136 IMPROVING STUDENTS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION BY USING
WHOLE BODY LISTENING STRATEGY AT THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMAN 1 MIMIKA
Demetria Egitinilien Membala, A. Buddi Mustari, Rina Asrini Bakri.
ABSTRACT
This research aimed at finding out the improvement of students’ listening comprehension by using Whole Body Listening Strategy. This research used a pre-experimental method. The population of this research was the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika. The total sample was 26 students and it used a purposive sampling technique. In collecting data, the researcher used listening test which is administered on pre-test and post-test. The result of this research showed that the mean score in post-test was higher than the mean score in pre-test (86.15>60.57). The result of t-test was greater than the t-table value (13.38>2.060) at the significance level of 0.05. Based on the result of data analysis, it is concluded that using Whole Body Listening Strategy can improve the students’
listening comprehension at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika.
Keywords: Whole Body Listening Strategy, listening comprehension.
INTRODUCTION Background
English as an international language has big role in human life because English is unity language of the world. Generally, all countries in this world have their own official language. People do not only communicate with other people in the same country but they also communicate with other people from different countries. Thus, people must learn and know various languages to communicate easier one each other or to communicate with foreigners but it is difficult to master all the languages in the world. That is why we need to learn and speak English because English is the most language that people use in the world or in other words. English is used as communication tool both as written or spoken form. English is important and needed in many aspects such as commerce, international relationship, low, education, fashion, entertainment, culinary, social, politics, culture, government, medical, tourism and so on.
Some countries consider English as their official language (first language).
They use English in their daily life. The other countries especially the country which was colonized by England such as Philippines, Singapore, India, and et cetera consider English as their second language, they use English alongside other languages but is commonly the most important language of education, government, or business. On the other hand, in Indonesia English is considered as a foreign language. English as a foreign language has important role to play. It can be an important subject at school, it may be a requirement to pass the test in English to enter a university, or it may be needed for people who work in tourism, business, and for some sections of the civil service. Consequently, English is very important and needed in Indonesia.
In learning English, we have to learn four skills of English such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Listening and reading are classified as receptive skill while speaking and writing are classified as productive skill. In our daily
137 communication, speaking and listening are used in oral communication and yet reading and writing are used in written communication.
It is important to make a research in learning English because there are still many people, especially in Indonesia think that English is difficult language to learn. That is reasonable since English is not our language or English is foreign language. By doing research, the result can help anyone, namely teachers, students, government, common people, and et cetera. For example teacher will find the key to solve the problem that is faced by their students in learning English. In this case, the researcher focuses her research in listening comprehension.
From those skills in English above, some students feel difficult in listening comprehension. There are many problems that students face in listening comprehension such as some students cannot concentrate and focus in listening process, they talk each other when the audio was playing, sometimes they laugh if they could not get the point about what the speaker was saying, some of them did not focus on the listening but they focus on their answer sheet and it cause them make noise in the class as they cheat one each other. Those problems made students find difficulties in listening process till they could not answer the question given.
From those reasons above, it is important to make students feel easier and enjoy listening by doing research in listening comprehension. Therefore the researcher proposed Whole Body Listening Strategy to improve the students’
listening comprehension at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika. Whole Body Listening Strategy is a strategy in teaching listening by using whole part of body that consist of brain, eyes, mouth, hands, heart, and feet.
Problem Statement
Based on the problem above, the researcher formulated the research problem statement : “Does the Whole Body Listening strategy improve the students’ listening comprehension at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika?”
Objective of the Research
The objective of the research is to find out the use of whole body listening strategy in improving the students’ listening comprehension at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika.
Significance of the Research
The result of this research is expected to improve students’ listening comprehension. Teachers could apply Whole Body Listening Strategy as a tool to teach listening comprehension to make students interested and enjoy listening comprehension. This strategy could be applied by students in the class room or in their own home and also result of this research could be useful source for the other researcher that would conduct a research with the same skill or strategy.
Scope of the Research
This research focuses on the use of Whole Body Listening strategy in improving students’ listening comprehension at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
138 Previous Research Findings
Wiring (2010) conducted a research entitled “Teaching Listening Comprehension Using Language Laboratory at SMA Katolik Cendrawasih Makassar.” He explained listening as listen and understand the topic being discussing. He concluded that teaching listening comprehension through language laboratory can encourage the students to study English actively.
