xiii
ABSTRACT
Christina, Elizabeth Bara. 2009. The Influences of Content-Based Instruction Implementation in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the 11th Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Programme, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
International class as a way for Indonesians to learn English more thoroughly makes use of the principles of Content-Based Instruction (CBI). CBI refers to an approach in teaching, in which the learners learn the target language through the content of the learning on regular subjects, not through the teaching of the target language. Through CBI, the learners are expected to be familiar with many real-life uses of the target language.
This research aims to see how CBI is implemented in its natural environment, the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. This research also aims to seek the significant influences of CBI implementation in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the eleventh grade students’ reading comprehension. Reading is chosen as the skill being observed because its objective is comprehension. Thus, a good reading comprehension is then perceived as the indicator of a successful English learning in the research.
The research is a qualitative research, making use of descriptive study as the method. The research participants were twenty of the eleventh grade students of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, chosen randomly. The data were gathered by employing field notes and interviews with the respondents. The data were then analyzed by comparing and contrasting the teaching-learning activities taking place in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta with the existing theories of CBI, international class, and reading comprehension.
The research resulted that the principles of CBI were only implemented in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta by exposing the students with English modules, exercises and guest lecturers who were teaching in English. Also, the research resulted in the fact that there was no significant improvement on students’ English reading comprehension through CBI in the international class. This is because the teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta did not explicitly teach and model students the ways to enhance their reading comprehension.
The researcher provided two suggestions in accordance with the results of the research. First, schools should review and learn the basic principles of CBI before implementing it in the international class. Second, teachers should explicitly teach and model students the ways to enhance their reading comprehension to improve their reading skill mastery.
ABSTRAK
Christina, Elizabeth Bara. 2009. The Influences of Content-Based Instruction Implementation in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the 11th Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Kelas internasional sebagai sebuah cara bagi orang-orang Indonesia untuk belajar bahasa Inggris secara lebih menyeluruh menggunakan prinsip-prinsip Content-Based Instruction (CBI). CBI merupakan sebuah metode pengajaran di mana pembelajarnya mempelajari bahasa sasaran melalui isi pembelajaran dalam mata pelajaran reguler, bukan melalui pengajaran terhadap bahasa sasaran. Melalui CBI, para pembelajar diharapkan untuk terbiasa dengan bermacam-macam penggunaan bahasa sasaran dalam kehidupan nyata.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana CBI diimplementasikan dalam lingkungan aslinya, yaitu di kelas internasional di SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. Penelitian ini juga bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh signifikan implementasi CBI di kelas internasional SMAN 3 Yogyakarta terhadap pemahaman membaca siswa-siswa kelas sebelas dalam Bahasa Inggris. Kemampuan membaca dipilih sebagai kemampuan yang diteliti karena tujuan membaca adalah untuk mendapatkan pemahaman, maka suatu kemampuan membaca yang baik dipandang sebagai indikator keberhasilan pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris dalam penelitian ini.
Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif, dengan menggunakan metode pembelajaran deskriptif. Peserta penelitian adalah dua puluh siswa kelas sebelas dari kelas internasional SMAN 3 Yogyakarta yang dipilih secara acak. Data diperoleh melalui catatan lapangan serta wawancara dengan responden. Data tersebut lalu dianalisa dengan membandingkan dan mengkontraskan kegiatan belajar-mengajar yang terjadi di kelas internasional SMAN 3 Yogyakarta dengan teori-teori mengenai CBI, kelas internasional, dan pemahaman membaca.
Penelitian ini menghasilkan kesimpulan bahwa prinsip-prinsip CBI hanya diterapkan dengan memberikan modul dan latihan dalam bahasa Inggris serta adanya dosen tamu yang mengajar dalam bahasa Inggris kepada siswa kelas internasional di SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. Selain itu, penelitian ini menghasilkan kesimpulan bahwa tidak ada peningkatan yang berarti dalam pemahaman membaca siswa dalam Bahasa Inggris dengan implementasi CBI di kelas internasional. Hal ini terjadi karena guru-guru SMAN 3 Yogyakarta tidak mengajarkan dan memberi contoh secara eksplisit cara-cara untuk meningkatkan pemahaman membaca kepada para siswa yang penting dalam meningkatkan penguasaan kemampuan membaca mereka.
THE INFLUENCES OF CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION IMPLEMENTATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL CLASS OF SMAN 3 YOGYAKARTA
ON THE 11TH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
A Thesis
Presented as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By:
Elizabeth Bara Christina Student Number: 041214022
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
ON THE 11TH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION
A Thesis
Presented as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By:
Elizabeth Bara Christina Student Number: 041214022
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
vi
PAGE OF DEDICATION
There are fine things which you mean to do someday, under what you think will
be more favourable circumstances. But the only time that is surely yours is the
present, hence this is the right time to speak the word of appreciation and
sympathy, to do the generous deed, to forgive the fault of a thoughtless friend, to
sacrifice self a little more for others. Today is the day to express your noblest
qualities of mind and heart, to do at least one worthy thing which you have long
postponed, and to use your God-given abilities for the enrichment of someone less
fortunate. Today you can make your life significant and worthwhile. The present
is yours to do with as you will. – Grenville Kleiser
This thesis is dedicated with lots of gratitude, love and appreciation to:
My beloved parents, Maximianus Bagyo Nugroho, S.E. and Endang Suhartini, My friends of PBI 2004,
My friends and best-friends from SMAN 7 Yogyakarta and Sanata Dharma University,
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
With endless gratitude and love, I would like to thank everyone who helped me complete this thesis. Firstly and most importantly, I would like to thank Almighty God for His never-ending love. His blessings gave me the inspiration and determination to remain focused and complete this study.
My biggest gratitude goes to Mr. Paulus Kuswandono, S.Pd., M.Ed., my thesis advisor, for giving much of his time, attention, guidance, patience, and encouragement as his contributions to the completion of this study. My gratitude also goes to Mr. Fidelis Chosa Kastuhandani, S.Pd. for giving me his advice during the completion of the study. Furthermore, I would like to thank all lecturers of English Language Education Study Programme for their help, advice, and education since the first day I studied in Sanata Dharma University.
