Jumat, 07 Januari 2011 Is listening skill an ‘isolated skill’? Diposting oleh an.pane di 18.49

When we hear about ‘listening practice in school’, perhaps we will remember how teachers carry a radio and a cassette to a class. Now, there are many schools in big cities that provide computers to be used for learning process. Here, the teachers use audio CD, recording, or any software to teach listening skill for the students. Despite the modern facilities now, the way how listening practice adapted in schools is still the same: teachers distribute pieces of paper containing some questions then assign the students to answer them individually based on what they listen from the audio.  Can we use listening practice to teach other language skills beside listening skill itself?

Let’s look at this example:

Students in a classroom are listening to a recording about two people watching a movie on television. Those two people have different opinion about the characters in that movie.

From this recording, the teacher can ask the students to take notes about what they have listened to. Instead of providing some questions on the answer sheet, the teacher can ask the students to work in pairs and take the roles of those people in the recording. They can decide who become who. Then, they make their own scenario with their own words. After that, they can act while the teacher is walking around the class to see how accurate the scenario is compare to the recording and how fluent the students speak.

When they are done, the teacher can play the recording once again and ask the students to listen to it. The teachers can make a class discussion by asking about their opinion, the difficulties they find, and what they feel when they work in pairs using their own scenario.

We can see that listening practice become ‘a hook’ in this activity. Besides teaching listening skill to students, the teacher here is also able to train students’ writing skill (by making a scenario), speaking skill (through the dialogue and discussion), and also build interactivity between student and student, and also students and teacher.
Beside using audio or recording, teachers can also show a video as a listening source for the students. Then, the activity could be the same as the one above (e.g. making a scenario, dialogue, etc). Now, let's watch this video as an example!

So, what do you think about the activity like this?Can we use a video like that to conduct the activity? Do you think there are some barriers to conduct this activity in Indonesian schools?

Listening Skill in Language Learning Diposting oleh an.pane di 18.42

taken from google images

Looking at my experience in school observation, I saw how listening and speaking skill are important. It was clear when I had to interview some students and asked them some questions about their product. In this article, I want to focus on listening skill. However, listening is often followed by speaking. It is supported by Krashen’s (1982) ideas about comprehensible input, where a language learner gets the input from others (by listening) then produce what he/she learn from others (by speaking). That is why listening became a foundation for speaking.

Nunan (1989) says that listening has two views which exist in language pedagogy; they are bottom up view and top-down view. Bottom-up view assumes that listening is a process of decoding the sounds, from the smallest meaningful units (phonemes) to complete texts. Let’s take a look one example:

Goal: find the stressed syllables

Example: Listen to words of two or three syllables. Mark them for the word stress and predict the pronunciation of the unstressed syllable.

On the other hand, top-down emphasizes on how listeners actively construct the original meaning of the speaker. Here, the listeners use prior knowledge of the context to make them understand about what they hear, for example:

Goal: Listen to identify the topic

Example: Listen to a radio commercial. On the answer sheet, choose among four types of product and identify the picture that goes with it.

It is very important to combine those two views and use them in Indonesian schools. However, in my opinion, Bottom-up view is rarely used in Indonesian schools while the top-down is more often. Considering it as the basic view, I think it should be used in all levels even started from the beginner level.  It is important for our speaking skill too. In fact, when I was in school, I never studied materials which used Bottom-up view, such as learning about minimal pairs. It was easier for me to find the exercise using top-down view.  I think it is because many people or teachers see bottom-up view as a simple view which can be ‘ignored’ in language learning process. I do not agree with this assumption because those two views are related and should be combined together.

What do you think about these two views? :)

Minggu, 28 November 2010 Principles from Brown in SMA ** Jakarta Diposting oleh an.pane di 02.38

This is still about my school experience in SMA ** Jakarta with Mr. L.H. as my master teacher. During the school experience, I came to grade ten, eleven, and twelve. Now, I want to show five Brown’s principles about language learning approach that occurred in SMA ** Jakarta in Mr. L.H’s class. I took the principles and put some other references related to them.

