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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEARNING STYLE AND
LISTENING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT OF
TWELFTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA PUSRI
PALEMBANG
UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
This thesis was accepted as one of the requirement to get
the title of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd.)
by
Eska Putri Afriani
NIM. 12250040
ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
TARBIYAH FACULTY
UIN RADEN FATAH PALEMBANG
2016
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DEDICATION
With all of my love, I dedicate this thesis to:
Allah SWT the Lord of the world, the Greatest of the greats who has
given blessing, mercy and patience in finishing this thesis.
My beloved father Sudirman and mother Ema who have given full of
love, attention, motivation and pray. Thanks for all your affection
endless love. Without them, she is nothing
My gorgeous brothers Achmad Sulistyo and Tri Andika who have given
me support and motivation.
My advisors Mrs. Dr. Dian Erlina, M.Hum and Miss Winny Agustia
Riznanda, M.Pd for their great contribution, guidance, kindness, and
patience in finishing this thesis.
All of my inspiring lectures Hj Lenny Marzulina M.Pd, M. Holandyah
M.Pd, Beni Wijaya M.Pd, Manalullaili, M.Ed, Aisyah Shahab, M.Pd
and others that I cannot mention here one by one.
My examiners Hj Renny Kurnia Sari, M.Pd and Nova Lingga Pitaloka,
M.Pd
My partner in crime Dini Aulia Dwintan, S.Pd
My beloved friends Dian Pertiwi S.Pd. Ayu Fatimah S.Pd, Densi, S.Pd
My best friends Dia Mardalena, S.Pd, Aceng Kartubi, S.Pd, Diana
Lestari S.Pd.
My classmates PBI 01 2012 Dewi Rilliyani Wianda, S.Pd, Debby
Lestari, S.Pd, Elsya Agesty, S.Pd Ditta Listiorini, S.Pd, Elva Novianti,
S.Pd, Beta Nurlinda, S.Pd, Diah Astini, S.Pd and others that I cannot
mention here one by one who had shared the time, experience together and
giving me a wonderful togetherness.
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All of big family of PBI 2012
My college English Education Study Program of UIN Raden Fatah
Palembang.
Big family of SMA Pusri Palembang who accepted and gave permission
to do research and got all related data.
Twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri Palembang who have participated
in this research
Everybody who always asked me when I finished my thesis. It gave me
strong motivation to finish this thesis as soon as possible
MOTTO
SUCCESS is the best revenge.
Don’t forget these words
Pray, Attitude, Knowledge, Skill and Action
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhmadulillahirabbil’alamiin all praises are given by the writer to Allah
SWT, the Lord of the world, the Greatest of the greats. Only by His power,
bestowal, affection, and guidance, the writer can finish her thesis. Peace and
Blessing be upon to our beloved Prophet, Muhammad SAW, his family, his
companions, and his followers.
This thesis is presented to the Faculty of Tarbiyah as a partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Strata I (S.Pd.) in English Language
Teaching.
In finishing this thesis, the writer realizes that there are many relatives
who give their help, guidance, and motivation. May Allah SWT give reward for
their kindness. Amiin. First, the writer would like to express her special gratitude
to her advisors, Dr. Dian Erlina, M.Hum., as the first advisor and Winny Agustia
Riznanda, M.Pd., as the second advisor for their great contribution, guidance,
kindness, and patience in finishing the thesis. The writer realizes without them her
thesis will not finish until now. She is also very grateful to the Head of English
Education Study Program and the Dean of Tarbiyah Faculty of UIN Raden Fatah
Palembang for their assistance in administration matters.
In addition, the writer would like to express her deepest appreciation to her
parents and brothers for their love, pray and support. She also likes to extend her
gratitude to her classmates PBI 01 2012 and all of friends.
Palembang
The writer,
EPA
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................... iv
LIST OF FIGURE ....................................................................................... v
LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................. vi
LIST OF DOCUMENTATIONS ................................................................ v
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background ............................................................................................ 1
1.2. Problem(s) of the Study ......................................................................... 8
1.3. Objective(s) of the Study ....................................................................... 9
1.4. Significance of the Study ....................................................................... 9
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Correlational Research ...................................................................... 11
2.2. Learning Style ................................................................................... 13
2.2.1. The Definition of Learning Style ...................................................... 13
2.2.2. The Types and Characteristic of Learning Style ............................... 16
2.3. The Concept Listening Comprehension ............................................ 24
2.3.1. The Definition of Listening Comprehension .................................... 24
2.3.2. The Importance of Listening Comprehension ................................... 26
2.3.3. The Process of Listening Comprehension ......................................... 27
2.3.4. Types of Listening ............................................................................. 30
2.3.5. Difficulties Faced by Students during Listening Activity ................. 31
2.4. TOEFL Junior Standard Test ............................................................. 34
2.4.1. Test Purpose of TOEFL Junior Standard Test .................................. 34
2.4.2. The Structure of TOEFL Junior Standard Test ................................. 35
2.4.3. Test Content of TOEFL Junior Standard Test .................................. 36
2.4.4. Scoring System of TOEFL Junior Standard Test .............................. 36
2.5. Previous Related Study ..................................................................... 37
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2.6. Hypotheses ........................................................................................ 40
2.7. Criteria of Hypotheses ....................................................................... 41
III. METHODS AND PROCEDURES
3.1. Research Design ................................................................................ 42
3.2. Research Variables ............................................................................ 43
3.3. Operational Definitions ..................................................................... 43
3.4. Population and Sample ...................................................................... 46
3.4.1. Population .......................................................................................... 46
3.4.2. Sample ................................................................................................ 47
3.5. Data Collection ................................................................................... 48
3.6. Validity and Reliability ...................................................................... 54
3.7. Data Analysis ..................................................................................... 58
IV. FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS
4.1. Research Findings .............................................................................. 61
4.1.1. Result of Learning Style Questionnaire ............................................ 61
4.1.2. Result of Listening Comprehension ................................................... 63
4.2. Statistical Analysis ............................................................................. 64
4.2.1. Normality ........................................................................................... 64
4.2.2. Linearity ............................................................................................ 66
4.3. Correlation between Learning Style and Listening Comprehension . 67
4.4. Interpretations ..................................................................................... 68
V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1. Conclusions ....................................................................................... 75
5.2. Suggestions .......................................................................................... 76
REFFERENCES
APPENDICES
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ABSTRACT
This research aimed to describe the relationship between students’ learning style
and their achievement in listening skill. The method which was used in this
research was correlational research. The population of the research was the
twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri Palembang in the 2016/2017 academic year.
There are 128 students from five classes as the population in this research. The
sample was taken by using convenience sampling which consist of 86 students.
Furthermore there were two variables in this research. The first one was students’
learning style (variable X) and the second one was students’ achievement in
listening skill (variable Y). The students’ learning style score was taken from the
questionnaire whereas the student’ achievement in listening was taken from
scoring. Based on the data analysis, it was found that the r-obtained (-.084) was
lower than r-table (0.1765). then the level of probability (p) significance (sig.2-
tailed) was .443. It means that p (.443) was higher than .05 . It means that null
hypothesis (H0) is accepted and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is rejected. From
the research finding, it can be concluded that there was no significant relationship
between students’ learning style and their achievement in listening skill. It means
that students’ learning style is not a dominant factor that affects listening
achievement.
Keywords: Learning Style, Listening Comprehension
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 : Correlational Coefficient ................................................................ 12
Table 2 : Summarizes the Structure of the Test ............................................. 35
Table 3 : TOEFL Junior Scoring .................................................................... 36
Table 4 : CEFR .............................................................................................. 37
Table 5 : Indicators of English Learning Style .............................................. 44
Table 6 : The Population of the Study ........................................................... 47
Table 7 : The Sample of the Study ................................................................. 47
Table 8 : Learning Style Classifications ........................................................ 48
Table 9 : Score Categories ............................................................................. 50
Table 10 : The Specifications of Listening ................................................... 50
Table 11 : Listening Score ............................................................................. 52
Table 12 : The Descriptor of Listening Comprehension ................................ 54
Table 13 : Reliability of TOEFL Junior ......................................................... 56
Table 14 : Standard Error Measurement of TOEFL Junior Standard Test .... 57
Table 15 : The Interpretation of Correlational Coefficient ............................ 59
Table 16 : Descriptive Statistic Analysis of Learning Style .......................... 62
Table 17 : Distributions of Learning Style ..................................................... 62
Table 18 : Descriptive Statistic Analysis if Listening Comprehension ......... 63
Table 19 : Distributions of Listening Comprehension ................................... 63
Table 20 : Normality Test .............................................................................. 65
Table 21 : Linearity Test ................................................................................ 66
Table 22 : Correlation between Learning Style and Listening Comprehension 67
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 : Research Design ............................................................................ 42
Figure 2 : Distribution of Learning Style Data .............................................. 65
Figure 3 : Distribution of Listening Comprehension ..................................... 66
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LIST OF APPENDIX
APPENDIX 1 Questionnaire of Learning Style
APPENDIX 2 Scoring Sheet
APPENDIX 3 Angket Gaya Belajar
APPENDIX 4 Lembar Skor
APPENDIX 5 Listening Comprehension
APPENDIX 6 Listening Comprehension Script
APPENDIX 7 Answer Key
APPENDIX 8 Instrument Validation
APPENDIX 9 Tabulation of Learning Style
APPENDIX 10 Result of Learning Style
APPENDIX 11 Tabulation of Listening Comprehension
APPENDIX 12 Result of Listening Comprehension
APPENDIX 13 Research Example
APPENDIX 14 Research Attendent List
APPENDIX 15 SPSS Data
APPENDIX 16 Documentation
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LIST OF DOCUMENTATION
1. Fotocopy KTM
2. Fotocopy Kwitansi Pembayaran
3. Ijazah SMA
4. Usul Judul Skripsi
5. Pengesahan Judul Skripsi
6. Formulir Konsultasi Revisi Proposal
7. Penumjukan Dosen Pembimbing Skripsi
8. Sertifikat Ospek
9. Sertifikat BTA
10. Setrtifikat Intensive Bahasa Arab
11. Sertifikat Intensive Bahasa Inggris
12. Sertifikat Puskom
13. Sertifikan KKN
14. Transkrip Nilai
15. SK Pembimbing
16. SK Penelitian
17. SK telah melakukan penelitian
18. Kartu Bimbingan Skripsi
19. Sertifikat TOEFL
20. Fotocopy Pembayaran Ukian Kompre dan Munaqasah
21. SK Bebas Teori
22. Rekaptulasi Ujian Komprehensif
23. SK Lulus Ujian Komprehensif
24. SK Kelengkapan dan Keaslian Berkas Munaqasah
25. Hasil Ujian Skripsi
26. Formulir Konsultasi Skripsi
27. Formulir Penjilidan Skripsi
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents: (1) background; (2) research problem; (3) research
objectives; and (4) significance of the study.
