THE COMPETENCY BASED CURRICULUM
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By:
Sherly Dian Puspita Student number : 981214038
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
OF THE FIRST GRADE OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL BASED ON THE COMPETENCY BASED CURRICULUM
By
SHERLY DIAN PUSPITA Student Number: 981214038
Approved by:
Drs. J.B. Gunawan, M.A. January 12, 2004
Major sponsor
Ch. Lhaksmita Anandari, S.Pd. January 12, 2004
Co - sponsor
OF THE FIRST GRADE OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL BASED ON THE COMPETENCY BASED CURRICULUM
Prepared and Presented by SHERLY DIAN PUSPITA Student Number: 981214038
Defended before the Board of Examiners on January 27, 2004
and Declared Acceptable
Board of Examiners
Chairman : Dr. A.M. Slamet Soewandi, M.Pd. Secretary : Drs. P.G. Purba, M.Pd.
Member : Drs. J.B. Gunawan, M.A.
Member : Henny Herawati, S.Pd., M.Hum. Member : C. Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd.
Yogyakarta, January 27, 2004 Faculty of Teachers Training and Education
Sanata Dharma University
Dean,
Dr. A.M. Slamet Soewandi, M.Pd.
I asked for strength,
and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom,
and God gave me new problems to learn to solve.
I asked for property,
and God gave me brain and brawn to work.
I asked for courage,
and God gave me danger to overcome.
I asked for love,
and God gave me difficult people to deal with.
I asked for favours,
and God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted…
but I receive everything I needed.
My prayer has been answered.
Source: Anonymous
With the great of love, I dedicate this thesis to:
The Holy God and Holy Mary,
for giving me everything I needed
My amazing family,
for the everlasting love
My lovely friends,
for coloring my life
works of other people, except cited in the quotations and bibliography, as a
scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, January 12, 2004
The writer,
Sherly Dian Puspita
everlasting love, blessing and guidance throughout the completion of this thesis. I
also thank Blessed Virgin Mary for giving me everything I needed. Without Her
kindness, beauty, and strength I could not have passed the very hard days during
the writing of this thesis.
I am particularly indebted to Drs. J. B. Gunawan, M.A., as my major
sponsor, and Ch. Lhaksmita Anandari, S.Pd., as my co-sponsor, for always willing
to help me. This thesis could not have been finished without their guidance,
patience, advice, criticism, correction, and encouragement.
My greatest gratitude goes to my respected father and my beloved mother,
who have always taken care of me, given me love, attention, spirit and prayer. I
thank them for their protection and support, both spiritually and financially. They
also have shown me that life is full of struggle and I should fight by myself for my
own future. I would like to let them know that I love them very much with my
own ways.
My sincere thanks go to my elder sisters and brothers, Elizabeth Ervina,
Didik, Lucy Febri Saptani, Donny Santoso and to my fiancé, Adrianus David. I
thank them for their support, attention, love and care during their busy time. For
David, I thank him for his entertainment whenever I am a little bit depressed and
for everything that we have shared together. I thank my sweetest nephews and my
cute nieces, Devan, Shania, Kezia, Sen-Sen for being a part of my life. My prayer
and love will always be with all of them.
have shared together. I would like them to know that they have colored my days
with smiles, joys and laughter. I would like to thank them as they have made my
life comfortable. I hope our warm relationship will still remain the same forever
and ever.
I am really grateful to Sr. Maryrose Dennehy FCJ, Yuseva S.Pd., Totok
(’01) for their willingness to become the speakers in my designed listening
materials, and Mas Yoyok (SAC) for helping me in making the recorded
materials. Not forgetting Andreas Ronggo (’98) as the illustrator in my designed
listening materials. I thank them for giving me the time among their valuable
time.
I would also like to thank all members of PBI lecturers and secretariat staff
of Sanata Dharma University, PBI students ’98, respondents and other people
whom I could not mention individually. Surely, this thesis could not have been
completed without their help.
Sherly Dian Puspita
PAGE OF TITLE ... i
PAGE OF APPROVAL ... ii
PAGE OF ACCEPTANCE ... iii
PAGE OF DEDICATION ... iv
STATEMENT OF WORK ORIGINALITY ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix
LIST OF TABLES ... xii
LIST OF FIGURES ... xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES ... xiv
ABSTRACT ... xv
ABSTRAK ... xvi
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Problem Identification ... 4
C. Problem Limitation ... 4
D. Problem Formulation ... 5
E. Aim of the Study ... 5
F. Research Benefits ... 6
G. Definition of Terms ... 7
CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description ... 9
1. The Senior High School Competency
Adolescence ... 11
3. Listening Comprehension ... 12
a. Stages of Development of Listening Comprehension .... 15
b. Teaching Listening Comprehension ... 16
c. Designing of Exercises for Listening Comprehension ... 17
d. Materials ... 21
4. Instructional Materials Design Models ... 22
a. Banathy’s Instructional Model ... 22
b. Kemp’s Instructional Model ... 25
c. Yalden’s Instructional Model ... 28
5. The Communicative Approach ... 33
6. Syllabus ... 35
B. Theoretical Framework ... 38
CHAPTER III : METHODOLOGY A. Research Methods ... 43
B. Research Setting ... 44
C. Research Respondents ... 44
D. Data Gathering ... 45
E. Data Analysis ... 46
F. Procedures ... 47
CHAPTER IV : RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3. Formulate the Specific Objectives ... 51
4. Selecting Syllabus Types and List of Subject Content ... 52
5. Select Teaching and Learning Activities Resources ... 52
6. Coordinate Support Services ... 52
7. Developing A Set of Instructional Listening Materials ... 53
8. Evaluating the Designed Materials ... 55
9. Revision ... 55
B. Survey Results ... 55
1. Description of the Respondents on the Needs Analysis ... 55
2. Description of the Respondents on the Designed Materials Evaluation ... 57
a. Descriptive Statistics of the Respondents’ Opinions on the Designed Materials ... 58
b. Respondents’ Suggestions and Recommendations ... 61
C. Discussion ... 63
D. Presentation of the Instructional Materials Design ... 64
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusion ... 68
B. Suggestions ... 72
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 73
APPENDICES ... 75
Table 1 Senior High School Students Basic Competencies ... 10
Table 2 Respondents of Survey Study ... 45
Table 3 Description of Respondents’ Choices on the Topics Offered .. 57
Table 4 Description of the Respondents ... 58
Table 5 Descriptive Statistics of Respondent’s Opinion ... 59
Figure 1 Banathy’s Instructional Model ... 24
Figure 2 Kemp’s Instructional Model ... 27
Figure 3 Yalden’s Instructional Model ... 32
Figure 4 The Designed Model ... 43
Appendix 1 Questionnaires
Appendix 2 Syllabus
Appendix 3 Lesson Plan
Appendix 4 Presentation of the Lesson Units
Puspita, Sherly Dian. 2004. Designing a Set of English Instructional Listening Materials for the First Semester Students of the First Grade of Senior High School based on the Competency Based Curriculum. Yogyakarta : Sanata Dharma University.
