THE USE OF ENGLISH - INDONESIAN IN TEACHING
MATHEMATICS FOR THE FIRST GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN
SALATIGA 06
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Muchammad Rafsanjani Saputra 112008124
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
THE USE OF ENGLISH - INDONESIAN IN TEACHING
MATHEMATICS FOR THE FIRST GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN
SALATIGA 06
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Muchammad Rafsanjani Saputra 112008124
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
THE USE OF ENGLISH - INDONESIAN IN TEACHING
MATHEMATICS FOR THE FIRST GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN
SALATIGA 06
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Muchammad Rafsanjani Saputra 112008124
Approved by:
Anne I. Timotius, M.Ed Listyani, M.Hum
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Copyright @2013 Muchammad Rafsanjani Saputra and Anne I. Timotius, M. Ed All right reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
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The Use Of English-Indonesian In Teaching Mathematics For First Grade Students Of SDN Salatiga 06
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THE USE OF ENGLISH - INDONESIAN IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS FOR THE FIRST GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN SALATIGA 06
Muchammad Rafsanjani Saputra
Abstract
This study discussed the use of English-Indonesian in teaching Mathematics for the first grade students of SDN Salatiga 06. This study was aimed to answer the research question, "What are the division of the use Indonesian and English in teaching Mathematics?” and “What were the reasons of such division in teaching mathematics?". One teacher from SDN Salatiga 06 was selected to be the participant of this study. The data used qualitative method and the data were obtained from one participant’s interview and observation. The result of the study exposed that the teacher uses English and Indonesian to make the students understand Mathematics in class and face the problem in teaching Mathematics. This result supported several finding found by Birdsong (1999), Fatmawati (2011), Krashen (1988) and Moschkovich (2005). Teacher must really give attention to the suitability of the languages that they use in teaching with the students’ needs and abilities. The suitability of using language is important because the students' understanding depends on the language that the teacher uses in explaining the material. In teaching, the use of English should be supported by Indonesian to ensure the students understanding. Key words:Language use, students' understanding, English-Indonesian.
Introduction
The use of English in Indonesia has significantly increased recently. There are many schools that use English as a medium instruction in teaching activity or in teaching process. Knowing the importance of English, our government has decided that English is a necessary subject in the school curriculum. The students learn English from elementary school to senior high school. The government has also decided that English is one of the courses that are tested in national final exam.
Indonesia has a new standard in education. Many state schools in Indonesia becomes International Standard School, which are commonly called SBI (Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional). In Salatiga there is only one primary state school that has the standard of SBI. The school is SDN Salatiga 06. The school uses two languages to teach students. Inthat school, several subjects like science and mathematics are taught using English. Imagine that primary school’s students have to use two languages, Indonesian and English, when they are learning in the classroom. In Indonesia, English teaching for early age is not sufficient. Only in certain cities do many preschools expose their students to English. Many preschools do not use English or teach it to their students. It may be difficult for the students to study in SBI primary schools, because the students had not received English before. When I conducted this study SBI became the trending topic in Indonesian standard education. However, in Indonesia SBI is no longer exist.
Recently, many parents in Indonesia want their early age children to start to
learn English. According to Birdsong (1999) in general, children are better second
language learners than adults because their brains are specially organized to learn
Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) enables children to have their best time to learn new
language because children still have the brain plasticity or elasticity in learning new
things quickly. The reason of choosing the use of Indonesian – English in bilingual institution was because nowadays in Indonesia the government made new standard of education that was international standard school. English was expected to play in International Standardized Schools. English is used as the medium of instruction for science, mathematicss and core vocational subjects from year 4 of primary school and throughout junior secondary school, senior secondary school and vocational secondary school and teachers must posses the competence required to teach their subjects through English (Depdiknas, 2007). Studying in international standard school does not mean that students should forget Indonesian culture (Hadisantosa, 2010).
SBI system means that the schools which belong to it use bilingual education. According to Cummins (1984) as cited by Crees & Blackledge (2010), bilingual education is defined as "the used of two (or more) language of instruction at some points in a student’s school career". The term bilingual education refers to a variety of education programs involving two or more languages as media of instruction to varying degree (Josiane & Michel, 2000). Boey (1982) expanded the term further. He proposed that bilingual education can be applied to any situation where there is a language switch from home to school as media of instruction, even though only one language is taught and used in school (Boey, 1980:2). Although there are many definitions offered, all these definitions agree that Bilingual Education is the use of two languages as media of instruction in the teaching learning process.
In there the aspect of using English as medium instruction in teaching mathematics was very important. It is because the school has standard that is called Sekolah Bertaraf International(SBI). Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional (SBI) is defined as national school that prepared for students based on Setandart Nasional Pendidikan (SNP) Indonesia and other education standard (domestic or international education standard) that has international reputation (Depdiknas, 2007).
This made the teachers has to master the English language or other foreign language to teach.
SBI system means that is the schools which apply the system use bilingual education and the teacher should use English as a medium of instruction in teaching mathematics. Clegg (2007) mentions that the Government of Indonesia has taken a decision to establish English-medium education in a limited number of schools known as SBI schools. It means that the teachers should know and understand well about English and also how to suit the language with the level of the students. For example, the teachers have to use simple language when they are teaching mathematics in first grade students. This is the challenges that the teachers face in teaching mathematics through English.
main action in the classroom and sometimes it has another goal to develop students' competence. A teacher does the interaction with the students in the beginning, middle, and at the end in learning process. Thus, a mathematics teacher should be able to communicate accurately and fluently. What is meant by fluent is flowing (Brown, 1994), whereas accurate refers to the correct use of language in terms of grammar and phonology. If a teacher cannot speak in English well, it can disturb the learning process. The teachers’ position is very important because they should master the material and deliver it by using English to the student. They have to be able to ensure that the students understand about what they explain.
Seeing the condition that some schools have new standard in education which is SBI, children are demanded to be able to learn English from early age.
However, when someone starts to learn a new language, some problems may occur.
The interference of the students’ first language is one of the problems. Besides that, the way of teaching language itself also influencesthe children’s understanding ofthe materials. In this case, the children do not only learn new language but also they have to understand the material by the means of the new language itself, which is English. The first language will interfere with the students’ process of second language learning and it will cause them difficulties. L1 may "substitute" for the acquired L2 as an utterance initiator when the performer has to produce understandable language in the target language but has not acquired enough of the L2 to do this (Krashen, 1988).
important because the first language still influence in explaining the material in the teaching process. Early studies of bilingual students learning mathematics focused on word problems, especially translating word problems from English to mathematical symbols. Most of these studies characterized the challenges that bilingual students faced, which are acquiring vocabulary or struggling with the mathematics register (Moschkovich, 2005). However, Moschkovich (2005) mentioned that one main challenge of bilingual mathematics learners is acquiring vocabulary. It will affect the communication in teaching. Finding a balance between focusing on mathematics registers and focusing on language is perhaps the biggest challenge of teaching mathematics (Barwell, 2008).
The present study aimed at the use of two languages, Indonesia and English, in teaching mathematics for first grade students of SDN Salatiga 06. In the bilingual education, non-English subjects, like mathematics and, three other science subjects which are biology, chemistry, and physic are taught using English as the medium of instruction. My purpose in this study was I want to know how the two languages are used by the teacher in teaching and in his attempt to help the students understand the material. The impact of learning other subjects through English is difficult to measure because no systematic studies have been carried out (Coleman, 2009). Therefore, I would like to carry out this study.
The study aimed to analyze the division of the use of Indonesian and English in teaching mathematics and the reasons of the teacher to do so.
The Study
The setting of the study was SD Negeri Salatiga 06. This elementary school was located in a small town of Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. I chose this school because before being changed by the government, this school was an RSBI (School which was promoted to have an international standard). Here, the medium of instruction was English. Therefore, the students and the teachers had to use English as medium of communicating in several subjects, one of them was mathematics class. The participant of the study was one first grade teacher. I chose the first grade because first grade students were still young and at that age, they were in the transition from being kindergarten students to Primary school students. It was really different when they were in kindergarten because when they was in kindergarten they only play but in primary school they start to study or learn subject. It would be a challenge for the teacher to teach them. Problems could be occurred when the teachers taught them by using two languages in class.
Participants
The participant was only one teacher who taught mathematics in first grade. In the school, each grade had 2 classes that were class A and class B, there was only one teacher who was teaching mathematics and in SDN Salatiga 06 the teacher who teach mathematics was also being classroom teacher. In primary school each teacher would teach all subjects in class except religion and sport.
Instrument of data collection
minutes. The interview was done individually. Then the next method was observation. I observed the teacher to see more clearly how the teacher taught using Indonesian and English.. The observation was done two times.
Procedures of data collection
The study used qualitative data that focused on the language used by the teacher in teaching. Qualitative research is defined as a research devoted to developing an understanding of human systems (Savenye & Robinson, 2003). A semi-structured interview was used in the study so I could develop and modify the questions based on the things that the researcher wants to know and get explanation more. I chose to use semi structured method because A fully structured interview would not let issues truly emerge in conversation (Fontana & Frey, 1994). Then the interview question would be asked in Bahasa Indonesia, the participants’ L1. This was the strategy to provide additional information and facilitate participants to talk more. The interviews took 15 minutes. It was recorded and transcribed. The teacher focused on topic such as the reason why the teacher divided the use of language in teaching mathematics.
Data Analysis
Discussion
The aim of the research is to find out the division of the use Indonesian and English in teaching mathematics and what the reasons of such division in teaching mathematics were From the data gathered, there were Two main things which were found. Those were English as a medium of instructions and the use of Indonesian in teaching mathematics.
1. English as a medium of instruction
The interview result showed that the use of English was very important in class That was because the school had an international standard which was called Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf International (RSBI). RSBI system means that this particular school used bilingual education and the teacher should use English as a medium of instruction in teaching, in this case, mathematics. It means that the teacher should know and understand English well, even how to use simple language to teach Mathematics for first grade students. When the participant was asked about the frequency of using English in class, she mentioned, ”In teaching mathematics, of course I use about 85% English in class.”(Teacher, 10-1-2013)
education standard class, which formed, with educational management and all intensity aspects and effectively systematized service quality and professionals, to achieve supreme education quality in national scope or international scope with some characteristics, such as the use of English language or the other foreign languages as effective language of instruction actively and the application of ICT (Information and Communicative Technology) in learning (Depdiknas, 2007). Also the statement strengthen by Clegg (2007) who stated that the Government of Indonesia has taken a decision to establish English-medium education in a limited number of schools known as SBI schools.. The system of RSBI requires that the teaching and learning process should use English as lthe medium of instruction actively. It proved that the teacher used English as a medium of instruction in class to teach mathematics.
This was another data that related to Depdiknas (2007) and Clegg (2007). The teacher mostly used English in the teaching process. The teacher used English actually form the beginning until the end of teaching activity. The student would be exposed to English in most teaching and learning activities. Related to this idea, the participant stated that, ” I always use English in all of my teaching phases, in the pre teaching, whilst teaching and post teaching.”(Teacher, 10-1-2013).
From the statement above it can be concluded that language that mostly used in teaching mathematics was English.
There was another explanation about the use of English as medium instruction in teaching mathematics:
which was adopted from Singaporean curriculum in which the teaching and learning process must be held in English.
(Teacher,
10-1-2013)
The teacher explained almost all of the subject that she taught to the students in English, it means that she used more English in teaching her subject, which is mathematics. There was also another explanation from the teacher about the use of English as medium instruction in teaching mathematics in class. The explanation was, “I use both English and Indonesia. Sometimes, if the lesson is quite difficult, I use Indonesia. However, I almost use English at all”(Teacher, 10-1-2013).
From the teacher's interview data above, it can be inferred that the language that mostly used in class was English. Indonesian language was used less than English. In here, Indonesian was used only when the lesson or the material is quite difficult to the students, so the teacher used Indonesian to make explanation clear and to make students understand the lesson easily. This idea is supported by Fatmawati (2011) who stated that the efforts of using English as the medium of class instruction should be supported with the first language (Bahasa Indonesia) in order to ensure students understanding about a mathematical concept.
a. Teacher’suse of simple English
taught. When asked about it, the participant explained, “Of course I explain the material in English. In here, I use simple English, it means in teaching process, I use
simple English for student. Then the students can apply English language in a simple
way in mathematics class.”(Teacher, 10-1-2013)
From the interview data above, it is clear that the teacher’s focus on using English in teaching mathematics was more as an instruction, it was because the curriculum that the school was adopted and the standard of the school that was given by the government The teacher also uses very simple language to the students because the students are young learners. The teacher use simple language in teaching also to make students understand about mathematics in English with simple way. The teacher considered about the English language that the teacher used in class to deliver the material in teaching process. The student would easy to understand about the material that the teacher delivered by using simple English language in teaching mathematics. From the discussion above it is seen that the participants’ idea is in line with Barwell (2008) who stated it will be taken effect of communication in teaching. Finding a balance between focusing on mathematics and focusing on language is perhaps the biggest challenge of teaching mathematicss. So the teacher should make balance between language use and mathematics to make students understand.
The data above is also connected with Moschkovich’s(2005) idea about the learner's problems that the teachers face in bilingual mathematics. The teacher found the way to make students understand the material in class. So it was clear that there was the learner's problem that needs to be faced in bilingual mathematics like from the data above showed, the teacher use simple language to face it.
Other than that, the use of English in teaching mathematics for first grade school. Although it will only be in beginner level, I'm sure the students will not get any difficulties. Take a look at the example of the use of comparison. They can apply it in their daily life, beneficial to the students. The students could recognize or understand mathematics registers even when they were still in very beginner level. The example of the benefits that were found from the data was the students would not find Mathematics in English as new and difficult things. For example, the students would be familiar with comparison material about things like small or big, whenever they read or watch about that outside their school context. Therefore, English is very beneficial for the student whether in school context or in real life environment.
2. The use of Indonesian
activity is English but Indonesian is still used although only in small portion. In regard to this, the participant stated “I only use Indonesian a small percentage.” (Teacher, 10-1-2013)
From the statement above, it is clear that the teacher uses Indonesian only a little for teaching mathematics in class.
The teacher used Indonesian only in certain situation. For example like when some students did not understand the material of the lesson that the teacher taught. About this idea, the participant explained,
I usually use Indonesian only when the students do not understand the material. For example, when I teach about short and tall, if the student do not understand I used Indonesian and also AVA to explain that. However I did not directly use Indonesian but I more to use picture to explain that. So the students would understand, that short was pendek and that tall waspanjang.
(Teacher,
10-1-2013)
register. It means the teacher had to explain the content of the mathematics clearly and understandable to the students.
Here is another example of the use of Indonesian in certain situation in teaching activity or process. In her teaching process, the teacher used Indonesian in certain situation because, “I use Indonesia only for certain situation, for certain situation. For example, when a student has difficulty in understanding what I say in
English, I approach him and explain in Indonesian.”(Teacher, 10-1-2013)
3. There are no obstacles to use English-Indonesia in teaching mathematics.
In bilingual schools, ideally the teachers use two or more languages to teach students in class. It is the bilingual education concept. According to Cummins (1984) (1984), bilingual education is defined as “the used of two (or more) languages of instruction at some point in a student’s school career” (cited in Crees & Blackledge, 2010). In bilingual teaching in my study, there were obstacles that made the teacher difficult to teach the students. In teaching activity, the teacher used two languages to make students understand. The following was the explanation from the teacher about obstacles she found when she was teaching using two languages:
There is no obstacle, I mean only a few obstacles existed in my teaching process. Usually I will use picture as my teaching tool and also for explaining the material to my students so I don't need to use Indonesian. Actually it is easy for me because I use Singaporean curriculum. That’s because the curriculum make it easier for students to understand the material. The curriculum uses very attracting and colorful AVAs. Therefore, the students could understand what I explained. In addition to that, students will understand the instruction.
(Teacher,
10-1-2013)
From the data above, the teacher did not have a lot of difficulties or obstacles to use English-Indonesian in teaching mathematics. The teacher was helped by the Singaporean curriculum that was applied in her school because she believed that for the students, Singaporean curriculum was easier to understand. The curriculum had interesting and understandable content so the students could understand about the material or the lesson that the teacher taught.
The aim of the research is to find out the use Indonesian and English in teaching mathematics. This study found that the participant divided the use of Indonesian and English in teaching mathematics. There were several reasons behind it. First, the teacher who became my participant used mostly English in class for teaching mathematics. The participant used about 85% of English because the standard that the school used. So she used English as a medium of instruction in class for teaching mathematics. Here, the participant did not use general English for the students but she used simple English to teach them because the students or learners were still very young and they were in the first grade of primary school.
Teaching using simple language would help the teacher and also the students because the teacher can ensure the students’ understanding. There was also a reason of using English in teaching mathematics. The participant stated that using English in class was very beneficial for the students even when the students were still in the very beginning level of English. English was very beneficial for students even in study context or in real life environment. The learners would find it easier to be familiar with the material if then in future they apply the material in real life where they have to use English.
also the teacher should use Indonesian also to ensure the students understanding and this statement lined with Fatmawati's (2011) and Krashen (1988).
However, this study still has limitations. The first limitation is the number of participants. There was only one participant. Bigger number of participants will be more beneficial for the reliability of the further studies. The second limitation is the limited participants who teach Mathematics using English as medium instruction in primary school in Salatiga.
From this study I found that the use of Indonesian and English in teaching mathematics has many aspects. According to Fatmawati (2011) and Krashen (1988) the use of English should also be support by Indonesian in the teaching activity to ensure the students' understanding about the material that the teacher taught. It was beneficial for the teacher to help them in teaching material by using English as a medium instruction.
Acknowledgement
I would not be able to finish this thesis without the help and support from several individuals around me. Therefore, I would like to send my greatest thank to Allah SWT for His blessing, love, and for always being around me in every condition I have. I know without Him, I am nothing. I would like to send my gratitude to my supervisor, Anne I. Timotius, M.Ed for the supervision, support and fundamental suggestion given to me, and also to my examiner, Ibu Listyani, M. Hum for the guidance during the completion of this thesis. I also want to say thank you so much to Ibu Susi as participant for her time and help in the process of collecting data.
References
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Appendix A
The interview questions
1. Sudah berapa lama bapak/Ibu mengajar matematika di kelas 1? 2. Bahasa apa yang Bapak/Ibu gunakan dalam mengajar matematika?
3. Apakah Bapak/Ibu menggunakan Bahasa Inggris saat mengajar matematika? 4. Kapan Bapak/Ibu menggunakan Bahasa Inggris pada saat mengajar?
5. Kapan Bapak/Ibu menggunakan Bahasa Indonesia pada saat mengajar? 6. Berapa persen pemakaian Bahasa Inggris saat mengajar?
7. Berapa persen pemakaian Bahasa Indonesia saat mengajar?
8. Mengapa Bapak/Ibu memilih menggunakan bahasa itu lebih banyak?
9. Apa hambatan Bapak/Ibu ketika membagi dua bahasa tersebut pada saat mengajar matematika?
Appendix B
Observation Form
When and why use English-Indonesian
Classroom Observation
1 2
Guru menggunakan Bahasa Inggris saat mengajar matematika di kelas.
Guru menggunakan 85 % bahasa inggris dalam mengajar matematika di kelas.
Guru menggunakan bahasa indonesia sedikit sekali dalam pengajaran.
Guru menggunakan bahasa indonesia dalam keadaan tertentu pada materi pelajaran sukar.
guru menggunakan bahasa indonesia untuk menjelasakan kepada sebagian murid yang tidak bisa.
Guru selalu menggunakan bahasa inggris saat mengajar.