My big appreciation goes to the big family of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, especially to Mr. Kusworo, Mr. Budi Setyawan, Mr. Ichwan Aryono, Mrs. Ninik Sutarsini, and Mrs. Terry, for being very cooperative in giving me the permission to conduct classroom observations and being very helpful in providing me with as much information as needed during the observation. I would like to thank the students of XI IPA 1 for providing me with their opinions and thoughts during the interview sessions.
viii
understanding, patience, sacrifices, trust, determination, and education have given me strength and courage to live my life.
I would like to thank my partners in this collaborative research, Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang, S.Pd., Ratna Paramita, and Brigitta Andriani Lestari for the time which was shared together, from the hectic preparation of the research to the help and support during the completion of the study.
My greatest affection goes to Yohannes Jatmiko Yuwono for being there for me, especially during the hard times of completing this study. His presence, trust, support, understanding, and love have contributed a lot, not only to the completion of the study, but also in my day-to-day life.
I would like to thank all my friends from English Language Education Study Programme, especially to An, Ibam, Yason, Oon, Nora, Vina, Lani, Ochan, Rini Woro, Adit Margono, Wiwin, Dhee, and many other friends which I cannot mention one by one. I thank Antonius Jody, S.Pd. for the grammar correction. I thank Theresia Vina Indriyani, S.Pd. and Andreas Haris Cahyo Raharjo, S.Pd. for their support, and to Azhar Akhmad, S.Si. for his advice and support. Lastly, I would like to thank every single person who helped me throughout the study, whose names cannot be mentioned one by one.
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE... i
PAGES OF APPROVAL... ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY... iv
LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI... v
PAGE OF DEDICATION... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS... ix
LIST OF APPENDICES... xiv
ABSTRACT... xv
ABSTRAK... xvi
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION... 1
1.1 Research Background... 1
1.2 Problem Identification... 4
1.3 Problem Formulation... 5
1.4 Problem Limitation... 5
1.5 Research Objectives... 5
1.6 Research Benefits... 6
1.7 Definition of Terms... 7
x
2.1 Theoretical Description... 9
2.1.1 Content-Based Instruction... 9
2.1.1.1 The Definition of Language in Content-Based Instruction... 10
2.1.1.2 The Principles of Content-Based Instruction... 11
2.1.1.3 The Objectives of Content-Based Instruction... 12
2.1.1.4 The Role of Teacher and Learners... 13
2.1.1.5 Comprehensible Input: Material and Delivery... 13
2.1.1.6 Content-Based Instruction Teaching Models... 15
2.1.1.7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Content-Based Instruction... 16
2.1.2 International Class... 17
2.1.3 Reading... 19
2.1.3.1 The Nature of Reading... 19
2.1.3.2 Reading Comprehension... 21
2.1.3.2.1 Provide Direct Instruction and Model When and How to Use Multiple Comprehension Strategies... 22
2.1.3.2.2 Model Questioning Strategies... 23
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2.1.3.2.4 Teach Students Strategies for Monitoring Their
Own Comprehension... 25
2.2 Theoretical Framework... 26
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY... 29
3.1 Research Method... 29
3.2 Research Participants... 30
3.3 Research Instruments... 31
3.3.1 Field Notes... 31
3.3.2 Interview Checklist... 32
3.4 Data Gathering Technique... 33
3.5 Data Analysis Technique... 34
3.6 Research Procedure... 35
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION... 38
4.1 Content-Based Instruction Implementation in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta... 38
4.1.1 The International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta... 39
4.1.1.1 The Brief Overview of Content-Based Instruction Implementation... 39
4.1.1.2 The Teaching Activity in the International Class... 40
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4.1.2 The Implemented Principles of Content-Based Instruction
in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta... 43
4.1.3 The Role of Teacher and Learners... 44
4.1.4 Comprehensible Input: Material and Delivery... 46
4.1.4.1 The Material Delivery within the Teacher’s Class... 47
4.1.4.2 The Modules... 47
4.1.4.3 The Material Delivery within the Lecturer’s Class... 49
4.1.4.4 The Handouts Given within the Lecturer’s Class... 49
4.1.5 Content-Based Instruction Teaching Models... 50
4.2 The Influences of Content-Based Instruction Implementation on Students’ Reading Comprehension... 51
4.2.1 The Correlation between Reading Comprehension and Content-Based Instruction... 52
4.2.2 Reading Skill in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta... 53
4.2.2.1 Reading in the English Reading Class... 53
4.2.1.2 Reading in Science Classes... 54
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to Use Multiple Comprehension Strategies... 56
4.2.3.2 Model Questioning Strategies... 58
4.2.3.3 Teach Students to Connect Prior Knowledge with New Information... 59
4.2.3.4 Teach Students Strategies for Monitoring Their Own Comprehension... 60
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS... 61
5.1 Conclusions... 61
5.2 Suggestions... 64
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Recommendation letter from Sanata Dharma University.... 70
Appendix 2: Permission letter from Dinas Perizinan... 72
Appendix 3: Excerpt of Biology module... 74
Appendix 4: Excerpt of Physics module... 79
Appendix 5: Example of Chemistry handout... 84
Appendix 6: Interview checklist... 90
Appendix 7: Biology field notes... 93
Appendix 8: Chemistry field notes... 96
xiii
ABSTRACT
Christina, Elizabeth Bara. 2009. The Influences of Content-Based Instruction Implementation in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the 11th Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Programme, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
International class as a way for Indonesians to learn English more thoroughly makes use of the principles of Content-Based Instruction (CBI). CBI refers to an approach in teaching, in which the learners learn the target language through the content of the learning on regular subjects, not through the teaching of the target language. Through CBI, the learners are expected to be familiar with many real-life uses of the target language.
This research aims to see how CBI is implemented in its natural environment, the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. This research also aims to seek the significant influences of CBI implementation in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the eleventh grade students’ reading comprehension. Reading is chosen as the skill being observed because its objective is comprehension. Thus, a good reading comprehension is then perceived as the indicator of a successful English learning in the research.
