TEACHING ENGLISH TO EFL YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH CHILDREN POETRY.

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TEACHING ENGLISH TO EFL YOUNG LEARNERS

THROUGH CHILDREN POETRY

A THESIS

Submitted in a partial fulfillment of the requirements

for Master’s degree in English Education

By

SOLIS SETIYANI

1103455

ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM

THE SCHOOL OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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TEACHING ENGLISH TO EFL YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH

CHILDREN POETRY

By Solis Setiyani

M.Pd. UPI Bandung, 2014

A Thesis submitted in a partial fulfillment of the requirements

for Master’s degree in English Education (M.Pd.) in Faculty of Language and Arts

July 2014

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APPROVAL SHEET

A Thesis Paper

TEACHING ENGLISH TO EFL YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH CHILDREN POETRY

By Solis Setiyani

Approved by

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Solis Setiyani, 2014

Teaching English to efl young learners trough children poetry

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu TEACHING ENGLISH TO EFL YOUNG LEARNERS

THROUGH CHILDREN POETRY

Solis Setiyani

English Education Program The School of Post Graduate Studies

Indonesia University of Education Email: uluv_sokalate@yahoo.co.id

Abstract

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

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER i

APPROVAL SHEET ... ii

DECLARATION ... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iv

ABSTRACT ... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi

TABLE OF FIGURES ... viii

TABLE OF EXCERPTS ix TABLE OF APPENDICES ... x

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1 Background of the Study ... 1

1.2 Research Questions ... 5

1.3 Purposes of the Study ... 5

1.4 Significance of the Study ... 6

1.5 Scope of the Study ... 6

1.6 Key Terms Definition ... 7

1.7 Organization of the Paper ... 8

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ... 9

2.1 Constructivism, Interactionism and CLT: The Rationales ... 9

2.2 Children Poetry ... 13

2.2.1 Definition ... 14

2.2.2 Types of poetry ... 15

2.2.3 Poetic devices ... 19

2.2.4 The importance of teaching EFL young learners through children poetry ... 23

2.3 Models of Teaching Literature in EFL Classroom ... 28

2.3.1 Language-based approach to using poetry in EFL young learners’ class ... 29

2.3.1.1 Principles of language-based approach ... 30

2.3.1.1.1 Activity-principle ... 30

2.3.1.1.2 Process-principle ... 33

2.3.1.2 Instructional considerations ... 34

2.3.1.2.1 Materials ... 34

2.3.1.2.1.1 Creating poetry anthology for EFL young learners 38 2.3.1.2.2 Classroom activities ... 39

2.4 Instructional Interaction in Poetry Class ... 44

2.4.1 Teacher-student interaction ... 44

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2.4.3 Reader-text interaction ... 46

2.5 Children’s Responses to Children Poetry ... 47

2.6 Conclusions 51 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 52

3.1 Preliminary Study ... 52

3.2 Research Design ... 54

3.3 Research Site and Participants ... 55

3.4 Data Collection Techniques ... 58

3.4.1 Non-participant observations ... 58

3.4.2 Video recording ... 59

3.4.3 Document collection ... 60

3.4.4 In-depth interviews ... 60

3.5 Data Analysis ... 61

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 63

4.1 Description of Research Participants ... 63

4.2 Teaching English through Children Poetry: The Process Exploration .... 74

4.2.1 Teacher: the organizer and the enabler ... 74

4.2.2 The poetry: it made the learning interesting ... 92

4.2.3 Instructional interactions: inspiring and inspired ... 98

4.2.4 Three in one: covering three learners’s aspect in the learning process ... 103

4.2.4.1 Fostering language and cognitive development ... 103

4.2.4.2 Facilitating emotional and social needs ... 110

4.2.4.3 Physical involvement ... 113

4.3 Identifying Children’s Responses ... 115

4.3.1 EFL young learners: enjoying fun activities with children poetry 115 4.3.2 The EFL Young Learners’ Responses toward children poetry .... 117

4.3.2.1 Thinking about children poetry: verbalizing thoughts by pictures and words ... 118

4.3.2.2 Feeling expressions: non-verbal responses took over ... 121

4.3.2.3 Being conscious of poetry Sound and emotion ... 123

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 126

5.1 Conclusions ... 126

5.2 Recommendations ... 127

REFERENCES ... 129

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1. The result of preliminary study of the EFL young learners’

attitude toward poetry ... 53

Figure 4.1. The EFL young learners’ attitude toward poetry after joining the research class ... 88

Picture 2.1. ‘Key’ by Tonny Mitton, a shape poetry ... 19

Picture 4.1. The illustration of ‘A Wolf is at the Laundromat’ by Ara, Dee, and Gil ... 79

Picture 4.2. Ara’s riddle ... 86

Picture 4.3. The vocabulary internalization within the EFL young learners’ poem ... 104

Picture 4.4. The EFL young learner’s linguistic development ... 108

Picture 4.5. Dee’s acrostic ... 114

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu TABLE OF EXCERPTS

Excerpt 4.1 ... 69

Excerpt 4.2 ... 71

Excerpt 4.3 ... 73

Excerpt 4.4 ... 76

Excerpt 4.5 ... 80

Excerpt 4.6 ... 81

Excerpt 4.7 ... 82

Excerpt 4.8 ... 89

Excerpt 4.9 ... 90

Excerpt 4.10 ... 90

Excerpt 4.11 ... 98

Excerpt 4.12 ... 99

Excerpt 4.13 ... 101

Excerpt 4.14 ... 107

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu TABLE OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1. The Result of Observations ... 136

Appendix 2. Children Response to Children Poetry in the Classroom ... 138

Appendix 3. Field Notes ... 142

Appendix 4. Syllabus ... 151

Appendix 5. Lesson Plans ... 154

Appendix 6. Learning Materials ... 169

Appendix 7. Children Illustration of ‘Mary’s Lamb’ ... 177

Appendix 8. Children Recipe Poems ... 179

Appendix 9. The Young Learners’ Works of Ordering Lines ... 182

Appendix 10. Children’s Riddles about Animals ... 183

Appendix 11. Children’s Poetry Illustrations ... 184

Appendix 12. The Young Learners’ Works of Answering Comprehension Questions ... 185

Appendix 13. The Young Learners’ Works of Gap-filling ... 186

Appendix 14. The Young Learners’ Poems about Parents ... 187

Appendix 15. The Young Learners’ Acrostics ... 189

Appendix 16. Interview Transcriptions ... 191

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

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The preliminary study revealed that poetry seems seldom to be touched in EFL teaching particularly teaching young learners. The learners get involved in English songs, games, role plays, and functional texts but are rarely introduced to poetry. Having read the syllabus of English subject in elementary school, it did not include poetry as one of the learning materials. Moreover, a phone interview with an English teacher of a state elementary school in Serang City revealed that poetry was never given to the students. Her first reason was that she never thought to make use of poetry in her teaching. The second reason was that the elementary school syllabus offered a lot of activities but there was no sufficient time allocation. The last issue made it almost impossible to try an alternative and innovation in the English teaching including using poetry as a resource.

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Several views have been expressed about the reasons of why poetry is still seen distant to EFL contexts particularly to Indonesian contexts. The first reason is that several English teachers do not think that poetry is a relevant material to teach the target language (Wyne & Jones, 2001; Munjin, 2008; Ngesti, 2011; Iida, 2013). They do not see poetry as the learning material that can facilitate students’ communicative competence. The arguments come up probably because of the absence of instructional models regarding the use of poetry in language classroom (Lockward, 1994; Štulajterová, 2010). Most teachers do not have an idea on how to make use of poetry in EFL teaching because they never have an English teacher who taught poetry effectively. As the result, most English teachers acknowledged a discomfort with teaching poetry. Unfortunately, the teachers’ perspective toward poetry as a language resource caused them to give their students little exposure to poetry, which later gives an impact on the growth of children’s negative attitude toward poetry. Kennedy (1994) observes that students’ dislike for poetry often stems from incompetent teachers and queer associations to things that are worlds apart and of course the string of mind boggling questions that follow the poem. In other words, students dislike poetry because of their own bad experience with this literary text.

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The third reason is that the teachers assume that EFL young learners’ language proficiency has not yet reached the level to understand the poetic concepts. However, actually children have been familiar with poetry and poetic concepts even though they could not define or describe it for they learn it by experiences. Poetry is primarily an oral form of literature that draws heavily on the auditory perceptions of the listeners. Poetry is often put as a song lyric which daily surrounds the young learners even started from their early age. Although people are not aware with the existence of poetry, children were observed to invest some poetic concepts like rhyme and rhythm and using them at playtime (Wyse & Jones, 2001; Sloan, 2003). Therefore, any reasons beyond neglecting poetry in EFL curriculum for young learners should be put away.

Neglecting poetry could be meant unawareness to its power. As an authentic material, poetry can facilitate language acquisition effectively. Using children poetry in a language class also promotes a number of positive learning functions related to the four language skills (Hedge, 2000; Smart, 2005; Utami, 2012) and language areas such as pronunciation (Collins, 2008) and English structure (Holmes & Moulton, 2001; Kurniasih, 2011; Utami, 2012). In addition, poetry can also be used to facilitate language learning by reducing anxiety and increasing motivation (Nasr, 2001; Duzzy, 2002; Munjin, 2008; Bagherkazemi & Alemi, 2010; Štulajterová, 2010; Ngesti, 2011). In other words, poetry can improve three factors of learners: language ability, attitude, and motivation.

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need of each school. The government has admittedly determined that the objective of English teaching is to provide a good basis for communicative competence (Musthafa, 2001; Kurniasih, 2011). Communication is still the main purpose of EFL teaching. Poetry, fortunately, can be a medium for the EFL young learners to communicate both in oral and written form. Thus, utilizing poetry to teach EFL young learners seems suitable to achieve the goal.

Another advantageous effect is that poetry learning can connect intellectual, emotional, and physical experiences (Gadjusek, 1988). It means that learning through poetry fulfill holistic principle in which three learners’ aspects could be covered within the classroom activities. Even with poetry, teachers can teach science, history, geography, personal, social and moral education, art, music and, if pushed, mathematics (Sedgwick, 2000). It shows that the learning is really holistic as mandated in the new national curriculum 2013.

Primary level education should emphasize on the character development of the young learners; the mandate is even reinforced in the 2013 curriculum. Similarly, language education needs to parallel this goal (Suherdi, 2012). Poetry evidently provides it. As one of three literature genres, poetry includes wisdom, ideology, culture, and moral values (Musthafa, 2008). These elements show a great importance to activate and to enhance the reader’s emotional intelligence (EQ), and this makes literature particularly suited to the language classroom where the constituents of emotional intelligence, namely awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills, all contribute to more effective language learning (Ladousse-Porter, 2001).

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So, EFL young learners should not feel worried about how to understand poetry. Furthermore, the benefit can be doubled as the material explores their world from children point of view. EFL young learners need such an authentic and meaningful text in order to increase their motivation in learning English.

However, it needs to be mentioned that although the selection of texts is of utmost significance, the way the text is approached by both teachers and learners and the nature of tasks and activities that the learners engage will determine the success of using poetry in the language classroom (Durant, 1995; Vasuthavan & Kunaratman, 2009; Bagherkazemi & Alemi, 2010; Yeasmin, Azad & Ferdoush, 2011; Iida, 2013). The use of literary texts with effective approach can make learners more conscious, reflective and creative and thereby accelerate the language learning process (Yeasmin, Azad & Ferdoush, 2011). Therefore, appropriate poems as learning material and instructions cannot be separated as a powerful combination. Moreover, as this study concerns on the language and literature teaching, a language-based approach seems suitable with the expected goal that will be achieved. The approach seems possible to be applied in a class in which young learners become its member.

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appropriate methods of teaching English to EFL young learners through children poetry.

1.2 Research Questions

In an attempt to understand the process of teaching English to EFL young learners through poetry written for children this study was intended to answer the following problems:

1. What happen when children poetry is taught to teach English to EFL young learners?

2. How do the young learners react to their learning?

1.3 Purposes of the Study

As regard with the research questions above, the following are some reasons why this study was conducted:

1. To explore the process of teaching English to EFL young learners through children poetry, and

2. To investigate the EFL young learners’ responses toward their English learning through children poetry.

1.4 Significance of the Study

This study contributes to advance pedagogical theory of language and literature teaching to EFL young learners. It also provides an insight on how and why to teach English through poetry to them. Therefore, the result of the study is hopefully expected to give benefits to the stakeholders and practitioners.

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makers to include literature specifically poetry in teaching English to young learners (TEYL) program. For other researchers, the results of the study can stimulate those who intend to carry on research in the same field with certain interest.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This research restricts itself on the phenomena occurred during the process of teaching English to EFL young learners through children poetry. Through this study, a model of teaching English to EFL young learners by using children poetry as the language resource were developed. Therefore, the study provides the description of teacher role, material selection, and classroom activities in which the EFL young learners are engaged. Since poetry teaching closely relates to communicative approach, the instructional interaction among teacher, students and text were also scrutinized. And for the sake of young learners, their responses were investigated.

1.6 Key Terms Definition

Five key terms must be clarified to avoid misconception and misunderstanding of the concepts underlying this study. The following definitions would be helpful in this regard:

1. EFL Young learners refer to children of primary education aged 5 to 14 years who learn English in non-English environment (Pinter, 2006).

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poetry is defined as poetry that has been specifically written with young readers in mind with language that is not too complex for them to take in, and also poetry shared with the adult canon which editors have selected for children or which children have found, liked, borrowed, and hoarded for themselves (Styles, 1998).

3. According to Carter and Long (1991), language-based approach is defined as a literature teaching approach which seeks to integrate language and literature study. This approach was developed based on the idea that literature provides authentic context of the language and rich linguistic features. Carter and Long further explain that this model includes some strategies that have been familiar to teachers of English as a foreign language such as jigsaw reading, matching, gap-filling, reading aloud, paraphrase, and creative writing. These strategies are intended to help students find ways into a literary text.

4. Interaction means conveying and receiving authentic messages that contain information of interest to speaker and listener in a situation of importance to both (Rivers, 1987:4). However, interaction can happen everywhere, at home, at school, etc. Thus, a specific definition of interaction related to this study is required. Kumpulainen and Wray (2002:16) mention school-based interaction which is intentionally oriented towards learning. It seems that school-based interaction is similar with classroom or instructional interaction. Therefore, instructional interaction can be defined as the act of sharing of messages that leads to achieve the intended learning objectives.

5. Children’s response in this study means both verbal comments and non-verbal behaviors (Huck, Hepler, & Hickman, 1989) which become the sign of the EFL young learner’s response toward the instructions and the children poetry.

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This paper consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 provides a general description of the research. This introductory chapter consists of background, research questions, purposes of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, key terms definition, and organization of the paper.

Chapter II deals with literature review concerning several theories underpinning the study. First, it delineates the underlining theories namely constructivism, interactionism, and communicative approach. Second, it discusses the definition of children poetry, the types, the importance in EYL program, and poetic devices. Third, it explains the models of teaching literature in EFL classroom particularly language-based approach including the principles and the instructional considerations. The last, it also covers the explanation of three-way instructional interactions in poetry class and children’s responses to children poetry.

Chapter III elaborates research method of the present study. It presents the preliminary study and the findings. It also explains and justifies the research design and the research site and participants. Furthermore, it describes the techniques of data collection namely non-participant observations, video recording, document collection, and in-depth interviews and how the data is analyzed.

