ELT

1. INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY

AUDIO MEDIA

Betty Sekarasih H.Y, S.Pd

A.  INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, the growth of instructional media and technologies for learning becomes inevitable part in people’s life. There are many kinds of media which support teaching and learning process. One of them is the audio media.

The fact shows us that listening is the only learning activity that consumes the major portion of a student’s classroom time. Elementary and secondary students spend about half of their in-school time listening to others and at the college level, about 90% of class time is spent listening. The importance, then, of audio experiences in the classroom should not be underestimated.

The audio media is mainly needed in the teaching and learning process. It can make some unique contributions to the process such as self study for non readers, realistic foreign language practice, stories to stimulate imagination and music for physical activity.

Cassettes, records and CDs are abundantly available in every curricular area and are easy to use. To use the audio media effectively requires an understanding of the hearing listening processes and thoughtful selection of materials based on our objectives by considering ASSURE model. We also can produce our own audio materials by using some techniques such as recording, duplicating and editing. 

B. DISCUSSION

1. The Hearing- Listening Process

            Hearing and listening are not the same thing, although, they are of course interrelated. Simply, we can say that hearing is physiological process, whereas listening is psychological process.

Physiologically, hearing is a process in which sound waves entering the outer ear and transmitted to eardrum, converted into mechanical vibrations in the middle ear, and changed in the inner ear into electrical impulses that travel to the brain.

            The psychological process of listening begins with someone’s awareness of and attention to sounds or speech patterns (receiving), proceeds through identification and recognition of specific auditory signals (decoding), and ends in comprehension (destination).  The hearing-listening process can be described as:

	MESSAGE				ENCODING				HEARING

 

MESSAGE 2 (COMPREHENSION)

DECODING

LISTENING

                                               

The message will be encoded by the sender and decoded by the receiver. The quality of the encoded message is affected by the ability of the sender to express the message clearly and logically and the understandability of the decoded message is affected by the ability of the receiver to comprehend the message.

            The transmission-reception process might be inhibited by a number of obstacles such as:

1. The volume of the sound might be too low or too high.
2. The sound that is sustained monotonously may trigger auditory fatigue.
3. The individuals’ ability to hear may be physically impaired.
4. Limited listening skills of the receiver
5. Lack of  experiential background to internalize and comprehend the message

2. Developing Listening Skills

Listening has been considered as important skills in teaching learning process. It has similar position just like reading, speaking and writing. Teachers need to know some techniques to improve student listening abilities. The following are some techniques to improve the listening abilities:

1. Guide listening

1)      give the students some objectives or questions before hand

2)      start with short passages with one or two objectives

3)      Gradually increase the length of the passage, the number and the complexity of the objectives or questions.

b. Give directions

            1) Give the students directions individually or as group on audiotape

            2) Evaluate students ability to follow the instructions

c. Ask students to listen for main ideas, details or inferences.

            1) pay attention to the age level of the students

            2) present oral passage

            3) ask students to listen the main idea and write it down

d. Use context in listening

            1) Ask the students to listen sentences with word missing

            2) Supply the appropriate words

e. Analyze the structure of a presentation

            1) Ask the students to outline an oral presentation

            2) determine how well the were able to determine the main idea and to identify

                the sub topics

f. Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information

            1) Have the students listen to oral presentation

            2) Ask them to identify the main idea and the rate (from most to least relevant)

3. Audio Format

            The followings are some audio format which commonly used for instructional purposes. Each of the audio formats has the strength and the weakness as well.

a. Audiotapes (Magnetic tape recording)

Advantages	Limitation
-          We can record our tape easily and economically -          When outdated material is no longer use, we can erase the magnetic signal on the tape and re use it. -          It is not easily damaged -          It can store easily	- In recording process, background noises or mechanical hum may sometimes be recorded along with the intended material.

b. Cassette tape recorder (Cassette)

            It is the most commonly used audio device found in the classroom. It has various length based on the amount of recording time they contain.

Advantages	Limitation
-          Durable (immune to shock and abrasion) -          It can be snapped into and out of the recorder in seconds. -          Easy to use (can be played on any cassette machine) -          Very portable (small and light)	-          Tapes sometimes stuck or tangled in the recorder because of the thinness of the tape. -          Poor fidelity with inexpensive player -          Noise and Hiss -          Difficult to edit

c. Rate – Controlled Audio Playback

Rate – Controlled Audio Playback is an audio tape system that can play back recorded speech at either faster or a slower rate than the rate at which it was recorded without loss of intelligibility.

Advantages	Limitation
-          It has pedagogical significance as it can help to improve the students listening and reading speed	-          Since it still uses cassette as the audio device, it also has some limitations as what the cassette has. -          It is less known and tends to be more expensive than the ordinary cassette player

d. Phonograph records

            It was really famous until the 1980s. We use long playing record to operate this.

Advantages	Limitation
-          It has excellent frequency response -          Wide variety of selection -          Selection easily cued -          Inexpensive (it is made of cheap materials)	-          we cannot economically prepare our own record -          It is easily damaged (easily scratched) -          Can warp -          Requires much storage space

e. Compact Discs (CD)

            Physically the compact disc looks like a small, silver phonograph record without the grooves. The music or sounds are stored as digitized bits of information. It is very attractive addition to education program.

Advantages	Limitation
-          Very durable -          High fidelity -          No background noise -          Random search	-          Expensive *(in the past) -          Skipping -          Impractical to prepare * -          Requires more complex player

f. Audio Cards

An audio card is approximately the size of business envelope. It contains a strip of magnetic recording tape near the bottom edge.

Advantages	Limitation
-          It uses dual track systems that allow the students to record their response -          Designed for individual use -          There are participations and involvement of the students	-          Time consuming to prepare -          Requires special machine -          Most cards hold less then 15 seconds

4. The Attributes of Cassettes

            Since the most popular format of the audio formats available is the cassettes, we will have more discussion about the attributes of cassettes.

a. The advantages

1) Inexpensive

   Individual audio cassettes are inexpensive. It can be erased after use and new message can

  be recorded.

2) Readily available and simply to use

    Most students have been using cassettes since they were very young. It is easy to operate.

3) Reproducible

    It is easily duplicated in whatever quantities.

4) Provide verbal message for non readers

5) Ideal for teaching the language

6) Stimulating : present verbal message more dramatically than text can.

7) Repeatable

8) Portable : It is portable and it can be used in the field with the battery power.

9) Ease of lesson preparation

10) Selections easy to locate

11) Resistance to damage

b. Limitations

1) Fixed sequence

2) Doesn’t monitor attention

3) Doesn’t provoke attention

4) Difficulty in pacing

5) Difficulty in locating segment

6) Potential for accidental erasure

5. The applications of audio media

1. It can be used in all phases of instructions
2. It has great benefits in the area of self paced instruction and mastery learning
3. In pre school or primary grades, the audio media are used for developing rhythm, telling stories, playing games and acting out stories or song.
4. In social studies, we can bring the voices of the persons who made the history into the classroom. The sounds of current event also can be presented.
5. A common application of this media is in learning centers.
6. In elementary classroom, audio media (audio cards) are used for vocabulary building
7. Talking books for blind or visually impaired students.

6. Producing Class Material on cassette tapes

            Students and teachers can easily prepare their own cassette tapes. Student-prepared cassette tapes can be used for gathering oral histories and preparing oral book report. Tapes prepared by the teacher can be used in direct instruction as illustrated by the vocational technical school example later. Skills practice, such as shorthand can also be provided by audio cassettes.

7. Duplicating and Editing Audiotapes

a. Duplicating Audiotapes

            It is relatively simple procedure to duplicate an audiotape. There are three methods of doing that.

1) The acoustic method

            It does not require any special equipment. It just needs two recorders. One recorder plays the original tape, and the sound is transferred via microphone to a blank tape on the other recorder.

Limitation: fidelity is reduced as the sounds travel through the air to the microphone and the open microphone may pick up unwanted noise from the environment.

2) The Electronic method

            It also needs two recorders. However the sounds or the signals travel from the original tape to the dubbing recorder via an inexpensive patch cord. The cord is attached to the output of the first machine and the line or auxiliary input of the seconds.

3) The High Speed Duplicator Method

            It requires special machine. Master playback machine have a series of up to 10 “slave units”, each of which can record a copy of the original tape at 16 times its normal speed. Multiple copies of 30 minutes cassettes tape can be duplicated in about two minutes. Since the master and slave units are connected by patch cord, fidelity is likely to be good and there is no danger of picking background noise.

b. Editing audiotapes

We can edit the audiotapes either to remove errors and imperfections or to adapt a tape to specific learning situation. Set up two recorders as described for tape duplication and then record just the portion of the original tape that you want on the second tape.

8. Analyzing Learners, Stating Objectives, Selecting Audio Materials

As it has been stated on the ASSURE model, before selecting the audio materials we need to analyze the learners and state our objectives. We can select it from the available materials and evaluate them. Check whether the materials are suitable for the media available in our institution and start to evaluate the materials using appraisal check list. However if we cannot find the best materials match to our objectives, we can also develop our own materials.

9. Utilizing Audio materials

            The next step after selecting or producing audio material is to use them with our students. We can use “5Ps” principle in utilizing this material.

1. Preview the materials : using appraisal checklist
2. Prepare the materials   : practice the operation of the equipment
3. Prepare the environment : Set up the classroom
4. Prepare the learners     :  communicate the materials
5.  Provide the learning Experience        : Provide best situation for the students to learn

10. Require learner participation

            Before we begin the lesson, determine how to get and keep our students get involved. One technique is to give them a set of questions during listening. In foreign language class, we can make pause to improve pronunciation.

11. Evaluate and Revise

            Determine how effective the audio materials were. We can gather the data by making observations, evaluating test results or discussing the experience with the students. We may decide to revise how the materials were used or to modify the materials themselves.

C. CONCLUSION

            The importance of audio experiences in the classroom should not be underestimated. The fact shows that the major time in learning is spent by the students for listening. Listening has equal position as the other skills and to support it the development of audio media is required.

            There are many kinds of audio formats available in the world such as magnetic audio tape, cassette, phonograph record, cd, audio record and etc. They are utilized for instructional purposes. Each of the audio formats has some advantages and also limitations. To maximize the potential of the audio device teacher should know the process of sound transmission and reception. It is also important for teachers to know the process of hearing and listening.

            To provide the best audio materials which really match to the class, teachers need to know some methods of selecting and producing the audio materials. Through the appropriate steps teachers can provide suitable audio materials which really match to the class in this case the learners and the objectives have been stated.