AN INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS ON 6th GRADE ENGLISH FOR YOUNG LEARNERS’ SELECTED TEXTBOOKS IN KOTA MALANG

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AN INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS ON 6th GRADE ENGLISH FOR YOUNG LEARNERS’ SELECTED TEXTBOOKS IN KOTA MALANG

THESIS

By:

LUTHFIYATUL MUNIROH 09360196

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

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THESIS

By:

LUTHFIYATUL MUNIROH

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THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

By:

LUTHFIYATUL MUNIROH 09360196

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MOTTO AND DEDICATION

And to your Lord turn all your attention (QS. Al. Insyirah: 8)

I cannot do everything, but still I can do something, so that I won’t refuse to do the thing that I can do

(Hellen Keller)

DEDICATION:

I dedicate this thesis to:

My beloved mother and father, My sister and brothers,

My best friends,

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillah, all praises due to Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful and Charitable. Because of His guidance, blessing and affection, the writer could finish this thesis entitled “An Intercultural Awareness on 6th _{Grade English for Young Learners’ Selected} Textbooks in Kota Malang” completely as well as possible. Peace and salutation always be upon our Prophet Muhammad SAW who had guided us from the darkness to the lightness. Her great honor is also addressed to her spirit teacher and mursyid As Syeikh Ahmad Asrori Al Ishaqy ra. for his invaluable guidance during the life time.

The researcher expresses gratitude to Rina Wahyu Setyaningrum, S.Pd, M.Ed as her first advisor and Puji Sumarsono M.Ed, M.Pd as her second advisor who have spent a lot of time to give her valuable guidance, advice, and suggestions during the completion of this thesis. The researcher has great admiration and respect for them.

Her sincere gratitude is also extended to his lovely Father (H. Muh. Alwi) and Mother (Hj. Muthiah) for the best power, endless prayers, funds and supports. Her gratitude is also to her little brothers (Abdullah Faqih alm. And A. Rofif Allam) and all of her family for their supports during the time she did this thesis.

Besides, her grateful thanks are extended to her best friends “Ladies Four” (Widi, Rina, Olive), her besties (Riva), her brother (Rifhan), her partners in Amcor and Aminef, English class of 2009 and C2 class who taught her about friendship. Her family in Al Khidmah and PTQ An Nuur, her friends in KARTAJAWI, her foreign home-mate (Cherif Amina Louazani) who gives her best correction during this thesis completion, and her special partner who always give motivation and moral support in finishing this thesis. Thank you for your love, care and du’a during this time.

Malang, 23 October 2013

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL ... i

LEGALIZATION ... ii

MOTTO AND DEDICATION... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iv

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Culture ... 7

2.1.1 Elements of Culture... 8

2.2 Language and Culture ... 11

2.3 Cultural Awareness ...………... 12

2.4 Intercultural Education ... 12

2.4.1 Characteristic of Intercultural Education... 14

2.4.2 The Benefit of Intercultural Education to Children... 15

2.5 Intercultural Awareness ... 15

2.6 Teaching English to Young Learners ... 17

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2.6.1.1 The Basic Principles ... 18

3.3 Research Instrument ... 29

3.4 Data Collection ... 29

3.5 Data Analysis ... 30

CHAPTER IV FINDING AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Research Findings ... 31

4.1.1 The Intercultural Awareness were employed in English for Young Learners’ Selected Textbooks ... 31

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4.1.1.2 Smile ... 45

4.1.1.3 Speed Up English 6 ... 57

4.1.2 Intercultural Awareness Mostly Employed in English for Young Learners’ Selected Textbooks ... 60

4.1.3 Intercultural Awareness Less Employed in English for Young Learners’ Selected Textbooks ... 61

4.2 Discussion ... 61

CHAPTER V CONCLUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Conclusions ... 64

5.2 Suggestions ... 65

5.2.1 Suggestion for EYL Teachers ... 65

5.2.2 Suggestion for Authors of English Textbooks ... 65

5.2.3 Suggestion for Further Researchers ... 65 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Act of Republic Indonesia No.20. 2003. National Education System.

Ary,Donald. 2006. Introduction to Research in Education. New York: Wadsworth.

Brumfit, Christopher.et.al. 1991. Teaching English to Children. London: Collins ELT.

Brown, Douglas. 2000. Principle of Language Learning and Teaching. London: Longman.

Byram, Michael.2008. Foreign Language Education to Education for Intercultural Citizenship. London: Cromwell Press.

Cohen, E.G. 1994. Designing Groupwork-strategies for Heterogeneous Classroom (2nd edition). New York : College Press.

Richards, Jack and Rodgers, Theodore. 2003. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sabilah, Fardini. 2004. Teaching English to Young Learners: It’s Policy , Framework, and Activity-Based Teaching. Malang:UMM Press.

Scott, W.A and L.H. Ytreberg. 2002. Teaching English to Children. Longman: New York

Tormey, Roland.et.al.2005. Intercultural Education in the Primary School. Dublin: National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

Tomalin, Berry and Stempleski, Susan. Cultural Awareness. 2000. New York: Oxford University Press.

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1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of problems, purpose of study and its significance, scope and limitations, and also the definition of key terms. Each section is presented as follows.

1.1Background of Study

Language is an important aspect in human society. Its importance lays on the need of people to communicate, to share the ideas, feelings, or express what they want to one-another. In other words, language is used as a tool of communication in human life. Stewart, et.al (2001:427) mention that “language is an abstract cognitive system, which uniquely allows human to produce and comprehend meaningful utterances.”

One of the largely spread languages in the world is English, widely known as an international language. It is commonly accepted that people find easier information about science, art, politics, economy, etc from resources such as textbooks, internet, and television programs in English. When people cannot understand English, they would automatically lack information.

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2 cannot be competent in the language if we do not have an awareness of that culture, and how that culture relates to our own first language and culture. It has been widely recognized that language is used as a main medium through which culture is expressed.

English is one of the foreign languages learnt in almost every elementary school in Indonesia. It is taught to elementary levels as a Local Content Subject. However, the function of English for young learners is just to stimulate and introduce a foreign language. It is also to develop their interest in learning foreign languages and to prepare them for the next school levels. Besides, young learners are good at learning language. Brumfit (in Sabilah, 2001) explains that children have more chance in learning than adults. Their brain is more adaptable before puberty than after, and that acquisition of language is possible without self-consciousness at an early stage.

In addition, Wardaugh (2006) says that children can acquire a second (or a third) language easily and completely as long as they have enough input from those languages. Stewart,et.al (2001:28) state that a foreign language is better given to students at young age considering the end result of language acquisition, an early start-age is definitely more advantageous. That applies in particular to picking up an authentic accent.

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3 be one of the local content curriculum, because it is considered as an important international language for the global communication. In realizing the role, teaching English at elementary school has been designed as one of the local content subject.

Teaching languages is considered to demonstrate the culture of that target language. English teachers or even all of the learning resources have to involve the culture of the target language in teaching-learning activities through writing, picture, explanations, etc.

Culture is a shared set of values, beliefs, customs, traditions, and behaviors that provide meaning for human’s experiences and lives from one generation to the

next generation. (Bonder, Martin & Miracle, 2001; Carrillo, Green & Betancourt, 1999).

In English as foreign language classrooms, teaching language is also automatically teaching culture. The form of address, greetings, formulas, and other utterances found in the dialogues or models the students hear, read, and see and aspects of culture found in the resources represent knowledge. The students’

intellectual curiosity is aroused when they learn that they find another mode of expression to talk about feelings, wishes, needs, and when they find any other illustration of foreign country. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce to elementary students the target culture when they learn a foreign language, especially for them who will enroll to the junior high school level in which English is one of the curriculum subjects.

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4 have resources for teaching-learning activities for students. One of the most essential learning resources is textbooks.

A textbook provides an outline that the teacher can use in planning course, units and lessons. It summarizes a great deal of relevant information, enables the students to take home in a convenient form of most of the material they need to learn for the course, provides a common resources for all students to follow, and provides the teacher with ideas regarding the organization of information and activities. A textbook also includes pictures, graphs, maps, and other illustrative materials, which facilitate understanding of learning English. It also includes other teaching materials such as summaries and review questions (David in Nermatti 2009). A textbook relieves the teacher from preparing material for the course thus, allowing more time to prepare the lesson.

In addition, textbooks in elementary school become very important tool of teaching learning because they can give the young learners a real picture of learning. Today, many textbooks spread in Kota Malang as the result of how important learning English as foreign language since elementary schools. However, in choosing textbooks teacher should consider that the textbook is covering the students’ need in learning English as foreign language. Moreover, textbook is also introducing the intercultural awareness as a picture of learning foreign language in its learning activities.

Considering the explanation, the researcher writes this study under the title of “An Intercultural Awareness on 6th _{Grade English For Young Learners’ Selected}

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5 1.2 Statement of Problem

1 What intercultural awareness were employed in the teaching learning activities on 6thgrade English for Young Learners’ selected textbooks in Kota Malang? 2. What intercultural awareness were mostly employed in teaching learning

activities on 6th grade English for Young Learners’ selected textbook in Kota Malang?

3. What intercultural awareness were less employed in teaching learning activities on 6thgrade English for Young Learners’ selected textbook in Kota Malang? 1.3 Purpose of Study

1. To find out the intercultural awareness employed on the teaching learning activities on 6thgrade EYL’s selected textbooks in Kota Malang.

2. To know what intercultural awarenss were mostly employed in teaching learning activities on 6thgrade EYL’s selected textbooks in Kota Malang. 3. To know what intercultural awareness were less employed in teaching learning

activities on 6thgrade EYL’s selected textbooks in Kota Malang. 1.4 Significance of the Study

The result of the study highlights intercultural awareness on 6th grade English for Young Learners’ selected textbooks in Kota Malang. The findings of this study

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6 1.5 Scope and Limitation

The scope of this study is the intercultural awareness on 6th grade EYLs’ textbooks in Kota Malang. This study is limited on the three most popular sold textbooks of 6th garde elementary schools in Kota Malang, which are published by Erlangga, Esis, and Yudhistira companies.

1.6 Definition of Key Terms

1. Intercultural awareness can be regarded as the foundation of communication. It involves two qualities: one is the awareness of one’s own culture; the other is the awareness of another culture ( Honglin Zhu, 2011).

2. Young Learners are children from the first year of formal schooling (five or six years old) to eleven or twelve years of age, who respond to language according to what it does or what they can do with it ( Philips in Kalendova, 2011).