CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF PICTURE DICTATION IN LISTENING

TEACHING
This chapter discussed about concept of listening. listening teaching, definition of picture,
definition of dictation, concept of picture dictation, picture dictation in listening teaching,
relevant of research and hypothesis.

1.1 Definition of Listening

Listening is one of the most important language skills. Feyten (1991) claims that more
than 45% of communicating time is spent listening, which clearly shows how important this
skill is in overall language ability. Traditionally, listening skills have been taught in isolation
or they were sometimes combined with speaking tasks. However, the nature of the
integration of the four skills and for different modes of language practice. This paper will
described the methodology for teaching a listening class based on the dictogloss approach,
which offers a bridge between different language skills and promotes collaborative learning
in the classroom.

Listening is a complex of skills. At various levels of linguistic and cognitive competence,

it refers to various sub-skills. Listening implies

1) Hearing of sounds – ideas, facts, arguments, as they appear;

2) Identifying the intended meaning;

3) Integrating what is heard with one’s repertoire of experience;

4) Juxtaposing the old information against the new and comparing the two;

5) Interpreting the data, deriving inferences

6) Arriving at a decision, forming an opinion, quantum leaping in terms of ideas or

creative organization thereof.

Listening is a vital function in oral communication. Whether listening is or not the most
important of the four language skills, the fact remains that we do more of it than any of the
others. Hence, it merits more attention than it has received. Developing listening skills is a
matter of focus in ESL teaching today. The need is too make available to the teachers
materials for the purpose. These materials, as suggested in this paper, ought to go beyond the
common place dictation exercise.

Thus, listening means interpreting a text in a specific context by assigning, meaning to

the sounds heard. Further, human beings have a hierarchy of needs for listening. We listen for
information, to evaluate or to enjoy. Discriminative listening, which is the basic function of
this skill, refers to understanding, remembering and comprehending the integral parts of a
concept presented. This requires cognitive abilities to restructure what has been said into
categories of knowledge, for example, listening to instruction of the trainer while learning to
drive a car, or following the instructions of the partner while fixing a shelf on the wall.
Evaluative listening refers to the process of conceptualization, understanding and making a
critical judgment concerning the value of an idea. Listening to the salesman and arriving at a
decision about whether to buy a product or not falls in this category. Appreciative listening
does not aim at challenging an idea/ opinion or remembering data. It is simply to enjoy and
appreciate. Listening to musical performances, singing of birds, cooing of babies by their
parents are instances in this category.

1.2 Concept of Listening

Listening is one of language skill that should be learned by the English learner. There are
speaking, reading and writing beside of listening. According to Feyten (1991) claims that
more than 45% of communicating time is spent listening, which clearly shows how important
this skill is in overall language ability.

Natraj (2009: 1) said that listening and hearing is different. Listening need more
concentration than hearing. Hearing is an activity that did not ask our concentration.
Everyone can hear sound or voice around them, but it does not mean that they understand
about that. For example, when we walk on the way, we hear many people speak around us, it
called hearing. In another side, when we have a conversation with someone and he speaks
with us, the activity that we have is called listening.

Saha & Talukdar (2008) said that

 Listening is a skill in a sense that it's a related but distinct process than hearing
which involves merely perceiving sound in a passive way while listening
occupies an active and immediate analysis of the streams of sounds. This
correlation is like that between seeing and reading. Seeing is a very ordinary
and passive state while reading is a focused process requiring reader's
instrumental approach:1
Richards (2008: 3) said that listening and listening comprehension are same in the
meaning. There are listening as comprehension and listening as acquisition. 'listening as
comprehension: use of the materials as discussed in the preceding section. listening as
acquisition: the listening texts used are now used as the basis for speaking activities, making
use of noticing activities and restructuring activities.” (Richards. 2008:I7)

To be a good listener. the students have to be an active listener. Effective listening

includes responding. Richards (2008: 3) said that the view of listening is based on the
assumption that the main function of listening in second language learning is to facilitate
understanding of spoken discourse.

According to Richards (2008: 3) to understand the nature of listening processes. we

need to consider some of the characteristics of spoken discourse and the special problems
they pose for listeners. Spoken discourse has very different characteristics from written
discourse. and these differences can add a number of dimensions to our understanding of how
we process speech. For example. spoken discourse is usually instantaneous. The listener must
process it "online” and there is often no chance to listen to it again. Successful listening can
also be looked at in terms of the strategies the listener uses when listening. Does the learner
focus mainly on the content of a text, or does he or she also consider how to listen? A focus
on how to listen raises the issues of listening strategies. Richards (2008: 3) said that strategies
can be thought of as the ways in which a learner approaches and manages a task, and
listeners can be taught effective ways of approaching and managing their listening. These
activities seek to involve listeners actively in the process of listening. It can be concluded that
a good strategy can involve the students to be more active in the listening teaching process.

1.3 Teaching Listening

Natraj (2009:3) said that if the ability to understand spoken language does not develop
naturally it ought to be taught. Teachers of English need to create real speaker – listener
contexts in the classroom wherein learners listen with a purpose as they are called upon to do
in real life, situations. By creating an awareness of the sub-skills involved in listening,
interest in and readiness for the task on hand and by providing adequate exposure to the
language, the learners can be helped to be receptive to the spoken form. In fact, learners who
are provided with appropriate listening tasks do give evidence that they are alert to what is
going on, that they are focusing their attention on the event, that they are concerned with the
purpose, and hence the outcome, of the task. Through disciplined ear-training, right from the
initial years, listening skills can be developed adequately.

There are some sample tasks, such :

1.3.1 Ear-training can begin with exercise on identifying sounds of different

types in order to help learners recognize sounds from noise. Learners can be made to
listen to sounds at home (Scrubbing, dripping of a tap, whistle from cooker, sweeping
of the floor with a broom etc.) later, they can be made to listen to sounds from
different places (playground, temple/ church, railway station, restaurant etc) and
asked to identify the source of the sound. This kind of ear-training during the initial
years helps learners to concentrate on the event, and later, learn to listen to listen to
the material critically.

1.3.2 Dictation as a language teaching activity does not seem to be a fashionable

classroom activity anymore. However, it can be very useful to develop skills of
listening. Dictation can be given in many varied ways, with numerous types of
languge materials, instructions, announcements, jingles, etc., dictation can be given of
longer language chunks like songs and passages.

Richards (2003: 4) said that there are bottom-up and top-down processing in listening.
Lexical and grammatical competences are need in the bottom-up processing. Bottom-up
processing consists of sounds. words. clauses, sentences, texts. and meaning analysis.
Bottom-up processing in listening classroom often use dictation. close listening, and the use
of multiple choice questions after a text. On the other hand, top-down processing consists of
previous knowledge about the topic of discourse, and situational or contextual knowledge.
Richards (2003) stated that the exercise that was use to develop top-down processing are
 Use key words to construct the schema of a discourse. Infer the setting for a text,
Infer the role of the participants and their goals. Infer causes or effects. Infer unstated
details of a situation, and Anticipate questions related to the topic or situation. (p.9)
On the other side. Natraj (p.1) stated that listening is the focus, or first purposes for all
speech activity. Except for almost a purely expressive utterance, speaking implies a listener.
So, The students must give participation in listening process. It will help them to develop
their ability in listening skill. The students will be active if they enjoy and interest in listening
teaching process. They also need to know about the topic that they will listen, so the teacher
can do pre-listening. The teacher tells to the students about the topic of listening activity. It
will help the students to find out the main idea of the listening text.

Furthermore. Guo and Wills (2012: 8-9) said that there are three stages in listening
comprehension. There are pre-listening activities. activities while-listening and post-listening
activities. In pre-listening activities. the teacher can decide the purpose of listening, set
background knowledge that students need, decide the bottom-up and top-down of the text,
and tell the students to guess the type of text. In an activities while listening, the teacher can
determine what the students need to understand, give motivation to the students to listen well,
give the questions for the student to catch students' attention, arrange the goal of listening
activity such as getting main idea, and give the feedback of the students assignment. In post-
listening activities, the teacher can ask the students to discuss their assignment in a group or
in a pair, ask the students to active in giving response about what they heard. ask the students
to make a summary of the listening text. and determine the appropriate strategies in listening
teaching. So, there are three stages in listening comprehension that help the students to
understand easier about the material.

1.4 Definition of Picture Dictation

1.4.1 Definition of Picture

Picture is a two dimensional visual representation of person. place and things.

According to Collins (2002: 1) in online dictionary. picture is “A visual representation
or image painted, drawn, photographed or otherwise rendered on a flat surface”.
Picture is also called media that can be seen on the paper. Cambridge Advanced
Learner's Dictionary (2000: 991) mentioned that picture is “something you produce in
your mind. by using your imagination or memory". It can be concluded that picture
can get by drawn, printed or photo-graphically processed. Moreover, the picture can
make the students enjoy in learning process because it makes them to feel fresh their
brain.

Picture is painting, drawing, and sketch of something with information in the form
of sign. Teachers have always used pictures or graphics whiter drawn, taken from
books, newspaper and magazines, or photographs to facilitate learning. Pictures can
be in the form of flash cards (smallish cards which we can hold up for our students to
see), large wall pictures (big enough for everyone to see details), cue cards (small
cards which students use I pair or group work), photographs, or illustrations (typically
in a text book) according to Harmer (2001:134).

Wright (1994:2) states “Pictures are not just an aspect of method but through their
representation of place, object and people they are an essential part of the overall
experiences we must help our student to scope with especially, pictures contribute to:

1) Interest and motivation

2) A sense of the context of the language

3) A specific reference point or stimulus.

1.4.2 Criteria of Picture

There are some criteria of the picture possibly to use in the language teaching.
According to Wright (1993:147). There are criteria of picture. They are as follows:

1) Picture should be enough to be seen by all students

2) The picture of individual object or people should be as simple as possible

3) Some picture should contain colours of later use in teaching objective of

colour

4) The picture should contain no caption of any kind of since you will be able
to use them in later stages to have recall the association of word and object.
1.4.3 Kinds of Picture

That there are three kinds of picture, they are:

1) Picture of individual person or object

2) Picture of situation in which persons are doing something with some

objects and their relation can be seen

3) A series of pictures on one chart (object of thing in the classroom)

1.4.4 Definition of Dictation

Dictation is one of method that use in listening teaching process. "Dictation is a

valuable language learning device that has been used for centuries." (Alkire, 2002,
p.1). "Dictation is an activity to write down something that someone says or reads out
as it is being said or immediately after it is said.” (Kit, 2004, p.1)

Dictogloss is a classroom dictation activity where learners listen to a passage,

note down key words and then work together to create a reconstructed version of the
text. It was originally introduced by Ruth Wajnryb (1990) as an alternative method of
teaching grammar. The original dictogloss procedure consist:

1) Warm up when the learners find out about the topic and do some preparatory
vocabulary work.

2) Dictation when the learners listen to the text read at a normal speed by the
teacher and take fragmentary notes. The learners will typically hear the text
twice. The first time the teacher reads the text, the students just listen but do
not wrute. The second time, the students take notes.

3) Reconstruction when the learners work together in small groups to reconstruct

a version of the text from their shared resources.

4) Analysis and correction when students analyse and compare their text with the
reconstruction of their students and the original text and make the necessary
corrections (Wajnryb, 1990).
 Dictogloss has been the subject of a number of studies and commentaries, which
have, in most part supported the use of the technique. The supporters of the method
pointed out that dictogloss are a multiple skills and systems activity. Learners practice
listening, writing and speaking and rely on their knowledge of semantic, syntactic and
discourse systems of the target language to complete the task. However, the focus of
these studies remains on grammatical competence. Improvements in listening
comprehension or students’ note-taking skills are seen as by products of the method
rather than its objectives.

Richards, Platt, & Platt (as cited in Kiany and Shiramiry 2002, p.3) stated that.
"Dictation is a technique used in both language teaching and language testing in
which a passage is read aloud to students, with pauses during which they must try to
write down what they heard as accurately as possible"

According to Richard and Schmid (2002: 157) Dictation is technique used in both
language teaching and language testing in which a passage is read aloud to student or
test taker, with pauses during which they must try to write down what they have heard
accurately as possible. Basically, this is a technique used to know how much student
ability to recognize and identify the spoken language.

In addition, Flowderdew (2005:200) described dictation as a simple technique that

the listener listen to an oral text and write down what they hear, the passage may be
presented more than once and it need to be presented in segments, or information
units, so the learner has time to process the language and write it down.

In its simplest form, dictation refers to a person reading some text aloud so that
the listener can write down what is being said. When it is used in the language
classroom, traditionally the aim has been for students to write down what is said by
the teacher, word for word, later checking their own text against the original and
correcting the errors made. While this certainly has its uses, there are countless
variations that can make it more interesting and learner-centered.

1.4.5 Dictation Activities

 One of the activity related that is offered by Lavery (2001:90) is dictogloss “this
is a technique where a text is read twice at normal speed and the student write down
the key words or phrases, after which they reconstruct the text together in a small
group”. The main purpose is that the students understand and then reconvey the
meaning of the passage, concentrating on the communicative aspect of the activity
rather than producing a grammatically perfect text.

In the same way Nunan (1991:28) explains the stage of dictogloss as follow:

1) Preparation. At this stage, teachers prepare students the text they will be
hearing by asking question and discussing a stimulus picture, by discussing
vocabulary, by ensuring that student know what they are supposed to do, and
by ensuring that the students are in the appropriate groups.

2) Dictation. Learners hear the dictation twice. The first time, they listen only
and get the general feeling for the text. The second time they take down notes,
being encouraged to listen for content words which will assist them in
reconstructing the text. For reason of consistency, it is prererable that students
listen to a cassette recording rather than teacher-read text.

3) Reconstructing. At the conclusion of dictation, learners pool notes and

produce their version of the text. During this stage it is important that the
teacher does not provide any language input.

4) Analysis and correction. There are various ways of dealing with this stage.
The small group version can be reproduced on the board or overhead
projector, the text can be photocopied and distributed, or the student can
compare their version with the original, sentence by sentence.

Dictogloss is not the only activity that can be applied for contemporary listening
teaching, but also some dictation activities considered by Paul Davis and Mario
Rinvolucri can be an excellent activities to reinforce student’s language skill.
Because, the purpose of these activities is not only improving student listening skill
but also to improve other skills. These activities are picture dictation, time dictation,
mutual dictation, shadow dictation and dictogloss.

1.4.6 The Advantages of Dictation

By looking at the reason why dictation could work well in a classroom, we know
that dictation give positive value for student especially in listening skill. Davis and
Rinovalucri (1998: 4-8) stated that there are several reasons why dictation activities
work well. They are :

1) The students are active during the exercise

2) The students are active after the exercise

3) Dictation leads to oral communicative activities

4) Dictation fosters unconscious thinking

5) Dictation copes with mixed-ability group

6) Dictation deals with large groups

7) Dictation will often calm group

8) Dictation is safe for the non-native teacher

9) For English, it is technically useful exercise

10) Dictation gives access to interesting text

1.4.7 Placing The Dictation Procedure in a Listening Context

Listening requires the utilization of both systematic and schematic knowledge

(Widdowson, 1983; Buck, 2001). In order to interpret the discourse, the listener must
have a sufficient knowledge of the language system (i.e an understanding of the
phonological, syntactic and semantic aspect knowledge) as well as general knowledge
of the world.
 At the initial stages of language learning the primary goal of listening instruction
is to help learners understand the acoustic input. Listening activities are designed to
give the learner practice in identifying correctly different sounds, sound-combinations
and intonation patterns. As the learners’ proficiency increases, meaning based
activities become more important.

Meaning based activities can be divided into two broad categories: (1) activities
that assess direct meaning comprehension and those that measure inferred meaning
comprehension (Mewald, Gassner & Sigott, 2007). Direct meaning comprehension
means the understanding of surface information and facts that are explicitly stated in
the input text. Some examples are listening for gist, listening for main points and
listening for specific information.

Inferred meaning comprehension includes implicit understanding and drawing

inferences from input texts. The information required is not clearly stated, and the
listener must go beyond the surface information to see other meanings which are not
explicitly stated in the text. Some examples of this type of listening are inferring a
speaker’s intention or attitude towards a topic, relating utterances to their social and
situational contexts, recognizing the communicative function of utterances, and so on.

The dictogloss listening procedure falls into the first category. This is important as
the type of listening activity has direct implications for the listening materials.

1.5 Consept of Picture Dictation

Unlike usual dictation which student concern to the word or sentence, it is concern to identify
the meaning. So that students express their answer by drawing picture. And the purpose of
this activity is the practice of listening of description of place, special relation, and
preposition of place.

Example

This is my Pet :

1) I have a pet, it’s a cute cat

 2) She has slanting eyes

3) She is a thin body but energetic

4) She is always used a ribbon on the her head

5) She is like a fish and milk

Heath (n.d) stated that

Picture dictations are a quick. amusing and interesting way of doing a number of
useful things in the English class. First, they test listening comprehension. Second,
they provide a useful way of revising certain prepositions of place. Lastly, they
provide a good basis for a guided composition. getting the pupils to describe the
picture using some of the language you dictated. (p.58)
According to Case (2011: 1), Picture dictation is one of method or strategy that use in
listening skill. Case said that there are traditional and modern versions of a picture dictation.
In the traditional version of a picture dictation, teacher takes a picture then he describes the
picture and the students try to draw exactly what they listen being explained. Then, they
compare their drawings with the original. After that, they discuss about the description of the
pictures. They will learn to get the key idea of the description. They also learn about
vocabulary that unfamiliar for them.

In the modern version of a picture dictation, teacher has a set of pictures. Then, teacher
read a story depend on the pictures. The students arrange the picture chronologically depend
on the story by them. The picture will make the students easier to understand and imagine the
story about. Then, the students compare their result with their friends and discuss which the
right result is. They also discuss about the key idea in every picture and unfamiliar
vocabulary in the story.

A picture dictation will not make the students to be bored because they not only interact
with sounds or voice and sentences. but they also use pictures in their learning process. It will
catch the students' attention to concentrate in teaching and learning process of listening skill.

1.6 Picture Dictation in Listening Teaching

Miller (2007) explains the procedure of picture dictation is

 Don't show learners the picture. Pre-teach any unfamiliar vocabulary you will use to
describe the picture. Orally describe the picture, and pausing between lines to allow
learners to draw the picture while you describe it. Include some negative statements
such as "The woman isn't wearing a hat." and confirm that learners don't draw in
response. Describe the picture a second time to allow learners to check their work.
When finished, learners compare their pictures to the original and to each others'
pictures. (p.11)

To do a picture dictation. the teacher need a text that describe something or a place that
teacher will use in dictation. The teacher also needs a picture that appropriate with the
information in a dictation text. Then, teacher asks the students to draw the information that
they will listen. After that, teacher read a dictation text without show the picture about the
information in a dictation text to the students. Teacher can repeat to read a dictation text until
three times, so the students can confirm their picture with its information. Then, teacher show
the picture that appropriate with the dictation text. After that, teacher asks to the student to
check the picture of their friend. Then, teacher asks the students to repeat the information and
find the key idea depend on the picture that they drew.

1.7 Theories of Learning

Learning is one of the most important activities in which humans engage. It is at the very
core of the educational process, although most of what people learn occurs outside of school.
For thousands of years, philosophers and psychologists have sought to understand the nature
of learning, how it occurs, and how one person can influence the learning of another person
through teaching and similar endeavors. Various theories of learning have been suggested,
and these theories differ for a variety of reasons. A theory, most simply, is a combination of
different factors or variables woven together in an effort to explain whatever the theory is
about. In general, theories based on scientific evidence are considered more valid than
theories based on opinion or personal experience. In any case, it is wise to be cautious when
comparing the appropriateness of different theories.

There are many different theories of how people learn. What follows is a variety of them,
and it is useful to consider their application to how your students learn and also how you
teach in educational programs. It is interesting to think about your own particular way of
learning and to recognise that everyone does not learn the way you do.

Burns (1995, p99) 'conceives of learning as a relatively permanent change in behaviour

with behaviour including both observable activity and internal processes such as thinking,
attitudes and emotions.' It is clear that Burns includes motivation in this definition of
learning. Burns considers that learning might not manifest itself in observable behaviour until
some time after the educational program has taken place.

For all the talk of learning amongst educational policymakers and practitioners, there is a
surprising lack of attention to what it entails. In Britain and Northern Ireland, for example,
theories of learning do not figure strongly in professional education programmes for teachers
and those within different arenas of informal education. It is almost as if it is something is
unproblematic and that can be taken for granted. Get the instructional regime right, the
message seems to be, and learning (as measured by tests and assessment regimes) will
follow. This lack of attention to the nature of learning inevitably leads to an impoverishment
of education. It isn’t simply that the process is less effective as a result, but what passes for
education can actually diminish well-being.

1.7.1 Learning as a product

Pick up a standard psychology textbook – especially from the 1960s and 1970s and you
will probably find learning defined as a change in behaviour. In other words, learning is
approached as an outcome – the end product of some process. It can be recognized or seen.
This approach has the virtue of highlighting a crucial aspect of learning – change. It’s
apparent clarity may also make some sense when conducting experiments. However, it is
rather a blunt instrument. For example:

1. Does a person need to perform in order for learning to have happened?

2. Are there other factors that may cause behaviour to change?

3. Can the change involved include the potential for change? (Merriam and
Caffarella 1991: 124)
 Questions such as these have led to qualification. Some have looked to identifying
relatively permanent changes in behaviour (or potential for change) as a result of experiences
(see behaviourism below). However, not all changes in behaviour resulting from experience
involve learning. It would seem fair to expect that if we are to say that learning has taken
place, experience should have been used in some way. Conditioning may result in a change
in behaviour, but the change may not involved drawing upon experience to generate new
knowledge. Not surprisingly, many theorists have, thus, been less concerned with overt
behaviour but with changes in the ways in which people ‘understand, or experience, or
conceptualize the world around them’ (Ramsden 1992: 4) (see cognitivism below). The focus
for them, is gaining knowledge or ability through the use of experience.

The depth or nature of the changes involved are likely to be different. Some years ago
Säljö (1979) carried out a simple, but very useful piece of research. He asked a number of
adult students what they understood by learning. Their responses fell into five main
categories:

1) Learning as a quantitative increase in knowledge. Learning is acquiring

information or ‘knowing a lot’.

2) Learning as memorising. Learning is storing information that can be reproduced.

3) Learning as acquiring facts, skills, and methods that can be retained and used as
necessary.

4) Learning as making sense or abstracting meaning. Learning involves relating

parts of the subject matter to each other and to the real world.

5) Learning as interpreting and understanding reality in a different way. Learning

involves comprehending the world by reinterpreting knowledge. (quoted in Ramsden
1992: 26)

As Paul Ramsden comments, we can see immediately that conceptions 4 and 5 in are
qualitatively different from the first three. Conceptions 1 to 3 imply a less complex view of
learning. Learning is something external to the learner. It may even be something that just
happens or is done to you by teachers (as in conception 1). In a way learning becomes a bit
like shopping. People go out and buy knowledge – it becomes their possession. The last two
conceptions look to the ‘internal’ or personal aspect of learning. Learning is seen as
something that you do in order to understand the real world.

A man knowing little or nothing of medical science could not be a good surgeon, but
excellence at surgery is not the same thing as knowledge of medical science; not is it a simple
product of it. The surgeon must indeed have learned from instruction, or by his own
inductions and observations, a great number of truths; but he must also have learned by
practice a great number of aptitudes. (Ryle 1949: 48-49)

Learning how or improving an ability is not like learning that or acquiring information.
Truths can be imparted, procedures can only be inculcated, and while inculcation is a gradual
process, imparting is relatively sudden. It makes sense to ask at what moment someone
became apprised of a truth, but not to ask at what moment someone acquired a skill. (Ryle
1949: 58)

In some ways the difference here involves what Gilbert Ryle (1949) has termed ‘knowing
that‘ and ‘knowing how’. The first two categories mostly involve ‘knowing that’. As we
move through the third we see that alongside ‘knowing that’ there is growing emphasis on
‘knowing how’. This system of categories is hierarchical – each higher conception implies
all the rest beneath it. ‘In other words, students who conceive of learning as understanding
reality are also able to see it as increasing their knowledge’ (Ramsden 1992: 27).

1.7.2 Learning as a process

In the five categories that Säljö identified we can see learning appearing as a process –
there is a concern with what happens when the learning takes place. In this way, learning
could be thought of as ‘a process by which behaviour changes as a result of experience’
(Maples and Webster 1980 quoted in Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 124). One of the
significant questions that arises is the extent to which people are conscious of what is going
on. Are they aware that they are engaged in learning – and what significance does it have if
they are? Such questions have appeared in various guises over the years – and have surfaced,
for example, in debates around the rather confusing notion of ‘informal learning‘.

One particularly helpful way of approaching the area has been formulated by Alan
Rogers (2003). Drawing especially on the work of those who study the learning of language
(for example, Krashen 1982), Rogers sets out two contrasting approaches: task-conscious or
acquisition learning and learning-conscious or formalized learning.

1.7.2.1 Task-conscious or acquisition learning

Acquisition learning is seen as going on all the time. It is ‘concrete, immediate

and confined to a specific activity; it is not concerned with general principles’ (Rogers
2003: 18). Examples include much of the learning involved in parenting or with running
a home. Some have referred to this kind of learning as unconscious or implicit. Rogers
(2003: 21), however, suggests that it might be better to speak of it as having a
consciousness of the task. In other words, whilst the learner may not be conscious of
learning, they are usually aware of the specific task in hand.

1.7.2.2 Learning-conscious or formalized learning

Formalized learning arises from the process of facilitating learning. It is

‘educative learning’ rather than the accumulation of experience. To this extent there is a
consciousness of learning – people are aware that the task they are engaged in entails
learning. ‘Learning itself is the task. What formalized learning does is to make learning
more conscious in order to enhance it’ (Rogers 2003: 27). It involves guided episodes of
learning.

When approached in this way it becomes clear that these contrasting ways of
learning can appear in the same context. Both are present in schools. Both are present in
families. It is possible to think of the mix of acquisition and formalized learning as
forming a continuum.

1.8 Classroom Action Research (CAR)

1.8.1 What is Classroom Action Research?

Classroom Action Research is a method of finding out what works best in your
own classroom so that we can improve students learning. We know a great deal about
good teaching in general (e.g. McKeachie, 1999; Chickering and Gamson, 1987;
Weimer, 1996), but every teaching situation is unique in terms of content, level, student
skills and learning style, teacher skills and teaching style, and many other factors. To
maximize student learning, a teacher must find out what works best in a particular
situation.

There are many ways to improve knowledge about teaching. Many teachers
practice personal reflection on teaching; that is, they look back at what has worked and
has not worked in the classroom and think about about how they can change their
teaching strategies to enhance learning. (Hole and McEntee;1999) provide useful steps
for enhancing such reflection. A few teachers (most notably education professors)
conduct formal empirical studies on teaching and learning, adding to our knowledge
base. CAR fits in the center of a continuum ranging from personal reflection at one end
to formal educationalresearch at the other, CAR is more systematic and data-based than
personal reflection, but it is more informal and personal than formal educational
research. In CAR, a teacher focuses attention on a problem or question about his or her
own classroom. For example, does role-playing help students understand course
concepts more completely than lecture methods? Which concepts are most confusing to
students?

Action research methods were proposed by Kurt Lewin in 1946, as a research

technique in social psychology. More recently, Donald Schon (1983) described the
reflective practitioner as one who thinks systematically about practice. Classroom
Action Research is systematic, yet less formal, research conducted by practitioners to
inform their action. The goal of CAR is to improve our own teaching in our own
classroom (or our department or school). While there is no requirement that the CAR
findings be generalized to other situations, as in traditional research, the results of
classroom action research can add to the knowledge base. Classroom action research
goes beyond personal reflection to use informal research practices such as a brief
literature review, group comparison, and data collection and analysis. Validity is
achieved through the triangulation of data. The focus is on the practical significance of
findings, rather than statistical or theoretical significance. Findings are usually
disseminated through brief reports or presentations to local colleagues or
administrators. Most teachers, from pre-school through university level, can be taught
 the methods of action research in a single course, a series of workshops, or through
extensive mentoring (Mettetal, 2000). For more information on traditional educational
research.

The boundaries between these categories are not distinct. Some CAR projects
may become comprehensive enough to be considered traditional research, with
generalizable findings. Other CAR projects may be so informal that they are closer to
personal reflection.

1.8.2 Why do Classroom Action Research?

First and foremost, classroom action research is a very effective way of improving
our teaching. Assessing students understanding at mid-term helps our plan the most
effective strategies for the rest of the semester. Comparing the student learning
outcomes of different teaching strategies help us discover which teaching techniques
work best in a particular situation. Because we are researching the impact of our own
teaching, we automatically take into account our own teaching strengths and
weaknesses, the typical skill level of our students, etc. our findings have immediate
practical significance in terms of teaching decisions.

Second, CAR provides a means of documenting our teaching effectiveness. The

brief reports and presentations resulting from CAR can be included in teaching
portfolios, tenure dossiers, and other reports at the teacher or school level. This
information can also help meet the increasing requirements of the assessment
movement that we document student learning.

Third, CAR can provided a renewed sense of excitement about teaching. After
many years, teaching can become routine and even boring. Learning CAR methodology
provides a new challenge, and the results of CAR projects often prompt teachers to
change their current strategies. CAR projects done as teams have the added benefit of
increasing peer discussion do teaching issues.

1.8.3 How do you conduct Classroom Action Research?

 Classroom Action Research follows the same steps as the general scientific
model, although in a more informal manner. CAR methods also recognize that the
researcher is, first and foremost, the classroom teacher and that the research cannot be
allowed to take precedence over student learning. The CAR process can be
conceptualized as a seven-step process.

Step one: identify a question or problem.

This question should be something related to students learning in our classroom.

For example, would a different type of assignment enhance students understanding?
Would a strict attendance policy result in better test scores? Would more time spent in
cooperative learning groups help students understand concepts at a higher level? The
general model might be “what is the effect of X on student learning?”

Since the goal of CAR is to inform decision-making, the question or problem

should look at something under teacher control, such as teaching strategies, student
assignments, and classroom activities. The problem should also be an area in which you
are willing to change. There is no point in conducting a CAR project if we have no
intention of acting on our findings. Larger institutional questions might be tackled, if
the institution is committed to change.

Finally, the question or problem should be feasible in terms of time, effort and
resources. In general, this means to think small to look at one aspect of teaching in a
single course. Angelo and Cross (1993) suggest that we not start with our “problem
class” but rather start with a class that is progressing fairly well. As we become more
comfortable with CAR methods, we may attempt more complicated projects.

Step two; Review Literature

We need to gather two types of information, background literature and data. The
literature review may be much less extensive than traditional research, and the use of
secondary sources is sufficient. Sources such as Cross and Steadman (1996) or
Woolfolk (2000) will often provide background information on learning, motivation,
and classroom management topics. Another source is the Educational Resources
Information Center (ERIC) datebase, which contains references to a huge number of
published and unpublished manuscripts. We can search the ERIC data base at
http://ericir.syr.edu/ your campus’ and teaching and learning center should also have
many useful resources.

Step three: Plan a research strategy

The research design of a CAR study may take many forms, ranging from a
pretest-posttest design to a comparison of similar classes to a descriptive case study of a
single class or students. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are appropriate. The
tightly controlled experimental designs of traditional research are rarely possible in a
natural classroom setting, so CAR relies on the triangulation of data to provide validity,
to triangulate, collect at least three types of data (such as students test scores, teacher
evaluations, and observations of students behavior). If all data point to the same
conclusions, we have some assurance of validity.

Step four: Gather data

CAR tends to rely heavily on existing data such as test scores, teacher
evaluations, and final course grades. We might also want to collect other data. See
Angelo and Cross (1993) for a wonderful array of classroom assessment techniques. (be
sure to check with your Institutional Review Board for policies regarding the use of
human subjects. Most CAR with adult students will be exempt from review as long as
we do not identify individual students).

Step five: Make sense of the data

Analyze our data, looking for findings with practical significance. Simple
statistical analyses of quantitative data, such as simple t-tests and correlations
sufficient. Table or graphs are often very helpful. Qualitative data can be analyzed for
 recurring themes, citing supporting evidence. Practical significance, rather than
statistical significance, is the goal.

Step six: Take action

Use our findings to make decisions about our teaching strategies. Sometimes we
will find that one strategy is clearly more effective, leading to an obvious choice. Other
times, strategies may prove to be equally effective. In that situations, we may choose
the strategy that we prefer or the one that our students prefer.

Step seven: share your findings

We can share our findings with peers in many ways. We may submit our report to
JoSoTL, which has a special section for CAR reports. These are will typically be from
4 to pages-shorter than the typical traditional research report. Most CAR reports are
appropriate for submission to the ERIC database (instructions for submission can be
found on the ERIC website at:

http://ericfac.piccard.csc.com/submitting. We might also share our work at conferences

such as the international conference for teacher-researchers
(Http://www.educ.ubc.ca/ictr2001/) or at regional conferences for our discipline. Most
discipline sponsor a journal on teaching, although CAR may be too informal to meet
publication requirements.

1.8.4 Judging the quality of CAR projects

Although CAR projects are not as comprehensive as traditional educational

research, their quality can still be assessed using the guidelines of Glassick, et al (1997)
in Scholarship Assessed. they recently worked with colleagues to develop an evaluation
plan for the CAR projects of K-12 teachers in a local school district (Mettetal, Bennett
and Smith, 2000) the resulting rubric has been adapted for JoSoTL and is used by our
reviewers for CAR, traditional research, and research, and essay
(http://www.iusb.edu/~josotl/rubric/rubric.htm).

Table 2.1
 Classroom Action Research Rubric
Criteria for Quality Proposal and Projects

Need On Target Exemplary

Improvement

Goals Goals are not Goals are identified and Goals are clearly stated,
clearly identified relate to teaching and relate to teaching and
learning learning and will inform
action

Background No reference to Two to three references to Integrates and synthesizes

Information previous research relevant research or four or more sources of
or theory theory. relevant research or
theory.

Methods Less than three Three sources of data Many sources of data
sources of data from current classroom from currents classroom
(case study) or data that
are compared with data
from another relevant
source (i.e, last year’s
class, another class in the
school, state data).

Results Results are not Communicate results Result identify key

communicated in through themes, graphs, findings. Communicate
an appropriate tables, etc. results clearly and
manner accurately through
themes, graphs, tables,
etc.

Reflection Little or no Discusses how results Discusses how results

relevant affect one’s own teaching affect own teaching and
discussion of and learning in learning in classroom and
teaching and classroom. implications for teaching
learning related setting (i.e, other
to one’s own classroom, schools,
classroom district, etc) also
identifies future research
questions.

Presentation - Paper not - Paper clearly written - Paper is clear,

clearly written insightful, and
- Results shared with a comprehensive
- Results are not local colleagues
shared with - Results are shared
 other audiences with a wider audience.

This rubric shows that it is possible to meet the standard of Glassick et al (1997) within
the context of a classroom action research project. One of the most difficult criteria to meet is
that of presentation, since there have been few forums for the publication of CAR projects,
JoSoTL hopes to correct that problem.

1.9 Relevant of the Research

There are four previous researches that are relevant with this research. First. Lestari
(2012) in her research of "The Study of Teaching Technique in Listening Comprehension in
Class at Second Year of SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Malang”. In her research, she said that one
language skill that should be learnt by English learners is Listening. Listening is the one of
four important skills to study and it is a basic skill that is needed to communicate. Teaching
listening must use techniques in order to make students interested and increase the students’s
ability with listening English.The purposes of the study are: 1) to describe the teaching
technique of listening comprehension used by the teacher at the second year of SMA
Muhammadiyah 1 malang. 2) to find out the reason of teaching techniques listening
comprehension used by the teacher at SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Malang. 3) to know how the
teaching techniques implemented of listening class at SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Malang.

The research design, which was used in this study, was descriptive research design. The
subject of the study was one English teacher at the second year of SMA Muhammadiyah 1
Malang. To collect the data in this study, the researcher used two kinds of instruments:
interview and observation. The researcher used semi structured interview because in addition
to the question prepared in advance, the researcher asked other related questions to the
teacher freely during the interview about the teaching technique used in teaching listening,
the reason was that techniques and implementation of the techniques are used in teaching
listening comprehension at SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Malang. In this study, the researcher was
a non participant observer because the researcher observed without participating in the
situation but the researcher observed about techniques used by the teacher in teachning
listening in the classroom for five times. One of observation purposes is to confirm the result
of interview.