1.1. Background
It has been acknowledged that English has been used all over the world. It
means that English is a means of communication that is used internationally by
people to communicate with others to transfer ideas, thoughts, feelings, attitudes,
or messages (Farkhan, 2006). Nowadays, people need to be able to use English in
order to challenge globalization.
In English, there are four basic language skills that teachers have to teach
and students have to learn; they are reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
Those skills cannot be separated and related each other. It is impossible if we talk
to people without listening to their speaking and also it is impossible to write
without reading what we write. Having good mastery in listening skill is the
fundamental for everybody to communicate in daily activity. Bozorgian (2012, p.
2) claims that listening skill occupies almost 50% of our daily communication.
With very high degree of influence, it is certain that listening occupied the main
aspects of the smooth communication for human in daily life. Listening is also
influential in acquiring foreign language. Moreover, the key to master foreign
language is having good listening skill. In line, Hamouda (2013, p. 113) state no
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one can deny the importance of listening skill in foreign language learning
because the key to acquire the language is to receive language input. In addition,
Renukadevi (2014, p. 60) claims that listening plays a vital role, as it helps the
language learner to acquire pronunciation, word stress, vocabulary, and syntax
and the comprehension of messages conveyed can be based solely on tone of
voice, pitch and accent; and it is only possible when learner listen.
In developing and investigating proficiency in English, the literature of the
language skills is very dense, and as the result, an intense amount of sources
dealing with the importance of speaking, writing, and reading exists. Alderson
(2005, p. 138) says that listening is highly complex ability to understand spoken
text has received much less attention in the literature. Listening has been
neglected in the foreign literature until recently whereas a language acquisition
theory by Krashen (1982) emphasizes that people acquire language understanding
the linguistic information they hear. Rost (2002, p.236) also agrees that
developing proficiency in listening is a key of achieving proficiency in speaking.
Not surprisingly, listening has a critical priority among the four skill areas for
language students.
In spite of its importance in foreign language learning, the neglecting of
listening skill has been accompanied with an ongoing debate about teaching and
learning which has long been avoided and poorly taught as an aspect of English in
many English foreign language programs. It is such a common thing to find
listening not practiced as a skill in English foreign language course books. It is
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often used as a means of exposing students the language (White, 2006, p.11;Yang,
2006, p.2)
Listening is a receptive skill besides reading that teachers have to teach.
Listening plays an important role in language teaching. It means that teaching
listening becomes an important task for English teachers to conduct in order to
achieve the curriculum objective. Moreover, teaching listening also has attracted a
greater level of interest in recent years than in the past. According to Richard
(2008, p. 1), university entrance exams, school exams, and other examinations
often include listening component. It indicates that listening skill is one of main
components of second language proficiency, and also reflects that if listening is
not tested, teachers will not teach it.
Listening is also an important part in determining the success of students
in academic settings. They need good listening comprehension skill to help them
in teaching and learning process. Daweesh (2014) states that for success in
academic setting, both instructors and students should acknowledge the
importance of listening comprehension. Especially for senior high school
students, having good listening comprehension can help the students understand
about the material and get so much new information. As a result, having good
listening comprehension skill will improve students learning achievement.
For many students, listening is a difficult skill to improve because in
listening, students have to pay much attention, they have to concentrate, and
sometimes they feel asleep. It also needs a quiet situation without any noise to do
because when there are a lot of noise, listening in English will be hard to do
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(Faridah, 2014, p. 2). Thus, students have a limited vocabulary. The speaker may
choose words the students do not know. Students sometimes encounter an
unknown word which may cause them to stop and think about the meaning of that
word and thus cause them to miss the next part of the speech. Furthermore,
Hamouda (2013, p. 114) confirms that EFL learners have serious problems in
English listening comprehension due to the fact that teachers pay more attention
to English grammar, reading, and vocabulary. He also claims that students seem
to learn listening, not listening comprehension. Students usually listen to a text,
respond to questions, and check their answers.
According to Goh (2000, p. 59-60) proposed ten common listening
comprehension problems. He described; 1) quicly forget what is heard; 2) do not
recognise words they know; 3) understand words but not intended the message; 4)
neglected the next part when thinking about meaning; 5) unable to form a mental
representation from words heard; 6) cannot chunk streams of speech; 7) miss the
beginning of the texts; 8) concentrate too hard or unable to concentrate; 9) do not
understand subsequent parts of input because of earlier problems; 10) confused
about the key ideas in the message. In relation, Malkawi (2010, p. 773) explained
that there are three listening problem that senior high school students usually face
in listening comprehension. 1) speech speed; 2) limited knowledge of vocabulary
and structure of sentences; 3) limited knowledge of topic in question. The
problems above happen because the students did not aware about strategy when
they are learning listening.
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In Indonesia context, the teaching of EFL listening is learnt either as a
discrete or integrated language skill in part of language curriculum. For the focus
of EFL listening as an integrated language skill, some students still face problem
in listening comprehension, especially those who are in high school level.
Handayani (2009) found 89% of the students of SMPN 9 Malang facing problems
in learning listening. Meanwhile, EFL listening is taught as a discrete course at
English education program in the university level. It has certain course names
such as listening or listening discourses for acquiring the overall meaning of
spoken English. The students may have difficulties to comprehend learning
materials if they weak listening skill since the classes are conducted in English
Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000, p. 102) say that language learning depends on
listening because of more time used in listening to the foreign language than in
producing it.
The students’ success in learning listening can be measured by their
achievement in the subject. Achievement itself derives from students’
comprehension, understanding and mastery about certain information or skills
which is taken from some tests which are given to the students. In learning
listening, students certainly have different levels in achievements. According to
Ellis (2003, p. 73), the different achievements are affected by individual
differences such as motivation, aptitude, personality, cognitive style, learning
strategies and preferred learning style.
Learning style becomes one of strategies of that students have to know
because it will help them to comprehend listening easily. Moreover, there are
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many teachers who do not pay attention to learning styles of their students and
many students also do not pay attention to their own learning style whereas
knowing it can help them to learn listening easily. According to Chiya (2003, p.
27), teachers should consider students’ learning styles for their successful
learning. When teachers are aware of the importance of learning styles, they can
provide a good map to their students.
It is not easy for teachers to accommodate different learning styles unless
their students develop the ability to shift learning styles according to the activity.
Recognizing the weaknesses of their own styles and the strengths of the learning
styles is important for the students in order to be effective learners (Chiya, 2003,
p. 6). It is also supported by Coffield, Moseley, Hall and Ecclestone (2004, p. 2)
that states that the students will be more motivated to learn by knowing more
about their own strength and weaknesses as learners, in response to individuals’
strength and weaknesses, retention and achievement rates in formal programs are
likely to rise and ‘learning to learn’ skills may provide a foundation for lifelong
learning. In relation, Pritchard (2009, p. 42) states each individual will adopt an
approach to learning with which they are most comfortable and in doing so leave
behind the approaches with which they are less comfortable. It is helpful for
learners if they are aware of their own particular learning preferences in order that
they can use an appropriate learning style to suit the particular learning that is
being undertaken, and take opportunities to improve their potential for learning
when faced with a learning activity that might steer them towards one of their
‘weaker’ – or at least one of their less favoured – styles.
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Learning style refers to individuals’ fastest and best way to learn. Every
student absolutely has different way in learning.. Some students learn best by
seeing, some students learn best by hearing and listening, and others learn best by
touching and moving. It is supported by Naning and Hayati (2011, p. 2), learning
style is the way a person prefers to learn and process the information. Some
students tend to le arn through reading, other students tend to learn through
listening and the others tend to learn through experiencing.
Learning style is one of the main factors that help determine how and how
well the students learn a second language or foreign language which can influence
their comprehension both in reading, writing, listening and speaking (Oxford,
2003, p. 1). It means that learning styles have relationship through English skills
comprehension. Some researches on learning styles and language learning
performance show that there is a relationship between learning styles of the
students and the success of the students in language learning (Sadeghi, 2012, p.
120). Language learning includes English language skills comprehension such
reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Based on the informal interview with the twelfth grade students of SMA
Pusri Palembang, most of students don’t know about learning styles and their own
learning styles. The teachers use teacher-centered approaches to teach their
students and the teacher never do the activities related to the learning styles. As a
result, most of the students never identify their learning styles. In relation to their
achievement in listening comprehension, the students have difficulties in
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understanding it because sometimes they don’t know that the speakers is talking
about and it is hard for them to comprehend it.
Some researchers have previously explored those related variables;
Students’ learning styles and their achievement in listening skill. Jowkar (2015)
found that there was correlation between types of learning styles and listening
comprehension but Naning and Hayati (2011) found that the students’ learning
styles were not related to their listening achievement. Further, Faridah (2014)
indicated that the type of learning styles did not influence their listening
achievement.
1.2. Research Problems
Based on the background, the research problems are formulated in
following questions:
1. Is there any significant relationship between learning style and listening
comprehension achievement of twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri
Palembang ?
2. How much does learning style significantly influence listening
comprehension achievement of twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri
Palembang ?
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1.3. Research Objectives
In accordance with the problems above, the objectives of this study are:
1. To find out if there is a relationship between learning styles and listening
comprehension achievement of twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri
Palembang.
2. To know if learning style influences listening comprehension achievement
of twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri Palembang
1.4 . Significance of the study
It is hoped that this study will give some information on the development
of language teaching and learning, especially understanding learning styles
related to the students’ achievement in listening.
Hopefully, this study is expected to be beneficial to the following parties:
1. To the English teachers of SMA Pusri Palembang.
The results of this study are expected to be useful for the English teachers in
SMA Pusri Palembang to know the concept of learning styles as one factor
that can influence the students’ success or failure in their study. By knowing
their students’ learning style, the teachers can improve their teaching strategy
when there are teaching in order to the students can understand easily.
2. To the students of SMA Pusri Palembang.
This study is expected to give valuable information for students of SMA Pusri
Palembang. By knowing about how their learning style, the students
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themselves are expected to know how to improve themselves most efficiently
through using different types of learning styles.
3. To Other Researchers
The results of this study cis expected to be able to help other researchers who
conduct research at the same subject and can be reference.
4. To the Researcher
This study gives valuable experiences for the researcher. By conducting this
research, researcher develops her understanding in learning styles. Therefore,
researcher gets more awareness in teaching English as foreign language
especially in term listening comprehension.
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents: (1) correlational research; (2) the concept of
learning style; (3) the concept of listening comprehension; (4) TOEFL Junior
Standard Test; (5) previous related study; (6) hypotheses; and (7) criteria of
testing hypotheses.
2.1. Correlational Research
Fraenkel, Wallen, and Hyun (2012, p. 331) state the correlation study
mainly focuses on the possibility of relationships between only two or more
variables investigated without any attempts to influence them. Furthermore,
Creswell (2012, p. 338) declares that in correlational research designs,
investigators use the correlation statistical test to describe and measure the degree
of association (or relationship) between two or more variables or sets of scores. In
this design, the researchers relate the variable, using the correlation statistic. To
know the correlation result, there is correlation coefficient, which is a numerical
index that provides information about the strength and direction of the
relationship between two variables. It provides information how variables are
associated. Correlation coefficient specifically range from range from -1 to 1, with
zero standing for no correlation at all. If the number is greater than zero, there is a
positive correlation. If the number is less than zero, there is a negative correlation.
