CRITICAL JOURNAL REVIEW

CONTEXTUAL ORAL LANGUAGES SKILLS

MEMBER OF THE GROUP : - Asriah Sorianun Harahap

- Monita Enjelina Gurusinga
- Nurul Fazirah
NIM : - 2183121059
- 2183321044
- 2183121034
LECTURER : Puan Suri Sembiring, S.Pd, M.Hum
SUBJECT : Contextual Oral Language Skills

ENGLISH EDUCATION
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN

April 2019
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Excecutive Summary
In a country like Indonesia where English functions as a Foreign Language (EFL),
students’ exposure to English is mainly in the classroom. The students have very few
opportunities to use English outside the classroom. Therefore, Sawir (2005) points
out that 1.7 millions of Asian students, face serious learning difficulties and lack of
confidence in speaking English and taking a proactive role in classrooms.

In Indonesia, the aim of teaching English in Senior High School based on the 2006
School-Based curriculum is to help the students to understand and produce oral and
written texts in relation to four language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and
writing). Secondly, it aims to help students comprehend and produce various short
functional and monolog texts, and essay texts. The third aim is to help the students
have competences in linguistics (grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and written rules),
social culture (language expression based on the community context), and strategy
(problem solving in communication occurred).

The innovative and effective medium supporting this integration is needed. Rashtchi
(2001, as cited in Sze, 2006) mentions that Podcasts is the innovative media which
can meet the students’ and classroom needs. Edisitingha (2007) found that by using
Podcasts the students found it easier to access listening practice, and Podcasts
helped them to improve their oral presentation skills, too. These are in line with
Chan, Chi, Chin, and Lin (2011) who found that Podcast covers a wide range of
subject matters so that Podcast can be used for intensive and extensive listening
activities, and it can match the students’ needs and interests too.

To conduct Podcast in teaching of listening and speaking, Task Based Learning is an

ideal method (Brown, 2007). It provides students to solve problem, write, and
perform role-plays or come to an agreed conclusion individually or in group or pairs
with the goals to have meaningful communication. Thus, in teaching and learning
activities the students are more active in participating and engaging
into teaching and learning process.
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Preface
By mentioning the name of Allah SWT, the Most Gracious, and the Most Merciful.
We express our praise and gratitude for the presence of Him who has bestowed His
mercy, guidance and blessings on us, so that we can complete our Critical Journal
Review.

This critical journal review is a requirement to fulfill the assignment from the
Contextual Oral Language Skills lecturer of State University of Medan and our hope
this paper can add to the knowledge and experience of the readers. In the future it
can improve the form and add to the contents of the paper to make it even better.

Because of our limited knowledge and experience, we believe there are still many
shortcomings in this paper. Therefore, we are looking forward to constructive
suggestions and criticism from readers for the perfection of this paper.

Finally, we say thank you and hopefully this Critical Journal Review brings benefits
to the readers and to us in particular.

MEDAN, 1st April 2019

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Table of Contenst
Pages

Cover ....................................................................................................... i

Executive Summary .............................................................................. ii

Preface ...................................................................................................... iii

Table of Contenst ................................................................................... iv

CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY ................................................................ 1

A. Rationalizing the importance of CJR ........................................ 1

B. Purpose .......................................................................................... 1
C. Benefits ......................................................................................... 1
D. Book Identity ............................................................................... 1

CHAPTER II SUMMARY OF THE JOURNAL ................................ 3

A. Preliminary ................................................................................... 3
B. Description .................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER III DISCUSSION ................................................................. 9

A. Discussion of the Journal ............................................................ 9

B. The Strengthness and the Weakness......................................... 9

CHAPTER IV CLOSING ....................................................................... 11

A. Conclusion .................................................................................... 11
B. Recommendation ......................................................................... 12
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CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
A. Rationalizing The Importance of CJR
Critical Journal Review (CJR) is an activity to review a journal in order to know and
understand what is presented in a journal and very important for education circles
especially for students because by criticizing a journal, students or critics can compare two
journals with the same theme, can see which journals need to be improved and which
journals are good to be used based on the research conducted by the journal's author, after
being able to criticize the journal, it is expected that students can make a journal because
they already know how the criteria for a good and correct journal to use and already
understand how to write or any steps needed in writing the journal. So that it becomes a
valuable input for other creative writing processes.

