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The Implementation of Classroom Management Principles in
Preschool
Introduction
Ferk (2008) stated that classroom management in kindergarten must be the concern of English teachers who teach young learners because teaching English for young learners is completely different from teaching English for teens or adults. Qinglan, Junyan, Shongshan (2009) also said that an effective classroom management can reduce the chaos that might happen in preschools level.
Those theories are related to the writer’s experiences when observing teaching learning activity in preschools. There were some problems related to classroom management that young learners’ teachers found when they were teaching in preschools. The following are examples of the problems.
When delivering instruction using English, sometimes the students did not do the instruction immediately because they did not understand the instruction.
Young learners were easily distracted and bored during teaching-learning activities. Young learners could not engage in one activity or task for the whole class time and their speed to finish one activity is unpredictable.
Young learners were physically active during teaching learning activities.
Young learners needed a lot of discussions and interaction during teaching learning process.
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Young learners needed to be appreciated but, overpraises made young learners to be less motivated to show their good behaviors or efforts to learn the lesson.
By seeing that fact, young learners teachers have to realize that teaching English for young learners needs the right implementation of classroom management to deal with the problems above. If the teachers do not implement the right classroom management principles in teaching young learners, it will be difficult for them to control the class. This is in line with the result of a previous study which is conducted by Vale and Feunteun (1995), that once a teacher loses control of their classroom management, it will be more difficult for them to manage the classroom. This study shows that poor classroom management results in children’s misbehaviors and lower academic achievement.
Then, to help young learners’ teachers finding the right implementation of classroom management principles for young learners, the writer was interested in conducting a study about the implementation of classroom management principles when teaching young learners.
This study was conducted to find out the answer for the following research question; “how do the teachers implement the principles of classroom management in preschool?”
To answer that research question, the study examined the implementation of the classroom management principles in one of the bilingual preschools in Salatiga. The teaching-learning activities in this school were conducted in two languages which are English and Indonesian.
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Theoretical Framework
In this section, the writer provided definition of young learners, classroom management and some principles that must be applied when managing the classroom for young learners. Before discussing about the definition of classroom management and some principles that must be applied to manage the classroom for young learners, we should know who a young learner is. There are some definitions that can explain about who a young learner is.
According to Kalendova (2008), a young learner means children from the first school year of formal schooling to eleven or twelve years of age. However, as it is stated by Slattery and Willis (2001), young learners can be divided into two groups. The first group is called very young learners. This group consists of young learners under seven years old. Then, the second group is young learners at the age of eight years old to twelve years old. Khatib and Mellati (2012) stated another definition. Based on their definition, the term young learners mean students who attend pre primary school and primary school. From their definition, we can conclude that young learners are the students who attend pre primary school or preschools.
As we know, teaching young learners is completely different from teaching adults. Therefore,in teaching young learners, teachers need to know the right principles of classroom management that should be applied. Below are the definition of classroom management according to some experts and several principles of classroom management that should be implemented in teaching young learners.
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as what the teachers do to organize students’ space, time and materials. Meanwhile, according to Scrivener ( 2012), classroom management is the way teachers manage the students’ learning by organising and controlling what happens in a classroom. As Wright (2005) stated, managing classroom is something that the teachers should do rather than analyze. It means that teachers should not only master theories of classroom management, but the teachers should be able to implement the principles of classroom management in their teaching. Scrivener (2012) also said that teachers need to learn about classroom management strategies because they need to create engaging and useful learning environment. Seda (2008) said that effective classroom management cannot be ignored since effective classroom management prepares the students to follow the lesson well and to conduct the effective classroom management, the teachers should implement some principles of classroom management to teach young learners such as :
1. Using suitable techniques to deliver the instruction
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in English because it might cause young learners feel uncomfortable. Sometimes, the teachers also need to deliver the instruction using the students’ native language.
Those are several techniques that can be used to help young learners understand the instruction but Linse (2006) stated that teachers do not need to use those techniques if the students have already understood the instructions which are delivered in English.
2. Providing various activities in each teaching stage
Brown (2001) in Sukarno (2008) said that most children have concentration span that is relatively short. Linse (2006) mentioned that children would not be able to enjoy or learn from the same type of activities. Therefore, it is difficult for them to attend the whole lesson. To deal with this situation, Linse (2006) stated that teachers need to provide different activities in each teaching stage in order to make balance activities. Below is the example of class activities which is given by Linse.
Example of balance activities according to Linse (2006)
Those activities are balanced because there are different activities in each teaching stage. In conclusion, the teacher should provide various activities with the suitable duration for each activity.
Stage Activities
Pre –teaching Warm up with finger plays and songs Discussion on whether and daily activities Whilst teaching
Exploration Story telling
Elaboration Art activities and writing activities Confirmation Discussion on the task
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3. Integrating physical activities into the lesson
Sukarno (2008) stated that young learners need lessons that contain physical activities to help the students thinking or stimulate the students to learn. The physical activities can be done by cutting practice, drawing, having games, coloring pictures or any kinds of activities that involve body or parts of body movement. By looking at this fact, we can conclude that one of the principles in classroom management for kindergarten students is creating physical activities in some occasion to stimulate children’s thinking.