If the number is equal to zero, there is no correlation between the two variables. If
the number is equal to +1.00 or equal to -1.00, the correlation is called perfect.
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Positive correlation means high scores on one variable tend to be associated with
high scores on the other variable, while low scores on one are associated with low
scores on the other variable. Negative correlation present when high scores on
one variable are associated with low scores on the other variable, and low scores
on one are associated with high scores on the other.
Below is the table showing the degree of correlation between the two
variables based on Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007, p.536):
Table 1
Correlation Coefficient
Interval Coefficient Level of Correlation
0.20 – 0.35 Weak
0.35 – 0.65 Fair
0.65 – 0.85 Strong
Over 0.85 Very Strong
Source : Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007, p.536)
There are two primary types of correlational research design; explanation
and prediction (Creswell, 2012, p. 340). The explanatory research design is a
correlational design in which the researcher is interested in the extent to which
two variables (more) co-vary, that is, where changes in one variable are reflected
in changes in the other. Explanatory design consists of a simple association
between two variables or more than two. Creswell (2012, p. 340) describe the
characteristics of this design are that the researchers correlate two or more
variables, collect data at one point in time, analyze all participants as a single
group, obtain at least two scores for each individual in the group—one for each
variable, report the use of the correlation statistical test (or an extension of it) in
27
the data analysis, and make interpretations or draw conclusions from the statistical
test results.
In a prediction design, researchers seek to anticipate outcomes by using
certain variables as predictors (Creswell, 2012, p. 341). This design is useful
because it helps anticipate or forecast future behavior. The purpose of this design
is to identify variables that will positively predict an outcome or criterion. In this
form of research, the investigator identifies one or more predictor variables and a
criterion (or outcome) variable. A predictor variable is the variable used to make a
forecast about an outcome in correlational research while criterion variable is the
outcome being predicted. Creswell (2012, p. 341-342) shows that the
characteristics of this design are that the researchers typically include the word
“prediction” in the title or research questions, measure the predictor variable(s) at
one point in time and the criterion variable at a later point in time, and forecast
future performance.
In addition, the minimum sample size for correlation research mention by
many researchers is not less than 30 (Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012 p. 338; and
Creswell, 2012, p. 146).
2.2. The Concept of Learning Styles
2.2.1. The Definition of Learning Style
Learning style is the way a person prefers to learn. Sometimes, this person
enjoys with her or his way in learning. She or he feels comfortable in absorbing
the information with her or his own way. According to Ahmed (2012, p. 221),
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learning style refers to an individual’s characteristics and preferred ways of
gathering, interpreting, organizing and thinking about information. Some learners
prefer to learn by means of visual forms of information, like pictures, diagrams,
and schematics; others prefer to learn from verbal forms, such as written and
spoken explanations; some learners tend to focus on facts and data; others are
more comfortable with theories and mathematical models; some students favor
learning actively and interactively; others prefer to learn more introspectively and
individually.
Learning styles can be defined, classified, and identified in many different
ways. It can also be described as a set of factors, behaviors, and atti-tudes that
enhance learning in any situation. How the students learn and how the teachers
teach, and how the two interact with each others are influenced by different
learning styles. Each person is born with certain tendencies toward a particular
style, and these biological characteristics are influenced by external factors such
as: cultures, personal experiences, and developments (Chermahini, Ghanbari and
Talab, 2013 p. 324). Each learners have different and consistent preferred ways of
perception, organization and retention. These learning styles are the indicators of
how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environments.
Students have differ-ent styles of learning, and they learn differently from one
another.
Different learning styles indicate individuals’ fastest and best way to
absorb and comprehend information from the outside. Understanding learning
style is a key to develop individuals’ ability in their work, school, and
29
environment. By understanding it, they are be able to learn easily, communicate
easily, and get maximum result in learning. It is supported by Pritchard (2009, p.
42), what becomes very clear as learners think closely about different learners
who are known to us is that they do not all learn in the same way. Each individual
will adopt an approach to learning with which they are most comfortable and in
doing so leave behind the approaches with which they are less comfortable. It is
helpful for learners if they are aware of their own particular learning preferences
in order that they can use an appropriate learning style to suit the particular
learning that is being undertaken, and take opportunities to improve their potential
for learning when faced with a learning activity that might steer them towards one
of their ‘weaker’ – or at least one of their less favoured – styles.
Many experts define what learning style actually is. Pritchard (2009, p. 41)
defines that learning style is defined variously as a particular way in which an
individual learns; a mode of learning – an individual’s preferred or best manner(s)
in which to think, process information and demonstrate learning; an individual’s
preferred means of acquiring knowledge and skills; habits, strategies, or regular
mental behaviours concerning learning, particularly deliberate educational
learning, that an individual displays. Meanwhile, Liu (2008) defined it as
“approaches to learning which refer to information processed in a preferred way
in accordance to learner’s habitual characteristics”. In addition, Yassin (2015, p.
39) defines that learning style is the way in which somebody approaches the
acquisition of knowledge.
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According to Naming and Hayati (2011, p. 4) defines learning style is the
way a person prefers to learn. Sometimes, this person enjoys with her or his way
in learning. She or he feels comfortable in absorbing the information with her or
his own way. Furthermore according to Chermahini et.al (2013, p. 324) define
learning style is generally used to explain an individual's natural or habitual
pattern of acquiring and processing information in learning situations
From the definition above, it can be concluded that students’ learning style
is a term used to describe the students’ beggining way to receive any information.
It also refers to the students’ easiest, fastest, and preferred way to receive and
understand any information in learning activity. It is possible for every student to
have the combination of learning styles, but every student usually have a
dominant learning style or their own preference style.
2.2.2. The Types and Characteristics of Learning Style
The different styles of language learning may complement one another
instead of competing with one another. The important thing that is helpful to
students is to allow them to become aware of their own learning style preferences,
yet encouraging them to develop less preferred styles which may suit different
learning activities (Al-Hebaishi, 2012, p. 511). By knowing learning style, it can
help students when they are learning in the classroom and also it can make
students easily to understand the material.
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2.2.2.1. General Learning Style
According to Pritchard (2009, p. 44) states over many years, and through
many research projects, including close and detailed observation of the way we
communicate, three particular learning styles – visual, auditory and kinaesthetic –
have been identified.
2.2.2.1.1. Visual Learners
Students with visual learners prefer to learn by using picture to understand
the lessons. It is supported by Pritchard (2009, p. 44) states visual learners prefer
to learn by seeing.They have good visual recall and prefer information to be
presented visually, in the form of diagrams, graphs, maps, posters and displays,
for example. They often use hand movements when describing or recalling events
or objects and have amtendency to look upwards when thinking or recalling
information.
In relation, Gilakjani (2012, p. 105), visual learners think in pictures and
learn best in visual images. They depend on the instructor’s or facilitator’s non-
verbal cues such as body language to help with understanding. Sometimes, visual
learners favour sitting in the front of the classroom. They also take descriptive
notes over the material being presented
2.2.2.1.2. Auditory learners
Students with auditory style prefer to learn by listening. They are easy to
understand and comprehend lesson or information by listening to the lectures,
discussions, or recording. Therefore, they will fell disturbed when there is noise
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around them. According to Gilakjani (2012, p. 106) states these individuals
discover information through listening and interpreting information by the means
of pitch, emphasis and speed. These individuals gain knowledge from reading out
loud in the classroom and may not have a full understanding of information that is
written.
In relation Pritchard (2009, p. 44) claims auditory learners prefer to learn
by listening. They have good auditory memory and benefit from discussion,
lectures, interviewing, hearing stories and audio tapes, for example.They like
sequence, repetition and summary, and when recalling memories tend to tilt their
head and use level eye movements.
2.2.2.1.3. Kinaesthetic learners
Students with kinesthetic style study by learning by doing to comprehend
something. According to Pritchard (2009, p. 45) claims kinaesthetic learners
prefer to learn by doing.They are good at recalling events and associate feelings or
physical experiences with memory. They enjoy physical activity, field trips,
manipulating objects and other practical, first-hand experience.They often find it
difficult to keep still and need regular breaks in classroom activities.
Furthermore, Gilakjani (2012, p. 106) state individuals that are
kinaesthetic learn best with and active “hands-on” approach. These learners
favour interaction with the physical world. Most of the time kinaesthetic learners
have a difficult time staying on target and can become unfocused effortlessly.
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2.2.2.2. Felder and Silverman’s Learning Style
A model is developed by Felder and Silverman (1988, p. 674). They said
that a learning style model classifies students according to where they fit on a
number of scales pertaining to the ways they receive and process information.
They divided learning style in eight kinds active, reflective, sensing, intuitive,
visual, verbal, sequential and global
2.2.2.2.1. Active and Reflective Learners
An “active learner” is someone who feels more comfortable with, or is
better at, active experimentation than reflective observation, and conversely for a
reflective learner.
Active learners do not learn much in situations that require them to be
passive (such as most lectures), and reflective learners do not learn much in
situations that provide no opportunity to think about the information being
presented (such as most lectures). Active learners work well in groups; reflective
learners work better by themselves or with at most one other person. Active
learners tend to be experimentalists; reflective learners tend to be theoreticians.
2.2.2.2.2. Sensing and Intuitive Learners
Sensing and intuition are the two ways people tend to perceive the word.
Sensing involves observing, gathering data through the senses; intuition involves
indirect perception by way of the unconscious – speculation, imagination,
hunches.
Sensors like facts, data, and experimentation; intuitors prefer principles
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and theories. Sensors like solving problems by standard methods and dislike
“surprises”; intuitors like innovation and dislike repetition. Sensors are patient
with detail but do not like complications; intuitors are bored by detail and
welcome complications. Sensors are good at memorizing facts; intuitors are good
at grasping new concepts. Sensors are careful but may be slow; intuitors are
quick but may be careless. These characteristics are tendencies of the two types,
not invariable behavior patterns: any individual—even a strong sensor or
intuitor—may manifest signs of either type on any given occasion
2.2.2.2.3. Visual and Verbal Learners
The ways people receive information may be divided into there
categories, sometimes referred to act modalities; visual – sights, pictures,
diagrams, symbols, auditory – sounds, words, kinesthetic – taste, touch and smell.
Visual learners remember best what the see; pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time
lines, films, demonstrations. If something is simply said to them they will
probably forget it. Auditory learners remember much of what they hear and more
of what they hear and they say. They get a lot of discussion, prefer verbal
explanation to visual demonstration, and learn effectively by explaining things to
others.
2.2.2.2.4. Sequential and Global Learners
Sequential learners follow linear reasoning processes when solving
problems; global learners make intuitive leaps and may be unable to explain how
they came up the solutions. Sequential learners can work with materials when
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they understand it partially or superficially, while global learners may have
difficulty doing so. Sequential learners may be strong in convergent thinking and
analysis, global learners may be better at divergent thinking and synthesis.
