The communicative approach to language learning stresses the need for meaningful communication, emphasizing that if students have a genuine reason or motivation to talk then they will learn to use the language more effectively. This article looks at how the notion of a gap between speakers can be used to provide a reason for communication. Finding ways to create gaps between students, gaps which need closing, creates speaking opportunities and prompts the creation of new activities.
What is a gap?
In this context, gap may be taken to mean difference. If there are two students, A and B, and if A has some information which B does not, and possibly vice-versa, then there is a difference or gap between the two students. A task which requires B to find out the information that A has (i.e. a task which closes the gap) will provide a reason for communication.
Types of gap
The information gap
This is the classic gap exploited by the communicative approach. Student A had some information, perhaps concerning the prices of food. Student B needs to know these prices, and so asks A questions to find the information.
The information gap is ideally suited to pair and small group work and usually relies upon pre-prepared information cards.
The experience gap
All students in classes have had different experiences in their lives - so this is immediately a gap. In some classes this gap is very marked. For example, a multi-lingual adult class in the UK provides great difference between the backgrounds of the students. A mono-lingual primary class will obviously show less difference. The experience gap is easily exploited in questionnaires - particularly those that aim to practice past forms
The opinion gap
Most people have differing opinions, feelings and reactions to situations, events and propositions. Finding out about someone's feelings and opinions is all about closing the gap between people. The increase in personalized activities that is evident in many textbooks is testament to the value of this gap.
The knowledge gap
Students know different things about the world. This gap can be exploited in brainstorms and general knowledge style quizzes.
Increasing student talking time
The description of the different gaps is by no means exhaustive, although I think they are the most powerful for the classroom. The intention here is to raise the profile of the gap, so that as teachers we can try to increase the amount of speaking which serves a purpose, to close a gap.
Teachers often ask 'how can I get my students talking in class?' and 'how can I increase the amount of time students spend talking?'. Creating, finding and exploiting gaps is one way to do this.
I am not necessarily talking here about the main speaking practice activity within a lesson. I am suggesting ways to raise the overall quantity of speaking throughout a lesson. This is best illustrated through examples.
Giving answers
When checking an exercise in class, the teacher can read out the correct answers, and then deal with any queries. However, this could be a wasted opportunity. If half the class are given one half of the answers (perhaps on a slip of paper, or perhaps from the board, while the others look away), and the other half of the class are given the remaining answers, then the students must talk to each other to check their work. This can be particularly effective when dealing with reading comprehension activities, as student A can ask the question to B, listen to the answer and then give the correct one. The teacher can still deal with queries afterwards. Even the simple act of asking students to check their answers in pairs before going through the exercise as a class exploits a gap, they don't know what the other has written.
Vocabulary based speaking activities
Following extensive vocabulary study, why not come up with a simple activity that allows students to use the vocabulary when speaking.
It is often possible to think of questions that either use the vocabulary items from the lesson, or whose answers would seem to demand them. To answer these questions students should draw on their opinions and experience.
For example, following work on 'word formation - affixation' can you think of questions that use some of the items studied?
What is the most romantic thing you have done?
When did you last take a photograph?
Which industries are important in your country?
These questions may be presented in a skeleton form, or with the base word provided e.g.
What/most/romantic/you/done?
When did you last take a _________ (PHOTOGRAPHY)?
Students then interview each other.
Personalized introductions to topics
Exploiting the experience or opinion gap is a good way to lead in to a topic. For example, if the topic area is jobs, students can tell each other about the jobs the members of their family have. Or, students can rank jobs according to certain criteria (would like to do, usefulness to society) and then compare their decisions with other students.
Such exercises usually don't require any materials and need not last a long time. The intention is to create plenty of opportunities for meaningful communication and to develop a familiarity with speaking amongst the students.
Conclusion
By keeping the notion of a gap between students in mind, it is easy to come up with speaking activities that promote meaningful communication. These activities often require very little preparation but can increase the total amount of student talking time in any lesson. In my own teaching, I find the gap to be a prompt or spur to thinking up productive speaking practice.
Minggu, 11 Januari 2009
A Framework for Planning a Listening Skills Lesson
Listening is one of the most challenging skills for our students to develop and yet also one of the most important. By developing their ability to listen well we develop our students' ability to become more independent learners, as by hearing accurately they are much more likely to be able to reproduce accurately, refine their understanding of grammar and develop their own vocabulary.
The basic framework
The basic framework on which you can construct a listening lesson can be divided into three main stages. Pre listening, during which we help our students prepare to listen. While listening, during which we help to focus their attention on the listening text and guide the development of their understanding of it. Post listening, the activities during which we help our students integrate what they have learnt from the text into their existing knowledge.
Pre-listening
There are certain goals that should be achieved before students attempt to listen to any text. These are motivation, contextualization, and preparation.
Motivation
It is enormously important that before listening students are motivated to listen, so you should try to select a text that they will find interesting and then design tasks that will arouse your students' interest and curiosity.
Contextualization
When we listen in our everyday lives we hear language within its natural environment, and that environment gives us a huge amount of information about the linguistic content we are likely to hear. Listening to a tape recording in a classroom is a very unnatural process. The text has been taken from its original environment and we need to design tasks that will help students to contextualize the listening and access their existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text.
Preparation
To do the task we set students while they listen there could be specific vocabulary or expressions that students will need. It's vital that we cover this before they start to listen as we want the challenge within the lesson to be act of listening not of understanding what they have to do.
While listening
When we listen to something in our everyday lives we do so for a reason. Students too need a reason to listen that will focus their attention. For our students to really develop their listening skills they will need to listen a number of times - three or four usually works quite well - as I've found that the first time many students listen to a text they are nervous and have to tune in to accents and the speed at which the people are speaking.
Ideally the listening tasks we design for them should guide them through the text and should be graded so that the first listening task they do is quite easy and helps them to get a general understanding of the text. Sometimes a single question at this stage will be enough, not putting the students under too much pressure.
The second task for the second time students listen should demand a greater and more detailed understanding of the text. Make sure though that the task doesn't demand too much of a response. Writing long responses as they listen can be very demanding and is a separate skill in itself, so keep the tasks to single words, ticking or some sort of graphical response.
The third listening task could just be a matter of checking their own answers from the second task or could lead students towards some more subtle interpretations of the text.
Listening to a foreign language is a very intensive and demanding activity and for this reason I think it's very important that students should have 'breathing' or 'thinking' space between listening. I usually get my students to compare their answers between listening as this gives them the chance not only to have a break from the listening, but also to check their understanding with a peer and so reconsider before listening again.
Post-listening
There are two common forms that post-listening tasks can take. These are reactions to the content of the text, and analysis of the linguistic features used to express the content.
Reaction to the text
Of these two I find that tasks that focus students reaction to the content are most important. Again this is something that we naturally do in our everyday lives. Because we listen for a reason, there is generally a following reaction. This could be discussion as a response to what we've heard - do they agree or disagree or even believe what they have heard? - or it could be some kind of reuse of the information they have heard.
Analysis of language
The second of these two post-listening task types involves focusing students on linguistic features of the text. This is important in terms of developing their knowledge of language, but less so in terms of developing students' listening skills. It could take the form of an analysis of verb forms from a script of the listening text or vocabulary or collocation work. This is a good time to do form focused work as the students have already developed an understanding of the text and so will find dealing with the forms that express those meanings much easier.
Applying the framework to a song
Here is an example of how you could use this framework to exploit a song:
Pre-listening:
Students brainstorm kinds of songs
Students describe one of their favorite songs and what they like about it
Students predict some word or expressions that might be in a love song
While listening
Students listen and decide if the song is happy or sad
Students listen again and order the lines or verses of the song
Students listen again to check their answers or read a summary of the song with errors in and correct them.
Post listening
Focus on content
Discuss what they liked / didn't like about the song
Decide whether they would buy it / who they would buy it for
Write a review of the song for a newspaper
Write another verse for the song
Focus on form
Students look at the lyrics from the song and identify the verb forms
Students find new words in the song and find out what they mean
Students make notes of common collocations within the song
Conclusion
This framework for listening development could be applied to any listening text. This isn't the only way to develop our students listening or to structure a listening lesson, but it is a way that I have found to be effective and motivating for my students.
The basic framework
The basic framework on which you can construct a listening lesson can be divided into three main stages. Pre listening, during which we help our students prepare to listen. While listening, during which we help to focus their attention on the listening text and guide the development of their understanding of it. Post listening, the activities during which we help our students integrate what they have learnt from the text into their existing knowledge.
Pre-listening
There are certain goals that should be achieved before students attempt to listen to any text. These are motivation, contextualization, and preparation.
Motivation
It is enormously important that before listening students are motivated to listen, so you should try to select a text that they will find interesting and then design tasks that will arouse your students' interest and curiosity.
Contextualization
When we listen in our everyday lives we hear language within its natural environment, and that environment gives us a huge amount of information about the linguistic content we are likely to hear. Listening to a tape recording in a classroom is a very unnatural process. The text has been taken from its original environment and we need to design tasks that will help students to contextualize the listening and access their existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text.
Preparation
To do the task we set students while they listen there could be specific vocabulary or expressions that students will need. It's vital that we cover this before they start to listen as we want the challenge within the lesson to be act of listening not of understanding what they have to do.
While listening
When we listen to something in our everyday lives we do so for a reason. Students too need a reason to listen that will focus their attention. For our students to really develop their listening skills they will need to listen a number of times - three or four usually works quite well - as I've found that the first time many students listen to a text they are nervous and have to tune in to accents and the speed at which the people are speaking.
Ideally the listening tasks we design for them should guide them through the text and should be graded so that the first listening task they do is quite easy and helps them to get a general understanding of the text. Sometimes a single question at this stage will be enough, not putting the students under too much pressure.
The second task for the second time students listen should demand a greater and more detailed understanding of the text. Make sure though that the task doesn't demand too much of a response. Writing long responses as they listen can be very demanding and is a separate skill in itself, so keep the tasks to single words, ticking or some sort of graphical response.
The third listening task could just be a matter of checking their own answers from the second task or could lead students towards some more subtle interpretations of the text.
Listening to a foreign language is a very intensive and demanding activity and for this reason I think it's very important that students should have 'breathing' or 'thinking' space between listening. I usually get my students to compare their answers between listening as this gives them the chance not only to have a break from the listening, but also to check their understanding with a peer and so reconsider before listening again.
Post-listening
There are two common forms that post-listening tasks can take. These are reactions to the content of the text, and analysis of the linguistic features used to express the content.
Reaction to the text
Of these two I find that tasks that focus students reaction to the content are most important. Again this is something that we naturally do in our everyday lives. Because we listen for a reason, there is generally a following reaction. This could be discussion as a response to what we've heard - do they agree or disagree or even believe what they have heard? - or it could be some kind of reuse of the information they have heard.