The research is a qualitative research, making use of descriptive study as the method. The research participants were twenty of the eleventh grade students of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, chosen randomly. The data were gathered by employing field notes and interviews with the respondents. The data were then analyzed by comparing and contrasting the teaching-learning activities taking place in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta with the existing theories of CBI, international class, and reading comprehension.
The research resulted that the principles of CBI were only implemented in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta by exposing the students with English modules, exercises and guest lecturers who were teaching in English. Also, the research resulted in the fact that there was no significant improvement on students’ English reading comprehension through CBI in the international class. This is because the teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta did not explicitly teach and model students the ways to enhance their reading comprehension.
The researcher provided two suggestions in accordance with the results of the research. First, schools should review and learn the basic principles of CBI before implementing it in the international class. Second, teachers should explicitly teach and model students the ways to enhance their reading comprehension to improve their reading skill mastery.
ABSTRAK
Christina, Elizabeth Bara. 2009. The Influences of Content-Based Instruction Implementation in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the 11th Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Kelas internasional sebagai sebuah cara bagi orang-orang Indonesia untuk belajar bahasa Inggris secara lebih menyeluruh menggunakan prinsip-prinsip Content-Based Instruction (CBI). CBI merupakan sebuah metode pengajaran di mana pembelajarnya mempelajari bahasa sasaran melalui isi pembelajaran dalam mata pelajaran reguler, bukan melalui pengajaran terhadap bahasa sasaran. Melalui CBI, para pembelajar diharapkan untuk terbiasa dengan bermacam-macam penggunaan bahasa sasaran dalam kehidupan nyata.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana CBI diimplementasikan dalam lingkungan aslinya, yaitu di kelas internasional di SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. Penelitian ini juga bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh signifikan implementasi CBI di kelas internasional SMAN 3 Yogyakarta terhadap pemahaman membaca siswa-siswa kelas sebelas dalam Bahasa Inggris. Kemampuan membaca dipilih sebagai kemampuan yang diteliti karena tujuan membaca adalah untuk mendapatkan pemahaman, maka suatu kemampuan membaca yang baik dipandang sebagai indikator keberhasilan pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris dalam penelitian ini.
Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif, dengan menggunakan metode pembelajaran deskriptif. Peserta penelitian adalah dua puluh siswa kelas sebelas dari kelas internasional SMAN 3 Yogyakarta yang dipilih secara acak. Data diperoleh melalui catatan lapangan serta wawancara dengan responden. Data tersebut lalu dianalisa dengan membandingkan dan mengkontraskan kegiatan belajar-mengajar yang terjadi di kelas internasional SMAN 3 Yogyakarta dengan teori-teori mengenai CBI, kelas internasional, dan pemahaman membaca.
Penelitian ini menghasilkan kesimpulan bahwa prinsip-prinsip CBI hanya diterapkan dengan memberikan modul dan latihan dalam bahasa Inggris serta adanya dosen tamu yang mengajar dalam bahasa Inggris kepada siswa kelas internasional di SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. Selain itu, penelitian ini menghasilkan kesimpulan bahwa tidak ada peningkatan yang berarti dalam pemahaman membaca siswa dalam Bahasa Inggris dengan implementasi CBI di kelas internasional. Hal ini terjadi karena guru-guru SMAN 3 Yogyakarta tidak mengajarkan dan memberi contoh secara eksplisit cara-cara untuk meningkatkan pemahaman membaca kepada para siswa yang penting dalam meningkatkan penguasaan kemampuan membaca mereka.
1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the elaboration of the introduction to the research being conducted. In detail, this chapter contains seven sections, namely research background, problem identification, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and the definition of terms. Further elaboration of each section mentioned above will be given in detail.
1.1 Research Background
The need of being able to master oral and written English is essential in the globalization era, where English is used as the main language of communication. In this era, English mastery is an important requirement for someone to be referred as a qualified human resource. For that reason, people from non-speaking English countries employ many ways to learn and master English.
Indonesia is one of the non-speaking English countries, in which English functions as a foreign language. Considering the position of English in the Indonesian society and the need for English-mastering competitive human resources, the Minister of Education has tried to implement some strategies for Indonesians to learn English. One of the strategies is by implementing the international class, which is an immersion class in which every subject of the school curriculum is taught by the use of English as the medium of instruction.
controversies behind the implementation of international class in Indonesia. Some people questioned the feasibility of the implementation of international class. They questioned whether or not such class would bring any benefit to the students and whether or not the teachers are competent in teaching the subjects in English.
However, regardless the controversies, the international class has brought about the implementation of Content-Based Instruction (CBI). CBI refers to an approach of second language teaching by integrating the learning of language with the learning of some other content, often academic subject matter (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). With such approach, it is expected that students improve their English skills gradually.
In conducting this study, after seeing the problems exist in relation with international class and CBI, the researcher chose the research setting and participants. The researcher then chose SMAN 3 Yogyakarta as the research setting because this school gave the most exposure of English in its international class compared to other high schools in Yogyakarta. In addition, the researcher chose the eleventh grade students of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta as the research participants. They were chosen because they have more experience, bigger amount of the exposure of English, and broader knowledge compared to the tenth grade students. They were chosen also because they were not as busy as the twelfth grade students in preparing themselves for the national examination.
contributes to students’ English mastery. These two reasons in choosing the research topic would be the researcher’s motivation in conducting this research.
To limit the topic, the researcher focused the research into seeking the influence of CBI implementation in the international class on students’ reading mastery, or to be specific, on students’ reading comprehension. Reading was chosen as the object of research for several reasons. One of the reasons was that amongst the other skills, reading is considered as the focus of learning. This is due to the fact that reading is an essential skill to master in order to ensure success in learning in any content class where reading in English is required (Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003). In addition to that, reading combines the information from the written text with the readers’ background knowledge on the topic to build meaning from the text or to obtain comprehension. Hence, reading comprehension is seen as the key in mastering the learning in the international class, where reading in English is required.
In accordance with the aim of international class to prepare competitive human resources in this globalization era and the importance of English skills mastery, the researcher would like to start a study of CBI implementation in the international class on the eleventh grade students’ reading comprehension. Considering that no sufficient research studies have been conducted on this topic, the researcher expected that this research will give insight into other researchers in conducting research studies related to the same or similar topic.
Seeing the importance of mastering English in this globalization era, alongside with the emergence of international classes on high schools as one of many ways in learning English, the researcher would like to conduct a research study based on this particular topic. International class makes use of a specific approach of teaching in conducting the teaching-learning activities, namely Content-Based Instruction (CBI). In CBI implementation, English is taught through content areas. In this context, content areas refer to any subjects other than English.
With the implementation of CBI, students are getting familiarized to English through the learning of content subjects. By experiencing such familiarization way to English, it is expected that the students who enrol into the international class will improve their English gradually yet significantly. The researcher then would like to see how CBI implementation in the international class takes part in improving the students’ English mastery.
To limit the study, the researcher focused on seeking the influences of CBI implementation in the international class on students’ reading mastery, or to be specific, reading comprehension. Reading is chosen because reading activities aimed at comprehension, whereas reading mastery led to the mastery of other skills, and thus the students’ English reading mastery can be seen through their reading comprehension. As the research participants, the eleventh grade students of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta were chosen because they have had sufficient exposure to English compared to the tenth grade students, and also because they were not busily preparing themselves for the national examination.
Considering the research background and problem identification, the researcher is going to answer two questions as the guideline of conducting and writing this study. The questions are:
1. How is Content-Based Instruction (CBI) implemented in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta?
2. How does CBI implementation in the international class influence the eleventh grade students’ reading comprehension?
1.4 Problem Limitation
In order to help the researcher address the formulated problems easily, this research specifically discusses the influence of Content-Based Instruction (CBI) implementation in the international class on the students’ English reading comprehension. Hence, the research focuses on CBI as the teaching approach which is used and on reading comprehension. The population used as the sampling of the research is the eleventh grade students of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. Further elaboration on the research participants will be discussed in Chapter III.
1.5 Research Objectives
This research has two objectives in accordance with the formulated problems. The objectives are:
2. To seek significant influences of CBI implementation in the international class on the eleventh grade students’ reading comprehension.
1.6 Research Benefits
This research has three benefits in accordance with the objectives of the research. The benefits are:
1. Other researchers
The research is expected to give insight into Content-Based Instruction (CBI) implementation in the international class. It is also expected that the research will be helpful for everyone needing it for further research studies on the same or similar topic, especially considering that not many research studies have been conducted on this topic.
2. Policy makers
The research is expected to give suggestions and guidelines for the evaluation of the education policy. Thus, with this research, the policy makers will be able to review the existing policies in education that will lead into a better quality of education in Indonesia.
3. Teachers
1.7 Definition of Terms
Below are the list of the terms which are used in this research and the definitions of the terms.
1. Content-Based Instruction
Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is an approach to second language teaching in which the teaching of content or information in the language being learned with little or no direct or explicit effort to teach the language itself separately from the content being taught (Krahnke, 1987 as quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 2001).
From the definition proposed by Krahnke, the researcher defines CBI as an approach of teaching second or foreign language in which the target language is learned by using it as the instructional language instead of using it as the focus of learning (the materials being taught).
2. International Class
Lightbown & Spada (2000) define immersion class, which is the principle of international class, as an educational program in which a second language is taught via Content-Based Instruction (CBI). The definition proposed by Lightbown & Spada (2000) is considered to be the most suitable definition, especially in accordance with the focus and the limitation of the study. Therefore, the researcher refers to the definition by Lightbown & Spada in this research study, in which international class is defined as an educational program in which a second language is taught via CBI.
Reading comprehension is defined by Partnership for Reading (2005)1 as an activity of “understanding a text that is read, or the process of ‘constructing meaning’ from a text”. This definition is related with the definition of reading stated by Anderson (2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003), “a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning”, which implicitly stated that the goal of reading activity is to build comprehension. Therefore, the researcher refers to the definition of reading comprehension as stated in Partnership for Reading, and defines reading comprehension as a process of constructing
meaning from a text.
4. The eleventh grade students
The eleventh grade students in this study refer to the second-year students enrolled to the international class of SMAN Negeri 3 Yogyakarta, a state high school in Yogyakarta.
5. SMAN 3 Yogyakarta
SMAN 3 Yogyakarta in this study refers to the state high school in
Yogyakarta whose international class is considered to be the one fulfilling the most characteristics of international class as defined by Lightbown & Spada (2000).
1
9
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of two sections, namely the theoretical description and the theoretical framework of the research. The theoretical description section covers the elaboration of each theory related to the research topic, namely the elaboration of Content-Based Instruction, immersion class, and reading theories. Other than that, this chapter provides the theoretical framework section as the elaboration of the theories which will be used in conducting the research study.
2.1 Theoretical Description
The theoretical description consists of three main theories related to the research topic. One of the main theories is about Content-Based Instruction (CBI) as the approach being observed. Other theory is about the nature of the international class as the medium of CBI implementation. The next theory is about the nature of reading and reading comprehension.
2.1.1 Content-Based Instruction
the content being taught (Krahnke, 1987 as quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 2000). In other words, by using CBI implementation in an immersion class, students learn a second language or foreign language implicitly throughout the teaching-learning activities conducted in classroom.
2.1.1.1 The Definition of Language in Content-Based Instruction
In Content-Based Instruction (CBI), language is defined as text-based and discourse-based, which is considered as the medium of teaching-learning activities or content learning. In this approach, language learning is regarded as the by-product of the content learning. The focus of the teaching-learning activities is how meaning and information are communicated and constructed through various texts and discourses.
The second definition of language in CBI is the combination of several skills, and thus it makes use of draws on integrated skills. In the implementation of the approach, students are often involved in various activities which link the skills, according to how the skills are generally involved in the real life context. This is supported by one of the CBI principles proposed by Larsen-Freeman, which said that “communicative competence involves more than using language conversationally. It also includes the ability to read, discuss, and write about content from other fields” (Larsen-Freeman, 2000: 140).
optimal benefits from CBI, students need to be clearly in tune with its purposes and the language codes that signal and link these expressions of purpose (Richards & Rodgers, 2001).