4. Providing seating arrangement that promote learning in a social context
According to Cameron (2001), the children learn in a social context by conducting a simple discussion or sharing stuffs each other. Therefore, teachers need to provide seating arrangements that can facilitate young learners to learn in a social context. Weinstein and Mignano (2007) suggested some kinds of classroom seat arrangement that can help the students to learn in a social context such as :
Loop arrangement Circle arrangement
U Shaped arrangement Rectangle arrangement
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5. Acquainting the students with routines
Weinstein and Mignano (2007), mentioned that kindergarten students as very young learners that need to be acquainted with routines that exist in kindergarten because according to Linse (2006), children would be very happy if they know the expectations of their teachers. Therefore, based on this factor, establishing routines for children also belongs to the principles of classroom management in kindergarten.
6. Giving praise to students
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The Study
A. Types of Research
This study was designed as the descriptive study since it described the way of preschool teachers managed their classrooms. This study dealt with how teachers applied the principles of effective classroom management during teaching preschools students. The data considered as primary data since the data were collected directly using video recordings and observational notes when the teachers were teaching in classrooms. The data in this study were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.
B. Context of The Study
The study took place in one of bilingual preschools in Salatiga. This study examined how teachers applied the six principles of classroom management in two classes which were ; Class X and Class Y. In those classes, teachers used English and Indonesian as the languages during teaching-learning activities. In this school, teachers encouraged students to use English in every class session. The writer decided to conduct the study in this preschool because English was used as the main language in every class session. Therefore, the writer was able to examine how teachers managed students when they were teaching using English as the main instruction..
C. Participants of The Study
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D. Data Collection Instruments
To gain the data, the writer used classroom observation. In doing the observations, the writer used video recordings and observational notes as the tools to record the data. The video recordings helped the writer to gain more complete data when the writer observed the class and observational notes helped the writer to keep focus on the six principles of classroom management that would be examined in this study. The duration of video recordings were about 30-60 minutes and there were 6 video recordings from each class. Therefore, there would be 12 video recordings that can be used as the tools to collect the data. Meanwhile, there were 6 different observational notes that helped the writer to focus on the principles that would be examined. The examples of observational notes 1-6 can be seen in the attachment .
E. Data Collection Procedures
The data were gained through some procedures. First, before collecting the data, the writer asked a permission from the preschool to conduct a study. Second, the writer observed teaching learning activities in Class X and Class Y. After gaining the data, the writer would transcribe the video recordings. Since the data were collected from observations, the data belonged to primary data.
F. Data Analysis
In this study, the writer collected the data about how the teachers applied the six principles of classroom management. They are :
- Using suitable techniques to deliver the instructions
- Providing various activities in each teaching stage
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- Providing seating arrangement that promotes learning in a social context
- Acquainting the students with routines
- Giving praise to students
To analyze the data, the data from video recordings were transcribed and categorized based on the six principles in this study.
1. Using suitable techniques to deliver the instructions
To analyze the data on this principle, the writer counted the frequency of the 8 techniques observed during teaching-learning activities in Class X and Class Y. Then, the writer counted the percentage of each technique to see which techniques that mostly used by Teacher A and Teacher B. In here, the writer trid to find the reason why Teacher A and Teacher B mostly used one of the 8 techniques. For this principle, the data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.
2. Providing various activities in each teaching stage
11 3. Integrating physical activities into the lesson
To analyze this principle, the writer made a list of physical activities which were integrated in each subjects. From this data and the example of transcription, the writer saw how the physical activities helped young learners to acquire new lessons. For this principle, the data were analyzed qualitatively.
4. Providing seating arrangement that promotes learning in a social context
To analyze this principle, the writer counted the frequency of each type seating arrangement that were suggested by experts (U-shaped, loop arrangement, circle arrangement and rectangle arrangement). However, the writer also counted the frequency of seating arrangements which were not suggested by the experts (others). This data showed how Teacher A and Teacher B managed the seating arrangement. Therefore, the students could learn in a social context. Besides that, from the data the writer could relate type of seating arrangement and the type of class activity. Therefore, the writer could find the relation of the type seating arrangement, class activity and how students could learn in a social context. This principle was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.
5. Acquainting the students with routines
12 6. Giving praise to students
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Findings
As it is stated above, the writer would examine how the teachers implement the principles of classroom management in preschool. In this section, the writer would discuss the findings that were obtained during twelve times observations in Class X and Class Y . To illustrate the data, the writer provided tables, charts and also some parts of transcriptions that can help the readers to understand the result of the study.
A.Using suitable techniques to deliver the instruction
According to Halliwell (1992), teachers can use gesture and action to help students understand the instructions. In this case, teachers can use body movement to model the instructions. For instance, moving hands, closing eyes, shaking hands, etc. Then, related to the action, the teachers can give the example of how to do the instructions. For example, the teachers can jump when they instruct the students to jump. Meanwhile, Linse (2006) stated that translating instructions into students’ native language can also be used as the technique to help the students understand the instructions. However, Linse (2006) said that sometimes teachers need to deliver the instruction into students’ native language to prevent the students to feel uncomfortable but if the students have already understood the instructions which are delivered in English, the teachers do need to use those techniques.
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Table 1
The Percentage of the use of each technique in Class X
Day Gesture Action Translation
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young learners understand the instructions, the teacher needs to translate the instruction into the students’ native language.
Below is the example from Class X about how the teachers translated the instruction into students’ native language which is Bahasa Indonesia and how students reacted toward the instruction after the instruction was translated into Bahasa Indonesia.
Teacher A: Come forward! Ayo maju sedikit, tidak mundur-mundur ! (come forward, do not go backward!)
First, the students just looked at the teacher but then, after the teacher translated the instruction into the students’ native language, the students moved forward and did not move backward.
(Observation Day 3 in Class X)
From the example, we could see that the teachers in Class X translated the instruction into the students’ native language. When the students did not understand the instructions which were delivered in English, Teacher A translated the instruction into the students’ native language and after Teacher A translated the instruction into the students’ native language, the students did the instruction. It means that they were able to understand the instruction after the teacher translated it into Bahasa Indonesia.
The use
(Teacher A wrote letter H when instructed about how to write letter H
Teacher A : Ok, goes down, goes up a half, curved, goes down! Some students tried to write letter H by looking at what
(Observation In Class X Day 3)
In this transcription, the action that was used by
write letter ”h’’ when instructed the students to write letter ”h’’. When Teacher A acted out her instruction, some students tried to write letter ”h’’ by looking
which was given by Teacher A. Therefore, from this transcription, we could see how action was used to deliver the instruction and made the instruction understandable for young learners
The use of gesture
(Teacher B opened her hands when instructed the students)
Teacher B : Ok, keep open your book!
Some students almost closed their books. Then, Teacher B opened her hands like someone who opened the book.
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he use of actions when delivering instructions
wrote letter H when instructed about how to write letter H
Teacher A : Ok, goes down, goes up a half, curved, goes down!
Some students tried to write letter H by looking at what Teacher A did.
Observation In Class X Day 3)
the action that was used by Teacher A was giving an example of how to ”h’’ when instructed the students to write letter ”h’’. When Teacher A acted out students tried to write letter ”h’’ by looking at the example (action) which was given by Teacher A. Therefore, from this transcription, we could see how action was used to deliver the instruction and made the instruction understandable for young learners
The use of gestures when delivering instructions
(Teacher B opened her hands when instructed the students)
Teacher B : Ok, keep open your book!
Some students almost closed their books. Then, Teacher B opened her hands like someone who
wrote letter H when instructed about how to write letter H)
was giving an example of how to ”h’’ when instructed the students to write letter ”h’’. When Teacher A acted out the example (action) which was given by Teacher A. Therefore, from this transcription, we could see how action was used to deliver the instruction and made the instruction understandable for young learners.
(Teacher B opened her hands when instructed the students)
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All students left their books open. (Observation Day 6 In Class Y)
In the picture, Teacher B opened her hands when she instructed the student to keep opening their books. Before using gesture, some students did not understand the instruction and some students closed their books. However, after seeing this gesture, some students who did not understand the instruction, could follow the instruction. Therefore, from this transcption and picture, we could see how the gesture was used to deliver the instruction and helped the students understood the instruction which was delivered in English.
Those are the examples of using gestures and action when delivering the instructions. In fact, gestures and action also helped the students to understand the instructions. This finding is related to the theory which is stated by Haliwell (1992). According to him, gestures and action are needed to make the instruction understandable.
Surprisingly, during twelve times observations, the writer also found that in delivering the instructions, the teachers did not always use those techniques above to help the students understand the instructions. During the observation, it was found that sometimes, teachers used English only without any techniques to make the instruction clear, or used Bahasa Indonesia only and repetition in English when delivering the instructions. Below is the transcription to illustrate how Teacher A used English only when delivering
When Teacher A explained about some kinds of transportation, one student was busy playing a lego. Teacher A : Boy, Wanna be here or outside? Outside?
Student: (Just shook his head)
Teacher A : No, Ya.. So, listen! Ok, do not play!
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In this case, Teacher A did not need to use the techniques to make the instruction clear since the student had already understood the instruction. Therefore, the student could do the instruction.
From the example above, we could see how Teacher A only used English when she was delivering the instructions. Without using the techniques, the students had been able to follow the instruction. This finding matched the theory which was stated by Sukarno (2008). According to him, if the students had already understood the instruction that is delivered in English, the teacher did not need to use any techniques to make it understandable.
