TEACHING HOW TO IMPROVE CONVERSATION SKILL IN THE CLASSROOM USING VOICE CHAT

TEACHING HOW TO IMPROVE CONVERSATION SKILL IN THE CLASSROOM USING VOICE CHAT
By:
Tika Wiguna
07211210291
6 C
ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING & EDUCATION
BOGOR IBN KHALDUN UNIVERSITY
Preface
“Alhamdulillah” with bless of Allah SWT, the beneficent and the Merciful. The writer has been able to finish this paper which is submitted as fulfillment of the requirement of the “Writing for Academic Purposes” by the lecturer is H. Cunong N. Suraja, Drs., M.Hum.
This paper is an attempt to study about the techniques used in “Teaching How to Improve Conversation Skill in The Classroom Using Voice Chat”. This paper is an attempt to study about the techniques used in teaching English, especially in conversation skill. The writer believes that the teaching of conversation is an important factor to find some information about how to teach speaking skill in teaching learning process.
This paper is far from perfect in spite of having done his best. Yet, the writer hopes that it will be useful for the teachers generally and for those who are engage in studying the English Language in particular. And the writer also hopes may Allah reward for their previous contribution and bless our life. Amin
Bogor, June 2010
The Writer
Introduction
A. The Background
Language is a way of expressions ideas and feelings using movement, symbols and sounds. There are very kinds of language that used by people. Without language, we will not know how to express our feeling, how to talk with other people and etc. So, language is very important in our life.
As we know that Indonesia as other countries needs to have contact with the countries which have various cultures and language. In order to achieve such purpose, we are demanded to learn and to have competence in foreign language as means to fulfill our needs in many fields such as: science, technology, politics, education, commerce and etc.
English is widely used by many countries as their communication tool, for instance: people use English is international conference as their sole language to communicate with their counter parts abroad. One of language skills that must be mastered by any foreign language learner is the ability to speak or communicate in the target language. In speaking skill, there are very kinds of expressing our feelings. Expressing congratulation, expressing hope, expressing apologize and still many others. By that expression, we can use it when we talk to other people suitable with condition. Unfortunately the fact has shown that the students are quite difficult to improve their speaking ability because there are accustomed to use their native language in their daily life than using English. This is the reason why we cannot deny the fact that the students still considered speaking skills as the most difficult skill to be mastered.
Based on the conditions, in this paper, the writer tries to solve the problem by offering one teaching technique for “Teaching How to Improve Conversation Skill in The Classroom Using Voice Chat”. The reason why the writer chooses the conversation skill because it is one of teaching methods that very effectively for students, so they will be able to speak with another people.
Theoretical Background
A. Teaching conversation
As we have known there are many methods used in teaching learning process. The use of method is adjusted with the materials that will be taught. Every teacher should always prepare the suitable teaching method before presenting the materials in the class.
The word “teaching” is often defined by giving an experience to the students that have not gotten before. It can also defined by helping students in doing their activities in the classroom especially in study their lessons.
As we know that conversation is a talk between two or more people in which thoughts, feelings and ideas are expressed, questions are asked and answered, or news and information are exchanged. Besides that, there are several dictionary Synonyms for "Conversation": discourse, discussion, dialogue, chat, speech, speech communication, spoken communication, spoken language, voice communication, oral communication.
In a conversation, teacher will help students to learn English by using it in conversations with English speakers. Students work in the classroom is very important. It will help them to practice English, to speak more clearly and fluently, and to listen to others carefully and understand what they are saying. But it is also very important for them to practice English outside of the classroom.
Besides that, teaching conversation is one of teaching method that very effectively for students because through this method, student will be able to speak English very well. In teaching conversation, the teacher has to know the qualities of a good conversationalist include the ability to think clearly, use English effectively, speak to point, stimulate others to talk, describe situation and events.
B. Definition of Voice Chat
Chat is a tool that allows for synchronous, i.e. real time, communication over the internet. It has enormous potential to link students around the world, in real time. It is a technology that many learners will often be familiar with and will use in their social lives, so it is worth exploiting in the classroom where possible. When talking about chat, we need to distinguish between text and audio chat, and between public and private chat, all of which can take place one-to-one or between groups of users. What makes chat essentially different from other forms of synchronous communication such as mobile phone texting, for example, is presence. User are able to see the status or availability of other chat users, such as whether the user is online, away, busy, and so on.
