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A STUDY OF AGED 6 CHILDREN’S
SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION IN JOGJAKARTA MONTESSORI SCHOOL
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN Research Paper
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Ika Riezky Octaviana Student Number: 141214017
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
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DEDICATION PAGE
I dedicated this research paper for my beloved mother Erna Haryanti and also my daddy my only one hero who is in Heaven now Drs. Dwi Anto Sulistiawan,
also my dearest Abdurrahman Hanif Wardoyo, and my Soetedjo’s family also
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ABSTRACT
Octaviana, Ika Riezky (2019) A Study of Aged 6 Children’s Second Language Acquisition in Jogjakarta Montessori School. Yogyakarta, English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
All children learn language from their society. The writer appoints in a social issue about how children are able to speak English frequently with one another. When children turn to 6 years old, the children are successful communicators. All depends on children psychology and their language acquisition. When parents teach their children English, they will memorize it in a long time because they get in when they are still in young age. They easily absorb new thing since childhood. In this research, the writer uses some theories from Piaget, Noam Chomsky, Krashen, and Vygotsky.
This study has two research questions to be solved, they are; 1. What are the factors that help children acquiring the second language? 2. How do children aged 6 acquire their second language?
To answer those two questions, the writer conducted a qualitative research and ethnography research to gather the information. Qualitative research is a research which needs explanation answers, not only yes or no responses. The writer will do some interviews. The sources of data were parents who have children in aged 6. Then, ethnography research is observed around the environment.
The result based on the method showed that children have some factors to help them to acquire their English. The factors that help them are age, intelligences, and learning way. There are four ways of how the young learners at Jogjakarta Montessori School acquired English, they are clarifying the information that they have got; conversing through talking with their friends; bridging their ideas; and imitating the teacher.
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ABSTRAK
Octaviana, Ika Riezky (2019) A Study of Aged 6 Children’s Second Language Acquisition in Jogjakarta Montessori School. Yogyakarta, English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
Anak-anak belajar bahasa dari lingkungannya. Penulis mengangkat sebuah isu sosial yaitu bagaimana cara anak-anak bisa lancar berbahasa inggris dengan yang lain. Ketika usia anak sudah mencapai 6 tahun, anak-anak sudah bisa berkomunikasi dengan lancar. Semua itu bergantung pada psikologi anak itu sendiri dan cara mereka dalam mempelajari bahasa kedua. Ketika orang tua mengajarkan bahasa inggris kepada anaknya di usia yg cukup muda, anak itu akan mengingat dalam kurun waktu yang cukup lama karena mereka mendapatkan itu ketika mereka masih kecil. Mereka sangat mudah untuk menyerap hal-hal baru sejak mereka kecil.Di dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan teori dari Piaget, Noam Chomsky, Krashen, dan Vygotsky.
Penelitian ini mengandung dua pertanyaan, yaitu 1. Faktor apa saja yang mempengaruhi akuisisi bahasa anak-anak di umur 6 tahun? 2. Bagaimana cara anak-anak di umur 6 tahun belajar bahasa kedua mereka?
Untuk menjawab 2 pertanyaan tersebut, penulis menggunakan metode kualitatif dan etnografi. Penulis akan mewawancarai orang tua yg mempunyai anak umur 6 tahun. Sasaran penulis adalah orangtua yang memiliki anak usia 3-6 tahun.
Berdasarkan hasil dari metode yang diterapkan menunjukkan bahwa anak-anak memiliki beberapa faktor yang membantu mereka dalam penguasaan bahasa inggris. Beberapa faktor itu adalah umur, intelegensi, dan bagaimana cara mereka belajar. Peneliti juga menemukan empat cara yang membantu anak-anak berbahasa Inggris. Empat cara itu adalah mereka akan mengklarifikasi apa yang mereka dapat, mereka akan mengobrol dalam bahasa Inggris dengan temannya, mereka akan membuat jembatan untuk mengungkapkan apa yang ingin dia bicarakan, dan mereka akan meniru guru mereka.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank to ALLAH SWT, who has given me strength until the end of this final paper so that I am able to finish and face the whole obstacles in my life.