A brief yet clear illustration of the approach being discussed can be seen from the three definitions of language in CBI as elaborated above. The illustration also involves insight into the main principles of CBI as stated by Richards & Rodgers. The elaboration of CBI principles will be given in the next section.
2.1.1.2 The Principles of Content-Based Instruction
There are two main principles of Content-Based Instruction (CBI) according to Richards & Rodgers. The principles are:
a. People learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a means of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself.
b. CBI better reflects learners’ needs for learning a second language.
(Richards & Rodgers, 2001)
Richards & Rodgers stated that learning a second language should be done by using the language as the means of conveying and acquiring information. It means that the second language is mastered through incidental acquisition through the assistance of other subjects. This approach makes use of the familiarization of the target language by using it regularly. The target language in CBI which functions as the medium of learning, then, is considered as a by-product of learning about real-world content.
2.1.1.3 The Objectives of Content-Based Instruction
As an approach of language teaching, Content-Based Instruction (CBI) has some objectives. The objectives are:
a. To activate and develop existing English language skills.
b. To acquire learning skills and strategies that could be applied in future language development opportunities.
c. To develop general academic skills applicable to university studies in all subject areas.
d. To broaden students’ understanding of English speaking peoples.
(Brinton et al., 2003)
teaching-learning activities using CBI are expected to develop both the content mastery and the language mastery. Then, once the teaching-learning activities are done, students are also expected to have a broad understanding of the people using the target language (cross-culture understanding).
2.1.1.4 The Role of Teacher and Learners
The ideal role of learners in Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is as active interpreters of input who are willing to tolerate uncertainty along the path of learning and explore alternative learning strategies, also to seek multiple interpretations of oral and written texts. Other than that, learners are seen as the sources of content and joint participants in the selection topics and activities (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). In short, learners are regarded as autonomous beings responsible for their learning process.
Alongside the learners, the teacher (who sometimes in CBI is referred as instructor) is the person responsible for selecting authentic materials for classroom use, the students’ needs analysts, and the creator of truly learner-centred classroom (Brinton et al., 2003). However, the most ideal role for teacher in CBI is as the facilitator of the content learning. As a facilitator, teacher should be responsible in keeping context and comprehensibility, especially in planning and presentation, analyzing students’ needs, and creating a truly learner-centred class.
2.1.1.5 Comprehensible Input: Material and Delivery
classroom, allowing the teacher to present and explain specific language features. Rich context here refers to the comprehensible input, a challenging language that is slightly above the current linguistic level of the students, or formulated by (i + 1), which provides the foundation for successful language acquisition (Brinton, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003). By placing the difficulty level slightly above the students’ linguistic level, the input will be challenging in a way that the students will be able to decode the message by utilizing extra linguistic context, knowledge of the world, and the previous linguistic competence.
In accordance with Brinton et al., Krashen (1985) also stated that the materials for the immersion class should be constructed by considering the comprehensible input hypothesis. The comprehensible input will give respectable impact on students’ language acquisition, especially in the international class, which employs the principle of immersion class. Hence, sufficient exposure of the input will give higher guarantee of achieving success in acquiring the language for the students.
2.1.1.6 Content-Based Instruction Teaching Models
In the development of Content-Based Instruction (CBI) implementation across the time, there are three common teaching models of CBI which are widely implemented in language immersion classes. According to Brinton et al. (2003) in Content-Based Second Language Instruction, these models are:
a. Theme-Based Language Instruction
In this model, the class is structured around topics or themes, with the topics forming the backbone of the course curriculum. The thematic content in this model provides rich input for lessons that are either language-based or skill-based.
b. Sheltered Content Instruction
In this model, the subject-matter teacher, who has had special training in working with the second language, modifies the presentation style to help the students comprehend the materials. This is due to the ongoing process of students to acquire the second language. The objective of this model is to help students master the subject matter, but at the same time, teacher spends more time helping the students with language-related issue.
c. Adjunct Language Instruction
2.1.1.7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Content-Based Instruction
Content-Based Instruction (CBI) has some advantages in its implementation, especially related to the content learning. The advantages are:
a. Learners are relatively more motivated in learning due to the variation of the subject matters and contents.
b. The content of the study is selected according to students’ need. c. The target language mastery happens subconsciously.
d. The approach seeks to build on students’ knowledge and basic experience. (Richards & Rodgers, 2001)
Since the materials for the teaching-learning activities are chosen based on students’ needs, it can be inferred that this approach can be more effective in helping students master the second language compared to other approaches or methods. By using this approach, students will be able to construct their understanding of the second language based on their knowledge and basic experience, combined with the materials that are chosen according to their needs. Also, students will acquire the language in the context of its use, eliminating the problem of transfer from instruction (Krahnke, 1987 as quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 2001).
The next theory which will be elaborated is the theory of immersion class as the basis of international class. This is based on the reason that CBI is mainly implemented in immersion class, which is also the focal point of this study. Due to this reason, the researcher discusses the theories of immersion class to give an insight into CBI implementation in the real life teaching-learning activities.
2.1.2 International Class
Immersion class, which is the basis of international class, is an educational program in which a second language is taught through Content-Based Instruction (CBI). In the immersion class, students study the regular subjects in the target language. The emphasis is on the subject matter learning, and little time is spent focusing on the formal aspects of the target language (Lightbown & Spada, 2000).
In Indonesia, the term international class may refer to several definitions. Some define it merely as a classroom with English as the medium of teaching-learning activities, whereas some define it as a classroom with English as the medium of teaching either regular or international curriculum. Despite the interpretations of international class, all of them refer to a similarity of principle, which is the use of CBI as the teaching approach. Here, English as the target language is seen as a device for the content instruction, not the subject of instruction (Richards & Rodgers, 2001).
International class is supported by some goals which have been proposed by Richards & Rodgers. The goals are:
b. Developing positive attitudes toward those who speak the foreign language and toward their culture(s).
c. Developing English language skills commensurate with expectations for a student’s age and abilities.
d. Gaining designated skills and knowledge in the content areas of the curriculum.