Chat is one of the most interactive areas on the Internet and they are regularly visited by children and teenagers. Putting it plainly and simply, a chat room is a place on the Internet where people meet to talk about various subjects. Conversation is simultaneous, synchronous and written. A user writes a message onto the computer and the message is immediately displayed on another computer. From a teacher's point of view, chat rooms may turn out to be one of the best places to engage our students in real and meaningful language practice. From a student's point of view, chats are an exciting means of communication and an enriching opportunity to communicate with native or non-native speakers in English.
Technology is more advanced than the previous status and we are capable to make voice chat to communicate with others in present period. As we know that voice chat is more likely to make learners produce more fluent language. It is communication between chat users takes place via audio, much like a phone conversation, but is conducted on the internet. Using voice chat does require a reliable broadband Internet connection. If we have a dial-up or modem connection, it is probably safer to stick to text chat because it generally takes higher connection speeds to transmit and receive audio and video data.
In this paper, the writer uses voice chat technology like Yahoo! Messenger. Yahoo! Messenger screenshot shows both text chat and voice chat in operation at the same time. Yahoo Messenger is a free instant message service by which you can chat with friends. Yahoo Messenger freeware can be considered as the best tool for chatting. When we want to chat, we need to use it is a pair of headphones or speaker, a microphone and a webcam (web camera), so that we can not only text chat and voice chat, but we can also see our interlocutor, if they have a webcam installed on their computer. Besides that, we look at the use of chat in the classroom, where the teacher can link up classes and groups in different locations, as part of collaborative project work or for one-off chat session such as those described above. Using chat needs to have a clear purpose for learners. There is not much point taking a class of learners who regularly meet face-to-face to a computer room during class time simply to chat to each other via a computer when they can do so more effectively simply by turning to their partner.
C. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Voice Chat
Using chat in the classroom like voice chat can be hugely motivating to learners. By using chat with learners, the teacher is bringing current technology into the language learning process, creating variety by using a „new‟ tool and also opening up the possibility of contacting and communicating with classes in other parts of the world. There are increasing numbers of teachers in all levels of education using chat to connect learners at a distance, from primary students to adults.
There are advantages of using voice chat:
a. Learners may already use voice chat at home
b. Brings current technology into the classroom.
c. Use of a new tool can be motivating for learners.
d. Enables learners to make contact with learners in other countries.
e. „Real‟ oral practice of language.
Disadvantages of using voice chat:
a. Suitable for very small groups only.
b. Reliable broadband internet connection needed.
c. Recording a chat may be complex and require other software.
D. Learning Strategies
Attitudes to classroom conversation and casual chat have varied over the years. In the heyday of the auudiolingualism, one writer, Louis Alexander, warned that the traditional “conversation lesson” is of no value at all if the student is not ready for it…. . The students must first be trained to use patterns in carefully graded aural or oral drills. Only in this way will he finally learn to speak.
To start using chat in the classroom, we would suggest a carefully staged approach, which will help get both learners and teachers familiar with the chat program, how it works and what it can be used for. We would suggest starting out with text chat, and then moving or to voice chat once learners have had a chance to practice with text chat. Ideally, using chat with learners would include a „real‟ use of chat, for example chatting to learners in a different country, or using chat outside of class time with learners from their own class. Initially it is a good idea to use chat in class with your learners a couple of times, to help them become comfortable with it, so that they can then go on and use it outside class. Step 1 –install and learn to use the software
Download and install a popular instant messaging program which includes both text and voice chat facilities like webcam (web camera) to your school computers. If you are not familiar with instant messaging yourself, get a colleague to practice using the program with you, and make sure you understand the basics of how to use the text and voice chat in your chosen program. Note that you will need a partner to do this. Step 2 –A practice chat class
Some of your learners may already be familiar with voice chat. Find out if any of your learners use chat, and if so, what for, for example to make friends on the internet or to chat to family or friends in other countries.
Also, find out how many of your learners are familiar with common instant messaging program such webcam (web camera). Step 3 –Contact with another class
The potential of chat for linking groups of learners, who are far apart, in real time, is vast. How can a teacher go about setting up such a project? Through the International teacher‟s network make contact with teachers who would like to link up their classes via chat, and together decide on a time to chat. It is well worth first getting the two classes to email each other to exchange some personal information, so that learners at least feel they know each other a little before chatting online.
E. How to structure a voice chat lesson
Like a lesson, a chat lesson needs a clear structure and aims. First, ask yourself what learners will get out of your chat. If the chat is to be held, as we suggest, between classes in different countries, there are, as we have said, several benefits for your learners: Contact with other learners, and motivation that this brings. „Real‟ communication with a real purpose. Use of a new medium in the classroom. A chance to practice spoken English.
