CHAPTER II

THE REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 The Definition of Listening

Humans can generally hear sounds with frequencies between 20 Hz and 20

kHz. Human hearing is able to discriminate small differences in loudness (intensity)

and pitch (frequency) over that large range of audible sound. This healthy human

range of frequency detection varies significantly with age, occupational hearing

damage, and gender; some individuals are able to hear pitches up to 22 kHz and

perhaps beyond, while others are limited to about 16 kHz. The ability of most adults

to hear sounds above about 8 kHz begins to deteriorate in early middle age.

Listening is one of the language skills; in this case, the researcher quoted the

definition of listening from some source. According to Kamus Besar Bahasa

Indonesia (2001:206), “Mendengarkan (memperhatikan) baik-baik apa yang

diucapkan atau dibaca orang (to pay attention to what somebody said or read)”. And

it is stated in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2007:332), that listening is “to

pay attention to somebody/something that you can hear, to take notice of what

somebody says to you so that you follow their advice or believe them.

The listening activities develop a wide variety of listening in details, and

inferring meaning form context. These exercises often require completing an

authentic task while listening, such as taking missing words in completion items, text

of the song, or taking telephone messages. The recordings on the class cassettes

contain both scripted and unscripted conversation with natural pauses, hesitation and

interruption that occur in real speech.

 Listening is a very important part of learning English. It could be seen on the

following statement:

“The important of listening in language teaching can hardly be

overestimated. Through reception, we internalize linguistic information
without which we could not produce language. In classroom, students
always do more listening than speaking. Listening competence is
universally “larger” than speaking competence. Is it any wonder, then,
that is recent years the language teaching profession has placed a
content emphasis on listening comprehension?” (Brown, 1994:233).

Listening as a major component in language learning and teaching first hit

spotlight in which the role of comprehension was given prominence as learners were

given great quantities of language to listen to before they encouraged to respond

orally. Similarly, the natural approach recommended a significant “silent period”

during which learners were allowed the security of listening without being forced to

go through the anxiety of speaking before they were “ready” to do so.

Moreover, Hubbell (2001:22) stated that listening is a process of getting,

interpreting and reacting to a message received from the speaker. Listening is

different from hearing: Hearing is natural, but listening requires effort. We use the

ear for listening but it is really in the mind that the message is perceived. Therefore

listening is closely linked with perception and is an intellectual and positive activity.

Hearing is passive while listening is active. Hearing which is solely dependent on the

ears is a physical act – it is merely the vibration of sound waves on the eardrums

followed by the firing of electrochemical impulses in the brain. But the interpretation

of sound signals is a cognitive act and depends upon the knowledge of the listener

and attitude towards the speaker.

Listening is an important skill because successful communication depends on

 8

not only receiving messages but also decoding them correctly. No communication

process is complete without listening and listening is an essential management and

leadership skill (Hubbell: 2001:56). Effective listening is really significant for

students as they use most of their time listening to lectures. For worker at companies,

a good listening skill is required. In some companies, the listening index of recruits

may be measured before recruitment. It is important to listen carefully to the

instructions of one’s superiors at the workplace. You can also measure the morale

and enthusiasm of coworkers and subordinates by listening closely to them.

In addition, nowadays, the development of technology is happening. It can

give the influences on human life at all parts. Information and communication

technology has been used from education sector until business, many information of

intellectual, practical, technical, and entertainment are promoted on electronic audio

visual as laptop, personal computer, television, radio, and internet (Nunan,

1999:121).

Furthermore, the progress of information technology has changed the way of

teaching and learning process at school. This takes place in English classroom where

the combination of various media attributes of the computer such as educational

courseware, online web page learning, interactive language games, animated flash

videos and movie are being widely used in the language teaching and learning

process. Several studies proved that the information and communication technology

could encourage students in education.

2.2 The Goal of Listening

 Listening can be characterized as problem solving activities involving the

formation hypothesis, the drawing of inference, and the resolution of ambiguities and

uncertainties in the input through the generation of “images” (a set of items: sensory,

emotional, temporal, relational, purposive or verbal in nature). Stevick (1998:69)

states that the goal of listening is “...to generate the intended image from the input

and react appropriately...”

But, the effect of prior knowledge and context also seem to be instrumental in

listening tests, such as Ommagio (2003:55) says that: “Listener constructs meaning

by recognizing their previously acquired knowledge to accommodate new

information and concept.”

2.3 The Aim of Listening

According to Rixon (1986:1), the aim of teaching listening comprehension is

(or should be) to help learners of English cope with listening in real life, but there is

a large variety of different types of listening in real life.

Rixon (1986:2) mentions some situations in which listening is important,

namely:

1. Listening to announcement in stations, airport etc

2. Listening to the radio

3. Participating in a conversation face to face

4. Watching a film, play or TV

5. Participating in a meeting, seminar or discussion

6. Taking a part in a lesson

7. Listening to the lecturer in the classroom

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8. Eavesdropping on other people’s conversation

9. Participating in a telephone conversation

In addition, Rixon (1986:28) also differentiates between listening and

hearing. There is an everyday distinction between hearing and something and

listening to it. Hearing is simply the recognition of sound, as when we say, “I’m

sorry, I didn’t hear exactly what you said.” Listening implies some conscious

attention to the message of what is said, as when we say. “Are you listening to me?”

Moreover, Rost (1991:3) proposes that in order to define listening, we can

ask two basic questions: What are the component skills in listening? And what does a

listener do?

In terms of the necessary components in listening skill, we can list the

following:

• Discriminating between sounds

• Recognizing word

• Identifying grammatical grouping of words

• Identifying “pragmatic units” — expressions and sets of utterances

which function as whole units to create meaning

• Connecting linguistic cues to paralinguistic cues (intonation and

stress) and to non-linguistic cues (gestures and relevant object in the

situation) in order to construct meaning

• Using background knowledge (what we already know about the

content and the form) and content (what has already been said) to

predict and then to confirm meaning

 • Recalling important words and ideas

Furthermore, Rost (1991:4) said that successful listening involves an

integration of these component skills. In this case, listening is a coordination of some

skills. It is not the individual skills themselves. This integration of these perception

skills, analysis skills and synthesis skills is what we will call a person’s listening

ability.

Additionally, Rost (1991:4) has also argued that even through a person may

have a good listening ability; he or she may not always be able to understand

messages, some conscious action is necessary to use this ability effectively in each

listening situation. This action that listener must perform is ‘cognitive’ or mental, so

it is not possible to view it directly, but we can see the effect of this action. The

underlying action for successful listening is decision making. The listener must make

these kinds of decisions.

• What kind of situation is this?

• What is my plan for listening?

• What are the important words and units of meaning?

• Does the message make sense?

Based on the statements above, the researcher could conclude that successful

listening requires making effective ‘real time’ decisions about these questions. In this

sense, listening is primarily thinking process, thinking about meaning as they listen.

The way in which the listener makes these decisions is what we will call a listening

strategy. Of course, these kinds of activity need cognitive factor or knowledge of

listener. Without knowledge, it’s hard to understand the message from the speaker.
 12

Besides, Rost (1991:70) also stated that there are four principles for

developing listening ability:

1. Listening ability develops through face-to-face interaction.

By interacting in English, learner has the chance for new language input and

the chance to check their own listening ability. Face to face interaction

provides stimulation for development of listening for meaning.

2. Listening develops through focusing on meaning and trying to learn new and

important content in the target language.

By focusing on meaning and real reasons for listening in English, learners can

mobiles both their linguistic and non-linguistic abilities to understand.

3. Listening ability develops through work on comprehension activities.

By focusing on specific goals for listening, learners can evaluate their efforts

and abilities. By having well-defined comprehension activities, learners have

opportunities for assessing what have achieved and revision.

4. Listening ability develops through attention to accuracy and an analysis of

form.

By learning the perceived sounds and words accurately as they work on

meaning oriented activities, our learners can make steady progress. By

learning to hear sounds and words accurately, learners gain confidence in

listening for meaning.

As stated above, someone can develop the listening ability through some

steps. It could be through face-to-face interaction among the people, focusing on

meaning and try to learn new and important content in the target language, work on
comprehension activities and through attention to accuracy and an analysis of what is

being listened to. But actually, the improvement of listening ability would depend on

practicing. Trying to listen to spoken language in much time would make the

listening ability getting better and it would develop listening ability.

2.4 Listening is an Internal Process

Like reading, listening is an internal process that cannot be directly observed.

It’s rather difficult to say what happens when we listen and understand others.

Ommagio (2003:17) say that listening and reading are both highly complex process

that draw on the knowledge of the linguistic code (language form), cognitive

processing skill (the skill to process in the mind), school-based understanding

(background knowledge), and contextual cues both within and outside the text.

Listening requires some specific steps in order to master it. Someone could

just listen to the spoken language but he couldn’t get the information or the message

from what he listened to without some skills needed in listening. So, if we would like

to obtain the information from listening, we must have the specific factor needed in

listening.

2.5 The Step of Listening

In general, the teacher has to do the following steps:

1. Go first over the instructions with the class, making certain that materials

are understood by all the students.

2. Pronounce the words or phrases at least two times in a clear and distinct

voice and at normal speed.

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3. Where the questions precede the text, read the question twice in order to

direct the students’ attention. Then, read the entire text two times at

normal speed. Teacher should feel free to vary according to the abilities

of the students.

4. With longer texts, it is advisable for the teacher to write guide question on

the board or dictate them to the students. The questions should require a

understanding of the general ideas, in the text rather than detailed

knowledge. The teacher then reads the text for the first time.

5. After giving the students enough time to answer the guide questions

she/he discuses the answer with them.

6. The teacher continues with more detailed questions for the students to

answer either in the written or oral modality. Discussion follows the

above activity.

7. Other possible related activities for further intensive practice can be

carried out such as:

a. Summarize the passage orally

b. Formulate questions which the students will ask their

classmates to answer with long or short response.

c. Write a short summary at home

The possibilities of using each of the passage included in the text are

infinite. Some suggestions above maybe particularly pertinent for

less able students’ abilities in the other language skills-speaking,

reading, and writing-will also develop. At the sometime they will be

 able to understand on wide range of topics, which undertake the

linguistic aspects of listening comprehension.

Richard in Persulessy (1994:4) mention the model of the listening process

includes the following steps:

1. The listener takes in raw speech and holds an image of it in short-term

memory.

2. The type of interactional act or speech event in which the listener is involved

is determined.

3. An attempt is made to organize what was heard into constituents, identifying

their content and function.

4. As constituents are identified, they are used to construct propositions,

grouping the propositions together to form a coherent message.

5. Script relevant to the other particular situation is recalled.

6. The goals of the speaker are inferred through reference to the situation the

script and the sequential position of the utterance.

7. An illocutionary meaning is assigned to the message.

8. This information is retained and acted upon, and the form in which it was

originally received is deleted.

2.6 Decoding

Decoding is the process of trying to understand (comprehend) the meaning of

a word, a phrase or a sentence.

The processes in decoding (comprehending/understanding) are:

 16

a. Hold the utterance in short term memory.

b. Analyze the utterance, is what is said by any one person says

before or after another person begins to speak or something

said or emitted as a vocal sound. For example, “Yeah!” (One

word), “Have you done your homework?” (One sentence),

“You raise me up, so I can stand a mountain.” (More than one

sentence) into segments (chunk). Chunk is constituent is part

of utterance, for example: “Because of the rain he was late.”

The sentence has two chunks (part), because of and I was late.

Besides analyze the utterance also identify:

i.Word is meaningful unit of language sounds. A

meaningful sound or combination of sounds that is

a unit of language or its representation in a text.

ii.Clause is group of words that contains a subject

and a verb.

iii.Proposition/ prepositional meaning is basic

meaning of sentence/ utterance.

iv.Concept is meaning of words.

v.Illocutionary meaning is effect of the utterance to

the listener/reader. For example: “I am thirsty”

(utterance) has two meanings to show the physical

state of the speaker (as prepositional meaning) and

the function of language to request for something

 to drink (as illocutionary meaning).

For understanding the meaning of the spoken language, we have to know the

meaning of each word, and also the utterance of the speech. A Listener has to

analyze its contents. It’s meant that the listener must consider the each word, phrase,

clause, proportional meaning, concept and also the illocutionary meaning. A good

capability of each parts of spoken language will allow a listener to obtain the

information of the speaker.

2.7 The Difficulties in Listening

As we consider, designing lesson and techniques that are exclusively for

teaching listening skill, or that have listening components in them, a number of

special characteristic of spoken language need to be taken into consideration. Second

language learners need to pay special attention to such factor because they highly

influence the processing of speech and can often block comprehension if they are not

attended to. In other words, they can make the listening process difficult. The

following characteristics of spoken language are adapted from several sources

(Dunkel, 1991 ;Richards, 1983 Rost, 1991)

1. Colloquial Language

Leaner who have been exposed to standard written English and/or “text

book” language sometimes find it surprising and difficult to deal with

colloquial language. Idioms, slang, reduced forms, shared cultural

knowledge are all manifested at some points in conversations.