The first principle is meaningful learning. The first class that I visited was XII Social 1. In that class, Mr. L.H. delivered a material about explanation text. He told the students there to pretend as a businessman with an innovative product. Each student had to draw the picture based on their imagination then showed it to me. I pretended as an investor who would decide whether I wanted to invest my money or not based on how they presented the product. So, they gave some explanations about the product such as the material, colors, function, etc. After that, I asked them some questions, gave comments and feedback, and then report it to Mr. L.H.  In this activity, I could see that Mr. L.H. gave a meaningful learning. He knew how to engage the material with an appropriate content for students. The students became interested in it. This activity supports the idea which is stated by Brown (1994). He says that meaningful learning happens in content-centered approach to language teaching. Nunan (1999) states that students will be motivated when they do some meaningful activities. According to him, students have to know what and why they learn a subject. Pretending as a businessman showed them that the material can be applied in their real life. They became know what explanation text is and how they use it in a real context.

            The second principle is automaticity. The next meeting, I came to class X.6 and pretended as an investor like I did in class XII Social 1. The difference is in this class, they talked about procedure text. They drew an innovative product using their imagination. Then, they mentioned the goal, its material, and the steps to use the product. Although Mr. L.H. already told them not to worry about grammar too much, they told me that they were still afraid of it when they had to speak in English. When they produced an incorrect structure of sentence, they would get stuck and think about how to do it correctly. Actually, I, as the listener and interviewer, still got their point and understood what they wanted to say. Brown states that overanalyzing language, thinking too much about its forms and rules will impede second language leaner’s automaticity. That was why the students had a low automaticity. Krashen (1981), through his hypotheses, states that second language learner usually utilize a ‘monitor’ in their mind when they produce the output using their second language. He says that a successful monitor user edit their second language output when it does not hinder the communication. According to Krashen’s hypotheses, the students whom I mentioned before were included in a ‘monitor overuser’, second language learners who use their ‘monitor’ too much.

            The third principle is self confidence. Considering that most classes had a similar activity and situation, I still use X.6 as an example for discussing this principle. Many students who got their turn for the interview said that they were nervous. They were not sure whether they could present their product well or not. Sometimes, they bargained to speak in Indonesian. I encouraged them to try to speak in English as well as they could. Brown says that a learners’ belief in their capability to accomplish a task becomes a factor that affects their success. Moreover, some of the students who have not been interviewed yet came to watch the interview. It was because of their curiosity. They wanted to know how it was going to be like. This thing made the students who were being interviewed felt more nervous. They told the others not to watch them because they would feel ashamed if they made many mistakes. Amy Tsui (as cited in Nunan, 1999) identifies some factors that cause reluctance of students to speak up in class. One of them is students’ fear of mistakes. She explains that students are also afraid of making fools of themselves in front of their peers. These things made the students’ self-confidence low.

            The fourth principle is native language effect. This point can be seen from all the students whom I met in this school. Even those ones who spoke fluently enough in English often met this principle. For example, when they had to use countable and plural nouns, sometimes they did not put ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ at the end of the word. It might be affected by their first language, Indonesia, which does not have any inflectional affixes like those ones. Brown states that the native language systems of learners can give influence to their comprehension of the second language. Krashen, through his research in Czech, finds that first language influence comes strongest in complex word order and in phrases’ translation. He also finds that first language influence is weaker in bound morphology. During my observation, sometimes I also met students who produce complex words order in English and got influence from Indonesian. It made them produce a word or statement with incorrect arrangement. However, different from Kranshen’s research, students in SMA** got first language influence stronger when they had to produce inflectional affixes, which are bound morphology. This difference may appear because of the different countries where the researches took place. The language system of each country may be different. 

            The last principle I want to show is communicative competence. I took the example from my master teacher and my experience in interviewing the students for their products. Mr. L.H spoke in English with good fluency and accuracy. He also explained the materials in class with good structures. He knew how to communicate well with the students and encourage the students to speak in English at the same time. Mr. L.H also wanted all the students to have a good communicative competence. That was why he asked me to join the activity in the class by interviewing the students about the products they made. He asked me to give a report about their fluency, accuracy, structure and sentence arrangements, intonation, etc. In the process of interview, Mr. L.H told the students how to introduce themselves as a businessman and how to end the presentation. This is like what Richards, Plat, and Weber (as cited in Nunan, 1999) say about the characteristics of communicative competence. One of them is knowing how to begin and end conversation. During the interview, the points that I had to see from the students are various. It relates to Brown’s statement that communicative competence is the goal of language classroom with some components inside. Dell Hymes (as cited in Nunan, 1999) proposes that communicative competence does not only include linguistic competence but also other sociolinguistic and conversational skills that make the speaker know what, how, and when to say something, and  to whom she or he says it.