I would like to thank him and show my appreciations to my beloved lecturer Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A., Ed.D as my advisor for the whole process and also for motivating me to finish my final paper. Also I thank all of the lecturers who have given me a lot of motivation.
I would like to show my appreciation and send my gratitude for my the one and only beloved and beautiful mother Erna Haryanti for cheering me up for the first time I started my study in Sanata Dharma University until I finish my final paper and my study. My one and only hero father Drs. Dwi Anto Sulistiawan but he is in Heaven and all of my family for helping my mother to finance me.
The last but not least, for my lovely boyfriend Abdurrahman Hanif Wardoyo who gave me so much love, supports, also motivates me in my study life. I would like to thank him for being my best boyfriend and for cheering me up when I was down. My great thank for my best friends Gita, Tyas, Melisa, Putri, and Tia for always supporting me and give so much power for me to finish my final paper.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... i
APROVAL PAGES ... ii
DEDICATION PAGE ………... iv
STATEMENT OF WORK'S ORIGINALITY ... v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ABSTRACT ... vii
ABSTRAK ... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... x
LIST OF APPENDICES ... xii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ... A. Research Background ... 1
B. Methodology ... 5
CHAPTER II. DISCUSSION ... A. Literature Review ... 6
B. Theoretical Framework ... 9
C. Finding And Discussion ... 16
CHAPTER III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... A. Conclusions ... 24
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xii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Page Appendix
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter elaborates the background, objective, and approach of the study.
A. Research Background
All children learn language from their society. The mental abilities of a little child seem to be rather limited in many ways. Children extract regularities from the speech they hear. The sentence produced by children is more like a reconstruction rather than imitation. In order to gain a language, children should attend both speech and context in which speech occurs. They should try to comprehend what they hear and try to point the purpose of which they are capable on.
Lindfors (1980) describes the fact about children that focused on children language acquisition.
“Virtually every child, without special training, exposed to surface level language data in interaction, builds from themselves-in a short period of time and at a prelogical stage in their cognitive development-a deep level, abstract, and highly complex system of linguistic structure.” (p.91).
One of the most remarkable achievements of children is also one of the most commonplaces. Rice (1989) states that the study of children language focus on linguistics, developmental psychology, sociology, anthropology, and education, and it links about the nature of human intellectual competencies to apply questions of how best to teach young children.
Children will construct formal language by looking at the environment and how their parents teach them the language. Producing English in daily life is
important especially when they entering an international school because it’s a little
bit difficult. If they do not know the vocabulary, we cannot use and speak English in an appropriate way.
Based on the writer’s observation on September 24th, 2018 in Jogjakarta Montessori School, it is found that when one is going to analyze children language acquisition, one has to look at the children experience. It depends on the children psychology and their language acquisition. If the parents give their children some knowledge or practices in English, the children will learn from the task because they are still young and they absorb knowledge easily. They produce English in their activity at home or school. Parents do some repetitions in words and children will memorize the words because they have a good memory. Parents send their children to international school to learn English actively. However, some parents are workaholic so they do not have time to teach their children at home.
There are 3 factors that indicate language acquisition. The first is the language to be acquired; the second is the children abilities of the tendency that they bring to language acquisition; and the third is the language that the child heard and the speaking context (Rice, 1989). All of these components have the biggest attention. The problem is to characterize how these aspects fit together in children mind for the spontaneous appearance of their second language.
skills (as cited in Rice, 1989, p.19). They are able to easily get an opportunity to absorb the interactions in conversations of other people.
Seeing the phenomenon of the children’s ability to acquire English and the
result of the observation above, the writer proposes two research questions to be answered. They are:
1. What are the factors that help children acquiring the second language?
2. How do children aged 6 acquire their second language?
B.Methodology
In methodology, the writer provides the data gathered from local civilians in Jogjakarta Montessori School. The participants are parents who have children aged 6 years old. In collecting the data, the writer used Qualitative Method and Ethnographic Research.