Analysis of language
The second of these two post-listening task types involves focusing students on linguistic features of the text. This is important in terms of developing their knowledge of language, but less so in terms of developing students' listening skills. It could take the form of an analysis of verb forms from a script of the listening text or vocabulary or collocation work. This is a good time to do form focused work as the students have already developed an understanding of the text and so will find dealing with the forms that express those meanings much easier.
Applying the framework to a song
Here is an example of how you could use this framework to exploit a song:
Pre-listening:
Students brainstorm kinds of songs
Students describe one of their favorite songs and what they like about it
Students predict some word or expressions that might be in a love song
While listening
Students listen and decide if the song is happy or sad
Students listen again and order the lines or verses of the song
Students listen again to check their answers or read a summary of the song with errors in and correct them.
Post listening
Focus on content
Discuss what they liked / didn't like about the song
Decide whether they would buy it / who they would buy it for
Write a review of the song for a newspaper
Write another verse for the song
Focus on form
Students look at the lyrics from the song and identify the verb forms
Students find new words in the song and find out what they mean
Students make notes of common collocations within the song
Conclusion
This framework for listening development could be applied to any listening text. This isn't the only way to develop our students listening or to structure a listening lesson, but it is a way that I have found to be effective and motivating for my students.
Listening for Young Learners
The nature of listening
'Listening is an active not a passive operation.' Garvie. With this in mind I would like to emphasize three things:
The importance of understanding this concept of listening is being an active engagement. That is, as a listener, the mind is actively searching for meaning.
The importance of what Krashen calls 'comprehensible input' (CI) or that 'we acquire when we understand what people tell us or what we read, when we are absorbed in the message.' Individual progress is dependent on the input containing aspects of the target language that 'the acquirer has not yet acquired, but is developmentally ready to acquire.'
This seems to imply the importance of ensuring that the language level is matched to the learners, which means teachers, must understand their learner's abilities. Krashen advises that acquisition proceeds best when 'the acquirer's level of anxiety is low and self-confidence is high. This seems to enforce the importance of making the learning environment in our classrooms non-threatening.
Why we need to develop listening skills
'If someone is giving you a message or opinion, then of course you have to be able to understand it in order to respond.' (Brewster, Ellis, Girard).
Listening skills need to have a 'real-life' meaning, Donaldson says that children need 'purposes and intentions' which they can recognize and respond to in others 'these human intentions are the matrix in which the child's thinking is embedded.'
This implies that we need to carefully select materials and purposes for practicing listening skills and that they need to have an authentic meaning to young learners.
Theories of developing listening skills
Keeping in mind that listening is an active process, Brewster, Ellis and Girard caution that asking children to 'listen and remember' can make them 'anxious, places a great strain on their memory and tends not to develop listening skills. The teacher would support children's understanding more effectively, if they direct their pupils' attention to specific points that have to be listened for 'using activities that actively support learners' understanding and guide their attention to specific parts of the spoken text.
Wells says a lot of children's learning 'is dependent on making connections between that they know and what they are able to understand in the speech they hear' but they don't learn only listening, motivation for learning language is to be able to communicate 'using all the resources they have already acquired to interact with other people about their needs and interests.' This seems to be in line with social constructivist theories.
Piaget believed that a young learner 'constructs' or builds understanding over time. Vygotsky believed that learning was ahead of development and for development to occur; interaction with adults or peers who are more knowledgeable is needed. This has been termed the 'zone of proximal development'.
Bruner extended Vygotsky's ZPD theory by defining the role of the more knowledgeable 'other' as someone who is actively involved in the learning processes by closing the gap between what has been partially and fully understood. This has been termed 'scaffolding'.
Some considerations for classroom listening
These are some of the things I consider when I try to develop my students' listening.(Brewster, Ellis & Girard) Give the children confidence. We should not expect them to always understand every word and they should know this.
Explain why the children have to listen. Make sure the learners are clear about why they are listening, what the main point or purpose of the activity is.
Help children develop specific strategies for listening. An important strategy that the teacher should teach is 'intelligent guesswork'. Pupils are used to drawing on their background knowledge to work out something they are not sure of.
Set specific listening tasks in three stages, pre-listening, while-listening, post listening and have activities for each stage.
Listening does not have to rely on the availability of a cassette or pre-recorded material. Most listening is teacher talk.
There are a number of ways to make students easier to understand.
Keep sentences short and grammatically simple
Use exaggerated intonation to hold the child's attention
Emphasize key words
Limiting the topics talked about to what is familiar to the child
Frequently repeating and paraphrasing
Conclusion
Listening is an active process, as the mind actively engages in making meaning. It is therefore our duty as teachers to ensure that the materials we use are comprehensible to our young learners, as well as within the range of what they are developmentally ready for. Listening is also hard work! And can be stressful! So in order to maximize the potential for acquisition of language, we need to ensure that our young learners are not stressed about this process
Here is a possible sequence for doing pre-listening with upper elementary students who can already write simple questions. I have chosen the news as an example.
Brainstorm content of listening from topic 'Today's News'
Elicit list of possible content and write on board e.g. Elections, Sport results, Weather etc.
Elicit possible order of content.
Make groups of four, with one 'chairperson.'
Each student has to choose one topic from the list and think of 2 things they would like to know. They write questions. (teacher monitors)
Students listen to the text and answer Questions.
Listen again if necessary.
Individual members of the group tell the chairperson the answers. (teacher monitors)
Chairperson collects all the information and gives feedback to class.
A more controlled way of allowing choice with lower level students is to prepare a set of questions yourself, write them on the board, and get them to choose the two questions they would like to know the answers to.
This is fine with authentic listening taken from radio or other sources, but what about course book listening material? Here also you can give students an element of choice. Below is something I do with a short flight departure announcement from a well-known elementary course book.
Collect some pictures of the cities mentioned in the announcement.
Students look at them in groups and try to work out which cities they are.
Write up the names of the cities on board.
Each student has to choose one city s/he would like to visit. Why? Give three reasons.
Then write the name of the city on the form below.
Pre-teach airline names
Students listen and complete the information they hear in the departure lounge announcement on the form.
City
Airline
Flight number
Gate number
This is a very adaptable piece of material. With very low level students you can just collect the basic information. With slightly more advanced students you can expand on the discussion about the cities. If your class is not too big, you can actually place the 'gates' on posters around the room and students can then actually go the right gate for their destination.
Getting feedback
As it is already mentioned, it's important to get feedback only on what a student has listened for, not on every detail of the listening piece. This selection really helps the student to zone in on information he or she is interested in, thereby mirroring what we do in real life. Different feedback from different individuals needn't be problematic. One way round it is to use the group format suggested above.
If we can create an element of 'personal investment' in listening, either by tuning into our students interests or by giving them some choice, I believe that they will have more and better reasons to listen. The result of this will be that their listening skills will improve.
'Listening is an active not a passive operation.' Garvie. With this in mind I would like to emphasize three things:
The importance of understanding this concept of listening is being an active engagement. That is, as a listener, the mind is actively searching for meaning.
The importance of what Krashen calls 'comprehensible input' (CI) or that 'we acquire when we understand what people tell us or what we read, when we are absorbed in the message.' Individual progress is dependent on the input containing aspects of the target language that 'the acquirer has not yet acquired, but is developmentally ready to acquire.'
This seems to imply the importance of ensuring that the language level is matched to the learners, which means teachers, must understand their learner's abilities. Krashen advises that acquisition proceeds best when 'the acquirer's level of anxiety is low and self-confidence is high. This seems to enforce the importance of making the learning environment in our classrooms non-threatening.
Why we need to develop listening skills
'If someone is giving you a message or opinion, then of course you have to be able to understand it in order to respond.' (Brewster, Ellis, Girard).
Listening skills need to have a 'real-life' meaning, Donaldson says that children need 'purposes and intentions' which they can recognize and respond to in others 'these human intentions are the matrix in which the child's thinking is embedded.'
This implies that we need to carefully select materials and purposes for practicing listening skills and that they need to have an authentic meaning to young learners.
Theories of developing listening skills
Keeping in mind that listening is an active process, Brewster, Ellis and Girard caution that asking children to 'listen and remember' can make them 'anxious, places a great strain on their memory and tends not to develop listening skills. The teacher would support children's understanding more effectively, if they direct their pupils' attention to specific points that have to be listened for 'using activities that actively support learners' understanding and guide their attention to specific parts of the spoken text.
Wells says a lot of children's learning 'is dependent on making connections between that they know and what they are able to understand in the speech they hear' but they don't learn only listening, motivation for learning language is to be able to communicate 'using all the resources they have already acquired to interact with other people about their needs and interests.' This seems to be in line with social constructivist theories.
Piaget believed that a young learner 'constructs' or builds understanding over time. Vygotsky believed that learning was ahead of development and for development to occur; interaction with adults or peers who are more knowledgeable is needed. This has been termed the 'zone of proximal development'.
Bruner extended Vygotsky's ZPD theory by defining the role of the more knowledgeable 'other' as someone who is actively involved in the learning processes by closing the gap between what has been partially and fully understood. This has been termed 'scaffolding'.
Some considerations for classroom listening
These are some of the things I consider when I try to develop my students' listening.(Brewster, Ellis & Girard) Give the children confidence. We should not expect them to always understand every word and they should know this.
Explain why the children have to listen. Make sure the learners are clear about why they are listening, what the main point or purpose of the activity is.
Help children develop specific strategies for listening. An important strategy that the teacher should teach is 'intelligent guesswork'. Pupils are used to drawing on their background knowledge to work out something they are not sure of.
Set specific listening tasks in three stages, pre-listening, while-listening, post listening and have activities for each stage.
Listening does not have to rely on the availability of a cassette or pre-recorded material. Most listening is teacher talk.
There are a number of ways to make students easier to understand.
Keep sentences short and grammatically simple
Use exaggerated intonation to hold the child's attention
Emphasize key words
Limiting the topics talked about to what is familiar to the child
Frequently repeating and paraphrasing
Conclusion
Listening is an active process, as the mind actively engages in making meaning. It is therefore our duty as teachers to ensure that the materials we use are comprehensible to our young learners, as well as within the range of what they are developmentally ready for. Listening is also hard work! And can be stressful! So in order to maximize the potential for acquisition of language, we need to ensure that our young learners are not stressed about this process
Here is a possible sequence for doing pre-listening with upper elementary students who can already write simple questions. I have chosen the news as an example.
Brainstorm content of listening from topic 'Today's News'
Elicit list of possible content and write on board e.g. Elections, Sport results, Weather etc.
Elicit possible order of content.
Make groups of four, with one 'chairperson.'
Each student has to choose one topic from the list and think of 2 things they would like to know. They write questions. (teacher monitors)
Students listen to the text and answer Questions.
Listen again if necessary.
Individual members of the group tell the chairperson the answers. (teacher monitors)
Chairperson collects all the information and gives feedback to class.
A more controlled way of allowing choice with lower level students is to prepare a set of questions yourself, write them on the board, and get them to choose the two questions they would like to know the answers to.
