THE EFFECT OF USING TED TALKS ON STUDENTS LISTENING SKILLS AT SMAN 8 BENGKULU CITY

This study aims to determine the effect of using TED Talks on the
listening skills of tenth grade students at SMAN 8 Bengkulu City. Listening is
considered one of the most challenging skills for EFL learners due to the need to
process information in real-time and understand various accents. To address this
issue, TED Talks were implemented as authentic materials in a pre-experimental
design with a one-group pretest-posttest method. A total of 34 students participated
in this study. Data were collected through pre-test and post-test assessments
consisting of multiple-choice questions measuring three sub-skills: listening for the
main idea, listening for details, and making inferences. The results showed a
significant improvement in students’ listening scores after the treatment. Statistical
analysis using paired sample t-test showed that the use of TED Talks had a
significant positive effect on students’ listening skills (p < 0.05). Among the three
sub-skills measured, the most significant improvement was observed in listening
for the main idea. These results suggest that TED Talks can be an effective tool in
improving listening skills in the EFL classroom, by providing exposure to real-life
language use, a variety of accents, and interesting topics.
Keywords: Listening Skills, TED Talks, SMAN 8 Bengkulu City