75
IMPLEMENTING INTENSIVE LISTENING COURSE TO IMPROVE LISTENING SCORE OF NON-ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS
1Norita Prasetya Wardhani, 2Ratna Ayu Pawestri Kusuma Dewi
1Fakultas Teknologi Mineral dan Kelautan, Institut Teknologi Adhi Tama Surabaya
1email: [email protected]
2Teknik Mesin Alat Berat, Politeknik Negeri Madura
2email: [email protected]
Abstract: English listening skill is not an easy skill for engineering students who mostly are not fully supported by their surroundings. They just listened something in English from songs or film with Indonesian subtitle. Facing English Proficiency Listening test is a scourge for the students because they are not confident enough and having less knowledge on listening English materials. To encounter that problem, the lecturer implemented an intensive listening course to improve the listening score of non-English department students. There were three objectives of this study. They were (1) to describe the process and implementation of intensive listening course to improve the listening score of non- English department students; (2) to describe the students’ listening scores after the intensive listening course was implemented; (3) to describe the surveys to find out the students’ opinions about this program. The participants of this research were 129 students of mechanical and civil engineering departments. This research used descriptive quantitative research as methodology. The data was gathered from the observation, students’ tests, and survey. This research showed that the non-English department students were given five test opportunities to achieve 423 points (as minimum score). The English course had 12 meetings, in which two of those meetings were focused on listening skill.
They had 3 times of tests and the test result showed unsatisfactory scores. From those three tests, most of the students were able to answer correctly around 9 to 15 numbers, whereas the questions were 50 numbers. To improve the score, the students were given an additional listening intensive course. The lecturer gave more explanation and exercises to the students and it could improve students’ score. Most of the students were able to answer correctly around 16 to 31 numbers.
Keywords: Non-English Students, Intensive Listening Course, Students’ Listening skill, Listening Strategies.
Abstrak: Keterampilan mendengarkan bahasa Inggris bukanlah keterampilan yang mudah bagi mahasiswa teknik yang sebagian besar tidak sepenuhnya didukung oleh lingkungannya. Mereka hanya mendengarkan sesuatu dalam bahasa Inggris dari lagu atau film dengan subtitle bahasa Indonesia. Menghadapi Tes Kecakapan Bahasa Inggris Listening merupakan momok bagi para mahasiswa karena mereka tidak cukup percaya diri dan kurang memiliki pengetahuan tentang materi listening bahasa Inggris. Untuk menghadapi masalah itu, dosen menerapkan kursus mendengarkan intensif untuk meningkatkan skor mendengarkan mahasiswa non-bahasa Inggris. Ada tiga tujuan dari penelitian ini. Mereka adalah (1) mendeskripsikan proses dan pelaksanaan kursus menyimak intensif untuk meningkatkan skor menyimak mahasiswa non-bahasa Inggris; (2) mendeskripsikan skor menyimak siswa setelah mata kuliah menyimak intensif dilaksanakan; (3) untuk mendeskripsikan survei untuk mengetahui pendapat siswa tentang program ini. Partisipan penelitian ini adalah 129 mahasiswa jurusan teknik mesin dan sipil. Penelitian ini menggunakan penelitian deskriptif kuantitatif sebagai metodologinya.
Data dikumpulkan dari observasi, tes siswa, dan survei. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa mahasiswa non-Bahasa Inggris diberi lima kesempatan tes untuk mencapai 423 poin (sebagai nilai
minimum). Kursus bahasa Inggris memiliki 12 pertemuan, di mana dua dari pertemuan tersebut berfokus pada keterampilan mendengarkan. Mereka menjalani 3 kali tes dan hasil tes menunjukkan nilai yang tidak memuaskan. Dari ketiga tes tersebut, sebagian besar siswa mampu menjawab dengan benar sekitar 9 sampai 15 angka, sedangkan soal sebanyak 50 angka. Untuk meningkatkan skor, para siswa diberi kursus intensif mendengarkan tambahan. Dosen lebih banyak memberikan penjelasan dan latihan kepada mahasiswa sehingga dapat meningkatkan nilai mahasiswa. Sebagian besar siswa mampu menjawab dengan benar sekitar 16 sampai 31 angka.
Kata kunci: Siswa Non-Bahasa Inggris, Kursus Intensive Listening, Keterampilan Mendengarkan Siswa, Strategi Mendengarkan.
