ABSTRACT
Pada zaman sekarang ini banyak masalah yang terjadi pada anak-anak di sekolah dan bermacam-macam istilah mulai bermunculan. Contohnya autis dan hiperaktif yang mempengaruhi sisi psikologis anak sehingga
kadang-kadang menimbulkan kesulitan pada cara belajar anak tersebut. Ada anak yang kesulitan belajar Matematika dan ada juga anak yang kesulitan membaca atau mengeja. Di Indonesia anak yang mengalami kesulitan-kesulitan seperti ini mungkin akan disebut bodoh, padahal ternyata ada penyebabnya. Contohnya adalah kesulitan mengeja dan membaca yang dikenal dengan nama disleksia.
Saya tertarik untuk membahas topik ini karena mulai ramai dibicarakan. Terlebih lagi saya ingin mengetahui penyebab sebenarnya yang terjadi dengan anak didik saya yang selalu mengalami kesulitan dalam mengeja dan membaca dalam Bahasa Inggris. Setelah saya mencari informasi lewat internet, ada kemungkinan dia mengalami disleksia. Saya ingin mengangkat pengalaman ini menjadi topik yang akan saya bahas dalam Tugas Akhir ini, mengingat masih jarang orang Indonesia yang tahu tentang disleksia.
Pada Tugas Akhir ini akan dibahas tentang masalah yang dihadapi salah satu murid saya saat magang. Ada kemungkinan bahwa dia mempunyai
disleksia, karena dia selalu mengalami kesulitan dalam mengeja dan membaca. Berbagai solusi telah dicoba untuk mengatasi masalah ini termasuk saran yang diberikan kepada supervisor agar memberi tahu orang tuanya mengenai
masalah anaknya. Namun karena tidak berhasil, akhirnya solusi yang paling baik yang diambil selama saya magang adalah mendukungnya dan
membantunya dalam mengeja dan membaca. Dengan dukungan, perhatian, dan bantuan yang diberikan, dia menjadi lebih percaya diri dan bisa mengeja lebih baik.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL PAGE ... i
PERNYATAAN ORISINALITAS LAPORAN ...ii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ... iii
PREFACE ...iv
ABSTRACT... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS...vi
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION... 1 - 6
A. Background of the Study B. Statement of the Problem
C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study D. Description of the Institution
E. Limitations of the Study
F. Organization of the Term Paper
CHAPTER II. THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 7 - 9
CHAPTER III. CAUSE AND EFFECT... 10 - 14
CHAPTER IV. POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS ... 15 - 17
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
When teaching in a school or a course, every teacher must face different
character with various behaviour, and also different knowledge that the students
have. Besides, the teachers often find problems of the children, whether
physical or mental. Sometimes the problem is easy or hard to be solved.
Not only the English subject do the children find difficult to learn, but some
other subjects as well. Of course, they cannot handle the problem easily and
they do not know the way out of their difficulties. There are some learning
disabilities that make them very difficult to learn English well if compared to the
normal students. One of the learning disabilities is called dyslexia, which makes
a child difficult to spell, and this is usually followed by difficulty in reading or
writing as well.
Dyslexia can be observed when an English teacher who does not know
the problem keeps asking a student to spell a word. However the student
always gets confused in pronouncing the words, no matter how often the
teacher has spelled the word correctly for the student. Moreover,
the dyslexic child cannot read or write well sometimes. In the end, both of the
teacher and the student will be frustrated. That happened in Ace Kids, Bandung,
with a student of mine during my internship. He could never spell correctly every
time I asked him to spell. Furthermore, he could not read a sentence well.
Sometimes when he was asked to write one or two words, he could not do it
correctly either.
Based on what I get during my internship, I want to choose this topic as
my final-term paper writing because I think it is interesting as not so many
Indonesian people know about dyslexia. Knowing how dyslexia affects the
student and how a teacher can do things to help the dyslexic student in class
will not make both the teacher and the student frustrated. I would like to find out
why he has difficulty in spelling and sometimes in reading. This research also
tries to give solutions to help my student overcome his problem.
B. Statement of the Problem
Based on the Background of the Study, I want to find out why my student
has difficulty in spelling which is often accompanied by difficulties in reading and
writing during my internship. I think it is caused by the presence of dyslexia and
I will try to search for more information about the case and find out how to help
him.
C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study
There are some objectives and benefits that I get from the study and
3
o Objectives of the Study
I want to find out the cause of what happens with one of my students
during my internship who cannot spell correctly, accompanied by being very
slow in reading and difficulty in writing a simple word. This makes me think he
maybe has dyslexia. From the information that I get, I will be able to know the
possibility of the child’s condition and find the best way to help him. I will
analyze this topic to help the teachers as well to know how to handle a child,
especially dyslexia.
o Benefits of the Study
I will divide the benefits of the study into three parts, which are for the
institution, for myself, and for DIII English Program and the Readers.
(a) For the Institution
By reading this term-paper, the teachers can know how to handle the
students with difficulty in learning English and hopefully they can improve their
techniques of teaching. The teachers will be able to learn more about children
psychology, so when they face a problem with a student, they will know how to
handle the student’s behaviour wisely and control their emotion.
(b) For Myself
By conducting this research, I know a new term called dyslexia based on
some signals that I see from a student of Ace Kids who cannot spell and read
correctly. Furthermore, I can gain new information as well as solutions on how
to help this child and this can add to my knowledge about teaching and about
children psychology.
(c) For DIII English Program and the Readers
Both the lecturers in DIII English Program and the readers will be able to
know about dyslexia so that they will be able to know how to handle a dyslexic
child. The readers can also know what Ace Kids is like and what some parents
should do with their child if they find the child has difficulty in learning English.
D. Description of the Institution
Ace Kids was firstly built in Jakarta by Dra. Leony Siswati Tanama in 1998
with its slogan “Ace Kids starts with the end in mind”, which means that the
students, who do not really know about English language and come to Ace Kids,
will learn and speak in English and Ace Kids will teach all types of English
lessons practically as well. Therefore, when the students do not study in Ace
Kids anymore, they will still understand and be able to use English language
everywhere. Ace Kids does not want to teach only theories.
On April 1st, 2002, Dra. Leony opened Ace Kids’ first branch at Jalan
Pajajaran no. 87, Bandung. Then on May 1st, 2006, the next branch was
opened at Kopo Permai III 47A/no. 11, and the last branch was opened at Jalan
Astina no. 68D. However, Ace Kids in Jalan Pajajaran has been closed due to
the small building in Jalan Pajajaran that could not provide enough space to
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are approximately 100 students who join English course at Ace Kids – Bandung
branch with eight teachers, including the owner, Ms. Rhimelda, and two
receptionists, one of whom is also a teacher.
Ace Kids is an English course which teaches Vocabulary, Writing,
Reading, Conversation, Listening, and Grammar. The three-floor building in Ace
Kids Astina branch is complete with teaching equipment, such as: whiteboard,
colourful markers, colour pencils, TV, DVD player, radio tape, cards, board
games, such as Scrabble. In all Ace Kids branches are divided into 13 classes
based on the children’s ability and their grade at school, such as : Toddy, Joey,
Kiddy, Pre Basic, Basic 1, Basic 2, Basic 3, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2,
Intermediate 3, Advance 1, Advance 2, Advance 3.
E. Limitations of the Study
I will try to find out what has caused my student to have difficulty in
spelling and reading in Ace Kids Bandung by gathering some data from the
internship journal I wrote. I also talked with the supervisor and the receptionist at
Ace Kids Bandung, interviewed Dr. Dewi, a children’s psychologist, read some
books, and got information from the internet resources to fulfill my curiosity.
Afterwards, I will conclude and choose the best solution for this child.
F. Organization of the Term Paper
This final term-paper starts with an Abstract, a brief summary of the entire
paper in Bahasa Indonesia. This Abstract is followed by the Declaration of
Originality to certify that I write this paper based on my own work, and then the
Acknowledgements to all the people and God who have helped me in writing
this paper. After that is the Table of Contents, which is followed by its five
chapters.
Chapter I consists the introduction of the paper’s analysis and Chapter II
contains relevant theories that will be used to help my research in writing.
Furthermore, Chapter III contains the cause of the problem that the child faces
and the effects of it. Afterwards, I will analyze possible solutions including the
positive and negative effects from doing it and the real situation analysis in
Chapter IV. After that, I will choose the best solution with the reasons that will be
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION
Based on my experience during my internship, talking with Ace Kids
teachers and the receptionist, interviewing a children’s psychologist, Dr. Dewi,
and gathering information from books and internet resources, personally, my
first thought and hope would be that his parents knew the real situation about
their child, Raldy, and have the child tested psychologically so they could help
him academically and psychologically. Then, the parents would know what
actually happened with their child and had the psychologist provide some help
so that Raldy could understand his English lessons better and he would be able
to spell, read, and write well.
However, since the real situation came unexpectedly that neither my
supervisor nor the receptionist wanted to tell the parents, the best solution
overall would be the second solution, which was giving him support and
compliments when he could spell or read correctly. For example, say,”Good
boy” or “good work. Nice!” when he could do a task well in order to regain his
self-confidence to memorize faster and be able to do his task well. Still, we had
to help him too how to spell and read better until
he could spell, read, and finally write without any problem. As an example, we
could teach him “b” where the round shape is facing right using our body
gesture. We could also tell him that spelling the word is not the same as it
sounds as he is a dyseidetic dyslexia. In my opinion, that was the only solution
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Printed Sources
Bawkin, Harry, and Ruth Morris Bawkin. Behaviour Disorders in Children.
4th ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company, 1972.
Snowman, Jack, and Robert Biehler. Psychology Applied to Teaching.
10th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Electronic Sources
Bailet, Laura L. “Understanding Dyslexia.” Kids Health. August 2006.
17 September 2007 <http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/
school/dyslexia.html>.
Hodge, Patricia Lynn. “A Dyslexic Child in the Classroom.” Dyslexia the
Gift. 2000. Davis Dyslexia Association International. 19 September
2007 <http://www.dyslexia.com/library/classroom.htm>.
Moats, Louisa Cook. “Spelling.” 2000. The International Dyslexia
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cache:j-hJRJKYMQJ: www.interdys.org/servlet/compose%3Fsection
_id%3D5%246page_id%3D5+%22spelling+disability%22&hl=id&ct=
clnk&cd=1&gl=id>.
“What is the difference between dysphonetic and dyseidetic dyslexia?”
www.dyslexia.com. 1 August 2006. Davis Dyslexia Association
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