. Text Selection ..................................................................................... 21
b. Types of Texts ..................................................................................... 23
4. Reading Text to Construct Knowledge ..................................................... 24
5. Students’ Perception on the Implementation of Reading Text ................ 25
B. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................... 26

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
A. Research Method ............................................................................................ 29
B. Research Participants ...................................................................................... 30
C. Research Instruments ...................................................................................... 31
D. Data Gathering Techniques ............................................................................. 35
E. Data Analysis Techniques ............................................................................... 36
F. Research Procedure ......................................................................................... 39

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CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Students’ Perception toward Pre-Listening Material ...................................... 41
B. The Influences of Reading Text to the Students while Listening
to the Recording .............................................................................................. 48
1. Readiness .................................................................................................. 49
2. Comprehension ......................................................................................... 50
a. Following the Plot of the Story ........................................................... 50
b. Grabbing Detailed Information ........................................................... 53
c. Answering Comprehensive Questions ................................................ 57
3. Language ................................................................................................... 60

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 63
B. Suggestions ..................................................................................................... 65
REFERENCES

APPENDICES

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LIST OF TABLES

Page
3.1 Level of Students’ Answers Rubrics ............................................................... 38
4.1 Students’ Perception toward Pre-Listening Material ..................................... 48
4.2 Indicators Achievement ................................................................................. 54
4.3 How Students Answered Comprehension Questions ..................................... 58

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LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
Appendix 1 : Permission Letter ......................................................................... 72
Appendix 2 : Statement of Research Completion ............................................. 73
Appendix 3 : Reading Texts Materials ............................................................ 74
Appendix 4 : Comprehensive Questions after Listening Section ..................... 78
Appendix 5 : Students’ Answers to the Comprehensive Questions ................. 80
Appendix 6 : Guiding Questions for Interviewing the Participants ................. 86
Appendix 7 : Transcripts of Interview ............................................................. 87
Appendix 8 : Questionnaire .............................................................................. 109
Appendix 9 : Participants’ Answers to the Questionnaire ............................... 110
Appendix 10 : Observation Checklist ................................................................. 122

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ABSTRACT
Padmi, Dianing. 2008. The Influences of Reading Texts as a Pre-Listening Material
to Students’ Understanding. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.
Prior knowledge, among others, is one important part in the learning process.
In this regard, students need to have prior knowledge to learn any subject. However,
teachers should take part in preparing the students to construct prior knowledge in
order to make the learning processes successful.
The present study investigated the implementation of reading text in
extracurricular class of the third grade students of SMA Stella Duce Bantul as a
strategy to help them to acquire listening skill. There were two questions formulated
in the study. The first question discussed students’ perception toward the
implementation of reading text as pre-listening material, whereas the second question
explored the influences of the text to the students while listening to the recording.
To answer the research questions, the researcher employed a qualitative
method. Moreover, three instruments were used to obtain important data, namely
observation sheet, questionnaire, and interview. There were two results obtained from
the study. First, the students generally perceived the implementation of the reading
text, both positively and negatively. Positively, the students thought that the text was
helpful and needed for them. On the contrary, the students also negatively stated that
the text was boring and gave no significant influences on comprehending the listening
passage. Second, the result of the research showed that the students experienced the
influences of the text toward their listening skill in class. Provided with the reading
text before listening to the recording, the students felt more well-prepared and
confident to follow the listening section. Besides, by reading the text, their ability to
follow the plot of the story they listened to, to grab the detail of the story, and to
answer the comprehensive questions were increased. In addition, the ability to spell
the new words correctly was also better. Therefore, it was concluded that the text
influenced the students in acquiring listening skill in three important aspects, namely
(1) readiness, (2) comprehension, and (3) language.