Introduction
In the 21st century, English used in international communication. Indonesia is one of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) members. The graduate students must be able to compete in AEC to have better future. The ways to compete is improving their English ability (Agustini et al., 2018). Moreover, English is a language which is used by most people all over the world. It is the main part in several sectors including medicine, education and engineering, etc. Furthermore, it is also a vital language for all kinds of personal goals (Nishanthi, 2018).
English is an international language for foreigners to communicate. The two-way processes of communication motivate, informs, suggests, warns, orders, changing behavior and stability of better relationships to make interaction meaningful and make oneself understood (Fandrych, 2009).
English is an important language; many agencies ask the employees to be able to use English well. No matter how important English is in everyday life, the reality shows different things; as learning English is still a scourge or scary thing for most students, especially those who take non-English study programs. Like a bitter medicine that refuses to be swallowed. This myth is what encourages students to adopt a negative view
of English (Adi Kurniawan & Dosen Tetan STAI Auliaurrasyidin Tembilahan, 2018).
As English is one of the important aspects of the education field, one way to know people's ability in language is to follow the Test of English as a Foreign Language or TOEFL. It is an English test to measure the extent of someone's English skills. This test is used to register some educational institutions in the United States and in other countries. The first test was held in 1963 and had been attended by millions of people around the world(Pratiwi et al., 2011).
Each institution has its own name to organize this test, like TEFL (Test English of Foreign Language) and TEP (Test of English Proficiency). To support this condition, many universities apply the English test of foreign language as a requirement to register for the final exam, thesis, dissertation, and graduation. This way can help graduate students compete with others. Each university has a different standard score. It depends on the faculty or department and education level. In Indonesia, many students are still challenging to use English. If they want to take an English test, they have to prepare it well. There are three skills that are tested in English Proficiency Test. They are listening, structure, and reading.
Listening is one of the skills which is tested in English Proficiency Test. Listening is commonly regarded as the hardest and most challenging. It, nevertheless, has been overlooked with much less time devoted to its instruction as compared with other language skills, like reading, writing, and speaking (Al-Nafisah, 2019). Many students though that listening is difficult skill to understand, especially in certain parts such as 1) Catch the speaker’s idea, 2) Identify idiomatic expression, 3) Identify the cohesive marker, 4) Assign a literal meaning to the utterance, and 5) Retain the important information (Pratiwi et al., 2011). The students are not consumed listen English conversations without text and (Rozak et al., 2019) stated that the students mostly fail to catch the meaning in those listening rate level because their LF is under those normal levels. The students are able to sing English songs because they search the lyrics and understand the film conversation because they use subtitles in either English or Indonesian. This condition makes students difficult to pass the listening skill test. They need more exercise and understanding in listening skills.
Listening scores are often being the lowest skills if it is compared with other skills on TOEFL. Therefore, students taking the TOEFL test must have good listening in understanding conversations to increase the TOEFL score. One way to increase the TOEFL score is to know the types of questions that are the weaknesses of the test participants thus they can be given some intensive exercises to make the students are more understand to the listening materials (Maisarah et al., 2014)
ITATS has its own English Proficiency Test, namely TEFL. The students are non-English
department, so they need a course to improve their English ability and gain the standard minimum score. Before the students join the TEFL course preparation, they must finish several requirements, such as they have finished English course for the beginner, namely English Class 1 and 2.
After the students met the needed requirements, they would be able to understand the TEFL materials easier. The students learned three skills in TEFL course preparation. However, this study was focused on listening skill.
Generally, the researchers recognize three levels of foreign language mastery, Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Level. For the TOEFL score, usually language experts grouping this score into the following four levels (Sibaroni, 2011) 1. Elementary Level: 310 s.d. 420 2. Low Intermediate: 420 s.d. 480 3. High Intermediate: 480 s.d. 520
4. Advanced level (Advanced): 525 to 677 The students were not accustomed to hear the listening conversation clearly. To master the conversation in listening skill, they have to have a good ability to understand the conversation in listening skill. The students did not know the conversation types used in the TEFL test. The campus should facilitate the students to have course, like conversations, and it makes the course run effectively (Maisarah et al., 2014). It means that the students will get acquainted and know what material will be used for the TEFL test. By giving the course to the students before they got tested, the students understood the materials for the test and could improve their result in English proficiency test.
Methodology
This research was conducted using descriptive quantitative methodology in one of the Institutes in Surabaya. ITATS Language Centre (ILC) handles TEFL course and test for ITATS students. TEFL course and test participants in this study were the students from civil and mechanical engineering students in this campus. The
participants were 129 students. Students had 12 meetings to face TEFL test. Each meeting had 90 minutes. The teaching plan would be listed on table 1.