This is fine with authentic listening taken from radio or other sources, but what about course book listening material? Here also you can give students an element of choice. Below is something I do with a short flight departure announcement from a well-known elementary course book.
Collect some pictures of the cities mentioned in the announcement.
Students look at them in groups and try to work out which cities they are.
Write up the names of the cities on board.
Each student has to choose one city s/he would like to visit. Why? Give three reasons.
Then write the name of the city on the form below.
Pre-teach airline names
Students listen and complete the information they hear in the departure lounge announcement on the form.
City
Airline
Flight number
Gate number
This is a very adaptable piece of material. With very low level students you can just collect the basic information. With slightly more advanced students you can expand on the discussion about the cities. If your class is not too big, you can actually place the 'gates' on posters around the room and students can then actually go the right gate for their destination.
Getting feedback
As it is already mentioned, it's important to get feedback only on what a student has listened for, not on every detail of the listening piece. This selection really helps the student to zone in on information he or she is interested in, thereby mirroring what we do in real life. Different feedback from different individuals needn't be problematic. One way round it is to use the group format suggested above.
If we can create an element of 'personal investment' in listening, either by tuning into our students interests or by giving them some choice, I believe that they will have more and better reasons to listen. The result of this will be that their listening skills will improve.
Helping Teens to Listen
There are obviously many cultural differences between the teenagers we teach all over the world. However, I think that many parents and teachers would agree that the teenage years are, to use a cliché, 'a difficult age' for many young people. It seems clear to me that this has serious implications for teachers teaching English to groups of teenagers.
Why teenagers find listening difficult
Some teachers find that their teenage students are often so busy chatting amongst themselves that the teacher has to make an effort to gain their attention and help them focus on the English lesson.
The level of motivation of teenage students can vary enormously. Some teenagers are of course very keen to learn while others are in class because they are forced to be there, not because they want to be there. More and more teenagers who have problems of short attention spans which make the discipline of listening to reasonably extended discourse in English much more difficult.
There is also the problem that confronts all students of English and that is the way that individual sounds change in connected speech (i.e. assimilated, elided and weak forms). This can mean that students simply turn off when listening to English being spoken as it seems too difficult to follow without a high level of concentration.
Making listening more engaging for teenagers
Many of us will rely on course books for the listening material we use in the classroom and this material may or may not be suitable for our teens. I think it is important to consider ways in which we can supplement listening material in course books with material which will motivate our students.
One possibility is to ask students to bring prepared songs or any other listening material in English to the classroom. Students often seem to enjoy bringing a song on tape to school with the words suitably gapped. Apart from anything else, in this situation the students decide themselves what they are going to listen to instead of having a listening activity imposed on them by the teacher. This is a key to motivating our students.
Another idea is to record a short interview with one of my fellow teachers. I find that I get a lot of mileage out of a 10 minute interview with an English speaking colleague and that students are really interested in hearing about the life of one of the other teachers at school.
Helping students understand spoken English
I always give my students a transcript of tapes they have listened to after we have completed the listening tasks. Even if students only read and listen to part of what they have heard, it should allow them to become more aware of the difference between how spoken English sounds compared with how it is written.
After using a tape where students have to listen for the gist then pick out detail, I always pick out a tricky sentence and do a piece of intensive listening. Here students listen several (maybe ten) times to the same sentence and have to work out how many words there are in the sentence then what the words are exactly. I find my teenage students enjoy doing this and a competitive element can be introduced by putting students into teams.
A complex sentence such as "I asked him what the time was" can be analyzed after the students have worked out what the words are. The teacher can point out that the 'k' in 'asked' and 'h' 'him' sounds disappear in this piece of connected speech and that this is an example of elision. Sometimes I simply dictate a sentence like the one above at the beginning of a class as a warmer and follow the same procedure.
Making predictions
It will certainly help the listener to make predictions about what they are about to hear before they listen.
I try to turn prediction activities into a game by putting my teenage students in groups before they listen and asking them to try to predict the answers to listening tasks where they have to pick out detailed information. For example, students could try to guess the missing information in sentences such as "The city of Glasgow is always………". My students always seem to enjoy this competitive element and it's always interesting to see who has made the best predictions. I always point out that good listeners are often good at predicting.
In an exercise where students have to identify who someone is speaking to on the phone (e.g. a landlord / an architect / a builder) I would draw a grid on the board and ask students to predict the vocabulary, situation and tone of voice for each of the three possibilities. Again, students could do this in teams and a competitive element could be introduced.
Conclusion
It is important for teachers to prepare thoroughly for a listening activity if the activity is to be successful and I think that this is especially true with teenagers. As motivation is so important when dealing with young learners, doing some pre-listening activities that are designed to raise interest in the listening task at hand can often make the experience more engaging and enjoyable for everyone.
Why teenagers find listening difficult
Some teachers find that their teenage students are often so busy chatting amongst themselves that the teacher has to make an effort to gain their attention and help them focus on the English lesson.
The level of motivation of teenage students can vary enormously. Some teenagers are of course very keen to learn while others are in class because they are forced to be there, not because they want to be there. More and more teenagers who have problems of short attention spans which make the discipline of listening to reasonably extended discourse in English much more difficult.
There is also the problem that confronts all students of English and that is the way that individual sounds change in connected speech (i.e. assimilated, elided and weak forms). This can mean that students simply turn off when listening to English being spoken as it seems too difficult to follow without a high level of concentration.
Making listening more engaging for teenagers
Many of us will rely on course books for the listening material we use in the classroom and this material may or may not be suitable for our teens. I think it is important to consider ways in which we can supplement listening material in course books with material which will motivate our students.
One possibility is to ask students to bring prepared songs or any other listening material in English to the classroom. Students often seem to enjoy bringing a song on tape to school with the words suitably gapped. Apart from anything else, in this situation the students decide themselves what they are going to listen to instead of having a listening activity imposed on them by the teacher. This is a key to motivating our students.
Another idea is to record a short interview with one of my fellow teachers. I find that I get a lot of mileage out of a 10 minute interview with an English speaking colleague and that students are really interested in hearing about the life of one of the other teachers at school.
Helping students understand spoken English
I always give my students a transcript of tapes they have listened to after we have completed the listening tasks. Even if students only read and listen to part of what they have heard, it should allow them to become more aware of the difference between how spoken English sounds compared with how it is written.
After using a tape where students have to listen for the gist then pick out detail, I always pick out a tricky sentence and do a piece of intensive listening. Here students listen several (maybe ten) times to the same sentence and have to work out how many words there are in the sentence then what the words are exactly. I find my teenage students enjoy doing this and a competitive element can be introduced by putting students into teams.
A complex sentence such as "I asked him what the time was" can be analyzed after the students have worked out what the words are. The teacher can point out that the 'k' in 'asked' and 'h' 'him' sounds disappear in this piece of connected speech and that this is an example of elision. Sometimes I simply dictate a sentence like the one above at the beginning of a class as a warmer and follow the same procedure.
Making predictions
It will certainly help the listener to make predictions about what they are about to hear before they listen.
I try to turn prediction activities into a game by putting my teenage students in groups before they listen and asking them to try to predict the answers to listening tasks where they have to pick out detailed information. For example, students could try to guess the missing information in sentences such as "The city of Glasgow is always………". My students always seem to enjoy this competitive element and it's always interesting to see who has made the best predictions. I always point out that good listeners are often good at predicting.
In an exercise where students have to identify who someone is speaking to on the phone (e.g. a landlord / an architect / a builder) I would draw a grid on the board and ask students to predict the vocabulary, situation and tone of voice for each of the three possibilities. Again, students could do this in teams and a competitive element could be introduced.
Conclusion
It is important for teachers to prepare thoroughly for a listening activity if the activity is to be successful and I think that this is especially true with teenagers. As motivation is so important when dealing with young learners, doing some pre-listening activities that are designed to raise interest in the listening task at hand can often make the experience more engaging and enjoyable for everyone.
TEACHING LISTENING SKILL
A. Listening: Top down and Bottom up
In 'real-life' listening, our students will have to use a combination of the two processes, with more emphasis on 'top-down' or 'bottom-up' listening depending on their reasons for listening.
Imagine the following situations:
Over lunch, your friend tells you a story about a recent holiday, which was a disaster. You listen with interest and interject at appropriate moments, maybe to express surprise or sympathy.
That evening, another friend calls to invite you to a party at her house the following Saturday. As you’ve never been to her house before, she gives you directions. You listen carefully and make notes.
How do you listen in each case? Are there any differences?
With the holiday anecdote, your main concern was probably understanding the general idea and knowing when some response was expected. In contrast, when listening to the directions to a party, understanding the exact words is likely to be more important – if you want to get there without incident, that is!
The way you listened to the holiday anecdote could be characterized as top-down listening. This refers to the use of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of the message. Background knowledge consists of context, that is, the situation and topic, and co-text, in other words, what came before and after. The context of chatting to a friend in a casual environment itself narrows down the range of possible topics. Once the topic of a holiday has been established, our knowledge of the kind of things that can happen on holiday comes into play and helps us to ‘match’ the incoming sound signal against our expectations of what we might hear and to fill out specific details.
In contrast, when listening to directions to a friend’s house, comprehension is achieved by dividing and decoding the sound signal bit by bit. The ability to separate the stream of speech into individual words becomes more important here, if we are to recognize, for example, the name of a street or an instruction to take a particular bus.
In reality, fluent listening normally depends on the use of both processes operating simultaneously. Think about talking to your friends (in your first language) in a noisy bar. It is likely that you ‘guess’ the content of large sections of the conversation, based on your knowledge of the topic and what has already been said. In this way, you rely more on top-down processing to make up for unreliability in the sound signal, which forms an obstacle to bottom-up processing.
Similarly, second-language listeners often revert to their knowledge of the topic and situation when faced with unfamiliar vocabulary or structures, so using top-down processing to compensate for difficulties in bottom-up processing. On the other hand, if a listener is unable to understand anything of what she hears, she will not even be able to establish the topic of conversation, so top-down processing will also be very limited.
In the classroom
In real-life listening, our students will have to use a combination of the two processes, with more emphasis on top-down or bottom-up listening depending on their reasons for listening. However, the two types of listening can also be practiced separately, as the skills involved are quite different.
Top-down listening activities
Do you ever get your students to predict the content of a listening beforehand, maybe using information about the topic or situation, pictures, or key words? If so, you are already helping them to develop their top-down processing skills, by encouraging them to use their knowledge of the topic to help them understand the content. This is an essential skill given that, in a real-life listening situation, even advanced learners are likely to come across some unknown vocabulary.
By using their knowledge of context and co-text, they should either be able to guess the meaning of the unknown word, or understand the general idea without getting distracted by it.
Other examples of common top-down listening activities include putting a series of pictures or sequence of events in order, listening to conversations and identifying where they take place, reading information about a topic then listening to find whether or not the same points are mentioned, or inferring the relationships between the people involved.
