Listening Podcast to enhance speaking proficiency
IKIP WIDYA DARMA
SURABAYA-INDONESIA
Abstract
Keywords: Podcast, Proficiency, Repetition
Introduction
Speaking is a kind of way to enable people to deliver their intension. They use the sound produce by their larynx to convey their ideas to others. Nevertheless, in speaking, people can express their opinion by pronouncing words. Without words, speaking will be hampered. The large number of words people have will help them be free in choosing words. In the other hand, choosing words is the essential part of speaking to clarify the intention. Vocabulary building can be built by reading some texts. By reading, students learn new information, some vocabulary and become familiar with the style of a news article (Kawabata, 2007). Later on, it could clarify the intension of the speaker to be far much clearer.
Pronouncing words is very important to make partner of speaking understand what the speaker says. Making mistake in pronouncing words will lead the listeners to be misled. ESL students need to learn how to pronounce words correctly to avoid misleading intention. They need to listen to new words a lot to someone who speaks English fluently. They can listen to it through news report or any other devices provided the sound of English words. In the other hand, learning listening is something problem for ESL students. They are lack of credible resources to better the quality of their listening proficiency. The teacher sometimes pronouns some words with inappropriate standard pronunciation. Students are copying what their teacher says. Furthermore, the false product listening influences the way the students speak. They think that what they speak and hear are different from others. As a result they fail to make good conversation.
By the way, there is another way to find out a resolution. It is using podcast. Because podcast is consisting words pronounce by native speakers. It means that it provides the authenticity of pronunciation (Ross, 2006).
Podcast is one of credible resource to learn listening. Beside the availability of MP3 on each section, Most of podcasts is posted with the script of speaking. So the listeners can learn both listening and reading. By practicing to listen and read the script on podcast a lot, it enables listeners to speak English in good pronunciation. Students can find any kinds of podcast on-line. Most of them are free of charge.
Finally they will not find any problems to make conversation with others. Ross (2006) said “A student with good listening comprehension skills will be able to participate more effectively in communicative situations”.
Podcast
Podcast is an on-line updated material which attached with MP3 and sometimes with the script of speaking. Most of podcasts is free. It enriches with various topics and also with various level of speed of speaking. So the listeners with any levels are able to join this kind of resource. They can choose the appropriate topic they want (Constantine, 2007). Podcast also come in any kinds of English. Listeners can click the type of English they want to listen. American and British English are proving there. Students can click to listen to American podcast on https://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html. For those who want to listen to British English can click http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts/series-01-episode-01. And for Canadian English Students can click http://culips.com/. By listening podcast, learners will learn colloquial, idiom, slang and other expressions. It enables learners to copy the way how the native speakers put their words on the right place. Constantine (2007) said that Podcasts can supply fresh ideas and motivation with any new ideas. It has various kinds of topics and it also has various speeds of recorded voice.
Colloquial
The characteristic of informal conversation is often met in casual speaking. It is so called colloquial. In some podcasts also discuss some words used in colloquial. Learners cannot create their own expression words. They should recognize the words used by native speakers in their daily life. So, to develop their colloquial building, learners have to listen a lot to colloquial found in any credible resources. Song and its lyric are also a kind of podcast. Learners can use them as credible resources. Schoepp (2001) said “Some songs are excellent examples of colloquial English, that is, the language of informal conversation.” He also said “The repetitive style of songs then helps to promote automatization of colloquial language.”
Automaticity
Gatbonton and Segalowitz (1988, p.473) in Schoepp (2001) define automaticity as "a component of language fluency which involves both knowing what to say and producing language rapidly without pauses." The level of automaticity can be found by listening to any kinds of resources and practicing to speak a lot. By doing so, learners will recognize various words they can choose to enhance their speaking. It can incline the frequency of pausing. They will not need much time to search the appropriate words they intend to deliver.
In the other hand, practicing to speak is an important part to make someone’s utterance to be fluent. Speakers who know various words through listening activity can implement them into real setting. Practicing makes perfect. They will speak automatically without having pauses quite often. In this level the automaticity is got.
By using podcast students know the way native speakers express their intention. Students can copy what native speakers say. It helps students to gain automaticity.
Repetition
The way to restore what students hear from podcast is repetition. It a kind of way to help students remember what they learnt. Students need to replay the podcast they hear again and again. Furthermore, New words they learnt will stay longer in their brain by practicing repetition. Students will recognize the words they ever heard when they make conversation with other people. It will enable them to speak English fluently.
The level of pausing during conversation will be declined significantly because students have sufficient vocabulary to choose. In the other hand, Students will be able to reproduce the words and expression they ever learnt while making conversation with others. Repetition will enhance the students to get automaticity in no time.
Learning language is the way to copy what native speakers say. Learners need to listen to native speakers’ words often. This kind of way is so called repetition. Horvath (1998) said “There is a saying in Latin, " Repetitionem mater studiorum": (repetition is the mother of learning).”