The result of this study showed that the techniques used by English teacher of the
teaching listening at SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Malang were answering question, guessing,
whispering, dictation, songs and identification topic sentences. The teacher combined the
techniques in order that the students could easily understand the lesson that the teacher
thought. The teacher’s reasons used that technique (1) to make students to study English
easier, especially listening. (2) to make the students does not easily get bored. (3) to creae
more attractive and fun atmosphere at the classroom. (4) to reduce the problems by the
teacher in teaching listening in using those techniques. (5) to make the students to be more
active in class. Meanwhile, in implementing the teaching technique, the teacher usually used
three phases in teaching listening, those were; Pre-Listening, Whilst-Listening, and Post-
Listening.

From her research, the writer found some similarities and differences between this
research and her research, such as in similarity that this research used same dependent
variable there is Listening ability toward senior high school, but different in instrument and
method. This research used Classroom action Research and her research used qualitative
descriptive.

Second, Fifik Taufiq Hidayat (2012), in the research of “The Influence of Using Picture
Dictation On The Students’ English Achievement In Learning Preposition at The Eight Year
Of MTs N 2 Cirebon”. In his research, based on the result of research finding, he would like
to draw a conclusion relating to the influence of using picture dictation on the students’
achievement in learning preposition at the second year of MTsN Cirebon II as follows the
response of using picture dictation on the students’ achievement in learning preposition at the
second year of MTsN Cirebon II very good. It is based on the questionnaire, the average of
the students’ response towards reading English fable is good categorized, and the point is
80.8.

And also in measuring the students’ mastery in learning preposition, the writer gives the
pretest and posttest to the students’ at the eighth year of MTsN Cirebon II. From the
students’result on the test after using reading English fable, the average of students’ score is
81.8.

In here, he claims that the English teacher has to give some new techniques to the
students in any process of teaching and learning in order to increase their motivation
especially in preposition. And for students, they should pay attention to the teacher’s lecture,
and appreciate it. Learning using picture dictation makes learning in the class more
interesting to studied English especially preposition of place. Because picture dictation
combines the learning by picture that can motivate students, and also increase their attention
to the teacher by dictation.

In here, the writer found similarity with his research, there is the writer used picture
dictation as independent variable for increasing dependent variable, but different with his
research, the writer more focus in listening ability whereas he is focus on grammar especially
in Preposition.

Third, Siti Aisyah (2009), in the research of “The Corrrelation Between The Using Of
Picture And The Students’ Achievement In Learning Preposition At The Fifth Year Of Sdn
Bolon Tenajar Lor Kertasemaya Indramayu” In her research she explained that English has
been taught to the fifth year of Sdn Bolon Tenajar, but they couldn’t listen to English well
caused by the fact that the students don’t understand the meaning of the sounds.

In the process of teaching and learning preposition, there are many factors that influence
it. Some of them are the teacher, the students, the method, and the facility. The most
dominant factor is the method. Because the method is the essential part of teaching. It will
contribute and influence the students’ learning achievement. The method that is used for the
fifth year of SDN Bolon Tenajar Lor Kertasemaya Indramayu in teaching preposition is using
picture.

The aims of her research are to know the students’ response in use the picture, to know
the students’ achievement in learning preposition, and to find out the correlation between the
application of picture and the students’ achievement in learning preposition. Different with
this research, the writer more focus toward the implementation of picture dictation to
improve students listening ability at the second year of senior high school.
 Fourth. Indah Imaniarti (2003) in the research of "The Effect of Using English Dictation
for Increasing Students’ Mastery in Learning Vocabulary at SMK Nasional Cirebon" found
that innovation in dictation method make the students enjoy, fun and have positive attitude in
teaching and learning process. The results also show that innovation in the dictation method
can improve the students' ability in language learning. The innovations of dictation in Indah's
study are jig-saw dictation, partial dictation, running dictation, grammar dictation, and
composition dictation. The research used mix-method: there were qualitative and quantitative
method.

All of the researches above are same with this research, but the methodology in this
research and all of them is different, the writer used Classroom Action Research. However.
all of the researches above have differences with this research, this research will use a picture
dictation as the method in listening teaching process. The students did not write words of
dictation, but the students drew in dictation process. It helped the students to be more
creative and try to find out the main idea or important information of dictation text in
listening teaching process.

1.10 The Frame of Thinking

All the teacher hope that their students to understand the subject what are taught by them,
but it is not easy. Because of that, the teacher must have improved their creativity to make the
teaching and learning process effective and interesting.

Wright (1989:2) states that picture are not just an aspect of method but trough their
representation of place, object and people they are an essential part of the overall experiences
we must help our students to cope with specially, pictures contribute to: interest and
motivation; a sense of the context of the language; a specific reference pointer or stimulus.

Because of that, writer chooses the teaching by use dictation technique. The writer’s
opinion that pictures dictation on themes’ my pet and my village can stimulate the students’
interesting in learning English especially in learning listening.

1.11 Hypothesis
 The researcher has a hypothesis that a picture dictation on themes’ my pet and my village
can improving the students' listening ability. The relevant of research found that new teaching
model can improve the score of students in English listening, and innovation in dictation
method can improve the students' ability in language learning. So. this research need to prove
that. The researcher used picture dictation on themes’ my pet and my village as the new
teaching model and the innovation of dictation. It needs an appropriate ways to prove that.