Listening Comprehension of Tenth-Grade Students After LyricsTraining-Based Instruction at SMA Negeri 2 Kota Gorontalo

Abstract

Listening comprehension is a fundamental component of English language acquisition, yet it remains challenging for many senior high school students. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of LyricsTraining as an instructional medium for improving the listening comprehension of tenth-grade students at SMA Negeri 2 Kota Gorontalo. A quantitative approach was employed using a pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design. The participants were 20 students from class X-8, selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a 25-item multiple-choice listening test developed based on Richards’ (2008) listening comprehension framework, covering five indicators: sound recognition, word recognition, predicting, main idea understanding, and inferring meaning. The intervention was implemented over four sessions using authentic songs through the LyricsTraining platform. Descriptive analysis showed that the mean score increased from 36.00 on the pretest to 52.10 on the posttest, representing an increase of 16.10 points. A paired-samples t-test indicated a statistically significant difference between pretest and posttest scores ((p = 0.021 < 0.05)). The greatest reported improvement was in word recognition (23%), followed by sound recognition (20%) and inferring meaning (17%). These findings indicate that students’ listening comprehension scores improved significantly following the use of LyricsTraining. However, because the study did not include a control group, the improvement cannot be attributed solely to the intervention. LyricsTraining may therefore be considered an alternative technology-based medium for supporting English listening comprehension practice.