Assisting a 19-Year-Old Student Who Had Difficulty in IELTS Listening Practice Tests for Detailed Information During My Internship at Vista International Corporation.

(1)

i

Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, saya melakukan analisis masalah yang saya hadapi ketika melakukan program magang di Vista International Corporation, Bandung, yaitu saya tidak dapat membimbing siswa berumur 19 tahun yang mempunyai kesulitan dalam mengerjakan latihan tes IELTS pada bagian Listening saat belajar di Learning Center. Periode magang tersebut dimulai 18 Juni 2015 sampai 23 Juli 2015.

Berdasarkan analisa saya, masalah ini terjadi karena saya tidak mendapatkan informasi yang cukup dari supervisor saya, saya menemukan bahwa siswa tersebut tidak konsentrasi saat bagian Listening, dan saya menemukan bahwa kata-kata dalam rekaman di bagian Listening mengandung clustering yang

membuat proses mendengarkan menjadi sulit. Masalah ini juga berdampak negatif pada saya dan siswa tersebut, yang pertama adalah saya tidak menggunakan waktu dengan efektif dalam membimbing siswa tersebut di Learning Center, siswa tersebut mendapat nilai latihan IELTS di bawah sasaran 6.0, yaitu 4.5 untuk bagian Listening, dan siswa tersebut mempunyai kesulitan dalam hal pemahaman sehingga siswa tersebut membuat banyak kesalahan di sesi empat bagian latihan

Listening.

Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, saya memberikan tiga solusi yang berpotensi untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini. Solusi yang pertama saya akan membicarakan dengan

supervisor saya tentang masalah dalam membimbing siswa tersebut. Solusi kedua

adalah saya akan memberikan aktivitas top-down dan bottom-up, sebagai latihan

pre-listening untuk siswa tersebut. Solusi ketiga adalah saya akan mengajarkan

(2)

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

From 8th June 2015 to 23rd July 2015, I had my internship at Vista

International Corporation (henceforth VIC). VIC is a company which

focuses on education, especially for preparation and arrangement of study

abroad (Company Profile, n.d.). In VIC, especially in Bandung, there are

two divisions: the first one is Vista International Education Services, or

VES, and the other is Vista International Program, or VIP. According to

Ms. Marsela, the Central Manager at Vista Bandung (personal

communication, September 12, 2015), about 60%-70% of the students

who use Vista services are high school students who will study abroad and

30%-40% are fresh graduates who want to continue their bachelor degree

overseas.

During the internship, I had a position as an Academic Staff in VIP. As

an Academic staff, I had several responsibilities, such as assisting students

in Learning Center (Learning Center is a facility in Vista for helping

students who have difficulties in Listening, Reading, Writing and

(5)

2

exercises, checking and scoring their assignments and tests, and arranging

monthly academic reports, such as the weekly schedules for teachers.

In my internship, I had a problem in assisting a 19-year-old student

who had difficulty in listening for detailed information for IELTS practice

tests. The student’s name is Andrianto, who took IELTS (International

English Language Test System) in Focus Class since 6th of June 2015 (see

I). His goal to study at Vista was to enable him to get an IELTS Score 6.0.

(June 27th, 2015). He visited the Learning Center twice to practice. On 18th

June 2015, I assisted Andrianto in the Learning Center to practice listening

for IELTS Academic Test for 1 hour and 15 minutes, 30 minutes for

listening to the recording and 45 minutes for discussing the answer. After

listening to the recording, I checked his answer sheet and discussed the

result with him. I found that from the first part to the third part Andrianto

was able to answer the questions very well, yet in the fourth part all of his

answers were incorrect. Thus, his score was only 4.5. The type of

questions for the fourth part was filling in some detailed information. I

also checked his IELTS mid-term test and found that he also had difficulty

in filling in some information. Furthermore, not having supervision made

it difficult for me to assist him. As a result, I could not give him advices on

doing the fourth part.

Based on the above explanation, as an Academic Staff I choose to

discuss my difficulty in assisting this 19-year-old student who had

difficulty in listening for detailed information as the topic of my term

(6)

concerned about the student because the problem made him not achieve

his targeted score, 6.0 (IELTS score).

B. Identification of the Problem

The analysis of the problem is formulated in the following questions:

1. Why did I have difficulty in assisting a 19-year-old student who had

difficulty in listening for detailed information during IELTS practice at

Learning Canter at Vista International Corporation Bandung?