Chapter IV presents and analyzes the research findings. The phenomena found are discussed in order to develop an understanding of the process of teaching English to EFL young learners through children poetry.

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

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses how the study was conducted. It explains the selected research design and its justification, the research site and participants, the data collection techniques and the data analysis procedures. The chapter is begun by presenting a survey as a preliminary study which was previously conducted by the researcher. The preliminary study was intended to measure the EFL young learners’ knowledge of poetry and their prior attitude toward it.

3.1 Preliminary Study

The preliminary study was conducted to measure EFL young learners’ knowledge of poetry and their attitude toward it. Poetry here is not specified only as children poetry written in English but poetry in general including which is written in Indonesian language.

Survey was chosen as the preliminary research design. 13 sixth graders from two state elementary schools in Bandung City were selected as participants including 5 boys and 8 girls. They were between 11 to 12 years old. The data was obtained by employing a questionnaire which was given to each child. The questionnaire (see appendix 17) consists of three sections. The first section asks about children curriculum vitae while the second and the third consists of 15 questions to investigate the EFL young learners’ experience and knowledge of poetry. The questionnaire includes open-ended questions and close-ended questions respectively for part B and part C.

Below are 15 question items asked to the EFL young learners through the questionnaire. The statements were taken from Sloan (2003:51).

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Teaching English to efl young learners trough children poetry

3. Writing poetry is 4. Reading poetry is 5. Talking about poetry is

6. These are the kinds of poems I know 7. My favorite poet is

8. My favorite poem is

Close-ended questions (answered by yes or no): 1. I enjoy reading poetry.

2. I enjoy listening to poetry. 3. I enjoy writing poetry. 4. I enjoy talking about poetry. 5. I own poetry books.

6. I check out poetry books from the library. 7. I read poems mostly in school.

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Figure 3.1

The result of preliminary study of the EFL young learners’ attitude toward poetry The figure above shows that the children’s attitude toward poetry was unfortunately negative. Most of them did not like reading, writing, and talking about poetry. The only one activity with poetry that gained a lot of positive appreciation was the activity of listening to it. They mostly revealed that poems made them feel positive such as happy and calm while they listened to it. The negative responses probably were caused by the fact that the children were distant to poetry. They did not own poetry books and did not check out poetry books from library. They even did not read poems in school.

To conclude, the EFL young learners were still distant even to poetry written in Indonesian language. Their attitudes toward poetry also tended to be negative. Such situation might be influenced by limited experience with poetry.

3.2 Research Design

The research is a qualitative study. Alwasilah (2002:60) explains qualitative approach is best suited for the study which employs interactional

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mechanism between researcher and respondents. That is why qualitative approach is determined since this study intends to understand the teaching-learning process in the classroom in which teacher gives children poetry to EFL young learners.

Teaching English through children poetry to EFL young learners in Indonesian context seems unfamiliar and little research has been done on it. Although there have been an increasing number of studies done on the use of literature in the language classroom worldwide, this field is still in its infancy (Iida, 2013). Particularly in EFL teaching in Indonesian context, English is commonly brought into the class based on the expressive and transactional function but the poetic mode seems rarely to be introduced. Young learners has interacted with many functional texts, yet literary texts including poetry are seemed neglected. For this reason, the instruction of teaching English to EFL young learners through children poetry needs to be presented. Therefore, besides learning English, the young learners experienced the expression, creativity, and imagination through the poetic function of language.

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be built, and recommendations regarding the likelihood of continuing with additional research on the topic can be made.

Exploratory studies typically involve three components: a review of literature, discussion with experts, and involvement with case studies (Adams & Schvaneveldt, 1991:104). Furthermore, exploratory research is not designed to come up with final answers or decisions. Through the preliminary information, the researcher hopes to produce hypotheses about what is going on in a situation (Fox, 2008). Hypotheses are derived from the data obtained by observing a small group of respondents by using purposive sampling. It also suggests in-depth interview to be conducted to see how the young learners react to their learning.