There are several possible groupings for running chats between two classes in different geographical locations: If learners in both classes have access to individual computers, they can simply be put in pairs, with one learner from Class A being paired with one learner from Class B. If there are enough computers available for learners to work in small groups on a single computer, clear guidelines for turn-taking in each group need to be provided by the teacher.
In the single computer classroom, an entire class can use one microphone for a voice chat, with the teacher allocating turns, introducing topics and signaling the various stages of the lesson.
Chat practice session (approximately one hour)
1. Well before the class; check that the voice chat program (Yahoo! Messenger) is installed.
2. At the beginning of the class, find out if your learners are familiar with instant messaging, and if so, what they use it for.
3. Outline the aim of the practice chat session; to add each other to their chat contact lists, and to practice using voice chat, so as to be able to use it outside class to practice their English.
4. Learners set up individual user accounts in the chat program, and invite each other to join their contact lists.
5. Show learners how to use the voice chat feature of the program. The easiest way to do this is if you have a computer connected to a data projector, and can project the steps you take onto a screen. Otherwise, you can walk around the classroom and help learners. Ideally, each learner should use one computer alone, but learners can be paired up and take turns at chatting for the tasks below.
6. See the learners a simple task. For example, each learner needs to chat to five other class members, and find out one unusual thing about each of these five classmates. Learners should note down what they find out, either in a word processing program or on a piece of paper. Set a time limit, e.g. ten minutes.
7. Once the time is up, stop the class. Check what they have found out about each other.
8. Repeat the activity, changing the task slightly. This time learners need to chat to five different classmates, to find out how many brothers and sisters they have, and their names and ages. Again, learners need to note down
the information. Give a slightly longer time limit, e.g. seven to ten minutes.
9. Once the time is up, stop the class. Check what they have found out about each other. Who has the fewest or most siblings? What is the average number of siblings in the class? What is the most common name for boys and for girls?
10. (Optional) The aim of this final phase is to provide learners with more practice in using voice chat, while also raising awareness of the usefulness of the tool and addressing any questions or difficulties learners may have had. If the learners have limited English proficiency, they could do this task in their first language.
Pair the learners up. If learners are already working in pairs on a computer, then pair the computers up, so that you have two computers communicating via chat. Give the learners list of questions (for example on a prepared handout) that gets them to reflect on using chat. Suggested questions are: Have you used voice chat before? What for? Do you like using voice chat? Why/ Why not? Do you think using voice chat is good for practicing your English? Why/Why not? What do you find easy about using voice chat? What do you find difficult about using voice chat? How could we use voice chat out of class time to practice our English? Would you like us to use voice chat during class time? Why/ Why not? If yes, how often, and what for?
Give a learners time to discuss all of the questions via voice chat, and then conduct open feedback with the class.
Yahoo! Messenger in action
Finding the Data
Active English Speaking is an educational website which offers a variety of lessons for a fee. Either through a group lesson, or one-on-one tutoring, they allow their students the chance to learn, ask questions, and interact with other classmates, through a virtual classroom.
"Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it you can rapidly improve the quality of this very part of your life." (Loren Ekroth).
Chat is one of the most interactive areas on the Internet and they are regularly visited by children and teenagers. Putting it plainly and simply, a chat room is a place on the Internet where people meet to talk about various subjects.
Voice chat is more likely to make learners produce more fluent language. It is communication between chat users takes place via audio, much like a phone conversation, but is conducted on the internet. Using voice chat does require a reliable broadband Internet connection. If we have a dial-up or modem connection, it is probably safer to stick to text chat because it generally takes higher connection speeds to transmit and receive audio and video data (Gavin & Nicky, 2007: 72)
Conversation Skill can be explained as language abilities needed to interact in social situations. Language abilities include speaking with appropriate vocabulary, pronunciation, tone, intonation, rhythm, pauses, politeness and timing. To help students to be a better learner of English, there are ten “rules” for successful language learning that encourage them to follow. These rules suggest ways to help students become a successful learner, if they can follow this advice; they will learn English more successfully.
In the heyday of audiolingualism, one writer, Louis Alexander, warned that „the traditional “conversation lesson” is of no value at all if the student is not ready for it….The student must first be trained to use patterns in carefully graded aural/oral drills. Only in this way will he finally learn to speak. „The chat stage of
the lesson, if it occurred at all, was simply there as a curtain raiser to the main event –the controlled practice of sentence patterns.
Such a view sits uncomfortably with the finding that conversation, i.e. casual talk that is primarily interpersonal, is by far the most common and the most widespread function of speaking. Moreover, there is a school of thought that the argues that, in L1 acquisition, the development conversational skills precedes the development of language itself. As Evelyn Hatch put it, „language learning evolves out of learning how to carry on conversations,‟ i.e. out of learning how to communicate. By extension, it has been argued that conversation in a second language is not the result of language learning, but it is the site where learning occurs (Scott Thornbury, 2005).