2. How did the problem impact the student and me?

3. How should I overcome the problem?

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study

The objectives of the study are to analyze the causes, the effects of

difficulty in assisting a 19-year-old student who had difficulty in listening

for detailed information, as well as presenting the best solutions to

overcome the problem.

The benefit of the study for VIC staff, especially in VIP, is giving

solutions to assist students who have difficulty in listening for detailed

information for IELTS practice test. For the readers, this study will give

knowledge about the difficulty in listening for detailed information and

how to solve the problem and for me as the writer, I hope I will be able to

(7)

4

D. Description of the Institution

Based on the Company Profile of VIC, it is stated that Vista

International Corporation is a company which is concerned with

education, especially for preparation and arrangement of study abroad,

which started in 1998 in Surabaya (Company Profile, n.d.). Based on the

information from Marsela, the Central Manager at VIC Bandung, Pascal

Hyper Square (personal communication, September 12, 2015), there are

four divisions in VIC, first, Vista Education Services/VES, which is an

education consultant to study abroad, second, Vista International

Program/VIP, which is a course for IELTS, TOEFL, Academic English,

third, Vista Hospitality Expert/VHX, which is a partnership with the best

hospitality school in the world, and fourth, Vista Professional, V-Pro,

which is a course focusing on working people and businessmen. VIC has

14 branches in Indonesia; the first branch is in Surabaya. VIC in Bandung,

especially VIC which is at Pascal Hyper Square, is the third branch, which

began in August 2001. Initially, it was located at Dago, and then in 2008

VIC moved to a new office at Pascal Hyper Square. According to the

Company Profile of VIC, VIC has a motto, to become “Captain of your

Overseas Study and Career Plan”.(see appendix B)

Based on Appendix D, VIP has 5 types of classes, TOEFL-PBT

(TOEFL paper test), NG-TOEFL (TOEFL IBT), IELTS, and Academic

English. Each class has its own levels, TOEFL PBT has 5 levels (TOEFL

Newbie, TOEFL Fundies, TOEFL Pathway, TOEFL Flash, TOEFL

(8)

in Action/NGTIA, NG-TOEFL Expert/NGTE), IELTS has 3 levels

(IELTS Entrant/IE, IELTS in Focus/IIF, IELTS Savvy/IS), and Academic

English has 6 levels (Academic English Freshman One / Two / AEFO /

AEFT, Academic English Sophomore One / Two / AESO / AEST,

Academic English Junior One / Two / AEJO / AEJT).

E. Method of the Study

The data of this study is taken from field research and library research.

I did field research by taking the data from an interview with Vista

International Corporation’s Bandung’s Central Manager at VIC Bandung

office on 12th September 2015 and recording my internship journal at VIC

from 8th June to 23rd July 2015. In addition, I did library research by taking

theories from books and electronic sources. The data was used to analyze

the causes, the effects and the potential solutions along with the potential

positive and negative effects.

F. Limitation of the Study

The focus of my study is analyzing my difficulty in assisting a

(9)

6

June 2015. The period of the internship is from 8th June to 23rd July 2015.

The subjects of the research are a 19-year-old student and me.

G. Organization of the Term Paper

This term paper consists of several parts. It starts with the Abstract, the

summary of this term-paper in Bahasa. It is followed by Declaration of

Originality, Acknowledgements, and Table of Contents. There are four

chapters in this term paper. Chapter One is the Introduction, which

describes Background of the Study, Identifications of the Problem,

Objectives and Benefits of the Study, Method of the Study, Limitation of

the Study, and Organization of the Term-Paper. Chapter Two is Problem

Analysis, which discusses the causes and the effects of the problem.

Afterward, Chapter Three is Potential Solutions, which contains the

potential solutions along with potential positive and negative effects of the

potential solutions. Next, Chapter Four is Conclusion, which presents the

best solutions. The last parts are References, which is a list of resources

from books and electronic sources, and Appendices, which include a

flowchart, company profile, the transcription of the interview, student’s

answer sheet, listening transcription, copies of internship journal, listening

(10)

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to conclude the analysis in this term paper. Related

to my problem during my internship from 18th June 2015 to 23rd June 2015, I had

difficulty in assisting a 19-year-old student who had difficulty in listening for

detailed information in the IELTS Practice Test at Learning Center at VIC. This

problem happened because 1. I did not get enough information from my

supervisor about how to assist the student in IELTS Practice, I found that the

student did not fully concentrate while listening to the recording, and I found that

the spoken language in the recording contained clustering which made the

listening process difficult. This problem also gave three effects on me and the

student. The effects are I did not use the time effectively in assisting the student at

Learning Center, the student had an IELTS Practice score of 4.5, which was

below his targeted score of 6.0, and the student made many mistakes in the fourth

section of the listening practice. I propose three potential solutions to overcome

the problem. The first potential solution is I will ask and discuss with my

supervisor the problem in assisting the student. The second potential solution is I

(11)

20

student. The third potential solution is I will teach the student how to do

note-taking before listening to the recording.

