INTRODUCTION
As international language, English is needed for us to learn. English is believed as the key to get a good job and success in the future. However, many people have realized that learning English is not as easy as they think. It can also take a long time in learning English as foreign language. Therefore, the Indonesian government through the Department of Education and Culture has made English as a required subject in the curriculum and become one of subjects of National Exam for Junior High School and Senior High School students.
The controversial problem in the teaching of English for Junior High School students is the use of Indonesian by the teachers when they are teaching English in the classroom. Harmer (1989) suggests that first language should be avoided since it will make the process of L2 acquisition go slowly and students are not significantly exposed to English as the target language. On the other hand, Long (1984), Charles (1987), and Spratt (1988) believed that we cannot ignore first language.
English classes in Indonesia are mostly taught by local teachers and this kind of condition enables the students to speak in their mother tongue, in this case Indonesian even in an English class. This condition is in opposition to condition of EFL classes, where English should be used more often in teaching and learning process.
schools because they are three best schools in Salatiga based on the data from Pemkot Salatiga website. Then, because there are pros-cons about the use of L1 in L2 classroom, the writer wanted to conduct a study about the teachers’ purposes in using L1 in L2 classroom for Junior High School. Therefore, this study attempted to find out the teachers’ purpose of using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School. The significance of the study was to improve teachers’ teaching quality by managing the use of mother tongue, in this case Indonesian in teaching English. In addition, it is expected that the result of this study also can be considered in designing an effective English teaching learning strategy.
Considering the explanation above, the writer will conduct this study in an attempt to investigate the teacher’s purpose of using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School students in two private junior high schools and one state junior high school in Salatiga. This study aims to answer the following research question “What are the teachers’ purposes of using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School students?”
Pros-Cons of Use L1 in L2 Classroom
learner’s first language. According him, the use of the mother tongue in the learning process should be minimized.
Krashen (1982) conducted that language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules. He also stated that acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language, natural communication in which speaker was not concerned with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding. Krashen believed that the best methods are supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready'. It recognized that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production. In this case, teacher often uses Indonesian in teaching English because Indonesian as mother tongues of students.
The Teachers’ Purposes in Using L1 in L2 Classroom
Tang (2002) conducted a study about teachers and students’ attitudes towards the use of first language in English classrooms in Chinese schools. Tang found that the highest amount of first language use was to explain the meaning of new words. He found that the teachers claimed that using the first language was more effective in explaining new vocabulary to students. Tang (2002) found that the most common purposes for which L1 was used were giving activity instructions and explaining abstract or culturally specific words. Here are some purposes of use L1 in L2 classroom mentioned of many experts:
Give instructions (Atkinson,1987; Hidayati, 2012; Macaro, 1997;
Spratt,1988; Tang, 2002)
Sometimes teacher needs to use L1 to give instruction to students in order to avoid misunderstanding in doing a task.
Explain meanings of words (Cook, 2001; Tang, 2002; Willis, 1981)
Students usually find some difficult words in a task, and in this situation teacher should be able to explain them using L1 to make clear the meaning. Explain complex ideas (Brooks and Donato,1994; Polio and Duff, 1994;
Tang, 2002)
Explain grammar points (Auerbach, 1993; Cook, 2001; Hidayati,2012;
Polio and Duff, 1994; Tang,2002)
Tang (2002) stated that grammar is very difficult task that teacher should choose a good way to explain to students. Therefore, the use of mother tongue may make the explanation clearer.
Manage classroom (Auerbach ,1993; Cavez, 2002; Cook,2001; Macaro,
1997; Polio and Duff, 1994; Spratt,1988)
Check comprehension (Atkinson, 1987; Macaro,1997; Spratt,1988;
Urgese,1987; )
Maintain communication with students (Atkinson,1987; Cook,2001;
Kaneko, 1992; Polio and Duff, 1994)
Kaneko (1992) found in a Japanese secondary school that teachers used L1 to provide explanations and activity instructions, manage the lesson, and build rapport with the students. Each teacher has different purpose when they use L1 in L2 classroom. Most of them use L1 to make material clearer when they explain it to their students. Willis (1981) claimed that there are some purposes for teacher to use L1 for example, to explain the aim of the lesson or the next activity, to check students’ understanding after the presentation, and to discuss the main ideas after a reading passage in pairs.
Hidayati found that when the teachers used more of first language, the degree of student interaction was higher than when the teachers used less of the first language. It means that student’s interaction was higher when the first language was used by the teacher. Students felt more comfortable during class with a familiar language, they were better able to understand, communicate, and participate during class. Hidayati found that the teachers used the first language to explain difficult vocabulary, grammar points, and classroom instructions. Her study also indicated that the use of first language in L2 classroom was a better choice such as when giving instructions for activities and warm-up activities.
Cook (2001) discussed the different arguments about of using first language in L2 classroom. Cook argued against the common belief that second language acquisition should be treated like first language acquisition. He also argued that teachers try their best to separate the first language from the second language in their teaching by trying to use technique such as drawing examples to teach their students. Although the teachers tried to separate these two languages, learners still make connections between the vocabulary, syntax, and phonology of their first and second languages.
Cook compared acquisition processes of the first language and second language. He concluded by pointing out some teaching contexts in which the first language can be positively used.
Other researchers also believed that using L1 in L2 classroom by the teacher cannot avoided. Polio and Duff (1994) found that use of the first language in English classrooms from a different point of view.
Spratt (1988) stated that the use of L1 is perceived differently. According him, foreign language teaching used to focus on fluency and group work. He said that nowadays there is no clear line whether L1 should be avoided or not in the foreign language classroom. According Spratt (1988) there are some considerations the teacher should take in deciding whether to use L1 or not. Meanwhile, there are some purposes on which a teacher may want to use L1 such as explanations and justifications
Atkinson (1987) found that when the teacher using L1 in L2 classroom, it’s also beneficial for students. He believed that the teachers use of L1 in teaching English can help students understand better the material taught and to avoid misunderstanding among students and teacher. Atkinson (1987) also lists some teacher’s purpose using L1 in the L2 classroom:
1. Eliciting language, such as “How do you say ‘X’ in English?” 2. Giving complex instructions to basic levels
3. Using translation to highlight a recently taught language item
5. Developing circumlocution strategies, when students do not know how to say something in the L2, have them think of different ways to say the same thing in the L1, which may be easier to translate.
Auerbach (1993) suggests the possible occasions for using the mother tongue in L2 classroom is to scene setting; language analysis; presentation of rules governing grammar, phonology, morphology, and spelling; discussion of cross-cultural issues; instructions or prompts; explanation of errors; and assessment of comprehension.
Steven Krashen, with his Natural Approach to language acquisition, proposed that students learn their second language much in the same way that they learn their first language. Research has shown that the purpose in using of L1 by both students and teachers increases both comprehension and learning of L2 (Cook, 2001; Tang, 2002; Wells, 1999).
According to Macaro (1997), there are some cases that the teacher often uses to L1 to give instructions about activities, check comprehension, give feedback and maintain discipline.
Urgese (1987) found that teachers use L1 to check writing and reading comprehension exercises. To help learners to become more reflective and self regulated, L1 can also be used by teachers to raise awareness of their students’ styles and the strategy they use (Dajani 2002: 65).
to manage many kinds of classroom tasks. Chavez (2002) also stated that L2 students’ did not consider the classroom simulation of the target culture in which the L2 should be used all the time.
Brooks and Donato (1994) believed that L1 use is a normal psycholinguistic process that facilitates L2 production and allows the learners both to initiate and sustain verbal interaction with one another” (p. 268). The teacher use of the L1 during the complex and difficult tasks may be effective not only for priming L2 learning, but also for regulating thinking. Therefore, when teacher use of L1 in L2 classroom in some cases it may be beneficial for students.
THE STUDY Research Question
The research question for this study is: “What are the teachers’ purposes of using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School students?”
Context of the study
The study was conducted at two private junior high schools and a state junior high school. It is located in a small town of Salatiga, Central Java,Indonesia.
and reading class, week 2 and 4 for speaking and listening class. There are two English teachers and just one teacher who teach in seventh grades where each class contains of 30 students. The writer observes two classes of seventh grades in this school, there are 7B and 7C.
The second private junior high school is taught by Teacher B. There are also 3 teachers in this school and just one teacher who teach in seventh grades class. The seventh grades divided into 4 classes, there are 7A, 7B, 7C, and 7D that contains 28-30 students in each class. Based on the agreement with the teacher, the writer just observe two classes, there are 7C and 7D.
A state junior high school is taught by Teacher C. There are total 7 English teachers and two of them teach seventh grades students. One teacher and 2 classes (7D and 7G) from total 9 classes of seventh grades in this school were observed by the writer. Same with another school above, this school also contains of 28-30 students in each class. In this school, the teacher tries to use full English during the English lesson.
Participants
2013. There were 2 different classes in each school that were observed. Each class has around 30 students.
Instruments of data collection
The observations were done in English classroom to observe the teachers in using Indonesian in English classroom activities such as doing an exercise, discussion, presentation, etc. The lessons were recorded with audio recorder to capture as much of the instructor’s speech Indonesian as possible. The observations were conducted twice to three times a week between February 7th, 2014 up to March 8th, 2014. Each teacher was recorded for 8 hours or 4 meetings. The audio recordings used to capture the moments when the teacher use L1 during English lesson. The descriptive observation protocol will be used in this section.
Data collection procedures
Firstly, the writer asked permission to do observation in two private junior high schools and a state junior high school in Salatiga. After getting permission, the writer started to do classroom observation. The observations took 90 minutes on average and were recorded and transcribed. The purpose of it was to know the teachers’ use Indonesian in English classroom.
Data analysis procedures
categorized into different purposes of teacher in using L2 when teaching English (explaining meaning of words, giving instruction, maintaining communication with students, managing classroom, explaining grammar point, and checking comprehension). The data will be analyzed using categorical content analysis. It means that the writer will analyze the content of the data from conversation recording during learning process based on the purposes of L1 use. From those data, the writer will be able to know the teacher’s purpose in using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The discussion on teachers’ purposes of using Indonesian in English classroom was based on the observation which was conducted in two private junior high schools and a state junior high school. The discussion would also be combined and related to some theories to support the analysis of data.
[image:12.612.100.516.146.723.2]After transcribing the recording and classifying the teacher’s talks, the data was analyzed further to know the certain situations when the teacher used Indonesian in English classroom. The data showed that L1 often used by teacher for several purposes.
Table 1
Classroom observation result
Purposes Teacher Total
A B C
words
Giving instruction 8 (8,60 %) 15(19,73 %) 21 (27,63%) 44 (17,95 %)
Maintaining
communication with
students
22 (23,65 %) 8 (10,52 %) 13 (17,10%) 43 (17,55 %)
Managing classroom 17 (18,27 %) 13 (17,10%) 8 (10,52%) 38 (15,51 %)
Explaining grammar point 8 (8,60 %) 10 (13,15%) 17 (22,36 %) 35 (14,28 %)
Checking comprehension 14 (15,05 %) 11 (14,47%) 7 (9,21 %) 32 (13,06 %)
Total 93 (100 %) 76 (100 %) 76 (100 %) 245 (100 %)
From Table 1, we can see that the highest amount of first language use was to explain the meaning of words. Two of the teachers (Teacher A and Teacher B) have use L1 mostly to explain word meaning. Teacher C has the highest frequency in giving instruction as her purpose in using L1. From the 245 of occurrences of those purposes, teacher A uses L1 more frequently than the others (Teacher B and Teacher C). Interestingly, Teacher B and Teacher C have the same amount in using L1 with those purposes above.
1. Explaining meaning of words
From the observation, Indonesian was mostly used to explain meaning of words. Below is an example of using Indonesian to convey meaning of a word or sentences done by teacher A.
Situation (the teacher just checked the quiz about verb and noun). – (1st observation, 2ndof February)
Teacher A : number 1, try and villain. What is try? S1 : mencoba (try)
Teacher A: villain is penjahat
Teacher A : number 7, formula and develop. What is formula S4 : (just silent without answer)
Teacher A : formula itu rumus.
The example above showed that the teacher used Indonesian to explain meaning of a word ‘villain’ and ‘formula’. The teacher showed the things related to the unfamiliar words, asked them about the thing, and when nobody knew the answer, teacher directly translated it in L1. We can see the expression of students when teacher asked question (students just silent
without answer) showed that the word “villain” and “formula” maybe
unfamiliar for students or it’s conclude difficult words from them. So the teacher chooses to use Indonesian to explain that words.
These findings were similar to the findings on Tang (2002) research which stated that the highest amount of first language use was to explain the meaning of words. It was revealed in his study that using the first language was more effective in explaining vocabulary to students.
2. Giving instruction
During the observation, the writer found that each class has different ability to understand what the teacher said in teaching and learning process. In this situation, teachers use L1 to give instruction to students, for example:
Situation 1 (Teacher asked students to do an exercise in the textbook)-(3rdobservation, 14thof February)
Teacher A : And your job is to write down your story based on the picture in five sentences.
S1 : (just silent and did nothing)
S2 : OK, Mam (start working)
Situation 2 (Teacher asked students to do an exercise based on the picture in the screen) – (5thobservation, 20thof February)
Teacher C : After you find and think many kinds of the words related the picture
S1 : (just silent and did nothing)
Teacher C : jadi nanti kamu membuat teks sesuai dengan gambar yang ada di layar (so you make a text according the picture on the screen)
S2 : OK
Teacher C : So, we can write some words related the physical and personal characteristic based on the picture
S3 : Maksudnya gimana, Pak?(What do you mean, Sir?)
Teacher C : Jadi, kalian menulis dulu ciri fisik dan kepribadian sesuai dengan gambar yang ada di layar. (So, we can write some words related the physical and personal characteristic based on the picture on the screen) S4 : Oooohh gituu.. (Start working)
The example above (in Situation 1) showed that L1 was basically used to inform the students about what they should do with their task. When the teacher only used English, sometimes the students were just silent and did nothing. Then, the teacher shifted the language into their L1. As a result, the students could do what the teacher asked them to do. The teacher used L1 to make the students understand more about what they should do. In that context, the teachers choose to use L1 to clarify the instruction.
In Situation 2 showed that the teacher explained the instructions using L1 when he saw the students were not able to follow his instructions. The teacher used L1 in order to make his instructions clearer. The use of L1 in giving instructions made the students follow the teacher’s explanation.
3. Maintaining communication with students
In classroom activity, communication is the key to build relationship between teacher and students. In this case, maintaining communication with students is important during teaching and learning activity. Teacher always ask questions to students or just offer helps related to the material or task. Based on the observation, the writer found that teacher sometimes chooses to use L1 in asking questions or offering help to the students. In the context of asking questions to students, the teachers choose to use L1, for example:
Situation 1 (Student asked question to the teacher during doing an exercise) – (2ndobservation, 7thof February)
Teacher A : Jafray mau tanya yang lain?(Jafray, is there anything you want to ask?)
Jafray : tidak, tidak (No, no)
5 minutes later, Jafray raised his hand
Teacher A : Ya Jafray, mau tanya apa? (Yes Jafray, what do you want to ask?)
Jafray : santai apa Mam?(What is enjoy, Mam?)
Teacher A : santai, bersantai maksudnya?(do you mean “enjoy”, “enjoying”?)
Jafray : iya (yes)
Teacher A : enjoying bisa
Situation 2 (Teacher just explaining the material) – (6th observation, 20thof February)
Teacher C : OK, I want to teach you how to translate, about Rama’s book shop. Anda sudah menterjemahkan belum?(Have you transalated it?)
S1 : Sudah. (Yes, we have) Teacher C : OK, good.
Teacher C : Gambar tadi menurut Anda gimana? (What do you think about that picture?)
S2 : Good
a task. Situation 2 showed that teacher just asked questions to students about the material had been given.
Also when teachers communicate with students, in the context connected where material and real life were connected, teacher sometimes uses L1, for example:
Situation 3 (Teacher read a story in the textbook) – (7thobservation, 21thof February)
Teacher A : Ohh, he is also a biology teacher, like who in here? Seperti siapa? (Like who?)Who is our biology teacher?
S1 : Bu Nanik
Teacher A : Ya Bu Nanik, ia juga guru biologi (Yes, Ms Nanik, she is a Biology teacher)
Cook (2001) found that the first language can be positively used such as to maintain communication with students.
4. Managing classroom
From Table 1, it can be seen that to manage classroom, teachers need to use L1. In some situation such as when students make a noise, the teacher needs to remind them to be quiet. Sometimes students did not understand what the teacher asked to them, in this point teachers chose to use L1, for example:
Situation 1(Teacher asked the students to arrange their chair) – (1st observation, 7thof February)
Teacher A : OK, go back to your previous position without any noisy, tanpa suara (without noises)
S1 : (back to previous position without noises)
Situation 2 (during presentation time, the students was noisy) -(8thobservation, 22ndof February)
Auerbach (1993) and Cook (2001) suggested that one of possible occasions for using the mother tongue in L2 classroom is to manage classroom.
5. Explaining grammar point
Tang (2002) stated that grammar is one aspect which students sometimes find difficulties in English course. We can see from the data that explaining grammar point is one of teacher’s purposes in using L1. In explaining grammar, sometimes teachers use L1 to clarify the explanation, for example:
Situation (Teacher explaining about grammar) – (4th observation, 14thof February)
Teacher A : Kalau subjeknya satu, selalu pakai “is”, kalau Falen, he, she, it pakainya is, kalau are untuk apa? (If the subject just one, it’s always uses “is”, for example Falen, he, she, it, it uses tobe “is”, what is the subject for tobe “are?”)
S1 : We, you, they
Teacher A : Ya, we, you, they, dan atau orangnya lebih dari satu, tapi kalau I selalu pakai am ya Nak yaa.., ngerti ya, Nak ,yaa? (Yes, we, you, they ; it’s for subject which means more than one , but the subject I always uses “am”, understand?)
S2 : Yes, Mam.
Teacher A : Contoh : Falen eat pete, apa bedanya Falen makan pete dengan Falen sudah makan pete? (For example : Falen eat pete, what is the differentiate between Falen is eating pete and Falen have eaten pete?)
S3 : (still silent and no answer)
Teacher A : Kalau kalian ingin mengungkapkan kalimat yang berarti sedang, Falen is eating petai. (If you want to make a sentence which means “sedang” , Falen is eating pete )
Tang (2002) stated that grammar is very difficult task that teacher should be choose the good way to explain it by using L1. My own view is maybe they use mother tongue to make clear the explanation.
6. Checking comprehension
From 245 of the occurrences of L1 use in L2 classroom, checking comprehension is the purpose which was used the least. In situation when teachers already explain the words or sentence before, in this case the teachers just uses L1 to check whether the students remember about the vocabulary that they have learned before, for example:
Situation 1(Teacher read a story in the textbook) – (7th observation, 21thof February)
Teacher A : So, arti dari plant disitu adalah?( So, what is the meaning of plant there?)
S1 : menanam (plant)
Teacher A : Kalau kata bendanya, plant itu (if a noun, plant means...) S2 : tanaman (plant)
Teacher A : Kalau kata kerjanya? (if a verb, plant means....) S2 : menanam (plant)
Teacher A : Water, water harusnya? (the meanig of water should be...) S4 : air (water)
Teacher A : Tapi kata kerjanya menjadi? (if a verb,water means...) S5 : menyiram (water)
Situation 2 (The teacher explained about pronoun) - (10thobservation, 1stof March)
Teacher B : Whose tadi artinya apa? (what is the meaning of “whose”?) S1 : Milik siapa. (whose)
Teacher B : Misalkan, buku punyanya Ana, jadinya gimana?(for example, this book Ana’s book, how it would be like?)
S2 : Ana’s book.
Teacher B : OK, good job.
It showed that the teacher used L1 to check whether the students understood about the explanation in English or not. Therefore, in checking the students’ comprehension, L1 was still needed to help the students understand the material better.
Atkinson (1987) found that one of the teacher’s purposes in using L1 is to check comprehension. He also stated that teachers also use L1 for comprehension of a reading and listening text.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The conclusion is based on the observation which was conducted by the writer in two private junior high schools and a state junior high school with the participant of three English teachers, Teacher A, Teacher B, and Teacher C. The aim of the study is to find out the teacher’s purpose of using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School students.
This study is useful for English teachers so they can improve their teaching quality by managing the use of mother tongue, in this case Indonesian in teaching English. This study is also useful for those who want to conduct the same research about teacher’s purpose in using L1 in L2 classroom.
The writer concludes that three teachers use L1 in the same purposes with different amount. According to Hidayati (2012), these purposes in using L1 the degree of student interaction was higher than when the teachers used less of the first language. It means that student’s interaction was higher when the first language was used by the teacher because students felt more comfortable during class with a familiar language; they were better able to understand, communicate, and participate during class.
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APPENDIX
Observation Protocol
Name of course: ………. Class time: ………
Class length: ………. Name of instructor:... Total number of students:...
Teacher Question Time of
Occurrence