Bottom-up listening activities
The emphasis in EFL listening materials in recent years has been on developing top-down listening processes. There are good reasons for this given that learners need to be able to listen effectively even when faced with unfamiliar vocabulary or structures. However, if the learner understands very few words from the incoming signal, even knowledge about the context may not be sufficient for her to understand what is happening, and she can easily get lost. Of course, low level learners may simply not have enough vocabulary or knowledge of the language yet, but most teachers will be familiar with the situation in which higher-level students fail to recognize known words in the stream of fast connected speech.
Bottom-up listening activities can help learners to understand enough linguistic elements of what they hear to then be able use their top-down skills to fill in the gaps.
The following procedure for developing bottom-up listening skills draws on dictogloss, and is designed to help learners recognize the divisions between words, an important bottom-up listening skill. The teacher reads out a number of sentences, and asks learners to write down how many words there would be in the written form. While the task might sound easy, for learners the weak forms in normal connected speech can make it problematic, so it is very important for the teacher to say the sentences in a very natural way, rather than dictating them word-by-word.
Some suitable sentences are:
I’m going to the shop.
Do you want some chocolate?
Let’s have a party!
I’d better go soon.
You shouldn’t have told him.
What are you doing?
There isn’t any coffee.
What have you got?
He doesn’t like it.
It’s quite a long way.
Why did you think you’d be able to?
Can you tell him I called?
Learners can be asked to compare their answers in pairs, before listening again to check. While listening a third time, they could write what they hear, before reconstructing the complete sentences in pairs or groups. By comparing their version with the correct sentences, learners will become more aware of the sounds of normal spoken English, and how this is different from the written or carefully-spoken form. This will help them to develop the skill of recognizing known words and identifying word divisions in fast connected speech.
Conclusion
Successful listening depends on the ability to combine these two types of processing. Activities which work on each strategy separately should help students to combine top-down and bottom-up processes to become more effective listeners in real-life situations or longer classroom listening.
In 'real-life' listening, our students will have to use a combination of the two processes, with more emphasis on 'top-down' or 'bottom-up' listening depending on their reasons for listening.
Imagine the following situations:
Over lunch, your friend tells you a story about a recent holiday, which was a disaster. You listen with interest and interject at appropriate moments, maybe to express surprise or sympathy.
That evening, another friend calls to invite you to a party at her house the following Saturday. As you’ve never been to her house before, she gives you directions. You listen carefully and make notes.
How do you listen in each case? Are there any differences?
With the holiday anecdote, your main concern was probably understanding the general idea and knowing when some response was expected. In contrast, when listening to the directions to a party, understanding the exact words is likely to be more important – if you want to get there without incident, that is!
The way you listened to the holiday anecdote could be characterized as top-down listening. This refers to the use of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of the message. Background knowledge consists of context, that is, the situation and topic, and co-text, in other words, what came before and after. The context of chatting to a friend in a casual environment itself narrows down the range of possible topics. Once the topic of a holiday has been established, our knowledge of the kind of things that can happen on holiday comes into play and helps us to ‘match’ the incoming sound signal against our expectations of what we might hear and to fill out specific details.
In contrast, when listening to directions to a friend’s house, comprehension is achieved by dividing and decoding the sound signal bit by bit. The ability to separate the stream of speech into individual words becomes more important here, if we are to recognize, for example, the name of a street or an instruction to take a particular bus.
In reality, fluent listening normally depends on the use of both processes operating simultaneously. Think about talking to your friends (in your first language) in a noisy bar. It is likely that you ‘guess’ the content of large sections of the conversation, based on your knowledge of the topic and what has already been said. In this way, you rely more on top-down processing to make up for unreliability in the sound signal, which forms an obstacle to bottom-up processing.
Similarly, second-language listeners often revert to their knowledge of the topic and situation when faced with unfamiliar vocabulary or structures, so using top-down processing to compensate for difficulties in bottom-up processing. On the other hand, if a listener is unable to understand anything of what she hears, she will not even be able to establish the topic of conversation, so top-down processing will also be very limited.
In the classroom
In real-life listening, our students will have to use a combination of the two processes, with more emphasis on top-down or bottom-up listening depending on their reasons for listening. However, the two types of listening can also be practiced separately, as the skills involved are quite different.
Top-down listening activities
Do you ever get your students to predict the content of a listening beforehand, maybe using information about the topic or situation, pictures, or key words? If so, you are already helping them to develop their top-down processing skills, by encouraging them to use their knowledge of the topic to help them understand the content. This is an essential skill given that, in a real-life listening situation, even advanced learners are likely to come across some unknown vocabulary.
By using their knowledge of context and co-text, they should either be able to guess the meaning of the unknown word, or understand the general idea without getting distracted by it.
Other examples of common top-down listening activities include putting a series of pictures or sequence of events in order, listening to conversations and identifying where they take place, reading information about a topic then listening to find whether or not the same points are mentioned, or inferring the relationships between the people involved.
Bottom-up listening activities
The emphasis in EFL listening materials in recent years has been on developing top-down listening processes. There are good reasons for this given that learners need to be able to listen effectively even when faced with unfamiliar vocabulary or structures. However, if the learner understands very few words from the incoming signal, even knowledge about the context may not be sufficient for her to understand what is happening, and she can easily get lost. Of course, low level learners may simply not have enough vocabulary or knowledge of the language yet, but most teachers will be familiar with the situation in which higher-level students fail to recognize known words in the stream of fast connected speech.
Bottom-up listening activities can help learners to understand enough linguistic elements of what they hear to then be able use their top-down skills to fill in the gaps.
The following procedure for developing bottom-up listening skills draws on dictogloss, and is designed to help learners recognize the divisions between words, an important bottom-up listening skill. The teacher reads out a number of sentences, and asks learners to write down how many words there would be in the written form. While the task might sound easy, for learners the weak forms in normal connected speech can make it problematic, so it is very important for the teacher to say the sentences in a very natural way, rather than dictating them word-by-word.
Some suitable sentences are:
I’m going to the shop.
Do you want some chocolate?
Let’s have a party!
I’d better go soon.
You shouldn’t have told him.
What are you doing?
There isn’t any coffee.
What have you got?
He doesn’t like it.
It’s quite a long way.
Why did you think you’d be able to?
Can you tell him I called?
Learners can be asked to compare their answers in pairs, before listening again to check. While listening a third time, they could write what they hear, before reconstructing the complete sentences in pairs or groups. By comparing their version with the correct sentences, learners will become more aware of the sounds of normal spoken English, and how this is different from the written or carefully-spoken form. This will help them to develop the skill of recognizing known words and identifying word divisions in fast connected speech.
Conclusion
Successful listening depends on the ability to combine these two types of processing. Activities which work on each strategy separately should help students to combine top-down and bottom-up processes to become more effective listeners in real-life situations or longer classroom listening.
Senin, 05 Januari 2009
Menyikapi UU Guru dan Dosen: Beberapa Masalah Budaya
Terjadi gegap gempita di kalangan dunia pendidikan menyikapi disahkannya UU Guru dan Dosen. Sejak sebelum disahkan, atau ketika masih berupa RUU, masyarakat mulai menilai bahwa pemerintah tampak serius untuk memecahkan berbagai masalah yang selama ini mendera dunia pendidikan di Indonesia. Namun tak sedikit masyarakat yang pesimis bahwa undang-undang yang baru ini akan dapat memberi kontribusi cukup berarti bagi peningkatan mutu pendidikan. Yang jelas, rancangan ini akhirnya telah sah menjadi rambu-rambu bagi profesi yang selama ini menjadi ujung tombak dunia pendidikan.
Terlepas dari UU tersebut nanti harus dijabarkan menjadi peraturan pemerintah dan keputusan menteri, apa yang digariskan UU tersebut, jika benar-benar diimplementasikan akan berhadapan dengan beberapa problem kultural masyarakat Indonesia. Jika tidak bijaksana dalam menyikapi, masalah ini akan menjadi hambatan yang laten, karena sifatnya yang kultural, sehingga dikhawatirkan pelaksanaan UU tersebut mengalami kesia-siaan.
Mental Menerabas
Tahun 1970-an, Bapak Antropologi Indonesia Profesor Koentjaraningrat telah mengingatkan bahwa masyarakat Indonesia belum siap memasuki masyarakat modern dunia. Alasannya, beliau banyak menjumpai perilaku masyarakat yang suka menerabas, mulai dari menerabas jalan sampai menerabas aturan-aturan sosial. Padahal, masyarakat modern lebih mengedepankan sikap kompetitif dan prinsip �there is no shortcut in life�, budaya tertib dan taat aturan. Berselang tiga dekade, tampaknya peringatan sang profesor rupanya masih berlaku hingga sekarang. Senyatanya, praktek �nerabas� sangat sering kita jumpai di sekitar kita. Padahal, masyarakat dunia sekarang memasuki era pasar bebas.
Apa hubungannya dengan dengan UU Guru dan Dosen. Seperti tercantum pada pasal 8 � 11, UU menghendaki kualifikasi akademik seorang guru minimal berpendidikan sarjana atau diploma IV. Selain itu seorang guru harus juga melewati proses sertifikasi yang dengan itu dirinya dinyatakan layak mengajar. Bisa dibayangkan, semenjak diterapkannya aturan ini, terdapat 1,7 juta dari 2,7 juta guru di Indonesia harus melanjutkan pendidikan lanjut dan mengikuti proses sertifikasi.
Terbatasnya daya tampung perguruan tinggi yang mencetak guru maupun pengalaman baru lembaga sertifikasi, membuka peluang bagi berlangsungnya praktek jalan pintas. Mental jalan pintas atau nerabas selama ini melekat erat dengan budaya kolusi yang banyak terjadi pada birokrasi yang identik dengan prosedur berbelit-belit. Bagaimanapun, masyarakat Indonesia begitu permisif, bahkan terhadap praktek-praktek yang melanggar aturan hukum sekalipun.
Rendahnya Etos Belajar
Di tengah kondisi keterpurukan akibat multikrisis, masyarakat kita masih bergumul dengan sikap malas untuk selalu belajar. Marilah kita tengok di sekolah-sekolah, perkantoran pemerintah ataupun di tempat-tempat umum. Di sana banyak fasilitas-fasilitas yang menggunakan teknologi mutakhir, tetapi seberapa jauh teknologi semacam komputer dimanfaatkan secara optimal di tempat-tempat tersebut.
Indikasi lain dari rendahnya etos belajar tampak dari budaya baca. Aktivitas antri sama saja dengan kegiatan menunggu, saat di mana seorang bisa menfaatkan waktu tersebut untuk membaca. Cobalah sesekali menghitung, ada berapa persen orang yang membaca dari suatu kerumunan antrian. Yang paling banyak adalah orang sedang terbengong, melamun, menerawang dengan arah mata tak jelas. Masih agak lumayan kalau berantri sembari ngobrol.