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ABSTRAK
Padmi, Dianing. 2008. The Influences of Reading Texts as a Pre-Listening Material
to Students’ Understanding. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Prior knowledge merupakan bagian penting dalam proses belajar para murid.
Apapun yang akan dipelajari, murid sebaiknya memiliki prior knowledge yang cukup
untuk memahami materi baru yang akan dipelajarinya. Dalam upaya untuk
memberikan prior knowledge yang cukup kepada para murid, guru bidang studi
hendaknya turut ambil bagian.
Studi ini mengkaji proses belajar Listening murid-murid kelas tiga SMA
Stella Duce Bantul yang menggunakan teks bacaan sebagai media untuk membangun
prior knowledge para murid. Ada dua permasalahan yang penulis kemukakan dalam
penelitian ini. Permasalahan pertama membahas persepsi para murid dengan
diterapkannya teks bacaan tersebut, sedangkan permasalahan kedua memaparkan
pendapat para murid mengenai pengaruh teks bacaan tersebut terhadap kemampuan
mendengarkan mereka.
Peneliti menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif. Ada tiga alat yang
digunakan untuk memperoleh data-data penting, yaitu lembar observasi, kuesioner,
dan wawancara. Ada dua hasil yang diperoleh. Pertama, secara umum, para murid
menanggapi penerapan teks bacaan, baik secara positif maupun negatif. Secara
positif, para murid menanggapi bahwa teks bacaan tersebut sangatlah membantu dan
diperlukan. Sedangkan dari sisi negatifnya, murid mengatakan bahwa teks bacaan
tersebut membosankan dan tidak membawa pengaruh yang signifikan. Kedua, para
murid mengalami sendiri pengaruh teks bacaan tersebut terhadap kemampuan
mendengarkan mereka di kelas. Dengan adanya teks bacaan, para murid menjadi
lebih siap dan percaya diri untuk mengikuti pelajaran mendengarkan di kelas. Di
samping itu, dengan membaca teks bacaan terlebih dahulu, kemampuan mereka untuk
mengikuti alur cerita, memahami detil cerita, dan menjawab pertanyaan meningkat.
Di sisi lain, kemampuan menulis para murid pun menjadi lebih baik. Dengan kata
lain, teks bacaan teks bacaan mempengaruhi kemampuan mendengarkan murid dalam
tiga aspek penting; (1) kesiapan, (2) pengertian, (3) kebahasaan.

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses six sub-sections. The first one is background of the study
which states the reason for choosing the topic of the study. The second sub-section
concerns with problem limitation. This section limits the scope of the discussion of
the study. The third is problem formulation, conveying the formulated problems of
the study. The next sub-section deals with the objectives of the study that elaborate
the aims of the study. The benefits of the study are discussed in the fifth sub-section,
while the last sub-section deals with the definition of terms which covers the
definitions of essential terms used in the study.

A.

Background of the Study
The need to learn English language is rising nowadays since English is widely

used in all over the world. English language becomes a medium of communication
which is internationally used by many people of different countries. Considering the
importance of its use in the international communication, English becomes a
compulsory subject taught in Indonesia schools. However, it is still taught as a
foreign language in Indonesia.
As a foreign language, English is not a simple subject to be learned, even
though it has been introduced to the very beginning students, i.e. elementary school
students, even to kindergarten students. Many advanced students still face difficulties

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in learning the language, even though the teacher usually teaches using several
approaches in order to make the students master English.
“Traditional learning approach” (Hanley, 1994: 1) believes that the students
come to class as “blank slates”. It means that they come to class without keeping any
information in their mind. In this regard, the students are considered as “empty
vessels” (Benson, 2001: 19). Therefore, by learning in the classroom they are “to be
filled with knowledge by the teacher” (Benson, 2001: 19). In this sense, the teacher
becomes the only source of information or knowledge. This passive view of learning,
which becomes the basic point of learning in traditional learning approach, results in
ineffective learning.
Different from the traditional learning approach, constructivist believes that
“knowledge cannot be taught, but must be constructed by the learner” (Benson, 2001:
68). Consequently, students do not merely depend on the teacher’s explanation in
building a new understanding, but also on their existing knowledge. Students
construct their own understanding in learning new materials using their existing or
prior knowledge. Constructivism, thus, emphasizes the importance of the learners’
being actively involved in the learning process. It is unlike the previous educational
viewpoint which considers that the teachers are to transfer new knowledge while the
learners play a passive, receptive role. Therefore, in constructive view, it is necessary
for the teacher to help the students construct the related knowledge that will be
learned in the class.
According to Hein (1996: 2), people need to have their own knowledge to
learn and understand new materials. For that reason, the students cannot come to

