CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter describes the theoretical framework of the study as the basic
theory. It covers the concept of listening, the concept of VOA video, and authentic
VOA video material to improve students’ listening skills.
A. The Concept of Listening Skill
1. Definition of Listening
According to Newton & Nation (2020), listening is the natural precursor
to speaking, the early stages of language development in a person's first
language, and the naturalistic acquisition of other languages depends on
listening. In other words, listening is the first step in learning a language. It can
be seen in what infants do. They pick up their first language or mother tongue
by listening to those around them, such as their parents, siblings, and other
family members. Before speaking, they first learn new vocabulary and how to
pronounce them through listening.
Listening is the first and most fundamental skill beginners must learn
when learning a new language. It looks like other skills, such as reading,
writing, and speaking. Listening is essential because it is used daily (Putri,
2022). Wallace et al. (2004) state in their book "Teaching speaking, listening
and writing" that listening skills are essential for learning since they enable
students to acquire insights and information and to achieve success in
communicating with others. In addition to being necessary for learning,
listening is crucial for developing successful communication.
In addition, based on Putri (2022), listening is a creative skill. We can
recognize the sound we hear in our ears and take the primary material of words,
arrangements of words, and sound rises and falls, and we create significance
from that material. Listeners must understand the sender's vocabulary,
structure, and transmission speed choice. Listening is more complicated than
merely hearing. The process has four stages: perceiving and attention,
comprehending and interpreting, and remembering and reacting (Anita &
Widya, 2021). Base on Hien & Huong (2015) stated that listening as a foreign
 language learning is paramount since it provides language input. As an input
skill, listening plays a crucial role in students' language development. Listening
is a crucial component in the development of students' language.
From the definition above, listening is the first step in learning a
language, because it is used daily and a creative skill. We can recognize the
sound we hear in our ears, therefor learn a foreign language is paramount since
it provides language input for student. Therefore, it is clear that all listening
skills are crucial for improving students' listening abilities in the classroom.
2. Types of Listening
Listening, however, is not easy to master. According to Rost & Candlin
(2014), There are many types of listening that one needs to know before
somebody wants to learn these skills. That is:
a. Intensive; focus on phonology, syntax, and lexis. Intensive listening is
listening carefully to certain sounds, words, phrases, and grammatical and
pragmatic units. Based on (Schmidt, 2016), Popular and effective activities
in intensive listening include completing gap fills and transcriptions;
however, marking and pronunciation activities are also useful. Intensive
listening seems no longer necessary in most everyday situations; accurate
perception is involved in a high level of understanding and listening.
Listening intensively when needed, such as listening to specific essential
points or finding certain words, is necessary for listening proficiency.
b. Selective; Selective listening tasks may also be the most salient form of
listening instruction today. Focus Selective listening on the main ideas and
pre-set tasks. Selective listening refers to listening with a planned goal,
frequently to gather specific information to perform a task. In its vernacular
usage, selective listening refers to attending to only what you want to hear
and ignoring everything (Pulungan et al., 2019).
c. Interactive; Interactive listening refers to listening in a collaborative
conversation. The collaborative conversation is where learners interact with
each other or native speakers. Interactive listening focuses on being active
as a learner and on the conversational interaction in which the listener takes
 the lead in understanding by providing feedback, asking questions, and
supporting the speaker, besides can also use multimedia (Motlhaka &
Wadesango, 2014).
d. Extensive; Extensive listening focuses on continuously listening while
managing a large amount of auditory input. Extensive listening is defined as
listening for extended periods while concentrating on meaning. Academic
listening can be included in extensive listening. Extensive listening is
listening for several minutes while remaining in the target language, with
the long-term goal of appreciating and learning the content. Extensive
listening, protected language instruction, and listening for pleasure are all
examples of extensive listening (Schmidt, 2016).
e. Responsive; Responsive listening focuses on the learner's reaction to input.
Responsive listening is a type of listening practice in which the listener's
response is the goal. The listener's reaction to this activity effectively
expresses an opinion or point of view rather than providing information
based on what was heard. Besides, Responsive listening refers to the kind
of listening practices where the primary goal is to train the learners’
appropriate reactions to what is listened to along content, cultural, and
affective dimensions (Gu & Hu, 2018).
f. Autonomous; Autonomous listening focuses on progress management and
navigation of aid options for learners. Autonomous listening refers to
independently, without direct guidance from an instructor, seeking feedback
on their understanding, responding in the way they choose, and monitoring
their progress. Autonomous listening can include all types of listening under
discussion - intensive, selective, extensive, interactive, and responsive. The
key is that students have control over input selection, task completion, and
assessment. Benson and Vellorin Mehdiyev (2020) cited in Fatimah et al
(2021) stated that being autonomous can be an indicator for foreseeing the
students’ academic performance. In addition, the autonomous English
listening is very helpful to both English teaching and learning (Fatimah et
al., 2021).
 Therefore, every type of listening has a distinct purpose and approach to
helping listeners understand the message and its meaning. Initially, during
intensive listening, listeners were only asked to understand language
components such as phonemes and intonation. Then in responsive listening,
listeners must understand straightforward language ranges, such as greetings
and questions, so that listeners can respond quickly. And the type of listening
consider into VOA video in this research is intensive listening, where students
listen for specific essential points or find certain words, this is necessary for
listening proficiency.
3. Process of Listening
Tyagi (2013) states that listening has five stages: hearing, understanding,
remembering, evaluating, and responding.
a. Hearing
It is referred to as the response caused by sound waves stimulating the ear's
sensory receptors, and it is a physical response. Hearing is the perception
of sound waves, you must hear to listen, but you need not listen to hear (the
perception necessary for listening depends on attention). Brain screens
stimuli and permits only a select few to come into focus. This selective
perception is known as attention, an essential requirement for effective
listening. The role of hearing, although invisible, is critical to the
development of language and literacy skills across stage (Robinshaw,
2007).
b. Understanding
This step helps to understand symbols we have seen and heard. We must
analyze the meaning of the stimuli we have perceived. Symbolic stimuli
are words that sound like applause and sights like a blue uniform, which
also have symbolic meanings. The meanings attached to these symbols are
a function of our past associations and the context in which the symbols
occur. For successful interpersonal communication, the listener must
understand the intended meaning and context the sender assumes, it can be
 done with responding or giving feedback, asking questions, and using
nonverbal communication (Fontana et al., 2015).
c. Remembering
Remembering is an essential listening process because it means that an
individual has not only received and interpreted a message but has also
added it to the mind's storage bank. In listening, our attention is selective,
and so is our memory. What is remembered may different from what was
initially seen or heard, and the research results showed that recall was
organized more by event than by language (Haritos, 2003). Therefore, this
research using video as material listening skill.
d. Evaluating
McGrath (2002) & Tomlinson (2003) cited in (Ahmed et al., 2015) have
classified three types of evaluation (a) pre use evaluation, before the
particular has been used in classrooms (b) In/while use evaluation, while it
is being used (c) Post use evaluation, after it has been used. Only active
listeners participate at this stage of listening. At this point, the active
listener weighs evidence, sorts fact from opinion, and determines the
presence or absence of bias or prejudice in a message. The effective listener
ensures that he or she begins this activity early enough. Beginning this
process before a message is completed requires that we no longer hear and
attend to the incoming message. As a result, the listening process ceases.
e. Responding
This stage requires that the receiver complete the process through verbal or
nonverbal feedback because the speaker has no other way to determine if a
message has been received. This stage becomes the only overt means by
which the sender may determine the degree of success in transmitting the
message. Furthermore, the receiver's responses were not judged correct or
incorrect, the door was left open for further thinking (Wassermann, 2017).
 According to Newton & Nation (2020), some listening processes are as
follows:
1) Buttom-up Processes
These are the processes the listener uses to assemble the message piece-
by-piece from the speech stream, going from the parts to the whole.
Bottom-up processing involves understanding and parsing the flow of
speech at an increasingly more significant level, starting with the auditory
phonetic, phonemic, syllable, lexical, syntactic, semantic, propositional,
pragmatic, and interpretive (Field, 2003, p.326).
2) Top-down Processes
The top-down process involves the listener moving from all prior
knowledge, rhetorical content, and schema to chapter. In other words,
listeners use what they know about the context of the communication to
predict the message content and use parts of the message to confirm,
correct, or add to it. The essential process here is inference. In bottom-up
processing, learners rely on their linguistic knowledge to recognize
linguistic elements, words, consonants, vowels, sentences to do the
construction of meaning. Lingzhu (2003) state that teachers frequently
believe that students must hear every word, sentence, and sound before
they can comprehend the passage's overall meaning. But in reality,
students frequently use a top-down strategy to predict the likely theme
before switching to a bottom-up strategy to assess their comprehension.