(Richards & Rodgers, 2001)
From Richards & Rodgers’ point of view, there are some goals which support the popularity of international class globally. With its principles which are implemented in the international class, CBI could develop students’ proficiency in the target language gradually. Also, through international class, students will build positive attitudes toward the target culture and the people using the target language. These attitudes are important for the students to possess, in a way that they learn not only the cognitive aspects of the language, but also other aspects of the language, such as the social and cultural aspects of it.
2.1.3 Reading
In Practical English Language Learning, reading is perceived as a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning (Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003). Reading is a language skill which plays a major role among other language skills because reading is considered as the core of the skills (Handayani, 1997: 1), thus the mastery on reading skill may lead to the mastery of other language skills. Bright & McGregor (1970: 62) as quoted in Handayani’s research even supported the statement by saying that general knowledge depends on reading.
2.1.3.1 The Nature of Reading
The act of reading, or more appropriately referred as meaningful reading, consists of four major parts: the reader, the text, strategies, and fluency. When a reader reads a text, the reader combines his/her background knowledge of a particular topic with the information that he/she gets from the text to build meaning to get a comprehension. In reading the text, the reader employs a wide variety of reading strategies, and to obtain the comprehension faster and better, the reader uses his/her ability to read at an appropriate rate (fluency).
Anderson proposed some principles for teaching reading in his work. The principles are:
a. Exploit the reader’s background knowledge. b. Build a strong vocabulary base.
c. Teach for comprehension. d. Work on increasing reading rate. e. Teach reading strategies.
f. Encourage readers to transform strategies into skills. g. Build assessment and evaluation into your teaching. h. Strive for continuous improvement as a reading teacher.
(Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003)
There are several main points which are included in Anderson’s point of view related to the principles for teaching reading, such as to “exploit the reader’s background knowledge” (Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003). This point refers to the definition of reading, in which reading involves the activity of building the reader’s background knowledge and combining it with the information from the written text. Another important point is the one of “teach for comprehension” (Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003), in which it implicitly states that reading is supposed to be for understanding and comprehension the whole meaning of the written passage, not necessarily related to knowing the meaning of each vocabulary items in the passage.
a. The ability to evaluate deductive inferences b. The ability to evaluate inductive inferences
c. The ability to evaluate the soundness of generalisation d. The ability to recognise hidden assumptions
e. The ability to identify bias in statements f. The ability to recognise author’s motives g. The ability to evaluate strength of arguments
(Abdullah, 1994: 291 as quoted in Alderson, 2000: 21)
These sub-skills are essential for readers to possess. However, readers are not usually aware of these sub-skills when the sub-skills occur in the process of reading. This unawareness is mainly because the sub-skills usually occur subconsciously during the process of reading. Furthermore, the sub-skills in the ability to read critically lead to reading comprehension, which will be discussed in the next section.
2.1.3.2 Reading Comprehension
As stated above, the general aim of reading activity is comprehension. Comprehension in meaningful reading activity is formed by combining the reader’s background knowledge and the information obtained from the reading passage, whereas reading comprehension itself is defined as an activity of “understanding a text that is read, or the process of ‘constructing meaning’ from a text”.3
3
Taken from http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/ as quoted in
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In educational institutions, one of the teacher’s roles is to help students enhance their reading comprehension, which matches one of the teacher’s roles in CBI that teacher should be responsible in keeping context and comprehensibility (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) and the principles on teaching reading that teacher should teach for comprehension (Anderson 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003). According to the IRA (International Reading Association) Standards for Reading Professionals as written in Armbruster & Osborn (2002: vii), there are four ways that teachers can do to help students enhance their reading comprehension, in which each of them will be elaborated below.
2.1.3.2.1 Provide Direct Instruction and Model When and How to Use Multiple Comprehension Strategies
According to the National Reading Panel (2000 as quoted in Armbruster & Osborn 2002), the term ‘comprehension strategies’ refer to the “specific procedures that guide students to become aware of how well they are comprehending as they attempt to read and write”. The direct instruction of the comprehension strategies includes three phases. The phases are:
a. Identifying, explaining, and modelling the strategy
In this phase, teacher defines what strategy will be used, explain why and how students should use the strategy, and teach students how to apply the strategy.
b. Guided practice
students to apply the strategy actively. Teacher’s guidance in this phase includes providing students with corrective feedback.
c. Independent practice and application
In this phase, students can independently apply the strategy to the new materials. However, teacher still should monitor the comprehension.
(Armbruster & Osborn, 2002)
In dealing with the comprehension strategies, teacher is expected to choose from various possible activities to help students understand the content of the reading materials better, for example by retelling, drawing inferences, getting the main idea, summarizing, and visualizing. From this point, it can be seen that there should be some balance in the teaching-learning activities in the classroom, especially in the reading activity. In a program where students are expected to be active and be autonomous learners, and that teaching-learning activities should be student-centred, teacher should also play a significant role in enhancing students’ reading comprehension by choosing the most appropriate activity. This way, students’ reading comprehension level would be increased with the support from the teacher.
2.1.3.2.2 Model Questioning Strategies
activate their background knowledge and thus the process of combining the background knowledge and the new information from the passage can be done optimally. During reading, the students should be taught to monitor their comprehension, by using questions such as, “What does this mean?” or “Is there anything unusual here?” (Armbruster & Osborn, 2000: 79). Also, students can also try to predict what happens in the next section of their reading. After reading, the questioning strategy should involve the review to the reading. Questions such as “What do you get from the reading passage?” can help the students not only to understand the passage, but also to relate the information they obtain from the passage with the real life situation.
The second way of questioning strategies is by using probing questions. Probing questions refer to questions which require someone to analyze the answer of the questions deeply. By using the probing questions, the students are encouraged to think at the higher level. This technique can be used by asking students some questions related to the reading, and later on asking them to clarify their answer.
Before reading, teacher should activate students’ background knowledge. It can be done by using questioning strategies as elaborated on previous section, by asking, “What do you know about this topic?” Other than using the questioning strategies, the teacher can also notify the students with some vocabulary items that may appear in the reading passage, to help the students predict the content of the passage.
In addition to that, the connection between background knowledge and new information should be improved by some post-reading activities. Again, questioning strategies can be very useful by posing the students to questions that require them to analyse the reading. Also, in-pair discussion or classroom discussion can be done so that students can exchange their opinion or understanding of the reading passage. Another activity which can be done to strengthen the connection between students’ background knowledge and the new information is by asking students to relate the information from the passage with their daily life or with real life situations.
2.1.3.2.4 Teach Students Strategies for Monitoring Their Own Comprehension
really comprehend the reading passage thoroughly and are able to employ other strategies when they fail to comprehend a particular passage.
This step is important in ensuring that students really comprehend their reading. In this phase, teacher should model and encourage students the strategies to monitor their own comprehension. Again, questioning strategies can be implemented by employing whilst-reading questions, such as, “What have you learned so far?” or “What do you think about the passage so far?” If students fail to comprehend the reading, teacher should encourage them to reread the passage or to consult other resources related to the given topic. For example, when failure is caused by difficulty in understanding the new vocabulary items, teacher should encourage students to guess the meaning of the word according to the context or to consult the dictionary.
The researcher focuses the research study to the significant influences of CBI implementation on students’ English mastery from their reading comprehension. This is due to two reasons. First, the general aim of reading activity is comprehension. Second, the mastery of reading may lead to the mastery of other language skills. Thus, in this study, the success of CBI is determined by the level of students’ reading comprehension.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself. The statement is supported by two main advantages of CBI implementation, namely: Learners are relatively more motivated in learning due to the variation of the subject matters and contents and that the target language mastery happens subconsciously.
These theories of CBI are related to its implementation in the international class, since the principles of CBI are also serving as the basis of the teaching-learning activities taking place in the international class. One of the goals of immersion class is to develop a high level of proficiency in the foreign language, which can be obtained through CBI implementation. This is due to the reason that through CBI, the learners are expected to be more motivated in mastering the target language due to the variation of contents.
Seeing the principles and advantages of CBI in accordance with its implementation in the international class, the researcher sought the influences of CBI implementation in the international class to students’ reading mastery, or to be specific, reading comprehension. Reading is chosen as the skill being observed in the research because meaningful reading combines the reader’s background knowledge with the information that he/she gets from the text to build comprehension. Also, it is considered that general knowledge depends on reading. These statements are important in accordance with one of CBI objectives, namely to activate and develop existing English language skills, which can be done through meaningful reading.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the description of the methodology employed in conducting the research. In detail, this chapter describes the method and the steps taken in completing the research. There are elaborations on research method, research participants, research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and also the research procedure.
3.1 Research Method
In conducting the research, the researcher employed qualitative research. The decision to employ qualitative research was due to two reasons. First, qualitative research is considered to be the most appropriate research to employ when facing several different variables in the cases being researched (Ary, Jacobs & Razavieh, 2002). Second, qualitative research is considered to be able to give thorough and trustworthy result to the research. Hence, by employing the qualitative research and considering the variables in the research, the researcher expected the results of the research to be dependable, reliable and valid, and have minimum research bias.
pays attention to the context of the events, the subjects’ point of views, reasons for the events, and the phenomena that need more exploitation and explanation, especially when facing several variables correlating to each other. Other than that, descriptive study is appropriate to be used in this research study since it “aimed at ascertaining the status of a set of variables, ... without any critical analysis or attempt to test casual hypotheses”.5
3.2 Research Participants
The subjects of the research were the eleventh grade students of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. The eleventh grade students were chosen because they have had the sufficient amount of the exposure of English, the experience and the broader knowledge compared to the tenth grade students. Also, they were not as busy as the twelfth grade students in terms of the preparation for the final examination.
The background knowledge of the research participants is considered quite good, especially in relation with the research. This is due to the selection test that they had to take before enrolling into the international class. Thus, the researcher assumed that their basic ability in English is relatively better than students in regular class.
In conducting the research, the researcher employed random sampling, in which the researcher chose a number of students to be observed randomly. The use of random sampling was due to the reason that random sampling is a fair technique, in which each member of the population has an equal opportunity to be
5
chosen as a sample. Therefore, it is expected that the result would be the best reflection of the population’s characteristics.
Determining the number of research participants in this research was quite difficult. This is due to the fact that there is no exact formula on determining the number of participants for a research. In fact, it highly depends on the type of the research being done. However, due to a general concession, the researcher decided to employ the 50 + 1 principle, which is formulated by n = (N / 2) + 1. Here, n is the number of the research subjects and N is the total number of population. The n is generated randomly from the class attendance list.
The total number of students in the class is 38 (N). So, the number of the samples is:
n = (38 / 2) + 1
= 20
Seeing the result of the calculation, the researcher decided to take twenty students out of the whole population.
3.3 Research Instruments
The researcher utilized two instruments in completing the research. The instruments were field notes and interview checklist. Further elaboration on each instrument will be discussed below.
3.3.1 Field Notes
they have two important components. The first component, the descriptive part, includes a complete description of the setting, the people and their reactions and interpersonal relationships, and accounts of events (who, when, what was done). The second component, the reflective part (also referred as observer comment or OC), includes the observer’s personal feelings or impressions about the events, comments on the research method, decisions and problems, records of ethical issues, and speculations about data analysis (Ary et al., 2002).
The two components of field notes are helpful in bringing about a successful outcome of the study because they provide more comprehensive and provided accurate details. By having the reflective part of the observation, the researcher could also avoid the observer bias, a situation when the observer’s personal attitudes and values affect the observation and/or the interpretation of the observation, so that the research became more valid and reliable. The field notes were mostly important in answering the first formulated problem, namely to see how Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is implemented in the international class.
3.3.2 Interview Checklist
related to the second formulated problem, namely the influences of CBI implementation in the international class towards the eleventh grade students’ mastery of English reading skill.
In detail, the interview checklist was divided into three sections, namely the Students’ Characteristics section, International Class section, and Reading section (see Appendix 6 pp. 90-91). The divisions were made to help the researcher use the appropriate data in addressing the formulated problems.
The two instruments were relatively equal in providing the researcher with sufficient sources and data in conducting the research study. The outcome of each instrument being used could not provide all data that were needed in fulfilling the research study. Therefore, rather than emphasizing one research instrument over another, the researcher combined both instruments to obtain the best results of the research so that the outcome would be more valid and reliable.