Angin (2012) conducted research entitled “Using Fable in Video Compact to Improve the Students’ Listening Comprehension of the Second Year Students of SMAN 1 AdonaraTimur.” She concluded that listening comprehension as a result of an interaction between numbers of information sources and can be interpreted.
Using fable in VCD could improve the students’ listening comprehension of SMA Negeri 1 AdonaraTimur.
Baron (2013) conducted a research entitled “Sensory Strategy to Support Whole Body Listening in the Classroom.” As a result of his project, students learning improves as teachers use sensory strategies in their classroom in conjunction with whole body listening.
Permatasari (2013) conducted a research entitled “Improving Students’
Listening Skill through Podcasts at SMP BOPKRI 1, Yogyakarta Grade VIII, Class in the Academic Year of 2012/2013.” She concluded that the result of her research was satisfying for podcasts can improve students’ listening skill.
Vivilani (2015) conducted a research entitled “Using E-pen to Improve Students’ Listening Ability of the Fifth Grade Students at SD Frater Thamrin”.
She concluded that the use of E-pen (Electronic pen) can improve student’s listening ability.
This research will be different from those previous research findings above as in this research the researcher uses video and audio in listening comprehension and the researcher also focuses on applying the Whole Body Listening Strategy which involves parts of our body in listening comprehension.
Some Pertinent Ideas Listening Comprehension
Goh and Vandergrift (2012:4) stated that listening is an important skill. It enables language learners to receive and interact with language input and facilities the emergence of other language skill. Listening activities in any language classrooms tend to focus on the outcome of listening; listeners are asked to record or repeat the details they have heard or to explain the meaning of a passage they have heard.
According to Buck (2001:73) listening comprehension is a process, a very complex process, and if we want to measure it we must understand how that process works. Listening needs to be learnt regularly step by step. Furthermore, he stated that listening comprehension is a top-down process in the sense that the various type of knowledge involved in understanding language which are not applied in any fixed order, they can be used in any order, or even simultaneously and they are all capable of interacting and influencing each other. This is sometimes referred to as an interactive process, especially by reading theorists.
Nunan (2003:23) defined listening as an active, purposeful of making sense of what we hear. That is why listening is categorized as receptive skills. Listening
139 requires a person to receive and understand incoming information (input). As people listen, they process not only what they hear but also connect it to the other information they already know.
In brief, listening contains a sender (speaker), a massage, and a receiver (listener). Listening is a process where the listener is listening or receiving information from the speaker and the listener can understand what the speaker is talking about. When we are listening something we prepare to replicate the sounds that the speaker is pronouncing. In listening process we need to concentrate so we can get what the speaker is talking about. We can learn a lot by just listening. We can listen through song, conversation, movie, story and et cetera.
Whole Body Listening Strategy
Whole Body Listening Strategy was developed by Susanne Poulette, Truesdale a speech pathologist, in 1990. Whole Body Listening Strategy teaches how to use each part of our body to listen to a speaker. Whole body listening was giving different parts of body a specific job so that we are completely focus on what is being said. As Truesdale said in her article entitled “Whole-Body Listening: Developing Active Auditory Skills” in 1990, she astutely recognized that while we provide practice in listening, “do we teach students how to listen?”
She noted that it entails more than hearing with our ears, we also listen with our brain, eyes, mouth, hands, hearth, and feet. That is why students should be taught how to listen and that listening involved more than just using their ears.
Listening with whole body could also be very exciting and requires practice and explanation in order for students to truly understand what is being requested of them. Whole Body Listening Strategy involves more than just using our ears. It means also using our brain, eyes, ears, hands, heart, and feet. Each part plays a specific role so that we can truly focus hear and understand what is being said.
Listening with your whole body listening involves integrating all of the body senses.
Wilson (2018) created a character in whole body listening that we call whole body listening Larry. Whole body listening Larry is a social thinking character who teaches us that we do not just listen with our ears. We can use many different parts of our body to show that we are listening. Larry uses his eyes to listen by looking at the person he is talking to. His ears are listening when both ears are ready to hear. His hands are listening when they are quiet in his lap, in his pocket, by his side, or playing with a fidget. His mouth is listening when it is quiet. His feet and body are ready to listen when his feet are quiet on the floor and his body is calm, and turn to face the person he is listening to. The children were interested to learn that we can listen with our hearts when we care about what the other person is saying. Finally we can listen with our brain when we think about what is being said.
