CHAPTER II TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE ON ENGLISH MERDEKA
A. Theoretical Background
3. English Learning
Learning comes from the basic word "teaching" which means instructions given to people then it becomes "learning", which means the process, deed, way of teaching. Learning is assistance provided by educators so that the process of acquiring knowledge and knowledge can occur, mastering skills and character, as well as forming attitudes and beliefs in students. 29 In other words, learning is a process to help students learn well. Learning is assistance provided by educators so
28 Muhammad Ali Ramdhani and Moh Isom, ‘Panduan Pengembangan Projek Penguatan Profil Pelajar Pancasila & Profil Pelajar Rahmatan Lil Alamin’, n.d.
29 Ahdar Ahdar and Wardana Wardana, ‘Belajar Dan Pembelajaran: Teori, Desain, Model Pembelajaran Dan Prestasi Belajar’, 2020.
that the process of acquiring knowledge and knowledge can occur, mastering skills and character, as well as forming attitudes and beliefs in students.
The term learning has the essence of planning or design as an effort to teach students. That is why in learning students do not only interact with the teacher as a source of learning, but also interact with all the learning resources used to achieve the desired learning objectives. One of the learning objectives is that students are able to master the language well as a source of both formal and informal communication.
Language is the main tool for communicating in human life, both for the benefit of the individual and the social environment. 30 Language is used as a tool to communicate between humans. The communication process will run well if the two communicating parties are equipped with language and language skills. Mastery of vocabulary and grammar are two aspects that must be mastered by someone who wants to learn a language, especially a foreign language. To communicate actively, the skills that must be mastered by students include speaking skills, listening skills, writing skills, and reading skills. In foreign languages, it is also necessary to be equipped with knowledge about the culture of native speakers so as not to make cultural mistakes.
English is one of the international languages used as a means of communication between nations around the world in both formal and informal situations. In some countries such as America, UK and Australia, English is spoken as their mother tongue and in other countries such as Singapore and India, English is used as a second language. 31 In Indonesia, English is a foreign language that is
30 Muhammad Arief Budiman, Mei Fita Asri Untari, and Ikha Listyarini, ‘ENGLISH LEARNING PRACTICES AT SDN MOJOAGUNG 01’, Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Undiksha 9, no. 2 (2021).
31 Ibid.
difficult to master. So, to become a teacher in language teaching especially teaching English as a foreign language is not as easy as we think. There are four language skills that must be mastered in learning English, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Listening and reading skills are categorized into receptive skills while speaking and writing skills are categorized into productive skills. 32
a. Learning Listening Skills
Listening or listening skill is a person's ability to digest or understand the words or sentences spoken by a speech partner or certain media. Listening ability can be done with continuous practice to hear the differences in the sounds of word elements (phonemes) with other elements based on the correct makhraj of letters either directly from the original speakers or through recordings.
Listening skills can be developed through various techniques, strategies and appropriate media. So, learning English especially listening can becomes an interesting, effective, creative and fun learning.
b. Learning Speaking Skills
Speaking skills can also be understood as the ability to express articulated sounds or words to express thoughts in the form of ideas, opinions, desires or feelings to the interlocutor. Teaching speaking is a very important part of learning a second language. According to Sunendar and Iskandarwassid, a person can be said to be able to speak if he can pronounce language sounds that can be understood by the listener (other person), masters the rules of language,
32 Saepudin Saepudin, ‘An Introduction to English Learning and Teaching Methodology’, 2014.
and is able to use vocabulary appropriately according to whom, and about what.33
Speaking skills must be followed by listening skills because someone who speaks sometimes also becomes a listener and vice versa besides listening to what the other person is talking about, students/listeners should also pay attention to gestures that can add information about what or what is being said.
c. Learning Reading Skills
One of the language skills that is less desirable to the majority of Indonesian people is reading skill. Reading is often considered a boring activity so this can lead to delays in the teaching and learning process.
Learning to read in schools emphasizes the purpose of understanding, absorbing and obtaining explicit impressions and messages or ideas. For this purposes, a student must be able to recognize word for word, understand groups of words or phrases, clauses, sentences or text as a whole. Reading activities carried out in schools involve thinking, training, emotions and are adapted to the themes and types of reading they face.
d. Learning Writing Skills
Writing is a way to convey opinions or ideas through written media.
Writing is a skill that creates or produces written works, so to do so a student must have adequate language skills, including adequate vocabulary, understanding grammar, punctuation, how to organize messages or thoughts and have knowledge of the topic you want to write about. Therefore, writing skills are considered the most difficult language skills compared to the others.
33 Ibid.
Of course, good writing is not only long writing but writing that meets the five writing criteria which include content, organization, vocabulary, grammar and mechanics (punctuation, spelling, capitalization). Writing skills are usually done after other skills are mastered or at least have been learned.