Drilling
Students need to have the ultimate aim by practicing repetition. They need to know why they listen to the same podcast again and again. What kind of goal they need to gain in practicing repetition. At least they are able to recognize the new words uttered by native speakers and the way to put them on the right place. Practicing repetition till the learners know the pattern what they learn is drilling.
Podcast provides various topics with some kinds of English. Drilling will helps students to recognize the real condition of using English. Real setting of using English is very necessary for ESL student to avoid misused of implying some words and expressions. Moses (2001) said “drilling is repeated and practised till the students have learnt the structure.”
Idiom
The expression of words are not always able to be inferred from the words make it up. This kind of form is called idiom. The meaning of the idiomatic words is like what the native speakers use. We cannot infer the meaning of idiom words by ourselves. They can use dictionary to find out the meaning of idiom words. Nevertheless, some podcasts also discuss it. Learners can develop their idiomatic building by listening podcast a lot. Beside podcast, learners can use other resource to get it. Wu (2008) stated that English idioms do not mean what they literally mean; however, mass media, textbooks and everyday language represent rich sources of idiomatic expressions. He also said that introducing English idioms within interesting stories can possibly help EFL students to understand and remember them better. .Moreover, learners need to have a vast knowledge of idiomatic because it can lead to be misunderstanding between speaker and listener. Nippold and Martin (1989) in Wu (2008) stressed, “Failure to grasp the meanings of idioms can impinge upon an individual’s understanding of language in social, academic, and vocational settings”. Nevertheless, podcast with various topics also discuss various idiomatic and the way to implement it.
Slang
There are some unacceptable words or expressions in written English used in casual conversation. It is slang. People used it in their community. They used it to convey their intention among their friends or family member in daily life. People used it quite often in daily practice. ESL students sometimes copied what the native speakers said. They tried to implement slang they heard into daily life. The word wanna and gonna for example, they refer to want to and going to. Those kinds of expression are only used in spoken practice. They will be unacceptable in written setting. Learners need to recognize various slangs to avoid misused of them and podcast has them a lot.
In the other hand, learners sometimes cannot find the exact meaning of it in dictionary. Learners can learn lots of slang by listening podcast or other credible resources like making conversation with someone who speaks English very well (Constantine. 2007).
Levels provided in podcast
Young learner or beginners can take some materials from podcast. The materials provided for beginners have limited vocabulary based on the level of beginners. The voice recorded in mp3 also has a slow speed. It enables learners to follow the material delivered in podcast. Mp3 is to enable learners to pause the voice they heard and allow them for repetition. Patterson, 2001 in Constantine (2007) said “Beginning students will be exposed to the new language “with its own distinctive sound system, intonation patterns, pause system and word order”.
Besides, intermediate and advance levels are also able to take a part in joining podcast. The speed of recorded speaking is normal and the vocabulary is setting in real life. It means that the learners will have background knowledge to speak in casual base. Patterson, 2001 in Constantine (2007) said “The intermediate learner has a need for authentic text and to be exposed to a variety of voices. By the time learners reach the advanced stage, they must be able to learn from listening. Most students in a foreign country rely heavily on reading, writing and vocabulary to learn. It is critical for them to be able to recognize “organizational markers, cohesive devices and definitions in context.”
Listening proficiency
One of the four components in learning language is listening. Listening is a process to accept some input relating to voice of words. It is the important part to make conversation delivered. Listening activity is not just once or twice. It needs more to provide sufficient vocabulary and good pronunciation. Having good listening could lead the speakers to be good teller. Repetition in listening podcast is a good way to make the learners accustomed to listen to English words. The authenticity of pronunciation product is very important. That is why in teaching listening, teacher should careful to be a model of speaking especially for young learners. Klancar (2006) said “Young learners are like sponges, they soak up everything we say and how we say it. Thus clear and correct pronunciation is of vital importance, since young learners repeat exactly what they hear.”
Listening is an important in speaking. By having a good listening skill, learners can make conversation. They will not misunderstand what their partners say. They will recognize what their partners say about. Nevertheless, listening is a way to recognize how the words pronounced and used in appropriate setting. Ross (2006) said “Being able to listen well is an important part of communication for everyone”. So that drilling by listening to podcast often will lead learner to gain automaticity.
The resource of listening material
Speakers need to get the credible resource to experience speaking. They have to know how the native speakers speak. One of the resources of credible material for listening is podcast. Listeners can see how the native speakers convey their opinion in various ways. Some evidences of conversation should be recognized by the learners to make their intention understood. To gain such kind of facts, learners can listen to podcast or mingle with people who speak English very well. Podcast materials come to various topics. Learners can choose the desirable one. Choosing the desirable topic is very important because it can foster the intensity of listening. Students can choose topics and levels of the material they love to listen. Listening something fits with their favorable one will help students to have more. Constantine (2007) said “In order for students to benefit from listening to a podcast the content must be relevant to the learner. When a topic is relevant, it holds the attention of the learner and thus increases motivation.”