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class and begin new materials without any knowledge. The students should have prior
knowledge about what to be learned. The Prior knowledge makes the mind ready to
accept and retain new information.
There are several ways to activate students’ prior knowledge in the classroom.
The teacher may review the previous learning to activate the students’ prior
knowledge. Besides, a teacher can also use analogy if the present lesson has some
similarities to something the learner already knows. The most common strategy is by
asking questions to the students. Realizing the importance of prior knowledge, most
teachers nowadays try to consider students’ prior knowledge before introducing a
new material.
Students’ prior knowledge should be constructed first before the teacher
explains or teaches a new material. Constructing students’ knowledge before the
lesson begins is needed to be done in every lesson, including in English learning.
Learning English means to learn its four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading,
and writing. In learning those four skills, teachers usually activate students’ prior
knowledge first by asking questions or by correcting homework. In the activities to
acquire listening skill, teachers usually apply the common way in activating students’
prior knowledge, i.e. by asking questions related to what to be listened. However, the
process is too short to maximize the students’ prior knowledge. Hence, the time
constraint becomes one obstacle to maximize the ways used to activate prior
knowledge.
One of English skills is listening. Listening is a comprehension skill. This
skill is very important in communication. Brownell (1996: 6) says that listening is the

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starting point to make effective in communication. It implies that listening plays a
major role in communication. Considering the reason for the importance of listening
skill, the teacher should make the listening learning more effective in the class.
However, in learning this skill, the students often find difficulties. The difficulties
arise since the students are not familiar with the language and the material they listen
to. Besides, sometimes the teacher does not inform the material that is going to be
listened in the next meeting. Therefore, in learning listening skill, students’ prior
knowledge has to be maximized in order to obtain better understanding of the new
materials they learn.
Due to the fact that the time to learn in the classroom is very limited, the
teacher employed reading texts as pre-listening material to construct students’
knowledge before acquiring listening skill in the classroom. This study investigates
the implementation of reading texts which serve as a help for the third science grade
students of SMA Stella Duce Bantul in listening. As English is widely used in the
entire world as a medium of communication in this era of globalization, the students
at this level learn English both in the formal class as a compulsory subject and in
extracurricular class. Extracurricular lesson is aimed to support the English learning
in the class since the time for learning it in the formal class is not enough. However,
extracurricular class is important for the students in helping the students to prepare
themselves facing the final examination. Therefore, joining the English
extracurricular class is a must for the students. In the extracurricular class, the
students also learn the four skills as in the formal or regular class.

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One of the four skills that is learned by the students is listening skill.
Activating students’ prior knowledge in listening section should not merely introduce
the students to the new learning material, but also give them basic knowledge of what
is going to be learned. Therefore, the way to activate the prior knowledge must be
more than giving questions to the students before learning new materials. In this
regard, pre-listening material in the form of reading text becomes a special way of
constructing students’ prior knowledge. In fact, pre-listening material is necessary to
prepare the students (http://teflboot_camp.com/1%20Communicative%20teaching.do
c, accessed on 16 February 2008).
Vacca (1981: 6) believes that “reading is the vehicle of learning”. It means
that reading can be used to support the learning process in each skill, including
listening. The use of reading passages in activating students’ prior knowledge
hopefully can help the students to have a description on the topic or material to be
learned. Students will build their prior knowledge through reading passages at home.
However, different students may have different perception toward the implementation
of reading text as pre-listening material. The difference perception may due to
different expectation, needs, and past experiences (Bootzin et al, 1983: 119). By
implementing the use of reading texts to construct students’ prior knowledge in
listening section for the third grade science students of a senior high school, the
researcher is interested in finding out students’ perception toward pre-listening
material and the influence of the reading text on the students while acquiring listening
skill in the classroom.

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B.

Problem Formulation
The problems are formulated in two questions, as follows:

1. How do the students perceive pre-listening materials?
2. What are the influences of reading text to the students’ understanding while
listening to the stories in the classroom?

C.

Problem Limitation
The research is limited to investigate students’ perception and the influence of

reading texts on the students’ comprehension while listening to the stories. It is
implemented in the third grade of Science students of SMA Stella Duce Bantul. The
reading texts are intended to help students construct related knowledge for listening
section in the class. Due to the time constraint, the reading texts were to be read at
home a week before the listening section in class. Therefore, by the time the students
come to classroom, they have already had knowledge on what to be learned.

D.

Objectives of the Study
The research seeks to investigate the use of reading texts to construct

students’ prior knowledge. Therefore, this study has several objectives to achieve.
The objectives are as follows:
1. To identify the students’ perceptions on the use of reading texts as a pre-listening
material.
2. To find out the influences of the reading texts to the students’ understanding
while listening to the stories in the classroom.

