IMPROVING LISTENING SKILL BY USING SONGS IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

By:
Putri Kurniawan Aprilia (21701073108)
Fitri Herni Ika Sari (21701073123)
Aida Aqilatur Rofidah (21701073128)

ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

TEACHER TRAINING FACULTY OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF ISLAM MALANG
YEAR 2019
 IMPROVING LISTENING SKILL BY USING SONGS IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Putri Kurniawan Aprilia1), Fitri Herni Ika Sari2), Aida Aqilatur Rofidah3)
University of Islam Malang
Kurniawanputri587@gmail.com1); herniika356@gmail.com2); aidaaqila11@gmail.com3)

Abstract

This article discusses about the effectiveness of song towards the students’ listening
comprehension and their learning strategies for National Examination preparation in senior high
school. It is also pointed for English as one of the course tested in National Examination. The
learning strategies that using song also will explain in this article. The teacher applied the
particular songs at beginning of listening class to attract and increase the students’ ability. The
teacher use song because it fits with students’ needs and the problems happened in the listening
class. Through the qualitative method, the data gathered showed that listening song can improve
listening skill. Listening skill is one of skill in the English that should be mastered by students.
To improve listening skill, students can exercise through listening song because listening song
has the benefits to improve listening skill easily. It can be assumed that using songs strategies
can help the students in Senior High School to improve their listening skill.
Keywords: Listening, Song, Improve, Listening-skill.
Introduction

When we learn about the English, there are four skills which have to be mastered, such as

listening, speaking, reading, and writing skill. Listening is one of the skills that must comprehend

in learning English. Listening is considered as an important ability that has to be mastered

especially for student in Senior High School, so that is why listening strategies are very needed.

Listening ability is an important skill that has to be mastered by individuals in building a good

communication. Then listening activity is needed in national examination preparation by

students, therefore it must be applied in the learning process in the classroom at senior high

school. In order to students easily take the exam. Through listening, students can get good

pronunciation and learn many useful words, phrases, and sentences. That is the reason why

listening have to be learned by student especially in Senior High School. Good teaching

strategies and methodologies are needed in teaching and learning activity in listening class

because students have to understand what they hear and learn. And then listening skill are rarely

taught by teachers in the classroom. This is the reason why we are interested in this issue

especially in Senior High School.

Listening is considered as an important English skill that has to be mastered by students.

From the listening, we can develop and apply a good communication with others. As Hidayat

(2013) states “Listening ability is the important that have to be mastered by individuals in

building a good communication”. That is why we must improve our listening skill. In building a

good communication, students have to understand the meaning of the conversation. In addition,

listening is also pointed for English as one of the course tested in National Examination. As

Anwar (2013) states “listening becomes one of the two skills among four which is examined in

the national examination in senior high school”. So, teachers have to start teaching and learning
about listening ability for their students. But now, the teachers just give listening practices before

they teach listening skill for their students. According to Filliana (2009), when in the class, the

teachers tend to give the students the practice than teaching listening ability. It makes the

students not understand what they have learned. From those cases, the teachers have to teach

listening ability in the class. The teachers must also have the strategies or methods that make the

students easy and enjoy learning listening. It can be assumed that using songs strategies can help

the students in Senior High School to improve their listening skill. Because, when the students

have a lot of listening, they will get use to and improve their listening skill.
Discussion

This article was written about improving listening skill for students in senior high school.

The authors found the strategies to improve their listening skill by using song. First of all,

listening song is the easy way to improve listening skill because teachers and students can easily

search English song everywhere. According to Listiyaningsih (2017), song is the easy media to

improve listening skill because it is easy to find, and it can train the ears to listen about English.

The teachers not only teach their students by hearing the recording in the class but also give

another practice out of the class, such as listening to music. That can also become the great

strategy to prepare students’ listening comprehension for National Examination. With the

learning media, it can improve students’ interest about their lesson. (Mcerlain & Ramon Caande,

1999) said that “however, the use of media is also of potential academic interest”. So, teachers

and students can start teaching and learning process easily for listening by using song.

Second, the students can enjoy learning listening by using songs because songs have many

varieties and the duration is not too long. Usually, the students just hear the recording to practice

their listening skill. It can make the students bored and lazy with their lesson. Using song is the

best choices to learn listening skill. It does not make students bored because song provides a

comfort for students in the class. For example, songs have a lot of genre that can make everyone

enjoy when they listen it. Lo and Li (1998) said that “songs are able to change the monotonous

mood in the class and with the smoothing effect of music and provide a comfortable class

environment so that students can develop their listening skill more easily”. Besides that, song

becomes the good media to learn listening skill, and it has many varieties that can be selected by

teachers and students. According to Izzah (2014), using songs is a good media for students

because it has many varieties such as meaningful and popular songs, and songs that more
familiar or well-known should be selected for students. And then, the short and slow songs are

recommended for students that are in the listening basic lesson. Griffe (1992) said that using

short and slow songs are recommended for students in beginner level. It is believed that songs

can solve the problems in the learning listening skill.

Third, the students will be able to know how the pronunciation of English vocabulary

correctly. Song is short piece of music with words that we sing. Song in general is music for

singing. And when we sing, exactly we know how to pronunciation. Pronunciation is the way we

pronounce a word. Especially in a way that is accepted or generally understood. Listiyaningsih

(2017) states “The students will be able to know how the pronunciation of English vocabulary

correctly. The people can imitate how the pronunciation from the words that they heard when

they listen to the music”. With the listening song, it can be helpful and increase their listening

skill. Because in the song or contain of the song mentioning the vocabularies which have been

heard on the song and exactly the student know how to pronunciation. Unconsciously it learns

the ears to can listen comprehensively and when there are in listening class, people who listen to

the English song can comprehend the mean of the text in listening (Listiyaningsih, 2017).
Conclusion

In short, using song can be easier to improve listening skill because song is easy to find,

has many varieties and has short duration, and knowing the pronunciation of English vocabulary

correctly. So, using song strategies can help the students in Senior High School to improve their

listening skill. Using song can be easy way to learn about listening skill, and it can inspired the

student to be more spirit and enjoy in the process teaching of listening activity. Therefore using

song should be applied in teaching and learning process in senior high school especially in

listening skill. Then it is the good strategy to help students to prepare their listening

comprehension in National Examination.

References

Anwar. (2013). Improving Student Listening Comprehension of SMAN 2 Luwuk Through

Adapting Dictogloss. 49-60.

Hidayat, A. (2013). The Use of Song in Teaching Student Listening Ability . 21-29.

Izzah, L. (2014 ). Implementing Song in Teaching Listening Comprehension at Muhammadiyah

University Of Jakarta. 1-13.

Listiyaningsih, T. (2017). The Influence of Listening English Song to Improve Listening Skill In
Listening Class. 36-49.