Figure 1Table 1: Teaching plan for English Proficiency Course
Meeting Types of Skills
1-5 Structure materials
6-7 Reading materials and exercise 8 Listening materials and exercise
9 Listening Review
10-11 Structure Review
12 Reading Review
From table 1, we knew that the lecturers only taught listening skill in two meetings. The first meeting was listening materials and exercising, and the second meeting was a review of listening. The lecturer taught the strategies to answer listening in parts A, B, and C. One of the strategies was asking the students to find the words which did not speak of the audio and find the synonym of what the students heard from audio. Then, the lecturers showed and taught the students the types of questions; they also taught how to answer the question quickly and correctly.
The lecturers were teaching the students about time estimation, making the students have time to answer listening skills. After the lecturers explained the materials, the lecturers asked the students to do the exercise and explain their answer. In this section, the students discussed the content of the listening, the questions, and the answers of the materials.
In the ninth meeting, the students had a listening review, which means, after the students had known the materials, the students applied their knowledge to the listening section simulation. The students must listen to the audio and fill the answer sheet in 10-12 seconds for each number. The students would know their listening skill after they answered the questions. If they did not understand, the teacher would explain clearly the content of the sound, and the lecturer always reminded the students of the trick to answer. The trick was the students listened to what the second speaker talked about.
The researchers would analyze students' results, and a questionnaire was needed to fill the data. The questionnaire was given in the ninth meeting and after they got the test.
The maximum test was five times to get a minimum score. The minimum score was
423 for three skills; listening, structure, and reading. However, the researchers had only analyzed listening skills.
Finding and Discussion
English course has conducted in 12 meetings to improve the listening scores of non- English department students. Each student has to attend 12 meetings to avoid materials missing and it was a requirement for the students to join the test. There were several classes for English course and each class consisted of 25-35 students. Each class had two big sound woofers which were placed in the middle of the class; a sound facing to the left and a sound facing to the right. The voice of the sound was heard clearly in the room.
There was no reason for the students if they could not hear the speaker because it has been tested.
In 8 and 9 meetings, the students got listening materials. In meeting 8, the lecturers taught about listening materials.
The lecturers taught three sections of listening, and the materials of each section have been explained clearly. It means that the lecturers explained that in the listening section, there were three sections, the lecturer showed the time limit, showed the type of questions, explained one by one of the questions in the discussion section and gave tips to do the listening test. One of the tips given by the lecturers for listening in section A was that the lecturers asked the students to listen carefully to what the second speaker talked about and conclude it.
Furthermore, the students must pay attention to the similar words which they could not choose because the students must choose the synonym of what the students hear.
At the beginning of the discussion session on section A of listening, the lecturer played number audio, and they discussed what they heard and what the speaker meant. Almost
all of the students could not understand the speaker's meaning, and many of the students guessed the wrong answer. They selected the multiple-choice, which the speaker talked about. They also focused on the first and second speaker talk, even though the lecturer has told the students if they only hear what the second speaker talk about. They needed to listen to what both speakers talk about if the questions related to place, job, etc.
The lecturer played one more audio and asked the students to listen carefully to what the second man said. Many of them were still wrong in choosing the answer. They were still confused because they must think of similar words for the question. The teacher taught the students slowly for several numbers. The teacher played the sound several times for a number because the students asked the teacher to play the sound several times. The students were more understanding of the tips and what they should hear. The lecturer conducted an asking and question section to stimulate students’ ability. The teacher asked the students what they were listening to, their answer, and their reason for the answer.
The students could pass the materials for Listening section A. Then, they continued to learn further lessons and exercises for listening section B and C. Section B consisted of several long conversations between two people and a long conversation was used to answer four questions. The students have three parts of conversations for section B. Section C had two long monologues from a person. A long monologue has four questions to answer, so that, they will answer eight questions. The teacher gave some tips to the students. The tips were they did not need to listen to the listening instruction for the listening and their job just to read the answers and supposed what the questions were. If the
students had supposed what the questions were, they could focus on the question and what the speaker talked about.
After the students had twelve meetings for the English proficiency course, they had three tests to obtain the minimum score, 423.
