Definition of Listening

Listening is the process of understanding speech in a first or second language.[1] It means that listening is one of major skill that every English student must had. Practically, there are still many people who have lack of listening skill than other skill, especially it is the common problem the mostly ESL student had. For example when student could speak English fluently but she could not identify what the native speaker said. It could be influenced by neither the speed of speech that is too fast nor the low responses skill of what they heard.

According to Ronald carter the term listening is used in language teaching to refer to complex process that allow us to understand spoken language[2]. This theory explains that listening is not only recognizing the sound but also student must get the meaning of word. Recognizing the function of the sentences when in an interaction and student must listen carefully. If one sentence can not be heard clearly, it is difficult to understand the another word or sentences. Therefore, there is so much attention in listening process. In the same way, David Nunan define the listening as a matter of decoding the individual sound to derive the meaning of word and change utterance[3]

From the explanation above, we can conclude that listening is a matter of ear and mind. Whereas hearing is not only recognizing the sound but focus on the person communicating and must respond to the question and directions. Then in a listening process the good pronunciation of the speaker determine the success of listening too.

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[1] Ibid, p 324

[2] Ronald Carter and David Nunan, The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) p 7

[3] Ibid p.63