Colloquialisms appear in both monologues and dialogues.

2. Rate of delivery
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Virtually every language learner initially thinks that native speakers speak

too fast! Actually, as Richards, 1994:33) explains that the number and

length of pauses used by speaker is more crucial to comprehension than

sheer speed. Learners will nevertheless eventually need to be able to

comprehend language delivered at varying rates of speed and at times,

delivered with few pauses. Unlike reading, where a person can stop and

go back reread something, in listening the hearer may not always have the

opportunity to stop the speaker. Instead, the stream of speech will

continue to flow.

2.8 A Skill Classification for Domain of Listening Skill

An example of skill taxonomy for the domain of listening skills, Briendley

(1997:23 in Richards J., 2001:140) mention:

 Orienting oneself to a spoken text

1. Identifying the purpose/genre of a spoken text
2. Identifying the topic
3. Identifying the broad roles and relationships of the
participants (e.g. Superior/subordinate)

 Identifying the main ideals in a spoken text

1. Distinguishing the main ideas from supporting detail
2. Distinguishing fact from example
3. Distinguishing fact from opinion when explicitly stated in text

 Extracting the specific information from a spoken

text
1. Extracting key details explicitly stated in text
2. Identifying key vocabulary items

 Understanding discourse structure and organization

1. Following discourse structure
2. Identifying key discourse/cohesive markers
3. Tracing the development of an argument
  Understanding meaning
1. Relating utterance to the social situational context
2. Identifying the speaker’s attitudes
3. Recognizing the communicative function of
stress/intonation patterns
4. Recognizing the speaker’s illocutionary intent
5. Deducing meanings of unfamiliar words
6. Evaluating the adequacy of the information
provided
7. Using information from the discourse to make a
reasonable prediction

2.9 Types of Classroom Listening Performance

With literally hundreds of possible techniques for teaching listening skills, it

will be helpful for us to think in terms of several kinds of listening performance that

is, what your students do in a listening technique. Sometimes these types of

performance are embedded in a boarder technique or task and sometimes they are

themselves the sum total of the activity of a technique. The one of type’s classroom

listening performance is reactive.

Sometimes we simply want a learner to listen to the surface structure of an

utterance for the sole purpose of repeating it back to you. While this kind of listening

performance requires little’s meaningful processing. It is nevertheless maybe a

legitimate even through a minor, aspect of an interactive, communicative classroom.

This role of the listener as merely a “tape recorder” (Nunan, 1991b; 18) must be very

limited, otherwise the listener as a generator of meaning does not reach fruition.

About the only role of that reactive listening can play in an interactive classroom is

in brief choral or individual drills that focus on pronunciation.

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2.10 Listening Comprehension Test

An effective way of developing the listening skill is through the provision of

carefully selected practice material. Such material is in many ways similar to that

used for testing listening comprehension. Although the auditory skill are closely

linked to the oral skills in normal speech situations, it is frequently desirable to

separate the two skill for teaching and testing, since it is possible to develop listening

ability much beyond the range of speaking ability if the practice material is not

dependent on spoken responses or written exercises.

An awareness of the ways in which the spoken language differs from the

written language is of crucial importance in the testing of the listening skills. For

instance, the spoken language is much more complex than the written language in

certain ways, as a result of the large element of “redundancy” that it contains. An

example can be seen in the spoken question “Have you got to go now?” the question

being signaled by the rise in pitch on go now and by the inversion of the word order

(i.e. by both phonological and grammatical features). Thus, if the listeners did not

hear the questions signal have, the rise in pitch would make him aware that a

question was being asked. If the speaker slurred over got to, the question would still

be intelligible. In addition, meaning might also be conveyed, emphasized and

“repeated” by means of gestures, eye movements and slight changes in breathing.

Such features of redundancy as those described make it possible for mutilated

messages to be understood, even though the full message is only partially heard.

Furthermore, the human brain has a limited capacity for the reception of information

and, were there no such features built into the language, it would often be impossible
to absorb information at the speed at which it is conveyed through ordinary speech.

Such conversational features as repetition, hesitation and grammatical re-patterning

are all examples of this type of redundancy, so essential for the understanding of

spoken messages.