Dengan etos belajar yang compang-camping semacam ini, ada semacam terapis khusus yang harus dilakukan pemerintah agar para guru mencapai kualifikasi sesuai dengan standar yang diinginkan.
Budaya Konsumtif
Janji kesejahteraan bagi guru yang dikandung UU Guru dan Dosen bisa jadi benar-benar memenuhi konsumtifisme masyarakat kita. Mungkin pada saatnya perlu diteliti, SK Pengangkatan guru yang �disekolahin� di bank-bank pengkreditan lebih banyak pada saat realisasi janji UU tersebut ataukah lebih banyak pada saat sebelumnya. Sudah menjadi kebiasaan, peningkatan pendapatan yang biasanya disebabkan kenaikan gaji merangsang seorang pegawai untuk mengkredit barang baru. Belum lagi habis cicilan untuk barang sebelumnya, seseorang bisa mengajukan kredit baru, yang selain digunakan untuk menutup cicilan yang lama sekaligus untuk membeli barang baru.
Memang hal ini bisa diperdebatkan, apakah yang dibeli adalah barang-barang kebutuhan pokok ataukah bersifat sekunder atau apalagi tersier. Jika untuk memenuhi kebutuhan pokok atau sekunder, hal itu masih bisa dimaklumi, bahwa pendapatan selama ini memang masih sangat pas-pasan. Lain halnya jika yang dibeli adalah barang-barang bersifat tersier, hal ini menunjukkan perilaku konsumtif. Perilaku konsumtif tak akan ada habisnya, bahkan sampai ketika kemampuan membeli sudah berada di titik nol atau minus.
Kesejahteraan guru tetap perlu ditingkatkan. Namun, pada saat yang sama pemerintah juga harus membuat semacam program sosialisasi ke masyarakat untuk mengantisipasi masalah-masalah budaya seperti yang telah diuraikan di atas.
Terlepas dari UU tersebut nanti harus dijabarkan menjadi peraturan pemerintah dan keputusan menteri, apa yang digariskan UU tersebut, jika benar-benar diimplementasikan akan berhadapan dengan beberapa problem kultural masyarakat Indonesia. Jika tidak bijaksana dalam menyikapi, masalah ini akan menjadi hambatan yang laten, karena sifatnya yang kultural, sehingga dikhawatirkan pelaksanaan UU tersebut mengalami kesia-siaan.
Mental Menerabas
Tahun 1970-an, Bapak Antropologi Indonesia Profesor Koentjaraningrat telah mengingatkan bahwa masyarakat Indonesia belum siap memasuki masyarakat modern dunia. Alasannya, beliau banyak menjumpai perilaku masyarakat yang suka menerabas, mulai dari menerabas jalan sampai menerabas aturan-aturan sosial. Padahal, masyarakat modern lebih mengedepankan sikap kompetitif dan prinsip �there is no shortcut in life�, budaya tertib dan taat aturan. Berselang tiga dekade, tampaknya peringatan sang profesor rupanya masih berlaku hingga sekarang. Senyatanya, praktek �nerabas� sangat sering kita jumpai di sekitar kita. Padahal, masyarakat dunia sekarang memasuki era pasar bebas.
Apa hubungannya dengan dengan UU Guru dan Dosen. Seperti tercantum pada pasal 8 � 11, UU menghendaki kualifikasi akademik seorang guru minimal berpendidikan sarjana atau diploma IV. Selain itu seorang guru harus juga melewati proses sertifikasi yang dengan itu dirinya dinyatakan layak mengajar. Bisa dibayangkan, semenjak diterapkannya aturan ini, terdapat 1,7 juta dari 2,7 juta guru di Indonesia harus melanjutkan pendidikan lanjut dan mengikuti proses sertifikasi.
Terbatasnya daya tampung perguruan tinggi yang mencetak guru maupun pengalaman baru lembaga sertifikasi, membuka peluang bagi berlangsungnya praktek jalan pintas. Mental jalan pintas atau nerabas selama ini melekat erat dengan budaya kolusi yang banyak terjadi pada birokrasi yang identik dengan prosedur berbelit-belit. Bagaimanapun, masyarakat Indonesia begitu permisif, bahkan terhadap praktek-praktek yang melanggar aturan hukum sekalipun.
Rendahnya Etos Belajar
Di tengah kondisi keterpurukan akibat multikrisis, masyarakat kita masih bergumul dengan sikap malas untuk selalu belajar. Marilah kita tengok di sekolah-sekolah, perkantoran pemerintah ataupun di tempat-tempat umum. Di sana banyak fasilitas-fasilitas yang menggunakan teknologi mutakhir, tetapi seberapa jauh teknologi semacam komputer dimanfaatkan secara optimal di tempat-tempat tersebut.
Indikasi lain dari rendahnya etos belajar tampak dari budaya baca. Aktivitas antri sama saja dengan kegiatan menunggu, saat di mana seorang bisa menfaatkan waktu tersebut untuk membaca. Cobalah sesekali menghitung, ada berapa persen orang yang membaca dari suatu kerumunan antrian. Yang paling banyak adalah orang sedang terbengong, melamun, menerawang dengan arah mata tak jelas. Masih agak lumayan kalau berantri sembari ngobrol.
Dengan etos belajar yang compang-camping semacam ini, ada semacam terapis khusus yang harus dilakukan pemerintah agar para guru mencapai kualifikasi sesuai dengan standar yang diinginkan.
Budaya Konsumtif
Janji kesejahteraan bagi guru yang dikandung UU Guru dan Dosen bisa jadi benar-benar memenuhi konsumtifisme masyarakat kita. Mungkin pada saatnya perlu diteliti, SK Pengangkatan guru yang �disekolahin� di bank-bank pengkreditan lebih banyak pada saat realisasi janji UU tersebut ataukah lebih banyak pada saat sebelumnya. Sudah menjadi kebiasaan, peningkatan pendapatan yang biasanya disebabkan kenaikan gaji merangsang seorang pegawai untuk mengkredit barang baru. Belum lagi habis cicilan untuk barang sebelumnya, seseorang bisa mengajukan kredit baru, yang selain digunakan untuk menutup cicilan yang lama sekaligus untuk membeli barang baru.
Memang hal ini bisa diperdebatkan, apakah yang dibeli adalah barang-barang kebutuhan pokok ataukah bersifat sekunder atau apalagi tersier. Jika untuk memenuhi kebutuhan pokok atau sekunder, hal itu masih bisa dimaklumi, bahwa pendapatan selama ini memang masih sangat pas-pasan. Lain halnya jika yang dibeli adalah barang-barang bersifat tersier, hal ini menunjukkan perilaku konsumtif. Perilaku konsumtif tak akan ada habisnya, bahkan sampai ketika kemampuan membeli sudah berada di titik nol atau minus.
Kesejahteraan guru tetap perlu ditingkatkan. Namun, pada saat yang sama pemerintah juga harus membuat semacam program sosialisasi ke masyarakat untuk mengantisipasi masalah-masalah budaya seperti yang telah diuraikan di atas.
Contoh Skripsi Bahasa Inggris 2
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors : learner’s communicative needs and their attitudes toward the second language community. If learners need to speak the second language in with range of social situations or to fulfill professional ambitions, they will perceive the communicative value of the second language and will there fore be motivated to acquire proficiency in it. It means that when learning language the role of motivation is very important since the students can not learn effectively with less motivation.
Motivation is the dynamic force that energized behavior. It is motivation that compel the child to act. The motivation is persistent since they keep the child acting until he finds the satisfaction for him (Smith, 1958 : 185).
Motivation has function in studying suck as to motivate as motor each activity, to know direction the goal that want to be reach, selecting of action determine the goal want to be reached by throwing of useless activity. From these its hereby are really important ways to know about motivation to student. (Sadirman, 1992, p. 130)
There has been a great deal of research on the role of attitudes and motivation in second language learning such a research that is hold in SMUN 1 Rantau academic year 2001-2002 by Suwazi with the title “ Correlation between motivation in learning English and their achievement in reading comprehension of the second grade students of SMUN 1 Rantau academic year 2001-2002”. It shows that motivation is some kind of internal drive date and encourages somebody to pursue a course of action. The result of the research shows that motivation and the achievement of language skills has tight relationship.
The other research about motivation also held by Marwiyah with the title “The correlation between motivation and vocabulary mastery at SMPN 17 Banjarmasin academic year 2004-2005”, this research result describe that between motivation and learning vocabulary or correlate want to another.
English is difficult lesson for student, certainly teacher, parents and environment have to cooperate to make student realize and want to study English as well. English is not easy lesson studied particularly student at junior high school, because they feel English is not important. Moreover, English at elementary school as addition of lesson in the curriculum. Beside on psychology of human, person will not follow some lesson if that person does not like, but if the person like of course will follow it. In teaching English, the teacher should coopered with media, family and environment approaching of student’s mentality, or invite student to share the problem in learning English. Besides, teacher technique to approach the student interest to English lesson through teaching by meaningful.
Since motivation is very important to make the students interest in learning English so that the teacher’s way in motivating the student can raise the students’ motivation. There are many ways of the teacher’s way in motivating the students suck as, using stimulation, discussion, question and answer activities, role plays, etc.
MTsN Sungai Tabuk is one of the junior high school that provide English. In learning English the student of MTsN Sungai Tabuk is also influence by the motivation. The researcher wants to held a research about the way of the teacher in motivating the students in learning English in this place since the student motivation are still less according to there English achievement report. Motivation of student to study English is less, because of the teacher, family, environment, and facilities which are not support English lesson as well. Beside that MTsN is an Islamic school where almost all the subject is about religion and the research wants to now the way of motivation in learning English is used by the English teacher. Based on the explanation above, the researcher wants to held a research with the title “A descriptive study of the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English at MTsN Sungai Tabuk academic year 2006-2007”
B. Identification and Formulation of the Problem
Motivation is very important to ensure of idea and the strength to someone whose have lower of power from inside. Instead of being encouraged build up some of thinking in mind to put concentration on the one topic. Most students have been influenced by something when their motivation is higher. According to pre-research that is done by the researcher student’s motivation at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Kabupaten Gambut Banjarmasin, still less because many influence from inside and outside, and the object of research is the influence of student’s motivation, one of the them is the way of the teacher in motivating the students in learning English.
This research is limited on student at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjarmasin, the central of problem formulation namely: “How is the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English at the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk?”.
C. Research Objective
The research objective is to know the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English at MTsN Sungai Tabuk in academic year 2006-2007.
D. Significance
a. Implication
- The result of the research is expected to give contribution to the theory of the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English.
b. Aplication
- For teacher, the result of this research is useful for the teacher, parent and environment how to motivate of students’ interest in studying English.
- For student, to at information of knowledge about how to motivate interest self in order to like English.
E. Working Theory
Mc.Donald’s opinion which taken by Wasty Soemanto in psikologi Pendidikan mentioned : (1986, p. 73)
Motivasi itu sebagai perubahan tenaga di dalam diri atau pribadi seseorang yang di tandai oleh dorongan efektif dan reaksi-reaksi dalam usaha mencapai tujuan. Definisi ini berisi 3 hal yaitu: motivasi dimulai dari suatu perubahan tenaga dalam diri seseorang, motivasi itu ditandai oleh dorongan efektif, motivasi ditandai oleh reaksi mencapai tujuan.
Motivation is very important to learn English as if for student at junior high school, because many of them do not like with English lesson. Certainly to measure of the influence of motivation particular, it will use variable that can support of data of the factors the influence from effective and insist of from students.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
A. Motive and Motivation
Motive is a stimulus and encouragement to create behavior. Beside that, there are some definitions of motive and motivation given by some experts.
According to Woodworth (1982:17), “a motive is a set predisposes the individual of certain activities and for seeking certain goals”. While according to Fransen (1982: 18), “motive is internal conditions that arouse sustain direct and determine the intensity of learning effort, and also define the set satisfying or unsatisfying consequences of goal”. Tadjab (1994:101) states “Motive adalah daya penggerak dalam diri seseorang untuk melaksanakan aktivitas-aktivitas tertentu demi mencapai suatu tujuan tertentu”.
Hilgard in Pasaribu (1982:18) defines motivation as a general term characterizing the needs, aspirations, purposes of the organism as these initiate or regulated need satisfying or goal seeking behavior”. Donald (in Pasaribu 1982:19) gives the definition of motivation as an energy change with the person characterized by effective arousal and anticipatory goal reaction. And according to Martin (in Tadjib 1994:2), “Motivasi adalah suatu tenaga atau faktor yang terdapat dalam diri manusia yang menimbulkan, mengarahkan dan mengorganisasikan tingkah laku”.
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that motivation is a situation inside of human that causes someone does activities to reach a goal.
B. Types of Motivation
According to A. Tabrani (1992:72) there are four types of motivation, namely:
a. Competition
It is divided into two, they are: achievement competition and competition to other people. In achievement competition, the students must know the result that is achieved and then attempt to increase the result. Meanwhile in competition to other people, the students learn and compare the result achieved with other students.
b. Clear goal
Motivation encourages the students to achieve the goal. If the goal is clear and useful for the students, the students will attempt to achieve that goal.
c. Close to the goal
If the students see that the goal is far, they will be lazy to achieve and increase the goal. On the contrary, the students will be motivated to reach the goal if it is close to the students.
d. Interest
Interest influences a process of achievement to a motivation. If someone is not interested in something, she/he will not do any activity. But if someone has interest in learning she/he will learn enthusiastically. Someone’ interest to learn something can be seen from her/his desire to study.
The students who have interest in learning English will feel enjoy and give full attention when they follow the lesson. By knowing this, the teacher needs to attempt to raise students’ interest based on students’ behavior and achievement. The students have put interest to the lesson indicated by their behavior. For example: if they give full attention, enjoy and feel happy in the class, and they will achieve good achievement.
C. Ways of Creating Learning Motivation
According to Sardiman (1991:91) there are 10 ways to raise motivation in learning activity at school, namely:
a. Give score
Score is a symbol of value in learning activity. The scores are the strongest motivation for students.
b. Prize
Prize is a motivation arousal too, but it is not always like that. For a work, perhaps it is not interesting for someone who is not interested in it.
c. Competition
Competition is used as an instrument of motivation to encourage students’ learning. The individual or group competition can increase students’ achievement.
d. Ego-Involvement
Ego-Involvement is meant to raise consciousness to students. By applying it,
the students will feel the importance of the task and receive it as challenge.
e. Give test
The students will be diligent to learn if they know that there will be a test. Therefore, giving a test is an instrument of motivation too.
f. To know the result
By knowing the result of task, if there is a progress, it can encourage students to study diligently.
g. Praise
If there is a student successful in finishing their task well in learning, the teacher needs to give praise. It is a kind of positive reinforcement and motivation.
h. Punishment
Punishment is a negative reinforcement. But if it is given exactly and prudently the punishment will be a tool of motivation.
i. Desire to learn
It means that there is an element of consciousness to study.
j. Interest
A motivation rises because there is a need. An interest is a tool of principal communication. The process of learning will run well if there is an interest.
Similar to Sardiman, Djapri Basri (1989:12) proposes 12 ways to give students motivation to learn, they are:
a. Create learning situation that is enjoyable
The situation of learning must be enjoyable. The enjoyable situation can arouse students’ learning motivation.
b. Give prize
Giving prize to clever students can be motivation for students themselves and other students. It will encourage students to get good score.
c. Give praise
If there is a student who is successful in doing task well, it needs to be given praise. Because it is a positive reinforcement and can raise desire of student to study.
d. Competition
Competition is needed too, because it can raise achievement for individual or group competition.
e. Cooperation
In learning activity, cooperation can raise the students’ interest in learning group. The cooperation can give encouragement to learn and help the students who is less clever.
f. Inform students there will be a test
The student will be more diligent to study if they know that there will be a test. This is useful to increase their achievement.
g. Ego-Involvement
The students’ behavior can appear in tasks that they have done if the students feel the importance of tasks and receive it as challenge. So, they will do that task diligently.
h. To arrange the students’ seat variously
The arrangement of students’ seat will create the harmony of learning situation. The teacher and students do not feel bored to use and occupy that class.
i. Use various method in teaching to fit the material
By using various methods in teaching to fit the material, the role of students in learning can be increased.
j. To give comment to students’ work
Beside giving score, comment about mistake that have been made by students in learning is also important to encourage students to learn, such as “very good work”, “next time will be better”, “actually you are able to do the task, but it is still less accurate.
k. To give comment to students’ work
For the students who make mistake, lazy and bad behavior in learning activity, the warning can be a tool to correct behavior. Example: The student who makes noise in the class.
l. Punishment as tool of education
Punishment can be used if the other way is not effective. It may be done if it can change the students’ behavior.
Based on the opinions above, it can be concluded that the teacher in raising learning motivation need to encourage students’ spirit and release burden. Therefore, the goal of teaching and learning activity can be achieved optimally.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Location
The research location is at MTsN Sungai Tabuk. It is Located on Jl. Kali Martapura, Desa Pembatangan RT. 2 Kecamatan Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency.
B. Research Design
The design of this study is descriptive qualitative where the researcher tries to describe about the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency.
C. The Procedure of Data Collection
1. Data Source
The data are the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English. The sources of data are the English teacher and the students of the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency.
2. Research Instrument
Research instrument is questionnaire. There are two questionnaires. The first questionnaire is given to the teacher to know the teacher’s ways of motivating students in learning English. The second questionnaire is given to the students to know to what extent their motivation toward the English lesson as the impact of the teacher’s ways to arouse the students’ motivation.
3. Technique of Collecting Data
The data were collected through observation, questionnaire and interview. The techniques were applied to investigate the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English.
a. Observation
Observation is used to get the data about how the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English.
b. Questionnaire
Questionnaire is used to complete the data gained through observation. In the questionnaire, there are ten questions that should be answered by the teacher. There are two questionnaires. The first questionnaire is given to the teacher to know the teacher’s ways of motivating students in learning English. The second questionnaire is given to the students to know to what extent their motivation toward the English lesson as the impact of the teacher’s ways to arouse the students’ motivation.
c. Interview
This interview was used to complete the data gained through observation and questionnaires. The interview is addressed to the English teacher about his ways in motivating the students in learning English.
4. Research Population
The Subject of the study is the English teacher and all students in the second grade at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency academic year 2006-2007. There are two classes of the second grade, II A consist of 24 students and II B consist 23 students, since the number of subject is less them 100 person so that all the subjects were taken as the sample, that is 47 students.
D. Technique of Data Analysis
All the collected data were analyzed qualitatively. The result of questionnaire and interview were analyzed into three steps, editing, interpreting and making conclusion. From the conclusion, it can be got about the description of the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English at the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency academic year 2006-2007.
CHAPTER IV
THE RESULT OF RESEARCH
A. General
The research is done to know the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English. The subject of the research is the English teacher and all the students in the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency academic year 2006-2007. Since the number of the subject is less than 100, all the subjects were taken as the samples (47 students). The design of this study is descriptive where the researcher tries to describe about the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English. The techniques of collecting the data were observation, questionnaire, and interview.
All the collected data were analyzed qualitatively. The result of observation, questionnaire, and interview were analyzed into there steps; data editing, data interpreting, and conclusion drawing. From the conclusion, it can be got about the description of the teacher’s ways in motivating the students of the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency academic year 2006 – 2007 in learning English.
B. The Result of Research
1. The Result of Observation
The result of observation shows that in teaching English the teacher motivate the students by giving score, giving advice, giving homework/exercises, giving praise, and giving punishment. The teacher gave score, advice, and exercises in the while activities, the teacher also gave praise toward the student when they can answer the teacher’s questions. The teacher gave home works to the students in the post-activities. Punishment is given to the students who come late to the class when English teaching and learning process is taking place.
2. The Result of the Questionnaire to the teacher
The result of the questionnaire given to the teacher can be seen in the following table:
Table of Questionnaire to the Teacher
No. Pertanyaan Selalu Kadang-kadang Jarang Tidak pernah
1 Apakah Bapak menerapkan metode mengajar yang bervariasi dalam menyajikan pelajaran?
√
2. Apakah Bapak memberikan informasi lebih dulu kepada siswa apabila akan dilaksanakan ulangan (test)?
√
3. Apakah Bapak memberikan score pada hasil pekerjaan siswa?
√
4. Apakah Bapak memberikan pujian (praise) ketika siswa dapat menjawab pertanyaan dengan benar?
√
5. Apakah Bapak memberikan hadiah (prize) kepada siswa yang mendapatkan score tertinggi dalam menjawab pertanyaan?
√
6. Apakah Bapak memberikan bimbingan (advice) ketika siswa mendapatkan masalah/kesulitan dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris?
√
7. Apakah Bapak menerapkan kegiatan kompetisi (competition)dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris?
√
8. Apakah Bapak menerapkan metode kerja kelompok (group work) dalam kegiatan pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris?
√
9. Apakah Bapak mengatur tempat (arrange student’s seat) duduk siswa yang bervariasi dalam proses belajar mengajar Bahasa Inggris?
√
10. Apakah Bapak memberikan punishment kepada siswa yang berprilaku kurang baik dalam proses pembelajaran (membuat keributan)?
√
The table shows that the English teacher always applies various methods in presenting the instructional materials, give scores to the students’ works, and give praise when the students can answer questions correctly. The teacher sometimes informs the students when he wants to give a test, give prize to the excellent students, applying group works in presenting the lesson, and give punishment to the bad behavior students in the teaching and learning process. The teacher is rarely arrange the students’ seat variously and never applies competition to the students.