3.3 Research Site and Participants

The research took place in an informal situation. An EFL class in which children poetry becomes the main learning resource was arranged. Thus, a syllabus was developed, lesson plans for eight meetings were written, poems were selected and compiled into a children poetry anthology for EFL young learners, the presentations were composed and the other learning facilities such as classroom, projector, computer, and loudspeaker were prepared.

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There were nine sixth graders from two state elementary schools in Bandung of the age 11 to 12 years old as the research participants. Kurniasih (2011) proposes that in the last level, students can be encouraged to begin to manipulate language and express themselves in a much more personal way. Personal means that the EFL young learners can be set to communicate their thoughts, ideas, and feelings related to poetry presented and topic discussed. Moreover, children at their age reach formal operation stage in which they are biologically able to think beyond the immediate context (Piaget in Pinter, 2006). It makes them possible to develop ideas more than the surface of poetry which is represented by the written words.

The researcher selected the EFL young learners as the participants for they previously had been taught for one year by her. Besides the access reason, the setting was beneficial for at least the researcher could make sure that the participants were ready enough to receive poetry as learning material. Moreover, personal situation requires a good rapport between the researcher and the students. The classroom interaction should be observed and students’ responses regarding their learning should be obtained. At least, both the researcher as teacher and the EFL young learners have been familiar to each other, which facilitated the process of data collection.

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However, he mentions a dilemma in which through his experience of conducting a qualitative research as a teacher-researcher he sometimes finds it difficult to become an observer with a non judgmental, distanced viewpoint. Therefore, to minimize the research result from bias the researcher should be open, probing, and seeking the why, how, what, and where (Adams & Schvaneveldt, 1991:104) during conducting the study. Therefore, the gaining of new perspectives on the process of teaching English to EFL young learners through children poetry can be maximized.

The study which places a researcher as a teacher shows its growth. Particularly in regard with the study of using literature in English language teaching (ELT), this kind of research is hefty. Mostly, the researchers try to expose the importance of using literature in language teaching and to offer the methodological instructions of using literature as a learning material based on their personal experience of conducting the class. The following are the examples. 1. Costello (1990) promotes the use of literature in ESL writing classes to address student’s literacy by integrating reading and writing activity. She depicts how she incorporated literature in her writing class.

2. Riverol (1991) describes her personal experience gained from teaching EFL to adult Spanish speakers by using literature to examine the place of literature in EFL class and the enrichening effect both from a cultural and linguistic viewpoint.

3. Llach (2007) proposes the classroom activities which can be practiced by using the poem entitled ‘The Waste land’ in ESL classroom.

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5. Yavuz (2010) suggests English teachers practical ideas about how to integrate the experience of writing poetry as a tool of teaching English especially to young learners and beginners.

6. Yeasmin, Azad, & Ferdoush (2011) conducted a study which aims to emphasize the effectiveness of using literature in EFL classes through a case study on the project ‘Readers’ Development Program’ of the British Council, Bangladesh.

7. Utami (2012) suggests some practical considerations of using poetry in EFL teaching of all educational levels in Indonesian context.

8. Smith (2013) describes the importance of imposing creative writing in second language learning. She shows evidence from her personal experience of conducting a creative writing course for Japanese university students.

9. Addison (2013) outlines educational methodology that might encourage Japanese university students to apply Post-Colonial and Reader Response criticism to both authentic texts and graded readers, based on his experience with his ELT reading class.

3.4 Data Collection Techniques

The collection procedures are based on Creswell (2003:185-8). Several techniques were used to obtain data namely non-participant observations, video recording, document collection, and in-depth interviews. Furthermore, there were five instruments of data collection namely non-participant observation forms, field notes, checklists of children’s responses to children poetry, files of teaching and learning activities, and interview protocols.

