Microteaching student`s comprehension of text types

(1)

MICROTEACHING STUDENTS’ COMPREHENSION OF TEXT TYPES

A Thesis

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

FX. Titis Ardiyanto Student Number: 041214045

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

(2)

ii A Thesis on

MICROTEACHING STUDENTS’ COMPREHENSION OF TEXT TYPES

Approved by

Sponsor

(3)

iii A Thesis on

MICROTEACHING STUDENTS’ COMPREHENSION OF TEXT TYPES

Defended before the Board of Examiners on August 5th, 2010

and Declared Acceptable

Board of Examiners

Chair person : C. Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. ____________

Secretary : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. ____________

Member : Ch. Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd. ____________

Member : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. ____________

Member : C. Sih Prabandari, S.Pd., M.Hum. ____________

Yogyakarta, August 5th, 2010

Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University

Dean,

(4)

iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, August 5th, 2010 The Writer

(5)

(6)

v ABSTRACT

Ardiyanto, Fransiscus Xaverius Titis. 2010. Microteaching Students’ Comprehension of Text Types. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

The latest curriculum used in Indonesia namely School-based Curriculum provided teachers more spaces for teaching their students, considering that each school even each student had their differences. Ironically, based on the researcher’s personal involvement with teachers in one of private schools in Yogyakarta, there were some teachers who had no clear comprehension of text types which had major parts in the School-based Curriculum. Microteaching students were assumed to be future teachers. They will teach text types to their students.

This research investigated the microteaching students’ level of comprehension of text types. There were two questions addressed. The first question discussed the microteaching students' level of comprehension of text types. The second question explored microteaching students’ difficulties on comprehending text types.

To answer the research questions, the researcher employed a mixed method, a combination of a quantitative research method and a qualitative research method. Two instruments were used to obtain the data, namely tests and interviews. Referring to the research instruments, there were two kinds of participants involved in the research. They were the test’s participants and the interview’s participants. The test participants were 17 microteaching students’ of Sanata Dharma University and the interview participants were three test participants who gained the highest, lowest, and median score of the test.

There were two major results obtained from the research. First, the microteaching students’ level of comprehension of text types was low. It indicated by 50.73 as their average score of the test. Analytical exposition was the text types which gained the lowest degree of comprehension. The generic structure of the text types was part of the text types which gained the lowest degree of comprehension. Second, there were two kinds of difficulties faced by the microteaching students for comprehending text types namely internal factors and external factors. The internal factors included laziness and their own characteristic. The external factors included lacking of information and involvement or interaction with text types. It was also in the condition that text types were not taught during microteaching students study at Sanata Dharma University. Suggestions were given to (1) microteaching students to have more involvement to text types so that they can improve their level of comprehension of text types, (2) English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University to teach text types in the study of the microteaching students, and (3) further researchers on the level of comprehension of text types to employ the real teachers as the subjects of the research.

(7)

vi ABSTRAK

Ardiyanto, Fransiscus Xaverius Titis. 2010. Microteaching Students’ Level of Comprehension of Text Types. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Kurikulum terbaru yang digunakan di Indonesia yaitu Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) memberikan ruang yang lebih banyak bagi guru untuk mengajar para siswanya dengan mempertimbangkan bahwa setiap sekolah atau bahkan setiap siswa mempunyai perbedaan. Tetapi sayangnya, berdasarkan pengalaman keterlibatan peneliti secara personal dengan para guru di salah satu sekolah swasta di Yogyakarta, terdapat beberapa guru yang belum memiliki pemahaman yang jelas tentang text types yang mempunyai keterlibatan yang besar dalam KTSP. Mahasiswa microteaching yang diasumsikan untuk menjadi guru-guru masa depan juga akan mengajar text types saat mereka mengajar para siswanya pada kemudian hari.

Penelitian ini meneliti tingkat pemahaman mahasiswa microteaching terhadap text types. Terdapat dua pertanyaan mendasar dalam penelitian ini. Pertanyaan pertama membicarakan tingkat pemahaman mahasiswa microteaching terhadap text types. Pertanyaan kedua membahas kesulitan-kesulitan yang dialami mahasiswa microteaching dalam memahami text types.

Untuk menjawab pertanyaan dari penelitian ini, peneliti menggunakan metode campuran yaitu kombinasi dari metode kuantitatif dan metode kualitatif. Terdapat dua alat yang digunakan untuk memperoleh data yaitu tes dan wawancara. Mengacu kepada alat penelitian, terdapat dua jenis partisipan yang terlibat dalam penelitian ini. Mereka adalah partisipan untuk tes dan partisipan untuk wawancara. Partisipan untuk tes adalah 17 mahasiswa microteaching dari Universitas Sanata Dharma dan partisipan untuk wawancara adalah tiga partisipan yang diambil dari partisipan untuk tes yang memperoleh nilai tertinggi, nilai terendah, dan nilai tengah dari tes.

(8)

vii

dan (3) peneliti mendatang yang fokus pada pemahaman text types untuk menggunakan guru sebagai subyek dari penelitian.

(9)

viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I hardly imagine having accomplished my thesis titled “Microteaching

Students’ Comprehension of Text Types” without the blessing of my Lord, Jesus Christ. His sacred heart faithfully accompanied me in the thesis accomplishment, both when I am in ups and downs.

I am indebted much to Christina Kristiyani, my sponsor, for giving me attention, suggestions, guidance, and motivation during the finishing process of

my thesis. My gratitude also goes to all PBI lecturers, who have guided me to be what I am now, and the secretariat staffs (Mbak Tari and Mbak Dani), who have supported me during the last six years.

I would like to thank my family, my father, M. Sukro Sumartiyana, my mother, P. Suginah, and my sisters, Stefany Titis Bayuprima and Y. Titisari Nugraheny, for their stories, support, love, kindness, and warmth. My deepest love and gratitude go to my girlfriend, Agt. Ika Isrianawati, for love, patience, care, warmth, kindness, sharing moments, and support.

(10)

ix

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1.1 The Comparison for Each Curriculum ... 2

Table 4.1. Recount ... 40

Table 4.2. Narrative ... 41

Table 4.3. Procedure ... 42

Table 4.4. Descriptive ... 43

Table 4.5. News Item ... 45

Table 4.6. Analytical Exposition ... 46

Table 4.7. Identification and Purpose of the First Test ... 47

Table 4.8. Generic Structure of the First Test ... 48

Table 4.9. Lexicogrammatical Features of the First Test ... 49

Table 4.10. Report ... 50

Table 4.11. Hortatory Exposition ... 51

Table 4.12. Spoof ... 53

Table 4.13. Explanation ... 54

Table 4.14. Discussion ... 55

Table 4.15. Review ... 56

Table 4.16. Identification and Purpose of the Second Test ... 57

Table 4.17. Generic Structure of the Second Test ... 58

Table 4.18. Lexicogrammatical Features of the Second Test ... 59

Table 4.19. Summary of the Result of the Test for Each Participants ... 61

(17)

xvi

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 2.1. Model of the Reading Comprehension Process ... 11

(18)

xvii

LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

Appendix 1: Test I ... 78

Appendix 2: A Blank Answer Sheet of the Test I ... 80

Appendix 3: Examples of the Participants’ Answer Sheet of the Test I ... 82

Appendix 4: Test II ... 88

Appendix 5: A Blank Answer Sheet of the Test II ... 90

Appendix 6: Examples of the Participants’ Answer Sheet of the Test II ... 92

Appendix 7: The Interview Transcription of the Respondent M ... 98

Appendix 8: The Interview Transcription of the Respondent C ... 101

Appendix 9: The Interview Transcription of the Respondent E ... 103

(19)

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the researcher presents six major issues namely

background of the study, the problem formulation, the problem limitation, the

research objectives, the benefits of the research, and the definition of the terms

used in the research.

A. Background of the Study

During the 65 years of its independence (1945 – 2010), Indonesian

government has applied nine curricula in its education system. Those are Learning

Plan 1947, Explained Learning Plan 1952, Curriculum 1964, Curriculum 1968,

Curriculum 1975, Curriculum 1984, Curriculum 1994 and Supplement of

Curriculum 1999, Curriculum 2004/Competence-based Curriculum, and

Curriculum 2006/School-based Curriculum (Dwitagama, 2008). Referring to the

curricula used, they provide the fact that the changing of the curriculum used in

Indonesia nowadays is so rapidly; nine curricula are used during 65 years or in

other words one curriculum is applied for 7.22 years in average. During the last

decade (2000 – 2010), there are not less than three curricula used in Indonesia. It

means that one curriculum is used for 3.33 years in average. The latest curriculum

known as School-based Curriculum has been applied in Indonesian education

since 2006. It was two years after the application of the previous curriculum used;

(20)

Since the research is conducted in 2010, the researcher only focused on the

last two curricula used in Indonesia those are Competence-based Curriculum and

School-based Curriculum which played significant effects for the research.

Therefore, the researcher only provided the comparison for the last two curricula

in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 The Comparison for Each Curriculum

No. Curriculum Focus

1. Curriculum 2004/Competence-based Curriculum

Focuses of the students’ competence achievement individually as well as

collaboratively, learning outcomes oriented and diversity of the students, variation in the use of approaches and methods in the learning process, teachers are not the only source of the learning and study, assessment focuses on the learning process and learning outcomes in the effort of gaining competence mastery and achievement.

2. Curriculum 2006/School-based Curriculum

Focuses of the students’ competence achievement individually as well as

collaboratively, learning outcomes oriented and diversity of the students, variation in the use of approaches and methods in the learning process, teachers are not the only source of the learning and study, assessment focuses on the learning process and learning outcomes in the effort of gaining competence mastery and achievement.

(21)

Referring to Table 1.1 number 8 and 9, there are no differences in the focus of the curriculum between Competence-based Curriculum and School-based

Curriculum. The difference is in the application. Competence-based Curriculum

provides indicators by which students pass the test or not but School-based

Curriculum does not. It is the school responsibility to provide the indicators. It

means that every school in Indonesia may have different indicators for students

learning achievement.

School-based Curriculum provides the teachers more spaces for teaching

their students, considering that each school even each student has their differences

either the inside factors and the outside factors. That each student has their unique

way of learning is one of the inside factors which has to be well considered

instead of the curriculum itself. The outside factor includes where the location of

the school is. Teaching the students in a remote area obviously needs different

approaches and methods compared to teaching them in a big city. Using the latest

curriculum, the government is expecting that it will match the needs of every

province in Indonesia because the government only provided the basic

competence and the standard of competency, the rests -including the materials,

approaches and methods used, and also media- is the teachers’ responsibility to

decide as long as it matches the needs of the students and the curriculum (KTSP,

2006).

Considering the curriculum, learning English is a matter of learning the

four skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing. In writing skill, there are 12

(22)

These test types included recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item,

report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion,

and review. Senior High School teachers must be aware of these kinds of text

types that the government of Indonesia suggests the students to learn these text

types well based on the graduate competence standard.

In order to graduate from Senior High School, students have to

comprehend the theory or the generic structure and the lexicogrammatical features

and the use or the social function of the text types. This is the teachers'

responsibility to teach them so that they comprehend the concept and the use of it.

Ironically, based on the researcher’s personal involvement with teachers in

one of private schools in Yogyakarta, there are some teachers that have no clear

understanding of the recent curriculum especially when dealing with text types. It

goes worse because in School-based Curriculum, text types are always discussed

in the end of every chapter of the study. It means that text types become an

essential part of the curriculum. It is in the consideration of the changes of the

curriculum used in the education in Indonesia that nowadays is changing too

often. There are few trainings which are not sufficient enough conducted by the

government of Indonesia. Specifically, there are some teachers that had no

sufficient understanding of text types whereas it has to be taught in class (Dya,

2008).

It is also stated by Syamsury, the Head of Yogyakarta Education

Department that, "Belum semua guru memahami KTSP. Kami perlu terus

(23)

Curriculum. We have to keep socializing it,”] after opening Technical Guidance

and Training of School-based Curriculum at SMAN 7 Yogyakarta (Dya, 2008).

Microteaching students who are expected to be future teachers have to

prepare themselves solving these problems. By testing them about their level of

comprehension of text types, it will provide them with more awareness of their

current skills and after the researcher provides the result of the research, students

with low and even average level of understanding had to study more in order to be

better teachers in the future they are expected to.

B. Problem Formulation

The research was aimed to answer these two major questions as follows.

1. What is the microteaching students' level of comprehension of text types?

2. What are the microteaching students’ difficulties in comprehending text

types?

C. Problem Limitation

The problem is limited only to the comprehension of the 12 kinds of text

types offered by the government of Indonesia which have to be taught in the

Senior High School and especially in what part of the text and in what kinds of

text the microteaching students have the low comprehension of. The subjects of

the research are also limited for only 21 microteaching students of Sanata Dharma

(24)

D. Research Objectives

There are two objectives of the research. The first objective of the research

is to know the microteaching students’ level of comprehension of text types

especially in what part of the text and in what kinds of text the microteaching

students have the low comprehension of. The second objective is to know why the

microteaching students have low level of comprehension of text types. This is to

identify their difficulties on comprehending text types.

E. Research Benefits

There are five groups of people will have the benefits of the research.

They are microteaching students of English Language Education Study Program,

lecturers of English Language Education Study Program, Indonesian government,

other researchers, and policy makers.

1. Microteaching Students of English Education Study Program

By testing the microteaching students, the researcher recognizes that they

need to develop their mastery of text types in order to be better teachers in the

future by having better mastery of text types.

2. Lecturers of English Language Education Study Program

The benefits of the research are aimed to the lecturers of English Language

Education Study Program so that they can be aware of how important having

(25)

3. Indonesian Government

The research is also beneficial for the Indonesian government especially

The Ministry of National Education of Indonesia by which provides them

feedback on how students of microteaching class of Sanata Dharma University

Yogyakarta, who are expected to be future teachers, comprehension of the text

types is; so that the government produces more trainings and seminars for the

teachers and future teachers as necessary.

4. Other Researchers

The research is expected to give insight on the level of comprehension of

text types of the microteaching students of Sanata Dharma University. It also

expected that the research will be beneficial for anyone in need for further

research studies e.g. the research participants are real English teachers especially

considering that there is not many research have been conducted on this topic.

5. Policy Makers

The research is also projected to give suggestions and guidelines for

evaluations of the education policy. It is expected that with the completion of the

research, the policy makers will be able to give a review of the existing policies in

education that will lead into a better quality of education in Indonesia and

(26)

F. Definition of Terms

This section presents the definition of terms which is intended to avoid

confusion and misconception, namely microteaching students, Text

comprehension, and text types.

1. Microteaching Students

Students of English Education of Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta

are able to take this subject after they have passed the prerequisite subjects. The

goal of this class is as follows. The students understand the concepts and

procedure of English language teaching and are able to apply them in a real

classroom teaching situation and to evaluate their teaching performance

(Nurwidasa, Bram, Budiraharja, Herawati 2004: p. 110).

2. Text Comprehension

Text comprehension refers to “begins with decoding of words, processing

of those words in relation to one another to understand the many small ideas in the

text. And then, both unconsciously and consciously, it operates on the ideas in the

text to construct the overall meaning encoded in the text” (Pressley, 2000, p. 551).

In this research, text comprehension refers to the participants’ comprehension of

(27)

3. Text Types

These refer to the 12 kinds of text types proposed by The Ministry of

National Education of Indonesia which are to be learnt by Senior High School

students. Those text types are recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news

item, report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation,

discussion, andreview. Each type of the texts has three major elements. They are

social function, generic structure, and lexicogrammatical features. For example,

the social function of recounts is to retell events for the purpose of informing or

entertaining. It reconstructs past events in time order in which it occurred. Some

of it assesses the significance, other recounts responses emotively, and others

assesses aspects of events critically. Recounts usually have their basic structure

those are orientation, events, and reorientation. Orientation provides the setting

and introduces participants. Events tell what happen, in what sequence. Recounts

focus on specific participants, use past tense and material processes. It uses

(28)

10 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the researcher presented two major issues namely the

theoretical description and theoretical framework used in the research. This

chapter also presented three major theories related to the research namely Text

Comprehension, Microteaching, and Types of Texts. This chapter also presented a

distinction between Text Types and genre.

A. Theoretical Description

There were three major theories related to the research namely Text

Comprehension, Microteaching, and Types of Texts. Here, the researcher also

presented a distinction between Text Types and genre.

1. Text Comprehension

Text comprehension refers to “beginning with decoding of words,

processing of those words in relation to one another to understand the many small

ideas in the text, and then, both unconsciously and consciously, operating on the

ideas in the text to construct the overall meaning encoded in the text” (Pressley,

2000, p. 551). It is generally agreed that the understanding of written text called

upon both bottom-up word recognition processes and top-down comprehension

(29)

different sources of information, including in some cases, the integration of

linguistic information with graphic information.

Figure 2.1. Model of the Reading Comprehension Process

Orthographic units Phonological units

Written text

Word representation

Sentence representation

Prior knowledge

(30)

During the past decades, research on text comprehension has moved

towards models in which memory-based and constructivist aspects of

comprehension are more integrated (Perfetti & Verhoeven, 2008). Taking an

integrated model of text comprehension as a starting point, important questions

are how text processing can be modelled, how it actually takes place, and how

children learn to develop text comprehension skills. In order to be able to address

such questions, a blueprint model of the reader is given in Figure 2.1 (Perfetti, 1999).

The reading of text starts with the identification of individual words i.e.

the processes which convert the visual input into a linguistic representation. The

lexical quality hypothesis (Perfetti & Hart, 2001) expresses the basic idea that

reading skill among readers is supported by their knowledge of words, including

the precision of the reader’s representation of orthography, phonology,

morphology and meaning. Word decoding or the accurate and fast retrieval of the

phonological code for written word forms is commonly assumed to play a central

role in reading and the development. More specifically, the automatization of

word decoding skills and attainment of fluent reading levels is essential for the

development of word decoding (Perfetti, 1992; Samuels, 1994; Stanovich, 2000).

Van Orden and Goldinger (1994) has proposed even greater mediation of the

process of word recognition, which they define as the outcome of the interactions

between phonological, visual, and meaning information in recurrent sub symbolic

networks. Phonological connections are further assumed to play a critical role in

(31)

enables the devotion of mental resources to the meaning of a text and thus allows

readers to clearly used reading as a tool for the acquisition of new information and

knowledge (Perfetti, 1998; Samuels & Flor, 1997; Spear-Swerling & Sternberg,

1994).

As a next step, text comprehension requires word-to-text integration.

Understanding sentences requires the identification of words. As a word is

identified, the reader connects it to a continuously updated representation of the

text. Studies of eye movements (Just & Carpenter, 1992; Reichle, Pollatsek,

Fisher, & Rayner, 1998) have revealed some important aspects of sentence

comprehension during reading. First, it is found that even skilled readers

possessed on most of the words they have read. This seemed to imply that word

identification is at the heart of reading comprehension. In addition, it is shown

that interpretation immediately follows recognition and that fixations tend to be

longer at the end of sentences. The latter finding indicates that integrative

comprehension processes must particularly take place at sentence endings.

Sentence comprehension can at best be understood as an operation which

uses both sentence structure and word meanings to formulate hypotheses about the

meaning of the sentence. Different theories about how words are attached to

syntactic structures (MacDonald, Perlmutter, & Seidenberg, 1994; Frazier &

Clifton, 1996) agree on the conclusion that each word is immediately attached to a

syntactic phrase. Word-by-word processing leads to word-to-text integration. This

referential integration is necessary to maintain comprehension of the situation

(32)

To arrive at text comprehension, the reader must combine the meaning of

each sentence with the message accumulated up to that point on the basis of prior

text. This memory-based position sees comprehension as the product of

evaluations of the information from text. Major models of text comprehension,

such as the construction integration model (Kintsch, 1988), the landscape model

(van den Broek, Risden, Fletcher, & Thurlow, 1996) and the resonance model

(Gerrig & McKoon, 1998), have shown that text comprehension cannot be done

with only the information present in the text, but that individuals also use their

prior knowledge to construct new knowledge that is relevant to their individual

experiences and situations. The propositional structure of the contents of a

passage is said to define two types of structures: a micro-propositional structure

referring to the coherence of propositions which are in close proximity in the text,

on the one hand, and a macro-propositional structure specifying a more global

level of meaning, on the other hand (Perfetti & Verhoeven, 2008).

In this line of thought, it is claimed that readers construct situation models

as they attempt to comprehend text. During this process, two levels of

representation are involved: a model of the propositions of the text (the text

model) and a model of what the text is about (the situation model) (Perfetti &

Verhoeven, 2008). The basic meanings are extracted from the sentences,

progressively built up by reading successive sentences and supplemented by

inferences in order to make the text coherent. Because texts cannot be fully

explicit, there are abundant opportunities for the reader to make inferences about

(33)

It is this level of comprehension that reflected ‘situation’ information and required

additions to linguistic-based accounts. A situation model might help the student to

identify and define problems, to specify reasons for problem solution, to generate

strategies for solving identified problems, and to observe results of attempted

solutions (Zwaan, Kaup, Stanfield, & Madden, 2001). The basic premise is that

text comprehension involves the mental simulation of the referential situation, and

that these mental simulations are constrained by the linguistic and pictorial

information in the text, the processing capacity of the human brain and the nature

of human interaction with the world (Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998). Situation

model components include information from the text, inferences based on the text,

relevant prior knowledge and inferences that relate the text and prior knowledge

(Singer, Graesser, & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998).

Difficulties in text comprehension might occur at mainly three different

levels of processing: at the level of the word, at the level of the sentence, and at

the level of the text (Yuill & Oakhill, 1991). From the researcher’s previous

knowledge, there are some difficulties in text comprehension. They are lack of

words’ mastery, lack of prior knowledge, and the topic of the text itself. The

examples of each type of text are attached on the appendix.

2. Microteaching

Microteaching is a training concept that can be applied at various

pre-service and in-pre-service stages in the professional development of teachers (Allen &

(34)

Microteaching students only teach for about five students instead of 30 – 40 of the

normal students in real classroom. The length of the lesson is also not as long as

in real classroom. It also happens with the scope of the lesson or the unit taught as

the consequences of the time reduction.

In their book titled Microteaching, Allen and Ryan also state five

fundamental proportions of microteaching.

First, microteaching is real teaching. Although the teaching situation is a constructed one in the sense that teacher and students work together in a practice situation, nevertheless, bona fide teaching does take place.

Second, microteaching lessens the complexities of normal classroom teaching. Class size, scope of content, and time are all reduced.

Third, microteaching focuses on training for the accomplishment of specific tasks. These tasks may be the practice of instructional skills, the practice of techniques of teaching, the mastery of certain curricular materials, or the demonstration of teaching methods.

Fourth, microteaching allows for the increased control of practice. In the practice setting of microteaching, the rituals of time, students, methods of feedback and supervision, and many other factors can be manipulated. As a result, a high degree of control can be built into the training program.

Fifth, microteaching greatly expands the normal knowledge-of-results or feedback dimension in teaching.

3. Text Types

According to PERMEN No. 22 tahun 2006 tentang standar isi untuk

satuan pendidikan dasar dan menengah, there are 12 kinds of text types. Those

are recounts, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, report, analytical

exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, and review.

a. Recounts

There are three major elements of recounts. Those are social function,

(35)

1). Social Function

The social function of recounts was to retell events for the purpose of

informing or entertaining. It reconstructed past events in time order in which it

occurred. Some of it assessed the significance, other recounts responded

emotively, and others assessed aspects of events critically.

2). Generic Structure

Recounts usually had their basic structure that was orientation, events, and

reorientation. Orientation provided the setting and introduced participants. Events

told what happen, in what sequence.

3). Lexicogrammatical Features

Recounts focused on specific participants, used past tense and material

processes. It used circumstances of time and place.

b. Narrative

There are three major elements of narrative. Those are social function,

generic structure, and lexicogrammatical features.

1). Social Function

The social function of narratives was to amuse, entertain, and deal with

(36)

events which led to a crisis or turning point of some kind which in turn finds a

resolution.

The generic structure of narratives was orientation, evaluation,

complication, resolution, and sometimes reorientation.

Narratives focused on specific and usually individualized participants. It

used material processes, behavior and verbal processes, and also relational and

mental processes. It usually used temporal conjunctions and temporal

circumstances and also used past tense as its tense.

c. Procedure

There are three major elements of procedure. Those are social function,

1). Social Function

The social function of procedures was to describe how something was

accomplished through a sequence of actions of steps.

(37)

Procedures usually used simple present tense, temporal conjunctions, and

material processes on writing a procedure. It focused on generalized human

agents.

d. Descriptive

There are three major elements of descriptive. Those are social function,

1). Social Function

The social function of a descriptive was to describe a particular person,

place, or thing.

Descriptive had identification and description as its generic structure.

Identification identified phenomenon to be described. Description described parts,

qualities, and characteristics.

In writing a descriptive text, we usually use simple present tense, attribute

and identifying processes, and also epithets and classifiers in nominal groups. It

(38)

e. News Item

There are three major elements of news item. Those are social function,

1). Social Function

The social function of news items was to inform readers, listeners, or

viewers about events of the day which were considered newsworthy or important.

The generic structure of news item was newsworthy events which

recounted the event in summary form, background events which elaborated what

happened, and sources which were commented by participants in, witnesses to,

and authorities’ expert on the event.

When we wrote a news item, we usually used short, telegraphic

information about story captured in headline and also we used material processes

to retell the event and projecting verbal processes in source stage. It focused on

circumstances.

f. Report

There are three major elements of report. Those are social function,

(39)

1). Social Function

The social function was to describe the way things are, with reference to a

range of natural and social phenomena in our environment.

The generic structure of a report was general classification which told

what the phenomenon discussed and description which told what the phenomenon

discussed was liked in terms of parts, qualities, and habits or behaviours.

It focused on generic participants, used simple present tense and relational

processes to state what was and that which it was. Here, there was no temporal

sequence.

g. Analytical Exposition

There are three major elements of analytical exposition. Those are social

function, generic structure, and lexicogrammatical features.

1). Social Function

The social function was to persuade the reader or listener that something

(40)

The generic structure of an analytical exposition was thesis, arguments,

and reiteration.

Features usually used were the use of simple present tense, relational

processes, and internal conjunction. It focused on generic human and nonhuman

participants.

h. Hortatory Exposition

There are three major elements of hortatory exposition. Those are social

function, generic structure, and lexicogrammatical features.

1). Social Function

A hortatory exposition which considered as a complex text had its social

function that was to persuade the reader or listener that something should or

should not be the case.

The generic structure was thesis which was announcement of issue of

concern, argument which was reasons for concern and leading to

recommendation, and recommendation which was statement of what ought or

(41)

A hortatory exposition focused on generic human and nonhuman

participants except for speaker or writer referring to self. It used mental processes

to state what writer thought or felt about issue, and material processes to state

what happened. It also focused on relational processes which was to state what

was or should be. It used simple present tense.

i. Spoof

There are three major elements of spoof. Those are social function, generic

structure, and lexicogrammatical features.

1). Social Function

The social function was to retell an event with a humorous twist.

Its generic structure was orientation which set the scene, event which told

what happened, and twists which provided the ‘punch line’.

It focused on individual participants. It used past tense and material

(42)

j. Explanation

There are three major elements of explanation. Those are social function,

1). Social Function

The social function was to explain the processes involved in the formation

or workings of natural or socio-cultural phenomena.

The generic structure of an explanation was a general statement to position

the reader and a sequenced explanation of why or how something occurred.

Features commonly used were material and relational processes and also

used mainly of temporal and causal circumstances and conjunctions. It used

simple present tense and focused on generic, nonhuman participants.

k. Discussion

There are three major elements of discussion. Those are social function,

(43)

1). Social Function

A discussion was a type of text whose social function was to present at

least two points of view about an issue.

Its generic structure was issue, arguments for and against or statements of

differing points of view, and conclusion or recommendations.

It focused on generic human and generic nonhuman participants. It used

material processes, relational processes, and mental processes. It also used

comparative. In addition, discussions were like expositions in many.

l. Review

There are three major elements of review. Those are social function,

1). Social Function

The social function was to critique an art work or event for a public

(44)

The generic structure of a review was orientation which told the audience

the context, interpretative recount which told the synopsis, evaluation which

provided an evaluation or judgement, and evaluative summation which provided a

kind of punch line which summed up the reviewer’s opinion of the art event as a

whole but it was optional.

Reviews focused on particular participants. It used direct expression of

opinions through use of attitudinal texts (value-laden vocabulary) including

attitudinal epithets in nominal groups, qualitative attributes, and affective mental

processes. It also used elaborating and extending clause and group complexes to

package the information.

4. Text Types Versus Genre

One way of making a distinction between genre and text type was to say

that the former was based on external, non linguistic, “traditional” criteria while

the latter was based on the internal, linguistic characteristics of texts themselves

(Biber, 1988, pp.70 & 170).

A genre, in this view, was defined as a category assigned on the basis of

external criteria such as intended audience, purpose, and activity type, that was, it

(45)

properties other than lexical or grammatical (co-)occurrence features, which were,

instead, the internal (linguistic) criteria forming the basis of text types categories.

In deciding the term text types used in the research instead of genre, the

researcher also referred to the terms used by The National Department of

Education Ministry of Indonesia reflected in the latest curriculum used in

Indonesia that was School based Curriculum. In the curriculum, the term used was

text types instead of genre.

5. School-based Curriculum

PERMEN No.23/ about Senior High School Graduates’ Competence

Standard states as follows.

1. Mendengarkan

Memahami makna dalam wacana lisan interpersonal dan transaksional, secara formal maupun informal, dalam bentuk recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, dan review, dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari

[1. Listening

Understanding meaning in interpersonal and transactional spoken text formally and informally in terms of recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, and review, in the daily life context]

2. Berbicara

Mengungkapkan makna secara lisan dalam wacana interpersonal dan transaksional, secara formal maupun informal, dalam bentuk recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, dan review, dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari

[2. Speaking

(46)

3. Membaca

Memahami makna dalam wacana tertulis interpersonal dan transaksional, secara formal maupun informal, dalam bentuk recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, dan review, dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari

[3. Reading

Understanding meaning in interpersonal and transactional written text formally and informally in terms of recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, and review, in the daily life context]

4. Menulis

Mengungkapkan makna secara tertulis dalam wacana interpersonal dan transaksional, secara formal maupun informal, dalam bentuk recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, dan review, dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari

[4. Writing

Expressing written meaning in interpersonal and transactional text formally and informally in terms of recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, report, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, and review, in the daily life context]

B. Theoretical Framework

The research discussed three theories those were text comprehension, text

types and microteaching. Text comprehension referred to “beginning with

decoding of words, processing of those words in relation to one another to

understand the many small ideas in the text, and then, both unconsciously and

consciously, operating on the ideas in the text to construct the overall meaning

encoded in the text” (Pressley, 2000, p. 551).