B. Purpose
1. Criticizing 2 journals to increase knowledge in the contextual oral language
skills subject.
2. Train yourself to think critically in finding information in the journal.
3. Comparing the contents of the first journal and second journal.
C. Benefits
1. To fulfill the task of oral language skills subject.
2. Train students in critical thinking to find information in journals.
3. Add insight and train students to know how to work on critical journals.
D. Journal Identity
- Mainn Journal
1. Journal Title : Journal of English Language and Education
2. Name of The Journal : Using Podcast to Improve STtudents’ Listening
and Speaking Achievements
3. Published Edition :-
4. Authors : Utri Fitria, Machdalena Vianty, Ismail Petrus
5. Publisher :-
6. City Publisher : Palembang
7. ISSN :-
8. Site Address :
- Comparison Journal
1. Journal Title : Englisia
2. Name of The Journal : PODCAST: An alternative way to improve EFL
students’ listening and speaking performance
3. Published Edition : Vol. 6, No. 1 , 15-26, November 2018
4. Author : Marisa Yoestara and Zaiyana Putri
5. Publisher : University od Serambi Mekkah Banda Aceh
6. City Publisher : Banda Aceh
7. ISSN :-
8. Site Address : http://dx.doi.org/10.22373/ej.v6i1.3805

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CHAPTER II
A. Preliminary
In developing countries, such as Indonesia, English is considered as a foreign
language (Kachru, 1992), which is a compulsory subject to learn, especially in
Indonesian secondary schools. This is in accordance with the previous study by
Sawir (2005) who claims that most international students from Asia, including
Indonesia, had listening and speaking difficulty due to the fact that they were not
well-prepared with those skills in their secondary schools. Unfortunately, according
to Sawir (2005), the activities of English teaching focus almost exclusively on
learning to read, and to prepare English language essays and letters, with little
attention to the skills of conversation in English. the secondary school English
teachers should consider employing podcast as one of the possible alternative to
overcome this issue as suggested by Rosell-Aguilar (2007). Podcasting (the
combination of the word iPod and broadcasting) is an asynchronous CMC
(Computer Mediated Communication), which contains audio/video that are
published on the Internet and updated in a regular interval (Stanley, 2006). The
advantages of using podcast in language learning—particularly to assist the students
in listening and speaking skill—have been researched, and the results show increase
in the students’ listening and speaking performance (Stanley, 2006; O’Bryan
&Hegelheimer, 2007; Rosell-Aguilar, 2007; Lord, 2008; Knight, 2010; Ashraf,
Noroozi& Salami, 2011; Istanto, 2011; Hasan&Hoon, 2012, 2013; AlFadda& Al-
Qasim, 2013). In addition, some other studies also found that the students’
motivation and positive attitude towards language learning increased when podcast
was used to support the learning process (O’Bryan &Hegelheimer, 2007; Rosell-
Aguilar, 2007; Ducate&Lomicka, 2009; Ashraf et al., 2011; Hasan&Hoon 2012; Al-
Fadda& Al-Qasim, 2013). Moreover, an experimental study with Iranian EFL
students also revealed that the students who used podcast had higher listening
comprehension score and higher learning motivation, compared to those who did
not (Shiri, 2015).

B. Description
 DESCRIPTION OF FIRST JOURNAL

1. Methodology

Research Method In conducting the study, the writer used a quasi-

experimental research method and the design of the study was the pretest-
posttestnon equivalent group design. The students of the experimental group got the
treatment intensively by using Podcasts for 22 meetings for 2.5 months (including
the pre- and post-tests; each meeting consisted of 60 minutes). For the control group,
the writer only gave the pre- and post-tests.

2. Population and Sample

The population of this study was all the twelfth grade students of MAN 3
Palembang in the academic year 20142015, with the total number 193 students from
6 different classes. Two classes were involved in this study, the XII IPS 2 was the
experimental, and XII IPS 1 was the control group. They were selected based on the
following criteria: the class was taught by the same English teacher, the students’
English proficiency was considered the same, as shown in the report book, their
English average score for each class was similar (XII IPS 2 was 65 and XII IPS 1 was
64), and the number of students in class was the same (30 students for each class).

3. The Teaching Procedure

The teaching of listening and speaking skills was conductedintegratedly. The

teaching and learning process conducted into three steps: pre, whilst and post
activities. The materials were taken from books and internet.