Sautter and Ward (2014) add heart as one of whole body listening components. It is important to understand why we listen to others. We need to increase students’ empathy and care when they are listening. We listen to create rapport, share and experience, and always consider the other person’s feeling. It
140 also teaches students to increase their perspective thinking about why these skills are important and how their behavior changes thoughts and feelings of others.
In brief whole body listening is a method of developing fully functioning, active auditory skills. Listening is a skill that reinforced over a time. Hearing is not just isolated to our ears. It actually extends to other parts of our bodies, which typically ignored. In whole body listening, teacher can not only develop more empathy, but they can teach the concept of listening to students who are struggling in this area, providing them with a better chance of success.
Component of Whole Body Listening Strategy 1) Brain
Listening with brain means thinking about what we are listening. We try to select and isolate a given massage from competing sound. This is the most critical element of whole body listening strategy because when we think about what the speaker is saying, we are actively attending by connecting our mind with the speaker’s mind. Be ready to learn and remember just like people say “your brain is like a parachute. It only works when it’s open.” So, clear your mind of distracting thoughts because brain is the most critical component of whole body listening.
2) Eyes
Listening with the eyes refers to looking at or toward the speaker, or to visual props used in a presentation. This does not suggest that students be expected to make or maintain steady eye contact with the speaker. Some students are naturally or culturally uncomfortable with reciprocal eye gaze, and for others, it may be contraindicated due to their individual needs.
3) Mouth
Listening with the mouth suggests remaining quiet and not talking while listening to a speaker. Perhaps it is fair to say that we cannot listen effectively and speak at the same time. Focusing on maintaining a quiet, listening mindset and contribute to self-awareness and behavior management necessary for listening actively, thinking about, and acting on incoming verbal information. We can also use the idea of listening with the mouth to identify and reduce distracting or noisy behaviors such as snapping gum or chewing on items like pens, pencils, neck chains, or collars. This can be another step in helping students to reflect upon and self-manage good listening behaviors.
4) Hands
Listening with hands suggests hands are still and quiet, unless required to write or follow directions. Some individuals say they can listen more effectively when doodling, tapping or fidgeting with their hands. However, for others, busy hands can be distracting or noisy, and interfere with hearing and attending to listen, therefore when we are listening with our hands, make sure that our hands not distracting other person.
5) Feet
Listening with feet suggests postures that can facilitate active listening. Whether seated in chairs, or crisscrossed on the floor, this strategy focuses on reducing disruptive movements and noises associated with foot tapping or kicking. It also suggests that sitting up “tall” encourages alertness and readiness to listen.
141 Students are encouraged to signal the speaker in this way to show that they are working on listening. These suggestions refer to typical instructional times, non informal relax listening activities, such as when a teacher or parent may read to young children as they rest while reclining. Some students may need to move their feet when they are listening, but they have to make sure that their feet movement not distracting their friends who needs focus listen.
Conceptual Framework
Input (teaching materials) à Process (teaching listening by using Whole Body Listening Strategy) à Output (The improvement of the students’ listening).
METHOD OF THE RESEARCH Research Method and Design
The method of this research was pre-experimental that involved a pre-test, a treatment, and a post-test. Design of the method was presented as follow:
O1 X O2
Where:
01 : Pre-test X : Treatment 02 : Post-test.
(Gay & Mills, 2012)
Research Variables
There were two research variables of this research namely independent variable and dependent variable. Independent variable was Whole Body Listening Strategy while dependent variable was the students’ listening comprehension.
1. Population
The population of this research was the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika that consisted of eight classes. Those classes were X IPA 1, X IPA 2, X IPA 3, X IPA 4, X IPA 5, X IPA 6, X IPA 7, and X IPA 8 with the total number of population were 292 students.
2. Sample
In this research, the sampling technique was purposive sampling. X IPA 1 was chosen as sample because the students in this class had heterogeneous ability in English. The total numbers of sample were 26 students.
Instrument of the Research
The instrument of the research was listening test. In pre-test and post-test the researcher used conversation about “Birthday”.
Procedure of Collecting Data 1. Pre-test
Pre-test was given to know the students’ prior knowledge of listening comprehension before giving treatment or before applying the Whole Body Listening Strategy.