Listening skill is a skill which needs to be developed. Listening skill could be developed by training it regularly and continuously in order to obtain a perfect listening skill. Unfortunately, sometimes listening skill receives less attention from the English instructors than the other skills – one of the reasons is because of the limitation of media. This case could be proven through the information which is gained by the writer from a number of English instructors of many Senior High Schools by interviewing them informally. Besides that, we can also see that there are still limited books which present the listening exercises for the Senior High School students which are based on the Competency Based Curriculum. Based on the consideration above, the writer is encouraged to find out the appropriate instructional model to design a set of English instructional listening materials for the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School based on the Competency Based Curriculum and try to present the listening instructional materials for the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School based on the Competency Based Curriculum.
In this instructional material design, the writer applied an instructional model was adapted from Kemp’s, Banathy’s and Yalden’s instructional models. There were nine steps conducted by the writer. Those steps are the following: 1) Conducting Needs Survey; 2) Formulating Goal, Topics, and General Purposes; 3) Formulating the Specific Objectives; 4) Selecting Syllabus Types and List of Subject Content; 5) Selecting Teaching and Learning Activities Resources; 6) Coordinating Support Services; 7) Developing A Set of Instructional Listening Materials; 8) Evaluating the Designed Materials; 9) Revising (Change to improve). Besides applying the instructional models, the writer also applied some listening theories and Communicative Approach in those steps. There were eight units developed in this study, which emphasized on the development of the learners' listening skill. In principle, each unit consists of three main sections, namely Warming Up as pre-listening, Listening for Meaning which consists of Listening for Main Ideas and Listening for Details, and the last is Post Listening.
The study found that the English instructional materials for the first semester students of first grade of Senior High School were positively acceptable by the English instructors. The results could be seen from the average point, above 3.5. It is hoped that the appropriate instructional models which are chosen by the writer could be used to present a set of English listening instructional materials for the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School and will be useful for them to improve their English listening skill through this English listening instructional materials.
Materials for the first semester students of first grade of Senior High School based on the Competency Based Curriculum. Yogyakarta : Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Ketrampilan menyimak adalah sebuah ketrampilan yang perlu untuk dikembangkan. Ketrampilan menyimak dapat dikembangkan dengan melatihnya secara teratur dan terus menerus untuk memperoleh ketrampilan menyimak yang sempurna. Sayangnya, kadang-kadang ketrampilan menyimak kurang mendapat perhatian dari para pengajar bahasa Inggris dibandingkan dengan ketrampilan-ketrampilan yang lain –salah satunya karena keterbatasan media. Hal ini dapat dibuktikan melalui informasi-informasi yang diperoleh penulis dari sejumlah guru yang tersebar di beberapa Sekolah Menengah Umum melalui wawancara secara informal. Selain itu kita juga dapat melihat masih sedikitnya buku-buku yang menyajikan latihan-latihan yang memberi fokus pada ketrampilan menyimak/ mendengarkan untuk para siswa SMU dengan berbasis kompetensi. Berdasarkan pemikiran tersebut diatas, penulis terdorong untuk menemukan model instruksional yang sesuai untuk menyusun seperangkat materi listening untuk siswa SMU kelas I semester I dan mencoba menyajikan materi instruksional listening untuk siswa SMU khususnya kelas I semester I berdasarkan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi.
Dalam perancangan materi instruksional ini, penulis mengaplikasikan model instruksional dari Kemp, yang diadaptasikan dengan model instruksional dari Banathy dan Yalden. Adapun beberapa langkah yang dilakukan oleh penulis. Langkah-langkah tersebut adalah: 1) Melaksanakan survey; 2) Menentukan sasaran, topik-topik dan tujuan umum; 3) Menentukan tujuan-tujuan khusus; 4) Membuat silabus dan menentukan daftar isi dalam setiap unitnya; 5) Memilih sumber-sumber materi yang akan dikembangkan menjadi latihan-latihan yang akan digunakan dalam proses belajar mengajar; 6) Menentukan fasilitas-fasilitas yang digunakan dalam proses belajar mengajar; 7) Mengembangkan materi pengajaran; 8) Mengevaluasi materi; 9) Mengubah/ memperbaiki materi dengan mempertimbangkan saran-saran dan kritikan-kritikan dari responden. Disamping menerapkan model-model instruksional, penulis juga menerapkan teori-teori listening dan pendekatan komunikatif (communicative approach) pada langkah-langkah tersebut. Ada delapan unit yang dihasilkan dalam studi ini yang menekankan pada pengembangan ketrampilan menyimak /mendengarkan pada siswa. Pada prinsipnya setiap unit terdiri dari tiga bagian pokok yaitu: Warming Up sebagai pre-listening; Listening for Meaning, yang terdiri dari listening for main ideas dan listening fordetails; dan yang terakhir Post Listening.
Studi ini menemukan bahwa materi pengajaran ketrampilan menyimak/ mendengarkan dapat diterima secara baik oleh siswa SMU khususnya kelas I semester 1 dan para pengajar bahasa Inggris. Hal ini ditunjukkan dari hasil rata-rata evaluasi adalah diatas 3.5. Akhirnya penulis berharap bahwa penulis dapat
menyimak/ mendengarkan mereka.
Indeed, many of us, Indonesians, who are learning English have a similar
complaint: listening is terribly difficult. Listening is very important in our life,
especially in communication and as the main channel of classroom instruction
(Goh, 2002 : 1). Above all, in this chapter the writer formulates the first problem,
that is: what the appropriate instructional design model to design a set of English
instructional listening materials is for the first semester students of the first grade
of Senior High School based on the Competency Based Curriculum. The second
problem that is discussed in this thesis is: what the designed set of English
instructional listening materials for the first semester students of the first grade of
Senior High School based on the Competency Based Curriculum look like. The
problems will be discussed in detail in the background of the problem, problem
identification, problem limitation, problem formulation, aim of the study, research
benefits, and also definition of terms in this chapter.
