ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
(A Survey on SMA Negeri 3 Tangerang Selatan)A “Skripsi”
Presented to Faculty of Educational Sciences in the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of S.Pd. (S-1) in English Education
By: Dessi Wulandari NIM. 1111014000124
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION THE FACULTY OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
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and Teachers’ Beliefs on Effective English Language Teaching (A Suevey on SMA Negeri 3 Tangerang Selatan)”, Skripsi, Jurusan Pendidikan BahasaInggris,
Fakultas Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah.
Kata kunci: Students’ Beliefs, Teachers’ Beliefs, Effective Language Teaching
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan tentang perbedaan persepsi antara dosen dan mahasiswa mengenai pengajaran bahasa Inggris yang efektif yang berhubungan pada beberapa aspek pembelajaran bahasa yang berbeda seperti pengajaran gramar, koreksi pada error, budaya, penggunaan bahasa target, penggunaan computer berbasis tekhnologi, strategi pengajaran bahasa yang komunikatif, dan penilaian.
Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kualitatif. Data diperoleh dari siswa dan guru bahasa inggris dari kelas XI di SMA Negeri 3, Tangerang Selatan. Data dikumpulkan melalui kuisioner yang diberikan kepada siswa dan guru bahasa inggris. Hasil dari kuisioner yang telah dikumpulkan diolah menggunaka independent t-test untuk mencari perbedaan rata-rata antara kedua partisipan.
iv
and Teachers’ Beliefs on Effective English Language Teaching (A Suevey on SMA Negeri 3 Tangerang Selatan)”, Skripsi of Department of English Education, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training, Syarif Hidayarullah State Islamic University.
Keywords: Students’ Beliefs, Teachers’ Beliefs, Effective Language Teaching This study was aimed to describe the differences between students’ and teachers’ beliefs on effective English language teaching regarding different aspects of language learning such as grammar teaching, error correction, culture, target
language use, computer-based technology, communicative language teaching strategies and assessment.
The methodology being used in this study was qualitative. The participants were taken from the XI grade students and English teachers of SMA Negeri 3, South Tangerang. The data was conducted by questionnaire given to the students and English Teachers. The response from the questionnaire was analysed using independent t-test to calculate the diffence mean from both, teachers’ and students’ responses.
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All praised is due to Allah, Lord of the world, who has given the writer love and blessing to finish her last assignment in the her study, “Skripsi”. Peace and salutation be upon to the prophet Muhammad Peace be Upon Him, his family, his companion and his adherence.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the help and contributions to all of lecturers, institutions, family and friends who have contributed in the different ways hence this “Skripsi” is processed until it becomes a complete writing which will be presented to the Faculty of Tarbiya and Teachers’ Training in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree S. Pd (Bachelor of Arts) in English Languge Education.
First, the writer would like to give thanks to her advisors Dr. Fahriany, M. Pd. and Dr. Ranta Sari Dewi, M. Pd. who have given her precious help, guidance and advices patiently during the completion and the development of the study.
The writer also realize that she will never able to finish this “Skripsi” without help and support from people around her. Therefore, the writer would like to give her gratitude and appreciations to:
1. Prof. Dr. Ahmad Thib Raya, MA., as the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiya and Teachers’ Traning Islamic State University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. 2. Dr. Alek, M.Pd, as the Head of Department of English Education
3. Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum, as the Secretary of Department of English Education
4. All lecturers of Department of English Education who always give motivation and valuable knowledge during my study.
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7. To the writer’s friend Omar Bettar who always help her and support her in working on this skripsi.
8. All XI grade students and teachers of SMA Negeri 3 Tangerang Selatan as the participant of this research.
9. All friends from Class C 2011 who always together no matter what.
The words are not enough to say any appreciation for their help and contribution in this “Skripsi”. May Allah, the Almighty bless them all. Moreover, the writer also realized that this “Skripsi” is far from perfect. It is a pleasure for her to get critiques and suggestion to make this “Skripsi” better.
Jakarta, July 2016
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APPROVAL ...i
ENDORSEMENT SHEET ...ii
ABSTRACT ...iii
ABSTRAK ...iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ...v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...vii
LIST OF TABLE ...ix
LIST OF APPENDICES ...x
Chapter I INTRODUCTION 1. Background of the Study ...1
2. Identification of the Problem ...3
3. The Limitation of the Study ...3
4. Research Question ...3
5. The Objective of the Study ...4
6. The Significance of the Study ...4
Chapter II LITERATURE REVIEW A. Beliefs ...5
1. The Nature of Belief...5
2. Teachers and Students Beliefs ...6
B. Effective Language Teaching ...8
1. Definition of Effective Language Teaching ...9
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b. Error Correction...15
c. Target Language Use ...16
d. Culture ...17
e. Computer-Based Technology ...19
f. Communicative Language Teaching ...20
g. Assessment ...21
C. Previous Related Studies ...23
D. Thinking Framework ...24
Chapter III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Place and Time of the Study ...26
B. Research Method ...26
C. Participant ...27
D. Technique of Data Collection ...27
E. Data Analysis ...30
Chapter IV RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION A. Research Findings ...31
1. Data Description...31
2. Data Analysis ...36
B. Interpretation ...38
Chapter V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION A. Conclusion ...41
B. Suggestion ...41
REFERENCES ...43
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Table 3.1 Effective Teaching Questionnaire ...27
Table 3.2 General Categories of Questionnaire ...29
Table 4.1 Teachers’ Responses of Effective English Language
Teaching Questionnaire ...31
Table 4.2 Students’ Responses of Effective English Language
Teaching Questionnaire ...33
Table 4.3 Comparison of Student and Teacher Means by Questionnaire
Item ...34
Table 4.4 Comparison of Significant Difference Items of Student
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APPENDIX 1: Effective Teaching Questionnaire ...47
1
1. Background of the Study
Recently the field of foreign language pedagogy and second language acquisition has changed our way of thinking. Recently, there is one variable which has received a lot of attention in teaching and learning process. This variable is beliefs. Beliefs have important role in language teaching process. The different beliefs between teacher and student can influence the effectives of language teaching process. This problem has raised language practitioners and researchers attention. The strong beliefs that teacher bring to the classroom are thought to be stumbling blocks in the reform of effective classroom instruction.
Beliefs itself can be defined as “psychologically held understandings, premises, or propositions about the world that are felt to be true”1. In another word, beliefs are something that you cannot see or touch but it is something in your mind that you feel true. Belief also means as the root of our thought. It influenced the way we think. In language learning, beliefs define as previous experiences as language learners as well as cultural background are both likely to influence and shape learners’ beliefs about foreign or second language learning2. Investigations into students’ beliefs of effective teaching are necessary, so that teachers in training and practitioners can understand how to approach and improve their practice. When a teacher and his or her students have opposing views about what should occur in the classroom, the students may lack confidence in the teacher’s ability.
1 Virginia Richardson, “Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs”, in James Raths and Amy Raths
McAninch (ed), Teacher Beliefs and Classroom Performance: The Impact of Teacher Education,
(Greenwich: Information Age Publishing, 2003), p.2.
2 Mustafa Zülküf Altan, Pre-service EFL teachers’ beliefs about foreign language
Besides that, teacher might also hold some kind of beliefs about language teaching that will affect their instructional practices. Teachers’ beliefs are important concepts in understanding their instructional practices. When their instructional practices do not fulfil what students need, teaching process become not effective. Moreover, according to Feiman-Nemser and Floden in Ta'amneh’s journal, teacher beliefs have an important role in shaping instruction because there is a lack of consensus about the best practice based on objective evidence3. So language teachers especially the one with little experiences may misunderstand toward language teaching concept that they hold and it may be not effective for their students.
Moreover, learners are multidimensional beings; they are combination of some different variables that could help them to learn whatever they are learning in the best possible way4. According to Brown in Ganjabi’s journal, to realize this multidimensionality, teachers and researchers have noted that both teachers’ and students’ beliefs and attitudes should have a room in the process of language learning and teaching5. The gap between teachers’ and students’ beliefs might cause a problem in teaching and learning activity. Moreover, learners’ perceptions and interpretations have been found to have the greatest influence on achievement and somehow students’ and teachers’ beliefs may not be the same. The different beliefs that teachers and learners hold towards the process of language teaching can negatively influence the effectiveness of language program.
Effective language teaching defines as meaningful and appropriate teaching process. It has to be meaningful so learners can reach what they need and receive maximum benefit from teacher instructions. When teachers and learners’ have different beliefs, the meaningful learning process might not be accomplished. Altan in his research concluded that foreign language teacher
3 Mohammad Abd Alhafeez Ali Ta'amneh, Exploring the Harmony between Jordanian
EFLTeachers’ and Students’ Beliefs about Vocabulary Learning Strategies, Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2015, pp. 78-84.
4 Mahyar Ganjabi, Effective Foreign Language Teaching: a Matter of Iranian Students’
and Teachers’ Beliefs,English Language Teachin Journal, 2011, p.46 5
educators and teacher trainers could not afford to ignore students’ beliefs if they expect their students to be open to particular teaching methods and to receive the maximum benefit from them6. Moreover, knowing learners’ beliefs about effective language teaching could increase teacher educators’ understanding to create effective language teaching program. Besides that, by knowing the difference beliefs between teachers and students can help teachers fulfil students’ needs.
So, here the writer will investigate the beliefs between teacher and student of XI grade students and English teachers in SMA Negeri 3 Tangerang Selatan to reveal the different beliefs between them regarding different categorizes of effective language teaching.
2. Identification of the Problem
1. Students have lack confidence in teachers’ ability because of the different beliefs between them.
2. Teachers give inappropriate instructional practices.
3. The different beliefs that teachers and learners hold might negatively influence the effectiveness of language program.
3. The Limitation of the Study
The writer will limit the study only in comparing the items with significant difference between teachers’ and students’ beliefs on effective English language teaching.
4. Research Question
The research question of this study is:
“How do students’ beliefs about effective English language teaching compared to the teacher’s beliefs?”
6 Mustafa Zülküf Altan, Beliefs about Language Learning of Foreign Language-Major
5. The Objective of the Study
The objective of this study is to run a detail and comprehensive comparison between teachers’ and students’ beliefs about effective language teaching.
6. The Significance of the Study
The significances of this research are:
1. English teacher and student, to help them improve their beliefs toward effective language teaching.
2. Student and teacher, to avoid the gap in teaching and learning process between them.
5 A. Beliefs
1. The Nature of Belief
The term, beliefs about language learning, were not clearly defined by researchers in previous studies. It seems either that the researchers assumed that the term can be understood intuitively or that the construct is too complex to be operationalized. Even according to Horwitz, one of the pioneer researchers of the studies on beliefs about language learning refers to “beliefs” using the terms such as preconceptions, preconceived ideas, and preconceived notions without giving specific descriptions about the construct.1 In a number of studies, the definition of beliefsalone is provided. Nevertheless, researchers do not seem to have reached the same consensus about the meaning of beliefs. Because of its complexity, it may be difficult to generate a fixed set of meaning or to be defined precisely. But defining beliefs is not always the challenge in this field, finding consistency across these definitions so that one can come to a meaningful research seems to be a more impressive question for scholars in this field. According to Bandur in Fives and Gill’s book, beliefs more than truth guide our goals, emotions, decisions, actions, and reactions.2 Teachers are the one who responsible for the organization, structure, and tone of learning experiences and social development in the classroom. Futrhermore, Hermans et al defined beliefs “as a set of conceptual representations which store general knowledge of objects,
1 Jurat Vibulphol,
Beliefs About Language Learning and Teaching Approaches of Pre-Service EFL Teacher in Thailand, (Oklahoma: Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University, 2004), p.9.
2 Helenrose Fives and Michele Gregoire Gill (
ed), International Handbook of Research
people and events, and their characteristic relationships”.3 While according to Richardson beliefs can be defined as “psychologically held understandings, premises, or propositions about the world that are felt to be true”.4
In another word, beliefs are something that you cannot see or touch but it is something in your mind that you feel true. Belief also means as the root of our thought. It influenced the way we think. In addition, Woods wrote in Thu’s journal that “Beliefs refer to an acceptance of a proposition for which there is no conventional knowledge, one that is not demonstrable, and for which there is accepted disagreement”.5 Beliefs are powerful and they can greatly influence human behaviours. In language learning, beliefs define as previous experiences as language learners as well as cultural background are both likely to influence and shape learners’ beliefs about foreign or second language learning.6
So, the background culture of the learners and their experiences or their background knowledge is possible to be one of the factors that can build learners’ beliefs. Beliefs also can be far more influential than knowledge in determining how individuals organize and define tasks and problems.
2. Teachers and Students Beliefs
If beliefs have indeed that much power, they must be seriously studied in language learning and teaching as they may be factors that can have tremendous effects on the process of learning and teaching. In language learning and teaching, the role of learners’ and teachers’ beliefs about language learning has generally been researched due to its influential nature.
3 Ruben Hermans, Johanvan Braak, and Hilde Van Keer, “Development of the Beliefs
about Primary Education Scale: Distinguishing a Developmental and Transmissive Dimension”, in
Helenrose Fives and Michele Gregoire Gill (ed), International Handbook of Research on
Teachers’ Beliefs, (New York: Routledge, 2015), p.1.
4 Virginia Richardson, “Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs”, in James Raths and Amy Raths
McAninch (ed), Teacher Beliefs and Classroom Performance: The Impact of Teacher Education,
(Greenwich: Information Age Publishing, 2003), p.2.
5
Tran-Hoang-Thu, Teachers’ Perceptions about Grammar Teaching, (Alliant
International University, 2009),
6 Mustafa Zülküf Altan, Pre-service EFL Teachers’ Beliefs about Foreign Language
Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about L2 acquisition received much attention in the literature and, more recently, they have resurfaced as key to understanding what motivates teachers’ actions. Teachers are highly influenced by their beliefs, which in turn are closely related to their values, to their views of the world, to their conceptions of their place within it. In Altan’s study, teachers in this study hold a variety of beliefs about language learning, some of which may constitute an impediment to successful language learning and teaching, such as some of their beliefs about pronunciation, error correction, and the time required to become proficient in a foreign language.7 In addition, according to Ganjabi research, he found that the teachers also put strong emphasis on the communicative activities and the timing of error correction8. In contrast, the students tended to agree or vary their opinions of these issues. The students preferred focusing primarily on the grammatical items which caused by less appropriate idea about the value of communication and communicative activities. These findings support the general contention that language teachers may hold certain beliefs about language learning that may have an impact on their instructional practices.
Furthermore, according to Kern, the different beliefs between students and teachers and found that over the period of a 15-week program, the mismatches between student and teacher beliefs still found.9 He found stability of student beliefs at the global level when analysing beliefs of all the students and all the teachers as a single group. He explained that the persisting mismatches might be resulted from factors other than teacher beliefs such as teachers’ actual classroom practice, the nature of instructional activities, students’ assessment of their own progress, students’ expectations of achievement, students’ awareness of mistakes, textbooks, tests, and written exercises, teachers’ individual differences such as personalities, personal
7
Ibid, pp. 481-493.
8
Mahyar Ganjabi, Effective Foreign Language Teaching: a Matter of Iranian Students’
and Teachers’ Beliefs, English Language Teaching Journal, 2011, p.50
9 R.G. Kern, Students’ and teachers’ beliefs about language learning.
styles, and level of experience. He suggested that beliefs about language learning may not be easily influenced by teacher beliefs or that teacher beliefs did not influence their classroom practices.
On the other hand, According to Richards, “A primary source of teachers’ classroom practices is belief systems—the information, attitudes, values, expectations, theories, and assumptions about teaching and learning that teachers build up over time and bring with them to the classroom”.10 Richards and Lockhart further elaborated that teachers’ beliefs influence how they make decisions or act in a classroom.11 In addition, according to Liao and Chiang’s study, emphasizing that both English learners and teachers have certain beliefs about how to learn English and these learning beliefs are often based on their previous learning experiences and cultural backgrounds, and will further influence strategies these people use to enhance their English learning and teaching, conducted a study on a total of 143 students and 15 teachers. It turned out that the two groups yielded rather consistent results on learning beliefs, although some differences between the learners’ and their teachers’ beliefs were also found.12
In conclusion, these studies suggest that second and foreign language teachers possess certain beliefs about second language learning and second language teaching which may influence their instructional practices. However, teachers’ beliefs system seems to be complicated and consists of several constructs. Some beliefs may conflict with others or may not be as influential as others, and thus may not show their effects on teachers’ instructional practices. The findings about the effect of beliefs originating from formal learning experience over beliefs originating from the other sources, found in Johnson, is evidence of this argument.
10 J.C. Richards,
Beyond Training, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 66
11 J.C. Richards & C. Lockhart,
Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
12 P.S. Liao and Chiang, M.Y., The study of students’ and their teachers’ belief about
English learning. Proceedings of 2003 International Conference on English Teaching and
B. Effective Language Teaching
1. Definition of Effective Language Teaching
Defining the effective teacher, effective teaching and teaching effectiveness can be complex and controversial. ‗Effectiveness’ is a challenged term that can bring out compelling feelings due to its apparent connections with thoughts of professional competency and high responsibility in some.13 Effective teaching related to the objectives or the goals of education14. It means, teaching process can be effective when the goals of education are reached. Furthermore, notions of what constitutes high quality or good teaching, the idea that teaching is an art or a craft rather than a science, are sometimes used to raise concerns with narrower concepts of effectiveness. However, beliefs about what constitutes good or high quality practice in teaching can vary markedly for different age groups of students, at different times and in different contexts. Effective teaching sets as the ability to adapt teacher’s pedagogy to the needs of the students.15 It means there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all method for teaching, A study of extant literature on effectiveness in teaching in both schools and higher education reveals that defining effectiveness is inherently contentious.
Moreover, review shows in order to achieve good teaching, good subject knowledge, skilful use of well-chosen questions, to engage and challenge learners, and to consolidate understanding, is an important feature, as is the effective use of assessment for learning are required. And some good schools suggesting, they:
a. establish consistency in teaching and learning across the organisation b. engender a culture of professional debate and developmental lesson
observation
c. rigorously monitor and evaluate what they are doing
13 James Ko and Pamela Sammons, 2013,
Effective Teaching: A Review of Research and Evidence Berkshire: CfBT Education Trust, p. 5
14
Ibid., p. 6.
15 Lawrence N. Berlin,
d. prioritise the teaching of literacy, especially in a child’s early years e. focus on the needs, interests and concerns of each individual learner.16
In summary, to build an effective teaching, it needs support from other aspects not only from the teacher but also the institution. Teacher effectiveness is generally referred to terms of a focus on student outcomes and the teacher behaviours and classroom processes that promote better student outcomes. So, institution has to create good teacher behaviours to encourage students to have better outcomes.
2. Aspects of Effective Language Teaching
According to Thomas there are some aspects that need to be understood by the teacher to create effective teaching environment. They are:
a. Defining Classroom Interaction
Most of classroom lessons are based on a plan. So the first thing that needs to be done by teacher before conducting classroom lesson is having a lesson plan. Lesson plan is a plan of action to show that teachers know what they are going to do in the lesson. When teachers do not have clear idea about the goal of the lesson, useful and meaning full teaching and learning process may not be achieved.
b. Defining communication in the classroom
Communication is undertaken for a purpose. Some pedagogic reasons from teachers for undertaking communication in the classroom are: to present a new structure; to provide the learners with practice in using that structure; to explain a new word; to provide a model for pronunciation; to correct error, etc. Communication involves more than one person. In communication there must be someone to deliver the message and someone to receive it. There are possible variations on who does the delivering and who does the receiving in classroom activity. Teachers can
16 James Ko and Sammons,
be the deliver and students are the receiver or the opposite. Furthermore, communication in the classroom is carried out through a mixture of language and gesture such as gives orders and instructions or makes gestures.
c. Defining interaction analysis
The interaction analysis tradition looks at verbal interaction in the classroom to understand the teaching and learning behaviour going on there. Many classroom observers have tried to set up descriptive systems looking at other features of the language classroom which are associated with this behaviour, including aspects of verbal interaction where they seem relevant. Bowers identifies from his classroom language data seven categories of verbal behaviour in the language classroom. They are:
Responding: any act directly sought by the utterance of another speaker, such as answering a question.
Sociating: any act not contributing directly to the teaching/learning task, but rather to the establishment or maintenance of interpersonal relationships.
Organizing: any act which serves to structure the learning task or environment without contributing to the teaching/ learning task itself.
Directing: any act encouraging non-verbal activity as an integral part of the teaching/learning task.
Presenting: any act presenting information of direct relevance to the learning task.
Evaluating: any act which rates another verbal act positively or negatively.
Eliciting: any act designed to produce a verbal response from another person.
d. Defining communicative events in the classroom
language used for communication purposes, it occurs in a context. Context can be broken down into different factors such as the addresser, purpose, addressee, content, form, medium, setting and code. Therefore, the addresser in speech event has the correct form of words that makes his or her intentions clear. And the message that being told must be accessible to the addressee. In the classroom activity, if the teacher wants to achieve his objectives, then the learners must be able to perceive his intentions. Learners are unlikely to learn what the teacher wants them to learn if the intentions of the teacher are not clear enough or there is misinterpretation subject. In this case, both teacher and learners have to work to make the intentions clear at securing a match between teacher intention and learner interpretation.17
3. Characteristic of Effective Language Teaching
Adams and Pierce mention few key characteristics of effective teaching, they are: “Knowledge of basic principles and procedures, planning and preparation, teaching experience, Self-reflection and modification of techniques, Flexibility”.18 In addition Harmer stated that teacher can be effective when they can adopt a variety of roles in the classroom which can facilitate learning activities.19 Some roles that teacher may hold are:
a. Controller: when teacher as controller they would lead as the front. They will be the cantered in the classroom. Controllers take the register, tell students things, organise drills, read aloud and in various other ways exemplify the qualities of a teacher-fronted classroom. But it appears to have less advantage because it denies students access to their own experiential learning, cuts down on opportunities for students to speak, lack of variety in activities and classroom atmosphere. On the other hand,
17 Ann Malamah-Thomas,
Classroom Interaction, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 3-41.
18 Cheryll M. Adams and Rebecca L. Pierce, Characteristics of Effective Teaching, Traditions and Innovations: Teaching at Ball State University, 2004, 17, p. 102.
19 Jeremy Harmer,
controller can be make sense for giving explanations, organising question and answer work, lecturing, making announcements or bringing a class to order.
b. Prompter: teacher as prompter means to encourage student to think creatively rather than have them hang on our every word. Teacher can offer some words or phrases, suggesting the students say something according to their opinion, or suggest what could come next in a paragraph a student is writing.
c. Participant: teacher as participant means to involve in the activities not only as a teacher but also as participant such as in discussion or role play activities. This has good reasons such as students can be more enjoy to have the teacher with them and teacher liven things up from the inside instead of always having to prompt or organise from outside the group. d. Resource: teacher as resource means to facilitate students for such
information that they need. For example, in a discussion they might ask how to write or to say something or what the meaning of a word or phrase. This is where teacher can be one of the most important resources they have.
e. Tutor: teacher can be guidance for the students in such activities such as longer project like writing process or preparation for a talk or a debate. Teachers can pointing them in directions they have not yet thought of taking. This is effective for the teacher to act as a tutor because it can make the students feel supported.20
4. Some Categories of Effective Language Teaching
There are some keys that related to effective language teaching from syntactic study, such as corrective feedback, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), intensive language programmes, orientation of language programmes – communicative or analytical approaches – and the important of teacher factors, and the importance of second language (L2)
literacy development.21 More specifically Brown categorized some keys of effective foreign language teaching that he developed from Bell’s questionnaire, they are:
a. Grammar Teaching
Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well. A lot of people, including language teachers, hear the word grammar and think of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage. They associate good grammar with the prestige forms of the language, such as those used in writing and in formal oral presentations, and bad or no grammar with the language used in everyday conversation or used by speakers of non-prestige forms. Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of forms and rules. They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling students on them. This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context.
According to Ur there are four stages in teaching grammar, they are: 1) Presentation, the goals of the presentation is to make the students
recognize the structure – its form and meaning – either in speech or writing to take it into short-term memory.
2) Isolation and Explanation, the goal is to make learners understand the various aspects of the structure. In academic classes, it will take more time if learners have difficulty to comprehend the structure.
3) Practice, this stage aim to make learners absorbing the structure toughly or to transfer what they know from short-term to long-term memory by giving exercises and assignment whether in the classroom or at home.
21 John Harris and Pádraig Ó Duibhir,
4) Test, the test is used to demonstrate how good student mastery of the material they have been learning to themselves and to the teacher. The main objective of this stage is to provide feedback.22
In summary, grammar teaching is not only about fixed set of word forms and rules of usage but there are some stages that need to be done in teaching grammar such as presentation or explanation, practice, test and teacher’s feedback.
b. Error Correction
In error analysis, experts distinguish error from mistake. According to Brown, “An error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner”.23 In another word, an error is something that can be seen; it shows the learner’s ability. In addition, error is viewed as a natural and important part of learning process because teacher can get more information about learning process through error.24
At all proficiency levels, learners produce language that is not exactly the language used by native speakers. Some of the differences are grammatical, while others involve vocabulary selection and mistakes in the selection of language appropriate for different contexts. In responding to student communication, teachers need to be careful not to focus on error correction to the detriment of communication and confidence building. Teachers need to let students know when they are making errors so that they can work on improving. Teachers also need to build students’ confidence in their ability to use the language by focusing on the content of their communication rather than the grammatical form.
22 Penny Ur,
Grammar Practice Activities: A Practical Guide for Teachers, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp.7-9.
23 H. D
. Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, 5th edition (New York:
Pearson Education, Inc., 2007), p.258.
24 H. Douglas Brown,
Teachers can use error correction to support language acquisition, and avoid using it in ways that undermine students’ desire to communicate in the language, by taking cues from context.
1) When students are doing structured output activities that focus on development of new language skills, use error correction to guide them. Example:
Student (in class) :I buy a new car yesterday. Teacher : You bought a new car yesterday.
Correction : “Remember, the past tense of buy is
bought”
2) When students are engaged in communicative activities, correct errors only if they interfere with comprehensibility. Respond using correct forms, but without stressing them. Example:
Student (greeting teacher) : I buy a new car yesterday!
Teacher : You bought a new car? That's exciting! What kind?
c. Target Language Use
Today’s language classrooms increasingly reflect ACTFL’s (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) recommendation that communication in the target language comprises at least 90% of instructional time. ACTFL also promoted an emphasis on oral proficiency. Knop claimed when learners exposed more to foreign language input, they will have better proficiency.25 Clearly, travel abroad and immersion experiences would greatly affect language acquisition. But, for the majority of our students, foreign travel and living abroad are not easily accessible. Instead, the foreign language classroom is the environment in which they are most likely to need the language to communicate. Thus, it is important for foreign language
25 Constance Knop, Increasing Use of the Target Language in Classroom Interaction
teachers to consider how they can increase the use of the target language in classroom interactions so as to promote students’ oral proficiency. In classroom, instructors use a kind of ways to facilitate comprehension and support meaning making. For example, they:26
1) afford intelligible idea which focus on communicative goals; 2) provide body language, gestures, and visual support to interpret the
meaning;
3) make comprehension drafts to make sure learner understanding; 4) discuss and urge negotiation among students about meaning;
5) provoke conversation that expand capability in fluency, accuracy, and complexity gradually;
6) embolden self-expression and natural use of language;
7) give students specifics ways for how to ask clarification and assistance when faced difficulties in understanding; and
8) Offer feedback to enhance student capability to communicate orally in the target language.
d. Culture
The role of cultural learning in the foreign language classroom has been the concern of many teachers and scholars and has sparked considerable controversy, yet its validity as an equal complement to language learning has often been overlooked or even impugned. The existence of culture is recorded by language either in prints or spoken and culture itself has language as its component among other components. Therefore, language reflects the self and other culture, along with the views of moral values, notions of good and bad, right and wrong, beautiful and ugly. From sociology perspective, culture can be defined as the product of society.27 Culture, by its nature, cannot be
26 Douglass Crouse,
How to Stay in the Target Language, (New Jersey: The Language Educator, 2012), p.24.
27 Marry Jill Brody, “A Linguistic Anthropological Perspective on Language and Culture
separated from language as language expresses, embodies and symbolize culture reality. Language determines thoughts and culture; language influence thoughts and culture; culture influences people’s language, and language and culture influence each other.28
Mitchel and Myles support this notion as “language and culture are not separate, but are acquired together, with each providing support for the development of the other”.29
In addition, according to Liddicoat et al, culture is “a complex system of concepts, attitudes, values, beliefs, conventions, behaviours, practices, and rituals, lifestyles of the people, who make up a cultural group, as well as the artefacts they produce and the institution they create”.30 To this point culture teaching seems to be the responsibility of historians or social scientist. However, to some extent, culture becomes the responsibility of language teachers, as culture manifests itself is through language.
Since culture and language is not two different teaching subjects, foreign language learning is at the same time cultural learning. Horbie modified the categorization presented by Adaskou, Britten, and Fahsi into a conceptual framework in which culture is divided into three kinds. They are:
1) Culture as social custom
Social custom includes culture with ‗small c’ such as the organization of a family, a home life, interpersonal relations, material conditions, work and leisure, customs and institution. Culture in this term is a vast area which only some parts can ever be selected by the learners.
2) Culture in semantic sense
Sematic sense associates with the concepts, perceptions, or thought towards the culture.
3) Culture in pragmatic sense
28Ronald Wardhaugh,
An Introduction to Sociolinguistic 4th Edition (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell publishing, 2002), pp.219-220.
29Rosamund Mitchell and Florence Myles,
Second Language Learning Theories 2nd Edition (London; Arnold, 2004), p. 235.
30 Anthony J. Liddicoat, et al.,
Pragmatic sense deals with the background knowledge, social and paralinguistic skills and language code which are necessary for successful communication, including:
1) the ability to use appropriate exponents for the various communicative functions;
2) the ability to use appropriate intonation pattern;
3) the ability to confront to norms of politeness, which different from the learners’ culture, including taboo avoidance;
4) awareness of conventions governing interpersonal relations – questions of status, obligation, license, where different from the leaners’ culture;
5) familiarity with the main rhetorical conventions in different written genres, e.g. different types of letters and messages, form-filling, advertisements.31
e. Computer-Based Technology
Today’s society is becoming more and more dependent on electronic devices. In 1980s and 1990s, technology in language teaching started to use in communicative language teaching two distinct perspectives which are cognitive approaches and sociocognitive approaches.32 In cognitive approach, technology can exposed students more to language in meaningful context and to construct their own individual knowledge such as text-reconstruction software, concordancing software, and multimedia simulation software.33 In sociocognitive approach, students had given maximum opportunity for authentic social interaction such as comprehensible input and communicative ability. The technology that can be used is internet.
31 Hideo Horbie
, The Place of Culture in Teaching English as an International Language
(EIL), JALT Journal volume 30/2 (Novermber, 2008), pp. 244-249.
32 Mark Warschauer and Carla Meskill,
Technology and Second Language Teaching, (New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000), p.304.
Computer technology in schools has made drastic improvements. Computers have gone from being in every school, to being in every classroom. Computers in the classroom are a great way to motivate, teach, and learn for not only the students, but also for the teacher. Access to computers specifically has become very easy for students to obtain. Technology is not restricted to computers; there are also projectors, DVD players, VCR’s, and video screens that are used today. This available technology helps advance the learning process and saves time. Furthermore, the learning process is easily enhanced when technology is used. First, with internet access in each classroom, it allows the teacher to access massive amounts of information in just few seconds. This information can be given to the students in a clear easy to read format as it is projected into the screen. With such easy access to information, students are able to learn more in a smaller time span, while teachers are able to be more efficient in how they teach.
f. Communicative Language Teaching
Communicative teaching focuses on communicative activities and the concentration of language as mean of communication.34 Furthermore, communicative language teaching aims broadly to apply the theoretical perspective of communicative approach by making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and by acknowledging the interdependence of language and communication.35 The point of an understanding of communicative language teaching is an understanding of the term communicative competence. In addition, Richard also defines communicative language teaching sets its goal the teaching of communicative competence which refers to the knowledge we have of a language that
34 Jeremy Harmer,
The Practice of English Language Teaching 4th Edition, (London: Longman Group UK Etd, 2007), p.69.
35 Diane Larsen-Freeman,
accounts for our ability to produce sentences in a language.36 It refers to knowledge of the building blocks of sentences and how sentences are formed. From the statement above it can be concluded that the goal of language teaching based on communicative approach is to develop communicative competence.
Furthermore, Richards and Rodgers mentioned some of the characteristics of communicative view of language, they are:
1) Language is a system for the expression of meaning.
2) The primary function of language is to allow interaction and communication.
3) The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses. 4) The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and
structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse.37
Since the communicative competence become the starting point of communicative language teaching, it needs teacher creativity to elaborate the situation that can make students really feel interested and get involved to the class environment, so that the students expand their idea correctly. And the teacher serves as a facilitator who manages classroom activities in learning teaching process. Then the students are the communicators who actively engage in communication to create more communicative activities in learning and teaching process.
g. Assessment
Assessment is probably one the most important and contentious activities teacher engage in.38 Assessment is a prior contributor to raise school standard
36 Jack C. Richards,
Communicative Language Teaching Today, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), p.2.
37 Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers,
Approaches and Methods In Language Teaching, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p.161.
38 Daniel Muijs and David Reynolds,
in term of teaching, learning and students’ achievement.39 In recent years, the interest of the application of assessment procedures that are radically different from traditional forms of assessment has been growing. Moreover, assessment for learning is a term that has been developed to describe forms of assessment that have been found to impact directly on students’ achievement and learning outcomes.
There are many kinds of assessment technique that is used in classroom. Cohen and friends stated that assessment consists of several types based on the porpuse such as norm-referenced assessment, criterion-referenced assessment, domain-referenced assessment, diagnostic assessment, formative assessment, summative assessment, authentic assessment, etc.40 Furthermore, Muijs and Reynold clasified three main types of assessment which are standardized test, teacher-made test and alternative forms of assessment such as performance assessment and portfolio assessment.41
There are some purposes of assessment. It is being used for:
1) Certification, qualifying students for their lives outside school by awarding passes, fails grades and marks.
2) Diagnosis, identifying a student’s particular strengths, weaknesses, difficulties and needs in order that an appropriate curriculum can be planned.
In conclusion, assessment cannot be separated from teaching and learning process. It is important for both teacher and student. Teachers can improve their teaching through assessment and provide feedback for students which can help them to improve their learning style.
C. Previous Relevant Studies
The first previous study was conducted by Gunjabi by the tittle “Effective Foreign Language Teaching: a Matter of Iranian Students’ and Teachers’ Beliefs”. The study was investigated the beliefs about language learning of 120 Iranian EFL students and 16 EFL teachers. The primary aim of the study was to reveal whether there was any difference between the beliefs of Iranian students and teachers regarding different aspects of language learning such as grammar teaching, error correction, culture, target language use, computer-based technology, communicative language teaching strategies and assessment. The result revealed that there were some differences between the Iranian students’ and teachers’ beliefs regarding what procedures were most effective in bringing about language learning such as in communicative activities. The Iranian teachers put strong emphasis on the communicative activities while the students still preferred focusing primarily on the grammatical items. Another difference between students’ and teachers’ responses regarded the timing of error correction. The teachers’ responses were more in line with the existing literature on the timing of error correction which emphasizes that errors should not be corrected directly and immediately as their students make errors. But the students had the obverse beliefs, that is, they reported that they expected their teachers to correct their errors as soon as they emerged.43
The second previous study was conducted by Brown. He identified and compared, overall and by teacher, teachers’ and students’ ideals of effective teacher behaviours. The participants for this study consisted of 49 teachers (12 males, 37 females) mostly between the ages of 21 and 35 years and approximately
43 Mahyar Ganjabi, Effective Foreign Language Teaching: a Matter of Iranian Students’
1.600 of their students who were recruited on a volunteer basis from 83 intact first and second-year L2 classes from nine different languages at the participating university. The result showed there are some difference appeared between students’ and teachers’ perception about effective foreign language teaching. The students seemed to favour a grammar-based approach, whereas their teachers preferred a more communicative classroom, as evidenced by significant differences in such areas as target language use, error correction, and group work.44
The third study conducted by Ta'amneh. The study aimed to explore the harmony between teachers’ and students’ beliefs about strategies used in learning English vocabulary. The population of the study, which comprised 200 EFL teachers and 1500 ninth grade students, consisted of all teachers and students in Irbid Third Directorate of Education. The sample consisted of 133 EFL teachers and 306 students with an average age of 41 (ninth grade) who responded to the questionnaires. And the results showed that there was a harmony between teachers’ and students’ beliefs about the vocabulary learning strategies in all dimensions the questionnaires except guessing and contextualization. They believed that rote learning, using technology and dictionary, using multimedia an asking for help strategies are good strategies to learn English vocabulary items.45
D. Thinking Framework
From the background and theory outlined above it can be acquired a thinking framework as follows; language learning has raised language practitioners and researchers attention. One variable which has received a lot of attention recently in the language learning process is beliefs. Investigation into students’ beliefs on effective teaching is necessary, so that teachers in training and practitioners can understand how to approach and improve their practice. Besides that, by exploring
44 Alan V. Brown, Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Effective Foreign Language
Teaching: A Comparison of Ideals, The Modern Language Journal, 2009, pp.46-60.
45
students’ and teachers’ beliefs, it can bridge the gap between them in teaching learning process. However, different beliefs that teachers and learners hold towards the process of language teaching might negatively influence the effectiveness of language teaching process.
Effective language teaching defines as meaningful and appropriate teaching process. Teaching process can be effective when the goals of education reached. There are some aspects regarding language learning such as grammar teaching, error correction, target language use, culture, computer-based technology, communicative language teaching strategies, and assessment. Students and teachers might have different perception about how an effective English language teaching should be done. Students might think that grammar teaching is more effective than teaching using communicative approach while teachers think the opposite.
26 A. Place and Time of the Study
This study took place at SMA Negeri 3, Tangerang Selatan. The research was carried from September 8th to 15th, 2016.
B. Research Method
This research is conducted to run a detail and comprehensive comparison between students’ and teachers’ beliefs on effective English language teaching. How students think and how teachers think about effective English language teaching. This research is qualitative method. The nature of qualitative research is no intervention, randomization and data manipulation.1 Besides that, the researcher conducts qualitative research method because researcher intends to identify a part of students’ behaviour, as qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them.2 The design of this study is survey study that will be used to collect the data. The questionnaire was distributed among the participants and they were required to answer the closed-ended questions based on their past experiences of participating in the language classes.
1 Mahyar Ganjabi, Effective Foreign Language Teaching: a Matter of Iranian Students’ and
Teachers’ Beliefs, English Language Teaching Journal, 2010. p.46. 2 Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y.,
C. Participant
This study conducted by using 253 XI grade students and 2 Emglish teachers of SMA Negeri 3, Tangerang Selatan as the participant.
D. Technique of Data Collection
The technique of data collection in this research is questionnaire. The questionnaire used is originally developed by Brown. It consists of 24 items and seven overarching categories. According to Brown the original questionnaire made extensive use of Bell’s questionnaire and evolved after being piloted three times with different beginning-level L2 students. And there are the seven overarching categories of the questionnaire.
Table 3.1. Effective Teaching Questionaire (Adapted from: Brown’s Questionnaire)
No Item
1 Frequently use computer-based technologies (Internet, CD–ROM, email) in teaching the language.
2 Base at least some part of students’ grades on completion of assigned group tasks.
3 Devote as much time to the teaching of culture as to the teaching of language.
4 Require students to use English outside of class with other speakers of the language (e.g., Internet, email, clubs, community events, etc.).
5 Not correct students immediately after they make a mistake in speaking.
6 Allow students to respond to test questions in listening and reading via Bahasa Indonesia rather than English.
8 Only correct students indirectly when they produce oral errors instead of directly (e.g., correctly repeating back to them rather than directly stating that they are incorrect).
9 Be as knowledgeable about the culture(s) of those who speak the language (English) as the language itself.
10 Not grade language production (i.e., speaking and writing) primarily for grammatical accuracy.
11 Teach English primarily by having students complete specific tasks (e.g., finding out prices of rooms and rates at a hotel) rather than grammar-focused exercises.
12 Have students respond to commands physically in English (e.g., “stand up,” “pick up your book,”
etc.).
13 Address errors by immediately providing explanations as to why students’ responses are incorrect.
14 Require students to speak English beginning the first day of class. 15 Not use predominantly small groups or pair work to complete
activities in class.
16 Mostly use activities that practice specific grammar points rather than activities whose goal is merely to exchange information. 17 Ask students to begin speaking English only when they feel they
are ready to.
18 Not present a particular grammar point without illustrating how the structure is used in a specific, real-world context.
19 Speak English with native-like control of both grammar and accent. 20 Teach grammar by giving examples of grammatical structures
before explaining the grammar rules.
22 Not simplify or alter how they speak so that students can understand every word being said.
23 Base at least some part of students’ grades on their ability to interact with classmates successfully in English
24 Use activities where students have to find out unknown information from classmates using English.
Table 3.2. General Categories of Questionnaire ((Adapted from: Brown’s Questionnaire)
Category Effective Teacher Questionnaire Item Number
Grammar Teaching 10, 16, 18, 20
Error Correction 5, 8, 13
Target Language Use 7, 14, 17, 19, 22, 23
Culture 3, 9
Computer-Based Technology 1 Communicative Language Teaching Strategies
11, 12, 2, 4, 15, 21, 23, 24
Assessment 2, 6, 10, 23
The scoring of the questionnaire uses Likert scale, which is one of scaling technique of rating scale. It is requiring the respondent to make an evaluate judgement of the target by marking one of a series of categories organized into a scale.3 To scale this questionnaire, the writer
3 Zoltan Dorney and Tatsuya Taguchi,
Questionnaire in Second Language Research,
used Likert scale, which is typically used to investigate how respondents feel about a series of question.4
E. Data Analysis
The main purpose of this study is to run a detailed and comprehensive comparison between teachers’ and students’ beliefs on the issues in English language teaching included in the study’s questionnaire. The questionnaire data calculated per item using independent group t-test in SPSS to compared students’ and teachers’ beliefs. Then the items that have significant difference will be displayed on the table and being discussed. For investigating the research question, descriptive and inferential statistics were employed. In comparing the students’ and teachers’ beliefs, a two-sample, independent group t-test was calculated.
4 James Dean Brown,
31 CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Research Findings 1. Data Description
This research tended to investigate XI grade students and teachers of SMA Negeri 3 Tangerang Selatan about effective language teaching using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was given to 253 students and 2 teachers. The questionnaire focused on seven general categories which are grammar teaching, error correction, target language use, culture, computer-based technology, communicative language teaching, and assessment. Furthermore, the writer runs independent group t-test on every item to compare all teachers’ and students’ responses of the questionnaire. Table 1 shows the result of teachers’ responses towards the questionnaire.
Table 4.1.
Teachers’ Responses of Effective English
Language Teaching Questionnaire
Item Mean
1 2
2 2
3 1
4 2.50
5 2
6 2
Item Mean
8 2.50
9 2.50
10 2.50
11 2
12 1.50
13 2
14 2
15 2.50
16 3.50
17 2.50
18 2
19 2.50
20 3
21 2
22 2.50
23 2
24 2
grammar points rather than activities whose goal is merely to exchange information.
Table 4.2.
Students’ Responses of Effective English
Language Teaching Questionnaire
Item Mean
1 1.91
2 1.76
3 2.06
4 1.94
5 2.14
6 2.22
7 2.18
8 2.27
9 1.79
10 2.88
11 2.20
12 1.77
13 1.92
14 2.80
15 2.75
16 2.48
17 2.63
18 2.60
19 1.89
20 1.77
21 1.70
Item Mean
23 2.04
24 1.74
Table 2 showed the result of students’ responses towards the questionnaire. From the data above, students’ responses ranged from 1.70 to 2.88. The smallest mean score is from the item number 21. This item is categorized as comunicative language teaching. It says that teachers should use predominantly real-life materials such as music, pictures, foods, and clothing in teaching the language and the culture rather than the textbook. Meanwhile, the highest mean score is the item number 10. It categorized as grammar teaching. The item says that teachers should not grade language production (i.e., speaking and writing) primarily for grammatical accuracy.
Table 4.3.
Comparison of Student and Teacher Means by Questionnaire Item
Item Students' means Teachers' means
Mean Difference (Ss-Ts)
23 2.04 2 0.04
13 1.92 2 -0.08
1 1.91 2 -0.09
17 2.63 2.50 0,13
5 2.14 2 0.14
11 2.20 2 0,20
6 2.22 2 0.22
Item Students' means Teachers' means
Mean Difference (Ss-Ts)
2 1.76 2 -0.24
15 2.75 2.50 0.25
24 1.74 2 -0.26
12 1.77 1.50 0,27
21 1.70 2 -0.30
10 2.88 2.50 0.38
22 2.06 2.50 -0.44
4 1.94 2.50 -0.56
18 2.60 2 0.60
19 1.89 2.50 -0.61
9 1.79 2.50 -0.71
14 2.80 2 0.80
16 2.48 3.50 -1.02
3 2.06 1 1.06
20 1.77 3 -1.23
7 2.18 3.50 -1.32
Table 4.3. shows comparison of teachers’ and students’ responses towards the questionnaire. The items were ranked in descending order from the largest to the smallest mean difference using absolute values based on the respondents’ responses. In presenting the results, the negative sign has been retained in order to indicate direction of difference; negative values represent greater teacher than student agreement with the items.
responses ranged from 1 to 3.50 while the students’ responses ranged from 1.70 to 2.88. Among the raw scores, there were several items with mean differences of .44 or higher on the four-point scale. Practically speaking, a raw score difference of .50 on a four-point scale would appear to represent a notable difference of opinion. Due to space limitations, only those items that showed significant differences between the teachers’ and students’ responses overall are displayed in the table 4. Among 24 items, 7 items were resulted significantly different. Table 4 presents the teachers’ and the students’ overall means side by side, the differences between the students’ and the teachers’ mean responses (Ss-Ts Mean Difference).
2. Data Analysis
Table 4.4
Comparison of Significant Difference Items of Student and Teacher Means
Question Effective English Language Teachers Should 4 Require students to use English outside of
class with other speakers of the language (e.g., Internet, email, clubs, community events, etc.).
-0.56 1.94 2.50
24 Use activities where students have to find out unknown information from classmates using English.
-0.26 2 1.74
21 Use predominantly real-life materials (e.g., music, pictures, foods, and clothing) in teaching both the language and the culture rather than the textbook.
-0.30 2 1.70
18 Not present a particular grammar point without illustrating how the structure is used in a specific, real-world context.
0.60 2.50 1.94
16 Mostly use activities that practice specific grammar points rather than activities whose goal is merely to exchange information.
-1.02 3.50 2.48
20 Teach grammar by giving examples of grammatical structures before explaining the grammar rules.
-1.23 3 1.77
7 Not use student’s native language in the
B. Interpretation