The significance of features for testing purposes:

1. The ability to distinguish between phonemes

However important, does not in itself imply an ability to understand

verbal messages. Moreover, occasional confusion over selected pairs of

phonemes does not matter too greatly because in real- life situations the

listener is able to use contextual clues interpret what he hears. Although the

listener relies on all the phonological clues present, he can often afford to

miss some of them.

2. In prompt to speech

It is often easier to understand carefully prepared (written) material when

the latter is read aloud. Written tests are generally omit many of the features

of redundancy and impart information at a much higher rate than normal

speech does. Consequently, it is essential to make provision in writing

material for aural test. The length of the segments the greater amount of

information and the greater the strain on the auditory memory. Segments of

about 20 syllables are considered to be approximately the right length to

allow the receiver to digest what he has heard. The pauses at the end of each

segment should also be lengthened to compensate for the lack of redundant

features.
 22

Although it is not always possible when auditory tests are conducted on a

wide scale, it is helpful if the listeners can see the speaker. However, excellent the

quality of a tape-recorder and the disembodied voice are much more difficult for the

foreign learner to follow. In practice, most tape recorders are not of a high quality

and are used in rooms where the acoustics are unsatisfactory. If the quality of the

reproduction is poor, the test will be unreliable, especially when such discrete

features as phoneme discrimination, stress and intonation are being tested.

Apart from the use of video-tape, however, the tape-recorder is the only way

of ensuring complete uniformity of presentation and thus a high degree of reliability.

It is possible, moreover, to use recordings made by native speakers and thus present

perfect models of the spoken language an important advantage in countries where

native speakers are not available to administer the test. For the purpose of

convenience, auditory tests are divided here into some broad categories:

Type 1

a) This type of discrimination test consists of a picture,

accompanied by 3 or 4 words spoken by the examiner in

person or on tape.

b) Conversely, 4 pictures may be shown and only one word

spoken. In this case, it is usually better if the word is spoken

twice.

Type 2

a) In this type of the test three words are spoken on tape: A, B,

and C. sometimes all three words are the same; sometimes

 two are the same; and sometimes all are different. On the

tester’s answer sheet appear the letters.

b) This is a similar type of test, but here the individual words

in the previous test are replaced by sentences in which a

single distinction in sound affects the meaning. The tested

hears three sentences and has to indicate which sentences is

the same, etc.

Type 3

a) In each of these items one word is given on the tape: in the answer booklet

three words are printed in ordinary type. (In some tests four words are

given and the word on tape is spoken twice). The tested is required to the

spoken word.

b) This type of item is similar to the previous one; this time, however, the

words spoken by the tester occur in the sentences. The four options may

then be either printed or spoken.

c) This item is similar to type 3 a) one word is spoken by the tester

(preferable twice). However, instead of a choice of four words, the tested

has in front of him a choice of four definitions. He has thus to select the

correct definition for the words he hears.

The test items described in this section are all useful for diagnostic

testing purposes, thus enabling the teachers to concentrate later on specific

pronunciation difficulties. The items are especially useful when tested have

the same first language background and when a contrastive analysis on the
 24

mother tongue and the target language can be use. Most the items type

described are short, enabling the tested to over a wide range in sounds. In

certain items which test only individual words (e.g., type 1 (a), 1 (b) and 2

(a), up to one hundred items can be tested in ten minutes).

Type 3 (c), however, is an example of an impure test items because

test not only the ability to discriminate between the different sounds of

language but also a knowledge of vocabulary. A tested who may be able the

discriminate accurately will nevertheless find the test very difficult if he

cannot understand the definition in the options. Similarly, type 3 (a) is test of

phoneme discrimination and spelling ability. Type 3 (b) can also result in

impure test items: in this type of item, proficiency in grammatical structure

will support the test. Thus, for example, a test that cannot discriminate

between thread, tread, treat and dread may immediately role out the distract

ores threat and dread since they cannot be put in the pattern, I’ll…………if

for you.

Each individual test item in all types describe must be kept fairly simple.

Obscure lexical items should be avoided. This may seem to be simple enough

principle to observer, but the avoidance of difficult lexical items frequently makes it

impossible to test all the sound contrast that need to be included in the test. For

example, the contrast shark, sock, sack, shock would not be suitable for inclusion in

attest intended from elementary learners of English. Much of material in such test is

unfortunately artificial differing greatly from continuous. Frequently there is a

tendency for the tester to adopt a certain tone pattern and rhythms which may be a
source of irritation to the listener of affect his concentration. However, if the tester

changes pitch (example live, leave, live) this will only confuse the tested. Thus, the

tested must attempt to pronounce every syllable using the same stress and pitch

pattern.