A. Background of the Study
Language is one of the important factors in human life that is used as a
means of communication among people. Through communication, people could
build a relationship with others. English is called as an international language
because English has been used by most of the population in this world. Therefore,
to have a good communication, people need to master how to use English well.
In many communications, it is neither possible nor desirable to separate the speaking skills from the listening skills. Clearly, in normal speech situations the two skills are interdependent. It is impossible to hold any meaningful conversation without understanding what is said and without making oneself understood at the same time (Heaton, 1979 : 84).
In learning English, there are generally four skills which are inseparable.
The Indonesian government shifted the four skills priority to Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing. Listening skill is the first skill that we receive or train even before we are born or even we can say a word. In fact, “listening takes up as much
as 50% of our everyday communication time” (Goh, 2002 : 1).
As mentioned before, listening skill is closely related to speaking skill in
normal speech situations. However, it is possible to develop listening ability
beyond the range of speaking ability because in real situations there are some
occasions when we listen and do not have to give oral responses. Listening to
railway station announcements, listening to lecture, listening to radio reports, etc.
are examples of practice material that does not require spoken responses. Mostly,
listening is a receptive skill.
According to the Competency Based Curriculum, English is taught to
absorb and expand the knowledge, technology, culture and art. On the other hand,
English has a main role in maintaining the relationship between Indonesia and
other nations such as; social, politics, economy, and also the world trade. In other
words, English has been regarded as an instrument to accelerate the reconstruction
of our country and nation.
Looking at it from the purposes or the intended competencies point of
view, the teaching of English language emphasizes on the language skill aspect,
learning is shown by the achievement of a competency, includes cognitive aspect,
affective, and psychomotor. The Senior High School students are expected to
master the language functions, such as heuristic function, manipulative function,
imaginative function, and idealistic function. This ability to use the language for
social interaction is the final goal of the language learning process (Depdikbud,
2002 : 4).
“English competency standard is a sequence of ability to use the English
language for both social interaction and interpersonal” (Depdikbud, 2002 : 5) .
The English language competency must be able to be performed by the students
as a result of learning. Therefore, in order to achieve a certain competency
standard, it is necessary to have a minimum basic competence.
There are some competencies standard that must be mastered by the
graduates of Senior High Schools that are decided by the National Education
Department.
Especially for the receptive skill, that is listening. Those are: (1) recognizing English stress patterns, (2) recognizing/discriminating English intonation patterns and tones, (3) demonstrating knowledge of basic vocabulary in aural texts as determined by a specified word list, (4) demonstrating aural skills in comprehending a variety of aural texts (Depdikbud, 2002 : 6).
In this thesis, the writer concerns on the one of the competency standard
decided by the National Education Department, that is, demonstrating aural skills
in comprehending a variety of aural texts. By providing a set of interested aural
texts and some exercises based on the aural text given, the writer tries to present
the designed set of English instructional listening materials for the first semester
Curriculum. With any considerations, this activity can help the English language
learners to develop their ability in comprehending the English language as a
means of communication among one another.
B. Problem Identification
The changing of the curriculum from 1994 Curriculum into Competency
Based Curriculum 2002 (still the last draft- it has not been signed by the ministry
of education yet) causes the teachers to be selective in choosing the textbook that
will be used as the handbook or main textbook in teaching language.
In learning English, there are generally four skills which are inseparable.
These four skills are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The 1994
Curriculum shifted the four skills priority to
Reading-Listening-Speaking-and-Writing (R-L-S-W) instead of Listening-Speaking-Reading-Reading-Listening-Speaking-and-Writing. However, the
Competency Based Curriculum 2002 shifted the four skills priority to
Listening-Speaking-Reading-Writing (L-S-R-W) than Reading-Listening-Speaking-Writing.
C. Problem Limitation
In this paper, the writer emphasizes the English language, especially in
teaching listening skill, when the listening skill is the first skill that we receive or
train even before we are born. Another consideration is the English instructional
listening materials that the writer designs are based on the Competency Based
The designer made an effort to design a set of English instructional
listening materials for the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High
School. This program was designed based on the Competency Based Curriculum
of English for the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School.
D. Problem Formulation
As the research is concerned with the designed set of English instructional
listening materials, the problems of the research are formulated as follows:
1. What is the appropriate instructional design model to design a set of English
instructional listening materials for the first semester students of the first
grade of Senior High School based on the Competency Based Curriculum?
2. What does the designed set of English instructional listening materials for the
first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School based on the
Competency Based Curriculum look like?
E. Aim of the Study
In general, the aim of the study is to design a set of instructional listening
materials for the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School.
Particularly, this study has some objectives, among others:
1. To find out the appropriate instructional design model to design a set of
English instructional listening materials for the first semester students of the
first grade of Senior High School based on the Competency Based
2. a) To construct a set of English instructional listening materials for the first
semester students of the first grade of Senior High School based on the
Competency Based Curriculum.
b) To present the designed set of English instructional listening materials for
the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School based
on the Competency Based Curriculum.
The result will be a set of English instructional listening materials that are suitable
for the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School based on
the Competency Based Curriculum.
F. Research Benefits
The expected result for this study is in the form of listening instructional
materials. The results, hopefully, will facilitate English teachers, the students of
the first semester of the first grade of Senior High School, the researcher, and
anybody who is interested in learning listening program.
1. English teachers
Considering that this thesis designs a set of English instructional listening
materials based on the Competency Based Curriculum, it is expected that the
English teachers can apply this instructional listening materials to their
students as an alternative in teaching listening skill in the class.
2. The students
This research can broaden their knowledge by learning listening skill, so
listening ability. As listening is the base for other skills, it can encourage
students to master the other skills: speaking, reading, and writing.
3. The researcher
It is hoped that the research will encourage the researcher to be creative in
designing the instructional listening materials. The researcher can develop her
creativity in designing suitable English instructional listening materials.
4. To both the course’s developers and the next researchers who do the same
study, hopefully, this research can give helpful information. It is also
expected that this preliminary study can activate other people to do related
research in this field and the next designer can design the more accurate and
sufficient model of English instructional listening materials for the first
semester students of the first grade of Senior High School.