Sequential learners learn best when material is presented in a steady progression
of complexity and difficulty, global learners sometimes do better by jumping
directly to more complex and difficult material. However, global learners are the
last students who should be lost to higher education and society. They are the
synthesizers, the multidisciplinary researchers, the systems thinkers, the ones who
see the connections no one else sees.
2.2.2.3. Honey and Mumford’s Learning Style
According to Honey and Mumford’s model (1982), they categorized
learning style into four categories,
2.2.2.3.1. Activist
Activists prefer to learn by doing rather than, for example, by reading or
listening.They thrive on novelty, and will ‘give anything a try’.They like to
immerse themselves in a wide range of experiences and activities and like to work
in groups so that ideas can be shared and ideas tested. They like to get on with
things, so they are not interested in planning. Activists are bored by repetition, and
are most often open-minded and enthusiastic
2.2.2.3.2. Reflector
Reflectors stand back and observe.They like to collect as much
information as possible before making any decisions; they are always keen to
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‘look before they leap’.They prefer to look at the big picture, including previous
experiences and the perspectives of others.The strength of reflectors is their
painstaking data collection and its subsequent analysis, which will take place
before any conclusion is reached. Reflectors are slow to make up their minds, but
when they do, their decisions are based on sound consideration of both their own
knowledge and opinions, and on what they have taken in when watching and
listening to the thoughts and ideas of others.
2.2.2.3.3. Theorist
Theorists like to adapt and integrate all of their observations into
frameworks, so that they are able to see how one observation is related to other
observations.Theorists work towards adding new learning into existing
frameworks by questioning and assessing the possible ways that new information
might fit into their existing frameworks of understanding. They have tidy and
well-organised minds.They sometimes cannot relax until they get to the bottom of
the situation in question and are able to explain their observations in basic terms.
Theorists are uncomfortable with anything subjective or ambiguous. Theorists are
usually sound in their approach to problem-solving, taking a logical, one-step-at-
a-time approach.
2.2.2.3.4. Pragmatics
Pragmatists are keen to seek out and make use of new ideas. Pragmatists
look for the practical implications of any new ideas or theories before making a
judgement on their value. They will take the view that if something works, all is
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well and good, but if it does not work, there is little point in spending time on the
analysis of its failure. A strength of pragmatists is that they are confident in their
use of new ideas and will incorporate them into their thinking. Pragmatists are
most at home in problem-solving situation.
2.2.2.4. Gail Wood’s Learning Style
There are five different learning styles. Most people have at least one
dominant style, but everyone uses a combination of learning styles, sometimes
depending on the activity they’re doing.
Eyes. If you like to watch movies and draw or paint, or get involved in
other activities that rely on your eyes, you are probably a visual learner. Visual
learners mainly use their eyes to learn.
Ears. If you’d rather listen to the radio than read the paper, if you like
listening to music and/or lectures, or participate in other activities that depend on
your ears, you are probably an auditory learner. Auditory learners mostly use
their ears to learn.
Order. If you like to do crossword puzzles, fill out forms, work math
problems, or do other activities in an orderly way, you are probably a sequential
learner. Sequential learners need to put things in a particular order so they can
learn them.
Images. If you make pictures or designs in your head as you’re looking at
or listening to something, you are learning through images. People who learn
through images are usually global learners. These people like to see the whole
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picture and often don’t need to work through individual parts, as sequential
learners do.
Doing. If you like to keep moving—whether it’s the big-movement action
of sports or dancing, or a small-movement action such as doodling, playing an
instrument, or needlework, you might learn best by motion, and be a kinesthetic
learner. Kinesthetic learners learn best when they keep their bodies or hands
moving.
2.3. The Concept of Listening Comprehension
2.3.1. The Definition of Listening Comprehension
Listening is the process of hearing, understanding, and giving respond to
the speaker. Good listener can comprehend what the speaker says very well and
also they can give respond that appropriate with the context. It is supported by
(Moghadam, Ghanizadeh and Pazhouhesh, 2016, p. 11). People have to
comprehend what their interlocutors say and respond to it. If they are able to listen
effectively, then they will have a meaningful communication.
Jyun (2009) claims that listening is a critical access to obtaining language
input, thus playing a crucial role in foreign language learning. when people
communicate to others, they have to listen to what others say well in order to
understand talk. Jyun (2009) as also states many people regard listening as an
accompaniment of the other language skills because it is assumed that learners
would acquire the listening ability naturally as long as they put effort in to
developing speaking, reading or writing skills. However, listening is not only a
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skill which helps develop the aspects of language learning, but also a skill in its
own right.
As suggestion in the above explanation, people sometimes think that the
more they master speaking, reading and writing skills, the more they master
listening skill also.
Furthermore, according to Yalcinkaya, Muluk, and Ashin (2009), the
foundation of receptive skill (reading) and expressive (writing) skills is built upon
aural (speaking)and oral (listening) skills. They conclude that listening ability
strongly influences speaking, reading and writing ability. Liubinienė (2009)
describe listening comprehension is more than extracting meaning from incoming
speech because it is a process of matching speech with the background
knowledge, i.e. what the listeners already know about the subject. It is also
supported by Sajjadi and Zamiyah (2015, p. 10) they view
listening comprehension is theoretically as an active process in which
individuals focus on selected aspects of aural input, construct meaning from
passages, and relate what they hear to existing knowledge. Both of them, focus on
knowledge as the dominant aspect in listening comprehension.
Meanwhile, Yousefinia (2012, p. 4) declared listening comprehension
means the process of understanding speech in a second or foreign language. It is
the perception of information and stimuli received through the ears. It can be
conclude that listening comprehension is the process of understanding of aural
message from the speaker and match it to the listener knowledge
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According to Tyagi (2013, p. 1), listening skill is a key to receiving
messages effectively. It is combination of hearing what another person says and
psychological involvement with the person who is talking. It involves a sender, a
message and a receiver. it is the psychological process of receiving, attending to
constructing meaning from and responding to spoken and/or non verbal messages.
As in line what Tyagi (2013) states, Brown (2007) states that listening is not a one
way street it is not merely the processes of a unidirectional receiving of audible
symbols. One facet-the first step-of listening comprehension is the psychomotor
process of receiving sound waves through the ear and transmitting nerve impulses
to the brain.
To have good listening skills, students must be able to comprehend all of
the aspects when listening. Golchi (2012, p. 115) states listening includes
comprehension of meaning-bearing, words, phrases, clauses, sentences and
connected discourse. The word comprehension is reflection of the knowledge and
skills that students have to acquisition in listening. That is the reason why listening
comprehension is a complex process.
2.3.2. The Importance of Listening Comprehension
Listening comprehension has played a significant role in language
acquisition since the last two decades. Moghadam et.al (2016, p. 11) claims in
communicative approaches to language teaching, listening has been emphasized
in all levels of language learning. An appropriate level of listening proficiency
affects other aspect of language such as speaking and reading.
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Being able to listen well is an important part of communication for
everyone (Ross, 2006). A student with good listening comprehension skills will
be able to participate more effectively in communicative situations. In relation
with English language, the students need good listening comprehension to help
them in acquisition the English language. If the students has good ability in
listening comprehension, it can help them to improve other language skill.
According to Masalimova, Porchesku, and Liakhnovitch (2016, p. 128)
assert listening comprehension abilities influence the capacity for improvement
in other language skills such as speaking, reading, and writing. Teacher must
actively explore the nature and process of listening comprehension and study the
theory and methodology of listening comprehension in order to improve
listening teaching outcomes and make students recognize that listening
comprehension is the crucial aspect of English learning.
2.3.3. The Process of Listening Comprehension
According to Gilakjani & Ahmadi, (2011, p. 979) state listening is the
aural medium that gives the way to language acquisition and enables learners to
interact in spoken communication. Listening comprehension is regarded
theoretically as an active process in which individuals concentrate on selected
aspects of aural input, form meaning from passages, and associate what they hear
with existing knowledge
In dealing with the complex prosess, three processing models have been
developed to explain how the listening process functions. The three models occur
in a manner of repetition. It means that one processing model change in to other
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models and then back to the previous one again. Furthermore, the most widely
known as the processing models are the bottom-up model, the top- down model,
and the interactive model (Flowerdew & Miller, 2005, p. 20).
a. In the bottom- up model, listeners build understanding by starting with the
smallest units of the acoustic message; individual sounds or phonemes.
Then, these are combined into word, which, in turn, together make up
phrases, clauses and sentences. Finally, individual sentences combine to
create ideas, concepts and relationships between them. For this case, there
is no deficiency in the channel and that both the sender and the receiver are
using the same code, successful communication is guaranteed. In brief,
bottom- up processing is such a process in which listeners must hear
words, hold them in their short term memory to link them to each other,
and then interpret what has been heard before accepting a new input.
b. The top- down model emphasizes the use of previous knowledge in
processing a text rather than relying upon the individual sounds and words
to make sense of the input. For this model, subjects’ levels of
comprehension are considerably higher if the subjects are already familiar
with the subject matter and/or text type they are presented with than if they
have not previously encountered the subject matter of text type.
Knowledge of the overall structure and meaning of the text at this macro-
level is hypothesized, compensates for any problems in understanding
micro level elements, such as sound discrimination, syntax, word and
utterance level semantics.
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c. Interactive model involves both bottom- up and top- down processing. It
follows that some sort of model that synthesized the two is required. In this
parallel processing, phonological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic
information interact, although it is not clear exactly how. An important
advantage of intractive model over hierarchical model, whether they be
bottom– up or top– down, is that it allows for the possibility of individual
variation in linguistic processing. At the level of the group, beginners are
likely to need to spend more time on developing basic bottom – up skill of
decoding. For more advanced learner, however, who have mastered basic
phonology and syntax, emphasis on the developement of top – down skills
of applying schematic knowledge may be more appropriate, although even
advanced learners need to work on bottom- up features of fast speech.
Furthermore, Tyagi (2013, p. 2) listening is a six-stages process, consisting
of Hearing, Attending, Understanding, Remembering, Evaluating and
Responding. These stages occur in sequence and rapid succession.
Six stages of listening by Tyagi (2013, p. 2):
1. Hearing has to do with the response caused by sound waves stimulating
the sensory receptors of the ear; hearing is the perception of sound, not
necessarily paying attention, you must hear to listen, but you need not
listen to hear.
2. Attention. It refers to a selectiens stimuli and permits only a select few to
come into focus.
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3. Understanding, which consists of analyzing the meaning of what we have
heard and understanding symbols we have seen and heard. We must
analyze the stimuli we have perceived. Symbolic stimuli are not only
words, they can be sounds like applause or even sights, like a blue uniform
that have symbolic meanings as well.
4. Remembering, is an important Listening process because it means that an
individual, in addition to receiving and interpreting the message, has also
added it to the mind’s storage bank, which means that the information will
be remembered in our mind.
5. Evaluating, the listener evaluates the message that has been received. It is
at this point when active listeners weigh evidence, sort fact from opinion
and determine the presence or absence of bias or prejudice in a message.
6. Responding, a stage in which, according to the response, the speaker
checks if the message has been received correctly.
2.3.4. Types of Listening
Accordding to Asemota (2013, p. 28) there propose four types of
listening;
1. Active Listening: Active listeners learn better and faster. They make sound
judgments about what is heard. Perhaps, active listeners write down
important ideas in complete sentences. They listen for ideas more than
details. Of equal importance is their ability to listen for overall meaning.
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2. Partial Listening: They are those who listen with a rebellious ear. They are
those who are thinking of their next reply rather than listening to what is
taking place.
3. Intermittent Listening: This applies to those who listen with a deaf ear.
They close their ears to unpleasantness. They are those who compulsively
nod and shake their heads in agreement when they are not listening at all.
Since attitudes affect our perception of information, the more we allow our
emotion to intrude into the listening process, the more distorted will be our
recollection of what has been said.
4. Appreciate Listening: A good listener virtually absorbs all the speaker’s
meaning by being sensitive to tone of voice, facial expression, and bodily
action as well as to the words themselves. Sincerity, depth of conviction,
confidence, true understanding and many subtle implications may well be
revealed, regardless of the words used
2.3.5. Difficulties faced by Students during Listening Activity
Based on the study she has conducted, Machackova (2009) mention that
there are some reasons cause the difficulties of listening activity in the classroom
for the students. They are pronunciation, speaker’s speed, inability to get things
repeated, limited vocabulary, failure to concentrate and interpretation.
First of all, according to Machackova (2009), one of the most common
problems encountered by students is the way English words are pronounced but
46
unfortunately it can cause the problems in recognition, and therefore in
comprehension.
Speaker’s speed in listening activity is also become a problem. According
to Machackova (2009), students believe that during the listening they can miss
important information and in contrast to reading they cannot re-listen to it. Some
students can be busy with the meaning of certain words from the first part that
they miss important information from the second part or they can stop listening as
they are not able to select the correct information quickly. So that, the students
should be exposed to as much as natural informal speech as they are able to
understand.
The next common problem is the inability to get things repeated. It is good
if the recording ate under the students’ control, they can be played over and over
again. The learners should be exposed to the recording more than once in order to
understand the discourse (Machackova, 2009).
Next, for the listeners who do not know all vocabulary used by the
speaker, listening can be very stressful as they usually start thinking about the
meaning as a result of this they miss the following information. Machackova
(2009) state that many learners believe that everything that is said on the
recording is equally important to the main meaning and their efforts to understand
everything lead in ineffective listening and can also cause them feel that they did
not succeeded. Students ought not to dwell on what exactly has been said but
47
focus on the next information and the context as they do it in their mother tongue
since this strategy will help them to be more successful.
In addition, failure to concentrate also can disturb the students in listening
activity. Machackova (2009) explains that there are many factors that influence
students’ concentration. They can be the topic chosen is not appropriate for their
interest, the recording is too long or the quality of the recording is not good. So
that, the teacher should determine first whether the recording use is appropriate
for the classroom activity or not.
The last problem may be faced by the students is making interpretation.
According to Machackova (2009), a listener who is not familiar with the context
and background knowledge of the speaker’s experience can have difficulties in
listening activity. They will have a different and incorrect interpretation of the
recording they are listening to.
Then, based on the survey they have done, Nowrouzi, Tam, Zareian and
Nimehchisalem (2015) characterize the problem faced by the EFL students in
listening into three, the problem of perception, parsing and utilization. Firstly,
Nowrouzi et. al (2015) mention that the first problem is perception problem that
includes hearing sounds but not clear words, fast speech rate, missing the
beginning of the text, knowing the meaning of a word when seeing it, slow in
recalling the meaning of familiar, mistaking one word for another, too many
unfamiliar words or expressions, not recognizing too many sounds and words,
missing the next part of the text while thinking about the meaning and difficulty in
48
concentration. Then, Nowrouzi et. al (2015) explain the second problem or
parsing problem, lime forgetting words or phrases just heard, not understanding
the meaning if sentences, difficulty in dividing long sentences into several parts,
difficulty in guessing the accurate meaning of words in sentences, difficulty in
following unfamiliar topics, difficulty in understanding a lot new information in a
short and missing the next parts because of earlier problems. The last problem
according to Nowrouzi et. al (2015) is utilization problems, as understanding
words but not the intend message, difficulty in getting the order of ideas in a text,
getting confused about the main ideas, difficulty in getting the details, difficulty in
getting the relationships among ideas and difficulty in getting supporting ideas.
The problems mentioned above may be face by the students in Indonesia,
since English is also a foreign language for them. Therefore, the teacher should be
able to do something to avoid it happens.
2.4. TOEFL Junior Standard Test
2.4.1. Test Purpose of TOEFL Junior Standard Test
The TOEFL Junior Standard test is an objective and reliable measure of
your English communication skills. While the ETS university-level TOEFL test
continues to set the standard for the measurement of English-language proficiency
worldwide, the TOEFL Junior Standard test measures the degree to which
students in middle school and lower levels of high school have attained
proficiency in the academic and social English-language skills representative of
English-medium instructional environments (TOEFL Junior Handbook, 2015).
49
Usually these students are ages 11+. However, the test may be appropriate
for other students. The appropriateness is based on the English-
languageproficiency of the students. It is an English-language proficiency test that
is not based on or limited to any specific curriculum. The TOEFL Junior Standard
test may not be appropriate for students who have not yet attained a basic level of
proficiency (TOEFL Junior Handbook, 2015).
2.4.2. Test Structure of TOEFL Junior Standard Test
The TOEFL Junior Standard test is a paper-based test consisting of 126
multiple-choice questions. It includes three sections — Listening Comprehension,
Language Form and Meaning, and Reading Comprehension. Each section
contains 42 four-choice questions with a total testing time of 1 hour 55 minutes.
Some of the questions in the test may not count toward the section or total scores.
Of the questions that count, each correct answer counts equally toward the score
for that section (TOEFL Junior Handbook, 2015)
Table 2
Summarizes the Structure of the Test
Section Question Time
Listening Comprehension 42 40 minutes
Language Form and Meaning 42 25 minutes
Reading Comprehension 42 50 minutes
Source : TOEFL Junior Handbook, 2015
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2.4.3. Test Content of TOEFL Junior Standard Test
The Listening Comprehension section measures your ability to listen to
and understand English for interpersonal purposes, navigational purposes, and
academic purposes.
The Language Form and Meaning section measures your ability to
demonstrate proficiency in key enabling English skills such as grammar and
vocabulary in context.
The Reading Comprehension section measures your ability to read and
understand academic and nonacademic texts written in English (TOEFL Junior
Handbook, 2015).
2.4.4. Scoring System of TOEFL Junior Standard Test
TOEFL Junior Standard test scores are determined by the number of
questions a student has answered correctly. Some of the questions in the test may
not count toward the section or total scores. Of the questions that count, each
correct answer counts equally toward the score for that section. The number
of correct responses on each section is converted to a scaled score that ranges
from 200 to 300 in increments of 5. The total scaled score is a sum of the three
section scores, and, therefore, ranges from 600–900 points in increments of 5.
Table 3
TOEFL Junior Scoring
Test Section Score Range
Listening Comprehension 200 – 300
Language Form and Meaning 200 – 300
Reading Comprehension 200 – 300
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Total 600 – 900
Source : TOEFL Junior Handbook, 2015
And then, each section scores will be mapped to the Common European
Framework of Reference (CEFR) to help you understand what your scores mean.
The TOEFL Junior scores give you as a student the ability to see students’level
on a global scale.
Table 4
CEFR
Sections Below A2 CEFR
Level A2
CEFR
Level B1
CEFR
Level B2
Listening Comprehension Under 225 225 – 245 250 – 285 290 – 300
Language Form and
Meaning
Under 210 210 – 245 250 – 275 280 – 300
Reading Comprehension Under 210 210 – 240 245 – 275 280 – 300
Source : TOEFL Junior Handbook, 2015
2.5. Previous Related Study
The research is focused on learning styles and listening achievement.
Those related researches are explained as follow:
1. The Relationship between English Listening Proficiency Levels and Learning
Styles by Bidabadi and Yamat (2012).
The aim of the research was to identify Iranian freshmen’s levels of
English listening proficiency and their learning style preferences as well as the
relationship between them. A group of 92 freshmen from a population of 120
freshmen were randomly selected from a university in Esfahan, Iran. The Oxford
Placement Test was first administered to identify the freshmen’s listening
52
proficiency levels and the learning style preferences. Questionnaire was employed
to identify their preferred learning styles. Based on the results obtained from the
Oxford Placement Test, 19 freshmen were identified as advanced learners, 39
intermediate learners, and 34 low proficiency learners. The descriptive analysis of
the learning style preferences indicated that all the learners preferred high level
learning styles and considered themselves as communicative learners. The
Pearson Correlation analysis also indicated that there was a significant positive
correlation between the learners’ English listening proficiency levels and their
learning style preferences. The implication of the research is that all lecturers
should be aware of their learners’ learning style preferences and their English
listening proficiency levels in order to match their teaching styles with their
learners’ learning style preferences
2. The Corrrelation between Learning Style and Learning Achievement in
English Education Study Program Students of Sriwijaya University by Naning
and Hayati (2011)
The objective of this study is to find out whether or not there is a s
ignificant correlation between learning style and listening achievement of English
Education Study Program Students of Sriwijaya University. The population of this
study was the first semester, the third semester, the fifth semester, and the seventh
semest er students of English Education Study Program of Sriwijaya University in
academic year 2009/2010. However, only the third and the fifth semester students
were taken as the sample by using convenience sampling. A descriptive method
was used in this study. Specifically, this study was a correlational study. The data
53
were obtained by means of questionnaire and TOEFL listening test. The
questionnaire showed that visual learning style was the most preferred learning
style, followed by auditory learning style and kinesthetic learning style
respectively. Meanwhile, the TOEFL listening test showed that most students
were in Fair category (grade C). The data obtained were analyzed by using Chi-
Square analysis. From the data analysis, it was found that there was no correlation
between learning style and listening achievement of English Education Study
Program Students of Sriwijaya University since the Chi -Square obtained (11.706)
was smaller than the table value (15.507) at the significance level 0.05 and
degrees of freedom of 8.
