DESCRIPTIVE
STUDY ON ENGLISH TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS AT RSBI SCHOOL
Aqlisty Nia Chandra
anc.nia@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The
objectives of the study are to describe the use of English in teaching-learning
activities at Designated International Standard School (RSBI), and to describe
the strengths and the weaknesses using English in teaching-learning activities in
this school. The research used descriptive qualitative method. The research was
conducted in the first grade of RSBI School, SMK Muhammadiyah 1 Pati. The
sources of the data covered events, informants, and written documents. The data
were collected through observation, interview, and document analysis. In
analyzing the data, the researcher used interactive model analysis including
reducing the data, presenting the data, and drawing conclusion.
The result of the research are the use of
English in this school is not optimal, the teachers focused more on the concept
rather than on the language used. The second, the communication was conducted
both by using English and Indonesian language. The syllabus used in this school
was same as the regular class because it is written in Indonesia. The third, the
techniques of teachers used were interesting and could motivate students to improve
learning. But, there were some weaknesses such as the teachers didn’t use
English optimally and the teachers didn’t pay attention to the language used. Based
on the result of above, the researcher suggest that the teachers should
increase the use of English in teaching-learning activities, while the students
should be more active in order to develop their language and to enhance
understanding dealing with the materials.
Key words: teaching English, RSBI, communication
INTRODUCTION
Education has an important role to
develop the country. Education has given significant contribution in developing
the country from one period to another period, either before or after the
independence of Indonesia. To make it better, government has many innovations
to improve the quality and create qualified students in order to continue to
higher and better education. One of the innovations made by the government is
to provide schools which refer to international standard. It is called
Designated International Standard School (RSBI). It is the implementation of
national education regulation system year 2003, arising as the command for each
region to have the International Standard School which refers to national and
international curriculum. There are some new inputs in the Designated
International Standard School which makes it different from other national
schools; that is, the use of English as the instructional language, air
conditioner-classroom, multimedia facilities, and limited students. The reason
of developing the Internationally Standard School is to increase the education
level both primary and secondary education in order to be equal with other
developed countries.
The Designated International Standard
School uses English as the instructional in teaching learning activities. Since
Indonesian language is the mother tongue, and English is the foreign language,
the school will face a difficulty to use English as the instructional language
in teaching and learning activities. Teaching means guiding and facilitating
learning, enabling the learner to learn, and setting the conditions for
learning (Brown, 1994: 7), it means in teaching there is communication between
teacher and students. Good communication means that the materials can be
transferred well; no misunderstanding between the teacher and student; no
misunderstanding dealing with the materials; and also enabling learners to learn.
Statement
of the Problems
Based on the background of the study above the
problems are formulated, as follows:
1.
How is the use of English in
teaching-learning activities at the Designated International Standard School?
2.
What are the strengths and the
weaknesses in using English as instructional language in teaching-learning
activities at the Designated International Standard School?
Objectives
of the Observation
The
objectives that will be obtained in this research are:
1.
To describe the use of English in
teaching-learning activities at the Designated International Standard School.
2.
To describe the strengths and the
weaknesses of the use of English in teaching-learning activities at the
Designated International Standard School.
Significance
of the Observation
The
research result is expected to be able to give some benefits, such as the
following:
1.
The study will give a clear description
about the use of English in teaching learning activity at the Designated
International Standard School.
2.
The study will give contribution for the
improvement in using English as instructional language in teaching learning
activities.
REVIEW
OF LITERATURE
Education of RSBI
RSBI (Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional) is
defined as a school that prepares and educates the learners based on the
combination of National Education Standard of Indonesia (SNP) and other International
Education Standard. As a school that has international concept, it has some
different characteristics from the local school. The output of RSBI by National
Education Department (Depdiknas, 2008) are students have ability to communicate
information and ideas in English and Indonesia and also students understandof
others foreign cultures. The teacher of RSBI/SBI are designed to be a figure
who understands well the meaning of learning concepts such as deep-learning,
higher order thinking skills, and contextual learning and knows well different
characteristics of his/her students (Fahriza, 2009). The students are
eventually led to develop independent learning, responsibility, cooperation
with other students, honesty, and tolerance. With these they can be better
human resources who can compete globally.
