Regina Rahmi, The Effectiveness of…
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DICTOGLOSS TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING LISTENING AT SMPN 2 MESJID RAYA
Regina Rahmi1
Abstract
In SMPN 2 Mesjid Raya, based on the passing grade of students in listening (75), however only some students got the score reached the passing grade (75). The teacher was confused about this condition because just the big 10 of the classroom who could get the point 70 up. She admitted that the listening comprehension of her students was still low. It was proved by the score that students got on the daily test. That‘s why, she added the score of students‘ daily test and the task score to improve their points. The writer used experimental research in which there were two classes: one was an experimental group which was taught by using dictogloss, and the other was a control group which was not given any treatment. The students in the control group were taught by using non-dictogloss technique as usually used by the teacher in teaching listening. Based on research findings, it was proven by the value of independent t-test that tobtain
Keyword: Dictoggloss, Listening
1 Regina Rahmi, Dosen Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, STKIP Bina Bangsa Getsempena
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INTRODUCTION which individuals concentrate on selected Background of the study aspects of aural input, from meaning from Listening is considered as the basic passage, and associate what they hear with form of language acquisition. It is proved by a existing knowledge. new born baby who starts to acquire language In SMPN 2 Mesjid Raya, the teacher by listening to the voices around his or her taught listening to the students but the students environment before he or she starts to speak, still got low score on this section. Based on the read or write. Furthermore, listening is also passing grade of students in listening (75), regarded as a medium for people to gain a however only some students got the score large portion of education. As a result, reached the passing grade (75). The teacher listening becomes crucial in human language was confused about this condition because just development. Language dominantly achieved the big 10 of the classroom who could get the by receiving understandable input and point 70 up. She admitted that the listening listening ability is the critical component in comprehension of her students was still low. It achieving the understandable language input. was proved by the score that students got on Listening is a medium for humans to get the daily test. That‘s why, she added the score information as knowledge (Krashen, 1985). of students‘ daily test and the task score to Teaching listening in the classroom is improve their points. different from real life listening. According to Based on the observation that the Ur (1998) a real life listening fulfills some writer conducted to the second year students of conditions such as : (1) we listen for a purpose SMP N 2 Mesjid Raya, most of the students and with certain information, (2) we make an found difficulties in listening comprehension. immediate response to what we hear, (3) we There are some factors that make students of see the person we are listening to, (4) there are SMPN 2 Mesjid Raya assume that listening is some visual or environmental clues as the difficult: 1) first factor is the students‘ lack of meaning of what is heard comes in short vocabulary, 2) the second is the students‘ lack chunks, (5) most heard discourse is of grammatical knowledge, 3) students‘ spontaneous and therefore differs from formal perception of native speaker‘s speed in spoken prose in the amount of redundancy speaking. In conclusion, those factors noise and colloquialism, and its auditory contribute to some difficulties for the students character. such as: a) they have difficulty identifying the Those facts above show that teaching communicative purpose in the listening listening is really important in daily life. In material, b) they have difficulty finding the junior high school, listening is one of the skills main idea in the listening material, and c) they that should be mastered by students in learning have difficulty finding specific information in English. Therefore, listening comprehension is the listening material. regarded theoretically as an active process in
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Furthermore, dictogloss is perceived reconstruction text with the teacher‘s as a teaching technique that may help to solve guidance. Based on the background stated the teacher and the students‘ problem of above, the questions of this study is —do the teaching and learning listening as mentioned students who are taught by using dictogloss in the previous paragraphs. It calls for active technique achieve better results in English participation in problem solving and critical listening than those who are taught by using thinking that encourage students to be more non-dictogloss technique?“ active and increase their self-esteem to use English communicatively and understand the Finally, the objectives of this study is to find materials being taught easily. Moreover, the out if the students who are taught by using students may have more chances to practice dictogloss technique achieve better result in English while learning since they are engaged English listening than those who are taught by to such activities that stimulate them to use the using the non-dictogloss. language. LITERATURE REVIEW Dictogloss technique is a combination 1. Listening Comprehension of classic teaching technique where listeners Listening and listening comprehension are required to reconstruct a text by listening are synonymous. Listening as comprehension and noting down keywords. Hence, students is a traditional way of thinking about the are able to sharpen their listening nature of listening. The main function of comprehension using this technique, and it is listening in second language learning is to hoped that it can motivate students to have facilitate understanding of spoken discourse. good attitude in learning listening. Vasiljevic Listening is the ability to identify and (2010) describes that dictogloss is a classroom understand what someone is saying. Taylor dictation activity where students listen to a (1981) as cited in Cardona (2013) describes passage, note down key words and then work that units are decoded and linked together to together to create a version of text. The form words; words are linked together to form original dictogloss procedure according to phrases; phrases are connected together to Wajnryb (1990) consists of four basic steps œ form utterances; and utterances are joined i.e. warm-up/ preparation in which students together to form complete meaningful texts. In find about the topic and do some vocabulary other words, the meaning is interpreted from preparation, dictation in which the teacher the last step in the process. either reads or plays the audio of the text three Nunan (2003) says that listening is a times at a normal speed, reconstruction in process of decoding the sounds that one heard which the teacher asks students to reconstruct from the smallest meaningful unit (phonemes) the text they have listened to base on their to complete text. Furthermore, Brown (2001) notes, and analysis and correction in which suggests that learning to listen really means students analyze and correct their
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learning to respond and continue a chain of help them to prepare a suitable response in listening and responding. advance. Thirdly, they ought to recognize and Cook (1996) affirms that listening also indicate when they do not understand limitations may be caused not by lack of enough to make a relevant response. Learners language, but by lack of memory or have to learn how to cope with problems of the vocabulary knowledge. Lynch (1996) also topic clarification by using expressions such as explains that in order to understand the oral —excuse me?, pardon? or Sorry, I do not message emitted by the speaker, it necessary understand?“ or simply by repeating the for listeners to gather and incorporate speaker‘s words to show that they are having information from several factors, such as problems. phonetic, phonological, lexical, syntactic, Brown and Yule (1983) have also semantic and pragmatic. Listening that occurs listed some factors that complicate oral in real time, with no opportunity for repetition, language. First of all, the speaker, his/her means that what is said is heard only once in style, accent and even number of speakers daily situations, unless the listener asks the affect the spoken text. The listener‘s role also speaker to say it again. Thus, the speaker has an impact on listening, whether it is determines the speed of the message; therefore participatory or non-participatory, whether the listener is most of the time unable to re- response is required or the listener is an hear the message (Buck, 2001). eavesdropper. Another factor is the content of 2. Obstacles in Learning Listening the text and finally whether or not it is Normally, most people would agree accompanied by visual aid for support. that listening to a radio broadcast of a policy Furthermore, Rixon (1986) explained discussion is relatively difficult, while that the sound of English is a major problem listening to a child reading from a book of for the L2 learner making listening the most fairy stories is much easier. It will usually be difficult skill. She lists four sources of easy for one person but more difficult for difficulties arising from pronunciation: 1) the others depending on the present level of weak relationship between English sounds and language development of each person and the the way they are spelt in the written language background knowledge of the topic being 2) Changes in sounds when they occur in presented (Wolvin & Coakley, 1996). rapid, connected speech. 3) The rhythm According to Anderson and Lynch (1996: 40) pattern of English speech. 4) Different ways of the first thing that learners have to develop is pronouncing the ”same‘ sound. The problem an ability that will enable them to identify the with sound is that when English is spoken the topic of the conversation and help them to find words are not very clear or emphatic since a relevant reaction. Secondly, learners should natural talk is unrehearsed; full of pauses, also develop an ability to predict the repetition, hesitation and it is swift, slurred or development of the topic as this ability will even unclearly articulated. Rixon (1986)