  Which principles that you see as the biggest challenge to be improved in Indonesian schools?

          

Senin, 15 November 2010 Utilizing Technology for English Subject Diposting oleh an.pane di 21.10

            In this writing, I want to talk about technology used in the school that I observed. In spite of technology utilization, this relates to the method of teaching that my master teacher used in his class.

He invited me to join his classes which consists of grade ten, eleven, and twelve. There, I could see that each class had an LCD but without any computers and LCD’s screen. He also told me that the school provides Wi-Fi that can be accessed in every class. There is also a computer lab that can be used for language subjects.

For teaching preparation, he told my friends and me to make slide presentation in power point explaining about text types. Actually, I still wondered how to operate it with only an LCD in a class. On the next day, my master teacher told us to bring our own laptop to the class. The connector or the cables were brought from teachers’ room. In the class, the slides were shown on a white board because there was no screen on the wall. I just realized how to use this technology in the class.  In fact, it did not impede the teaching and learning process. Students could see the slide easily and understand the materials.

The students can also access Wi-Fi in their class. Mr. L.H. told me that he could not blame the students to access it during the class. It was hard to control it. He told me that they are already senior high students.  They cannot be prohibited by any rules. I think it was not wrong but he did not tell me whether he had used that Wi-Fi for teaching and learning process or not.

Two days later, I came to a class to do pre test and post test about text types. When I was trying to use the power point, the LCD did not work. So, my master teacher asked all the students to move to the computer lab. I followed them then saw that each computer was for two students. Sometimes, it made it difficult for them to read the texts that appeared on the computers’ screens. In spite of the amount of the computer units, the condition of the lab and the facilities there were good enough.

taken from google images

Talking about Wi-Fi that can be accessed freely in a class, I think it will be easier for students to use internet for learning process. If I were a teacher, I would ask the principal to enlarge the bandwidth and allow students to bring their laptop, netbook, or cellular phone to access it. For example, I asked them to open google map, which can be accessed from cellular phone. Then, they would do conversation and ask their friends about directions. They could also pretend to be a tourist and a tour guide. Here, I could train their speaking and listening skill. For writing skill, I would ask them to write in a blog. They would feel as if they were in an informal situation. So, they would not get nervous and afraid to write. They could also improve their grammar comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and reading skill by visiting their classmates’ blog and giving comments to each other.

Sabtu, 13 November 2010 How to Engage Students in Learning Process Diposting oleh an.pane di 20.29

            That second week in teaching assistance program gave me more experience in teaching. The topic was still about text types. Mr. L.H., my master teacher, taught more than he had done in the previous week. So, I could see how he conducted classes.

            In the first class, Mr. L.H explained the differences between one text type and another clearly. For example, after he mentioned functions and generic structures of report and description text, he emphasized the differences by saying: ‘So, the differences between report and description text are….’ In my opinion, that is what students need. Students may understand each text type but when they are given two similar text types, they will be confused because they do not understand how to differentiate them. He said that some texts’ titles or topics in National Examination were taken from internet or the examination in the previous year. Their forms were changed to be another text types. Students usually chose the wrong answers because they felt that they had met those texts before. It became new information for me.

            Mr. L.H. did not only explain the material clearly but also motivated his students. One time, he asked his students to do a pre test. While he was walking around the class, he found a student who did not do it and looked sleepy. He came to him and said, ‘Come on, force yourself. I know you can do it! The statement was simple but I think it was really motivating. He did not say it loudly. In my opinion, if he had done the opposite one, the student would have felt ashamed because the others could hear it.

            Mr. L.H. always uses individual work. When my friends and I were asked to conduct the second class, we brought an activity where the students worked in groups. Some made the text while the others drew the illustration. Moreover, there was a group which prepared the mini drama. They showed their creativity. However, when I made a report, he asked me to list only the name of person who presented the group’s work. I thought it was not fair because the point was not only about speaking. Although some students only made the illustrations, they got the message of the subject and understand it. The information would stay longer in their mind because they got involved in the activity directly.

             If I had to teach a class with the same students, I would provide various activities that can make all students get involved. I would see the process to know their contribution and effort. I would control the situation so all students participated well. I know that I have to spend more time to make this preparation but I think it will be easier for me if the students can understand the material easily. So, I do not have to repeat all materials from the beginning when they close to examination days. I just have to review them briefly. 

well, what would you do to deliver the materials if you were a teacher?