4. Data Collection

To collect the data, two kinds of instruments were used: tests and a
questionnaire(The questionnaire consisted of 4 open-ended questions aimed at
investigating the students’ feedback towards the teaching and learning by using
Podcasts in the classroom. For the first question, the students were asked to choose
one or more interesting Podcast topic(s) which they had studied then second
question, Students’ Feedback about Activities Using Podcasts to Improve Listening
Achievement after that third question is about Students’ Feedback about Activities
Using Podcasts to Improve Speaking Achievement and last question is about
Students’ Feedback about The Duration of Podcasts in English Language Teaching
and Learning)

5. Finding

a. Results of Listening and Speaking Tests

In terms of listening test, Table 2 shows that the mean score of students’ listening
pretest of the Experimental group was 52.567, and the mean score of students’
listening posttest was 76.2. Thus, the mean difference between students’ listening
pretest and posttest was 23.633. In addition, the p value of listening was 0.000,
lower than the alpha value 0.05. Meanwhile, in the control group, the listening

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pretest score was 52.467 and the posttest score was 53.167. Therefore, the difference
in mean of students’ listening score was 0.7. Then, the p value was 0.055, higher
than 0.055.

In the experimental group, the pretest mean score of speaking was 47.222, the
scores of accuracy, fluency and comprehension aspects were 16.366, 15.062, and
15.802. Then, the speaking post test mean score was 63.987, and its aspect mean
scores; accuracy was 21.799, fluency was 20.429, and comprehension was 21.202.
Hence, the mean difference between students’ speaking pretest and posttest was
16.767 and the mean differences of its three aspects orderly were 5.433, 5.367 and
5.4. In addition, the p value of speaking and it aspects was 0.000, smaller than 0.05.
In the control group, the speaking pretest score was 47.284, the scores of accuracy,
fluency and comprehension aspects were 16.605, 14.938, and 15.741. Then,the post
test score of speaking was 47.284 and its aspects; accuracy, fluency, and
comprehension were 16.805, 15.038, and 15.741. Hence, the mean difference
between the students’ speaking posttest mean score was 0 and its three aspects
orderly were 0.2, 0.1, and 0

b. Questioner result

 First question: The result showed that 100% (30 students) chose Introduction
with the reasons; they could tell about themselves, they knew how to introduce
themselves to others, etc. Then, 100% (30 students) also chose Like and dislike.
Accepting and Refusing Invitation was chosen by 90% (27 students). For the topic
Capability, 90% (27 students). 90% (27 students) also chose Describing People. For
the topic Explaining Problem, 83% (25 students). 80% (24 students) chose
Unforgettable Moment. Then, while learning about Future Plan, 80% (24 students)
stated that they could tell about their plan in the future. To learn about Expressing
Sympathy, 73% (22 students) stated that they liked to give sympathy to
others.73% (22) students mentioned that by giving suggestion to others Next, 60%
(18 students) chose Giving Clarification. Finally 60% (18 students) chose Giving
Compliment. For the next question, the students were asked to choose the
activity(ies) by using Podcast that could improve their listening achievement. 70%
(21 students) stated that pre- activity could stimulate them to engage to the
materials. They liked to listen to the teacher open the class then by answering the
questions from the teacher, they tried to find the meaning and tried to understand
the vocabularies which the teachers used.
 Second question: Next, 90% students (27 students) chose whilst activity. In
addition, 70% (21 students) chose post activity . There was 87% (26 students)
chose pre activity.
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  Third question: Results of questions no. 2 and 3 also indicated that Podcast
gave them meaningful and interesting tasks and activities. In short, those
activities could stimulate them to improve their listening and speaking
achievements. In the last question, the students were asked to give comments
about duration of Podcasts. There was 90% (27 students) suggested not to give
them the unclear Podcasts. Because it was hard for some of them to listen.
Furthermore, 10% (3 students) added not to give long duration, 5 minute was
enough, because if it was too long, it was boring.
 Fourth question: students had very good feedbacks towards the use of
Podcast in learning listening and speaking. The reasons for the positive feedback
were; Podcasts used in this study served relevant material, meaningful and
interesting activities and tasks, sufficient information, knowledge and vocabulary,
and enough duration.