According to The Ministry of National Education of Indonesia, there were

(47)

High School teachers had the most important and crucial role for making the

students mastered those text types. The researcher discussed each type of text

including the social function, generic structure, and lexicogrammatical features

used in each of the text besides the researcher also wrote one example for each

text so that the reader of the research achieved clear understanding of each of the

text types.

Microteaching is a training concept that can be applied at various

pre-service and in-pre-service stages in the professional development of teachers (Allen &

Ryan: 1969). In microteaching the complexities of the real class are reduced.

Microteaching has some fundamental elements those are decisions, structure,

pattern of training, the supervisor, microteaching students, and videotape

(48)

30 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher presented the research method, the research

participants, the research instruments, the data gathering techniques, the data

analysis techniques, and the research procedure.

A. Research Method

The research used a mixed method, a combination of a quantitative

research method and a qualitative research method. According to Cohen (1980),

quantitative research is defined as a social research that employs empirical

methods and empirical statements. Cohen states that an empirical statement is

defined as a descriptive statement about what “is” the case in the “real world”

rather than what “ought” to be the case. Typically, empirical statements are

expressed in numerical terms. Another factor in quantitative research is that

empirical evaluations are applied. Empirical evaluations are defined as a form that

seeks to determine the degree to which a specific program or policy empirically

fulfills or does not fulfill a particular standard or norm.

Moreover, Creswell (1994) defines quantitative research as a type of

research that is explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are

analyzed using mathematically based methods (in particular statistics). The

research was considered as a quantitative research because the purpose of the

(49)

what the microteaching students’ comprehension of text types were by testing 21

microteaching students of Sanata Dharma University. It was also in the condition

that the researcher provided a generalization as the result of the data gathered. The

research was also considered a survey for most quantitative researches are.

On the other hand, the research was considered as a qualitative research

because the researcher wanted to know the reasons of why some microteaching

students had low comprehension of text types by interviewing three informants

taken from the previous participants. For deciding the informants, the researcher

used extreme cases by interviewing one informant who gained the highest score of

the test and one informant who gained the lowest score of the test; for the reason

of providing more comprehensive findings, the researcher was also interviewing

one informant gaining the median score of the test.

B. Research Participants

The researcher used two kinds of participants for accomplishing the

research. The first participants were the participants for the test and the second

participants were the participants for the interview or the respondents.

1. Participants for the Test

The participants of the research were microteaching students of Sanata

Dharma University. There were two groups of participants. The first group was

the participants of the Test I which was participated by 21 participants. The

(50)

participants. Finally there were only 17 qualified participants who contributed in

both test because three of the second group of participants missed the second test

and one of the first group of participants missed the second test.

In order to gain a deep comprehension and due to time constraint, the

researcher chose one class only as research population randomly. The class taken

as the participants was the microteaching class D of the academic year 2009/2010.

2. Participants for the Interview

The second participants were taken from the previous 17 participants. The

researcher then, used extreme cases for choosing the second participants those

were one participant with the highest degree of comprehension of text types, one

participant with the lowest degree of comprehension of text types, and to get

more comprehensive pictures the researcher then also interviewed one participant

with the average degree of comprehension of text types.

3. Research Instruments

For accomplishing the research, the researcher used two instruments. The

first instrument was tests and the second instrument was the interview.

1. Tests

Hughes (1989: 9) stated that there were four types of tests. Those were

proficiency tests, achievement tests, diagnostic tests, and placement tests. The test

(51)

measure teachers’ ability in a language especially in text types regardless of any

training they might have had in that language.

The test was divided into two parts, the first test and the second test. The

first one tested the microteaching students’ mastery for the first six text types.

Those were recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, and analytical

exposition. The first test was conducted on February 5th 2010 at Microteaching Laboratory A. The second one tested the microteaching students’ mastery for the

rest six of the text types. Those were report, hortatory exposition, spoof,

explanation, discussion, and review. The second test was conducted on March 1st 2010 at Microteaching Laboratory A. The participants were to determine what

kind of texts those were in the consideration of the social purpose, generic

structure, and lexicogrammatical features for each text. The data then were used to

answer the first question of the problem formulation of the research.

2. An Interview

Downs, Smeyak, and Martin (1980) stated that there was three kind of

interviews used in research. Those were personal interview, telephone interview,

and focus group interview. This research was using personal interview of

face-to-face interview because the writer was interviewing all subjects in personal, not in

group and also without a telephone but in face-to-face situation. The interview

was conducted on April 30th, 2010 at Microteaching Laboratory A.

The researcher asked the participants the importance of comprehending

(52)

participants’ difficulties on comprehending text types which was reflected on the

result of the test that most of them had the level of Low (L) and only one

participant gained the level of Medium (M). It was included their sources of

studying those text types and their motivation. The motivation here also related to

what job they planned for their future because some of them prefer to not become

teachers. The data then were used to answer the second question of the problem

formulation of the research.

4. Data Gathering Techniques

The researcher used two techniques for accomplishing the research. The

first technique was testing the participants. The test was conducted twice. The first

one tested the microteaching students’ mastery for the first six text types. Those

were recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, and analytical

exposition. The second one tested the microteaching students’ mastery for the rest

six of the text types. Those were report, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation,

discussion, and review.