G. Definition of Terms
The following is the definition of the important words used in this study:
1. Instructional Materials
“Instructional materials simply mean the materials planned or designed by
the teacher for instruction. It can be the form of printed materials, computer
assisted instruction and television instruction” (Dick Walter and Robert
Reisser, 1983:3).
2. Instructional Materials Design
Instructional Material Design is a part of an instructional program design,
that is the beginning of instructional process. Instructional program design is
instructional materials is also based on the instructional objective (Kemp,
1977)
3. Competency Based Curriculum
The Competency Based Curriculum is designed to achieve the national
goals of education by attending the developmental steps of the students to be
compatible with the international environment, develop their social and
cognitive compatibility, the needs of national development, the development
of science and technology and art, the compatibility with type and level of
This chapter deals with theories concerning the study. The theories are: (1)
The Senior High School Competency Based Curriculum, (2) The Characteristics
of Senior High School students, (3) Listening Comprehension, (4) Instructional
Materials Design Models, (5) The Communicative Approach and (6) Syllabus.
A. Theoretical Description
In this part, five theories mentioned above are discussed in detail.
1. The Senior High School Competency Based Curriculum
According to the Competency Based Curriculum, the Senior High School
students have to master vocabulary at least 4,000 words and the correct
grammatical features with some themes provided (Depdikbud, 2002 : 14).
Curriculum is designed to achieve the National goal on education with
attending to the development steps of the students and to the compatibility with
the environment, the needs of national development, the development of science
and technology and art, the compatibility with type and level of each instrument
(Depdikbud, 2002 : 1).
The Competency Based Curriculum is to motivate the students in order to:
(1) develop their communicative potential in English language, (2) develop their
understanding about English language and the work of the system, (3) develop
their understanding about culture and their personal identity, (4) develop their
social capability an their cognitive, (5) develop their knowledge, (6) develop their
capacity to apply the English language learning in wider social environment and
education (Depdikbud, 2002 : 9).
The table below is the competency standards and basic competence of the
English language subject which have to be mastered by the graduates of Senior
High School, especially in listening skill:
Listening
With a mastery of receptive vocabulary within a specified word level and relevant grammatical structures and notions, in the context of the specified themes (to be enclosed) Senior High School (SMU) students will achieve the basic competencies (kemampuan dasar) as determined in the following table:
Competency Standard Basic Competency
1.1.Discriminating English accentual patterns, e.g. strong on the first syllable as in nouns (such as ‘table’), and strong stress on the second syllable as in verbs (such as ‘contain’)
1.2.Recognizing variation of accentual patterns for meaningful prominence e.g. ‘I don’t 'live in London.’ Vs ’I don’t live 'in London.’
1.3 Identifying unstressed pronouns in aural texts.
1. Recognizing English stress patterns
1.4 Manipulating the use of English stress for indicating information units (content words and form words, and rhythmic patterning).
2.1 Recognizing English intonation patterns. 2.2 Recognizing tones with question tags. 2.3Recognizing falling/raising with any
clause type. 2. Recognizing English intonation patterns and
tones
2.4 Interpreting attitudinal meaning through variation of tones.
3.1 Identifying core vocabulary items when heard in a variety of aural texts.
3.Demonstrating knowledge of basic vocabulary in aural texts as determined by a specified
word list 3.2 Identifying cardinal and ordinal numbers heard in an aural text.
4.1 Grasping the gist of aural simple text. 4.2 Carrying out a sequence of instructions. 4.3 Extracting detailed information from
aural text.
4.4 Recognizing interpersonal relation in an aural text.
4. Demonstrating aural skills in comprehending a variety of aural texts
4.5 Transforming information by presenting it in a different form.
In this study, the writer develops the instructional listening materials based
on the third and fourth list of competency standard, especially based on the points
1.1; 2.3; 3.1; 3.2; 4.1; 4.3 and 4.5. The detailed information can be seen in the
table above.
2. The Characteristics of Senior High School Students: Physical, Intellectual, and The Educational Psychology in Adolescence
The Senior High School students are around 16 to 18 years old. Therefore,
the first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School included in the
adolescence instead of advanced level.
Adolescence is considered to be a stage in the life cycle and a period of
rapid psychological change. We believe that the period of adolescence begins with
physical changes and social development, and ends when the individual has
assumed adult roles (Medinnus and Johnson, 1969 : 653-656).
“Many experts in developmental psychology would argue that most of the
intellectual growth of a child occurs in early childhood” (Medinnus and Johnson,
1969 : 675). In opposition to the position presented above, Jean Piaget posits the
occurrence of qualitative changes in mental activity during adolescence.
Adolescents may manifest symptoms of defective ego functioning: rebellion, low self-esteem, feeling of inferiority, excessive fear and anxiety, or emotional instability. What is so often described as laziness, a lack of willpower, social rejection or unfair treatment at school which cause such feeling of rebellion that the adolescent refuses to do anything demanded by authority (Rice, 1975 : 501)
The importance of teachers in the lives of adolescents cannot be
enrich their intellectual ability (Djiwandono, 2002 : 108). Related to this listening
instructional material design, the writer supports her design by providing list of
key vocabularies in each unit. While in order to encourage the adolescents’
socio-emotional development, the teacher should enrich and stimulate their brain
(Djiwandono, 2002 : 109). Related to this listening instructional design, the writer
provides some aural texts and conversations, which are aimed to develop the
learner’s ability to infer the main ideas of the aural texts, identify detailed
information of the aural texts, and respond and discuss the related topic orally or
in written. Through these listening comprehension activities, the adolescents are
trained to enrich and stimulate their brain by doing the challenging and interesting
activities provided in each unit.
3. Listening Comprehension
Listening comprehension plays a meaningful capacity for us as a human
being to be able to communicate. When a child tries to acquire his first language,
we can see that first he listens then he speaks. Listening is also considered as a
supplement to the speaking skill. “Teaching the comprehension of spoken
language is therefore of primary importance if the communication aim is to be
achieved” (River, 1968 : 135).
Listening is a creative skill and needs to be developed. It needs for the
Senior High School students when they learn English as their foreign language.
The capability to listen needs along and continue practices. “Listening
comprehension has its peculiar problems which arise from the fleeting, immaterial
there is a reducing amount of information conveyed in anyone’s utterance because
the human organism has a limited capacity for reception of information.
In order to reduce to manageable proportions the amount of information in any one sound sequence each language has develop a certain amount of redundancy. It has been estimated, for instance, that the English language is fifty percent redundant. Redundancy in languages is to be found in elements of sound and in morphological and syntactical formations which reinforce each other in the conveying of meaning. Both of these features are conveying the same element of meaning and there is, therefore, redundancy (Rivers, 1968 : 138).