Teacher Role
According to Barner, as quoted by Tony
Wright (p. 63), there are four teacher-hidden roles supporting those roles:
1.
The teacher is an evaluator
of learners’ efforts and contributions. The teacher judges whether
learners’ contribution to the teaching/ learning process are valid, relevant,
correct.
2.
The teacher is a guide to
the subject’ under consideration and the way in which it is learnt in the classroom.
He is also the curator of the ‘rules’ for acquiring knowledge.
3.
Closely linked to the
‘guide’ role is the role of resource. The teacher is resource of
knowledge about the subject and also how to acquired it
4.
The teacher is also, as
implied by (2) and (3), an organizer. The teacher organizes classroom
activities, sets up learning tasks and assists the learners in doing these
activities.
In the classroom, the teacher plays a very important
role because it is the teacher who conducts teaching-learning process. As
stated by Tony Wright, there are two major role of the teacher in the
classroom. The first is called as management function that is to create the
conditions under which learning can take place and the second is as the
instructional function that is to impart, by variety of means, knowledge to
their learners (p. 51-52).
Learner Role
Created from material contained in
Richard and Rogers (1986), Nunan and Lamb (1996: 141) illustrate the range of
roles required of learners in a number of methods:
Approach
|
Roles
|
1. Oral/Situational
2. Audio Lingual
3. Communicative
4. Total Physical Response
5. The Silent Way
6. Communicative Language Teaching methodology
|
1. Learners listen to the teacher and repeat; no
control over content and methods
2. Learners have little control; react to teacher
direction; passive, reactive role
3. Learners have an active, negotiative role; should
contribute as well as receive
4. Learners are listener and performer; little
influence over content and none over
5. Learners learn through systematic analysis; must
become independent and autonomous
6. Learners are members of social group or
community; move from dependence toautonomy as learning
progresses
|
Classroom
Interaction
There are three
major aspects of the lesson as proposed by Allwright and M.
Bailey (1996:
25):
1.
Syllabus
Syllabus
is called as what the teacher intends to teach. The teacher thus may rely on
the syllabus drawn up by the people in authority, and perhaps simply embodied
in the textbook. Or they can make their own decision about what to be thought.
2.
Method
It
is a predetermined plan for how the syllabus is to be taught, and it is seen
as an obvious part of their job to do so.
3.
Atmosphere
It is the condition of the classroom
that the teacher wants to be created that is whether they want it to be relaxed
and friendly, or brisk and business-like, or whatever.
Method
of Observation
In this article, the writer used the descriptive
qualitative method. Descriptive research involves describing and interpreting
events, condition, or situation of the present. In this research, the
researcher was a research instrument because in collecting the data, the
researcher had to interact with the respondents directly and find the meaning
of the interaction result. The writer involving herself directly in the
teaching and learning process of the first grade students of Designated
International Standard School in SMK Muhammadiyah 1 Pati in the 2011/2012
academic year. According to Lofland as quoted by Moleong (2004: 112) sources of
data in qualitative research are words and events, for the additional data can
be documents or others. The research data in this study were collected in the
form of information. The teaching-learning activities were viewed by the use of
the English language as the instructional language used by the teachers in
teaching and by the students. It is also viewed by the communication between
the teachers and the students and among the students themselves in
teaching-learning process. The sources
of the data in this research included events, informants, and documents. The
techniques of collecting the data applied in this research are interview,
observation and document analysis. The data in this research were analyzed by
using descriptive qualitative method. The researcher used an interview model of
analysis involving collecting the data, reducing the data, and presenting the
data and also drawing conclusion (Sutopo, 2002: 95).
RESULT
OF THE OBSERVATION
The Use of
English in Teaching-Learning Activities
a.
