Hearing, listening, methods in
developing listening skills, formats and its application in teaching English
Edi Sukmara
Hearing
a physiological process, whereas listening is psychological process.
Physiologically, hearing is a process in which sound waves entering the outer
ear are transmitted to the eardrum, converted into mechanical vibrations in the
middle ear, and changed in the inner ear into electrical impulses and travel to
the brain. Psychologically, listening begins someone’s awareness of and
attention to sounds or speech patterns (receiving), proceeds through
identification and recognition of speech auditory signals (decoding), and ends
with comprehension (understanding).
During
encoding process, communication losses due to sender’s lack of skill in
expressing the idea. Appropriate encoding depends on sender’s skill in
organizing and presenting it. Meanwhile, In the decoding process, communication
losses due to receiver’s lack of skills in comprehending the idea.
There
are some problems in encoding and decoding process. First, the volume of
the sound might be too low or too high. If too low, we have trouble picking up
the meaning with any accuracy. If too high, we try to shield our ears, shutting
out the offending sounds. To solve this problem, the sender should send the
message with the fair sound. Second, a sound that is sustained
monotonously, such as the droning of a teacher, may trigger auditory fatigue.
To cope with this problem, the sender should make a clear utterance that can be
caught easily by the receiver. Third, an individual’s ability to hear may
be physically impaired such as catching cold or any other diseases. In this
case, the sender may repeat the utterance with a little loud sound to suit
receiver’s condition.
There
are some methods that we can use to improve listening skill:
a.
Guide
listening. Teacher should
have clear objective in directing his students in listening process. He or she
may also begin with the simple script and progress to the mode complicated one.
b.
Give directions. The teacher should
give clear instructions so the students can get familiar with them.
c.
Ask
students to listen for main ideas, details or inferences. There are many kinds of listening activity. These three can be
variants of teaching listening in the classroom.
d.
Use
context of listening.
Context will give the background knowledge of the students that will impact to
their effective comprehension.
e.
Analyze
the structure of a presentation. Listening
activity will be easier if the students have knowledge about the structure of
the presentation. By letting them analyze the structure of a presentation, the
teacher will improve their students’ listening skill.
f.
Distinguish
between relevant and irrelevant information. After the listening skill, the students should given chance to
distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information to make a good
listening activity.
Here are some audio formats needed in teaching English.
a.
Audiotapes.
This format can
record own tapes easily and economically, and when the content becomes outdated
we can erase the magnetic signal on the tape and reuse it.
b.
Microcassette.
It can be used
to record students’ recording.
c.
Compact
disc. This device can
be used in listening to music or watching movie.
d.
MP3. This format is the best one to practice English anywhere and
anyplace.
Bioliography
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