ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 3, Issue 1, December 2014 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE IMPROVING STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILL BY USING ENGLISH SONGS Dadang Solihat Department of English Education, University of Kuningan, Indonesia Email: dacu_qta@yahoo.co.id Prita Lusiana Utami Department of English Education, University of Kuningan, Indonesia Email: pritalusianautami20@gmail.com APA Citation: Solihat, D., & Utami, L. P. (2014). Improving students’ listening skill by using English songs. English Review: Journal of English Education, 3(1), 81-90 Received: 012-10-2014 Accepted: 25-10-2014 Published: 01-12-2014 Abstract : This study investigates students’ listening skill by using English songs. The reason of choosing this topic is based on the problems that is listening skill. It can be seen during the writer teaching at SMPN in Kuningan, the students lack of listening skill. The aims of this research were to investigate the effectiveness of using English songs to improve students listening skill and to know the students attitudes of using English songs in listening skill.The target of this research was the students at eighth grade of SMPN 1 Lebakwangi, Kecamatan Lebakwangi. There were 62 students. The method of this research was quasi-experimental design. There are two groups as the investigated group in this research. One group is for experimental group and the other group is controlled group. The data were collected through three steps, namely pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire. To analyze the result of pre test and post test, this research used t-test formula computed by SPSS 17.00. The result of the research showed that the students’ progress in mastering listening skill during the activity can be seen from the Paired test that shows t count is higher than t table (-32.697>2.042). It indicates that English songs is effective in listening skill. Students given positive attitude based on the questionnaire result that it had level agreement 92% and mean 142. Keywords: listening skill, song, media, language skill INTRODUCTION In language learning and teaching is listening (Brown, 2001: 247). According to Hidayat (2013: 21), “listening is considered as an important ability that has to be mastered. How well someone listens has a major impact on the quality of their relationship with others”. It means that listening is the ability to understand the messages being expressed by the speaker through the sound. On the other hand, Harmer (2001: 242) says that songs or piece of music change “atmosphere” in the classroom. As defined by Ocak (2012: 333) songs are important teaching tools in teaching EFL (English Foreign Language) because as most teachers find out, students love listening to the music in the language classroom. Students often hold strong views about music and students who are usually quiet can become very talkative when discussing it. So, the students should have a great motivation to increase their listening ability. In this case, teacher has many options, one of those is by using English songs. Furhter, the students will not be bored listening to the lesson because most of student