Qualitative Method is a method that provides reason for those questions, not just yes or no questions. It provides a perception from the participants. The writer has to make sure that this method to gather the data is valid. The writer conducted interview with 5 parents. The writer gave some questions to them related to the research questions and out of them that are still related to children learning their L2.
6 CHAPTER II DISCUSSION
This chapter consists of three parts, namely literature review of the study, the theoretical framework and findings and discussion.
A. Literature Review
Children love to create many ideas. They are not constrained in receiving new knowledge from parents or teachers as they will formulate their own knowledge. Therefore, children do not only imitate their parents. When they find something, they will ask some questions to their parents. They are curious with something and they will find the meaning or the function of things. When they find it, they will automatically produce something in their brain. Finally, they understand and create some new words or vocabularies.
Widdowson (2003) states that language which is authentic in the sense of being produced in contexts of native speaker use is likely to arrange it in certain ways and making it inauthentic. When we learn a language, as mother tongue or second language, we will develop a theory of its structures and the representative of its use. In language teaching, there have been numbers of ideas that have been too readily embraced because they have sounded exceptionally good.
According to Noam Chomsky (1950) children are born with an ability to learn any human languages. He claims that certain structures which children use so
‘language acquisition device’ or LAD which encodes the major principles of a
language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain.
In this paper, the writer adapts Piaget’s Cognitive Development (2000) stages, there are:
1. Sensorimotor (birth – 2 years old)
Early language development begins during this stage. This stage involves the use of motor activity. Knowledge is limited in this stage, because it is based on physical interactions and experiences. Knowledge develops through sensory and motor abilities. Children also understand world through senses and actions.
2. Preoperational (2 - 7 years old)
During this stage, children begin to use language, memory and imagination. Children engage in make believe and can understand and express relationships between the past and the future. Knowledge is represented by language, mental imagery, and symbolic thought. Children understand world through language and mental images.
3. Concrete Operational (7 - 11 years old)
4. Formal Operation (adolescence – adulthood)
Adolescents and adults use symbols related to abstract concepts. Adolescents are able to think about multiple variables in systematic ways, formulate hypotheses, and think about abstract relationship and concepts.
Children are able to think deeply about the exact events and able to tell reason abstractly and theoretically. They will be conscious of world through critical thinking and logical reasoning.
Children will imitate their parents to acquire new information and imitate about how to act. Vygotsky (1978) states that children are interconnected through learning and development since newborn. In studies of children’s mental development it is generally simulated that only those things children can do on their own are indicative of mental abilities.
There is also a fact saying that in school learning process, they introduce
something new into the child’s development. Vygotsky (1978) argues that in order
to elaborate the dimensions of school learning process, there is a new and
exceptionally important concept which the issue can’t be resolved: the zone of
proximal development.
Vygotsky (1978) adds that there are two developmental levels; the first level called the actual developmental level, it means that the level of development of a
child’s mental functions has been established as a result of certain already
children stand by themselves, parents or teacher will do some assistance in
children’s activities.
B. Theoretical Framework
This part consists of factors that help children acquiring their English language acquisition and the stages.
1. Children Language Acquisition
The facilities that help children acquiring their language acquisition consist of factors, stages, and reasons.
a. The factors that help children acquiring their English language acquisition. There are also some factors that influence children acquire language. Ellis (1985) states that there are some general factors which influence second language learning such as age, aptitude, intelligence, cognitive style, attitudes, motivation, and personality. Those factors will help children to acquire the second language. Each factor is described as follows:
1) Motivation
This is the most important factor in acquiring children second language. Richards (1985) believes that motivation as a factor determines person’s desire to do something. It means that learners really want to achieve more than those who do not want to learn.
There are 2 types of motivation proposes by Ellis & Ligtbrown (1990); a) Integrative motivation: learner studies a language because they involved with
b) Instrumental motivation: a learner’s want to achieve for learning the second language are functional and useful, for example they need the language to get a better job and to pass the tests.
It is stated that learners can be dominate by those types of motivation. Children have an integrative motivation. It means that there is a factor which predicts second language achievement for children. In spite of that, there is a situation when learners want to learn foreign language as their L2, the integrative motivation become the most important motivation than the others.
2) Attitude
Ellis (1982) distinguishes that attitude is beliefs about factors as the source of language culture and their own culture. In case of classroom learning, it is affected on the task given by their teachers, (as cited on Siti Khasinah 2014, p. 259). It means that language attitudes are the attitudes which speakers of different
languages have toward other’s languages or to their own language. Gardner and
Lambert (1983) classify the attitudes into three types:
a) Attitudes towards learners environment and people who speak L2, b) Attitudes that concerned in learning language,
c) Attitudes towards languages and language learning in general.
3) Age
Age is also an important factor that influences second language acquisition. It is true that children are better at language acquisition than adults. Richards (1985) notes that learning a language in puberty will be the most difficult part because the brain lacks with the ability and adaptation.
Other researchers also proved that children who start learning a foreign language achieve more native-like accent than those who start in adults, and they are also better in the acquisition of grammar (Patkowski, 1980). It is because children absorb their knowledge very well and they still wanted to know everything. 4) Intelligence
Ellis (1985) states that intelligence is a general ability to master academic skills, it is defined and measured in terms of linguistic and logical mathematical-abilities, (as cited on Siti Khasinah 2014, p. 293). The studies on intelligence show a strong relationship between intelligence and acquisition of a foreign language but only as far as academic skills are concerned.
Gardner (1983) describes 8 types of Multiple Intelligence: a) Linguistic: ability to make the language to gain certain goals.
b) Logical-mathematical: ability to think logically, detects patterns, and tells deductive reason.
c) Spatial: ability to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.
e) Bodily-kinesthetic: ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements.
f) Interpersonal: capacity to understand intentions, motivations, and desires of other people.
g) Intrapersonal: ability to understand self-identity. h) Naturalistic: ability to understand the natural world.
Gardner (1983) states that every person has 8 intelligences, which can develop by themselves at different times. Learners should try to develop all types of intelligences because it is affected for our learning. According to Gardner (1983) people are completely different in intelligent and learners should learn in different ways. That is why parents teach their children in many different ways, so that the children know everything that their parents give to them to learn.
5) Aptitude
Richards (1985) explains that aptitude is the natural ability to learn a language. Aptitude itself refers of how well a learner able to learn a foreign language in a given amount of time and under given conditions. All children acquire their first language successfully.
6) Learning Styles
Learning style is known as cognitive style. It is the concrete way in which a learner tries to acquire new information. Ellis (1990) mentions that parents have different learning way or different strategy for how learners accumulate new L2 rules and how they automate existing ones. Also, Keefe (1994) describes learning
serve relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and
respond to the learning environment,” (as cited in Ellis, 1994, p. 295).
Students’ learning styles can be influenced by many factors such as their
genetic background, their culture, and previous learning experience. (Siti Khasinah, 2014) It can be shown while doing research, the writer found some children learn by seeing picture and listening to the music. While, some children chose to sit down quietly and wrote all the things that the teachers said.
If parents give more attention to their learning style and the children also have high motivation and have positive attitudes, the children are likely to succeed in their second language acquisition.
7) Personality
Personality is a set of features that characterized a person. It has been stated that this concept is hard to be defined and measured because of its complicated nature. Research by Ellis (1990) reveals that the most important personality factors are; introversion/extroversion, self-esteem, inhibition, risk-taking, anxiety, and empathy.
b. Stages of Language Acquisition
There are some stages that many experts say about children’s language
acquisition. The writer provides some stages, but the writer only adapts Piaget’s
theory.
How children learn to talk is provided by studies which suggest that the children simply imitated and listen to the language around them until they can try to start conversation. This certainly ensures that the child is able to start talking something which marks an important transition for both the child and her/his caregivers in many cultures.
a) Piaget’s Stages (2000)
There are 4 stages that Piaget’s provides:
1. Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
Knowledge develops through sensory and motor abilities. Children also understand world through senses and actions. There are 6 substages in sensorimotor stages. They are; substage 1 (birth to 1 month), substage 2 (1 to 4 months), substage 3 (4 to 8 months), substage 4 (8 to 12 months), substage 5 (12 to 18 months), substage 6 (18 to 24 months).
2. Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
c. Reasons of Language Acquisition
People have their second language acquisition. Children also have it. Children language is a subject of infinite complexity, bristling with problems at every point-problems of functional and structural psychology. The age at which collective monologue marks a stage of development is between 6 years old. The higher forms of conversation do not on the average appear before the age of 5, at any rate among children of the same age and of different families.
Krashen (1981) mentions language acquisition is a same process that children use in acquiring first and second languages. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language-natural communication-in which speakers are concerned with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
Children’s control of the structure of their language, largely mastered by the
time they come to the first grade, is basic to all their learning. It will depend on their knowledge of the relationships between the sounds and the meanings of their language.
Based on Lindfords’ book (2013), it states that there are three brief examples
showing the child is actively influenced and controlled by their environment toward their own language growth.
Second, the young child seems to actively control the linguistic environment to get the data they will requires. It means that children are guided by their intuitive for learning a new language, through their interaction with people and things in their environment. A child seems to be actively seeking and using experience that helps them in their language learning task.
Third, the child’s active use of things (as well as people) is important in
building the fundamental understandings that we see or hear their first express when
their “burst into speech” (Nelson, 1973). The environmental “stuff” on which the
child acts and with which they interact to build themselves the meanings expressed
in a language, includes far more than narrow linguistic “data”. This interactive view
differs from the behaviorist notion of the child simply being shaped by the environment.
C. Finding and Discussion
The writer took around 3 months to collect the data. The writer met 5 parents who have children around 6 years old that have mastered their second language which is English in Jogjakarta Montessori School. While doing the research, the writer did an observation in Jogjakarta Montessori School to interview the parents.
Based on the interview and after conducting inductive analysis to find the patterns of the data, the writer found that children have 4 ways to acquire their English language acquisition. They are clarifying the information that they have got, conversing through talking with their friends, bridging their ideas, and imitating the teacher.
1. Collecting information and making clarification.
The first finding of this research is that the young learners of age six at Montessori School acquired English language through the process of collecting information and making clarification.
All six participants of the research underwent a process of collecting information. When the writer did an observation in class, the writer found that children frequently asked questions to the teacher when they did not understand about the topic. This is the case of what Vygotsky (1978) says that children are able to do something by themselves. They know their need of information, so they asked questions. After gathering some information, the students clarified the information through various activities. They drew something with their color pencils and made a mind map to help them understand about the topic.
1 is both observer and auditory learner because she learn by hearing her friends and teacher. When she did not understand about the topic, she will ask to their friends first then she will ask the teacher to make her more understand. Children have their own intelligences to help them to learn as Gardner (1983) states before that human have 8 multiple intelligences.
2. Conversing and exposing themselves in the language experience.
The second finding is that the young learners of age six at Montessori School acquired English language through the process of conversing and exposing themselves in the language experience.
Some children are talkative. They were not felt satisfied if they did not get what they want. It means that children asked to their friends and invited them to join their conversation. Children will have some conversations with their friends to dig their knowledge. Based on the observation, the writer found that all children will mixed up with a small conversation and discussing their favorite books, movies, and heroes. All of them are using English in their conversation, it is good to help them to acquire their English. Widdowson (2003) states that language which is authentic in the sense of being produced in contexts of native speaker.
Helot (2002) says that children use language for building relationships,
thinking, playing with words, and learning. In addition, parent no 4 said that, “they
want to learn English naturally not because we forced them to.” That is why
One of six children likes to use Indonesian more than English when he wants to speak with his teacher. It is because he knows that his teacher is Indonesian and
speak Indonesian. The teacher said that, “he likes to use Indonesian with me but I
forced him to speak in English, because we need to make sure that they are able to
master English.” The writer thought that the teachers’ statement was true but it is
also true that children will not forget their first language. 3. Bridging
The third finding is that the young learners of age six at Montessori School acquired English language through the process of bridging.
Some children use text and images when they did public speaking in class. Based on the observation, the writer found four of six children use texts to help them to comes up their ideas and tell it in front of the class. Two of six children used images to help them to tell the story. Piaget (2000) states that children start to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent object. It is proved by children no 3 and children no 6 when they began their public speaking in class. They tried to arrange their story line into some pictures. They felt confident when they tried to tell their story in front of their friends while the others were using paper to write down the story line. Parents train them with some media to increase their ability to learn it in interesting way. It is because children like to use learning media.
4. Imitating
Children will imitate their teachers and parents to acquire new information and imitate about how to act. How children learn to talk is provided by studies which suggest that the children are simply imitated and listen to the language around them until they can try to start a conversation. Based on the observation, the writer found that when the teacher explained about the topic some children imitated the words or sentences that the teachers’ used. After that, they started to produce some new English words that they have got and they will understand it slowly.
Gethin (1999) argues that some older children hear more new words than others. Children have the ability to learn even more than one language at the same time, because their minds are bright and they are not busy with the stress of life as an adult. They are able to produce good English, they acquire English as well. Through imitating their teacher, it helps them to acquire English easier.
In addition to answer the writer research question, there are some facilities that help children acquiring second language. The first is age; in age 6 they already
have good English. It is proved based on the parents’ interviews that they trained
them since age 3 and in age 6 so they have good English. In addition, the classroom teacher said that their English is good enough for grade 1 because they have critical thinking and the teacher provoke them to speak English in class.
Richards (1990) states that language learning may be the most difficult part to learn after puberty because the brain lacks the ability and adaptation. That is why parents train them since age 3.
children only read the book and their auditory skill is limited. It can be seen when he did a presentation in class, some of them did not pay attention to him. After 15 minutes they are in a mess, their span attention is bad. Children no 4 is a kinesthetic learner, while Children no 5 and Children no 6 are reading learners – they are based on books.
The third is learning style (Ellis, 1990). It is proved based on the teacher interview that children no 1 has a good cognitive skill. However, children no 6 has to do a lot of exercise while for children no 3 is good in language skill. Children no 4 also has good cognitive skill, she is able to adapt in classroom. Children no 4 have good language skill, and she can understand the topic well. Children no 1 and children no 5 are less critical. Children no 2 is a passive student. Sometimes children get confused on how they deliver or speak something.
Children are helped by media in acquiring L2. Parents teach them with media to catch their interest in learning. Children are likely to use learning media such as YouTube, Netflix, Songs, and books. Parents train them with some media to increase their ability to learn it in interesting way. Also, by watching YouTube or Netflix or Worldwide TV Channel, they are able to adapt the language easily. Three out of five parents said that they use YouTube to support their children to learn and the rest of them use worldwide TV Channels. Two out of five children love to listen many songs to engage their English. All of them still keep an eye to their children while their children are watching YouTube or worldwide TV Channels. Parents use media to train their English, because their children not only
Parents think that English is important to learn it since golden age. As Elliot (1981) states that to master English since children are important in the way children interest in language development was that child language could be approached in the same way as adult language. All of the parents agree that English is really important in this era because the world has grown better and they need to master English. As Vygotsky (1978) says, “children’s learning begins long before they attend school so any learning encountered in school by a child has a previous
history,” (p.257). That is why they teach them in aged 3, so that in aged 6 they have
already good in using English. English is the one of major skill for them to go international, to communicate with people around the world. They all know that English is a must for now to help them survive in social life.
Next, children cannot be forced to learn. Based on the parents answer, all of them said that it comes naturally. Helot (2002) states that children use language for building relationships, thinking, playing with words, and learning. Children need and want it, so that their children learn by themselves and if they found difficult words they will ask. If parents forced them to learn, the children do not want to learn. Children will feel difficult to learn English and the worst thing is that they will not like English. Parents do not force their children to learn English. One out of five parents said that children cannot be forced, because they need to support them but never force them to learn. Parent no 4 said that “They want to learn English
naturally not because we forced them to.” Children have high curiosity than adult
They are able to learn fast, in which they concentrate on the other sides of
life which is more important to them than acquiring language. Based on the writer’s
perception, all children are able to produce good English. Piaget (2000) adds they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in very concrete terms. They are able to make a clear sound and good pronunciation in their sentences. Some parents said that producing or mastering English in their brilliant age is not too early because soon in the future they want their children to go abroad and make them know English better.