2. Treatment
Treatment was given for four meeting after having pre-test.
a. At the first meeting, the researcher introduced and explained Whole Body Listening Strategy. In applying the Whole Body Listening Strategy, students used parts of their body in listening comprehension. Those components of Whole Body Listening Strategy were:
142 1) Listen with brain by thinking about what the speaker was talking about.
When the speaker was talking, we needed to connect it to our prior knowledge. For example when we listened about birthday, in our mind we might find image of balloon, candle, cake, or gift. Do not think another thing when we are listening as it can make us lose concentration.
2) Listen with eyes by looking toward the speaker. There would be visual or video or direct speaker to help us listen using our eyes. Facial expression or body language really helped the listener.
3) Listen with mouth meant listen quietly without interrupting or talking to others or without make any noise as it could disturb the other students.
4) Listen with hands by kept our hands stay and not distracting other students. Students could write something or follow the direction on their note without distracting the others.
5) Listen with heart by caring about what the speaker was saying about.
6) Listen with feet by keeping our feet stay, did not make any movement that could make lose concentration.
After that, researcher evaluated the students’ listening comprehension and practiced using the Whole Body Listening strategy by giving 10 clues (words).
b. At the second meeting, the researcher got students to listen a new topic, students were given a piece of paper where they could find some words and they have to circle the words pronounced by the speaker.
c. At the fourth meeting, the students listened to a story entitled “The wind and the Sun” and fill the blank part of the story.
d. At the fourth meeting, the students listened to a song entitled “Strong” and completed the missing lyrics of the song.
3. Post-test
Post-test aimed to find out the improvement of the students’ listening comprehension after giving treatment.
Technique of Data Analysis
Technique of data analysis of this research was:
1. Scoring the students correct answer of pre-test and post-test
𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 =𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑥 100 2. Classifying the students’ score
Scoring Classification
91-100 Very good
76-90 Good
61-75 Fair
51-60 Poor
0-50 Very good
3. Calculating the mean score by using SPSS 22.0 version.
143 4. Finding out the standard deviation of the students’ pre-test and post-test by
using SPSS 22.0 version
5. Finding out the difference between pre-test and post-test value of the test by using SPSS 22.0 version.
Findings
1) The Classification, Frequency, and Rate Percentage of the Students’
Score in Pre-test
Pre-test was given before giving treatment. It purposed to find out the students’ prior knowledge in listening comprehension. The instrument used in this test was listening test with the title “Toms’ Birthday Party.” In conducting the pre- test, the researcher followed some procedures namely: first, the researcher explained the test. Second, the researcher prepared the audio and distributed the worksheets to students. Third, the researcher told the direction to answer the test given and the length time to finish the test was sixty (60) minutes. Fourth, the researcher played the audio and students started to listen and do the test. While students were doing the test, the researcher controlled the test. The last, researcher collected the students’ worksheets.
The result of the students’ pre-test showed that there was one student who got one hundred (100) score and one student achieved ninety five (95) score. Thus, there were two students categorized into very good classification from the range of 90 to 100. There was one student who achieved seventy five (75) score, two students gained seventy (70) score, and five students got sixty five (65) score. Otherwise, there were eight students classified into fair classification from the range of 61 to 75. There were five students got sixty (60) score and six students obtained fifty five (55) score. It means there were eleven students ranked into poor classification from the range of 51 to 60. There was one student got fifty (50) score, one student had forty five (45) score, two students received forty (40) score, and one student got thirty five (35) score. Hence there were five students characterized into very poor classification from the range of 0 to 50.
Table 4.1
The Classification, Frequency, and Rate Percentage of the Students’
Score in Pre-Test
No Classification Frequency Percentage
1 Very good (91-100) 2 7.69
2 Good (76-90) 0 0
3 Fair (61-75) 8 30.76
4 Poor (51-60) 11 42.30
5 Very poor (0-50) 5 19.23
Total 26 100%
The provided table above demonstrates that there were two students (7.69%) were categorized into very good, none of students (0%) were classified into good, eight students (30.76%) were ranked into fair, eleven students (42.30%) were characterized into poor, and five students (19.23%) were subsumed into very poor.
