Technology Is The Effective Way To Improve Four Skills In English Teaching And Learning Process By Sinta Hoerun Nisa

Language is an important element in life. Lehtonen in The Cultural Analysis stated that language is not only as a tool for communication but also as an inseparable part in a human life and Koentjaraningrat said that language is a part of culture. There are a lot of cultures in the world. And as the result, it has so much languages; Albanian, Arabic, Bahasa, Chinese, Urdu, Turkey, English and so forth. And English is the language used by most people in the world. English is a descended language from Germanic and is classified with Dutch, Norwegian, Germanic and Irish (Helen & Laird, 1957, p. 12-13). English has three statuses, those are as mother tongue or first language, second and foreign. Approximately, as Wikipedia stated, there are more than 375 million people in the world speak English as their first langauge such as in Great Britain, America, Canada and Australia while about 470 million speak it as the second one, for example in India, Nigeria, Malaysia and Singapore. And in Indonesia, the English has a status as a foreign language because it has own national language called Bahasa Indonesia. Although the state of English in Indonesia as a foreign language, the government put that language into curriculum. This case means English is important to be learned here and the citizens should master it. English has been in the curriculum for long time and up to the curriculum used now that is KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan), English is still applied and even being examined for The Final Examination in all level of schools in Indonesia; Elementary, Junior and Senior High School. The curriculum in Indonesia has been changed for many times. Since 1945 it has been changed for nine times; in 1947, 1952, 1964, 1968, 1975, 1984, 1994, 2004 and 2006. This is happened because of logical reason, that is based on the changing of political system, economy and culture, and the science and technology in the society. The changing of science and technology has occured rapidly, especially in this era called globalization, the era which no limitation of time and space, technology and science is one of knowledge that should be mastered for the sake of avoiding people to be left behind.

In this globalization era, the usage of technology has been applied in every aspect, including in the process of learning and teaching in some schools in Indonesia. The teaching and learning process through technology has been applied for many years here and for many subjects as well, including English. And application teaching learning of English based on technology makes the process to be more effective, productive, and efficient. The most important among them is that teaching and learning English through technology is an effective way to support four skills of English; listening, speaking, reading and writing. Listening is the first aspect in language ability. So is in English, listening is necessary because by listening to someone speaks English, an English learner will get easier to imitate, to know the way in pronouncing and also the intonation used. However, on the other side, this competence is difficult and there are many students get failed to comprehend the context in English discourse, especially spoken by the native speakers. It is because of the lack of listening to expressions in English and also it can be possible because of teaching done by the teacher is not proper. In fact, the teacher has the responsibilty in it. Making him or herself speaking English every single day in front of the class will help the students to fulfill their needs of listening to English habits, but it will not be enough. There is other thing that can support the teaching and learning process in this aspect, that is the usage of technology. The technology is created in order to make life easier and better. By using it, the process of teaching and learning will be more effective, meaningful and enjoyable. Take using recorder as an example. By listening to the native speakers as often as possible will make the students not only get used to listen to some expressions in English but also will be able to know and comprehend of what the speakers talk about. The other examples are using English movies and English songs will make them learn and acquire the language more enjoyable. In addition, the utilizing of internet connection, for example to download some audios and its scripts, will make the teaching and learning process more various and meaningful, and it will automatically maintain the attention of students towards the materials given. The usage of technology can be applied in the second skill of language called speaking. Speaking is an ultimate ability in language because it determines the level of english ability that they have. Someone who speaks English fluently is a sign that she or he has mastered the English. In order to be able speaking English well at least, the teacher has the main role here. The methods of teaching applied by the teacher will determine the quality of students in speaking

ability. A teacher who likes to practise English in teaching and learning process will make the students not only to be used to listen some things in English, but also they will simultaneously get used to response some statements and questions given by using English. To make the activity of teaching and learning more quality, the usage of technology also can be applied in this aspect, such as by listening to some records in English and ask them to response it in spoken way will make them to be more active. After that, by using some audios, they will more have the chance to look up unfamiliar vocabularies in the dictionary and finally they have known them. Therefore, the usage of this technology will not only make the students more active and confident in speaking, but also enriching english vocabularies based on their own consciousness. And this way will improve their skills in speaking. The following aspect is reading. Reading is not only as an activity of reciting some words or sentences in a text but also comprehending the context. For non-native speakers, reading some text in English become their own challenge. They will have some difficulties in understanding the text written in English because of their lack in vocabulariy and the English grammar which is different with Indonesian grammar. In order to help them in comprehending the English texts, the teacher as a facilitator must be able to facilitate their needs. Talking about facilitation, technology facilitates anything needed, including in process of teaching and learning. It can be used for supporting this activity, especially in reading skill. The simplest example is asking students to send their assignments through electronic mails or E-mails. Through this way, they will find some vocabularies which they have never met before. They will meet some terms in English and will attempt to find out its meanings. Like a journey, in order to be able on the top of the stairs, someone needs to walk step by step and be patient. It is the same with the English teaching and learning. The patience is needed in order to make this process more meaningful and effective. Besides of that, by applying the technology in class, the teacher will add and combine their teaching methods with it so that the process of teaching and learning will be more various and enjoyable. And the last aspect of the language is writing. Writing is claimed as a result of reading competence while listening is for speaking. In english writing, students tend to be more focused on the grammar, as a foundation of language, and an ability to deliver information well. It is absolutely not an easy job for non-native English speakers. The usage of proper grammar will determine the acceptance of the information. In case of that, the students should be able to master

the English grammar. For the sake of supporting it, there are so many ways, one of them is by using the technology, especially the internet connection as a medium for learning. By following some grammar exercises in the internet and using search engine to search for the materials will make students getting information out of the classroom. And for the teacher, she or he also can use that technology in order to support the activity in classroom. So many things offered by the technology, it depends on the necessity of study. So, learning and teaching process through technology is also able for this skill. For the explanation above, it can be concluded that applying technology in teaching and learning process can be used in four skills of language, such as listening, speaking, reading and speaking. By helping of technology, the teaching and learning process will make teachers to be more creative and inovative and make students feel enjoyable and create the atmosphere of the class to be better.

references:

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