4. The Result of Interview
The result of interview gives explanation that 85 % of the students at the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk like English lesson. Their achievement in learning English is quite good with the score category around 6 – 8 (minimal standardization). If there is a student got lower achievement, it is because of some factors such as less attention when English teaching and learning process is taking place, lazy for asking questions, often left their books at home, the presence is less than standardization, have low intelligence, and uncomprehending about the lesson. The teacher said that motivation influence the students’ achievement in learning English. He stressed that the students should pray first before studying English and the teacher said that he always motivates his students, if the students got bad scores, he always gives remedial for them.
From the observation, questionnaire, and interview, it can be found the fact that the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning is quite good and make the students able to achieve a quite good score.
C. Discussion
The result of observation, questionnaire and interview explain that the English teacher at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency does some ways in motivating the students in learning English. The ways are: (1) giving score, (2) giving advice, (3) giving homework exercises, (4) giving praise, and (5) giving punishment
The teacher always gives praise if there is a student who can answer the questions from the teacher. It really helps the teacher to motivate them in learning English since the students feel valuable and get attention from the teacher. This is in line with what Sardiman (1991) says about types and ways to praise motivation in learning activity at school, one of them is the praise which is the kind of positive reinforcement and motivation.
The teacher also gives advice to the students. If the students make mistakes in answering the exercises or oral questions, the teacher gave the students advice how to get the correct answer.
From the questionnaire and interview, it can be got that the students’ motivation in learning English at the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk is quite high and the student achievement is also quite high in learning English.
Although the students’ motivation is quite high, most of them learn at night before the English exam. The teacher should motivate the students to prepare perfectly the lesson before they have English examination. The teacher also can give prize if any of the students can get high score. Since motivation has some function as Sardiman (1986) explanation that the motivation function are ; push the human to act, determine direction of action, select the action, and pusher of effort and achieving the achievement.
In short, the ways the teacher motivate the students in learning English quite good and still in line with what the expert says about how to motivate the students ‘attention in learning English, so that the students’ achievement can be increased.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
Based on the description in chapter IV, it can be concluded that the English teacher of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency applied some ways in motivating the student in learning English. The ways that the teacher applied are giving score, giving advice, giving homework, giving praise; and giving punishment. Besides that, the English teacher always applied various methods in presenting the instructional materials, gave scores to the students’ works, and gave praise when the students could answer questions correctly. The teacher sometimes informed the students when he wanted to give a test, gave prize to the excellent students, applied group works in presenting the lesson, and gave punishment to the bad behavior students in the teaching and learning process. The teacher rarely arranged the students’ seat variously and never applied competition to the students.
B. Suggestions
Based on the conclusion above, some suggestions are addressed to the English teacher of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency in particular and the English teachers of junior high school in general.
1. The teacher should keep motivating the students to learn English.
2. The teacher should keep using various methods in teaching to provide the material, such as using game since it will increase the role of the students.
3. The teacher can give prize if any of the students can get high score.
4. The teacher should create competition of feeling among the students to increase students’ motivation in learning English.
5. The teacher can vary the teaching material, in order that the students are more attracted toward the English lesson.
REFERENCES
Undang-undang tentang sistim pendidikan nasional dan peraturan pelaksanaannya
1993, Jakarta, sinar grafika.
Wasty Soemanto, 1998, Psikologi pendidikan (Landasan kerja pimpinan
pendidikan), Renika cipta, Jakarta.
Dep. Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1999, Kamus besar bahasa Indonesia edisi
kedua, Balai pustaka, Jakarta.
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors : learner’s communicative needs and their attitudes toward the second language community. If learners need to speak the second language in with range of social situations or to fulfill professional ambitions, they will perceive the communicative value of the second language and will there fore be motivated to acquire proficiency in it. It means that when learning language the role of motivation is very important since the students can not learn effectively with less motivation.
Motivation is the dynamic force that energized behavior. It is motivation that compel the child to act. The motivation is persistent since they keep the child acting until he finds the satisfaction for him (Smith, 1958 : 185).
Motivation has function in studying suck as to motivate as motor each activity, to know direction the goal that want to be reach, selecting of action determine the goal want to be reached by throwing of useless activity. From these its hereby are really important ways to know about motivation to student. (Sadirman, 1992, p. 130)
There has been a great deal of research on the role of attitudes and motivation in second language learning such a research that is hold in SMUN 1 Rantau academic year 2001-2002 by Suwazi with the title “ Correlation between motivation in learning English and their achievement in reading comprehension of the second grade students of SMUN 1 Rantau academic year 2001-2002”. It shows that motivation is some kind of internal drive date and encourages somebody to pursue a course of action. The result of the research shows that motivation and the achievement of language skills has tight relationship.
The other research about motivation also held by Marwiyah with the title “The correlation between motivation and vocabulary mastery at SMPN 17 Banjarmasin academic year 2004-2005”, this research result describe that between motivation and learning vocabulary or correlate want to another.
English is difficult lesson for student, certainly teacher, parents and environment have to cooperate to make student realize and want to study English as well. English is not easy lesson studied particularly student at junior high school, because they feel English is not important. Moreover, English at elementary school as addition of lesson in the curriculum. Beside on psychology of human, person will not follow some lesson if that person does not like, but if the person like of course will follow it. In teaching English, the teacher should coopered with media, family and environment approaching of student’s mentality, or invite student to share the problem in learning English. Besides, teacher technique to approach the student interest to English lesson through teaching by meaningful.
Since motivation is very important to make the students interest in learning English so that the teacher’s way in motivating the student can raise the students’ motivation. There are many ways of the teacher’s way in motivating the students suck as, using stimulation, discussion, question and answer activities, role plays, etc.
MTsN Sungai Tabuk is one of the junior high school that provide English. In learning English the student of MTsN Sungai Tabuk is also influence by the motivation. The researcher wants to held a research about the way of the teacher in motivating the students in learning English in this place since the student motivation are still less according to there English achievement report. Motivation of student to study English is less, because of the teacher, family, environment, and facilities which are not support English lesson as well. Beside that MTsN is an Islamic school where almost all the subject is about religion and the research wants to now the way of motivation in learning English is used by the English teacher. Based on the explanation above, the researcher wants to held a research with the title “A descriptive study of the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English at MTsN Sungai Tabuk academic year 2006-2007”
B. Identification and Formulation of the Problem
Motivation is very important to ensure of idea and the strength to someone whose have lower of power from inside. Instead of being encouraged build up some of thinking in mind to put concentration on the one topic. Most students have been influenced by something when their motivation is higher. According to pre-research that is done by the researcher student’s motivation at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Kabupaten Gambut Banjarmasin, still less because many influence from inside and outside, and the object of research is the influence of student’s motivation, one of the them is the way of the teacher in motivating the students in learning English.
This research is limited on student at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjarmasin, the central of problem formulation namely: “How is the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English at the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk?”.
C. Research Objective
The research objective is to know the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English at MTsN Sungai Tabuk in academic year 2006-2007.
D. Significance
a. Implication
- The result of the research is expected to give contribution to the theory of the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English.
b. Aplication
- For teacher, the result of this research is useful for the teacher, parent and environment how to motivate of students’ interest in studying English.
- For student, to at information of knowledge about how to motivate interest self in order to like English.
E. Working Theory
Mc.Donald’s opinion which taken by Wasty Soemanto in psikologi Pendidikan mentioned : (1986, p. 73)
Motivasi itu sebagai perubahan tenaga di dalam diri atau pribadi seseorang yang di tandai oleh dorongan efektif dan reaksi-reaksi dalam usaha mencapai tujuan. Definisi ini berisi 3 hal yaitu: motivasi dimulai dari suatu perubahan tenaga dalam diri seseorang, motivasi itu ditandai oleh dorongan efektif, motivasi ditandai oleh reaksi mencapai tujuan.
Motivation is very important to learn English as if for student at junior high school, because many of them do not like with English lesson. Certainly to measure of the influence of motivation particular, it will use variable that can support of data of the factors the influence from effective and insist of from students.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
A. Motive and Motivation
Motive is a stimulus and encouragement to create behavior. Beside that, there are some definitions of motive and motivation given by some experts.
According to Woodworth (1982:17), “a motive is a set predisposes the individual of certain activities and for seeking certain goals”. While according to Fransen (1982: 18), “motive is internal conditions that arouse sustain direct and determine the intensity of learning effort, and also define the set satisfying or unsatisfying consequences of goal”. Tadjab (1994:101) states “Motive adalah daya penggerak dalam diri seseorang untuk melaksanakan aktivitas-aktivitas tertentu demi mencapai suatu tujuan tertentu”.
Hilgard in Pasaribu (1982:18) defines motivation as a general term characterizing the needs, aspirations, purposes of the organism as these initiate or regulated need satisfying or goal seeking behavior”. Donald (in Pasaribu 1982:19) gives the definition of motivation as an energy change with the person characterized by effective arousal and anticipatory goal reaction. And according to Martin (in Tadjib 1994:2), “Motivasi adalah suatu tenaga atau faktor yang terdapat dalam diri manusia yang menimbulkan, mengarahkan dan mengorganisasikan tingkah laku”.
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that motivation is a situation inside of human that causes someone does activities to reach a goal.
B. Types of Motivation
According to A. Tabrani (1992:72) there are four types of motivation, namely:
a. Competition
It is divided into two, they are: achievement competition and competition to other people. In achievement competition, the students must know the result that is achieved and then attempt to increase the result. Meanwhile in competition to other people, the students learn and compare the result achieved with other students.
b. Clear goal
Motivation encourages the students to achieve the goal. If the goal is clear and useful for the students, the students will attempt to achieve that goal.
c. Close to the goal
If the students see that the goal is far, they will be lazy to achieve and increase the goal. On the contrary, the students will be motivated to reach the goal if it is close to the students.
d. Interest
Interest influences a process of achievement to a motivation. If someone is not interested in something, she/he will not do any activity. But if someone has interest in learning she/he will learn enthusiastically. Someone’ interest to learn something can be seen from her/his desire to study.
The students who have interest in learning English will feel enjoy and give full attention when they follow the lesson. By knowing this, the teacher needs to attempt to raise students’ interest based on students’ behavior and achievement. The students have put interest to the lesson indicated by their behavior. For example: if they give full attention, enjoy and feel happy in the class, and they will achieve good achievement.