 DESCRIPTION OF SECOND JOURNAL

1. Literature Review
Podcast is one of the media that is currently discussed today. According to
Jordan (2007) as cited in Bustari, Samad& Ahmad (2017, p. 97) “the term podcast
is a combination between the words pod (i.e., from the brand name iPod) and
broadcast”. One of the skills in English that is considered difficult to be learnt for
EFL learners in Indonesia is listening since it needs listeners’ focus and
concentration. Ahmed (2016) in her study found that implementing podcasts in
language teaching can assist learners to have a good understanding about the
content and to develop their ability in listening comprehensionFurther, speaking
is one of the productive skills that is widely learnt in Indonesia. Someone is
considered to be able to speak in English when she/he is able to communicate
fluently in English (Richards, 2008). Henceforth, teachers have to implement
various methods in teaching speaking in order to make students able to speak
English well. Besides providing suitable methods, teaching media also play an
important role in teaching and learning process (Smaldino, Lowther, Russell, &
Mims, 2008). Particularly in this article, the use of podcast is pondered to be
useful in both listening and speaking as it can also provide ample classroom
activities (Sze, 2006). In short, related to the explanation above, podcast is
considered as the appropriate media that can be used in teaching speaking. A
number of previous studies have been conducted on this topic. Edisitingha (2007)
as cited from Fitria, Vianty&Petrus (2015) found that Podcasts can ease students
to practice listening. Besides,it also helps them to enhance their speaking
performance. Then Baehaqi (2014) claims that using podcast in language teaching
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 classroom can engage learners’ motivation to be involved in the activities
provided. Furthermore, Ramli and Kurniawan (2017) proved that podcast can
bring many interesting topics that pose a lot of language inputs to students.
2. Discussion
There are some rationales why podcast can be used in order to improve the
students’ English listening and speaking performance
1. podcast enables students to be exposed to authentic language use of English,
because the materials in podcast cover a wide range of topics with real life
speech and are generally prepared by native speakers (Thorne & Payne, 2005;
Stanley, 2005; Rosell-Aguilar, 2007; Hasan&Hoon, 2013). For example, from
the authentic podcast materials, the students can listen to everyday
conversations in the real life situation, familiarise themselves with English
pronunciation and practice their listening as well as speaking skill.
2. Podcast could encourage self-regulated learning outside classroom. The facts
that, first, there are a large number of students at Indonesian secondary
schools (around 35 students per class) (OECD, 2012); and second, that there is
a limited time allocated to learn English in class, contribute to the students’
poor listening and speaking performance. The convenience that podcast
offers, such as 24/7 accessibility, automaticity, simplicity and portability,
allows students to listen to English language repeatedly at almost anytime
and anywhere (Lee & Chan, 2006, 2007; Jowitt, 2008; Abdous, Camarena&
Facer, 2009; Ashraf et al., 2011; Hasan&Hoon, 2013). For example, students
can practice their listening through podcast materials that have been
downloaded to their personal computer, mp3 players, or iPods in their spare
time at home. This self-regulated listening activity will likely result in English
improvement, particularly because the students are responsible and have
control over their own learning in terms of choosing what, when, and where
to listen from the podcasts (Lee & Chan, 2007; Istanto, 2011).
3. Podcasts could help increase students’ confidence in listening and speaking
skill. The fact that Indonesian students have lack of confidence in listening
and speaking skill is also confirmed by Juhana’s (2012) study about
psychological factors. Using available podcast material independently and
producing podcast talk through collaborative learning are two possible
podcast activities that can enhance students’ confidence in listening and
speaking skill (Rosell-Aguilar, 2007). For instance, when listening to podcast
independently, students can comfortably learn English without being afraid
to be judged by their teacher or peers, as clarified by Knight (2010).
4. Podcast could encourage active learning.Stanley (2006) believes that when the
podcast content is successfully chosen (by the teacher/students), the active
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class discussion can be encouraged. Besides, Rosell-Aguilar (2007)
recommends producing podcast as an effective group work activity,
particularly because it will engage students in practicing their speaking skill.
The most engaging part of activity in creating podcast materials is the
community building (Lord, 2008; Al-Fadda& Al-Qasim, 2013); not only when
the students work collaboratively in group to produce the podcast, but also
when the podcast is published, in which the students will have real audience
around the world, listening to their talks (Stanley, 2006).Additionally, the
combination of podcast and Skype will serve as another possible follow-up
synchronous activity that the teacher could employ In this manner, the
students could have a face-to-face (online) language interaction through
Skype (Stanley, 2006). The active learning activities will finally increase the
students’ motivation and English performance, particularly in listening and
speaking skill. asynchronous activity).