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shows that words sound different depending of the topic. The authors explained that during on whether the word is spoken in isolation or the task, first, learners listen to the description in connected speech. and do drawing based on what they heard; 3. Dictogloss second, they compare their production with a Dictogloss is considered a multiple partner and make composite drawing per pair skill and system activity with a focus on to finally compare their drawing with the communicating meaning and correct use of original one. grammar (Wajnryb, 1990). Dictogloss is an Several studies have considered some excellent way of practicing grammar and stages that describe dictogloss as an innovative vocabulary as learners work on combination of strategy to learn a second language. In meaning and form. Wajnryb (1990) argues that addition, Shak (2006) explains in her research dictogloss is a relatively recent procedure in of children using dictogloss to focus on form language teaching, and different from five basic stages (listening, noticing, activity, language dictation. He emphasizes on making checking, and writing) that can be the differentiation because in dictogloss implemented in the teaching/ learning process learners are exposed to listen to a short text as in the following: read to them at normal speed and reconstruct it 1) Listening stage: in which the teacher in small groups until it has the same meaning prepares learners for the topic of the as the original text. In contrasts with dictation dictogloss text via storytelling and whole where learners only write down what is read class discussion. by the teacher or audio source. The use of 2) Noticing stage: it is applied by learners dictogloss involves students‘ attention to all when they take notes after listening to a four language skills (i.e. listening, speaking, text for a second time at normal speed. reading and writing) and encourages learner‘s 3) Activity stage: it is when learners work autonomy, cooperation, curricular integration, together in small groups to create the text diversity, thinking skills and alternative prepared for the lesson. assessment techniques (Jacobs & Small, 4) Checking stage: it is used to analyze and 2003). compare the learners‘ writing versions in Jacobs and Small (2003) report in a whole class setting, and to check if they their study that dictoglosss does not always are in the right track. have to involve writing sentences and 5) Writing stage: it is specially paragraphs. Learners can do other activities implemented to bring learners the based on what the teacher reads to them. For opportunity to produce a similar text instance, they can complete a graphic individually and demonstrate what they organizer in which the facilitator finds or have understood about the reading. writes a description of a drawing that includes relevant details about vocabulary and concepts
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On the other hand, Wajnryb (1990) The teacher conducts the analysis and describes in detail the four stages of dictogloss correction sessionstagein their own preferred that are implemented the most in teaching style to encourage learners to compare the listening. These stages are preparation, various versions and discuss the language dictation, reconstruction, and analysis and choices made. Some examples of the different correction. ways to conduct the analysis and correction The preparation stage is used when step include: using the blackboard where the teacher implements the dictogloss learners‘ texts are written for all to see and instruction. They must give students clear discuss, an overhead projector, a copying text commands about the task that they have to do from the original one to be examined by the and organize them into groups before the whole class. It is important to clarify that the dictation begins. The main goal in this step is original text should not be seen by learners preparing learners to the known and unknown until their own versions have been analyzed. vocabulary for the text they will be hearing by 4. Advantages and Disadvantages of exploiting the warm-up activities in each Dictogloss lesson. This type of vocabulary-centered a. Advantages of Dictogloss warm-up makes learners more receptive to the According to Vasiljevic (2010) listening in the next stage. dictogloss has some advantages, as follows: In the dictation stage, learners should 1) Dictoglosss is an effective way of listen to a text twice. The first time, they are combining individual and group work not allowed to take key words; nevertheless, activities. Students listen and take notes Kondo et al. (2010) claim that during the first individually and then work together to reading, learners are instructed to grasp the reconstruct the texts. The reconstruction gist of the text but are disallowed to take any task gives students focus and a clear notes. In the second listening, they need to objective. write down notes about the content of the topic 2) Dictogloss procedures facilitate the prepared for the class as a useful tool to put development of learners‘ communicative the text together in the reconstruction stage. competence. A collaborative Within the reconstruction stage, reconstruction task gives learners the learners and teacher work together. In that opportunities to practice and use all sense, while learners proceed to collect notes modes of language in communication. in groups and work on the version of their There is turn-taking among them which texts in order to help them check the grammar, uses confirmation and clarification. textual cohesion, and logical sense, the teacher 3) The reconstruction stage helps students to monitors the activity and points out some encourage their strengths and weaknesses. possible grammatical errors without providing It helps them to compare input to their any actual language input. own representation of the text.
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4) Dictogloss develops strategies for solving in the target language. Those facilitate problems. It leads learners to help each students‘ ability to understand and other in recreating their own version of manipulate the patterns of textual text that depends on the teacher‘s organization and make them more information. The analysis and correction sensitive to discourse markers and other stage enables students to see their cohesive ties in language they are trying linguistic shortcomings where they have to acquire. done well and where they need to 8) Working in small groups reduces improve. students‘ anxiety as they have to perform 5) Dictogloss offers a unique blending of only in front of small audience. They feel teaching listening comprehension and the more relaxed and confident when they assessment of students‘ listening ability. share ideas that represent a group rather In a dictogloss task, students need than themselves. phonemic identification, lexical 9) Dictogloss can build students‘ motivation recognition, syntactic analysis and in —coopetisi“ (cooperative and semantic interpretation. The competition) activity. It offers a sense of reconstruction task offers an insight into togetherness, self-confidence and the students‘ performance at all stages of responsibility that they feel comfortable speech perception process. With the notes to do the activity. The competition in learners and teacher can verify and closing activity offers the chance to the identify the parts of the text and specific students to prove and show their ability words or structure that cause Dictogloss as one of techniques that miscomprehension. Furthermore, the can be used in language teaching conveys nature of reconstruction task forces some advantages when it is implemented. It students to listens carefully to other can be summed up that dictogloss is beneficial students‘ input, providing additional to be implemented in teaching and learning opportunities for listening practice. process for some reasons. Dictogloss provides 6) The reconstruction task also promotes the opportunities for learners to learn as individual acquisition of L2 vocabulary. Students and as group by using critical thinking, need to recall the meaning and the written promotes learners‘ autonomy which makes form of vocabulary items introduced at them not only depend on the teacher in the preparation stage. In addition, learning but also depend on their peers to get students use new words to form complex or gain knowledge, provides writing activity sentences, and the teacher can direct which can assist learners to identify what they learners‘ attention to the target language. have done well and what they need to improve 7) The reconstruction task can raise and offers an alternative way for assessing students‘ awareness of theoretical patterns students‘ ability.
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b. Disadvantages of Dictogloss dictogloss technique as usually used by the Besides the advantages of dictogloss teacher in teaching listening. The point studied above, there are also disadvantages of was the students‘ achievement in listening dictogloss stated by Alderson (1997), as comprehension which was taught by using follows: dictogloss. In addition, both of the groups 1) Dictogloss has a very long procedure received the different materials, hence, they and needs much time to apply perfectly were treated differently. in the teaching and learning process. An experiment typically involves a 2) Not as effective for lower level learner. comparison of two different groups. The 3) If the dictation is not recorded on tape, method used in this research is experimental the test will be less reliable, as there will research. Gay et al. (2006) define experimental be differences in speed of delivery of research as the only form of research which the text to different audiences. can test hypotheses or establish cause-effect 4) Dictation is in fact written passages that relationships. Besides, it also shows the are read out aloud so they do not help explanation of the links between variables students to understand the difference clearly. between the oral and written language. FINDINGS 5) The exercises can be unrealistic if the 1. Result text used has been previously created to The data were collected through test be read rather than heard. and questionnaire. There were two tests given Dictogloss has been used in language to the students on the first day (pre-test) and learning for many reasons. However, the use on the last day (post-test). The objective of the of dictogloss has always been have two sides; tests was to investigate the students‘ listening advantage and disadvantage. The achievement after the implementation of the disadvantages that shows above bring Learners dictogloss technique. It was assumed that the unfamiliar with the teaching technique may students‘ score in the pre-test (57) was higher want to write down every word dictated. than that in the post-test (77). In addition, the Learners may be reluctant to discuss/correct use of dictogloss in teaching listening was the text with other groups. responded by students positively. The students RESEARCH METHODOLOGY agreed that dictogloss helped and motivated In conducting this study, the writer them to comprehend the listening. . Moreover, used experimental research in which there the result of the data analysis from the were two classes: one was an experimental questionnaires indicates that almost all group which was taught by usingdictogloss, students (93.3%) respond positively toward and the other was a control group which was the dictogloss application in teaching listening not given any treatment. The students in the comprehension. control group were taught by using non-
