THE EFFECT OF USING ENGLISH SONGS ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT ON THE EIGHTH YEAR STUDENTS’ AT SMPK BUDI MULIA LAWANG-MALANG IN THE 2010/2011 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Listening is one of the skills that plays an important role in language learning. It should be mastered by students especially at SMPK Budi Mulia Lawang-Malang in English language learning. As told by the English teacher, the students have difficulties in listening comprehension. Their problems are usually caused by their poor ability to catch the information about what they had listened. Therefore, the English teacher is expected to solve the students‟ problems in Listening comprehension by using more interesting material. One of the ways that can be used and applied by the English teacher is to use the English songs as material in teaching Listening comprehension. The English teacher select the appropriate material which help the students in comprehending information that student heard easily. Griffee (1994:363) states that playing a song or piece of music can give a sense of energy and anticipation which other activities do not always generate. In addition, Mora (2000:151) says that music has the ability to change the hearer‟s mood because it stimulates our imagination. In this research the used of English songs as material was help the students in getting specific and general information. Here, the researcher used English songs as the material of teaching and learning process, especially in teaching Listening comprehension. This research was an experimental research. The purpose of this research was to know whether or not there is an effect of using English songs on Listening comprehension achievement of the eight year students at SMPK Budi Mulia LawangMalang in the

2010/2011 Academic Year. The research was conducted at SMPK Budi Mulia Lawang-Malang. This school was chosen because there were no previous researchers who used this school as the research area, especially about the English subject. There was also no previous researchers that had been conducted in this school related to the English songs as material in teaching Listening comprehension. The population of this research was class VIII students of SMPK Budi Mulia Lawang-Malang in the 2010/2011 academic year. The research respondents were determined based on lottery. The total numbers of the respondents were 67 students; 33 students of class VIII-A as the experimental group which was taught by using English songs and 34 students of class VIII-B as the control group that was taught by using a conventional way. The primary data of this research were collected from students‟ score of Listening comprehension test while the supporting data were gained from the interview, documentation and questioner. The primary data were analyzed by using independent sample t-test. The result indicated that the used of English songs has a significant effect on Listening comprehension achievement on the eighth year students at SMPK Budi Mulia Lawang-Malang in the 2010/2011 academic year. It was proved based on the calculation of the mean score of the experimental group was higher than the mean score of the control group (68.94 >62.06). The value of significant column of t-test table by using SPSS which was 0.020. It means that 0.020 < 0.05. Thus, the alternate hypothesis (Ha) formulated: “The use of English songs has a significant effect on Listening comprehension achievement of the eight year students at SMPK Budi Mulia Lawang-Malang in the 2010/2011 academic year” was accepted. In conclusion, the use of English songs was one of the effective media that had a significant effect on listening comprehension achievement. Based on the result of the research, the English teacher was recommended to use English songs as a material in teaching English especially Listening comprehension.