When a foreign language is being learned many sequences of sounds have
low probability of occurrence for the inexperienced listener, and will therefore be
misinterpreted, while others which he has never before encountered provide an
accompaniment of “noise.” The panic decreases their ability to discriminate
sounds and word groupings (Rivers, 1968 : 140).
Listening comprehension exercises should contain a certain amount of
repetitious material. Teachers should be aware of certain emotional problems
which may arise in connection with listening comprehension exercises. Above all,
it must be clearly borne in mind by the teacher and student alike that listening
comprehension is not a skill which can be mastered once and for all and then
ignored while other skills are develop. There must be regular practice with
increasingly difficult material.
In order to listen to and understand a spoken text, pupils must be familiar
not only with the grammatical features and vocabulary found in the text, but also
the text type so that they will understand the purpose and structure of the text.
Information transfer activities are useful to use in building listening skills. In this
example, they may be asked to complete a diagram (Poedjosoedarmo, 2001 : 5).
The writer agrees and support her opinion by applying this kind of activity which
can be seen in the students’ worksheet.
Of course, misunderstanding may occur if pupils have difficulty in
distinguishing English sounds. For this reason, the writer suggests the teacher
might give some brief practice before the listening lesson in listening, if it is
possible, for example, two pairs of words (minimal pairs) occurring the text might
be useful.
The teaching of listening may be planned around a stimulus which pupils
view, such as a TV show or film. This is a good way to introduce new vocabulary
and other language elements because the visual stimuli will help to clarify the
meaning of unfamiliar language items. Pupils may be given a task to do while or
after viewing, for example, they may be asked to create a simple review of the
film, using a review form which they must fill in (Poedjosoedarmo, 2001 : 5).
Facility in understanding what one hears increases with growing
familiarity with the vocabulary and structures of the language. Systematically
developed, listening comprehension can provide one of the most enjoyable
activities associated with the language program and one which the student
continues to enjoy after he has left the classroom.
In this part, the writer discusses about: (a) Stages of Development of
Listening Comprehension, (b) Teaching Listening Comprehension (c) Designing
a. Stages of Development of Listening Comprehension
The student learning a foreign language passes through several stages in
the comprehension of speech. Those stages according to Rivers (1968 : 140-141)
are the following:
(1) On first contact, the foreign language utterances strike his ears as a stream of
undifferentiated noises.
(2) As he listens, he gradually perceives some order in the noise: a regularity in
the rise and fall of the voice and in the breath groups.
(3) As he learns some of the arbitrary associations of the particular language (i.e.
vocabulary, verb groups, simple expressions) he begins to distinguish the
phonic and syntactic patterning: the recurring elements which give form to
segments of speech.
(4) The student next passes through a stage when he recognizes familiar elements
in the mass of speech but is unable to recognize the interrelationships within
the whole stream of sound; this again is not full comprehension.
At this more advanced stage, he may recognize the essentials of the
message, but not be able to remember what he has recognized. This is because he
is unable to concentrate his attention on the crucial elements of the message long
enough to rehearse them sub-vocally before moving on with the continuing voice.
All his attention is taken up with recognition (Rivers, 1968 : 140-141).
b. Teaching Listening Comprehension
The teaching of listening skill is not simply a teaching but much more on
giving the students much practice and learn to comprehend the new language. The
teacher should introduce it like showing or helping someone to learn how to do
something, giving instructions, guiding in the study of something, providing with
knowledge, causing to know or understand. Teaching can not be defined apart
from learning.
There are four skills in English that are needed to be developed. They are
Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. The teacher teaches these four skills
together and completely because they are inseparable. But sometimes the teacher
can not deny that most of the students have difficulties to understand the spoken
language in English. It can be understood that the tape recorder is not good
enough or the cassette is not clear enough, and even they are not familiar enough
to hear and use English as a foreign language.
In teaching listening skill to the advanced level, the teacher might state a
transparent goal of his teaching. He is allowed to use the existed curriculum of the
syllabus of instructional as the basic reference to decide the goals of his teaching.
According to Goh (2002 : 27), teaching listening means the teacher should
be able to make the students to take part actively, “support and motivating them at
every step of the listening lesson. By doing this, the teacher will be teaching
listening not testing it.”
In this process of teaching listening skill, the teacher should be able to
make the students to take part actively in the program. They also should convey
“Listening to a foreign language may be analyzed as involving two levels
of activity, both of which must be taught. We shall call these the recognition level
and the selection level” (Rivers, 1968 : 142-143). The two levels will be discussed
in detail in the following:
(1) Recognition Level. It involves the identification of words and phrases in their structural interrelationships, of time sequences, logical and modifying terms,
and of phrases which are redundant interpolations adding nothing to the
development of the line of thought.
(2) Selection Level. The listener is drawing out from the communication those elements which seem to express the purposes of the speaker or those which
suit his own purposes. To be able to listen eventually with ease to the foreign
language in normal situations, the student needs thorough training at the
recognition level and much practice in selecting from the stream of sound
specific details of the message.
c. Designing of Exercises for Listening Comprehension
According to Rivers (1968 : 148), exercises should be developed for all
four stages in the learning of this skill: (1) identification, (2) identification and
selection without retention (that is, listening for pleasure with no selection to be
answered), (3) identification and guided selection with short-term retention
(where students are given some prior indication of what they are to listen for), and
(4) identification and selection with long-term retention. Each of the stages
(1) Stage I: Identification
Students need practice in discrimination of sounds and in the elements of
meaning conveyed by stress, pitch, and intonation. Dialogue learning is
particularly appropriate to this stage. Students may listen to the dialogues
they have already learned given at a rapid conversational speed for sheer
practice in identification.
(2) Stage 2: Identification and Selection without Retention
At this stage the student listens to a connected sequence with a
development of thought which he tries to follow. The student and the teacher
are satisfied if he has followed the passage as delivered without worrying
about ability to discuss what he has heard. The suitable activity for this stage
is repetitious speech of conversation. At this stage, in laboratory work, the
same tape should be repeated several times (in the same or in successive
sessions) to give the students further practice with the same material.
(3) Stage 3: Identification and Guided Selection with Short-Term Retention
At this stage the student is given some questions beforehand, not a great
number, and he listens for the answer which he marks on a question sheet as
he hears them, or, at a more advanced stage, after he has listened to the whole
passage. The passage should be repeated so that the student may have an
opportunity to verify his answers.