The ability to discriminate between certain phonemes may sometimes prove

very difficult for native speakers. Many English dialects fail to make some of the

vowel and consonant contrast and thus. In addition to all the other variables (For

example the acoustic of the room the quality of the tape-recorder, etc), these tests are

affected by the pronunciation different from the native speakers.

2.11 Kind Teaching Aids in Listening

The definition of aids in Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary (2005:19) is

thing that helps. “Teaching aids” is something designed to give help in teaching.

Principally, in teaching and learning process, the important component is in the

Instructional Design or Lesson Plan. We believe that these will be helpful for both

the teachers and students in the teaching and learning process of listening to achieve

the instructional objectives.

The things that are commonly used to give help in teaching listening through

multimedia are:

Audio Cassette

Video Films Games

OHP Etc.

2.12 Teaching Listening by Using Multimedia

 26

As multimedia language learning materials become common in foreign and

second language classrooms, their design is an important avenue of research in

teaching and learning listening by using multimedia or computer-assisted language

learning. Some argue that the design of the educational materials should be informed

by theory, which suggests that input modification can help comprehension, but it

does not provide specific guidance regarding choices designers should make when

they attempt to implement theory-based features like modified input. This empirical

study was designed to provide evidence about one such issue: whether subtitles or

transcripts are more effective in providing modified input to learners.

A multimedia listening activity containing a video of an academic lecture was

designed to offer help in the form of target language subtitles (captions) and lecture

transcripts in cases of comprehension breakdowns. Eighteen intermediate ESL

(English as Second Language) students enrolled in an academic listening class at a

research university participated in the study. Two tests and questionnaires in addition

to screen recordings were used to analyze students’ performance on the activity and

their use of help.

The results indicate that participants interacted with the subtitles more

frequently and for longer periods of time than with the transcript. Also, the study

identified four patterns of learner interaction with the hell) options. Since, overall,

the participants interacted with help less than half of the time they opened help

pages, an important challenge in investigating help options lies in finding ways to

promote the use of help.

The development of multimedia language learning materials is on the way

right now in foreign and second language classrooms. Chapelle (2003:63) stated that

the real challenge in applied linguistics at present is the search for evidence for the

most effective ways to design software for multimedia, to use software effectively in

tasks, and to help learners to take advantage of the electronic resources available to

them. This research offers suggestions on the design and implementation of software

help options in a multimedia listening activity. Finally, this research examines if and

how learners take advantage of help options available to them.

The different characteristics of multimedia that can increase reading,

vocabulary acquisition and even speaking. However, a smaller number of studies

investigated the use of multimedia software for listening comprehension. When

investigating learners’ attitudes towards multimedia, it’s found that 86.9% of

students believed that a multimedia application they were introduced to improve their

listening skills (Brett, 1996:69).

Finally, learners had better listening comprehension scores on a multimedia

task than on a paper and pencil task in which the input was delivered via video and

audio tapes (Brett, 1997). The teacher divided the participants into an “effective” and

an “ineffective” group based on three factors: listening proficiency, direct student

observation, and instructors’ records.

The primary listening comprehension test consisted of an academic lecture of

a similar format and length as the one used in the multimedia activity as well as ten

multiple choice questions. The pre- and post-listening questionnaires were given to

participants before and after the main multimedia activity. The pre-listening

questionnaire examined participants’ familiarity and previous use of two help options
 28

(subtitles and the transcript), as well as surveyed which of the two help options the

participants would uses in a multimedia listening activity. The post-listening

questionnaire showed the participants’ use of the transcript and subtitles and

examined the rationale behind the use. At the end of the study, a retrospective

interview was also conducted to gather more details about participants’ behavior

during the multimedia activity.

2.13 The Previous Study on Related Topic

 1. Help Options and Multimedia Listening: Students’ Use of Subtitles and
the Transcript (By: Maja Grgurović and Volker Hegelheimer, Iowa State
University, http://www.llt.msu.edu, 2007)

A multimedia listening activity containing a video of an academic lecture was

designed to offer help in the form of target language subtitles (captions) and lecture

transcripts in cases of comprehension breakdowns. Eighteen intermediate ESL

students enrolled in an academic listening class at a research university participated

in the study. Two tests and questionnaires in addition to screen recordings were used

to analyze students' performance on the activity and their use of help.