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CHAPTER III
DISCUSSION
A. Discussion Of The Journal

Base on the main journal, ” IMPROVE SPEAKING AND LISTENING BY USING

PODCAST” Edisitingha (2007) found that by using Podcasts the students found it
easier to access listening practice, and Podcasts helped them to improve their oral
presentation skills, too. Podcast covers a wide range of subject matters so that
Podcast can be used for intensive and extensive listening activities, and it can match
the students’ needs and interests too. To conduct Podcast in teaching of listening and
speaking, Task Based-Learning is an ideal method (Brown, 2007).
While, STANLEY, (2006) grasped that Podcasting (the combination of the word
iPod and broadcasting) is an asynchronous CMC (Computer Mediated
Communication),which contains audio/video that are published on the Internet and
updated in aregular interval. The advantages of using podcast in language
learning—particularly to assist the students in listening and speaking skill—have
been researched, and the results show increase in the students’ listening and
speaking performance.
Base on the two expert opinions above it can be conclude that improve speaking and
listening by using podcast is apply Podcast as an alternative web-based medium in
teaching listening and speaking to the students. Applying Podcast in teaching and
learning process allows the students to have fun learning experience which can
increase their motivation.

B. The Strengthness and the Weakness

STRENGTHNESS

 The main journal doesn’t describe detail about the definition of the podcast, the
writer only explains about how to apply the podcast to the students.
 The comparison journal doesn’t explain how to apply the podcast in school, the
writer only explains about the definition and benefits of podcast.
 The main journal used language that is a little convoluted so, it difficult to
understand.
 The comparison journal is less effective because the entire journal contents are
taken from the opinions of the experts.
WEAKNESS
 The main journal describe clearly about how to apply the podcast to the students
and explain how the result of the podcast application.
 The comparison journal describe clearly about the meaning of the podcast.
 The main journal contains the language of the author’s direct opinion.
 The comparison journal use good language and easy to understand.

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CHAPTER IV
CLOSING
A. Conclusion

On the basis of findings and interpretations of the study, the writer draws three
conclusions. First, there was a significant difference in listening achievement
between the students who were taught by using Podcast and that of those who were
not. Therefore, the first null hypothesis (Ho1) was rejected and the first alternative
hypothesis (Ha1) was accepted. In short, Podcast significantly improved the
students’listening achievement. Next, there was a significant difference in speaking
achievement between the students who were taught by using Podcast and that of
those who were not. Hence, the second null hypothesis (Ho2) was rejected and the
second alternative hypothesis (Ha2) was accepted. Hence, Podcast significantly
improved the students’ writing achievement.

Finally, the students’ feedback towards the use of Podcast in learning listening and
speaking were favorable. Podcat could be one of alternative and innovative
Computer-based learning tools which might improve the students’ understanding
and their achievement in listening and speaking. In other words, it was effective to
use Podcast as a medium in learning listening and speaking. In addition, based on
the findings and interpretations, it was also found that there were some reasons
which influenced the results of this study. Those reasons were: first, Podcast exposes
students to the authentic materials which attract students’attention. Second, Podcast
provides meaningful tasks which help students to have better comprehension. Third,
Podcast supports students in enriching their vocabulary and knowledge which
contribute to their skill improvement. Fourth, Podcast facilitates the integration of
technology into teaching and learning activities which increase students’ motivation.
Fifth, Podcast provides students useful and fun learning experience which leads
them to have positive perceptions towards the use of Podcast in learning English
listening and speaking. Six, the 5 minutes of Podcast duration is more effective than
the longer one.

It is also recommended for students to use Podcast as an alternative computer-based

medium in learning listening and speaking in order to facilitate the development
and improvement of their English achievements. Furthermore, the students could
access more authentic materials through internet to support their listening and
speaking practice. Practice will help them to improve their English skills.
For other researchers who are interested in conducting similar studies. It is good to
find out the use of feed back towards the students’ self learning outside the
classroom.

B. Sugesstions

Based on the conclusions of this study, there are some suggestions offered for
English teacher, students, and other researchers who are interested in conducting
similar research.

For English teachers, it is suggested that they apply Podcast as an alternative web-
based medium in teaching listening and speaking to the students. Applying Podcast
in teaching and learning process allows the students to have fun learning experience
which can increase their motivation. The implementation of Podcast in teaching and
learning activities enables the students to access various authentic materials that
may support their listening and speaking achievement improvement. In addition, it
is also suggested for the teachers to be selective to choose the appropriate Podcasts
by considering the students’ interest and needs, learning objectives, and also the
duration of Podcasts, so that the teaching and learning activities can rum well.

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