If the students have obtained minimal scores in the first or second test, the students could
not join the next test. This is the diagram which could be summarized to describe students' achievement for the listening section in test 1 to 3. If we saw chart 1, the listening score achievements were dissatisfaction because the students needed more time to do listening questions and the students were not doing in test.
Chart 1: Listening Result for English Proficiency Test (Test 1 to 3) From chart 1, The blue chart showed that
there were six to nine students who got the lowest correct answer between 0 to 8. The correct answer score for 0 to 8 was the same.
It did not give effect to the result because the correct answer 0-8 had the same score and the score would increase if the students were able to get 9 numbers correct answers or more correct answers.
The survey result explained that listening was the most difficult section because they did not understand what the speaker talks about. It was not because of the volume or voice clarity which affected the students did hard to hear what the speaker talked about.
Besides, they said that they needed more time to read the answer and choose the answer because they only had 10 to 12 seconds to answer it. The survey found other results that there were many confusing students to understand the meaning of long conversations and long monologues. Not
only this problem, but many of the students felt sleepy when they listened to the conversation or monologue. They could not focus during the listening section, and it affected the students when they answered the questions.
The orange chart in the chart 1 showed that most students answered correctly between 9 and 15 numbers. We could see the orange chart of the students who have correct answers around 9 to 15 numbers between 55 to 60 students. If the students were only getting correct answers between 9-15, they would work hard to get a minimum score.
Most of the correct answers were in section A because section A was the easiest since it was only short conversations between two people.
The survey showed that many of the students had not ready yet to listening the sound because they listened the instruction of the Chart 1. Students’ result for listening skill
listening and they did not have time to read the answer on the paper test. They forgot what kind of tips which have been discussed with the lecture, they did not listen to the instructions and they were better read the answers on the paper. They were too nervous to do the test and they were afraid to fail the test.
The second highest chart was gray charts showing the students were able to answer correctly around 16 to 31 numbers. Most students who were able to answer correctly around 16 to 31 were on test 1. There were 39 students. However, on the second and third tests, there were only 18 and 20 students. The data stated that only several students could answer correctly for listening sections B and C. From the survey, we knew that the students needed significant effort to answer correctly. Unfortunately, from those three tests, there was no one who was able to answer 45 to 50 correct answers.
The survey showed the students who were able to answer correctly around 32 to 44 explained (yellow chart) that the students did not only need a significant effort to answer the question but also based on their feeling.
There were only one to three students who were able to answer 32 to 44 questions, how the students could answer many numbers.
Two of them said that one of them really like playing the game and applying English to have a conversation and chat with his partner. But others said that they often exercise, especially in listening. They
wanted to get used to listening in English.
One of the students was able to answer many correct numbers because of luck.
From the result, 45 students could obtain the minimum score and for the students who failed in the test 1, they must allow additional courses (short course consists of 4 meetings) and two more tests to obtain a minimum score. Many students failed in the first to third test because many of the students were nervous and shocked when they conducted the real test. By joining additional courses, the students were being hoped to get a minimum score in the fourth or fifth test. Each student must allow four additional courses to help them get a minimum score but there was only a meeting for the listening material. In listening materials, students were only taught ten numbers for section A, four numbers for section B, and four numbers for section C.
The materials taught intensively means the lecture gave detail information about the listening materials and the method taught was also the same; questions and answers, and the lecturer repeated the sound several times. So, the students could understand the meaning of the listening. Besides, the lecturer gave more exercises which have been shared on WhatsApp. From the exercises, the students could learn and understand the materials outside of the classroom. This is the result of listening for the fourth to sixth tests.
Chart 2: Listening Result for English Proficiency Test (Test 4 to 6)
From 129 students who joined this course, 80 students have not passed tests 1 to 3 and only seven students qualified for joining test 4. The requirement was joining additional courses. Other students would join the fifth and sixth test. In test 4, only four students were able to obtain correct answers around 16-31, and the students who were able to answer nine to fifteen correct answers were three students. Students’ reason was not only qualifying for the joining test but also they could not take the test because they had some business.
The diagram showed excellent results on tests 5 and 6. Tests 5 and 6 were for the students who could not reach the minimum score in test 4 and they did not join the additional courses. In the fifth test, students who answered 0-8 were the most compared to other tests, namely 16 students. Fourteen students were able to answer 9 to 15 correct numbers in the fifth test. Many students, 39 students, could answer 16 to 31 numbers, and four students could answer almost all of the correct numbers, 32 to 44 correct numbers. Many students could get a minimum score on this test. The score was 423.
In the sixth test, only several students joined the test because they had passed the test in the fifth test. The highest correct answer, 16
to 31, was 32 students, and five students were correct 9 to 15 numbers. Ten students got the lowest correct score around 0 to 8 points. The questionnaire stated that the listening questions for test 5 to 6 were the easiest than other tests. From those all tests, there were only slightly students who could not obtain a minimum score.
Survey result explained that the questions for the listening section were easier after the students had gotten additional courses. The listening questions on the test and on the materials in additional courses were similar and it really helped the students improve their achievement. But several students stated that listening questions were as difficult as before the students got additional courses. After that, the questions between the fourth, fifth, and sixth tests were the same. Many students were able to obtain the minimum score or more in the fifth and sixth test because they got used to listening to the materials. Besides, the questions given were the same and it was different from the first to third test which had different questions.
Conclusion
Chart 1 and chart 2 showed that there were still many students who got bad scores for listening skill because many of them confused because they did not get any explanation for each number and it was
different when they had courses. In the course, the lecture always explained one by one to make them understand. Based on this reason, listening course was needed since the regular English listening course only slightly gave effect to the students’ listening result. From the questionnaire which was given to the students, it explained that listening was the most difficult section because they did not understand what the speaker talks about. It was not because of the volume or voice clarity, but because they did hard to hear what the speaker was talking about and they could not know how to
translate in their own language. Besides, they said that they needed more time to read the answer and choose the answer because they only had 10 to 12 seconds to answer it.
But the result given was different after the students allowed additional courses and did the exercise outside of the class. Many of the students could improve their listening score.
In conclusion, more meetings for listening skill needed to be added to improve students’ listening habits.
References
Adi Kurniawan, N., & Dosen Tetan STAI Auliaurrasyidin Tembilahan, S.
(2018). “How Difficult English Is!”
(An Attitude in Learning English for Non-English Students). Mitra Ash- Shibyan: Jurnal Pendidikan Dan Konseling, 2(1), 65–86.
https://doi.org/10.46963/MASH.V2I1.
26
Agustini, S., Wardhani, N. P., Kurniawan, M., & Amalina, E. N. (2018). Mobile Application for English Reading Comprehension. IPTEK Journal of Proceedings Series, 0(6).
https://doi.org/10.12962/J23546026.Y 2018I6.4627
Al-Nafisah, K. I. (2019). Issues and Strategies in Improving Listening Comprehension in a Classroom.
International Journal of Linguistics, 93.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?clu ster=17121108758932081829&hl=id
&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5
Fandrych, I. (2009). The importance of English communication skills in multilingual settings in Southern Africa. English Today, 25(3), 49–55.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S02660784099 90277
Maisarah, O. :, Si, M., & Suciati, E. (2014).
PENGEMBANGAN SILABUS TOEFL LISTENING UNTUK MAHASISWA NON BAHASA INGGRIS DENGAN TINGKAT KEMAMPUAN BAHASA INGGRIS RENDAH.
Nishanthi, R. (2018). The Importance of Learning English in Today World.
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development,
3(1), 871–874.
https://doi.org/10.31142/ijtsrd19061 Pratiwi, A., Mayasari A.R, & Rahmasari, G.
(2011). 100% Best Guide to TOEFL Up to 600. Laskar Aksara.
https://icllle.teknokrat.ac.id/wp- content/uploads/2021/08/Slide_ICLL LE_Ervina-Simatupang.pdf
Rozak, R. R., Shaleh, M., Bharati, D. A. L.,
& Sutopo, D. (2019). Analyzing Student
Teachers of English Listening Fluency Level: A Preliminary Research. Jurnal Pendidikan Edutama, 6(2), 19–30.
https://doi.org/10.30734/JPE.V6I2.48 8
Sibaroni, Y. (2011). Klasifikasi Skor Kompetensi Bahasa Inggris untuk Penentuan Jenis dan Jumlah Mata
Kuliah Bahasa Inggris (Studi Kasus IT Telkom). Prosiding SNaPP: Sosial, Ekonomi Dan Humaniora, 2(1), 511–
520.
http://proceeding.unisba.ac.id/index.p hp/sosial/article/view/312
Rozak, Saleh, Bharati, Sutopo. 2019.
Analyzing students teachers of
english litsneing fluency level: a preliminary research. Jurnal Pendidikan Edutama Vol. 6 No. 2 Juli 2019. P-ISSN : 2339-2258 (Print) E- ISSN: 2548-821X