The results of this study indicate that participants interacted with the subtitles

more frequently and for longer periods of time than with the transcript. Also, the

study identified four patterns of learner interaction with the help options. Since,

overall, the participants interacted with help less than half of the time they opened

help pages, an important challenge in investigating help options lies in finding ways

to promote the use of help.

This research also identified four patterns of participants’ interaction with

help options (subtitles, transcript, non-interaction, and mixed interaction pattern) and

described behavior of participants following those patterns. The analysis showed

major differences between subtitles and transcript groups on one side and the non-

interaction group on the other in terms of performance help page openings, and

instances of useful interaction with help. While the subtitles and the transcript groups

performed similarly on comprehension questions during and after the activity as well

as on time and frequency of help use, the non-interaction group varied the most in

behavior and performance from all other groups, probably due to task difficulty and
 7

lack of motivation.

And finally, the results of this study need to be interpreted with the following

limitations in mind. First, the number of participants was relatively small and

homogeneous in terms of proficiency levels. Second, the time constraint of one class

period limited the time spent on task, while technical limitations (no audio with

screen recordings, time-consuming transcriptions) slowed down the data analysis

process. However, some of these issues are difficult to circumvent when conducting

research in an authentic classroom where many of the variables cannot be controlled.

 2. Panduan Pengembangan Multimedia Pembelajaran (A guide for the
Development of Multimedia Learning, by Ariasdi,
http://ariasdimultimedia.wordpress.com, 2008)

Karakteristik multimedia pembelajaran adalah:

1. Memiliki lebih dari satu media yang konvergen, misalnya menggabungkan

unsur audio dan visual.

2. Bersifat interaktif, dalam pengertian memiliki kemampuan untuk

mengakomodasi respon pengguna.

3. Bersifat mandiri, dalam pengertian memberi kemudahan dan kelengkapan isi

sedemikian rupa sehingga pengguna bisa menggunakan tanpa bimbingan

orang lain.

Selain memenuhi ketiga karakteristik tersebut, multimedia pembelajaran

sebaiknya memenuhi fungsi sebagai berikut:

1. Mampu memperkuat respon pengguna secepatnya dan sesering mungkin.

2. Mampu memberikan kesempatan kepada siswa untuk mengontrol laju

kecepatan belajarnya sendiri.

3. Memperhatikan bahwa siswa mengikuti suatu urutan yang koheren dan

terkendalikan.

4. Mampu memberikan kesempatan adanya partisipasi dari pengguna dalam

bentuk respon, baik berupa jawaban, pemilihan, keputusan, percobaan dan

lain-lain.

The characteristics of multimedia in learning are:

1. It has more than one convergent media, for example combining

 7

the audio and visual element.

2. Interactive, it meant that it can accommodate the user’ responses.

3. Self-directed, it is easy to use it without the guide from somebody

else and it has the complete contents for learning.

Besides the character above, multimedia learning should has functions as

follows:

1. Enable to straighten the participants’ response quickly and as often as

possible.

2. Enable to give the opportunity to the students to manage their study time.

3. Consider that the student follows the regulations comprehensibly and well

managed.

4. Enable to give the opportunity to the participants to involve in express the

response, giving the answer, choosing, decision, trying something new, etc.

3. Pembelajaran Berbasis Multimedia, Penerapan Perangkat TIK

dalam Pengembangan Kegiatan Belajar Mengajar (Multimedia Based
Learning, the Application of Information and Communication
Technology in Improving Teaching and Learning Activities, by Drs. Ides
Fidiatno, SMP Negeri 2 Pemalang, 2007)

“Siswa memperoleh pengetahuan materi pelajaran yang tentunya disajikan

dengan tampilan yang berbeda, menarik dan menyenangkan, juga memberikan

contoh dalam mengolah informasi yang sesuai dengan perkembangan iptek yang

semakin maju. Selanjutnya secara tidak langsung dapat mempengaruhi /

memberi motivasi kepada siswa untuk lebih dalam mengetahui dan

mempelajarinya.”

The students obtained the lesson materials presented with the different way,
interesting, enjoyable and also giving the knowledge about the development of

information technology that increasingly become modern. Furthermore, indirectly it

can influence / motivated the students’ curiosity to learn more about it.