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E.

Benefits of the Study
The research is expected to give valuable contributions both for the teachers

and the students and the next researchers in English language teaching.
1. Teachers
This study will help teachers to realize the importance of prior knowledge in
building a new understanding in learning listening skill. Besides, this way of
constructing prior knowledge will become a consideration for the English teachers in
teaching listening skill.

2. Students
The students will experience a new learning strategy in learning English
listening skill. It is hoped that by constructing students’ knowledge through reading
the materials at home, the students’ ability in acquiring listening skill is improved.
Besides, the students will also have the habit of reading which is very useful for
them.

3. Researchers
The result of the research hopefully can be used as background knowledge or
reference for the next researchers. They may use the result of this study for their own
research on related issues, i.e. on the use of reading passages to activate students’
knowledge in learning listening skill in classroom.

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F.

Definition of Terms
It is essential to clarify some terms used in this study in order to avoid

confusion, misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Therefore, the writer provides the
definition of terms as follows:
1. Pre-Listening Material
Pre-activity is an initial phase of teaching process. This phase “is organized to
arouse interests in the students, to activate students’ prior knowledge, and to prepare
them for the language that can be necessary to perform the main task using related
material” (http://teflboot_camp.com/1%20Communicative%20teaching.doc, accessed
on 16 February 2008). In this study, pre-listening material is used as material before
the main learning process, i.e. listening section to construct students’ prior
knowledge. The material is in the form of reading text and is to be read at home.

2. Reading Texts
Brown and Yule (1983: 6), as cited in Wallace (2003: 8), describe the
meaning of a text as “the verbal record of a communicative act.” Therefore, in this
study, reading text refers to the narrative form which is given by the teacher in order
to prepare the students a week before listening section in the classroom.

3. Listening
“Listening means receiving the transfer of images, impressions, thoughts,
beliefs, attitudes and emotions from speaker” (Rost, 2002: 2). In this study, listening
is one of English language skills that is learned by the students of the third grade of

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SMU Stella Duce Bantul. In listening section, the students are to listen to narrative
stories.

4. Perception
According to Altman and Hodgetts (1985: 85), perception is defined as “an
individual’s view of reality”. In this study, the perception is gained from the students
in order to find out their opinion toward the implementation of reading text as prelistening material; whether the reading text is positively or negatively perceived.
Positive means that the use of reading text was likely to help the students in many
aspects, while negative means that the reading text caused problems to the students.

5. Influence
Influence is “power to produce an effect without using force or authority”
(Barnhart and Thorndike, 1973: 570). In this study, influence means the effects of
accessing the new knowledge in order to give clear description on the story they are
going to listen in the classroom.

6. Extracurricular Class
Extracurricular class means “an activity performed by students that fall
outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E
xtracurricular_activity, accessed on 9 February 2007). In this study, the
extracurricular activity is carried out after the formal class to facilitate the students to

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learn English much more considering the time constraint in the regular class. Besides,
the extracurricular class is used to prepare the students to face the final examination.

7. SMA Stella Duce Bantul
SMA Stella Duce Bantul is a private senior high school under the Tarakanita
Institution. It is located in Ganjuran, Bantul, Yogyakarta. The total number of
students of the third grade is 53 students. Those students are divided into three
classes, namely Science class and two classes of Social class. There are 14 students of
Science class and the rest 39 students belong to Social class.

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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter consists of two parts, namely theoretical description and
theoretical framework. The theoretical description provides theoretical review
used in the research whereas the summary of all relevant theories that are used
to solve the research problems is explained in theoretical framework section.

A. Theoretical Description
There are four main theories used in this study, namely theory of prior
knowledge, theory of listening, theory of reading text, and reading text to construct
knowledge.

1. Theory of Prior Knowledge
Commonly, people learn in order to gain new knowledge. Learning is
intended by someone to broaden his or her knowledge. For instance, learners
learn English in order to give them more knowledge about the language so that
they are able to use it in communication.
Learning a language will need efforts to understand. It cannot be learned
easily. Brown (2000: 1) states that “language learning is not a set of easy steps
that can be programmed in a quick do-it-yourself kit.” Thus, it will take time to
comprehend a language well. Moreover, Stern (1983: 20) defines language
learning as “conscious language development particularly in formal school-like
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setting.” However, in the process of learning a language, the learners are aware
of what they are doing.
It is undeniable that in the learning process the learners will obtain
information and build a new understanding, but learners cannot construct new
knowledge without having existing knowledge on what to learn. Ausabel’s
meaningful learning theory believes that in the process of learning, the human
organism needs to relate the new information to the existing information in the
mind (Brown, 1994: 79). Therefore, the learners will understand the new
material well if they can relate it to the knowledge the learners already possess.
Similar to the theory of meaningful learning, Brownell (1996: 10) also states
that learning means to construct new knowledge and understanding based on what the
students possess. It implies that the students need to be actively involved in the
process of learning and do not merely receive the information from the teacher. Here,
Brownell implicitly suggests that the existing knowledge contributes the successful
learning. Furthermore, he explains that the existing knowledge will provide different
effects in learners’ abilities to retain information, solve problems, and acquire new
knowledge. Therefore, constructing students’ knowledge is needed before the lesson.
In learning English, in which the students are to master its four skills,
constructing knowledge is also significant. From the four English skills, listening is
often neglected and merely learned without activating background knowledge. The
students often listen to the recording and answer a number of questions related to the
recording, no matter they are familiar to the recording or not. However, according to
Nunan (1999: 4), in learning listening, the task to construct students’ background

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should precede the listening process itself. Thus, the background knowledge has also
to be well constructed before the process of learning listening skill.

2. Theory of Listening
Learning English is intended to make the students able to use the
language in communication. By learning four skills the learners are hopefully
able to accomplish the primary function of English language learning. Therefore,
by learning the skills, the learners will be able to communicate effectively.
According to Brownell (1996: 6), “effective communication begins with
listening, not speaking”. It implies that listening skill becomes the basic skill to
be learned in order to master a language. Similar to Brownell, Feyten (1991)
states that “listening is the foundation of language acquisition”. It means that
listening is the starting point to learn other skills. Whenever we want to speak,
we must listen to others’ pronunciation, intonation, and utterances, so as to help
us to produce utterances. Moreover, in practicing reading skill, listening is also
essential. We must have a basic knowledge of pronunciation derived from
listening to a dialogue in order to produce good sentences to be read. Besides,
good listening skill is very useful to support writing skill. Unless we listen
carefully, we cannot take note effectively. Of all above, listening skill
contributes an important role in mastering English language.
Listening is more complex than hearing. The key that differs hearing
from listening is the attention by the listeners. Rost (2002: 8) says that listening
needs more intention than hearing. Listening does not merely mean to receive or

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recognize the sounds, but it involves the ability to understand or to construct the
meaning on what is heard. Listening takes more attention and concentration to
obtain the meaning of the spoken language. However, good listening skill can be
learned.
In acquiring listening skill, students also need to have knowledge on what to
be learned. According to Hein (1996: 2), “one needs knowledge to learn”. It means
that even in learning a new material the learners need to have knowledge about the
material in order to construct new understanding. Therefore, prior knowledge is
needed in learning. In acquiring English listening skill at schools, prior knowledge is
also significant. Listening, as a receptive skill, also needs prior knowledge. Rost
(2002: 62) states that “listening also needs knowledge activation”. For that
reason, teachers need to construct students’ prior knowledge to be used in
acquiring listening skill.

a. Listening as a Skill
Listening skill, as well as reading, is categorized as receptive. As the
result, listening which is very important in language learning is often believed as
a passive skill. However, listening skill is not a passive skill. This belief is in
line with Davies and Pearse (2000: 74), who state that receptive skills which are
often considered as passive skills also need attention equally to other productive
skill. It is to say that listening is as much active as other productive skills.
In addition, Nunan (2003: 24) believes “listening is very active.” His
statement is based on the reason that there is a complex process in the brain

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while listening. In listening process, the listeners will take intention,
concentration, and also practice. He explains that listeners will not only listen to
what is said by speaker, but also need to connect with their existing knowledge.
Therefore, in acquiring listening skill, the learners also need to have existing
knowledge.

b. Difficulties in Listening
Listening is often considered as a difficult skill to be acquired. Many
students face difficulties in listening as it needs high attention and also
concentration in order to be able to listen effectively. Students often have
difficulties in doing the tasks of listening. However, the difficulties are as the
result of many aspects.
Brown and Yule (1938b), as cited in Nunan (1991: 24), propose four
factors affecting the difficulty of oral language tasks. As listening process
involves at least two people, i.e. a speaker and a listener, the first common factor
is indeed the speaker. The speaker factor here refers to the speed of speaking,
the quantity of the speaker, and also the accent of the speakers. Listening
becomes more difficult when the listeners have to listen to a very fast speaker.
Besides, the number of speaker who speaks at a time will also affect the quality
of listening. The more speakers speak at a time, the harder listeners comprehend
the message of what is being told. Moreover, unfamiliar accent of the speakers
may cause misinterpretation of a word or even the message. Yet, the speakers
give influence to many difficulties.

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The second problem is the listeners. It is related to the role of listeners,
the level of response required, and the interest of the topic being listened. The
role that listeners play affects the degree of listeners’ attention. When the
listeners do not have big role in listening to the topic, the attention will be
condensed so that it may cause lack of understanding. On the other hand, the
level of response required from the listeners can also affect the degree of
attention. The listeners will not listen to the whole information in order to obtain
the whole idea or message of what is being listened. Otherwise, they will only
listen to some parts they think to be important in giving responses. However, the
most important thing is listeners’ interest. The listener will not pay much
attention to the topic if they are not interested at all.
The content of what is being listened becomes the third difficulty. The
content involves grammar, vocabulary, information structure, and background
knowledge.

The

complex

grammar

and

unfamiliar

words

cause

low

understanding. Moreover, the information structure that is how information is
being told is also important. The structure of the information should be clear and
orderly. Another difficulty is background knowledge. The background
knowledge contributes the familiarity of the topic that is going to be listened to.
As stated before, familiarity is important so as to make the listeners keep their
attention. When the listeners are familiar to the topic, they will listen to it very
carefully.
The last factor proposed by Brown and Yule is support. The support
refers to the use of supporting items to the listening task. It includes pictures,

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diagrams, or other visual aids. The use of those items is very useful to increase
listeners’ motivation in doing the task.
In addition, citing Anderson and Lynch (1988), Nunan (1991: 24)
provides five difficulties of listening task. Basically, the idea of the difficulties
is the same, but is presented in different words. The difficulties are “the
organization of information,” “the familiarity of the topic,” “the explicitness and
sufficiency of the information,” “the type of referring information,” and
“whether the text described static or dynamic relationship.”
As a final point, there are a lot of difficulties in completing listening task
well. Therefore, teachers should be able to overcome the difficulty. One solution
to reduce the problem is by helping the students construct knowledge about what
to be listened to. By doing so, the students will be more familiar to the topic.
Besides, they will also have clear and sufficient information about the topic, and
also will understand the content better.

c. Bottom Up and Top Down Processes
In the process of acquiring listening skill, there are two activities that are
commonly applied by the English language teachers. According to Nunan (2003:
26), the distinction of the process of learning is based on the way the students
attempt to understand what they listen to. The two activities to acquire listening
skill are bottom-up and top-down.

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1) Bottom Up Processing
Bottom up processing happens when “the students start with the
component parts: words, grammar, and the like” (Nunan, 2003: 26). In other
words, bottom-up is text based. It means that the listener relies on the language in
the message, that is, the combination of sounds, words, and grammar that creates
meaning. The listeners process the information from the very basic or small part of
language, i.e. sounds into the bigger one, such as words, phrases, clauses, and
sentences. Anderson and Lynch (2003: 9) prefer to use the term “tape recorder” to
describe the listeners in bottom up processing. Thus, it implies that the listeners will
simply memorize and recall words that speakers said. However, bottom up processing
does not merely receive and store audio input, but the listeners also need to interpret
linguistics input through mental process (Goh, 2002: 5).

2) Top Down Processing
In opposite to the bottom-up processing, top-down processing begins
from the students’ background knowledge (Nunan, 2003: 26). According to
Morley (2001), in the top-down processing, the listeners trigger their existing knowledge
to infer and predict the new information to create the meaning in mind. However, in this

process, the learners need to have background knowledge in order to be able to
convey the message. Top-down strategies are listener based; the listener taps into
background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the
language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectation that helps the
listener to interpret what is listened to and predict what will come next. Therefore,
Anderson and Lynch (2003: 9) consider the listeners as “active model builders”. The

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listeners do not come to class without any information. In fact, the listeners will
actively build their own understanding on what they listen to by relating it with their
existing knowledge.
In top down processing, the teacher, as the facilitator of learning in the
classroom, may help the students to prepare or to construct their prior knowledge on
what is going to be learned. In preparing the students, reading activity can be a way to
help students construct prior knowledge which is important for listening
comprehension in the classroom.

3. Theory of Reading
Reading is very significant in life. Through reading, someone can be rich
of important information. A piece of reading text can make someone know more.
In other words, by reading, people will gain more knowledge. Reading is one of
the ways to broaden knowledge. Besides, according to Raygor and Raygor
(1985: 3), reading is also a great source of entertainment for many people.
Therefore, it implies that reading is very useful to give the readers new
information and also to entertain them.
As a comprehension skill, reading is divided into two main types. The
first type is extensive reading and the second one is intensive reading. The
division of these two types is based on the quality and also quantity of
information that students gain. Extensive reading emphasizes the amount of
information that is gained from as many sources or texts as possible.

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Additionally, intensive reading tends to put attention on the high quality of
comprehension from small number of sources or texts.

1. Extensive Reading
Extensive reading covers a large area. Extensive reading involves the students
to read long texts or large quantities for general understanding, with the intention of
enjoying the texts (Stanley, 2005:1). In addition, this type of reading can encourage
the students to acquaint various types of texts.
The use of more than one text or sources will enrich the students’ knowledge.
However, Paulston and Bruder (1976: 199) note down problems found in extensive
reading. The problems concern with the selection of reading materials or texts and
how to make students read the texts.

2. Intensive Reading
Different from extensive reading, which uses as many sources as possible
to gain knowledge, the intensive reading, on the other hand, emphasizes more on
the depth of information from a single or few texts. Intensive reading focuses on
the detailed information from a single or a few texts. Intensive reading will train
the students to read carefully in order to understand the text well. The use of
single text may cause the depth of understanding that leads to the better
understanding of the text.

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a. Text Selection
Reading activity can be very useful in the learning processes in the
school. McKim (1958: 15) states that “reading is important aspect of living in
school”. It implies that printed sources, which are used in the reading activity,
are very familiar to the students as they often learn using text books.
Nevertheless, in using reading texts to support the learning in schools, the
teacher should pay attention to the text selection, that is how the teacher chooses
the text suitable for learning purposes, and the teacher should know the type of
the text to be used in order to understand the function of each type of text.
In preparing the reading texts for the students, the teacher needs to be
very selective. There are several things to be considered in preparing the reading
texts in teaching learning process. Duffy (1985: 147) points out three important
aspects to be measured in preparing usable texts for teaching. The aspects are as
follows:
1. Audience
Audience means the reader of the text. Duffy (1985: 147) states that audience
of a text can be different. He implicitly says that a text may be very useful
for a group of audience, but not for others. However, a usable text should be
written by considering the readers so that the message can be understood by
the readers well. Teachers should consider the readers’ cultural background,
linguistics competence, and also interest. Otherwise, the message of a text
will not be grasped by its readers.

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2. Purpose
Duffy (1985: 148) reveals that “printed materials used for many purposes to
learn, to execute procedures related to work, as reference materials, and so
on”. As so many purposes the reading activity gives, it is important for
teachers to decide a definite purpose of a text to be read by the students first.
By deciding the purpose of the text, it will be easier to choose an appropriate
text.

3. Context
Context refers to the situation around the readers. The situation in which the
texts are used also contributes a significant role of the reading activity.
Carter categorizes context into four aspects, namely size of the text, style or
type, clarity of graphics, and type of the paper. By considering the context,
the text selected will be more appropriate to the audience.

Goh (2002: 45) agrees that the use of literary texts is suitable for
listening. Nevertheless, teachers should be able to prepare the text by
considering three important criteria. Goh recommends that the teacher should
use texts which are simple. Teacher should be able to adjust the difficulty of the
text and the level of students. The text used is supposed to be simple in which it
really can help students construct their knowledge. The second one is that the
teacher should consider students’ cultural factor. The chosen texts should
support the students to have sufficient background knowledge that will be used

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to understand what they listen to. The last criterion deals with theme. In
selecting the text for listening, the teacher should be able to choose theme that
students can identify. Therefore, in selecting the texts for the students, the
teachers need to be very selective.

b. Types of Texts
Reading text can be classified into two types, namely authentic and nonauthentic texts. The division of the type of r