144 Graphic 4.1
The Classification, Frequency, and Rate Percentage of the Students’ Score in Pre-test
Referring to the bar chart above, it can be seen that from 26 students, most of the students got poor and fair classification in their pre-test before getting treatment. For more detail, two students got very good classification, none of students achieved good classification, eight students gained fair classification, eleven students obtained poor classification, and five students had very poor classification.
After organizing the pre-test and treatment for four meetings, the researcher gave post-test in order to find out the enhancement of the students’ listening comprehension after applying Whole Body Listening Strategy in teaching listening comprehension. The instrument of post-test was listening test with the same topic on the pre-test, “Tom’s Birthday Party.” The length of the test was sixty (60) minutes and there were twenty (20) number questions given.
In post-test, the researcher previously prepared audio and video that would be listened by students. Second, researcher distributed the worksheets. Third, researcher explained about the direction and the length of the test. After that, the audio and video were played, students started to do the test while the researcher was administering the test. The last, researcher collected the students’ worksheets.
After looking at the students’ post-test, the researcher found that there were two students got one hundred (100) score and three students gained ninety five (95) score. Thus there were five students categorized into very good classification from the range of 91-100. There were eight students achieved ninety (90) score, five students obtained eighty five (85) score, five students had eighty (80) score.
Therefore there were eighteen students classified into good classification from the range of 76-90. There were two students received seventy five (75) score, ranked into fair classification from the range of 61-75 and there was only one student achieved sixty characterized into poor classification from the range of 51-60.
Table 4.2
The Classification, Frequency, and Rate Percentage of the Students’ Score in Post-test
No Classification Frequency Percentage
1 Very good (91-100) 5 19.23
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Very
good Good Fair Poor Very poor
Frequency Percentage
145
2 Good (76-90) 18 69.23
3 Fair (61-75) 2 7.70
4 Poor (51-60) 1 3.84
5 Very poor (0-50) 0 0
Total 26 100%
The table given shows the classification, frequency, and rate percentage of the students` score in post-test in learning listening comprehension by using Whole Body Listening strategy. The table proved that there were five students (19.23%) categorized into very good, eighteen students (69.23%) classified into good, two students (7.70%) ranked into fair, one student (3.84%) characterized into poor, and none of students (0%) subsumed into very poor classification.
Hence the rate percentage in the post-test was greater than the rate percentage in pre-test.
Graphic 4.2
The Classification, Frequency, and Rate Percentage of the Students’ Score in Post-test
The graphic depicts from 26 students, most of the students got good classification. For more detail, there are five students got very good classification, eighteen students gained good classification, two students achieved fair classification, one student obtained poor classification, and none of the students had very poor classification.
2) The Students’ Score of Pre-test (X1) and Post-test (X2), Gain/ Difference between The Matched Pairs (D) and The Square of The Gain (D2)
Comparing to the students’ pre-test and post-test score, the researcher compared the result of students’ listening comprehension both on pre-test and post-test to see whether or not there was a considerably achievement of student’s listening comprehension before and after teaching listening comprehension by using Whole Body Listening Strategy. The total score of pre-test (X1) was 1575 and the total score of post-test (X2) was 2240. The total result of gain (D) was 665 and the total result of square gain (D2) was 19125. This case shows that the total
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Very
good Good Fair Poor Very poor
Frequency Percentage
146 score of post-test (X2) was higher than the total score of pre-test (X1) or in other words 2240>1575.
Table 4.3
The Mean Score of Pre-test and Post-test Using SPSS 22.0 Version
As it can be seen from the table provided above that the mean score in pre- test was 60.57 categorized as poor classification and the standard deviation in pre- test was 14.51, where the minimum score in pre-test was 35 and the maximum score was 100. In post-test, however, the mean score was 86.25 classified into good classification and the standard deviation in post-test was 8.63, where the maximum score in post-test was 100 too but the minimum score was 60. Finally, the researcher summed up that there was an increase of the students score in listening comprehension in pre-test and post-test because the students score in post-test was higher than the students score in pre-test.
After calculating the result of the students’ mean score in pre-test and post- test by using SPSS 22.0 Version, the mean score was presented in the table below:
Table 4.4
The mean Score of pre-test and post-test Mean score of pre-test Mean score of post-test
60.57 86.15
Based on the data on the table 4.4, it can be concluded that the students’
mean score in post-test was higher than the students’ mean score in pre-test, where the students mean score in pre-test was 60.75 categorized as poor nevertheless the students’ mean score in post-test was 86.15 classified as good.
Test Value
The researcher used SPSS 22.0 version to get the t-test value aimed to know whether or not there was a progress between the pre-test and post-test. This improvement will be seen in the following table, if the t-test value was greater than the t-table value, then the null hypothesis (H0) would be rejected while the alternative hypothesis would be accepted. In contrary, if the t-test value was lower than the t-table value, then the null hypothesis would be accepted while the alternative hypothesis would be rejected. The two variables in pre-test and post- test were at the level of significant (0.05) with the degree of freedom (df)= N-1, where N was the total number of students.
Statistics
Pre-test Post-test
N Valid 26 26
Missing 0 0
Mean 60.5769 86.1538
Median 60.0000 87.5000
Std. Deviation 14.51392 8.63802
Minimum 35.00 60.00
Maximum 100.00 100.00
147 Based on SPSS 22.0 version, the T-Test value was 13.38, where the level of significant (P) = 0.05, the degree of freedom (Df) = N-1 = 26-1=25, and the value of t-table was 2.060.
Table 4.5
Table T-test and T-table
Variable T-test T-table
X2-X1 13.38 2.060
The data on the table 4.5 described that the T-test was higher than t-table value (13.38>2.060). It can be concluded that there was a significance difference between the result of the students’ pre-test and post-test after using Whole Body Listening Strategy in teaching listening comprehension. It means that the null hypothesis (H1) is accepted because there was an improvement on the students’
listening comprehension by using Whole Body Listening Strategy at the tenth grade students’ of SMAN 1 Mimika.
Hypothesis Testing
To find out the degree of freedom (Df), the formula used is in the following:
Df = N – 1
= 26 – 1
=25
For the level of significance (p) = 0.05 and degree of freedom (df) = 25, the value of t-table 2.060 and t-test value = 13.38. Thus t-test value was greater than t-table value (13.38>2.060). It proved that there was an improvement on the students’
listening comprehension by using Whole Body Listening Strategy at the tenth grade students’ of SMAN 1 Mimika. Therefore, the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and alternative hypothesis (H1) was accepted. Degree of freedom (Df), level of significance (P), t-test value and t-table value were shortly described in the table below:
Table 4.6 Table of Significance
Df Level of Significant (P) T-test value T-table value
25 0.05 13.38 2.060
Discussion
The discussion deals with the interpretation of the finding derived from the data analysis. The description of the data was collected through listening comprehension test which explained in the previous part that showed the students’
listening comprehension achievement was improved. It was supported by the result of frequency and rate percentage of the students pre-test and post-test. The following detail discussions of the students’ result both in pre-test and post-test.
148 Looking at the data both in pre-test and post-test, it can be seen that on pre-test only 2 (7.69%) students categorized into very good classification while on post- test, there were 5 (19.23%) students classified into very good classification from the range of 91 to 100. On pre-test, none (0%) of students ranked into good classification, while on post-test there were 18 (69.23%) students subsumed into good classification from the range of 76 to 90. On pre-test, 8 (30.76%) students characterized into fair classification, while on post-test 2 (7.69%) students grouped into fair classification from the range of 61 to 75. On pre-test 11 (19.23%) students categorized into poor classification while on post-test only 1 (3.84%) student classified into poor classification. On pre-test, 5 (19.23%) students ranked into very poor classification while one post-test, none of students (0%) subsumed into very poor form the range of 0 to 50. Thus, rate percentage and frequency on post-test was better than rate percentage and frequency on pre- test.
Other facts that proved an improvement in this research by using Whole Body Listening Strategy were the total score of pre-test (ƩX1) was 1575, total score of post-test (ƩX2) was 2240, difference between the match paired (ƩD) was 665, and square of gain (ƩD2) was 19125. It can be concluded that the students’
total score of post-test was higher that the students’ total score of pre-test after they have by been taught by using Whole Body Listening Strategy.
In addition, mean score of students’ pre-test was 60.57 while mean score of students’ post-test was 86.15. The t-test value was 13.38 while the t-table value was 2.060. Indeed the students’ mean score of post-test was higher that the students’ mean score of pre-test (86.15 > 60.57) and the t-test value was higher that t-table value (13.38 > 2.060). The null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected while the alternative hypothesis (H1) was accepted because the Whole Body Listening Strategy proved could improve the students’ listening comprehension. These explanations clearly explained that the use of Whole Body Listening Strategy could improve the students’ listening comprehension at the tenth grade students (X IPA 1) at SMAN 1 Mimika.
All the problems that the researcher found during conducting the research in pre-test, treatment, and post-test at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika was supported the idea by Norfleet (2007) about factors affect listening. She stated that there were 4 (four) factors which affect listening comprehension, for instance the listener, background knowledge, speaking style, and visual input.
Listening comprehension increased when the listeners were in a good condition because when the listeners unfit, they would not able to concentrate listening to the speaker. Therefore, the listener their selves could be a factor which affect the listening comprehension. Background knowledge also affected the listening process. It was related to the familiar and unfamiliar words or topic. When students listened to familiar words or in other words when they listen something they have known before, they could recognize the words easily and connected the words into other words on their mind but when the students were not familiar listened the words or even they never listened the words or topic before, they could not answer the question and they would find difficulties to connected the words into other words. This factor can be seen clearly on the findings of the first
149 treatment when the students were given 10 clues (words), their result showed that they could answer the familiar words easier that the unfamiliar words. The third factor was speaking style. Speaking style here related to the manner in which the speaker speaks. If the speaker spoke slowly, students (listeners) could listen easily while if the speaker spoke rapidly, students (listeners) felt difficult in listening. It means, the fast of speaker spoke really affected the students listening comprehension. Meanwhile, the difference dialect of the speaker sometimes made listener confused in listening comprehension.
Looking at some factors affected listening comprehension above, the researcher added some factors which influenced the students listening comprehension during conducting the research at class X IPA 1 such as the environment condition, strategy in teaching listening, topics, tenses, vocabulary, and the total amount of listening practice. Environment condition could affect the students’ listening comprehension for instance the noise in the classroom or outside could distract the students’ concentration in listening comprehension. The noise came from the outside class made students sometimes laugh or respond their friends that shouted, thus they could not concentrate in listening comprehension process. Seating position also affected the students’ listening comprehension.
Students who sat far from the speaker difficult to listen what the speaker was saying about. The temperature of the classroom and climate influenced the students’ listening comprehension since they have no air conditioner and even fan, it made students felt hot and these conditions distract their concentration.
In listening comprehension since some regular words used in past tense were pronounced similar to based form, students needed to comprehend and recognize the word form or students must memorize the irregular and regular verb. The most influence affected listening comprehension was vocabulary. It was deal with familiar and unfamiliar words. The more words students knew, the easier they were to find out those words on their storage or brain, thus they would be familiar of that word. The last was the total amount of listening practice. In order to improve the students’ comprehension, then they needed to spend a lot of time to listen or practice listening direct speaker or recording.
As it had explained and illustrated in the previous pages that the Whole Body Listening Strategy was developed by Susanne Poulette Truesdale in 1990, where this strategy taught how we listened not only use our ears but we also could listen by using other parts of our body, namely our brain, eyes, mouth, hand, feet, and heart. Thus, the result of this researcher gave the listener new comprehension that to be a good listener or to comprehend the topic was discussing or talking, we need to listen using our whole body because some parts of our body were needed in listening comprehension. For example, we listened only by using our ears then we did not listen using our brain, or in other words, we just listen what the speaker was talking about, without paying attention to the speaker or without thinking what the speaker was saying, it would make us easy to forget the topic that was being discussed. Listening by using Whole Body Listening Strategy could make students listen effectively.
Tough, those findings above proved that Whole Body Listening Strategy was not really suitable for all students. It was true that we needed our brain in
150 listening comprehension, we needed to connect the word we just listened with the words which already stored in our mind to make us easier in comprehend the words or even the topic given to answer the questions. It means all people listen by using their brain too since when we were listening to a word or sentence, then we think about it, we try to find another word that had similar meaning or we tried to remember the letter that contained on the word or even when we tried to find some images that related the words, it evidenced that we were listening by using our brain. Brain is the most critical element or components of Whole Body Listening Strategy because when we think about what the speaker was saying, we were actively attending by connecting our mind with the speaker’s mind.
Nevertheless, the result of this research proved that not all students comfortable in applying the Whole Body Listening Strategy in improving their listening comprehension well it could be influenced by their learning style because the learning style affected the students’ performance in listening comprehension. Whole body listening strategy will be very useful for those students who had audio-visual learning style because they could listen to the speaker while looking toward the speaker too, directly or through video. While for those students who just enjoy or had ability in audio learning style, they did not feel comfortable to look toward the speaker in listening comprehension because without looking toward the speaker directly or through the video, they still could enjoy listening comprehension. It is in line with Little (2017) she wrote an article entitled “Whole Body Listening-Teaching your Child Important Developmental Skills” she stated that Whole Body Listening Strategy was a strategy or a method of developing fully functioning, active auditory skills. Her statement then supported the use of Whole Body Listening Strategy that could be an advantage for those students who had auditory learning style while this strategy would be not really effective for those students who had visual-learning style. However, after doing a research, the researcher can say that generally the Whole Body Listening Strategy could improve the students’ listening comprehension.
It could not be denied that not all students could listen using their eyes. It was depend on the condition and on the students learning style. Students listened by using their eyes when they got easier topic or it was like a single word (like topic on the first and second treatment in this research), but they could not focus looking toward the speaker when they got difficult topic (like topic on the third and fourth treatment in this research). Some students felt comfortable to look toward the speaker when they listening especially looked eyes to eyes but some of students also did not feel comfortable. But looking toward the speaker actually, it maybe not directly but checking in for facial expression to read or to comprehend or even to recognize emotions and other intentions that could bring us understand about the topic was being discussed and bring us as we were there in that condition by looking at the speaker facial expressions.
In listening comprehension, not all students could keep their mouth silence.
Some students needed to imitate or repeat what the speaker was saying to make them easier in listening comprehension but, actually we cannot listen effectively and speak at the same time. Listening by using hands and feet aimed to keep hands and feet stay. But in fact some students could not keep their hands and feet
151 while listening. Some students needed to make any movement to make them feel comfortable during listening. For some individuals, they can listen effectively when doodling, tapping, or fidgeting with their hands. But for others, busy hand can be distracting or noisy and interfere with attending to listen. Not all students could use their heart when they were listening, since their emotional feeling could influence them.
Regarding to the explanations above, Baron (2013) conducted a research entitled “Sensory Strategy to Support Whole Body Listening in the Classroom.”
Whole body listening was developed as part of the social thinking curriculum and it was a program that teaches how to actively listen with all parts of the body. As a result of his project, students learning could improve as teachers use sensory strategies in their classrooms in conjunction with Whole Body Listening. Whole Body Listening Strategy are therefore, suggestions for teaching and practicing listening strategies.
Moreover the result of this researcher also showed that this strategy is not suitable for all students, but based on the result of this research, Whole Body Listening Strategy could improve the students’ listening comprehension at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika. It was proven by the students’ mean score on post-test (86.15) categorized into good classification was greater than the students’ mean score on pre-test (60.75) classified as poor classification. This improvement also supported by the result of t-test and t-table, where t-test was 13.38 and t-table was 2.060. Thus t-test value was higher than t-table value (13.38>2.060) and therefore, the null hypothesis (H0) was rejected while the alternative hypothesis (H1) was accepted. In brief, Whole Body Listening Strategy could improve the students’ listening comprehension at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika.
CONCLUSION
There was an improvement on the students’ listening comprehension at the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Mimika after teaching listening comprehension by using Whole Body Listening Strategy. This improvement was approved by the difference between the students’ mean score on pre-test and the students’ mean score on post-test. Where the students’ mean score on pre-test was 60.57 classified into poor while the students’ mean score on post-test was 86.57 categorized into good or in other words the students’ mean score on post-test was greater than the students’ mean score on pre-test (86.15 >60.57). This increase was also strongly supported by the distinction result of t-test value (13.38) and t-table value (2.060) or in other words t-test value was higher than t- table value (13.38>2.060). Thus the alternative hypothesis was accepted and the
null hypothesis was rejected. There
were some factors which affect the students’ listening comprehension namely: list ener, background knowledge, speaking style (speaker), visual input, environment condition, strategy in teaching listening, topic, tenses and vocabulary. All these factors could affect students’ in listening comprehension and could influence the students’ performance during listening process.
SUGGESTION
152 Based on the data analysis and conclusion above, the writer would like to suggest the following point:
1. The English teacher could apply the Whole Body Listening Strategy in teaching listening comprehension.
2. Students should practice listening comprehension more just like the other skills in English.
153
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