book review uchie

Creating a Speaking and Listening Classroom

Lyn Dawes

Reviewer has already read 5 e-books. The first book talks about creating a speaking and listening classroom. This e-book the first edition published 2011 by Routledge. The author is Lyn Dawes. The second e-book is listening strategy from John Field that the first published 2008 by Cambridge University Press. The third e-book is A framework for teaching across differences, the author is Katherine Schultz that published by NewYork: Teachers College Press in 2003. The fourth e-book is Teaching listening by Steven Brown that published by Cambridge University 2006. The last e-book is A little book of listening skills by Mark Brady, Ph.D. and Jennifer Austin Leigh.

In this book, reviewer more focuses to strategy that use by the author. Literacy Trust (in Lyn Dawes) stated that “one in five people in UK struggles to read and write. Poor skills compromise the health, confidence, happiness and employability of individuals and have a negative impact on our national economy”. Because of that statement the author make a e-book that clarify skills such as speaking and listening, the reviewer agree with her strategy in this e-book to improve the knowledge of children using literacy words and study in group. The author uses the items to make the children more curiosity with the lesson. Besides this strategy has some benefit for students but this strategy only use by primary school. 

After the reviewer read this book, in opinion reviewer, this e-book is still for young learners or primary school but it cannot use to high level learner except study with group. Thus O’Malley and Chamot (1990:44) said that an approach to classifying language learner strategies that has been much quoted. Furthermore, the second e-book is the strategies of listening. They divide three strategies of listening such as metacognitive, cognitive social-affective and still work in group. Whether teachers use these strategies in listening it can make student more understand with listening because they have some ways to comprehension of listening. 

Actually reviewer appreciates to those strategies because teacher really cares with students in listening.  However, if there are so many ways to make students interesting, it will make students get bore quickly, because they will tired to do so many strategies. As we know that the core of listening is only to know what the speakers said beside instructions that are given by teachers.  Reviewer means that if one of the strategies is working, so teachers can leave the other strategies, but if it is not working teacher can replace with the new one strategy. For example, take one from those that really interesting. (Darling-Hammond, 1998, p. 91) said that they must be able to find their dreams in the American landscape if our nation is to enact the demo-cratic dream. It means that use this strategy to improve their ability that happen in American Latin that is a framework for listening. And then teachers also command work in group.

The first type of listening we introduced to student was listening to the details or particularities that a student brings to the classroom in order to make the student visible to teachers. A second type of listening involves listening for the rhythm and balance of the classroom. Listening for rhythm and balance allows teachers to both take leadership and simultaneously follow the direction set by each group of students. The third form of listening includes learning about the bigger picture of who students are and the social, cultural, and community contexts of their lives. Finally, listening to the silences and the ways in which students are silenced helps student teachers learn how to notice who speaks in the classroom and who remains silent, which topics are addressed and which are ignored. 

Reviewer think that this strategy is good, because in one strategy contains some types that help students to study listening and work in group include by using framework. As a modern days, we can to the next step as Ellis 2005 in Steven Brown said that “shows how taking a small amount of time (as little as one or two minutes) to plan what will be said during the task can pay large dividends in terms of accuracy, fluency, and complexity of language produced”. Thus the fourth of e-book is presentation of extensive listening tasks leading to personalized speaking. This book explains that study one skill can study another skill. This is known as “task recycling.” This may be as simple as having students change partners after completing a pair-work activity. If the questions in the pair work are interesting, getting answers from a different partner will make it a whole new task. This show that explain a poster multiple times, to different peers each time, led to gains in accuracy, fluency, and complexity. The reviewer is really interested in this explanation because besides we study about listening we are fluent speaking too. Moreover we work in group so it can make a student’s cooperation and work better in group. The least advanced student’s expla­nation became more accurate and more fluent. The most advanced student’s explanation became more complex and more precise. Teachers can build on listening tasks to provide speak­ing practice. At the same time, speaking tasks give students practice in listening to each other.

The last e-book about A little book of listening skills by Mark Brady, Ph.D. and Jennifer Austin Leigh. If we talks about the strategy from the first book review, so it still not complete yet without looked for decision of Brady and Leigh.

1. Stop talking so much!

2. Don’t interrupt unnecessarily

3. Create an atmosphere of trust

4. etc.

Reviewer really like this rules above because after teacher use so many strategies but if they do not look at this. It will not work very well.

In conclusion, one of ways to make children can enjoy studying is make the study interesting for them, because of that children can study with literacy word to improve their listening comprehension. After that, you can add any strategies again to make different ways in listening. Make students do not bore in the class, but does not use too many strategies because it will make students confused because the core of listening is hear about what their listen from speaker. So, one of the strategy can be applied in class is framing to learn to teach, it means that with framing have benefit from this strategies. And then presentation of extensive listening tasks leading to personalized speaking, it means that we study listening and also fluent speaking. We can study more about skill that should we learn. The last one, if we follow the rules in our school or teaching when teacher use some strategies, it will make students or teacher easy to comprehend the skills, as we know we are teachers will be in the future but should avoid some mistakes in listening.  Make it easy with good strategies and do not out from the track or without some mistakes.

Reviewer recommendation is those strategies above can use in the school appropriate in their level of school. It can improve of listening comprehension because those are amazing if we applied in the classroom. The similarity of every e-book is instruction from teacher is working in group. However, for some e-books that reviewer has already read contain so many difficult words, almost all of the e-book.