APPROACHES IN TEACHING CANONICAL DRAMA AND STRATEGIES IN MEDIATING STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF CANON LITERARY TEXTS USING CONTEMPORARY TEXTS.

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Gentra Permana, 2015

APPROACHES IN TEACHING CANONICAL DRAMA AND STRATEGIES IN MEDIATING STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF CANON LITERARY TEXTS USING CONTEMPORARY TEXTS

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

APPROACHES IN TEACHING CANONICAL DRAMA AND

STRATEGIES IN

MEDIATING STUDENTS’

UNDERSTANDING OF CANON LITERARY TEXTS

USING CONTEMPORARY TEXTS

A RESEARCH PAPER

Submitted to the Department of English Education of the Faculty of Language and Literature Education of Indonesia University of Education

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

by

Gentra Permana

1009208

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE EDUCATION INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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oleh Gentra Permana

1009208

Sebuah Skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra

Oktober 2015

Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.

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PAGE OF APPROVAL

GENTRA PERMANA

APPROACHES IN TEACHING CANONICAL DRAMA AND

STRATEGIES IN

MEDIATING STUDENTS’

UNDERSTANDING OF CANON LITERARY TEXTS

USING CONTEMPORARY TEXTS

Approved by

Main Supervisor,

Prof. Dr. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed.

NIP. 196211011987121000

Co-Supervisor,

Rd. Della N. Kartika S, S.Pd., M.Ed.

NIP. 197704142001122003

Head of English Education Department

Faculty of Language and Literature Education

Indonesia University of Education

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Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Didi Suherdi, M. Ed. R. Della N. Kartika Sari A., S. Pd., M. Ed.

The research focuses on investigating the approach that the teacher used in teaching canonical drama, mainly in university level. The research also investigates the students’ understanding of canon texts mediated using contemporary texts and employs a descriptive-qualitative case study research design. The data were obtained through classroom observation, teacher’s interview, and document analysis, which contains the subject syllabus and the students’ commentary writing. The research takes place in an undergraduate classroom that consist of 46 English education major students at an Indonesian university. The obtained data are analyzed through triangulation based on the approaches in literature teaching theories proposed by Lazar (1993), Baba (2008), and Carter and Long (1991); and mediation theory proposed by Vygotsky (1978) and Seng, Pou, and Tan (2003). The results revealed that the teacher mixed the three approaches that were switched simultaneously based on the materials and the lesson objectives. Moreover, based on the students’ commentary writing assignments, contemporary texts were able to trigger the students’ intertextual ability which mediated them to make sense of canonical texts that have distant and difficult context. In conclusion, the use of contemporary texts is beneficial to scaffold the students’ understanding of canon literary texts, as long as the teacher performs the mediation transactions in the teaching process.

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Riset ini berfokus pada pendekatan yang guru pakai dalam mengajar drama kanon, terutama di level universitas.riset ini juga meneliti pemahaman siswa terhadap teks kanon yang dimediasi dengan menggunakan teks kontemporer dan juga menggunakan sebuah studi kasus deskriptif-kualitatif. Pengumpulan data menggunakan observasi kelas, wawancara dengan guru, dan analisis dokumen, termasuk silabus dan komentar analisis siswa. Riset ini mengambil sebuah kelas sarjana yang berisi 46 mahasiswa pendidikan Bahasa Inggris di sebuah universitas Indonesia. Data yang terkumpul dianalisis secara triangulasi berdasarkan teori pendekatan dalam pengajaran sastra yang dikemukakan oleh Lazar (1993), Baba (2008), dan Carter dan Long (1991); dan teori mediasi yang dikemukakan oleh Vygotsky (1978) dan Seng, Pou, dan Tan (2003). Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa guru menggabungkan ketiga pendekatan yang dipakai bergantian berdasarkan pada materi dan tujuan pelajaran. Berdasarkan tugas komentar analisis siswa, teks kontemporer bisa dipakai untuk memicu kemampuan interteks siswa yang memediasi siswa untuk bisa mengerti teks kanon yang memiliki konsep yang rumit dan konteks yang sulit. Sebagai kesimpulan, penggunaan teks kontemporer itu bermanfaat untuk meninggkatkan pemahaman siswa akan teks kanon, selama guru mempraktekkan proses/transaksi mediasi dalam proses pengajaran.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages

PAGE OF APPROVAL ...

STATEMENT OF AUTHORIZATION ... i

ABSTRACT ... ii

PREFACE ... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi

LIST OF TABLES ... ix

LIST OF FIGURE ... ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background ... 1

1.2 Statements of Problems ... 3

1.3 Aims of the Research ... 3

1.4 Limitation of the Research ... 4

1.5 Significance of the Research ... 4

1.6 Clarification of Terms ... 4

1.7 Organization of the Paper... 5

CHAPTER 2 THEORIES OF REFERENCE 2.1 Literature and Language Teaching... 7

2.1.1 Approaches to Literature in Language Teaching ... 8

2.1.2 The Models of Teaching Literature... 11

2.1.3 Reasons for Using Literary texts in English Language Teaching... 13

2.1.4 Selecting the Appropriate Texts for the Students ... 14

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu vii

2.2.1 Contextualizing Canon and Contemporary Literature in

English Language Teaching ... 19

2.3 Mediation as Scaffolding: Reading Contemporary Texts to Understand Canon Texts ... 21

2.3.1 Mediation in Vygotsky’s Tradition ... 22

2.3.2 Theories of Mediation ... 23

2.4 Related Studies…. ... 28

2.5 Concluding Remarks ... 29

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Problems ... 31

3.2 Research Design ... 31

3.3 Research Site ... 32

3.4. Data Collection Method ... 35

3.4.1 Instrumentation ... 35

3.4.1.1 Classroom Observation... 35

3.4.1.2 Interview ... 36

3.4.1.3 Document Analysis ... 37

3.4.2 Procedure... 37

3.4.2.1 Analysis Data from Classroom Observation ... 37

3.4.2.2 Analysis Data from Interview... 38

3.4.2.3 Analysis Data from Written Documents ... 39

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Integrating Canon and Contemporary texts: Approaches in teaching Drama ... 40

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4.1.2 Language-Based Approach ... 47

4.1.3 Literature for Personal Enrichment Approach ... 49

4.1.4 Conclusion... 53

4.2 Mediating Students’ Understanding of Canon Through

Contemporary Texts ... 56

4.2.1 Conclusion... 67

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusions ... 70

5.2 Recommendations ... 73

REFERENCES ... 74

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu ix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Representation of Feuerstein’s MLE Criteria ... 24

Table 3.1 Exploring Drama Syllabus ... 33

LIST OF FIGURE

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents background of the study, statements of problems, and aims of the research. It also covers scope of the research, significance of the research, clarification of terms and the organization of the paper.

1.1 Background

The best materials in teaching language in EFL classroom is yet to be found although there are some good tools that are found and implemented in teaching foreign language around the world, and the use of literary texts is one among them. Using literary texts is considered enriching the students’ intellectual, personal, and emotional world (Moecharam & Amirulloh, 2011). Because literary texts are timeless and placeless, it relates to students’ daily life either in good or bad situations, happiness or sadness (Barlow, 2009). Furthermore, reading literary texts for EFL students might also promote and strengthen their motivation in learning language (Carter & Long, 1991; Collie & Slater, 1997; Erkaya, 2005; Lazar, 1993). That the content of literary texts mirrors student’s lives and enhance their motivations might be some of the reasons why teachers select literary texs as their EFL materials.

However, the application in real classroom might be challenging and problematic. Many teachers are still arguing whether canon literature are still relevant and make sense among 21st century students. The students are more interested in leisure books three times more than reading old and dull books (Cart,

2003), which become a stereotype for literary texts because of their difficult words and distant concepts. For instance, even though some related studies found

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evaluate and appreciate the works—as well as knowing the teaching methodology (Halliday, McIntosh, & Strevens, 1964). This implies, there are a number of teachers who might not use literary texts in teaching language because of their lack of ability to understand and appreciate literary texts. The teachers also have problems in making sense of the texts to the students, either the texts that are too difficult to understand or the students who are demotivated because of the ‘old book’ stereotype. Therein, the students most usually find them difficult, especially in understanding the texts because of its diction and distant concept. Thus, using literary text in EFL classroom brings intricacies with which the teacher must deal.