3. The Relationship between Perceptual learning Style Preference and Listening
Comprehension of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners by Jowkar (2012)
This article aims to identify the learning styles and listening
comprehension strategies of students, to check whether there are significant
differences in the learning style and strategy preferences between high and low
proficient listeners, and investigate whether there is any relationship between
students’ learning style and listening strategy preferences. To achieve this
purpose, a language proficiency test was administered to ninety language learners
majoring in English Language Translation and ultimately sixty intermediate
language learners were selected and they were assigned as high and low proficient
listeners through administering a listening comprehension proficiency test. They
were asked to complete two questionnaires. One was used to identify students’
perceptual learning style preferences and the other was used to identify students’
54
listening comprehension strategies. In addition, think aloud protocols were held to
determine the cognitive and metacognitive strategies students used while
listening. The data analysis of the first questionnaire revealed that high and low
proficient listeners’ major learning style preferences were visual learning and
kinesthetic learning. Furthermore, significant difference was found in the
preference of group learning style between high and low proficient listeners. The
analysis of the second questionnaire revealed that cognitive and metacognitive
strategies were favored the most, respectively. In addition, significant difference
was found in the preferences of listening strategies between high and low
proficient listeners. The analysis with respect to the relationship between learning
styles and listening strategies revealed that
2.6. Hypotheses
The hypotheses of this study are proposed in the forms of null and
research hypotheses below:
1. (H0): There is no relationship between learning style and listening
comprehension achievement.
(H1): There is a relationship between learning style and listening
comprehension achievement.
2. (H0): There is no influence between learning style and listening
comprehension achievement.
(H1): There is an influence between learning style and listening
comprehension achievement.
55
2.7. Criteria for Testing Hypotheses
These hypotheses tested in order to know whether the correlation
coefficient score is significant or not. In testing hypotheses, there are some criteria
from Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007, p. 536), Creswell (2012, p. 188-189)
and Fraenkel, Wallen, and Hyun (2012, p.228-232). Those are in the following:
1. If the p-output is higher than 0.05, H0 is rejected and H1 is accepted. So,
there is relationship between learning style and listening comprehension
achievement.
2. If p-output is lower than 0.05, H0 is accepted and H1 is rejected. So there is
no relationship between learning style and listening comprehension
achievement.
56
CHAPTER III
METHODS AND PROCEDURES
This chapter presents: (1) research design; (2) research variables; (3)
operational definition; (4) population and sample; (5) data collection; (6) validity
and reliability; (7) data analysis
3.1. Research Design
In conducting this study, correlational research was used in terms of
explanatory and prediction research design to find out the correlation between
variables and explain and interpret the results that may appear. The procedure
were, first; the students’ learning styles was identified by using questionnaire.
Second, by using TOEFL Junior Listening Test, the students’ listening
comprehension was obtained. Then the correlation and influence between
variables was analyzed through Statistical Package for Social and Science (SPSS)
based on the results of the questionnaire and listening comprehension test.
The last, explanation and interpretation of the results will be discussed.
The following is the research design:
Figure 1 : Research Design
X : Students’ Learning Styles
Y : Listening Comprehension
Y X
57
3.2. Research Variables
According to Fraenkel, Wallen and Hyun (2012, p. 80), a common and
useful way to think about variables is to classify them as independent or
dependent. Independent variable is what the researcher chooses to study in order
to assess their possible effect(s) on one or more other variables. The variable that
the independent variable is presumed to affect is called a dependent variable. In
commonsense terms, the dependent variable depends on what the independent
variable does to it, how it affects it. It is possible to investigate more than one
independent (and also more than one dependent) variable in a study. In this study,
the independent variable is the students’ learning style at twelfth grade students of
SMA Pusri Palembang , while the dependent variable is their listening
comprehension achievement.
3.3. Operational Definition
To avoid the possibility of misinterpretation about some terms in this
research, especially those used in the title, the definitions are provided.
Correlation is a statistical measure to determine the tendency of two or more
variables to vary consistently. In this research, there are two variables that will be
correlated which are learning style and listening comprehension achievement.
Learning styles refer to an individual’s natural habitual pattern of
acquiring and processing information in learning situation. The researcher used
the model of learning style developed by Felder and Silverman to measure
student’s learning style in this study because Felder and Silverman give clearly
58
information about learning style and they give eight kinds of leaning style that
students used when they are studying. Those eight learning style is influenced by
many theories that the researcher have explained in previous chapter.
Table 5
Indicators of English Learning Style
Variable Sub-Variable Indicators
Leaning Style
Active Leaning Style
They learn something in the external
world with the information by
discussing it or explaining it or
testing it in some way.
They feel comfortable with, or is
better at, active experimentation
Reflective Learning
Style
They learn something buy
examining and manipulating the
information introspectively.
They like doing reflective
observation
Sensing Learning They learn something by observing
gathering data through the senses
Intuitive Learning
Style
They learn something by using
indirect perception by way of the
unconscious – speculation,
imagination, hunches
Visual Learning
Style
They learn better though sights,
pictures, diagrams, symbols
They remember best from what they
see; pictures, diagrams, flow chart,
time lines, films, demonstration
If something is simply said to them
59
they will probably forget it
Auditory/Verbal
Learning Style
They learn better sounds, words,
kinesthetic – taste, touch, and smell
Auditory learners remember much
of what they hear and more what
they hear and then say
They get a lot out of discussion,
prefer verbal explanation to visual
demonstration, and learn effectively
by explain things to other
Sequential Learning
Style
They follow linear reasoning
processes when solving problems
They can work with material when
they understand it partially or
superficially
They may be strong in convergent
thinking and analysis
They learn best when material is
presented in an steady progression
of complexity and difficulty
Global Learning
Style
They make intuitive leaps when
solving problems and may be unable
to explain how they came up with
solutions
They can work with the material
when they are presented by basically
They may be better a divergent
thinking and synthesis
They sometimes learn better by
jumping directly to more complex
60
and difficult material
The table above was developed from a ready-made questionnaire design
by Graf, Viola, and Kimshuk (2007) that was adopted from Felder and Silveman
Learning Style.
Listening comprehension achievement refers to as the ability to understand
and comprehend spoken information in English or others who speak English. In
order to know listening comprehension achievement of the twelfth grade students
of SMA Pusri Palembang, a listening comprehension test will be administered to
the students. To test the listening comprehension, TOEFL Junior Listening
Section Test was chosen. This kind of TOEFL test is the product of TOEFL
assessment family which is specialized for measuring the degree to which
students in middle school and lower levels of high school have attained
proficiency in the academic and social English-language skills representative
of English-medium instructional environments.
3.4. Population and Sample
3.4.1. Population
Fraenkel, Wallen and Hyun (2012, p. 92) state that population is always all
of the individuals who possess a certain characteristic (or set characteristics). The
population of this study is all of twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri
Palembang. Based on the data, twelfth grade students are grouped into five
classes that consist of three classes for science and two classes for social. The data
can be seen in the table bellow:
61
Table 6
The Population of the study
Class Students
XII IPA 1 25
XII IPA 2 25
XII IPA 3 24
XII IPS 1 27
XII IPS 2 27
Total 128
Source: SMA Pusri Palembang, 2016 academic year 2016/2017
3.4.2. Sample of the Study
According to Cresswell (2012, p. 142), sample is a subgroup of the target
population that the researcher plans to study for generalizing about the target
population. He also said that the sample can be selected from individuals who are
representative of the entire population.The sample is taken by convenience
sampling. According to Fraenkel et.al (2012, p. 99) describe a convenience
sample is a group of individuals who (conveniently) are available for study. The
sample is showed in the following table:
Table 7
The Sample of the Study
Class Students
XII IPA 2 25
XII IPA 3 24
XII IPS 1 27
XII IPS 2 27
Total 103
62
3.5. Data Collection
Techniques for collecting data are (1) distributing questionnaire, and (2)
giving listening comprehension test. These techniques require a questionnaire and
a listening test respectively
a. Learning Styles Questionnaire
In this research, the questionnaire consist of 44 questions which were
adopted from Felder-Silverman Learning Style taken from Graf, Viola, Leo and
Kimshuk (2007). The questionnaire shows the model of students’ learning style.
The categories are:
Table 8
Learning Style Classifications
Style Semantic Group
answer a
Style Semantic Group
answer b
Active
Trying something out
1, 17, 25, 29
Social oriented
6, 9, 13, 21, 33, 37, 41
Reflective
Thinking about material
1, 5, 17, 25, 29
Impersonal oriented
9, 13. 21, 33, 37, 41
Sensing
Existing ways
2, 30, 34
Concrete material
6, 10, 14, 18, 26, 38
Careful with details
22, 42
Intuitive
New ways
2, 14, 22, 26, 30, 34
Abstract material
6, 10, 18, 38
Not careful with details
42
63
Visual
Pictures
3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, 31, 35,
39, 43
Verbal
Spoken words
3, 7, 15, 19, 27, 35
Written words
3, 7, 11, 23, 31, 39
Difficulty with visual style
43
Sequential
Detail oriented
4, 28, 40
Sequential progress
20, 24, 32, 36, 44
From parts to the whole
8, 12, 16
Global
Overall picture
4, 8, 12, 16, 28, 40
Non-sequential progress
24, 32
Relation/ connection
20, 36, 44
Source : Graf, Viola, Leo and Kimshuk (2007)
In answering each question in the questionnaire, the researcher gave letter
“a” and “b” for each questionnaire. Letter “a” for activist, sensing, visual and
sequential and letter “b” for reflector, intuitive, verbal and global. The students
chose which letter that appropriate with themselves. Each letter have 1 point for
each question.
After the students chose, the researcher analyzed the result by adding up
the answer and wrote the total. For each of the four scales, subtract the smaller
total from the larger one and wrote the difference (1 – 11) and the letter (a or b)
with the larger total.
64
Table 9
Score Categories
Score Categories
1 – 3 Mild Preference
5 – 7 Moderate Preference
9 – 11 Strong Preference
Source : Graf, Viola, Leo and Kimshuk (2007)
b. Listening Comprehension Test
Listening test is administered to the samples of the study in order to know
their listening comprehension achievement. The test is taken from TOEFL Junior
Listening Comprehension Section.
It consists of 42 items in multiple choice form. The time for
administration the test is 40 minutes. TOEFL Junior test scores are determined by
the number of questions a students has answered correctly. There is no penalty for
wrong answers. (TOEFL Junior Handbook, 2015).
TOEFL Junior Handbook provides the specification of listening
comprehension achievement test:
Table 10
The Specification of Listening
No. Objectives Subskill Question’s
Number
1. The students are able to hear
and comprehend a short talk
in classroom instructon mode.
Identifying the main
idea.
1, 4 and 7
Identifying the purpose
of the talk.
3 and 9
Making an inference. 6 and 10
65
After each talk the students
will answer one question.
Each talk lasts 20 to 45
seconds.
Making a prediction.
2, 5 and 8
2. The students are able to hear
and comprehend short
conversations between two
people. After the
conversation the students will
answer three or four
questions. Each conversation
lasts 60 to 90 seconds.
Identifying the main
idea.
13, 18 and
26
Identifying one or more
of the important details
of the conversation.
12, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23
and 27
Making an inference. 11, 16 and
25
Making a prediction. 17 and 24
Identifying why a
speakers talks about
certain information, or
the speaker’s purpose.
14 and 29
Recognizing how a
speaker feels or what a
speaker means when
using certain intonation
or stressing certain
words.
15 and 28
3. The students are able to hear
and comprehend long talks in
lecture or discussion mode.
The students will answer four
or five questions. Each
lecture or dicussion lasts 90 –
120 seconds.
Identifying the main
idea.
34, 39
Identify one or more
important details of the
conversation
37, 40 and
42
Make an inference. 35 and 41
Make a prediction 36
66
Recognizing how a
speaker feels or what a
speaker means when
using certain intonation
or stressing certain
words.
38
Source: TOEFL Junior Listening Comprehension Handbook, 2015
To students’ listening comprehension score, the researcher decided
to use scoring from SMA Pusri Palembang because the teacher is commonly
use the scoring to know their students ability in listening comprehension.
The formula can be shown below:
The score of the listening comprehension can be seen below
Table 11
Listening Score
Number of the
Correct
Answers
Score
42 100
41 98
40 95
39 93
38 90
37 88
36 86
35 83
34 81
𝐿𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑁 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝑁 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑥 100
67
33 79
32 76
31 74
30 71
29 69
28 67
27 64
26 62
25 60
24 57
23 55
22 52
21 50
20 48
19 45
18 43
17 40
16 38
15 36
14 33
13 31
12 29
11 26
10 24
9 21
8 19
7 17
6 14
5 12
4 10
3 7
68
2 5
1 2
0 0
Further, after knowing where is the student scaled – score, then, the score
will be depicted in score descriptors. It is useful forknowing the students’ strength
and weaknesses in a particular listening comprehension skill area. The table below
are the the score descriptors:
Table 12
The Descriptor of Listening Comprehension
Interval Category
86 – 100 Very Good
71 – 85 Good
56 – 70 Average
46 – 55 Poor
0 – 45 Very Poor
Source : Scoring System of SMA Pusri Palembang
3.6. Validity and Reliablility
3.6.1. Questionnaire
3.6.1.1. Validity of Questionnaire
Fraenkel, et. al. (2012, p. 148) states that content validity refers to the
content and format of the instrument. A content validity is very important since it
is an accurate measurement of what it is supposed to measure.
69
In this study, the researcher used ready-made questionnaire that is adopted
from Felder-Silverman Learning Style taken from Graf, Viola, Leo and Kimshuk
(2007). The questionnaire has been valid by Wang and Mendori (2015) in
Mandarin version. The coefficient of the questionnaire are active-reflective 0.848,
sensing-intuitive 0. 436, visual-verbal 0.811, sequential-global 0.837.
In this study, the researcher need to translate the questionnaire in
Indonesian version and then the researcher need to consult it to some experts
judgement at least three validators from lectures in English Education in UIN
Raden Fatah Palembang to evaluate whether the instrument are valid or not.
3.6.1.2. Reliability of Questionnaire
In this study, the researcher use Cronbach Alpha technique in SPSS to find
out the internal consistency reliability of the questionnaire. Tuckman (1999)
suggest that alpha test reliability should be above 0.75 for achievement tests and
above 0.5 for attitude tests.
The questionnaire has been reliable by Wang and Mendori (2015) in
Mandarin version. The internal consistency reliability of the questionnaire are
active-reflective 0.541, sensing-intuitive 0.62, visual-verbal 0.644, sequential-
global 0.509.
3.6.2. Listening Comprehension Test
3.6.2.1. Validity of Listening Comprehension Test
The TOEFL Junior Standard test is an objective and reliable measure of
your English communication skills. While the ETS university-level TOEFL test
70
continues to set the standard for the measurement of English-language proficiency
worldwide, the TOEFL Junior Standard test measures the degree to which
students in middle school and lower levels of high school have attained
proficiency in the academic and social English-language skills representative of
English-medium instructional environments.
3.6.2.2. Reliability of Listening Comprehension Test
Reliability is the extent to which the test takers’ scores are consistent
across different editions of the test. The two statistics commonly used to describe
the reliability of the scores of a group of test takers are the reliability coefficient
and the standard error of measurement. The reliability coefficient is an estimate of
the correlation between scores on different forms of the test. It can vary from .00
(indicating no agreement at all) to 1.00 (indicating perfect agreement). The
reliability coefficients of the four TOEFL Junior Standard scores, in the group of
all test takers, are estimated to be as follows:
Table 13
Reliability of TOEFL Junior
Reliability Estimates of the TOEFL Junior Standard Test Scores
Listening Section .87
Language Form & Meaning
Section
.87
Reading Section .89
Total .95
71
The standard error of measurement indicates the extent to which test
takers’ scores differ from their “true scores.” A test taker’s “true score” is the
average of the scores that test taker would earn on all possible forms of the test.
The difference between a test taker’s “true score” and the score the test taker
actually earned is called “error of measurement.” The standard error of
measurement, for a group of test takers, is the average1 size of those differences.
It is expressed in the same units as the scores. In a large group of test takers, about
two-thirds of the test takers will earn scores that differ from their “true scores” by
less than the standard error of measurement. About 95 percent of the test takers
will earn scores that differ from their “true scores” by less than twice the standard
error of measurement. The standard error of measurement for each of the TOEFL
Junior Standard scores is as follows:
Table 14
Standard Error Measurement of TOEFL Junior
Standard Error Measurement for each of the
TOEFL Junior Standard Test Scores
Listening Section 9.8
Language Form & Meaning Section 9.0
Reading Section 10.0
Total 16.7
Source: TOEFL Junior Handbook, 2015, p. 29
72
3.7. Data Analysis
In analyzing the data, data obtained from correlational research design will
be calculated by means of SPSS software (Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences). Moreover, the writer will use and describe some techniques, as follows:
3.7.1. Analysis of Questionnaire
To analyze the questionnaire, the researcher divided the students’
learning style into eight categories; active, reflective, sensing, intuitive, visual,
verbal, sequential and global learning style. Learning style questionnaire consist
of 44 questions of all. Place 1 in the columns a or b that appropriate. The result is
added up the column and write the total. For each of the four scales, subtract the
smaller total from the larger one. Write the difference (1-11) and the letter (a or b)
with the larger total.
After distributing the questionnaire to the students to estimate the validity
of the questionnaire, each question item on respondents’ answer from the
questionnaire will be analyzed by using Correlation Pearson Product Moment in
SPSS. However, there will be a possibility for one student to have more than one
specific style if the highest score in one style is the same as the other style. The
results will be classified for analyzing the frequency and percentage of each style.
3.7.2. Analysis of Listening Comprehension Test
Listening comprehension is analyzed by using TOEFL Junior score. Of
the questions that count, each correct answer counts equally toward the
score for that section. The listening comprehension achievement test consisted of
73
42 items.The total number of correct answers for each section is statistically
adjusted, or equated. These equated scores are then converted to section
scaled scores that range from 0 to 100. Then, the scaled score are determined
by scoring system from school.
3.7.3. Correlation Analysis
In finding the correlation between learning style and listening
comprehension of the study, Pearson Product Moment Coefficient used. It is also
applied for investigating the correlation between each type of the students’
learning style and their listening comprehension. To interpret the correlation
coefficient, the following criterion from Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007, p.
536) used.
Table 15
The Interpretation of the Correlational Coefficient
Interval Coefficient Level of Correlation
0.20 – 0.35 Weak
0.35 – 0.65 Fair
0.65 – 0.85 Strong
Over 0.85 Very Strong
Source : Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007, p.536)
3.7.4. Regression Analysis
In order to know the contribution of learning style to listening
comprehension of the twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri Palembang, regression
analysis will be applied to the study. In the corrrelation study, the analysis
estimated a statistical process of the correlations between variables or between
74
one or more predictor variables and the criterion variable. The, the result of the
analysis indicated the percentage of the predictor variables that contributed to the
criterion scores. In addition to, all the statiscally calculation above will be
completed by SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science).
75
CHAPTER IV
FINDING AND INTERPRETATIONS
This chapter presents (1) research finding, (2) statistical analyses, and (3)
interpretations.
4.1. Research Findings
There were two kinds of researh findings in this study: (1) the result of
students’ learning style and (2) the result of students’ listening comprehension
ahievement.
4.1.1 Results of Learning Style Questionnaire
The total active students in the twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri
Palembang were 103 students. 86 students participated in this study, and the
others were absent when conducting this study. The 44 items of Index of Learning
Styles (ILS) were used to investigate the participants’ learning style. In answering
each question in the questionnaire, the students chose letter “a” and “b” for each
questionnaire. Letter “a” for activist, sensing, visual and sequential and letter “b”
for reflector, intuitive, verbal and global. The students chose which letter that
appropriate with themselves. Each letter has 1 point for each question. After the
students chose, the result would be analyze by adding up the answer and wrote the
total. For each of the four scales, subtract the smaller total from the larger one and
wrote the difference (1 – 11) and the letter ( a or b) with the larger total.
76
The desriptive statistical analysis of ILS for the participants is shown
below. The maximum score is 22.00, and the lowest score is 8.00. The mean of
the learning style scores for the participants is 13.96 and the standard deviation is
3.33.
Table 16
Descriptive Analysis of Learning Style
Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
LEARNING STYLE 86 8.00 22.00 13.9651 3.32353
Valid N (listwise) 86
It was revealed that from the questionaire, the eight levels of learning
style were all perceived by the students with different numbers. The details are as
follow:
Table 17
Distribution of Learning Style
Category Frequency Percentage
Active Learning Style 38 44.18%
Reflective Learning Style 3 3.48%
Sensing Learning Style 8 9.30%
Intuitive Learning Style 10 11.62%
Visual Learning Style 7 8.13%
Verbal Learning Style 6 6.97%
Sequential Learning Style 9 10.46%
Global Learning Style 5 5.81%
77
Total 86 100%
4.1.2 Result of Listening Comprehension Achievement
The desriptive statistic analysis of listening for the participants is shown
below. The maximum score is 83.0, and the lowest score is 60.0. The mean of the
listening scores for the participants is 71.45 and the standard deviation is 5.89
This mean score indicates that the level of listening comprehension achievement
of participants is good.
Table 18
Descriptive Statistics of Listening Comprehension
Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
LISTENING 86 60.00 83.00 71.4535 5.89847
Valid N (listwise) 86
The distribution of listening comprehension is presented in the following
table:
Table 19
Distribution of Listening Comprehension
Interval Students Category Percentage
86 – 100 7 Very Good 8.13%
71 – 85 40 Good 46.51%
56 – 70 39 Average 45.34%
46 – 55 Poor
78
0 – 45 Very Poor
4.2 Statistical Analyses
There were three statistical analyses that the researher applied in this
study:
1. The statistical analysis of normality and linearity
2. The statistical analysis of correlation analysis between students’ learning
style and their listening comprehension achievement in all participants.
3. The statistical analysis of regression analysis between students’ learning style
and their listening comprehension achievement in all participants.
4.2.1. Normality test and Linearity test
Normality test and linearity test were conducted prior to data analysis
through SPSS 16th version for windows. As parametric statistics, in term of
correlation and regression were used in this research, it was fundamental to see if
the distribution of data were normal for each variable and linear between
variables.
4.2.1.1 The Result of Normality Test
The data are interpreted normal if p> 0.05. If p< 0.05, it means the data are
not normal. Kolmogorov-smirnov was used to see the normality. The results of
normality test is shown in table below indicated that the data from each variable
were all normal and appropriate for data analysis with coeficients .110 for
learning style and .297 for listening comprehension.