3.4.1 Non-participant observations

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teaching in general and the literature teaching in specific. A non-participant observer was involved to maintain the objectivity of observation result since the researcher as teacher played double roles. The jobs were divided. The non-participant observer investigated the teacher’s role, classroom activities, and the EFL young learners’ involvement.

An observational protocol was provided (see appendix 1). It included 28 statements namely: 11 indicators of teacher role, 10 indicators of classroom activities, and 7 indicators of students’ involvement. All indicators were summarized from the theoretical framework.

3.4.2 Video recording

As the researcher took the teacher role at the same time, it was difficult for her to interrupt the teaching-learning process by taking note of whatever unusual data noticed at the classroom. Therefore, video recording was employed to capture every important detail of the teacher’s and students’ behavior. As the study also sought for the EFL young learners’ responses to children poetry brought to the class, videotape equipment was valuable to capture nonverbal responses beautifully. Thus, the researcher did not lose the track of evidences.

The researcher did not employ a cameraman to shoot the scene for his presence seems disturbing the students’ concentration while studying. Therefore, it was important for the researcher to place the videotape at a proper spot in which it was able to capture whole parts of the classroom and does not lose the details of activities happened.

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By watching and re-watching the videos taken along the class, the researcher took field-notes on the behavior and activities of the young learners at the research site. In these field-notes, she recorded the phenomena which were captured in an unstructured way and added comments for each event. Besides field-notes, a checklist to recognize the young learners’ responses to children poetry was used. The checklist contains 18 statements which represent two types of response in general – verbal and nonverbal. The statements are derived from theory of responses to literature from Kuhn (1966), Huck, Hepler, & Hickman (1989), and Lynch-Brown and Tomlinson (1999).

3.4.3 Document collection

During the process of the research, the documents of syllabus, lesson plans, poetry as learning material, and every single of students’ works were gathered. Those were valuable data sources to answer the couple of questions of this study.

Files of syllabus and lesson plans provided a model of instructional methodology of embedding children poetry to the program of teaching English to young learners (TEYL). The materials, especially those which were students-self selected, identified the children’s interests and preferences about poetry. Documents of the young learners’ work such as pictures they drew, poetry they wrote, and other classroom tasks revealed their creativity, responses and comprehension to the poetry.

3.4.4 In-depth interviews

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Teaching English to efl young learners trough children poetry

In the interviews, the researcher should also consider the balance of power-relation between her and the children (Adriany, 2013). Moreover, Kirk (2007) suggests that children should control the tape-recorder. He further explains that it is the child who decides when an interview should be started and when it should be stopped. Thus, the researcher asked each child whether they want to control the recorder or they allow the researcher to do it.

The interviews involve semi-structured and generally open-ended questions that are few in number and intended to elicit the young learners’ views and opinions. An interview protocol was provided including a heading, opening statements, the key research questions, a space for recording the interviewee’s comment, and a space in which the researcher records reflective notes. Since the interviews were semi-structured, this design allowed the researcher to ask follow-up questions. The following are fourteen key questions which are intended to invite talk. They try to investigate young learners’ response and attitude toward the instructions and the learning materials.

1 What do you like about your English language learning through poetry along this time?

2 Do you like to listen to poetry reading? Why do you (not) like it? 3 Do you like to read poetry? Why do you (not) like it?

4 Do you like the activity of poetry writing? Why do you (not) like it?

5 Do you like to discuss about poetry in the classroom? Why do you (not) like it?

6 In your opinion, what is poetry?

7 Can you mention the types of English poetry that you know? 8 Besides in the classroom, do you read poetry in your house?

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10 After reading, listening, and discussing many poems, do you have favorite poem? Can you tell me the title?

11 What do you like about the poetry? 12 What do you notice about it? 13 How does it make you feel?

14 What does the poetry make you think of?

3.5 Data Analysis

Before breaking down the steps of data analysis, it should be noted that the process of data analysis was ongoing. It means that the step was not sharply divided from the other activities in the process. It went hand in hand with data collecting. The data analysis involves the following steps adapted from Creswell (2003:191-5).