To overcome the abovementioned intricacies, the use of more interesting, contextual, and student-favorable books is needed; contemporary texts are seen as a solution for them. Contemporary texts are a literary product that is born and and concepts in contemporary texts as academic (Morrell, 2003), so that they will more likely be able to understand the literary texts and participate in the learning

process. Besides, Miller (2005, cited in Rybakova, et al, 2013) contends that contemporary texts intensely raised the motivation of unenthusiastic students in

the classroom.

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popular culture theory, illustrated how contemporary literature is used to produce powerful academic and social results among students. He used hip-hop, film, and mass media as materials. At the end of his research, he found that the students were able to understand the connection between canon literature, popular culture, and their everyday lives. The research was amplified by Anastasia Stamoglou’s research (2009, pp. 26-43) which tried to compare and juxtapose some canon

books in literature school textbooks, mainly about Greek literature, which is considered as a canon as its focus. She found that even though the canon is old and less interesting, canon is still a powerful tool to enhance students’ cultural value for ages. Both of the research respectively engaged in unspecified use of literary texts (only contemporary or canon). The two of them did not specifically explore the potentials of both texts to be used as complementing one and another. Thus, the present research attempts to explore teacher’s ways of utilizing contemporary texts to mediate the students’ understanding of canonical texts. The research observed classroom preparations (how the teacher adopted literature-teaching approaches to teach literary texts) and classroom performance (how the teacher used contemporary texts to make sense of canon texts and how the students responded to the teaching performances). The participants are undergraduate students from English education major in an Indonesian university, who were taking Exploring Drama class subject.

1.2 Statements of Problems

The research is conducted based on the following questions:

1. What approaches does the teacher adopt in teaching canonical drama? 2. How does the teacher utilize contemporary texts to mediate students’

understanding toward canonical texts?

1.3 Aims of the Research

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1. Finding out the approaches that are adopted by the teacher in teaching canonical drama.

2. Finding out the how teacher utilizes contemporary texts to mediate students’ understanding of canon texts.

1.4 Limitation of the Research

The research is limited to the classroom context. Even if the focus of the research lies in the use of literary texts, however the explorations are mainly contextual to language learning in English education department. This affects the selection of texts and text discussions that are situated and adjusted with the background of the student-participants (who are not purposively taking up the class to explore literature in depth). Furthermore, the participants of the research are Indonesian students who took English education major at university and considered to have intermediate level of English.

1.5 Significance of the Research

It is expected that the research will contribute theoretically and practically in teaching methods, especially in teaching English literary texts in non-English countries that have different backgrounds, settings, environments, and habits. In addition, this research tries to examine the approaches adopted by the observed teacher in constructing the plot and the implementation of those approaches in teaching process. Furthermore, the research can give an insight for the teacher when adopting a suitable approach in teaching literature, which will help

constructing a better understanding of canon literature through contemporary texts.

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the students will become an active leaner and eager to read difficult literary texts, especially in English language teaching (ELT) context.

1.6 Clarification of Terms

There are concepts that need clarification in this research. Each will be described

below.

1. Canon refers to a formation in literature [that] must always proceed to

a selection of classics texts (Fowler, 1979). It is the term, which is used to cluster a good package of literature that students have to learn. It means that every literary text that is included into canon is considered good and safe-to-read, not only by students, but also by people throughout the world.

2. Contemporary texts here are seen as modern literary works that will be compared and juxtaposed with the canon literary works. Contemporary itself is related to popular culture which is defined to everyday (and updated) culture which becomes a terrain of exchange expressed through, but not limited to, the forms of music, film, sports, comics, fashion, television, advertisement, cyberspace, mass media artifacts, language, costumes, and values (Hong Xu, 2005).

3. Approach is a base to provide a framework, or sequence of operations to be used when coming to actualities (Moody, 1983, p.23).

4. Drama is communication between people. It is a form of communication among two or more people. (Via, 1987, p. 110; as

cited in (Barbee, 2013)

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The research consists of five chapters. Each chapter is subdivided into subtopics that will be elaborated upon in the investigated problems.