In contrast, the writer also found the teachers used Bahasa Indonesia directly when delivering the instructions. Below is the example of how Teacher B used only Bahasa Indonesia when delivering instruction.
Teacher B : Miss bilang apa tadi? Di masukkan di tas atau di kantong! (keep it in your bag or pocket!)
The student put the socks in the pocket. (Observation Day 1 in Class Y)
From the example, we could see that sometimes, the teachers used Bahasa Indonesia when delivering the instructions. This finding is related to the theory which was stated by Linse (2006). Linse (2006) stated that using English for the whole time might cause the students feel uncomfortable when following the lessons because they will not really understand what is being said by the teachers. Therefore, the teachers should be wise in using English and students’ native language.
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Teacher B : Ok, every one! keep silent everyone! Keep silent everyone! Silent please! All students kept silent.
(Observation Day 1In Class Y)
In this transcription, the teacher used repetition to make the instruction understandable. When Teacher B repeated the instructions, Teacher B understood the instruction and they did the instruction.
This finding is related to the study which was conducted by Thomson (2012) who said that repetition also helps the students to understand the instruction because the teacher utters the instruction in several times and it makes the students understand the instruction.
From the findings, the writer concluded that in delivering the instructions, teachers need to use the suitable techniques. Gesture, action and translation help the students to understand the instructions which are delivered in English. Meanwhile, delivering instruction using students’ native language directly makes the students feel comfortable and the teachers do need to use techniques that can make the students understand the instruction if they have already been able to understand and follow the instruction.
B. Providing various activities in each teaching stage
According to Brown (2001) in Sukarno (2008) most of children have concentration span that is relatively short. Therefore, it is difficult for them to attend one activity for the whole lesson. To deal with this situation, Linse (2006) stated that teachers need to provide various activities in each teaching stage in order to make balance activities.
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“h” Mention and describe taste foods.
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Table 4
Activities in Class Y
From those tables, we can see that from six times observations in Class X and Class Y, five observations showed Teacher A and Teacher B provided various activites. In other words, mostly, Teacher A and Teacher B provided various activities during teaching-learning activity. This finding is related to the theory which was stated by Linse (2006). That is stated before, teacher needs to provide various activities in every teaching-learning activity such as those presented in the table of example of various activities on page 6.
From the activities that Linse suggested, we can see the similarity with the activities which were created by the teachers in Class X and Class Y during five times observations in
Teaching stage
Observation
1 2 3 4 5 6
Pre-teaching Review the last lesson
a. Exploration Practice counting backward
b.Elaboration Do the task about counting
activity Having Lunch together (18 minutes) Total Duration About 60
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each class. In Class X and Class Y, the writer found different activities in each teaching stage and Linse (2006) also stated that the balance activities require different activities in each teaching stage. Different activities in each teaching stage manage the students to keep engaged in teaching-learning activities. Besides that, from the observations both in Class X and Class Y, the writer found some ways of how teachers managed the activities. First, as we can see in Table 3 and Table 4, for each pre teaching stage and exploration stage, Teacher A and Teacher B never took time more than 10 minutes. This finding is related to the study which was conducted by Sakui (2007). In his study he mentioned that young learners are able to fully concentrate not more than 10 minutes. Surprisingly, in the elaboration stage, the writer found that sometimes, Teacher A and Teacher B took 10-25 minutes to conduct an activity or task. This is against what Sakui said. The possible explanation for this might be that in the elaboration stage, Teacher A and Teacher B provided a task which is uneasy to do for young learners such as counting practice. Therefore, students needed extra time to do the task. Another possible explanation might be that in the elaboration stage, Teacher A and Teacher B provided activities that were interesting for young learners such as coloring pictures, sticking objects, or having games. Those activities probably were interesting for students because those activities required a lot of body movements and suitable with their hobbies. Therefore, Teacher A and Teacher B provided long duration for those activities. This finding is related to the study which was conducted by Kalendova (2008). Kalendova’s study shows that young learners will always be attracted with activities that required them to do a lot of physical movements or match with their pleasure.
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in Class Y when the class duration was 60 minutes, Teacher B gave an additional activity which was having lunch together.
Anyhow, both in Class X and Class Y, there was one time in which Teacher A and Teacher B did not provide various activities in each teaching stage. In Class X, Teacher A did not create different activities during the Reading and Writing lesson. In table 3, we could see that there were no different activities in confirmation and post teaching stage. However, in Class Y, Teacher B did not create various activities in Art and Craft Class 1 because as we can see in table 4, there were no different activities in pre-teaching and exploration stage.
This finding does not match with the theory which is stated by Linse because the writer did not see different activites in each teaching stage. As a result, the writer found that once teacher did not provide different activities in each teaching stage, the students started to make nosies. Below is the transcription that shows that the students made nosies when they got bored with unvarious activities.
In classroom, Teacher A helped student 1 to write letter “h” Teacher A : Girl, look at this! Goes down, goes up a half, curve..
Meanwhile, some students did not do their exercise because they started to get bored with writing practice activity.
Student 2 : Boy, aku punya gambar bagus..( Boy, I have a nice picture..) (showed flash cards) Student 3 : Lihat.. (Let me see!)
Student 4 : Where is thumbkind.. where is thumbkind.. (sang loudly) Some students walked around the class.
(Observation Day 3 in Class X)
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the students’ boredom and they will be uncontrolled. Therefore, the teachers have to think about different activities in each teaching stage to avoid this chaos. This is also supported with the study which is conducted by Sukarno. Sukarno (2008) in his study said that the more various activities that are provided by teachers, the more interested students to follow the lessons but unvarious activities do not attract the students to enjoy the teaching learning activities.
In conclusion, to manage the students in order to keep engaged in a lesson during the whole class time, teachers should provide various activities with the suitable duration in each teaching stage to make the students keep engage in teaching-learning process.
C. Integrating physical activities into the lesson
According to Brumfit, Moon and Tongue (1991) young learners are active learners who need a lot of physical movement or activities. Therefore, to manage young learners who are physically active, teachers need to integrate physical activities into the lesson.
These following tables illustrate how teachers in Class X and Class Y conducted physical activities when they were learning.
Table 5
Physical activities in Class X
Subject Physical activities Explanation
Art and Craft Sticking items The teacher asked the students to stick some items in the art and craft book.
Science Game:Matching pictures The teacher asked the students to macth the pictures.
Reading-Writing Tracing letter “h” The teacher asked the students to practice tracing letter H Science Tasting foods The teacher asked the students to taste some healthy
foods that she brought to the class
Art and Craft Sticking items The teacher asked the students to stick some items in the art and craft book.
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Table 6
Physical activities in Class Y
From those two tables, the writer saw that in Class X and in Class Y, six observations showed that Teacher A and Teacher B conducted physical activities in class. This finding showed us that mostly, teachers conducted physical activities in class to help the students learning the lesson and this finding matches the theory which was stated by Sukarno (2008). He said that young learners need lessons which contain physical activities to help them understand the lesson.
Moreover, according to the previous study which was conducted by Rodliyah (2012), mostly, young learners are kinesthetic learners which means that they have to move to understand the lesson. Then, her study showed that it is easier for students to acquaire a new lesson when they are allowed to do physical movement. Below is the transcription that shows how the teacher manages the students to learn without ignoring their need to do physical movement .
In Science class, Teacher B taught about magnet and to teach students about which things that can be stuck to the magnet, Teacher B asked students to choose and colors some pictures of stuffs that can be stuck to the magnet.
Subject Physical activities Explanation
Mathematic Writing numbers In Mathematic class, the teacher asked the students to write numbers.
Sport Game : Balls estafette In this class, the students were asked to involve in the game and move their body.
Social Studies Drawing and coloring In this class, the students were asked to draw and color pictures.
Science Coloring pictures Same to the previous class, the students were asked to color the pictures.
Art and Craft Sticking items In this class, the students were asked to stick some items in the art and craft book.
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Student 1 : Yang di colour not the pencil.. pencil kan dari wood.. yang di color itu yang nail, lock, key and needle. (do not color the pencil.. pencil is made from wood, just color the nail, lock, key and needle..)
Student 2 : Ok... berarti pencil nggak ya? ( Ok, so the pencil is not colored isn’t it?) Student 1 : No.. nggak.... (No)
Student 2 tried to colour the others pictures. (Observation Day 4 in Class Y)
In this case, the physical activity was coloring the pictures. The students were asked to color the pictures of some stuffs that can be stuck to the magnet. Therefore, toward this activity, the students were able to acquire a new lesson about “which stuffs that can be stuck to the magnet and which stuff that cannot be stuck to the magnet” through coloring the pictures. During the lesson, Teacher B integrated physical activities which was coloring pictures to help the students understand the lesson.
As the conclusion, to manage the classes of young learners who love to do physical movement, teachers integrated the physical movement into the lesson. The students can acquire the new lesson without losing the chances to do physical movement.
D. Providing seating arrangement that promotes learning in a social context
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During twelve times observations in Class X and Class Y, the writer found that teachers also applied this principle. The tables and charts below illustrate the findings.
Table 7
Seating arrangement in Class X
Subject Loop Circle
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Figure 2
Seating Arrangement in Class Y
By looking at those tables and figures, the writer found that during six times observations in Class X, Teacher A only applied two kinds of seating arrangement which were ; circle and rectangle seating arrangement. Meanwhile, in Class Y, the writer found that Teacher B applied three kinds of seating arrangement which were rectangle arrangement, circle arrangement and row arrangement (others). In this case, row seating arrangement is considered as “other” since actually, this type does not recommended for kindergarten students.