1) Organizing and preparing the data for analysis

This involved assembling data from non-observation forms, checklists for students’ response toward the poetry, and students’ works, and typing up field-notes and transcribing interviews.

2) Reading through all the data

The step aimed to obtain general sense of the information and to reflect on its overall meaning.

3) Coding the data from all sources

Coding is the process of organizing the material into chunks before bringing meaning to those chunks. It involved taking text data, segmenting sentences into categories, and labeling those categories with a term, often a term based in the actual language.

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This step was done by using the coding process. The description involved a detailed rendering of information about people, places, or events in the setting. The themes were also derived. They displayed multiple perspectives from individuals and were supported by diverse quotations and specific evidence. 5) Representing the description and themes in a narrative passage

In this step, the detailed discussion of several themes complete with subthemes, specific illustrations, multiple perspectives from individuals, and quotations was presented. It also conveyed descriptive information about each participant in a table.

6) Making an interpretation or meaning of the data

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

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This final chapter presents the summary of research findings interpretation and suggestions for follow-up actions. It consists of two major areas: first, conclusions of the study; second, general recommendations for change and further research. To sum, the combination of children poetry as language resource and

appropriate methodological instruction benefited the EFL young learners’ holistic

development. Thus, the study suggests the use of children poetry in EFL teaching particularly in the context of Indonesian elementary education.

5.1 Conclusions

Finally, the study provides an instructional model of teaching English to EFL young learners by making use of children poetry as a language resource. The children poems were selected by considering the EFL young learners’ potential to understand the texts. In addition, the classroom activities were arranged by making them suited to the selected poetry, the nature of children, and the appropriate teaching approaches. Thus, it can be said that the instructions were carefully developed.

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develop their language proficiency, to share their thoughts and understanding, then finally to discover the poetry meaning.

Furthermore, the EFL teaching got different colors. Children poetry made it more than simply a technical exercises but a critical and creative learning. Hence, the EFL young learners were interested and showed a high involvement in this literary text as well as the classroom activities. The instructions appreciated

personal diversity and helped the EFL young learners’ potentials to develop. Therefore, the young learners’ positive attitude toward poetry bloomed.

Since a predetermined reaction was avoided, diverse responses to children poetry and the instructions appeared. It was a democratic and tolerant experience in which the children were able to give their thoughts and to respect other opinions. The young learners were involved in a thinking process and produced different ideas. They felt the emotion of a poem and recognized the musical sound, which is useful to sharpen their perception. Besides, they also acquired language-related and possibly other factual knowledge. Thus, the EFL young learners found their learning interesting and educating.

Overall, perhaps the most valuable connection of using children poetry in EFL teaching to the children lives was that it improved their reading habit. Having interaction with the poetry in the classroom encouraged them to read it out of the

class. They opened the teacher’s personal anthology of children poetry and read

the poems in their home without being instructed. It is a firm foundation for a lifelong reading habit.

5.2 Recommendations

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of employing children poetry in EFL teaching. Thus, there are some future implications suggested to the following three parties.

First, it is hoped that the decision makers in EFL teaching can consider children poetry to be included as one of official language resources for EFL young learners. Under the power of literature in general, children poetry can be explored to take part in the fulfillment of national educational goals which emphasize character education in elementary level.

Second, the study provides an instructional design, so teachers that are willing to employ children poetry as teaching material can refer to it. The study

gives reference to the teacher’s roles, the arrangement of classroom activities by

making use of children poetry, and to the poetry selection. Moreover, for the beneficence of EFL young learners, it is hoped that EFL teachers could start to empower this literary text in their classes, so that a developmentally appropriate instruction for young learners could be implemented.

Third, for other researchers, the study under the topic of using literature to teach EFL young learners is still open widely especially for Indonesian context. There are many interesting topics that can be investigated such as the

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