4. Teaching Listening
Teaching listening is an ability that everyone cannot do. Therefore,
teaching listening is challenging for all people. Brown (2007) explained that
teaching is showing or helping someone to learn how to do something, giving
instructions, guiding in the study of something, and providing knowledge to
know or to understand. The teaching of listening has attracted a higher level of
interest in recent years than it did in the past (Richards, 2008). According to E
Brown (2001), there are six principles for designing listening techniques in the
classroom. The principles are summarized below:
a. In an interaction, the four-skills curriculum ensures the teacher recognizes
the importance of techniques that particularly increase listening
comprehension ability.
b. Intrinsically motivating use technique.
c. Utilize authentic language and context.
d. Carefully consider the form of the listener's responses.
e. Encourage the development of listening strategies.
f. Include both bottom-up and top-down listening techniques.
Also, Richards (2008) recommended a learning structure for
teaching listening, they are:
1) Pre-listening
Brown (2006) recommends that students have the opportunity to learn
the grammatical and vocabulary elements included in the text, as well
as to operate on prior knowledge. Some activities are suggested pre-
listening. They examine new words and reading, predict and speculate,
use a preliminary agenda and view a list of items before the texts in
group discussions before they listen.
2) While-listening
While listening activities are provided for students to help them develop
their abilities to obtain information from the speakers. Cloze exercises,
dictation, taking notes, and filling gaps with missing words are some of
the activities in this section.
3) Post-listening
Post-listening activities were used to assess this perception. Activities
in the post-listening stage include group discussion, paired reading,
summary writing, and shading and understanding checks.
Furthermore, Field (2002) also advocated the use of a reliable listening
and teaching model. It is divided into three sections. First, there is pre-listening,
which includes establishing context and motivation. Second, there is while-
listening, which includes extensive listening, pre-programmed assignment or
present questions, intensive listening, and answering questions. Finally, there
 is post-listening, which involves examining functional language and
determining the meaning of vocabulary. Listening intensively on every
occasion needed is essential to listening skills (Rost, 2002, p.138).
5. Assessing Listening
There are various methods of evaluating tasks and techniques for testing
listening in the teaching and learning process. Helgesen and Brown (2007:19),
cited in Hanifa (2014), Rost states some listening assessment and testing
techniques. They are as follows.
a. Discrete-item tests
1) Multiple choice questions following a listening test (responses scored
right or wrong).
2) True-falseformat (responsess cored right or wrong).
3) Open questions following the presentation of a listening text (questions
scored on a scale of correctness and completeness).
4) Standardized test scores (e.g., TOEFL or TOIEC).
The discrete item test was developed to curtail cheating and reduce the
impact of testwiseness, or the ability to determine a correct answer without
actually grasping the related content. Although discrete item test certainly
allow for random guessing, test takers can also use partial knowledge to
eliminate incorrect answers (Kingston et al., 2012).
b. Integrative tests
1) Open summarizing of a listening text (scored on scales of accuracy and
inclusion of facts and ideas).
2) Close summarizing of a text (scored on correct completions of blanks).
3) Dictation, complete or partial (score based on supplying the correct
missing words).
c. Communicative test
Written communication tasks involving listening (score on completing a
task, such as writing a complaint letter after heading a description problem).
 d. Interview tests
1) Face-to-face performances with the teacher or another student (scored
based on a checklist of items, such as appropriate responses to questions
and clarification questions).
2) Extended oral interview (scoring is keyed to a scale of native-like
behaviors, such as the Foreign Service Institute scale).
e. Self Assessment
1) The learner rates self on given criteria via questionnaire.
2) The learner provides a holistic assessment of their abilities via oral or
written journals.
f. Portfolio Assessment
1) The learner is observed and evaluated periodically throughout the course
on behavior in tasks and other class activities.
2) Portfolios may include any or all of the above types of objective and
subjective measures.
This research using multiple choice questions with fill-in-the-blank for the
test. Because, multiple choice and Fill-in-the-Blank Questions (FBQs) are
widely used from the classroom level to far larger scales to measure peoples’
proficiency at English as a second language. Examples of such tests include
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and TOEIC (Test of English
for International Communication). Based on Eiichiro Sumita et al (2005) FBQ
tests have advantages in that:
a. Easy for test-takers to input answers.
b. Computers can mark them, thus marking is invariable and objective.
c. They are suitable for the modern testing theory, Item Response Theory
(IRT).
6. The rubric of Listening Skills
This is the rubric of listening skills using VOA video material includes a
category, score, and description.