24 CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter consists of two parts, namely conclusion and recommendations.
A. Conclusion
After conducting the research, the writer comes to the conclusion. In the process of collecting the data, the writer found several description of the situation. Children in 6 years old are good in speaking English. They didn’t feel ashamed or awkward to talk to strangers. The writer also found that Piaget’s theories are true when we will adapt it in our children. Piaget (2000) states that there are stages that refers to children learning language.
The writer used qualitative method and ethnographic method to solve the research problems. Qualitative method is used by the writer to give some questions for parents and ethnographic is used to observe the children’s behavior while learning in English.
B. Recommendations
Besides getting all the knowledge about the children’s second language
acquisition, this theory has lots of lessons. 1. Parents
We are able to know that children have their own language acquisition. It is really important to teach another language to children. They are able to utter English is not considered as a taboo, it is the fact that children are able to speak English.
2. Future Researcher
This study could become reference for other future researchers who want to
conduct a study regarding to children’s acquisition. Future researchers could
also complete this research paper if there is new information regarding to this issue.
3. English Teacher
27
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Sangasubana, N. (2011). How to conduct ethnographic research.The Qualitative Report, 16(2), 567-573. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol16/iss2/14
Vygotsky. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Readings on the development of children.
28 Appendix 1. The Interview Blueprint
INSTRUMENTS
QUESTIONS THEORIES
1. Is it important to master English in their golden age?
2. Is it too young for them to learn English?
- Piaget’s theory of cognitive development stages (2000):
Sensorimotor (0-2y.o), preoperational (2-7y.o), concrete operational (7-11y.o), formal operation (11-adulthood)
3. How often do you teach your children speaking English? What media that you use to teach them English?
Gethin (1999)
Some older children hear new words than other, this is probably more equal and so they learn at the same speed.
4. Have you ever force your children to learn English?
Chomsky (2009)
Children learn language very quickly.
5. How important is it for you to register your children in an international school for their English mastery development?
- Frost’s (1968)
A growing educational concern is whether all four and five year olds should have the opportunity to attend preschools.
- Mabel, Andrew Mitchel (1998)
Suggesting that such action would lead to further degeneration of family life, that many parents are quite capable of providing the kind of early training essential for their young charges.
6. What benefits that you get from teaching your children English?
7. Is it important to master English in their golden age?
Elliot’s (1981)
8. How does she learn? Or what kind of factors that helps her to learn or what is her learning type?
Ellis (1985) states that some general factors that influence second language learning such as age, aptitude, intelligence, cognitive style, attitudes, motivation, and personality. Those are factors that will help children acquiring the second language.
9. How did you train her to speak English? Piaget’s (2000) in preoperational stages 2 to 7 years.
Major characteristics and developmental changes:
- Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent object.
- Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from perspective of others.
30 Appendix 2.
List of Responses for the Interview 1. How old are your children?
All: 6 years old and now they are in first grade.
2. How often do you teach your children speaking English? What media do you use to teach them English?
Parents 1: He likes watching some English videos on YouTube, cartoon in English but I still keep an eye for him. I am afraid if he watches something that we do not want him to watch.
Parents 2: Honestly, I do not have enough time to teach her. She has already learnt by herself through worldwide TV channels but I should keep an eye for her, to some vocabularies that she has to know or not.
Parents 3: Honestly, I do not teach him in home. He has already study in an international kindergarten, so he has already known English. He also watches YouTube videos and reads some books in English occasionally.
Parents 5: Sometimes, I provoke her to start speaking in English with me or say something in English and then repeat it to Indonesian if she does not know the words. When we are going to bed, we always pray in English. They do not want to pray in Indonesian.