The objectives of the use of
English in teaching-learning activities
The
objective of the use of English in teaching and learning activities is to
prepare the students to continue their studies abroad. The students are
expected to be able to comprehend the topic from the subject matter being
taught by using English while also improving their English skills. Dealing with
the objective in the teaching and learning process, the teacher presented the
topic from subject matter being taught by using English as the instructional
language. It can be seen from the observation in classroom activities. In
teaching-learning activities, the teacher tried to use English as the instructional
language in conducting the teaching and learning process. Although they didn’t
use it 100%, but they tried to used it maximally. It is because of the limited mastery of English but
also they concerned more on the concept being taught to the students.
b. The
Syllabus and Lesson Plan
The
syllabus and lesson plan contain the basic competence, indicator, main
materials, learning activities and completed by the worksheets and scoring
system. The syllabus is the same as the regular class because the curriculum
used is also the same. The differences
are the used of English and the used of ICT in teaching learning process. The
syllabus is implemented to the lesson plan. And based on the lesson plan, the
teachers conducted the teaching-learning activities. From the analysis of the
documents done by the researcher, the syllabus were written in Indonesia,
while the lesson plan of English were
written in English. It is violation of rule by teacher because he does not made
the syllabus in English. Teacher PA stated that in conducting teaching and
learning process, he used English in the opening, giving materials, and
closing, but she still also used Indonesian language to emphasize the concepts.
He reflect the character education in each of activities as shown in the his
lesson plan.
c. The
model of teaching and learning activities
Teacher
provided guides and strategies to assist the students in comprehending
materials through presentation of topic and tasks from subject matter being
taught. The activities in teaching-learning activity enabling students to
comprehend the materials through English either written or orally. Based on the
observation and interview, the teachers used presentation both from the teachers
and from the students, and also group discussion. The model of
teaching-learning activities used in this program deal with behavioral theory.
Behavioral theory finds out how external, environmental stimuli cause overt or
observable learner behavior and how modifying a learner’s environment can
change behavior. In this theory, there are some educational practices that can
be used to increase learning. The way the teacher presented the material like
the use of power point media is used to increase learning.
d. The
teacher’s roles
The
teacher presented the material from the subject matter being taught while the
students listened to the explanation. In the teaching-learning process, the
teacher acted as the facilitator and motivator. Teacher PA stated that as a
teacher, he acted as a facilitator. He facilitated what the students’ need. Based
on the observation in teaching-learning process, teacher PA facilitated his teaching
by the media in order that the students can reach understanding well. He assisted
the student to learn and to comprehend understanding about the materials.
e. The
learners’ roles
In
teaching-learning activities, the students are communicators. They are actively
engaged in trying to make themselves understood and in understanding others,
even when their knowledge of the target language is not sufficient. The
students reached understanding by themselves by actively paid attention to the
teacher’s explanation, asked questions, and presented material after
discussing.
The
Strengths and the Weaknesses of the Use of English in Teaching-Learning Activities
There are some strengths in the using of English in
teaching learning activities in the actively. The first, during the
teaching-learning activities the materials
had been delivered by using English. The second, the materials used in
teaching-learning process were written in English. All references used were
selected according to the materials and students’ need. The third, the researcher found that in
delivering materials, the techniques teachers used are interesting and could
motivate students to increase learning.
Beside strengths, there are some weaknesses in using
English as instructional language in teaching-learning activities in the
Designated International Standard School. The first, the teachers didn’t use
English optimally. Secondly, teacher didn’t pay attention to the language the
teachers and students used. The teachers concerned more on the concept of
materials rather than on the language. It can be seen from the observation that
the teachers didn’t criticize on students’ sentences when it is not
grammatically correct. It is
not
appropriate since the objective of this program is to make the outcomes have
international
standard.
CONCLUSION
Based on the result above, the
researcher found the teachers focused more on the concept being taught rather
than on the language the teachers and the students used. The researcher found
that the syllabus used in SMK Muhammadiyah 1 Pati is still in Indonesian
language. The teachers played roles as a facilitator and motivator. The
technique the teachers used in teaching was very interesting and made the
students motivated and facilitated. During the teaching-learning proces, the
communication was conducted both by using English and Indonesian language
although sometimes there were some miscommunications between the teachers and
the students. In the teaching-learning activities, teachers and students
changed roles as well both as sender and as receiver. The researcher found some
strengths and weaknesses in using English as an instructional language in
teaching learning activities in the RSBI School. The first strength, the
materials were delivered by using English. The second, the materials used in
teaching-learning process were written in English. The third, the techniques the
teachers used were interesting and could motivate students to increase
learning. Beside strengths, there were some weaknesses. The first, the teachers
didn’t use English optimally. Secondly,
the teachers didn’t pay attention to the language the teachers and students
used. In that case, the concept of conducting the RSBI School is not maximally
implemented especially in using English as the instructional language in teaching-learning
process.
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