Getting wrong resource
Getting appropriate resources of listening is necessary. It can lead the learners to be successful speaker. Their words will be understood. But if they find wrong resources of listening, they will experience difficulties to understand others who use the same language with them. What they listen from the resources sounds different from other people say. It seems that he speaks different language from someone he speaks to. It can also lead the learners to be frustrated and It hampers them to learn more. Learning from someone who does not speak English well for example is not a proper resource for listening learning. It is just wasting time and damaging the quality of speaking. Ross (2006) said “By using authentic listening materials, the learner is given the chance to develop the skills needed to comprehend and to use language that is commonly found in real situations.”
In the other hand, podcast published by native speakers will lead students to the right way to imply words and expressions on the right tract. They will be secure from words and expressions misused. It will provide students with guidance how to speak English properly.
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The impact of podcast on listening proficiency
The content of podcast is a lot. It provides materials for any kinds of level of competence. Beginners for example, they can search podcast consisting material with slow speed of speaking. They can listen to it while reading the script. This kind of activity can lead the listeners to understand about the material discussed. (Howatt and Dakin) in Saricoban (1999) said.”Listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. This involves understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary, and grasping his meaning.”
After completing the listening phase, they can retell it by themselves or discuss it with their peers. Practicing that kind of activity again and again can lead learners to know great numbers of new words in some period of time. Over the time, they will be accustomed to speaking to others with proper pronunciation. This kind of activity is so called story telling. Story telling is helping students enhance their proficiency in speaking. Their proficiency will be developed both in vocabulary building and pronunciation matery. Like Kayi (2006) said that Story telling fosters creative thinking. Eventually, their speed of speaking will be increased incredibly. And Podcast has a lot of desirable stories students can choose.
Speaking proficiency
The voice which is containing words is the most important part of thing to make the speaking happen. Without it the interaction between speaker and listener will be wordless. This kind of phenomenon could happen to deaf people. To make good speaking, the speaker has to be able to pronounce the words precisely. To achieve this kind of quality, he needs to listen to another person’s words that can provide accurate pronunciation practice. Moreover, to get certain fluency, the speaker needs to have experiences how to use words correctly. One of the ways to gain it is by listening podcast quite often. In podcast students will hear various words discussed by speakers. It has many kind of topic the students can choose. They will listen to the desirable topics.
Nevertheless, the activity to enhance the fluency of speaking, learners can discuss what they have heard from podcast. Lim ( 2003) said “Another way of inviting students to talk is discussing possible topics close to the students' immediate interest.“
Relationship between listening and speaking proficiency
Listening and speaking are two different things that have mutual importance. Speaking is a product of listening. Someone can pronoun words because he heard them. He just copied the words from someone else he heard. Therefore, by having poor listening resource could lead to poor speaking product. It could make the utterance to digress to other intention from what the speaker wants. But by dealing with a proper resource of listening material, learners can develop their speaking proficiency in no time depending on frequency of the activity. It means that listening podcast quite often can better learners’ speaking proficiency. Students will see how to use appropriate words on the appropriate condition. Huang (2005) said “Students in the audience will listen for changes in tones and subtle word changes to detect how the changes alter the situation. “ So that students will see the real setting of using English in daily life.
Conclusion
Using podcast to better speaking competence is effective. By listening podcast, learners can build their vocabulary even faster. They will experience how the native speakers put their words on the proper place. They also learn colloquial, idiom, slang and other expressions. By listening quite often, bit by bit their speaking will sound natural. They will not get misunderstanding about what their partners say. What they hear from podcast is exactly the same with other people who speak English correctly. Beside they can build their vocabulary even faster, they are also able to increase their speaking speed as well. The importance of listening podcast in the classroom setting is very helpful like Constantine (2007) said “The advent of podcasts on the internet has given the language teacher a goldmine of materials for teaching listening skills.” Finally students will gain automaticity by drilling themselves through podcast.
Preference
Constantine, P. 2007.Podcasts: Another Source for Listening Input The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XIII, No. 1. From http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Constantine-PodcastListening.html
Horvath, I.1998. Employee Skills and Attitudes Utilized in Workplace ESL Training. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IV, No. 9, September 1998. Taken from: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Horvath-EmployeeSkills.html
Huang, E.P. 2005.Listening and Speaking: Putting Meaning to Words. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XI, No. 7. from http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Huang-Meaning.html
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Schoepp. K. 2001. Reasons for Using Songs in the ESL/EFL Classroom. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VII, No. 2. From http://iteslj.org/Articles/Schoepp-Songs.html
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