3.4 Data Gathering Technique
The other technique was the interviews with twenty students from the international class, who were chosen randomly. The interview was meant to know the students’ perspective about the teaching-learning activities conducted in the international class and their personal opinion on how their learning in the international class helped them improve their reading comprehension. Hence, the result of the interviews is expected to give the study the data needed in a detailed way.
3.5 Data Analysis Technique
In analyzing the data obtained through the interviews and field notes, the researcher made use of the existing theories as the basis. The theories related to the Content-Based Instruction (CBI) and international class were compared and contrasted with the data gathered from the interviews and field notes to obtain the result. In an attempt to address the first formulated problem, the researcher compared the teaching-learning activities being observed in SMAN 3 Yogyakarta with the principles concerning ideal CBI implementation in immersion classes. This can be done by noting down what the researcher saw, heard, and experienced during the teaching-learning activities in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, such as the noting down the type of CBI being implemented, the comprehensible input, the role of teacher and learners, and so on.
international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. By doing this, it is expected that this research study could be used as a stepping stone in reviewing and improving the existing CBI implementation in the international class.
In analyzing the students’ reading comprehension, the researcher combined the data gathered from the field notes and the interviews. The data were then compared and contrasted with the existing theories related to reading comprehension, especially with the ones proposed by the International Reading Association (IRA). By doing this, the researcher expected to see whether the theories of reading comprehension were fully implemented, to seek the significant influence of CBI implementation to students’ reading comprehension.
3.6 Research Procedure
In conducting this research, the researcher employed the steps of doing the descriptive research which was given by Ary et al. (2002). These steps are:
1. Selecting the problem and the topic of the research
The reason of choosing the problem and the topic of the research has already been elaborated on the first chapter of this research study.
2. Identifying the information needed to solve the problem
3. Selecting or developing instruments for gathering the data
In this step, the researcher began selecting and developing appropriate instruments used in gathering the needed data. The choice of the instruments was based on the formulated problems, so that the obtained data were really the data needed to answer the problems. Considering the formulated problems, the researcher then developed the interview checklist as the guidelines of the interviews and employed field notes as two means of answering the formulated problems. Since the data required field notes from classroom observations, the researcher requested a recommendation letter from Sanata Dharma University (see Appendix 1 page 70) and then requested a permission letter from Dinas Perizinan to conduct research in SMAN 3 Yogyakarta (see Appendix 2 page
72) before started conducting observations and interviews in SMAN 3 Yogyakarta.
4. Identifying the target population and determining any necessary sampling procedure
In this step, the researcher looked for the information needed to identify the characteristics of the research participants. The researcher then conducted a discussion with the teachers in charge of the international class. The method of random sampling was chosen due to the reasons as elaborated in the Research Participants section.
5. Designing the procedure for data collection
6. Collecting the data
This step began with the observations to the international class. Then, the researcher reported the observation results in forms of field notes (see Appendices 7-9 pp. 93-101) to write down all the necessary data. Besides that, modules and handouts (see Appendices 3-5 pp. 74-88) from the Science classes were also obtained in this process. The data gathering continued into the deeper level by employing the interview (see Appendix 6 pp. 90-91) technique, so that the personal data from the students may be collected.
7. Analysing the data
Data analysis was conducted by comparing the field notes observation results and the existing theories on Content-Based Instruction (CBI), international class, and reading comprehension. Further analysis was made by comparing the field notes from classroom observations and the interview results. The comparison was needed to see whether CBI really played a significant role in improving the students’ reading comprehension.
8. Preparing the report
Within this step, the researcher started to arrange the obtained data and process all data into a report.
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CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the research results and the answers to the formulated problems. This chapter contains two main sections, namely the discussion of Content-Based Instruction (CBI) implementation in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta and the influences of CBI implementation to the eleventh
grade students’ reading comprehension. Each analysis is discussed in accordance with the theories stated in the review of related literature section, field notes, and also the interviews conducted with the research participants and the teaching team of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta.
4.1 Content-Based Instruction Implementation in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta
4.1.1 The International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta
This section discusses the overview of the teaching-learning activities taking place in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta throughout the research. The overview covers the brief overview of Content-Based Instruction implementation, the teaching technique of the international class, and the emphasis on the language use.
4.1.1.1The Brief Overview of Content-Based Instruction Implementation The international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta did not implement Content-Based Instruction (CBI) in all subjects being taught. CBI implementation only took place in Science classes, namely Physics, Chemistry, and Biology classes. According to the teaching team of the international class, the consideration on implementing CBI only in those classes was mainly because the terms which were used in those subjects were not too different from the translated terms which are generally used in Indonesian. Several examples found in the modules and handouts were terms such as ‘sodium carbonate’ and ‘acetate ion’ in Chemistry (translated as sodium karbonat and ion asetat) (see Appendix 5 pp. 84-88), ‘moment of inertia’ and ‘kinetic energy’ in Physics (translated as momen inersia and energi kinetik) (see Appendix 4 pp. 79-82), and also ‘cell membrane’ and ‘Golgi body’ in
students can master the materials more easily, especially in terms of the vocabulary items related to the subjects, and furthermore it would lead them to acquire and master the target language more easily.
4.1.1.2The Teaching Activity in the International Class
The activity of teaching in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta was different from the ideal teaching technique of international class as proposed by Krahnke (1987 as quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 2000), where all content subjects should be taught in the target language. There were two kinds of teaching activities in the international class, namely the teaching with the assistance of the regular subject teachers and the one with the assistance of guest lecturers from notable universities in Yogyakarta.
The first kind of teaching employed the assistance of the regular subject teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, in which it was the Science teachers who were teaching. According to the interview with the teaching team of the international class, the material delivery in the classroom made use of Indonesian, and so was the class discussion. However, the modules for the subjects and the given exercises were given in English. The modules and exercises given to the students were usually the ones compiled by the regular subject teachers, taken from some books related to the topic being discussed. This kind of teaching was employed since the regular subject teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta were not fully prepared to teach in English.