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2. Discussion Reflecting on the result obtained from Based on research findings, the first the dictogloss application in teaching listening. discussion deals with the improvement after It develops effectively due to several reasons. the use of dictogloss in teaching listening. In a dictogloss class, students‘ interaction is After the researcher collected and processed much more natural. A collaborative the statistical data by using SPSS, the findings reconstruction task gives learners revealed that the distribution of the opportunities to practice and use all modes of experimental and control groups‘ scores on the language and to become engaged in authentic pre-test was normal and the variance value of communication. There is more turn-taking and the two groups was also homogeneous. The students are more likely to use confirmation data obtained from the pre-test score showed and clarification strategies. The variety of that the students both in the experimental and interaction was found to be more productive in control groups had the same English ability. It terms of language development than the actual was proven by the value of independent t-test linguistic forms used (Wills & Wills, 1996). that tobtain
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that members can learn from each other and toward the application of dictogloss in the learn to appreciate the value of variety. classroom. There were only a few students Finally, working in small groups who were not interested in the use of reduces learners‘ anxiety as they have to dictogloss in teaching listening, especially in perform only in front of —a small audience.“ the application of group learning. However, Students tend to be quiet and are not used to the students could still adapt to the application voicing their ideas in front of the whole class. of dictogloss in the teaching learning activity. In Japan, for example, students are often shy 2. Suggestions and group conscious. They feel insecure about In relation to the teacher‘s their English ability and rarely volunteer their performance, it is suggested that teachers answers. They seldom initiate conversation, should have a good understanding on the generally avoid bringing up new topics and proper application of dictogloss in teaching rarely seek clarification (Burrows, 1996). listening. Therefore, this technique can be When asked a direct question by a teacher, an implemented properly as the value and theory individual student will often turn to her peers of dictogloss. Moreover, teachers should and seek advice before producing a response. prepare the material and activity to ensure the Students feel more relaxed and confident when efficiency of the classroom activity during the they share ideas that represent a group rather teaching learning process. Teachers also need than themselves only. to manage the time effectively, so that both the CONCLUSSIONS AND SUGUSSTIONS teacher and students can enjoy the lesson. 1. Conclusions More importantly, in dictogloss Based on the data calculation, it technique, students need to realize that reveals that the independent t-test of the learning is a two-way process, not only experimental group is higher than that of the teacher-centered. It means that students also control group (9.06>6.26). It presents that the play a significant role in determining their students‘ listening comprehension in the success in study. Thus, they need to involve experimental group significantly improved as actively in the learning process. It is also compared to that in the control group. In other recommended that English teachers employ words, the implementation of dictogloss various media in teaching listening. This may considerably affects the students‘ outcome in encourage students to practice their listening learning listening. in order to increase their achievement. It is due Furthermore, the result of the to the fact that most students are more questionnaires indicated that the students were interested in learning when teachers offer interested and had positive attitude toward the materials by using a variety of media. implementation of dictogloss in teaching Moreover, the writer suggests that listening. The majority of the students showed further studies on the application of dictogloss their agreement, and they even strongly agreed technique in listening class should be
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conducted by using more allocated time in dictogloss technique on other students‘ levels order to obtain more accurate information on as well as on other English skills in order to the issue. Further studies are also required to enrich the knowledge about the investigate the effective application of implementation of dictogloss technique.
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Anderson, Anne & Lynch, Tony. (1996) Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Anderson, Mark and Kathy Anderson. 2003. Text Types in English 3. South Yarra: Mcmillan.
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Jacobs, G and Small, J. 2003. Combining Dictogloss and Cooperative Learning to Promote Language Learning. The Reading Matrix. Vol.3, No.1
Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. London: Longman Inc
Nunan, D (2003). Practice English Language Teaching. New York: McGraw-hill
Ur, Penny. (1998). A Course in Language Teaching. Practice and Theory. Cambridge Universiti Press.
Vasiljevic, Z. 2010. Dictogloss as an Interactive Method of Teaching Listening Comprehension to L2 Learners. English Language Teaching. 3 (1), 41-52
Wajnryb, Ruth (1990). Grammar dictation.Oxford: Oxford University Press
Wolvin A, Coakley CW (1996) Listening, 5th edn. McGraw-Hill, Boston.
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