CHAPTER I is the introduction of the research. It consists background of the study, statements of problems, aims of the research, significance of the research, clarification of terms and the organization of the paper.

CHAPTER II is the theories of reference. In general, this chapter is

divided into three sections, as follows: literature and language teaching; literary works: canon versus contemporary literature; mediation in learning: reading contemporary texts to understand canon texts; and, several related researches.

CHAPTER III presents aspects related to research methodology used in the research. They are research problems, research design, research site, data collection method, and the data analysis.

CHAPTER IV is about the findings and the discussions on data gathered in the previous chapter. The data from interviews, video recording, and document analysis will be elaborated and discussed in this chapter.

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter elaborates the method employed in this research. This chapter also describes the procedures of the study to answer the research questions stated in chapter one. It covers the research problems, research design, research site, data collection, data analysis, and research procedures.

3.1 Research Problems

The research was conducted to investigate several issues related to the implementation of contemporary literacy in English Language Teaching context. To be more specific, these are the research questions:

1. What approaches does the teacher adopt in teaching canonical drama?

2. How does the teacher utilize contemporary texts to mediate students’

understanding toward canonical texts?

3.2 Research Design

Based on the research questions and aims, the research used descriptive – qualitative research as its method. Descriptive research would give a detailed profile of an event, condition, or situation through quantitative, qualitative, or mixed method (a combination between quantitative and qualitative). For the current research purpose, qualitative was taken as the main form to describe the characteristics of object-study (Alwasilah, 2002). Additionally, descriptive – qualitative design has an objective to discover the phenomenon that is seen

through participant’s point of view in its context as well as engaging the

characteristic of single case study since it was contained in the small cases and focused on one particular occurrence of educational practice and not be

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understanding of teaching process using contemporary literary texts. It was supported by Bassey (1999, p. 26) who said that:

'Case study' is a generic term for the investigation of an individual, group or phenomenon... As a consequence of this belief, case study researchers hold that to understand a case, to explain why things happen as they do, and to generalize or predict from a single example requires an in-depth investigation of the interdependencies of parts and of the patterns emerge.

Furthermore, the data for descriptive research were obtained through field research and case studies (Strider, 2001). Therefore, the researcher played the role of an observer, who sees all the process occurring in the teaching process. The research itself was involved in an English classroom with the subject Exploring Drama. The observation started from the materials that the teacher chose, how the teacher used contemporary texts in the teaching process, what instructions were given to the students, what the students were doing in the teaching process, and

the students’ responds indicated in every instruction or task regarding the use of

contemporary texts to teach canonical drama.

3.3 Research Site

The research took place at one of the state universities in Bandung West Java. Focusing on one subject of English Education class, Exploring Drama, the

research analyzed and observed the situations in the classroom, both of the teacher and the students. The research took place only in one class that consists of a

teacher and forty-six students. The teacher is a professional and experienced in the area of literature. The students themselves were in the fifth semester in a bachelor degree of English education department. The difficulty level of materials and system was lowered compared to the literature class in literature study program because of the nature of drama class in education department. In this department, the students look at literature as a ‘resource’ (literature-based language teaching)

rather than ‘learning objects’ (literature teaching) (Carter & Long, 1991). Drama

classroom was selected as research site because of several reasons. The use of

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(Hişmanoğlu, 2005, p. 62). Additionally, the use of drama is seen as an effective

method in today’s communication-based, students-centered foreign language

teaching. Thus, it can help the students promote their comprehension of verbal and nonverbal aspects of the language they learn (Hişmanoğlu, 2005, p. 64).

Furthermore, based on the syllabus, the class had total sixteen meetings and ten meetings were observed in a semester (the introduction, the tests and the

exercises were not observed). The texts that were used are Oedipus Rex (Greek tragedy), Macbeth (Shakespearean tragedy, both play and movies), Am I Blue? (Comedy), The Cherry Orchard (Modern European drama), Trifles (American drama), and Legally Blonde (American movie).

Table 3.1 Exploring Drama Syllabus

Weeks Topic Resource

1 Introduction to the course, syllabus overview The Syllabus

2 Introduction to English Drama:

• What is Drama & Types of Drama

- _{Situation, Plot, the Stage}

Film screening: The Phantom of the Opera

Guth & Rico, p. 947 Barnet et.al, p. 479

4 Genres of Drama: Greek Tragedy Dramatic Reading of Oedipus Rex part I

Guth & Rico, p. 1036

Handouts

5 Dramatic Reading of Sopocheles’ Oedipus Rex part

II

Shakesperean Tragedy: Macbeth

Video Screening: MACBETH a film by Geoffrey Wright

Guth & Rico, p. 1371

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6 Genres of Drama: Comedy - _{Sub genres of comedy}

- _{Social world of comedy, comic assertion,} comic joy, comic isolation

Beth Henly’s Am I Blue (1982)

Barnet et. al, p. 264

Roberts & Jacobs, p. 1579

7 Dramatic Reading of Beth Henley’s Am I Blue Genres of Drama: Tragicomedy & Theater of the Absurd

Roberts & Jacobs, p. 1579 Barnet et. al, p. 38

8 Midterm Exam

*Due date of 1st Commentary Writing on Am I Blue

9 Modern European Drama: - _{Realism and its techniques} - _{Henrik Ibsen & Anton Chekhov}

Exploring Drama Text: Chekhov’s The Cherry

Orchard (1904)

Final Project: Students one-scene stage performance on selected plays

10 Dramatic reading of Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard

- _{Orchard as symbol}

- _{Feudal remnants, aristocracy, change,} motivation

12 Intertextual affiliations of Trifles and modern film Final Project: Students one-scene stage performance on selected plays

13 From Page to Stage

*Due date of 2nd Commentary Writing on The Cherry Orchard

14 Final Project: Students one-scene stage performance on selected plays

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3.4 Data Collection Method

As a single case qualitative research, there were three instruments used in order to collect the necessary data; those are classroom observation, interview to the teacher and document analysis.

3.4.1 Instrumentation

There are three instruments applied in the research, classroom observation, interview, and document analysis.

3.4.1.1 Classroom Observation

Classroom observation was a systematic and planned monitoring process that was

purposed to gain the data, stated by Alwasilah (2002, p. 211). It was supported by Kawulich (2005), who said that through observation, the behavior and the meaning attached to the behavior could be well read. That said, the researcher was not engaged in the class activity, only watching and observing, or could be called

‘fly on the wall’ observation. When using ‘fly on the wall’ observation, the researcher has to choose between a ‘secret outsider’ and a ‘recognized outsider’ (Zeisel, 1993, cited in Martin & Hanington, 2012). Moreover, recognized outsider was chosen in this research because the participants were aware of the

researcher’s existence in the classroom, without missing the essence of natural

that became the focus of descriptive qualitative.

Based on the teacher’s syllabus, classroom observation was conducted for

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whether the use of contemporary literature can make students more active and positively involved in the classroom activities. Classroom observation was held once a week in three months. There were ten classroom-observation sessions that took approximately 100 minutes in each session. The observation used camcorder and field notes as tools. The camcorder was placed to monitor and record the events that occurred in the teaching process. It was essential to observe the

students’ verbal and non-verbal responses, also to record the method used by the

teacher.

Furthermore, field notes were also used to give rich and detailed descriptions when the observation was held. The notes were used as an assistance for the researcher when there was something important and the camcorder did not do its job because notes were simpler and faster than the camcorder. Furthermore, field notes must contain seven items that had to be included in field notes, but they also said that method in writing field notes could be very personal, depending on the researcher and the situation (Chiseri, Elizabeth, & Sunstein, 1997). Thus, six items were chosen in this observation, they were, specific time, what happened in the class, what they did, what they said (in quotations), what are the

information sources, and the researcher’s interpretations through every situation.

Each meeting was recorded and later transcribed in order to get the data for the analysis purposes. The transcription was not only about the conversation, but also

about students’ and teacher’s behaviors were transcribed. The notes were used to

enhance information on the video transcription in order to get comprehensive and valid data. The described data was presented in appendix 2.