After analyzing the three potential solutions, the best solution to my problem is

the combination of the three potential solutions, because applying the three

potential solutions is very effective for me to assist the student; moreover, the

student will be more prepared from the beginning until the end of the recording.

First of all, I will ask my supervisor to give me supervision before I assist in

Learning Center. Second, when the tutorial starts, I will do the second solution: I

will give top-down and bottom-up activities as a pre-listening exercise to the

student. The third solution is I will teach the student how to do note-taking before

listening to the recording.

I hope the chosen solutions will overcome my problem in assisting a

19-year-old student who had difficulty in listening for detailed information during the

IELTS Practice Test at Learning Center at VIC. Furthermore, I also hope the

teachers in Vista International Program and the readers could apply these

solutions if they experience a problem with a student who has difficulty in

(12)

REFERENCES

Bailey, K. M. (2006). Language Teacher Supervision: A Case-Based Approach.

Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Brown, H. D. (2000). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to

Language Pedagogy (2nd ed.). San Francisco, C.A.: Pearson Education.

Brown, H. D. (2004). Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practice.

White Plains, N.Y.: Pearson Education.

Company Profile. (n.d.). Retrieved from Vista Education:

http://www.vistaeducation.com/page/v/company-profile

Howell, S. (2005). Teaching Listening Comprehension. Japan: 龍谷大学国際セ

ンター. Retrieved from:

http://repo.lib.ryukoku.ac.jp/jspui/bitstream/10519/2626/1/KJ0000429730

7.pdf

IELTS | Test Takers - Academic or General Training? (n.d.). Retrieved from

IELTS:

http://www.ielts.org/test_takers_information/what_is_ielts/academic_or_g

eneral_training.aspx

Kiczkowiak, M. (2014, July). Teaching Listening Tweaking The Celta Approach.

(13)

https://teflreflections.com/2014/07/20/teaching-listening-tweaking-the-celta-approach/

Listening: Top-down and Bottom-up. (n.d.). Retrieved from Teaching English:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/listening-top-down-bottom

Listening: What Makes It Difficult?. (n.d.). Retrieved from Heads up English:

http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/esl-articles/esl-four-skills/321-esl-listening-skills

Nation, I. S., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking.

New York: Routledge. Retrieved from:

http://samples.sainsburysebooks.co.uk/9781135857318_sample_523997.p

df

Richards, J. C. (n.d.). Teaching Listening and Speaking: From Theory to Practice.

Retrieved from:

http://www.professorjackrichards.com/wp-content/uploads/teaching-listening-and-speaking-from-theory-to-practice.pdf

Richardson, R. (2011). An Overview of Supervision. Retrieved from:

http://www.instituteofwelfare.com/resources/Supervision.pdf

Summarising & Note-taking. (n.d.). Retrieved from UEFAP:

http://www.uefap.com/listen/listfram.htm

Supervising Your Apprentice or Trainee. (2015, December). Retrieved from:

http://www.training.nsw.gov.au/forms_documents/apprenticeships_trainee

ships/supervising_your_app_trainee.pdf

Teaching Students to Take Better Notes: Notes on Notetaking. (n.d.). Retrieved

(14)

http://www.unl.edu/gradstudies/current/teaching/notetakingThe Purpose &

Benefits of Supervision. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Beyond Partnership:

http://www.thebeyondpartnership.co.uk/pages/supervision/the-purpose-benefits-of-supervision.php

Yousif, A. A. (2006). Listening Comprehension Difficulties as Perceived by.

Lang. & Trans Vol 19, 36. Retrieved from:

http://repository.ksu.edu.sa/jspui/bitstream/123456789/290/1/Listening%2

Assisting a 19-Year-Old Student Who Had Difficulty in IELTS Listening Practice Tests for Detailed Information During My Internship at Vista International Corporation.

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.

Background of the Study

B.

Identification of the Problem

C.

Objectives and Benefits of the Study

D.

Description of the Institution

E.

Method of the Study

F.

Limitation of the Study

G.

Organization of the Term Paper

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES