CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides background of the study, research questions, aims of

the study, research design, data collection, data analysis, significance of the study,
and clarification of the key terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

The teaching of listening plays an important role in language teaching.
Since listening can provide much of the input and data that learners receive in
language learning, listening becomes an information acquirement activity to learn
language especially a foreign language (Saville-Troike, 2006).
Nevertheless, teaching listening is considered as one of the most difficult
tasks for English teacher especially for any ESL (English as Second Language)
teachers. Furthermore, listening is a skill that needs to be learned. It is not just to
hear and relay some information, but it means to pay thoughtful attention to what
a person is saying and understand the message to be received.
Brown (2001) states that listening is an important skill in language
learning and it cannot be underestimated especially in academic context. The
labeling of listening, along reading as receptive skill, is often known by people as
a passive process (Nunan, 2003; Brown, 2001; McErlain, 1999; Brown, 2004;

Saville-Troike, 2006). As a matter of fact, listening is an active process because it

requires a person to receive and understand information or input (Nunan, 2003).
The misconceptions of listening make listening learning at school
neglected. It gets worse because students themselves who seldom practice and the
teacher who does not facilitate the student with a good teaching technique.
Furthermore, students are rarely assessed their listening skills by their teacher. As
a result, there are many weak listeners pass undiagnosed (Field, 2008).
Based on the evidences, to achieve a successful listening learning, it is
important for teachers to have a clear picture for their students achievement and
should develop some techniques which can help the students to improve their
listening ability. In addition, teachers also have to notice good assessment tasks
for evaluating students listening.
In designing appropriate assessment tasks in listening, teachers have to
consider the specification of objectives or criteria which are classified in terms of
several types of listening performance (Brown, 2004). One of the assessment
tasks is through dictation. Dictation has been used as tool for assessing listening
comprehension. Dictation is a good technique for English students to improve
their listening skill. Brown (2004) states that dictation integrates listening and
writing skills and seems to provide a reasonably valid method.
Furthermore, Cohen (1994:17) affirms that:
Dictation is a communicative test. Dictation can serve as a measure of
auditory comprehension if it is given at a fast enough paces so that it is
not simply a spelling test.

In a dictation, a teacher reads a text aloud twice or three times so that the
students can write down what is being said. Students write word by word,
checking their own text with the original and correcting the errors made. In
addition, there are many variations that can make learning with dictation more
interesting. One of them is Dictogloss which is developed by Wanjryb (1990).
Dictogloss is a new way of dictation. It involves learners collaborating in small
groups, actively using their language, and reflecting on the way grammar works in
context. The main purpose is that students understand and reconvey the meaning
of the text. Nunan (2003) states it encourages students to reflect on their own
output.
Dictogloss is often considered as a multiple skill and systems activity with
a focus on communicating meaning and using correct grammar (Wanjryb, 1990).
Learners practice listening, writing and speaking (by working in groups) and
using vocabulary, grammar and discourse systems in order to complete the task.
Considering the phenomenon above, this study aims to investigate the
result of teaching listening skill using dictogloss technique through an
experimental study. In addition, this study also aims to discover students point of
view about the technique.

1.2

Research Questions
This study attempts to answer the following research questions:
1. What would be the result of teaching listening skill using dictogloss
technique?
2. What are the students responses towards the use of dictogloss
technique?

1.3

Scope of the Study

Considering the research questions that have been formulated above, this

study focuses on the improvement of the students listening skill through

dictogloss technique in eleventh grade of high school student level.

1.4

Aims of the Study

Given the above research questions, the purposes of this study are as

follows:
1. To investigate the result of teaching listening skill using dictogloss
technique.
2. To reveal the students responses towards the use of dictogloss
technique.