3. Is it important to master English in their golden age?
Parents 1: Of course yes, it is important because the world has grown better. In his golden age, he absorbs much knowledge. This is the best time to teach them English officially. His brain has grown better too if he masters more languages. As he has already known the meaning of some English words, it helps him in understanding what we or the teachers say when he is home or school also understands some films, YouTube videos or worldwide TV Channels he watches.
Parents 2: It is really important, because the world has grown better. We can see any advertisements and announcements in English, so we need to know English. It is a must.
Parents 3: It is really important. Now, some activities are using English. It iss good to build his skills.
Parents 5: It is really important, at least she has 2 or 3 languages so that she can survive when she go abroad.
4. Have you ever force your children to learn English?
Parents 1: No, because children cannot be force. We need to support them but never force them to learn.
Parents 2: No, I have not. I still teach them to learn Indonesian or Javanese because we live in Indonesia. So, she has already known when to switch L1 to L2, or L2 to L1.
Parents 3: No, it comes naturally. They want to learn English naturally not because we forced them to.
Parents 5: No, because she wants it and she is curious about it.
5. What benefits that you get from teaching your children English?
Parents 2: Maybe it is about how we control them, sometimes she does not know the meaning but she has speaken it already. We need to listen to them as often as we can, we are afraid that she will speak inappropriate words to be spoken by children. We need to limit what they should say.
Parents 3: Satisfaction. I am happy that he can speak in English because It is related to his education also. It helps him to master English.
Parents 4: So many. There are a lot of YouTube channels using English and their books are also in English, so those will enhance their English. Mostly in English, her vocabularies are still simple. Children books, lately, are having pop up images, colorful, and touchable. Thus, it can stimulate their brain to learn new things and new words. Then, when she finds some new vocabularies, and if she does not know the meaning of them, she will ask me but if I do not know meaning as well, we will look for them in the dictionary.
Parents 5: She has more knowledge, maybe she wants to go abroad then she will use this language. She is able to explore anything with foreign people and other countries.
6. How important is it for you to register your children in an international school for their English mastery development?
Children should not grow up with score, character is more important than anything.
Parents 2: Yes, I think it is important because we want them to know English first, starting to learn English at her young age is good. Learning L2 is really important.
Parents 3: It depends on how high parents’ expectations. English is not a new thing anymore that people will shout ‘wow’ to learn English. It is common for now. If children learn English from 3-6 years old, they still find it easy to absorb the knowledge.
Parents 4: It is depends on their parents, because we always use English so we as parents want them to master English as well bacause we know that language is a skill. She learns more when she is home than in school. In school, she only learns about what subject that they want to learn, but in home we listen and speak in English.We use English more often so she knows English words better than Indonesian.
Parents 5: School which use English as their first language will make children improve their language skill more than any school that not based in English and in this school, children are free to explore.
7. Is it important to master English in their golden age?
As he has already known the meaning of some English words, it helps him in understanding what we or the teachers say when he is home or school also understands some films, YouTube videos or worldwide TV Channels he watches.
Parents 2: It is really important, because the world has grown better. We can see any advertisements and announcements in English, so we need to know English. It is a must.
Parents 3: It is really important. Now, some activities are using English. It iss good to build his skills.
Parents 4: English is the one of major skill for us to go international, to communicate with people around the world. Well, it is better for them to master more language, not only English. We all know that English is a must for now to help us survive in social life.
Parents 5: It is really important, at least she has 2 or 3 languages so that she can survive when she go abroad.
8. Is it too young for your children to learn English?
Parents 1: No, of course not. I think it is a must to teach them English starting from 2 years old. She has already felt confident to speak English with others. When she grows up, her English will be better.
Parents 3: Of course not. Children are better when they master Indonesian first and then we teach them to learn their L2, they have better understanding when we teach them at their young age.
Parents 5: No, we want them to be multilingual speakers not only English. We introduce her not only English, but also Japanese, Korean, Mandarin.
9. How does she learn? What kind of factors that help her to learn or what is her learning type?
Parents 5: She is imagery – auditory learner.