C. Ways of Creating Learning Motivation
According to Sardiman (1991:91) there are 10 ways to raise motivation in learning activity at school, namely:
a. Give score
Score is a symbol of value in learning activity. The scores are the strongest motivation for students.
b. Prize
Prize is a motivation arousal too, but it is not always like that. For a work, perhaps it is not interesting for someone who is not interested in it.
c. Competition
Competition is used as an instrument of motivation to encourage students’ learning. The individual or group competition can increase students’ achievement.
d. Ego-Involvement
Ego-Involvement is meant to raise consciousness to students. By applying it,
the students will feel the importance of the task and receive it as challenge.
e. Give test
The students will be diligent to learn if they know that there will be a test. Therefore, giving a test is an instrument of motivation too.
f. To know the result
By knowing the result of task, if there is a progress, it can encourage students to study diligently.
g. Praise
If there is a student successful in finishing their task well in learning, the teacher needs to give praise. It is a kind of positive reinforcement and motivation.
h. Punishment
Punishment is a negative reinforcement. But if it is given exactly and prudently the punishment will be a tool of motivation.
i. Desire to learn
It means that there is an element of consciousness to study.
j. Interest
A motivation rises because there is a need. An interest is a tool of principal communication. The process of learning will run well if there is an interest.
Similar to Sardiman, Djapri Basri (1989:12) proposes 12 ways to give students motivation to learn, they are:
a. Create learning situation that is enjoyable
The situation of learning must be enjoyable. The enjoyable situation can arouse students’ learning motivation.
b. Give prize
Giving prize to clever students can be motivation for students themselves and other students. It will encourage students to get good score.
c. Give praise
If there is a student who is successful in doing task well, it needs to be given praise. Because it is a positive reinforcement and can raise desire of student to study.
d. Competition
Competition is needed too, because it can raise achievement for individual or group competition.
e. Cooperation
In learning activity, cooperation can raise the students’ interest in learning group. The cooperation can give encouragement to learn and help the students who is less clever.
f. Inform students there will be a test
The student will be more diligent to study if they know that there will be a test. This is useful to increase their achievement.
g. Ego-Involvement
The students’ behavior can appear in tasks that they have done if the students feel the importance of tasks and receive it as challenge. So, they will do that task diligently.
h. To arrange the students’ seat variously
The arrangement of students’ seat will create the harmony of learning situation. The teacher and students do not feel bored to use and occupy that class.
i. Use various method in teaching to fit the material
By using various methods in teaching to fit the material, the role of students in learning can be increased.
j. To give comment to students’ work
Beside giving score, comment about mistake that have been made by students in learning is also important to encourage students to learn, such as “very good work”, “next time will be better”, “actually you are able to do the task, but it is still less accurate.
k. To give comment to students’ work
For the students who make mistake, lazy and bad behavior in learning activity, the warning can be a tool to correct behavior. Example: The student who makes noise in the class.
l. Punishment as tool of education
Punishment can be used if the other way is not effective. It may be done if it can change the students’ behavior.
Based on the opinions above, it can be concluded that the teacher in raising learning motivation need to encourage students’ spirit and release burden. Therefore, the goal of teaching and learning activity can be achieved optimally.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Location
The research location is at MTsN Sungai Tabuk. It is Located on Jl. Kali Martapura, Desa Pembatangan RT. 2 Kecamatan Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency.
B. Research Design
The design of this study is descriptive qualitative where the researcher tries to describe about the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency.
C. The Procedure of Data Collection
1. Data Source
The data are the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English. The sources of data are the English teacher and the students of the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency.
2. Research Instrument
Research instrument is questionnaire. There are two questionnaires. The first questionnaire is given to the teacher to know the teacher’s ways of motivating students in learning English. The second questionnaire is given to the students to know to what extent their motivation toward the English lesson as the impact of the teacher’s ways to arouse the students’ motivation.
3. Technique of Collecting Data
The data were collected through observation, questionnaire and interview. The techniques were applied to investigate the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English.
a. Observation
Observation is used to get the data about how the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English.
b. Questionnaire
Questionnaire is used to complete the data gained through observation. In the questionnaire, there are ten questions that should be answered by the teacher. There are two questionnaires. The first questionnaire is given to the teacher to know the teacher’s ways of motivating students in learning English. The second questionnaire is given to the students to know to what extent their motivation toward the English lesson as the impact of the teacher’s ways to arouse the students’ motivation.
c. Interview
This interview was used to complete the data gained through observation and questionnaires. The interview is addressed to the English teacher about his ways in motivating the students in learning English.
4. Research Population
The Subject of the study is the English teacher and all students in the second grade at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency academic year 2006-2007. There are two classes of the second grade, II A consist of 24 students and II B consist 23 students, since the number of subject is less them 100 person so that all the subjects were taken as the sample, that is 47 students.
D. Technique of Data Analysis
All the collected data were analyzed qualitatively. The result of questionnaire and interview were analyzed into three steps, editing, interpreting and making conclusion. From the conclusion, it can be got about the description of the teacher’s way in motivating the students in learning English at the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency academic year 2006-2007.
CHAPTER IV
THE RESULT OF RESEARCH
A. General
The research is done to know the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English. The subject of the research is the English teacher and all the students in the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency academic year 2006-2007. Since the number of the subject is less than 100, all the subjects were taken as the samples (47 students). The design of this study is descriptive where the researcher tries to describe about the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning English. The techniques of collecting the data were observation, questionnaire, and interview.
All the collected data were analyzed qualitatively. The result of observation, questionnaire, and interview were analyzed into there steps; data editing, data interpreting, and conclusion drawing. From the conclusion, it can be got about the description of the teacher’s ways in motivating the students of the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency academic year 2006 – 2007 in learning English.
B. The Result of Research
1. The Result of Observation
The result of observation shows that in teaching English the teacher motivate the students by giving score, giving advice, giving homework/exercises, giving praise, and giving punishment. The teacher gave score, advice, and exercises in the while activities, the teacher also gave praise toward the student when they can answer the teacher’s questions. The teacher gave home works to the students in the post-activities. Punishment is given to the students who come late to the class when English teaching and learning process is taking place.
2. The Result of the Questionnaire to the teacher
The result of the questionnaire given to the teacher can be seen in the following table:
Table of Questionnaire to the Teacher
No. Pertanyaan Selalu Kadang-kadang Jarang Tidak pernah
1 Apakah Bapak menerapkan metode mengajar yang bervariasi dalam menyajikan pelajaran?
√
2. Apakah Bapak memberikan informasi lebih dulu kepada siswa apabila akan dilaksanakan ulangan (test)?
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3. Apakah Bapak memberikan score pada hasil pekerjaan siswa?
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4. Apakah Bapak memberikan pujian (praise) ketika siswa dapat menjawab pertanyaan dengan benar?
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5. Apakah Bapak memberikan hadiah (prize) kepada siswa yang mendapatkan score tertinggi dalam menjawab pertanyaan?
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6. Apakah Bapak memberikan bimbingan (advice) ketika siswa mendapatkan masalah/kesulitan dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris?
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7. Apakah Bapak menerapkan kegiatan kompetisi (competition)dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris?
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8. Apakah Bapak menerapkan metode kerja kelompok (group work) dalam kegiatan pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris?
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9. Apakah Bapak mengatur tempat (arrange student’s seat) duduk siswa yang bervariasi dalam proses belajar mengajar Bahasa Inggris?
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10. Apakah Bapak memberikan punishment kepada siswa yang berprilaku kurang baik dalam proses pembelajaran (membuat keributan)?
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The table shows that the English teacher always applies various methods in presenting the instructional materials, give scores to the students’ works, and give praise when the students can answer questions correctly. The teacher sometimes informs the students when he wants to give a test, give prize to the excellent students, applying group works in presenting the lesson, and give punishment to the bad behavior students in the teaching and learning process. The teacher is rarely arrange the students’ seat variously and never applies competition to the students.
4. The Result of Interview
The result of interview gives explanation that 85 % of the students at the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk like English lesson. Their achievement in learning English is quite good with the score category around 6 – 8 (minimal standardization). If there is a student got lower achievement, it is because of some factors such as less attention when English teaching and learning process is taking place, lazy for asking questions, often left their books at home, the presence is less than standardization, have low intelligence, and uncomprehending about the lesson. The teacher said that motivation influence the students’ achievement in learning English. He stressed that the students should pray first before studying English and the teacher said that he always motivates his students, if the students got bad scores, he always gives remedial for them.
From the observation, questionnaire, and interview, it can be found the fact that the teacher’s ways in motivating the students in learning is quite good and make the students able to achieve a quite good score.
C. Discussion
The result of observation, questionnaire and interview explain that the English teacher at MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency does some ways in motivating the students in learning English. The ways are: (1) giving score, (2) giving advice, (3) giving homework exercises, (4) giving praise, and (5) giving punishment
The teacher always gives praise if there is a student who can answer the questions from the teacher. It really helps the teacher to motivate them in learning English since the students feel valuable and get attention from the teacher. This is in line with what Sardiman (1991) says about types and ways to praise motivation in learning activity at school, one of them is the praise which is the kind of positive reinforcement and motivation.
The teacher also gives advice to the students. If the students make mistakes in answering the exercises or oral questions, the teacher gave the students advice how to get the correct answer.
From the questionnaire and interview, it can be got that the students’ motivation in learning English at the second grade of MTsN Sungai Tabuk is quite high and the student achievement is also quite high in learning English.
Although the students’ motivation is quite high, most of them learn at night before the English exam. The teacher should motivate the students to prepare perfectly the lesson before they have English examination. The teacher also can give prize if any of the students can get high score. Since motivation has some function as Sardiman (1986) explanation that the motivation function are ; push the human to act, determine direction of action, select the action, and pusher of effort and achieving the achievement.
In short, the ways the teacher motivate the students in learning English quite good and still in line with what the expert says about how to motivate the students ‘attention in learning English, so that the students’ achievement can be increased.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
Based on the description in chapter IV, it can be concluded that the English teacher of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency applied some ways in motivating the student in learning English. The ways that the teacher applied are giving score, giving advice, giving homework, giving praise; and giving punishment. Besides that, the English teacher always applied various methods in presenting the instructional materials, gave scores to the students’ works, and gave praise when the students could answer questions correctly. The teacher sometimes informed the students when he wanted to give a test, gave prize to the excellent students, applied group works in presenting the lesson, and gave punishment to the bad behavior students in the teaching and learning process. The teacher rarely arranged the students’ seat variously and never applied competition to the students.
B. Suggestions
Based on the conclusion above, some suggestions are addressed to the English teacher of MTsN Sungai Tabuk Banjar regency in particular and the English teachers of junior high school in general.
1. The teacher should keep motivating the students to learn English.
2. The teacher should keep using various methods in teaching to provide the material, such as using game since it will increase the role of the students.
3. The teacher can give prize if any of the students can get high score.
4. The teacher should create competition of feeling among the students to increase students’ motivation in learning English.
5. The teacher can vary the teaching material, in order that the students are more attracted toward the English lesson.
REFERENCES
Undang-undang tentang sistim pendidikan nasional dan peraturan pelaksanaannya
1993, Jakarta, sinar grafika.
Wasty Soemanto, 1998, Psikologi pendidikan (Landasan kerja pimpinan
pendidikan), Renika cipta, Jakarta.
Dep. Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1999, Kamus besar bahasa Indonesia edisi
kedua, Balai pustaka, Jakarta.
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