79
Table 20
Normality Test
One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test
LEARNING
STYLE LISTENING
N 86 86
Normal Parametersa Mean 13.9651 71.4535
Std. Deviation 3.32353 5.89847
Most Extreme Differences Absolute .130 .105
Positive .130 .103
Negative -.114 -.105
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z 1.204 .975
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .110 .297
a. Test distribution is Normal.
The normal Q-Q plot of each variable is illustrated in the following figures
Figure 2. Distribution of Learning Style Data
Normal Q-Q Plot of Learning Style
80
Figure 3. Distribution of Listening Comprehension Data
Normal Q-Q Plot of Listening Comprehension
4.2.1.2 The Result of Linearity Test
For linearity test, deviation of linearity was obtained. If probability is more
than .05, the two variables are linear. The results showed that, the deviation from
linearity between learning style and listening comprehension was .645. To sum up
all the data were linear for each correlation and regression.
Table 21
Linearity Test
ANOVA Table
Sum of
Squares df
Mean
Square F Sig.
LISTENING *
LEARNING STYLE
Between
Groups
(Combined) 236.233 9 26.248 .733 .677
Linearity 20.768 1 20.768 .580 .449
Deviation from
Linearity 215.465 8 26.933 .752 .645
Within Groups 2721.081 76 35.804
Total 2957.314 85
81
4.3 Relationship between Learning Style and Listening Comprehension
Achievement
This section answered the first research problem. By analyzing the result of
desriptive statistics for the questionnaire and listening comprehension. Based on
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coeficient, the result indicated that there
was no significant relationship between learning style and listening
comprehension.. The correlation coeficient or the r-obtained (-.084) was lower
than r-table (0.1765 ). Then the level of probability (p) significance (sig.2-tailed)
was 443. It means that p (.443) was higher than .05. Thus, there was no significant
relationship between the students’ learning style and their listening
comprehension
Table 22
Correlation between Learning Style and Listening Comprehension
Correlations
LEARNING
STYLE LISTENING
LEARNING STYLE
Pearson Correlation 1 -.084
Sig. (2-tailed) .443
N 86 86
LISTENING Pearson Correlation -.084 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .443
N 86 86
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4.4. Interpretation
In order to strengthen the value of this study the interpretations are made
based on the result of data analyses. According to the findings, there was no
significant relationship between learning style and listening comprehension. Also,
there was no significantly influence of learning style on listening comprehension.
Listening is an important part in determining the success of students in
academic settings. From junior until university students, they need good listening
comprehension skill to help them in teaching and learning process. According to
Daweesh (2014) states that for success in academic setting, both instructors and
students should acknowledge the importance of listening comprehension.
Especially for senior high school students, having good listening comprehension
can help the students understand about the material and get so much new
information. As a result, having good listening comprehension skill will improve
students learning achievement.
In this study, the researcher focused on listening comprehension
achievement and learning style in learning. Based on the informal interview with
the twelfth grade students of SMA Pusri Palembang, it was found that the students
have difficulties in understanding the words by words because sometimes they
don’t know what the speakers is talking about and it is hard for them to
comprehend it. Then the English teacher recommended five classes, XII IPA 1,
XII IPA 2, XII IPA 3, XII IPS 1 and XII IPS 4 but XII IPA 1 couldn’t be allowed
in this research because that class did daily examination with their teacher. In this
83
research, 86 students of 103 students from four classes participated and others
were absent when conducting this research. First, the researcher distributed ILS
questionnaire to the students after they answered the questionnaire, the researcher
distributed listening question to the sample to know the students ability in
listening related to their learning style.
Based on the findings, the researcher found that 38 students with 44.18%
result were active learners. It meant that most of students tend to retain and
understand information best by doing something active with it for example
discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. An active learner in a class that
allow little or no class time for discussion or problem-solving activities, the
students should try to compensate for these when they studied. An active learner
could study in a group in which the members take turns explaining different topics
to each other. Work with others to guess what active learners will be asked on the
next test and figure out how they will answer. Active learners will always retain
information better if they find ways to do something with it. To teach active
learners, the teacher should use students-centered when they are teaching. The
teacher can divide them to some groups and give them topic to discuss with their
group related to the topic. It will make them active in class.
Then researcher found 10 students with 11.62% result were intuitive
learners. It meant that the students often prefer discovering possibilities and
relationships. Intuitors may be better at grasping new concepts and are often more
comfortable. If they were an intuitor and they happend to be in a class that deals
primarily with memorization and rote substitution in formulas, intuitors may have
84
trouble with boredom. They could ask the teacher for interpretations or theories
that link the facts, or try to find the connections themselves. Intuitors may also be
prone to careless mistakes on tests because they are impatient with details and
don't like repetition (as in checking your completed solutions). It took time to read
the entire question before they started answering and be sure to check the results.
Then, the researcher also found 9 students with 10.46% result were sequential
learners. It meant they tend to gain understanding in linear steps, with each step
following logically from the previous one. Sequential learners tend to follow
logical stepwise paths in finding solutions and may not fully understand the
material but they could nevertheless do something with it (like solve the
homework problems or pass the test) since the pieces they had absorbed were
logically connected. Sequential learner who had a teacher who jumps around from
topic to topic or skips steps, they may haddifficulty following and remembering.
They could ask the teacher to fill in the skipped steps, or fill them in themselves
by consulting references. When they were studying, took the time to outline the
teacher material for themselves in logical order. In the long run doing so would
save the time.
Next, the researcher found 8 students with 9.30% result were sensing
learners. It meant they tend to like learning facts and tend to be patient with
details and good at memorizing facts and doing hands-on (laboratory) work.
Sensors did't like courses that had no apparent connection to the real world.
Sensors remembered and understood information best if they could see how it
connected to the real world. If sensors were in a class where most of the material
85
is abstract and theoretical, they may have difficulty. They could ask the teacher
for specific examples of concepts and procedures, and find out how the concepts
apply in practice. If the teacher did not provide enough specifics, try to find some
in the course text or other references or by brainstorming with friends or
classmates. Then, the researcher found 7 students with 8.13% result were visual
learners. It meant they remember best what they see for example pictures,
diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, demonstrations etc. a visual learner try to
find diagrams, sketches, schematics, photographs, flow charts, or any other visual
representation of course material that is predominantly verbal. They could ask the
teacher, consult reference books, and see if any videotapes or CD-ROM displays
of the course material are available. They could prepare a concept map by listing
key points, enclosing them in boxes or circles, and drawing lines with arrows
between concepts to show connections. Colour-code your notes with a highlighter
so that everything relating to one topic is the same colour.
Then, researcher found 6 students with 6.97% result were verbal learners.
It meant they got more out of words such as written and spoken explanations.
They could write summaries or outlines of course material in their own words.
Working in groups could be particularly effective: they gain understanding of
material by hearing classmates' explanations and you learn even more when they
do the explaining. The last the researcher found 5 students with 5.81% result were
global learners. It meant they tend to learn in large jumps, absorbing material
almost randomly without seeing connections, and then suddenly "getting it."
Global learners may be able to solve complex problems quickly or put things
86
together in novel ways once they had grasped the big picture, but they may had
difficulty explaining how they did it. It could be helpful for global learners to
realise that they need the big picture of a subject before they can master details. If
the teacher plunges directly into new topics without bothering to explain how they
related to what you already know, it can cause problems for them. Fortunately,
there were steps they could take that may help them get the big picture more
rapidly. Before global learners began to study the first section of a chapter in a
text, skim through the entire chapter to get an overview. Doing so may be time-
consuming initially but it may save them from going over and over individual
parts later. Instead of spending a short time on every subject every night, they
might find it more productive to immerse themselves in individual subjects for
large blocks. Try to relate the subject to things that already know, either by asking
the teacher to help them see connections or by consulting references.
In relation to their listening comprehension, based on the findings, 7
students with 8.13% result got in very good level. It meant that they could
understand what the speaker says and they could comprehend well words by
words from the speakers. Then 40 students with 46.51% result got in good level.
It meant that they were able to understand the words but they could not
concentrate well and sometimes the missed the words. The last 39 students with
45.34% result got in average level. It meant the students were lack of vocabulary
and it was hard for them to analyze the words that the speaker said. It was relevant
to the statement of Malkawi (2010, p. 773), that there are three listening problem
that senior high school students usually face in listening comprehension. 1) speech
87
speed; 2) limited knowledge of vocabulary and structure of sentences; 3) limited
knowledge of topic in question. To improve students with average score, the
teacher can improve their teaching listening skill or they can improve or change
their strategy when they are teaching. The teacher should practice with the
students in listening in order to can make them usually listen about English to
develop the students’ achievement in listening comprehension.
In short, based on the data analysis researcher found that the total
contribution of learning style and listening comprehension showed no correlated
and influenced. It was possible to happen because every student has their own
style when they are learning English and comprehend it well and will influence
the result they get. As Munsakorn (2012, p.234) said that each student will use a
different style of learning to gain the most benefit from a course in English for the
workplace. The success of each student comes from the ability to provide a
variety of learning style. The result could happen since learning style was not only
one factor than affected listening comprehension. The result not only occurred
because learning style was not the only one factor affecting the students listening
achievement, but also since it was not the most dominant factor affecting the
students listening achievement. The writer assumed the difference experience time
of learning was the most dominant one. It can cause the students to have
difference experiences and knowledge. The difference knowledge, of course,
causes them to have difference listening achievement. As well, another factor that
should not be neglected was the condition of the students when joining the test
88
Finally, this study found there was no relationship and influence between
learning style and listening comprehension achievement of twelfth grade students
of SMA Pusri Palembang.
89
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents, (1) conclusions, and (2) suggestion based on the
findings of the research
5.1. Conclusions
1) There was no relationship between learning style and listening
comprehension achievement. The finding showed that the null hypothesis
(H0) was accepted and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was rejected.
2) Based on the finding, it can be concluded that the students’ learning style
does not give dominant effect through listening achievement. In this case, the
other factors maybe give more dominant effect through it. It also means that
the students with good understanding and using their learning style
effectively not certify will have good achievement in listening and the
students with bad understanding and using their learning style ineffectively
not certify will have bad achievement in listening.
90
5.2. Suggestions
Based on the conclusion addressed above, it can be delivered some
suggestion go to:
First, for the teachers and the students, they do not have to pay much
attention to the students’ learning styles in teaching-learning listening. Somehow,
considering the characteristics of students’ learning styles, there are some of them
can be advantageous for the students. If the students can reinforce those
characteristics, it can be helpful for them. In this way, the teachers also need to be
able to encourage the students to reinforce them. Furthermore, regarding that
English is a foreign-language, the teachers have to motivate the students to
practice listening a lot.
Second, for other researchers, they should do the researches which are the
closestwith this research and be extended to other variables in order to reveal any
aspect that support, enhance, and develop the quality of the researches of listening
skill.
91
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