1.5

Significance of the Study

This study introduces dictogloss that its procedure and objective is very

different with traditional dictation. Since students have difficulty in listening, it is

important for teacher to facilitate the students with a good technique to improve
their listening. Furthermore, dictogloss is one of the techniques that is useful for
improving listening skill.
Many studies and commentaries have examined the dictogloss technique.
One common reason is integrative. Through dictogloss, students are encouraged
to focus their attention on form and meaning. The most important thing is all four
language skills are practiced: listening (to the teacher during dictation, to peers
when discussing the reconstruction), speaking (to peers during the reconstruction)
reading (notes taken while listening to the teacher, the groups reconstruction, and
the original text), and writing (writing the reconstruction).
This study is expected to be an alternative in motivating and helping the
students to improve their listening ability in a more interesting, fun and
challenging learning atmosphere in the classroom. In addition, it can give a
positive contribution to English teaching and learning process.
For other researchers, this study is expected to be used as an additional
source. Especially, it is beneficial for those who conduct a study on students
listening ability.
On the other hand, this study is expected to give an input and practical
value for teacher in teaching English as foreign language, especially in teaching
listening. It can enrich the teachers technique in teaching listening.

1.6

Research Methodology
1.6.1

Research Design

Regarding the main aim of this study which investigates the improvement
of the students listening skill through dictogloss technique and to reveal the
students responses toward the use of dictogloss, quantitative research was
conducted with quasi experimental design. Quasi experimental design was chosen
because this study encloses control and experimental groups to be examined.

1.6.2

Participants

The eleventh grade students of one of public senior high schools in Cianjur
were taken as population. From classes provided, only two classes were used as
samples. One class was labeled as control group and the other was labeled as
experimental group. The researcher applied various texts short-texts which are
appropriate with Competence Standard and Based Competence (SKKD) of
eleventh grade at senior high school such as report text.

1.6.3

Data Collection

There were two kinds of test used in this study: pretest and posttest. Both
of the tests were given to experimental and control group. The pretest was
designed to know the students achievement of their listening skill before the
treatment. The posttest that was given after the treatment aims to know the
measurement of the students improvement in listening skill.

Generally, the result of posttest and pretest from both groups were
formulated in the following chart:
Sample

Pre test

Treatment

Post test

Experimental group

X1e

X2e

Control Group

X1c

X2c

Notes:
X1e

: Students listening comprehension of experimental group in pre test

X1c

: Students listening comprehension of control group in pre test

X2e

: Students listening comprehension of experimental group in post test

X2e

: Students listening comprehension of control group in post test

: Treatment using dictogloss technique.

To collect qualitative data, questionnaire was conducted to obtain the

descriptive information concerned with the improvement of the students listening

skill through dictogloss technique. The questionnaire was given only to the
experimental group after the treatment. The questionnaire consists of some
questions related to teaching and learning through dictogloss technique.
Interview was also used in this study to gain the additional information
about the students responds toward the use of dictogloss technique. The result of
the interview was transcribed and analyzed.

1.6.4

Data Analysis

The data from pretest and posttest scores of experimental group were
analyzed using SPSS 17 for windows. The procedural of analyzing the data of
students scores covered two steps. The first was analyzing test of normality
distribution and homogeneity variances taken from students pretest and posttest
scores. It was done as requirements to conduct independent sample t-test. It was
aimed to find out the degree of significance of students ability in listening test of
both groups whether in pretest or in posttest. The scores from pretest and from
posttest in experimental group were compared and analyzed using dependent t-test
to see whether there was a progress or not. Meanwhile, the data from the
interview and the questionnaire as the qualitative data were interpreted to examine
students responses towards the use of dictogloss technique. The interview and the
questionnaire were conducted in the experimental group to which the treatments
given. After the data were collected from the interview, the next step was
transcribing the data and interpreting in order to analyze the results of this
research. The last step was discussing the results from the data.
1.7

Clarification of Terms
Listening Skill
Listening skill in this study refers to the way students of senior high school
listen to and respond to questions in a listening test.

Dictogloss
The term dictogloss in this study refers to an innovation of standard
dictation developed by Wanjryb (1990). The technique comprises small
group and text reconstruction.

1.8 Organization of Paper

The paper is organized into five chapters.
Chapter I: Introduction
This chapter contains introduction includes background, the statement of
the problem, the scope of the research, the aims of the research, the
significance of the research, research methods, research design,
clarification of terms and organization of paper.
Chapter II: Theoretical Foundation
This chapter contains theories and literature related to the research.
Chapter III: Research Methodology
This chapter discusses the research design, hypothesis, procedures in
collecting the data and data analysis.
Chapter IV: Findings and Discussion
This chapter describes and interprets the findings based on the collected
data.

Chapter V: Conclusion and Suggestions

This chapter presents the conclusion of the research and suggestions for
further researcher.

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