 Table 2. 1 The Analytical Scoring Rubric

Listening skills rubric element using Score

VOA video material
Very good 80-100

Good 70-80

Fair 60-70

Low 0-60

Source: Woottipong (2014)

Criteria:
a. Very good
If the correct answer is 8-10, the students get a score 80-100.
b. Good
If the correct answer is 7-8, the students get a score 70-80.
c. Fair
If the correct answer is 6-7, the students get a score 60-70.
d. Low
If the correct answer is 0-6, the students get a score 0-60.
B. The Concept of VOA Video
1. Definition of VOA Video
The acronym of VOA is Voice of America. The VOA is one of
instructional media or multimedia (audio visual) that media can be seen and
heard Huffman (2011) cited in Rohmah (2019). VOA is an international news
program in a computer application that can be accessed online.
VOA was founded on February 24, 1942, to fulfill people's needs with
trustworthy, honest, and accurate news. The guideline underlying VOA
broadcasting activity was a charter signed by President Gerald Ford and passed
into law on July 12, 1976. The first broadcast of VOA on February 24, 1942,
aired from San Francisco, California, on the country's west coast United States
of America.
 Voice of America, or VOA, is a multimedia broadcast (radio, television,
and internet) owned by the United States government, broadcasting various
programs in 53 languages. Headquartered in Washington DC, VOA has
hundreds of correspondents and stringer networks worldwide. VOA broadcasts
more than 1000 hours of weekly news, information, education, and cultural
programming to more than 100 million people worldwide. In order to reach
more than 93 million listeners worldwide, VOA also disseminates its mission
through a network of affiliated stations, specifically local stations dispersed
across thousands of cities, and to satisfy the public need for trustworthy, factual
news, VOA was established. A charter signed by President Gerald Ford and
enacted into law on July 12 serves as the foundation for VOA's broadcasting
activities (VOA, 2009).
2. Authentic VOA Video Material
According to Rogers & Medley (1988) state that the term authentic refers
to language samples that reflect a naturalness of form and appropriateness of
cultural and situational context that would be found in the language as spoken
by native speakers orally. Audio and video recordings of spontaneously
produced discourse or conversations by native speakers are authentic materials.
Based on Rogers & Medley (1988), students must experience the
language as it is used for communication among native speakers. Aural genuine
resources can be used in language classes to accomplish this. Gilman & Moody
(1984) also assert that teachers should use authentic materials when
undertaking advanced listening comprehension training with students at the
beginning and intermediate levels.
Empirical studies have confirmed that less proficient students can benefit
from authentic materials. In an investigation of high school students studying
German as a foreign language, Bernhardt & Berkemeyer (1988) state that
students at all levels can manage using authentic texts. The students' limited
linguistic competence did not short-circuit their ability to read authentic texts
in class with the support of their classmates and instructor (Rost, 2013). Many
teachers are still working in environments where the use of spontaneous
 language in the classroom is discouraged in favor of precision. Therefore, the
use of authentic material in EFL classes make a great help to avoid the stiffness
in language learning and to observe how the language is utilized in real
situations (Halim et al., 2018).
In this modern era, various media can be utilized to practice listening to
the native speaker of English, such as songs, movies or videos, applications,
and anything else that can be easily obtained through social media. However,
because native speakers typically babble, it might be challenging for novices
to listen to them sometimes. However, VOA (Voice of America) learning
English video is an American broadcasting show explicitly made for English
learners with native English speakers and a slower speech pace (Astuti et al.,
2020). Therefore, VOA is the right choice for EFL to be a teaching material in
the classroom.
3. Educational use of VOA Video
According to Astuti et al (2020), VOA video learning English is an
American broadcasting program released for English language learners. The
speaker is a native speaker of English, and the speed of speech is slower than
usual. VOA Learning English provides instructional opportunities to speak,
write, and listen extensively. Their engaging, informative, and detailed reports
also excite students for English learning. The learners are strongly encouraged
to learn many words and expressions that satisfy their communication needs
from such relevant materials. When the material is interesting, students are
more likely to engage with it and learn it. As a result, VOA videos are suitable
for teaching English in Indonesia (Nan & Mingfang, 2009).
VOA is frequently used in teaching and learning English in Indonesia,
such as in one Indonesian university where the VOA English language news
program is a creative learning (Kurniawan, 2011). The authentic materials on
the VOA English website offer what the EFL needs to study effectively and
efficiently. Additionally, most teachers use VOA English materials with the
following activities: a) asking students to listen to a specific listening at home
based on their preferred topic and then presenting their oral reports in class. b)
 Teachers instruct students to create listening materials (audio or video) and
publish them independently on the VOA English website. Those activities are
yet very challenging but exciting (Lauer, 2011).
4. Teaching VOA Video Material
Based on Woottipong (2014), video can be a handy tool for learning a
language, including providing real-world communication examples,
motivation for language study, and promoting language acquisition. Besides
this, Harmer (2001) states that teaching listening using video has some
techniques:
a. Pictureless Listening (language)
The teacher covers the screen, turns the monitor away from the students, or
turns the brightness control down. The students then listen to a dialogue
and have to guess where it is taking place and who the speakers are.
b. Pictureless Listening (music)
When an excerpt features prominent music, students can listen to it and
then comment on the scene and location they believe it to be accompanying
based on the emotion it seems to impart.
c. Pictureless Listening (sound effects)
Students can listen to the sounds in a scene without dialogue to guess the
scene. For example, they might hear the lighting of a gas stove, eggs being
broken and fried, coffee being poured, and the milk and sugar stirred in.
d. Picture or speech
We can divide the class in two, so half of the class faces the screen and half
faces away. The students who can see the screen must describe what is
happening to those who cannot. This forces them into immediate fluency
while the non-watching students struggle to understand what is happening.
It is an effective way of mixing reception and production in spoken English.
C. Teaching Authentic VOA Video Material to Improve Students’ Listening
Skills
1. The procedure of Teaching Listening using VOA Video Material
Based on Nor (2014), the teaching of listening can be done with various
techniques, such as the use of technology, and video materials can be used as
an alternate instructional tool for teaching listening because they are a rich
source of conversation and discourse by English speakers (Woottipong, 2014).
Several steps should be known for using VOA material for learning activities.
These steps include preparation, implementation, and follow-up (Daryanto,
2010, p. 46), cited in Amaliah Utami (2019).
First is the preparation step; there are several things that educators need
to do as follows:
a. Prepare students' read to participate actively so that at the latest previous
day, the activity plan learning by using VOA material should already be
notified to students.
b. It ensures the functionality of the devices used to display the program.
c. Ensure the topic before delivery benefits learners, and the issue format will
be discussed using VOA material.
d. Ensure that the electricity needed to run the program is available for
classroom activities.
e. Make sure the students’ worksheets and materials are available in sufficient
amounts.
The next step is implementation. The implementing step includes:
a. Try to save the file position when the switcher clicks the "Play" or "On"
button.
b. Try to have students already in the classroom at least 15 minutes before
learning activities begin.
c. Explain to students the subjects they will study, the topics discussed, and
the learning objectives to be achieved.
d. Ask students to pay attention to the information presented via VOA material
and fill in the blanks part of the text.
 e. Release the program (VOA) by clicking the "play" button.
f. Try to keep silent while the program's VOA is being played.
g. Watch and record the reactions of students during learning activities with
VOA material.
The last is the follow-up steps. At this step, as follows:
a. Ask the students to mention some topics of the material during listening to
the VOA.
b. Ask the students to ask various words that are considered problematic in the
material.
c. Check the correct and incorrect answers in the text.
d. Ask the students to conclude the lesson.
e. Informed the students about the topic for the next meeting.
2. The process of Listening using VOA Video Material
Listening is an active activity that has an internal process (Amaliah
Utami, 2019). According to Richards (2008), there are a few steps to take when
using VOA material for listening. These are the steps:
a. Use pre-listening activities to prepare students for what they hear and see.
1) Assess students' background knowledge of the topic in the text.
2) Give students the background information they need to understand the
listening passage.
3) Give students a worksheet on the material they will hear and watch.
4) Explain to students any cultural context that may be needed to
understand the section (including the type of text they will be listening
to, their intended roles, and the purpose of their listening). Use pre-
listening activities to prepare students for the information they are about
to hear or watch.
b. Match while-listening activities to the learning goal, the reason for listening,
and students’ listening skill level
1) Give students time to read the worksheet before they listen.
2) Write as little as possible while listening.
3) Students give their answers to fill in the blanks on their worksheets.
 4) Use questions to direct students' attention to important parts of the text
for understanding. For example, as students listen, use guessing to see if
they understand.
c. Finally, employ post-listening activities to check for students' worksheets,
evaluate the effectiveness of listening skills and methods, and check
students' understanding of what they have heard.
Using VOA material as learning involves determining the purpose of the
study through identification and orientation, beginning the learning process
with pre-listening and prior knowledge testing. Next, implement while -
listening with the worksheet as students listen to the video. Remember to
administer a post-test to evaluate students' skills after listening.