It is also, of course, a fact that many language learners feel that their most urgent need is to develop conversational competence, and they regularly choose ;conversation‟ as their principle objective when answering needs analysis surveys.
In making this paper, Writer didn‟t do research to school. Just looking for some books and read it. So, we use that book for finding the data related in this paper. From some book, Writer got the data and put in this chapter. In function of conversation are helpful and essential because it can motivate the students to participate actually in language learning.
Conversation „lesson‟ can be incorporated into normal class work. One teacher in the USA, Gisela Ernst, describes how she does this through the use of what she calls talking circles:
The talking circle is a total group activity that generally takes place at the beginning of the 45-min conversational English class. Almost every day, teacher and students gather in the talking circle to share and discuss experiences, anecdotes, news, special events, introduce the weekly theme, and the like. Although the teacher might open the discussion by suggesting a general topic, the overriding assumption is that the talking circle provides a place and an audience for students to discuss anything of interest to them.
Analysis
English Language Conversation Skills includes language abilities, conversation skills, social skills, culture knowledge and non-verbal communication skills. Non-verbal communication skills are classified as posture, body movements, gestures, facial expressions, proximity and eye contact.
When learn conversation, students must include everything if they actually want to converse with native English speakers. Students cannot just learn vocabulary or pronunciation as it represents less than 50% of most conversations.
Many language learners feel that their most urgent need is to develop conversational competence, and they regularly choose “conversation” as their principal objective when answering needs analysis surveys. For this reason, many language school offer „conversation Classes‟ a way of complementing more traditional, grammar focused, classes. However, these offer challenge to teachers and course designers since it difficult to plan or programmed something as inherently unstructured and spontaneous as casual conversation. As one writer puts it, “genuine conversational interactions cannot be the outcome of planned lesson agendas; they have to emerge and so, by definition, cannot be planned.
The writer has found opinions about the title of paper. Especially that related with conversation. The writer put it into the data. There are many opinions from the different expert. But from that different, the writer can take an sample or one of the best opinion that appropriate with student‟s need, so it can be used by them when learned English in the class.
Louis Alexander, warned that „the traditional “conversation lesson” is of no value at all if the student is not ready for it….The student must first be trained to use patterns in carefully graded aural/oral drills. Only in this way will he finally learn to speak. „
"Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it you can rapidly improve the quality of this very part of your life." (Loren Ekroth).
Voice chat is very good for both teacher and students because it can be new knowledge for them in learn English. Besides that, voice chat can improve their English conversation.
Voice chat is more likely to make learners produce more fluent language. It is communication between chat users takes place via audio, much like a phone conversation, but is conducted on the internet. Using voice chat does require a reliable broadband Internet connection. If we have a dial-up or modem connection, it is probably safer to stick to text chat because it generally takes higher connection speeds to transmit and receive audio and video data (Gavin & Nicky, 2007: 72)
After seeing that opinion, the writer considered that voice chat is very important and good process for learners in language English. Voice chat make students interested for learning at the classroom. Students will not feel bored because with voice chat, they will get new course, new knowledge and new experience when they used it. Besides that, students will know how to use the voice chat when they are out of the class, especially when they go to the internet, so they will know how to use it.
Conclusion
Many people want to improve their conversation skills and along with that they want to know how to start a conversation and make friends. Both of those are not too hard if a person learns how to do it, and once they have this ability they will be able to confidently talk with people, make friends and increase their popularity. Starting conversations basically comes down to approaching the person and using a conversation starter. Conversation is very important used to communicate. Related with conversation, we can use voice chat to communicate with the other people. Voice chat is more likely to make learners produce more fluent language. It is communication between chat users takes place via audio, much like a phone conversation, but is conducted on the internet. Using voice chat does require a reliable broadband Internet connection. If we have a dial-up or modem connection, it is probably safer to stick to text chat because it generally takes higher connection speeds to transmit and receive audio and video data.
Bibliography
Dudeney, Gavin & Nicky Hockly. 2007. How to Teach English with Technology. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited.
http://www.conversationhelp.com/blog/?p=81
http://www.eslincanada.com/englishconversationskills.html
http://www.stumblingglass.com/education-reference/article5412.htm
Lim Kiat Boey. 1975. An Introduction to Linguistics for the Language Teacher. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Thornburry, Scott.2005. How to Teach Speaking. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited.