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CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION

Background of StudyLanguage obviously is a vital tool in communication. Language can also be considered as knowledge. In our world today knowledge is one of the key factors in competitiveness. In an advanced society, the knowledge of every language becomes essential. For the last few years, millions of people across the world, who share common interests, are able to communicate with each other and exchange ideas. Not only they are able to do this due to the various technological advances, but also because they share a common language.

English is one of the most important tools available to us. It is one of the international languages, a tool of communication between countries, cultural groups, various companies and organizations, communities and friends. Knowing the importance of it, in Indonesia, English is the first foreign language that is taught from elementary to university, which is considered as an important subject to be acquired. Moreover, tourism industries have the effects of motivating students to learn English as well as possible. Besides, there is an indication that some students who are able to communicate in English after finishing their studies are easier to get jobs in several tourism industries. 1When we learn a language, there are four major language skills that we need to be acquired for communication, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. When we learn our native language, we usually learn to listen first, then to speak, then to read, and finally to write. In teaching and learning process, those four language skills have to be involved integratedly; however, listening comprehension is often difficult. There are many ways and techniques can be applied to encourage students to improve their listening skills. One of them is to let the students hear different varieties and accents of languages rather than just the voice of their teacher. There are many dialects and accents of people when speaking in English. The differences are not only in the pronunciation of sounds but also in grammar. It is said that listening is used far more than any other single language skill in normal daily life. Generally, we suppose to listen twice more than speak, four times more than we read, and five times more than we write (Rivers and Weaver in Celce- Murcia, 1991: 82). The importance of listening cannot be underestimated. Therefore, it is imperative that it cannot be treated trivially in second and foreign language curricula. Thus language acquisition is achieved mainly through receiving understandable input and listening ability is the critical component in achieving understandable language input. Besides, the importance of listening in communication is enormous. People often focus on their speaking ability believing that good speaking equals to good communication. The ability to speak well is a necessary component to a successful communication; however, the ability to listen is equally important as speaking ability. Given the importance of listening in language learning and teaching it is essential for language teachers to help students become effective listeners.Furthermore, in a careful observation of College English teaching practice, the teaching of listening skill has been found that it is still considered as a weak spot in the language teaching process. Despite students having mastered the basic elements of English grammar and vocabulary, their listening comprehension is often weak. In Addition, in fact sometimes we found that while students integrated skills in reading, writing, translating have been improving, their listening capability have been left behind. The key factor that has been recognized in the preliminary studies is the students limited listening comprehension skills. On the other hand, it is essential for the students to master this skill. Based on the above facts, the researcher wants to describe and observe one of the four skills in English, it is listening skill.Richards at al (1986: 158) argues that evaluation refers to procedure for gathering data on the dynamics, effectiveness, acceptability, and efficiency of a language program for the purposes of decision making. Basically, evaluation addresses whether the goals and objectives of a language program are being attained, that is whether the program is effective (in absolute terms). Besides, Ahmann at al (1981: 7) states that educational evaluation is the systematic process of determining the effectiveness of educational endeavors in the light of evidence. Thus, the purpose of this evaluation is as assessment of the academic achievement of individual student and also to find out about the students progress or program effectiveness at some point. Listening tests typically be similar to reading comprehension tests only then the student listens to a passage instead of reading it. The student then answers multiple-choice questions that address various levels of literal and inferential comprehension. Important elements in all listening tests are the listening stimuli, the questions, and the class environment. There are many types of objective tests can be used to evaluate awareness of the listening comprehension. Each of these type tests the ability to recognize and identify the spoken information to be understood. Therefore, classroom tests of listening comprehension can play a useful part in a language programmed. The type of item test that is chosen for this present study is multiple choice test items for its effectiveness.Concerning those evidences mentioned above, it is important to do the evaluation to make sure whether the teaching and learning process has been done successfully or not in teaching and learning process. Therefore, this research is carried out in order to measure to what extent is the listening comprehension ability mastered by the subject under study when it is assessed through the teacher made multiple choice tests.

Statement of Research QuestionBased on what described in the background of the study, the researcher tries to examine the following research question: to what extent is the listening comprehension ability mastered by the eighth grade students of SMP N 4 Denpasar in academic year 2010/2011 when it is assessed through the teacher made multiple choice tests?

Purpose of the StudyBased on the research question mentioned above, this study means to investigate the listening comprehension ability through the teacher made multiple choice tests by the eighth grade students of SMP N 4 Denpasar in academic year 2010/2011. Furthermore, the result of this research may be used as an evidence to be utilized by the teacher to raise the awareness of practicing and evaluating the students listening comprehension continuously.

LimitationThere are four major language skills known commonly; listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, this present study is limited or solely focuses only on assessing and analyzing the students listening comprehension as a target language. Besides, the researcher limits her investigation of listening comprehension test by using the teacher made multiple choice tests as the research instrument, to the eighth grade students of SMPN 4 Denpasar in academic year 2010/2011 as the subject under study.

Assumptions of the StudyEx post facto research design or non- experimental study is used in this present study. It means that the researcher has no control on the variable because it has already existed and it is not manipulated. Thus, the researcher thinks that it is necessary to make some assumptions. The underlying assumptions of the present study are as follows:

The subjects under study relatively have the same strength of learning motivation in learning English.They are assumed as a group of students who have been learning and acquiring English within the same length of time.Concerning the physical conditions of the students, it is assumed that their health is good and their competence is various.The teacher- made multiple choice listening test under the investigation are assumed to have already been constructed based on the existing principles and theories of how to construct valid and reliable tests.

Significance of the StudyIt is expected that the result of the study can give contributions and stand the following important such as:

Theoretically, the findings of this present study are really expected to give and support the similar researches that have been existed with more empirical evidences relating to listening comprehension in English.Practically, the result of this present study is intended as informative feedback to the English teachers at SMP N 4 Denpasar.The findings of the present investigation can improve the students learning strategy more effectively that will raise their listening comprehension ability and they will be more motivated to learn and practice their communication skill and listening through creating and looking for more live contacts both in and outside classroom settings.

Hypothesis Based on the problem mentioned above, the researcher then formulates some alternative hypothesis that the acquisition of listening comprehension of the eighth grade students of SMP 4 Denpasar in academic year 2010/2011 is still low.

Definition of Key TermsWith the purpose of avoid misunderstanding toward the terms those are used in this present study, some definitions of key terms are defined as follows:

Assessment is defined as a systematic process of asking educationally relevant questions about a students learning behavior for the purpose of placement and instruction.Listening comprehension is defined as the ability to identify and understand the message from the oral presentation.The teacher made multiple choice tests is operationally defined as the multiple choice tests that are constructed by the researcher based on the syllabus that is used in the school where the investigation takes place.SMP N 4 Denpasar is a state junior high school which is located on Jl. Gunung Agung, Denpasar, Bali- Indonesia where the investigation was carried out.

Theoretical Framework.The theoretical point of view as well as empirical evidence is used to support this research. Thus, the present study is based on the following theoretical frameworks: (1) the conception of listening, (2) the principles behind the Teaching of listening, (3) the importance of listening comprehension, (4) the factors affecting of listening, (5) the conception of test, (6) and constructing multiple choice test items.