Due to
the increasing demand of qualified graduates in the pedagogical settings,
English has greatly been taught to accommodate the basis of students’ need.
Teachers, on the other hand, are encouraged to successfully set their students
up with the basic skills in English. Harmer (1991) mentions that the language
skills, not excluding English, are principally classified into two different
scopes: receptive and productive skills. Moreover, according to Permendiknas Nomor 23 Tahun 2006 on the
Graduate Competence Standard (Standard
Kompetensi Kelulusan) for primary and secondary schools, the teaching of
English includes the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. Listening and reading are considered to be the receptive skills;
meanwhile, speaking and writing fall into the category of productive skills.
Underlining
those four major areas of communication skills and language development, the
one that is the most basic is listening. It is evident that when students first
learn a language, they generally have to listen to the words several times
before they are able to recognize and pronounce those words. In the classroom,
students are supposed to listen carefully and attentively to the teachers in
order to understand and retain the information for the later recall. According
to Wolvin and Coakley (1979), the amount of time that students are expected to
listen in the classroom ranges from 42 to 57.5 percent of their communication
time. Taylor
As one
of the fundamental skills in language acquisition, the term ‘listening’ has
obtained a number of definitions from various scholars. Rankin (1926) briefly
states that listening is the ability to understand a spoken language.
Additionally, Johnson (1951) expands the definition to be the ability to
understand and respond effectively to oral communications. Not only that, Purdy
(1997) defines listening as ‘the active and dynamic process of attending,
perceiving, interpreting, remembering, and responding to the expressed (verbal
and nonverbal), needs, concerns and information offered by other human beings’.
From those three definitions, it can generally be construed that listening is
basically a type of activity which requires the ability of absorbing the
meaning of spoken forms. However, many of the students still encounter problems
dealing with the listening skill. They find themselves unable to fully grasp of
what is catered by the native speakers while they are having a listening class.
No wonder if most of them then stigmatize that listening is not easy to be
carried out.
Apart
from the problems faced by the students, listening somehow has to be
well-acquired no matter how hard it is. In the classroom, for instance,
students have to achieve certain kinds of listening objectives which have been
systematically programmed by the teacher. Nonetheless, the classroom teaching
is remarkably viewed as inadequate spaces for the students to widen their
listening ability with an extra time of understanding. Therefore, they need to
intensify themselves to have an independent listening study outside of the
school hours. Contextually, the Independent Listening Study (ILS) here is
sketched on the listening activities which are established by the students out
of the regular classes without being forced by the teacher and relying on their
friends. In addition, the independent listening study can be actualized through
several kinds of activities, two of which are in the form of web-based
resources and English TV programs. These two activities will be useful for the
students to rehearse their English competence, particularly in listening.
Palpably, this essay will underscore the paramount similarities between them in
terms of the flexibility and variety, and polarize the substantial differences in
the context of the availability and accessibility. Also, it emerges on how the
enjoyment and betterment grow interchangeably with the practice of the independent
listening study through web-based resources and English TV programs.
Establishing
the independent listening study through web-based resources and English TV
programs is basically similar from the angle of flexibility. Web-based
resources here are meant as kinds of self-study activities in which students
use the materials mostly from the internet. Of course, it allows them to
independently have a virtual exploration on the websites which offer a number
of comprehensible listening exercises for them. In addition, there are no
boundaries for them to pick up any sites they like to have for the sake of
their own independent listening study. Since the independent listening study is
not strictly interchanged with the teacher’s rules, students can indeed design
the schedule on their own. It means that they have the power of establishing
this activity anytime they intend to. For instance, they can arrange the time
only on the weekends or every other days. At least, they allocate a plenty of
minutes to integrate their independent listening study through web-based
resources. Not unlike web-based resources, the implementation of independent
listening study through English TV programs enables the students’ learning of
listening not to be restricted by time. Because TVs have lately become a
ubiquitous home appliance, a majority of the students must have one in their
homes. Certainly, they have a freedom to decide the time of which they need to
watch the programs on their television. In line with this context, let me give
you the scene of what is actually occurring out there. Gustiana Ria, a student
of English Department in a well-known private university in Pasuruan, never
misses to watch the National Geographic
Channels on Fridays. She thinks that the program really helps her diversify
her knowledge and train her ability in listening. She can learn many things
from the program such as vocabularies, accents, pronunciations et cetera. Also,
Dyah Nur Laili who belongs to one of the English students in the State
University of Malang was used to watching Oprah
Winfrey Show every Sunday morning in order to spend her leisure times while
sharpening her listening skill from the talk show. She confesses that English
programs on TV, including Oprah Winfrey
Show help her to empower her understanding of what is partly being
discussed in the show. She further states that she learns how to pronounce new
English words correctly from watching that show instead of having to look them
up in the dictionary. Generally
speaking, the integration of the Independent Listening Study (ILS) through
web-based resources and English TV programs requires no restrictions for the
students to manage the time and determine the content of what they are going to
have for their independent listening study.
Besides,
the practice of the independent listening study through web-based resources and
English TV programs notably looks the same from the point of variety. Like no
other training forms, web-based resources promise to deliver learning outcomes
to a maximum number of participants with a maximum range of learning styles,
preferences, and needs. In line with this feature, web-based resources promote
learning interests as the webs allow students to search for the relevant information
instead of being restricted in a pre-designed course model (Wijekumar, 2005).
Further, Smidt and Hegelheimer (2004), in a study of examining how web-based
video assists listening comprehension, conclude that the online academic
learning supported by multimedia increase the listening comprehension. Take for
instance the webpage on www.talkenglish.com,
the variety of the materials is greatly presented. It includes short-talks,
news, long conversations, podcasts and so on. Of course, students just need to
click the category of the recording that they really want to listen to.
Likewise, the independent listening study through English TV programs allows
the students to watch various sorts of programs which are broadcasted by
particular TV stations. Several of the students must have been familiar with MTV (Music Television) and VoA (Voice of America
Even
though web-based resources and English TV programs are basically akin in
particular angles, they still have a point of difference in terms of the
availability. Since the listening comprehension largely involves three levels
of competence: the elementary, intermediate, and advanced level, most of the
webs are designed to fulfill the students’ need on what level they actually
belong to. If they are categorized in the elementary level, they will learn to
identify sound patterns, meanings of words, phrases or expressions and to
recognize grammatical elements or communicative acts. In www.esl-lab.com, for
instance, students may discover lots of easy-listening recordings with various
kinds of interesting topics such as teenagers’ life, holidays, journeys et
cetera. Different from those who belong to the elementary level, students in
the intermediate level will practice aural comprehension to select the elements
of short conversations which give the gist message. One of the websites which
corresponds with this level is www.elllo.org. Students will find a
list of short conversations talked by two or three people with different
topics. Also, the news interviews are available for the listening materials
used in the independent listening study. On the other hand, advanced students
will deal with aural materials which are used to deduce meanings or outlines
from a lengthy spoken discourse (Rivers, 1968). Let us take an example from the
link address www.britishcouncil.org. If they go to
this site, they will easily find so many kinds of long talks, including
podcasts that can be used to improve their listening skills. In addition,
web-based resources accommodate all of those levels by including the written
exercises along with the answer key. Also, the transcript of the recording is
not excluded in the web so that students are able to check which parts seem to
be hardly understood. Moreover, they can actually replay the recording when
they still do not catch the implied information from it. On the contrary, the
practice of the independent listening study through English TV programs does
not have those kinds of features. Students will hardly find an appropriate
program which subsidizes their level of competence. Even, not all of the TV
stations broadcast English programs. Global
TV and Metro TV are two of the TV
stations which consistently broadcast English programs. Hence, students are
supposed to determine the program which can deeply train their ability in
understanding spoken languages. For instance, if they have a sense on the genre
of musical drama, they can indeed watch GLEE
which is officially broadcasted on Global
TV, a member of MNC Group. They
can examine how the way the stars speak to others by using their own accents. In
contrast to web-based resources, students are not supplied with the listening
exercises to comprehend their understanding. In other words, neither the
written exercise nor the answer key is given on English TV programs. Students
who establish their independent listening study through this kind of activity
somehow need to pay attention to the subtitle shown below the TV screen.
Besides, they cannot repeat the part of the program in case they have not fully
absorbed the points of what it is about. Yet, most English programs on TV are
well-visualized so that it will make the students unable to stay away from the
place where they sit to watch. Of course, they really intend to make some notes
about the program, such as new vocabularies, cultures, science et cetera.
Simply speaking, the integration of the independent listening study through
web-based resources and English TV programs is distinguishable from the point
of availability.
Another
point of distinction which can be observed from the practice of the independent
listening study through web-based resources and English TV programs has
something to do with the accessibility. Because the webs are now modernizing
several areas of study by increasing opportunities for learning and alternative
formats for information (Dwyer, and Doerr, 1995), web-based resources are
actually created in a purpose of facilitating the students and help them to have
accessible connections within the virtual world. Of course, this particular way
of establishing the independent listening study will make students unbound by
the place of learning. For instance, if students feel inconvenient to stay inside
the net shop, they can only download the materials and take them home. They can
even use their laptop to have a listening practice independently such as in the
boarding house, lawn, English Self Center et cetera. Additionally, web-based
resources are oriented on self-paced learning. This means that advanced
students are permitted to skip over the materials they have known and focus
only on the topics they are willing to choose, whereas novices can slow their
own progress through the content of the web so that they can contribute their
improvement in listening without absolutely being occupied by the smarter
students. Even, web-based resources drive them to have a direct access to a
specific help by e-mail. Consequently, they can simply ask for solutions if
they have questions dealing with the activity on the web. Conversely, English
TV programs are sometimes tentative. The schedule of the program changes from
time to time. Compared to web-based resources, English TV programs are given in
a limited portion. Some of the programs, in fact, are not broadcasted everyday.
For example, The Biography, an
English program broadcasted on Metro TV,
is only televised on Sundays. This indicates that the access of doing the
independent listening study through English TV programs cannot be integrated in
a wider scope. Accordingly, the practice of the independent listening study
through web-based resources and English TV programs looks somewhat dissimilar
from the angle of accessibility.
Instead
of having similarities and differences in particular fields, the practice of the
independent listening study through web-based resources and English TV programs
certainly gives significant effects on students’ listening competence. The
noticeable effect of establishing the independent listening study through
web-based resources and English TV programs reflects on the enjoyment. Most of
the students may become so miserable that they find themselves difficult to
deal with listening. They commonly think that they are not good at listening so
that it does not seem quite pleasurable for them to learn. Nevertheless, by
arranging the independent listening study through web-based resources and
English TV programs, the absorption of enjoyment will be incidentally pumped
up. For instance, Bila Nastiti, a second-year student of English Department in
the State University of Malang, confidently admits that the independent
listening study through web-based resources is able to make her enjoy having
listening practices whereby she is given more spaces and freedoms to improve
her listening ability. Her friend, Lukman Hidayat, however contributes his
independent listening study through English TV programs. Every time he sticks
in front of the television watching his favorite program, Box-Office Movie Platinum on RCTI,
he receives his own enjoyment of completing his individual study. Principally,
enjoyment is needed somewhat to drag students learn something, including
listening, more intensively. Somehow, if students have obtained their own
enjoyment, they will be more frequent to maintain their independent learning.
In other words, there will be an expansion of the independent listening study
which constitutes to the activity for enjoyment.
In
addition to presenting the effect of the independent listening study in the
context of enjoyment, it then ultimately results in the point of betterment
towards students’ listening skills. The powerful webs and fabulous English TV
programs offer a range of new opportunities for students to widen their
language proficiency. Zhou and Yang (2004), in their study of the effects of
visual aid on EFL listening comprehension, support the use of multimedia such
as the Interconnected Networking (Internet) and television in enhancing
listening comprehension. They also highlight that viewing-assisted functions
are particularly functional to students with low-level English competence. Of
course, when the practice of the independent listening study through web-based
resources and English TV programs is integrally accomplished, it will be
suitable for self-access which fully incorporates significant factors,
including students’ differences and modified interactions in second language
acquisition. Such approaches allow the students to construct their improvement
and adjustment for a better listening competence. Moreover, the independent
listening study through web-based resources and English TV programs can be a
means of attaining better learning outcomes in the long run because students
access huge amounts of the pertinent information from those kinds of
technological miscellanies.
To sum
up, the independent listening study through web-based resources and English TV
programs, like most student-based forms of self-learning, is designed primarily
to support students at any levels of competence—elementary, intermediate, and
advanced—and to provide their needs in amplifying their reciprocal skills. In
particular, these kinds of activities involve parts of similarities in terms of
the flexibility and variety, and fall into dissimilar elements in the context
of the availability and accessibility. The results of the independent listening
study through web-based resources and English TV programs confirm that there
are indeed two inseparable effects in which the activities are utilized both
within the view of enjoyment and betterment in the listening comprehension. For
this reason, it is necessary that each student optimize their weaknesses in
listening by always allocating their times to undergo the independent listening
study either from web-based resources or English TV programs.
Sources:
Richards, Jack C., and David
Nunan. 1990. Second Language Teacher
Education. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Muh. Khoirul Anwar
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