Minggu, 07 November 2010 Teaching English in senior high school Diposting oleh an.pane di 07.29

             Actually, this is my experience in school observation program. I posted this story in this blog because  I think this is connected to what i learn in Language Teaching Methodology.

             That was my second time to observe SMA ** Jakarta. I had been there when I was in the first semester. Although I knew about the school’s situation, I felt nervous because in this semester, besides observing the class, I also had to teach. That was my first experience and I faced a situation that I never imagined before.

            One day, my master teacher asked me to teach a class whose teacher came late at that time. I had no preparation. He only told me about the topic and the activities that I had to do briefly. At the class, I was delivering the material about analytical exposition while most of them making a noise and eating some food. They ignored me but when I asked them to do writing assignment with any topic they liked, they looked excited and asked me some questions about the text type and how to make it. I was glad to know that they actually had an inquisitive mind.

Some minutes later, the teacher came to the class and continued the lesson.  Ms. D had a clear voice and did not deliver the lesson too fast. She was persistent in giving instructions. While she was teaching, I was standing at the back of the classroom and helping the students there to do the task but I was surprised when they shared their opinion about her. They showed me the textbook that she made which contained many texts that were hard enough to understand by eleven graders like them.

Ms. D asked a student to go to the front and read the text. Then, she said that there should have been some suggestions in the last paragraph. I frowned because as far as I know, analytical expositions only give reiteration in the last paragraph. If there is a suggestion or recommendation, it will be hortatory expositions. The worst thing was I had already told the students about that concept. I was afraid that they would be confused and might make the same mistake in the future. Ms. D also asked some students to change their topic to ‘traffic jam’, ‘global warming’, etc. It made them asked for my help again because they felt uninterested in the topic.

If I had to teach the same lesson with the same students, I would give a clear explanation about the lesson and provide texts with appropriate contexts or let them choose the topic by themselves. It is to show that we can talk about any topics to study. It is also important to provide a time for students to write reflections then submit it to me so I could make it as a reflection for myself too as a teacher. If it was possible, I would use a slide presentation with some features like pictures or sounds to show the example of the text type. So, they would not think that it is better to make a noise and learning process is boring.

Senin, 25 Oktober 2010 Musical Intelligence and The Way to Involve It in Teaching and Learning Process Diposting oleh an.pane di 09.47

Howard Gardner is famous for his multiple intelligences theory. His full-length statement about this theory was written in his book, titled Frames of Mind, in 1983. He stated that there were eight kinds of intelligences.  It started to give a big influence to the world, especially in education, where people had a concept that human had only one kind of intelligence.

taken from educ-reality.com

One of the intelligences from Gardner’s theory is musical intelligence. In many schools, including the ones in Indonesia, students with musical intelligence are assumed to develop their skill only in a specific subject by learning how to read musical notes, play musical instruments, and compose some songs. Although this assumption does not seem completely wrong, it gives a misconception about musical intelligence. The fact is students who likes singing, listening to music, and imitating songs’ beat by clapping hands, may include in this intelligence. Looking at these examples, musical intelligence can be used effectively for teaching and learning process in all subjects, including English. There are many techniques that teachers can apply to accommodate the students with this intelligence.

When I become an English teacher, I will pay attention to this intelligence by conducting some interesting activities in a classroom that can make them understand my subject. For example, the topic is about simple past tense. Firstly, I introduce the topic and explain it briefly. After that, each student is given a piece of paper that contains lyrics of a song with some blanks that they must fill with correct verbs according to the song that I will play. Next, I play a song with lyrics in past tense and they fill the blanks at the same time.  Then, I divide the class into some groups. After that, they have to discuss it together within their groups and make a list about all the things they find in the song, including the verbs’ forms and time indicators (adverbs of time).  After finishing discussion, they are asked to choose one people from each group to share the result. Then, other groups are allowed to give comments. Finally, I will ask their opinions about the song, the reason why it uses past tense, and whether it is possible to change the lyrics into other tenses. These activities have some goals, they are: improving students’ listening and speaking skill, developing their comprehension about the material (simple past tense) and their ability to work cooperatively with their peers. It also builds students’ critical thinking.

Musical intelligence can be involved in all levels since music is usually introduced from beginner level; even kindergarten students are usually introduced to songs. However, the activity like I mentioned before is appropriate for students in K-8 because of the material and the techniques. The point is musical intelligence can be applied in any levels as long as the teachers use suitable materials and activities based on the level or the class that they teach.