The second technique was interviewing the second three participants. The

researcher then asked the participants’ difficulties on comprehending text types.

5. Data Analysis Techniques

First, the researcher analyzed the result of the test including what the

participants’ degree of comprehension of text types was. The researcher then

(53)

of the test. There were at least 18 tables showing each percentage of the test

provided by the researcher to map the result of the test. For analyzing the data, the

researcher looked over the School-based Curriculum offered by the government of

Indonesia for finding the social purpose of each text, the generic structure of each,

and also the lexicogrammatical language used in each text.

The researcher then figured out the comprehension of text types of each

participant and interviewed three chosen participants with the highest, average,

and lowest comprehension of text types. By the interview conducted, the

researcher gained the information from the informants about their difficulties in

comprehending text types to answer the second problem formulation.

6. Research Procedure

There were some steps for accomplishing the research as follows. First, it

was the problem and topic selection. The main reason for selecting the problem

and the topic selection of the research were the researcher concerns of the rapid

changing and development of the curriculum used in Indonesian education and its

effects on the teachers’ capability of teaching especially related to the text types

which played a big part on the newest curriculum.

Second, the researcher searched for the appropriate information needed by

the research e.g. related theories, related information of the ideal instruments, and

also the ideal participants. The researcher utilized two ways of information

(54)

gain books supporting the research. Second, the researcher browsed the Internet to

gain newest and related information supporting the research.

Third, the researcher selected the instruments used in the research. There

were two instruments of the research those were tests and interviews. The

researcher once composed a test specification for producing the test. Finishing the

test specification, the researcher then presented the draft of the test to be corrected

by the thesis sponsor. After receiving the feedback of the draft of the test, the

researcher then revised the test and did so until the thesis sponsor stated that the

test had been appropriate to collect the data of the research.

The first one tested the microteaching students’ mastery for the first six

text types. Those were recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news item, and

analytical exposition. The first test was conducted on February 5th 2010 at Microteaching Laboratory A.

The second one tested the microteaching students’ mastery for the rest six

of the text types. Those were report, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation,

discussion, and review. The second test was conducted on March 1st 2010 at Microteaching Laboratory A. The participants were to determine what kind of

texts those were in the consideration of the social purpose, generic structure, and

(55)

Figure 3.1. An Overview of the Research Procedure

Background Identification

Searching for Information

Library The Internet

Instruments Selection

Test

Test Specification

Draft

Feedback

Final

Interview

Interview Guidelines

Draft

Feedback

Final

Participants Selection

Data Collection

Test I

Test II

Interview

Data Analysis

Mapping the Test

Mapping the Interview

(56)

The second instrument of the research was interview guidelines. The

researcher firstly drafted the interview guidelines to be corrected by the thesis

sponsor. After the interview guidelines had been appropriate to gain the second

data of the research, the researcher then conducted the interviews. The interview

was conducted on April 30th, 2010 at Microteaching Laboratory A.

The researcher asked the participants’ difficulties on comprehending text

types which was reflected on the result of the test that most of them had the level

of Low (L) and only one participant gained the level of Medium (M).

A general overview of the research procedure could be observed on the

(57)

39 CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presented the result of the research and the answers of the

questions stated in the problem formulation (see p.5). Answering the problem

formulation, the researcher then elaborated two major parts in this chapter namely

microteaching students' level of comprehension of text types and microteaching

students’ difficulties on comprehending text types.

A. Microteaching Students’ Comprehension of Text Types

In gathering the data of the microteaching students’ level of

comprehension of text types, the researcher conducted tests. There were two tests

conducted as follows.

1. Test I

The test was testing microteaching students’ level of comprehension of the

first six text types those were recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive, news

item, and analytical exposition. The test is attached in the appendices. The details

of the findings and discussion for each text types were discussed as follows.

a. Recount

There were six texts in the test I. The recount text was the text titled A

(58)

Table 4.1. Recount

No. Partici pants

Identification and purpose

Generic structure Features Total (%)

name purpose orientati on

events Reorie ntation

subject tense

1. A √ √ √ - - √ √ .

2. B √ - √ - - √ √ .

3. C √ - √ √ √ √ √ .

4. D √ √ √ √ √ √ √

5. E √ - √ - - √ √ .

6. F √ √ - - - √ √ .

7. G √ √ √ - - √ √ .

8. H √ - √ - √ √ √ .

9. I √ - √ √ √ √ √ .

10. J √ √ √ √ √ √ √

11. K √ √ - - - √ √ .

12. L √ √ √ √ - √ √ .

13. M √ √ √ √ √ √ √

14. N √ √ √ √ √ √ √

15. O √ √ √ √ √ √ √

16. P √ √ √ √ - √ √ .

17. Q √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Total . % . % %

Average 81.51%81.51%81.51%81.51%

Table 4.1. showed the result of microteaching students’ level of comprehension of recounts. The highest score was obtained by participant D, J,

M, N, O, and Q who scored 100. The lowest score was obtained by participant B,

E, F, and K who scored 57.14. The average score was 81.51 or in other words,

there were 81.51% of all 17 participants, for about 14 participants, comprehend

recount texts. For further details, there were 85.29% of all 17 participants, for

about 15 participants, comprehend the social function of recounts which was to

retell events for the purpose of informing or entertaining. There were 66.67% of

Microteaching student`s comprehension of text types