(4) Stage 4: Identification, Selection, and Long-Term Retention
In this final stage, the student is encouraged to listen freely to all kinds of
material. He may listen to all kinds of aural material (news bulletins,
own pleasure. At this stage he should have practice in listening to regional
accents and to all types of voices. After a period of listening, the student is
expected to be able to talk or write about what he has heard.
According to Goh (2002 : 13), in designing listening comprehension tasks,
there are two kinds of listening task:
(1) One-way Listening Tasks
One-way listening tasks involve the students only in listening and
responding through different ways to achieve outcomes. They do not have to
interact with the speaker while listening. In everyday life, we engage in
one-way listening when we listen to the radio, speech and lectures, watch
television and performances. The teacher can use a passage for reading aloud,
but do not use dense texts meant for individual silent reading. Read the text at
a normal speed. If the students cannot process the text adequately the first
time, let them hear it again.
(2) Two-way (Interactional) Tasks
For two-way listening tasks, the students will have to work in pairs or
small groups. These tasks are information-gap and opinion-gap activities with
specified communicative outcomes. They are based on the principle that
people communicate (in this case, listen and speak) when there is a need to
share information or opinion.
While in developing lessons from listening tasks, Goh (2002 : 28) used:
(1) Pre-listening activities
Pre-listening activities divided into two main categories according to
Language-oriented pre-listening activities aim to prepare the students for the type of
language and even specific words that they may hear. Knowledge-oriented
activities prepare the students by encouraging them to acquire relevant types
of world knowledge.
(2) Post-listening activities
Post-listening activity can be carried out in the last part of a lesson or
conducted as another lesson or even a series of lesson. Post-listening
activities should be an extension of communicative outcomes and listening
materials. Post listening activities have several aims include helping the
students to:
• Practice other language skills (speaking, reading, and writing) using the
same theme/topic.
• Examine and reinforce language points (e.g. grammar, vocabulary, useful
expressions).
• Personalize contents of the listening material (e.g. literary texts)
• Acquire further content knowledge related to the theme/topic of the
listening material.
According to Goh (2002 : 13), “a good listening lesson is more than just
using an interesting-looking task.” There are several matters that the designer
needs to consider:
(1) The designer should identify the listening skills and strategies that the
designer want to focus on.
(2) It is important that the designer select appropriate materials to achieve his
(3) The designer will have to include pre-listening activities that can help the
students apply appropriate contextual and linguistic knowledge. In addition,
the designer will need to plan meaningful pot-listening activities to help them
follow up on or respond to what they hear.
d. Materials
Listening material according to Rivers (1980 : 18) can be summarized as
follows:
(1) Fit to the level of difficulties of the students
The materials chosen should be relevant to the background knowledge of
the students in the language and the students’ level of competence. The
teacher has to consider to the vocabulary and the structural patterns used in
tape scripts and whether they are still in the reach of the students’ proficiency
or not.
(2) Listening materials should be as natural as the situation in the real life of
communication
It means that the students need a real material which is practiced in the
communication and the material should be usual to them.
(3) It is the teacher who should be crucial to think about the sounding of the
speech, and it effects the students’ ability to comprehend the message
It means that the teacher should be responsible to the process of teaching
listening skill to the students. They should keep the students into interesting
(4) The teacher should take into account the length of the tape materials being
presented to the students
Paulstone and Bruder (1976:153) also suggest that listening materials for
students learning have to cope with spoken English and should consist of
examples of natural language as many different sources as possible. The
teachers in this condition can give a variety in selecting and presenting the
topics of the materials in every meeting. In teaching the listening skill and
presenting the materials, the teacher can use tape recorder or apply a teacher’s
voice.
4. Instructional Materials Design Models
The model of instructional materials design is important to be considered
in designing the instructional materials because its function is to give a guideline
for the designing the materials and it tells the designer the steps or stages to
design the instructional materials.
In this study the researcher applied Kemp’s instructional model which is
modified by Banathy’s instructional model and Yalden’s instructional model. The
following is the features of the instructional models in each:
a. Banathy’s Instructional Model
The development of a system for learning is a decision making operation.
Decisions have to be made about what should be learned, how, by whom, when
and where; how learning should be evaluated and improved, and what resources
system approach to design and development offer logical structure and the orderly
use strategies for making these curriculum decisions (Banathy, 1976 : 18). The six
steps in Banathy's instructional materials (1976 : 18) model can be summarized as
follows:
(1) The initial step is to formulate a statement that explains on what we expect
the learner to do, know and feel as a result of his learning experiences
(Formulate Objectives)
(2) Develop a criterion test based on objectives and use it to terminal proficiency
(Develop Test)
(3) Find out what has to be learned by the students so that he can behave in the
way described by the objectives specifications. In the content of this analysis,
the input capabilities of the learner must also be assessed-he does not have to
learn whatever he already knows.
(4) Consider alternate and identify what has to be done to ensure that the learner
will master tasks (Function Analysis). Determine who or what has the best
potential to accomplish these functions (Component Analysis). Decide when
and where the functions are to be carried out (Design of the system)
(5) The designed system can now be tried out or tested. Implemented and
installed. The performance of the learner, who is the product of the system, is
to be evaluated in order to assess the degree to which the behaves in the way
initially described (Implement and Test Output)
(6) Findings of the evaluation are then feed back into the system and see what
Feedback Line
VI Change to
Improve IV Design System
V Implement &
Test Output III
Analyze Learning Task
II Develop Test
I Formulate Objectives
Figure 1: Banathy’s Instructional Model (Banathy, 1976 : 17)
In this study, the writer tries to conduct the first step of Banathy’s model
that is formulate objectives as the third step in making the designed listening
instructional materials for the first semester students of the first grade of Senior
High School. The writer stresses on the specific objectives of Banathy’s
instructional model. Banathy views the objectives as a gradually unfolding
specification, refinement, and description of the expected output performance of
the learner. The objectives should also specify how well the learner is expected to
perform and under what circumstances. Banathy tries to define the objectives,
which are different from purpose. Banathy (1976 : 6) states that the purpose of a
system is realized through process in which interacting component of a system is
engaged in order to procedure a predetermined output. The objective must be
operational while the purpose is still in general.
In Banathy’s model, there are two strengths. Banathy’s model focuses on
the feedback which can be done as soon as possible in the designing of
these are needed by the designers. The second strength is the testing and revision
system or change to improve step. The function of these two steps is to control the
quality of the system (Soekamto, 1993 : 43).
Besides the two strengths of Banathy’s instructional model, there are two
weaknesses that can be stated in Banathy’s model. Banathy’s model does not give
a special attention to the second step that is developing test. There is an
assumption about this step connected to the first step formulate objective. The
assumption is the second step would be an easy task to be conducted if the first
step has been well formulated (Soekamto, 1993 : 43).
The second weakness of Banathy’s model is that there is no clear
specification of the steps to design the system. The purpose of the learning in
Banathy’s model should be grouped and also for the strategic development should
be well developed. This will give some chances for the designers to select their
step to design the instructional materials (Soekamto, 1993 : 43-44).
b. Kemp’s Instructional Model
The second model of the instructional materials design is proposed by
Kemp. Kemp offers a flexible model. This is the strength of Kemp is model. It lies
on the existence of the concept that design and development process may start
from any step and then move back and forth to the other steps whenever the
designer is ready. Therefore, the steps are independent elements they have a close
relationship to one other.
There are three important questions needed in instructional design as
(1) What must be learned? (the objectives)
(2) What procedures and resources will work best to reach the desired learning
levels? (activities and resources)
(3) How will we know the required learning has taken place? (evaluation)
In Kemp’s model (1977), there are eight interdependent elements that must
be considered in designing instructional materials:
(1) The first step is to determine goals, topic, and general purposes.
(2) The second step is to enumerate learner’s characteristic.
(3) The third step is to specify learning objectives.
(4) The fourth step is listing the subject content.
(5) The fifth is to develop pre assessment.
(6) Selecting teaching and learning activities and instructional resources is the six
steps.
(7) This step is followed by the seventh step that is support services such as
budget, personnel facilities, equipment, and schedule.
(8) The last step of this model is the evaluation
In this study, the writer tries to conduct the first step of Kemp’s model that
is deciding goals, topics, and general purpose as the second step in making the
designed listening instructional materials for the first semester students of the first
grade of Senior High School. The writer sees the goals in Kemp’s model have the
same meaning with the purpose in Banathy’s model. Both the goals and purposes
refer to a system or direction-establishing element that controls the particular
process of educational program. Moreover, the general purposes in Kemp’s model
specify how well the learner is expected to learn and perform as a result of
instruction. For this study, the writer stresses more on this first step of Kemp’s
model in deciding goals for the designed instructional listening materials for the
first semester students of the first grade of Senior High School. While for specific
objectives, the writer tends to conduct Banathy’s first step.
After formulating the objectives, the next step of the Kemp’s model is
identifying the learner characteristics. By conducting the needs survey, the writer
can identify the learner characteristics. The writer chooses the first semester
students of the first grade of Senior High School in making the designed
instructional listening materials. The figure of the whole steps of Kemp’s model
can be seen in the following:
Goal, topics, general purposes
Learning Objectives Support
Services
Revise
Evaluation Learner
Characteristics
Pre-assessment
Subject Content Teaching/
Learning Activities, Resources
Four strengths can be found in Kemp’s model. The first strength is in the
process of designing and the process of developing the instructional materials.
The process can be started at any steps wherever the designers are ready. This
means that the designer can select the steps and place them as their own creativity
in designing the instructional materials. Secondly, this model also focuses on the
material resources, goals, uses and the choice of learning resources (Soekamto,
1993 : 22-28).
Kemp’s model considers instructional program as a system where the
demands are interdependent to each other. It is indicated through the broken lines
circle in the revision step which shows, that the revision should be viewed as a
dynamic process. Another strength is that Kemp’s model can be applied to all
levels of education, for example, from the elementary to the University level can
be used as the design system for a small unit and as a whole subject for university
(Soekamto, 1993 : 21).
Besides the strengths above there are also two weaknesses of the Kemp’s
model. First, there is no explicit explanation about what the designers should be
done in the steps connected to the selection of teaching and learning resources in
the Kemp’s model (Soekamto, 1993 : 28).
c. Yalden’s Instructional Model
There are some stages that must be taken into account to develop the
(1) Need Survey
The reason for being undertaken a needs survey is gathering a great deal
of information. This information gathering is “to understand as much about
the learners as possible prior to the beginning of the program, in order to
establish realistic and acceptable objectives” (Yalden, 1987 : 101). A
checklist is often used to guide and initial needs survey. The needs survey
should normally cover two broad categories: who the learners are (what they
bring them) and what the purposes needs and wishes are in learning the
language. What one wishes or is able to find out may vary; and exactly how
one goes about this is also likely to vary quite considerably from one
occasion to another. The needs survey can also include the learners own
desires or wants, seen more subjectively in terms of self expression and less
in terms of purposeful or transactional communicative behavior. Holec (1980
: 26) also gave his view about how needs analysis has been seen:
Needs analysis is by now the classical procedure by which a close link can be established between learners and curricula: whereas in content-centered approaches, learning objectives are defined in terms of quantitative subsets of the total communicative competence of a native language user, in learner centered second language instructional systems, the selection of objectives is based on the particular communicative needs of groups of, or individual, learners. Such a procedure makes it possible to set up curricula perfectly adapted to particular learners, especially if the assessment of needs is not just carried out once and for all before the beginning of a course, but is repeated regularly over the learning period (Yalden, 1987 : 102).
(2) The Description of Purpose
The next step is to clarify of the language program. In preparing the
description of purpose to be produce for a given course, the language
focused purposes, and occupational or educational categories. “There are two
large functional grouping in teaching language for specific purposes:
occupational or educational” (Strevens, 1977). In some cases, the description
of purpose is entirely dictated by the needs assessment. Therefore when the
needs are not solely professional, there is a more difficult operation to
perform.
(3) Selection of Syllabus Type
Once the purpose of the language teaching situation under consideration
is determined, one should proceed next to determine the type of syllabus that
would be the best to the learner’s needs and characteristics. In designing a
syllabus, we are sometimes strictly bounded by the three basic syllabus types
that are suggested by Wilkins (structural, functional, situational). However,
we require a more flexible approach in constructing syllabus at this present. It
is better to us to use communicative approach, in order to refer to describing a
classroom experience, which more closely approximates an environment of
real language use. Syllabuses designed for such situations should thus be
called communicative syllabuses.