3.4.1.2 Interview

Interview was the next instrument that was used in this research in order to get information from the teacher. The interview focused only on the teacher because

the research’s main aim was the teaching approach (es). The interview itself had

the purpose to gain more information about the ‘treatment’ and seek the students’

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Borg (1983) said that interviews could build relationship and trust between researcher and respondents (students) which would make it possible to obtain data that the other data collecting methods could not acquire. There was only one interview session and was held at the end of the classroom observation (week eight). The teacher was interviewed about why she chose the materials and how the contemporary literary texts were used in the teaching process, why she chose

those texts, what were the advantages and the disadvantages in using the materials in teaching process and how she encountered the problems that arose. In the process of interviewing, voice recorder was used to make the transcription more accurate. The full list of the questions and answers about the interview was included in the appendix 1.

3.4.1.3 Document Analysis

In order to answer the research questions, written documents were conducted to collect the data. Written documents were in forms of (1) the subject syllabus; and (2) students’ commentary writing. The syllabus was required as a base to answer

the research questions. The students’ commentary writing was an analysis paper

of a specific topic of a play, for example, the students have to focus only on one topic, in this case, analyzing the characteristic. There were ten commentary-writing papers taken from five students, so each students had to write two papers with different topics. The first topic was about a play namely Am I Blue and the second topic was juxtaposing two plays between Trifles and Legally Blonde. Those data were presented in appendix 3.

3.4.2 Procedure

The procedure of analyzing the data was conducted based on the instruments used

in the research. First, the data obtained from classroom observation. Second, the data obtained from interview, and the third, the data obtained from document analysis.

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Because of the method chosen, descriptive qualitative, the research focused on analyzing classroom observation as the main source. Thus, the research adopted some steps elaborated by Dörnyei & Ushioda (2011) in analyzing data from classroom observation:

1. Transcribing the data by transforming the recorded data which was gathered from camcorder and field notes into textual form.

2. Determining which materials might be relevant to the study.

3. Analyzing and classifying the data into categories, divided into the

methods the teacher used and students’ responses upon the method.

4. Interpreting data from classroom observation to address the study and drawing conclusions.

Moreover, the data was crosschecked to other obtained data through triangulation, which refers to the use of more than one approach to the investigation of a research question in order to enhance conﬁdence in the ensuing

ﬁndings (Bryman, 2003). In addition, validating with the theory in chapter two

was also performed during triangulation process.

3.4.2.2 Analysis Data from Interview

The data from the interview was gathered through phone recording (MP3 recording) and field notes. In analyzing the data, there were some similar steps to analyzing the classroom observation used, as explained by Sugiyono (2008):

1. Transcribing the data from the recording into a written text, strengthen by the field notes.

2. Categorizing the data of the interview based on the need and the necessity of the research: the use of contemporary literary texts in an EFL

classroom. Moreover, the background of using the materials and advantages or disadvantages that occurred in the teaching process was asked.

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Moreover, the data was crosschecked to other obtained data by triangulation, which refers to the use of more than one approach to the

investigation of a research question in order to enhance conﬁdence in the ensuing

ﬁndings (Bryman, 2003). In addition, validating with the theory in chapter two

was also performed during triangulation process.

3.4.2.3 Analysis Data from Written Documents

The data results were further analyzed and crosschecked by using triangulation, as explained by Yin (2011, p. 81), ‘triangulation’s principle is seeking at least three ways of verifying of corroborating a particular event, description, or fact being reported by a study.’ It was supported by Hatch (2002) who said that triangulation is a process of verification or extension of information from other sources. Thus, classroom observation and interview would be considered as the sources. Those sources were matched and compared to see the how the teacher used contemporary literary texts to help the students make sense of canon literature.

3.5 Concluding Remarks

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the conclusions and suggestions. It discusses the conclusions that are drawn from the findings and discussions in the previous chapter and from the research questions in Chapter I. It also gives the recommendations for future research related to the teaching canonical literary

texts, mainly in ESL/EFL classroom context.

5.1 Conclusions

The research has observed the English literature teaching process in an institution of an undergraduate classroom in Indonesia in the subject namely Exploring Drama. The research has two objectives; first, it is aimed to find out the approaches used by the teacher in teaching process, starting from syllabus design, up to the teaching performances. Second, it is aimed to observe how the teacher

uses contemporary texts as mediator to scaffold the students’ understanding

towards English canonical drama. The data collection from the research has drawn several conclusions related to the research questions proposed in the first chapter, which will be elaborated as follows.

First, the findings of the research revealed that the teacher adopted and used more than one approach, which is proposed by Lazar (1993), in one session. Moreover, literature as content approach was found as a foundation in the most

sessions because, mainly, the teacher’s purpose was to inform the students about

canon drama, its elements, genres and not focusing on the linguistic features.

However, the teacher found that canon literary texts are difficult to be understood by the students because of its diction and distant concept that made the students

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elements of drama, she used a movie titled Phantom of the Opera and several guiding questions afterwards to enhance the students understanding and motivation towards difficult concepts of characters.

In these sessions, dramatic reading was a manifestation of language-based approach. Language-based approach is useful to improve the students’ knowledge of other languages and its elements, especially uncommon linguistic terms.

Moreover, the utilization of language-based approach in several sessions was represented as a complementary element for literature as content approach and to cover some drawbacks of using lecturing activity (from adopting literature as content approach). Furthermore, literature for personal enrichment approach is

valuable to initiate the students’ intertextual ability to create a relationship among

the texts and the students’ personal experience, which firstly triggered in session

five (juxtaposing three version of Macbeth), session six (when they made personal quotes about tragicomedy) and both session 11 and 12 through commentary writing assignment. Furthermore, when the students are able to use the intertextual ability, they will acquire higher order cognitive thinking skill that will make them have a better understanding and able to correlate when reading several texts (probably in different form) that have similarities on its plot or characters, for instance.

Moreover, the teacher shifted and combined the approaches based on activities in each session in order to meet all the lesson objectives. The shifting process is useful because this class cannot adopt only one approach. Although the

percentage of lecturing as an activity of literature as content approach was massive, the teacher already considered about its drawbacks, such as when the

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linguistic ability at the same time. Therefore, the teacher also tried to connect difficult topic in canon with twenty centuries environments to make the students easily understand.

Second, the research found that the necessity of other sources to help students learn literature made teacher use contemporary texts in teaching canon literary texts. Here, contemporary texts served as a mediator to help the students

make sense of canonical texts. Moreover, utilizing both canonical texts and

contemporary texts will trigger the students’ intertextual ability, which becomes

an important matter in teaching literature, especially in making the students eager to read literary texts. Moreover, several mediation transactions (MLE) that occurred in the teaching process implied that the contemporary texts were serving as a mediator to help the students make sense of the canon literary texts.

Moreover, based on the twelve indicators of mediation (Feuerstein, 1980), the research found eight indicators were performed in the classroom. They are

mediation of significance (when the teacher informed the current day’s agenda),

mediation of shared intention (when the teacher gave guiding question in second commentary writing assignment), mediation of competence (when the teacher asked the students to find the differences in three Macbeth movie versions), mediation of own behavior control (when the students performing commentary writing assignments), mediation of goal setting (when the teacher inform the student why they have to watch the three movie versions of Macbeth), mediation of challenge (when the teacher asked the students to identify several elements

before the movie/video was played), mediation of sharing (when the discussion activities were performed), and mediation of individuality (when the students

were doing commentary writing assignments by themselves).

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of contemporary literary texts would be confusing, and vice versa. Therefore, it is essential to be mentioned that there were two things to be considered by the teacher when mediating the students. First, teacher has to familiarize with the

students’ environments, and second, teacher has to make the students be able to

make meaning by themselves (students-centered).

5.2 Recommendations

There are several recommendations given for the future research or studies related to the topic:

1. For the present study, the use of contemporary texts in various media in teaching canon literary texts is considered as a necessity, especially for younger students or when the subject is difficult for common students.

2. The students’ interest must be teacher’s consideration when selecting an

appropriate approach.

3. The teaching performances should not be rigid; thus it has to be fluent in the process. It does not have to use all canon texts when teaching literature, yet it suggested that the texts are combined with contemporary texts.

4. Looking at the potential benefits of using contemporary texts in classroom to familiarize literary texts to the students, it is recommended that the teaching process have to be tested on lower education level, such as high school.

5. In using contemporary texts, the teacher has to perform mediation

interactions (MLE) in order to make the texts are able to be used as a helper to learn canon texts.

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