Based on the observations, both in Class X and Class Y the teachers used seating arrangement based on the purposes of activities that were conducted during teaching learning activity. The teachers used circle seating arrangement when the activities required students to have a lot of discussions. For example, circle arrangement was used in Class X when teacher A was teaching about transportations. In this class, the students were required to have a lot of discussions when mentioning the names of transportations and the characteristics of transportations. The picture and transcription below illustrate the situation when students were seating in a circle arrangement.
Circle 57%
Loop 0% U-shaped
0% Rectangle
14%
Others 29%
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Circle Arrangement In Class X
T = Teacher
S = Students
Discussion 1 (The name of transportations)
Teacher A : Now, let’s see! Let’s see if you still remember those transportation. How about this one? ( showed a picture of car) What picture is it?
Students : Car...
Teacher A : Car.. Ok..what about this one? What is it? (showed a picture bike) Student 1 : Itu bike ya ? ( it is a bike isn’t it?)
Student2 : Iya, itu bike... aku punya bike..do you have bike? (Yes, that’s a bike, i have one) Student 3 : Iya tapi aku call that bicycle..( Yes, but I call that bicycle)
Student 4 : Iya.. I have bike.. ( Yes, I have bike)
Teacher A : You can say this ( still showing a picture of bike) bike or bicycle.
Discussion 2 (Decide what kinds of transportations that go on land)
Teacher A : Ok, which transportation, which transportation go on land? Kendaraan apa saja yang jalannya di darat? ( Which vehicles that go on land?) Can you mention some of them?
Student 1 : Bus.. Student 2 : Car..
Teacher A : Car.. what else? Student 3 : Motorcycle
Discussion 3 (Decide whether the vehicle need fuel or do not need fuel)
T
s s
s s
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Teacher A : Ok, helicopter machine or no machine? Students : Machine..
Teacher A : Ok, how about car? Students : Car.
Teacher A : Machine or no machine? Students : Machine !
Teacher A :Ya.. good job! Machine.. Now, bicycle. Machine or no machine? Students : No machine
( Observation Day 2 in Class X)
From the pictures and the transcriptions above, we could see that circle arrangement was used when the students need a lot of discussions. Circle arrangement allowed the students to conduct discussions with the wider group. In the circle arrangement, the students could conduct discussions with the whole members of the class. That’s why the circle arrangement is suitable for the class activity that requires a lot of discussions.
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Meanwhile, mostly, the teachers used rectangle seating arrangement when the students were required to do the activities that do not need a lot of discussions but need more focus when doing the tasks. For example, in Class Y, rectangle seating arrangement was used in Mathematics class. The pictures below illustrate rectangle seating arrangement in Class Y.
Rectangle arrangement in Class Y (Observation Day 1 in Class Y)
( The students were asked to sit in a group of four to five)
T : Teacher
The picture above showed that rectangle arrangement facilitated the students to have discussion in smaller groups. They were still able to conduct discussions but the discussions happened in smaller groups and the discussions in the rectangle seating arrangement did not happen as often as the discussions in the circle seating arrangement. As we can see in the example, in Mathematics class, the students were required to do a lot of practices counting backward. During finishing counting backward practice, the students were able to conduct a discussion eventhough just in a small group and the writer saw that in this type of arrangement, Teacher B ussually sat in front of the class (see the picture rectangle arrangement) and to control the students, the teacher would walk around the class. Teacher could check how each group of students worked on their tasks and how each group interacted each other.
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From the observation, the writer inferred that rectangle seating arrangement facilitated the students to conduct discussion in a small group and this type is suitable for the activities that need more focus and fewer discussions. Meanwhile, circle arrangement facilitates the students to conduct more discussions and this type is suitable for the activities that require a lot of discussions.
Unexpectedly , during the observations, the writer did not see both Teacher A and Teacher B use loop seating arrangement and u-shaped seating arrangement. Therefore, the writer could not examine how loop arrangement and u-shaped arrangement help students to learn in social context.
As conclusion, the observation shows us that Teacher A and Teacher B managed the students to promote social learning by choosing seating arrangements that enabled them to have discussions and interaction. Besides that, Teacher A and Teacher B considered class activity as the reasons why they chose to apply those kinds of seating arrangements.
E.Acquainting the students with routines
Brewster, Ellis and Girard (1991) stated that young learners needed to be familiarized with the routines because acquainting the routines aims to train the students to be more discipline, behave in a good manner and keep the cleanliness of environment.
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Table 9
The purposes of acquainting routines in Class X
Day Purposes
Discipline Manner / behavior Cleanliness 1 3 routines (43%) 3 routines (43%) 1 routine (14%) 2 1 routine (17%) 5 routines (83%) 0 routine (0%) 3 4 routines (57%) 3 routines (43%) 0 routine (0%) 4 2 routines (22%) 3 routines (33%) 4 routines(45%) 5 2 routines (40%) 3 routines (60%) 0 routine(0%) 6 1 routine (17%) 4 routines (66%) 1 routine (17%)
Table 10
The purposes of acquainting routines in Class Y
Day Purposes
Discipline Manner / behavior Cleanliness 1 3 routines (50%) 2 routines (33%) 1 routine (17%) 2 5 routines (63%) 3 routines (37%) 0 routine (0%) 3 2 routines (29%) 4 routines (57%) 1 routine (14%) 4 3 routines (38%) 4 routines (50%) 1 routine (12%) 5 2 routines (17%) 8 routines (67%) 2 routines (16%) 6 1 routine (14%) 6 routines (86%) 0 routine (0%)
From the observation results in Class X and Class Y from six observations, four observations showed that routines which aimed to train the students to behave in a good manner achieved the highest percentage. The possible reason for this fact might be that Teacher A and Teacher B expected the students learn to behave in a good manner. However, another purposes of acquainting students were about to train the students to be discipline and keep cleanliness.
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Then, to deal with this fact, Dauncey and Vokes (2012) stated that teachers should acquaint students with routines that train the students to behave in a good manner. Therefore, young learners will be able to learn about how to behave in a good manner.
As the conclusion, acquinting students with routines prevents the chaos that might be caused from students’ misbehaviours and there are three main purposes of acquainting students with routines such as ; train the students to behave in a good manner, train the students to be discipline and train the students to keep cleanliness of themselves and environment.
F. Giving praise for students
According to Brewster, Ellis and Girard (1991) stated that giving praise to students makes them feel comfortable and appreciated. However, it is better for teachers not to give over praise to students. When praising the students, teachers must have the good reasons. The following tables illustrate how often the teacher praised students and the reasons of why teachers praised students.
Table 11
Reasons for praising the students in Class X
Day Reasons for Praising the students Total of praises
Appreciate
students’ effort Appreciate good work Appreciate good behaviour
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Table 12
Reasons for praising the students in Class Y
Day Reasons for Praising the students Total of praises
Appreciate
students’ effort Appreciate good work Appreciate good behaviour
1 4 praises (66%) 1 praise (17%) 1 praise (17%) 6 praises 2 4praises (67%) 2 praises (33%) 0 praise(0%) 6 praises 3 1 praise (14%) 4 praises (57%) 2 praises (29%) 7 praises 4 3 praises (37%) 1 praise(13%) 4 praises (50%) 8 praises 5 2 praises (40%) 1 praise (20%) 2 praises (20%) 5 praises 6 3 praises (50%) 2 praises (33%) 1praise (17%) 6 praises
There are two important results of this study. First, from those tables, we could see how often the teachers praised the students. During the observations in Class X and Class Y, the writer never found Teacher A and Teacher B praised the students more than 9 times in one meeting. This fact indicates that both of teachers in Class X and Class Y never too often to praise the students.
This finding matches to the theory which was said by Brewster, Ellis and Girard (1991). They said that it is better for teachers not too often praising the children because the praises will be meaningless.
Second, based on the results of observations, the writer found that there were three things that could be reasons of why teachers praised students such as ; to appreciate a good work, to appreciate student’s effort and to appreciate good behaviors. This finding was in line with the theories which was stated by Brewster, Ellis and Girard (1991). They stated that students are deserve receiving a praise if ; they show the efforts, they show a good work and they show the good behaviours. However, the interesting thing that the writer found in this study was the percentage of each reason.
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showed that Teacher A and Teacher B praised the students mostly because they wanted to appreciate the students’s efforts. The possible reason for this finding might be that it is not easy for young learners to grab the new lessons fast. Then, during the process of grabbing the new lessons, young learners do the efforts. That’s why mostly teachers gave praises if students show their efforts to grab the new lessons. The teachers understood young learners’ problems in grabing the new lessons and also their efforts to grab new lessons. However, there are no specific studies that explore about this fact. This finding can be suggestion for other researchers to conduct a study on this topic.
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Conclusion
This study was conducted to answer this question ; how do the teachers implement the principles of classroom management in preschool?”.
The study aimed to find the implementation of classroom management’s principles for preschools and the result of this study might be useful for young learners teachers since there are some problems or situations that they need to deal when teaching young learners.
During the observation, the writer found how the teachers implement the principle of classroom management for preschools’ students. This following paragraphs show the summary of how Teacher A and Teacher B applied the principles of classroom management for young learners.
First, related to teacher’s difficulites in delivering instructions for students, the writer found that mostly, when delivering instruction in English, Teacher A and Teacher B translated the instructions into Bahasa Indonesia, which was students’ native language. This finding supported Halliwell’s theory which says that young learners come to school with their native language that have already developed. Therefore, translating the instructions into students’ native language is believed as the most effective method to help students’ understand the lesson. However, sometimes, the writer found that Teacher A and Teacher B used native language to students who had already understood the meaning of the instruction which was delivered in English, Teacher A and Teacher B did not need the techniques to help them following the instruction.
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elaboration stage that required extra efforts or match with students’ pleasure, Teacher A and Teacher B provided long duration. The data showed that students’ did not easily get distracted because they were interested in activities in the elaboration stage.
Third, related to young learners’ need to be physically active, the data showed that Teacher A and Teacher B always tried to integrate the lesson with physical activity. This showed how Teacher A and Teacher B managed students’ need to move and learn. In each lesson, the students were required to do activities that involved physical movement such as sticking objects, drawing, playing game, even tasting foods. In this case, young learners could acquire a new lesson without losing their chances to be physically active.
Fourth related to young learner’s need to learn in a social context, Teacher A and Teacher B asked them to sit in seating arrangement which facilitated them to discuss or share stuffs. Discussions and share stuffs promote learning in a social context. However, in choosing the type of seating arrangement, Teacher A and Teacher B also considered the purposes of class activities. For instance, when the class activities required students to conduct discussions with the large members, Teacher A and Teacher B asked them to sit in circle arrangement because this type allowed students to have wider interaction.
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misbehaviours that might happened in preschools level such as teasing friends, not saying thank you when receiving something or unwilling to share with others.
The last one related to young learners’ need to be appreciated, the writer found that Teacher A and Teacher B never gave over praises and they had strong reasons why they praised students such as ; appreciate students’ effort, appreciate students’ good work and appreciate students’ good behaviors. However, from six observations in each class, the writer found that mostly, teachers praised students to appreciate students’ effort. The possible reasons for this finding is perhaps, it is not easy for young learners to learn about new things. Then, if they show the efforts, the teachers had to appreciate it. However, the writer had not found a study that examine why mostly, the teachers give praises to appericate students’ effort.
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References
Brewster, J.,Ellis,G.,&Girard,D. (1991).The primary English teacher’s guide. Penguin English
Brumfit, C.,Moon, J.,& Ray T. (1991). Teaching English to children from practice to principle.London : Collins ELT.
Cameron, L.(2001). Teaching languages to young learners.United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press.
Ferk, M.K. (2008). Avoiding chaos in the preschool classroom : Management methods and techniques.
Halliwell, S. (1992). Teaching English in the primary school . 3rd ed. London, USA, Boston : Pearson publications.
Kalendova, E. (2008). The use of game-like activities in teaching English to young children. Masaryk University, English language.
Khatib, M., & Mellati, M. (2012). Literature and young learners in an EFL situation. Journal of comparative literature and culture, 1 (1), 18-22.
Kwiatkowska, A. (2008). Ideas on classroom management in young learners classes. Retrived from Teflnet website : http:edition.tefl.net/articles/yl-articles/vocabulary-yl. Linse, C.T. (2006). Practical English language teaching : Young learners. Mc Graw hill
publications.
Qinglan, L., Junyan,W., &Shongshan, H. (2009). Effective classroom management in young learners.
Rodliyah, R.S. (2012). Teaching English to young learners and the pedagogical implication.undergraduate thesis, UPI Bandung, Education.
Sakui, K. (2007). Classroom management in Japanese EFL. JALT Journal , 29 (1),41-58.
Scrivener,J. (2012). Classroom management techniques (1st ed). Cambridge:Cambridge University Pres.
Seda, Y. (2008). Teaching English to young learners and factors to consider in designing the materials. Journal Pendidikan dan Ekonomi , V (1), 57-73.
Thomson , N. (2012). Language teaching strategies and techniques used to support students learning in a language other than mother tongue. Kongsberg International School, Education.
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Attachment 1 _ Observational notes principle 1 -6
Observational Protocol
In relation to the Principle number 1 :
Using suitable techniques to deliver instruction
The Percentage of the use of each method in Class X
Day Gesture Action Translation
( E -I ) English only Repetition Bahasa Indonesia 1
2 3 4 5 6
Observational Protocol
In relation to the Principle number 2 :
Providing various activities
A. Various activities
Teaching stage Observation
1 2 3 4 5 6
Pre-teaching Whilst teaching a. Exploration b. Elaboration Confirmation Post teaching
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Observational Protocol
In relation to the Principle number 3 :
Integrating physical activities
Observational Protocol
In relation to the Principle number 4 :
Providing seating arrangment that promotes learning in a social context
Subject Loop Circle
U-shaped Rectangle Other
Observational Protocol
In relation to the Principle number 5 :
Acquainting students’ with routines
Day Purposes
Discipline Manner / behavior Cleanliness 1
2 3 4 5 6
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Observational Protocol
In relation to the Principle number 6 :
Giving Praise to students
Day Reasons for Praising the students Total of praises
Appreciate
students’ effort Appreciate good work Appreciate good behaviour
1
The purposes of acquainting routines in Class X
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Washing hands before
eating √