(4) Production of a Proto-Syllabus
At this stage, the syllabus designer will turn to the description of the
content that the syllabus will have, for example, the preparation of syllabus
specification. As indicated above that there will be ten components of the
communicative syllabus to be considered. Yet, in deciding how or whether to
account for all aspects of communicative competence, there are some
(a) First, it is not always either possible or desirable to include everything;
much will depend on physical constrain involved in a given program.
(b) Second, thought given at stage 2 to describe the general purpose of the
course will help later in deciding the syllabus type.
(c) Third, the specification of target levels should be given early attention,
since one should ask oneself whether it is realistic to specify these levels
very closely if no correspondingly finely tuned instruments are currently
available with which to measure them.
(5) Production of Pedagogical Syllabus
The process of producing a pedagogical syllabus provides the teacher
with material that has been to some extent predigested, and from which it is
possible to produce more or less directly to classroom interaction. The
pedagogical syllabus provides a repertoire of words and phrases, chosen as
exponents or functions and suitable to the topics identified as important to the
learner. It is the teacher’s role to make this repertoire come to life by
choosing and carrying out communicative activities of a wide variety.
(6) Development and Implementation of Classroom Procedures
At this stage, the syllabus designer develops overall approaches to
teaching learning and to the whole of testing program. Finally, he shares his
responsibility with the classroom teacher, who is responsible for conducting,
supervising, and encouraging classroom interaction.
(7) Evaluation
In the process of developing a language program, the final phrase is
the students in the program; next, the teaching as well as the overall design of
the course should be assessed. The applied linguist and the classroom teacher
must work especially closely at this stage. The following figure is the further
explanation of those combined steps:
Selection Develop-ment of Syllabus Type Descrip- tion of Purpose Pro-duction of a Proto
Syllabus Pro-duction of a Pedago-gical Syllabus Develop- ment and Imple-menta- tion of Classroom Proce-dures Evalua- tion Needs Survey
Figure 3: Yalden’s Language Program Development (Yalden, 1987 : 88) Furthermore, Yalden says, based on Streiner (Streiner, 1970), that a
purpose states why a subject is being studied and an objective state specially what
a student should be able to do under what circumstances. The interpretation of
objective in Yalden’s model is the same with Banathy’s interpretation of
objective.
In this study, the writer tries to conduct the first step of Yalden’s model
that is doing needs survey as the first step in making the designed set of listening
instructional materials to the first semester students of the first grade of Senior
High School. This needs survey is done in order to find out what the learners’ own
desires or wants, in this case, the learners choose the topics which are provided by
the writer in conditions the topics are developed from the themes contained in the
Moreover, the writer finds the strength of Yalden’s model, that is, it
emphasizes the model on the developing of communicative syllabus. This
Yalden’s model is very helpful for the designers who want to design the
communicative syllabus as their guidance in making instructional design.
5. The Communicative Approach
In this study the writer used Communicative Approach to develop the students’ communicative competence. In this Communicative Approach,
acknowledge of structures and vocabulary are important. Related to this study,
whose title Designing a Set of Instructional Listening Materials for the First Semester Students of the First Grade of Senior High School, the designer enriches her materials with a list of key vocabularies. The purpose of this is to make the
students easier to comprehend the meaning of the aural text. The communicative
approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as communication.
The goal of language teaching is to develop communicative competence.
According to Larsen (1986 : 133), language is for communication.
Linguistic competence, the knowledge of forms and meanings is, however, just
one part of communicative competence. Another aspect of communicative
competence is knowledge of the functions language is used for.
Communicative competence includes both grammatical and
sociolinguistics competence, it means that communicative competence involves
being able to use the language appropriate to a given social context to accomplish
functions (Larsen, 1986 : 131). Littlewood (1981 : 6) summarizes four broad
domains of skills that make up a person’s communicative competence:
a. The learner must attain as high as possible the degree of linguistics
competence.
b. Items mastered as part of linguistics system must also be understood as part
of communicative system.
c. The learner must develop skill and strategies for using a language to
communicative meaning as effectively as possible.
d. The learner must become aware of the social of language form. It can be said,
therefore, that communicative competence is the ability to use the linguistics
system effectively and appropriately.
The role of the teacher is a facilitator of his student’ learning. He has many
roles to fulfill. He is a manager of classroom activities. During the activities the
teacher can also be as an advisor, answering the students’ questions and
monitoring their performance. The students’ role is as communicators. They are
engaged in trying to make themselves understood, even when their knowledge of
the target language is incomplete.
CLT is an approach and not an established method. It implies that we can
use varieties of method by using Communicative Approach. In the CLT meaning
is important. Concerning with meaning Littlewood (1981:3) mentions three
corresponding aspects of the skills involved in understanding meaning:
a. The ability to understand linguistic structure and vocabulary.
c. The ability to relate the linguistics form to appropriate non-linguistics
knowledge in order to interpret the specific functional meaning intended by
the speaker.
The most obvious characteristic of the Communicative Approach is that
almost everything that is done is done with a communicative intent. “Activities
that are truly communicative, according to Morrow (in Johnson and Morrow
1981), have three features: information gap, choice, and feedback” (Larsen, 1986 :
132). An information gap occurs when one person in an exchange knows
something that the other person’s doesn’t. In communication, the speaker has a
choice of what she will say and how she will say it. Through true communication
which is purposeful, a speaker can evaluate whether or not her purpose has been
achieved based upon the information she receives from her listener. If the listener
does not have an opportunity to provide the speaker with such feedback, then the
exchange is not really communicative (Larsen, 1986 : 132). The speaker must
have responses from a listener, thus she is able to assess whether her question has
been understood or not.
Another characteristic of the Communicative Approach is the use of
authentic materials. The purpose is to give the students opportunity to develop
strategies for understanding language as it is actually used by native speakers
(Larsen, 1986 : 132).
One of the basic assumptions of the Communicative Approach is that
students will be more motivated to study a foreign language since they will feel
6. Syllabus
“A syllabus is a document which says what will (or at least what should)
be learnt” (Hutchinson and Water; 1987:80). There are many reasons for having a
syllabus (Hutchinson and Waters; 1987:83-84). First, language is a complex
entity. We have to have some ways of breaking down the complex into
manageable units. The syllabus should provide a practical basis for the division of
assessment, textbook and learning time. Second, a syllabus also gives moral
support to the teacher and the learners, it makes the language learning task appear
manageable. Third, the syllabus can be seen as a statement projected routes, so
t