Therefore, learning in the classroom must be carried out using various active, innovative, creative, effective and fun techniques so that students can feel that learning to write is easy.
B. Previous review
Before the researcher conduct the study, the researcher will check other studies to find whether there are some similar studies or not. Previous studies in teacher’s strategies have been conducted by some researcher.
The first, was conducted Anita Kusuma Pertiwi and Ririn Pusparini in their research “Vocational High School English Teachers’ Perspectives On “Merdeka Belajar”
Curriculum”, the aim of this research is how teachers’ perspectives on the Merdeka Belajar curriculum in terms of its concept and lesson plan. This research used Descriptive-qualitative method and the data collected through questionnaires and semi- structured interviews. The data analyze by: (1) Analysing the result of the questionnaires which are collected from English teachers (2) Describing the result of interviews regarding teachers’ perspectives of the concept of Merdeka Belajar which is done by selected the English teachers that were chosen by considering the result of questionnaires.
(3) Describing the result of interviews regarding teachers’ perspectives of the lesson plan based on Merdeka Belajar which is done by selected the English teachers that were chosen by considering the result of questionnaires. (4) The researcher concluded; and (5) the researcher presented the results. The finding showed that the implementation of a one-page lesson plan (RPP 1 Lembar) had not met the expectation of Merdeka Belajar.
What was being stated by participants was different from what was being told during the interview and this affects the final results. However, all participants fully support the implementation of this new curriculum.34
Second, was conducted Bagus Hary Prakoso, Zulmi Ramdani & Bilqisthi Rahmah in their research paper “Teacher’s Perception on Merdeka Belajar Policy”. This study aims to explore teachers' perceptions regarding Merdeka Belajar policy that will be applied. This research used mixed approach by combining a case study design with a descriptive quantitative design and involving thematic content analysis to get an overview of teachers' perceptions about the implementation of Merdeka Belajar policy at schools.
The data collected by using a set of open questionnaires, focus group discussion activities and portfolio readiness questionnaires. The results showed that the majority of teachers considered Merdeka Belajar policy to be an effective alternative in providing instruction to students in accordance with the resources owned by the school. However, technically, teachers feel the need to be given structured socialization, clear guidance, and freedom based on the abilities and personalities of teachers in schools. In addition, the percentage of portfolio instruments usage seems to have been widely practiced in learning activities.35
Third, was conducted Nurlisa Nurlisa, Clarry Sada, and Ikhsanudin Ikhsanudin in their research paper “The English Teachers’ Perceptions and Problems in Implementing Curriculum 2013 In Senior High School”. The aim of the research is to find out and analysis the teachers’ perception and teacher’s problem in implementing curriculum 2013 in senior high school. This research used Qualitative research and the technique of collecting the data by interview. The data analysis was from teachers’ statements and
34 Anita Kusuma Pertiwi and Ririn Pusparini, ‘Vocational High School English Teachers’ Perspectives On
“Merdeka Belajar” Curriculum’, Edukatif: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan 3, no. 5 (2021): 1982–92.
35 Bagus Hary Prakoso, Zulmi Ramdani, and Bilqisthi Rahmah, ‘Teacher’s Perception on Merdeka BelajarPolicy’, Indonesian Journal of Educational Assessment 3, no. 2 (2021).
answer. The result of this research showed that teachers had good perception toward implementing curriculum from their understanding on curriculum 2013. Furthermore, this study showed some problems such as applying the scientific approach, the students’
capability, and time allocation.36
The fourth, was conducted Haqim Hasan Albana in their research with title
“English Teachers’ Perspective on Implementation of 2013 Curriculum”. This study aims to identify and explain the implementation of the 2013 curriculum implemented by seventh grade English teachers at SMPN 3 Tangerang Selatan as well as to dig deeper into the obstacles encountered in implementing the 2013 curriculum at the school. In this study, the authors used qualitative research methods, and the form of this research was a case study. The data collection instruments used were interviews, observation, documentation, and supplemented by student questionnaires. All data were analyzed through a qualitative approach. The subjects in this study were seventh grade English teachers, principals, vice principals for curriculum, and several seventh grade students from three grades. The results of the research concluded that the implementation of the 2013 curriculum in seventh grade English subjects conducted by English teachers had not fully proceeded as it should according to the 2013 curriculum. Therefore, the practice of implementing the 2013 curriculum requires improvement in these aspects in order to achieve the goal. of the implementation of the 2013 curriculum
The fifth, was conducted Farida Keni Nurhayati, Sri Samiati, and Hersulastuti in their research paper “Teachers Perceptions Toward the Implementation of Curriculum 2013”. The aim of this research is to discovers teachers‟ perceptions toward the implementation of curriculum 2013, investigates factors affecting the application of curriculum 2013, and identifies the effect of teachers‟ perceptions into classroom practice.
36 Nurlisa Nurlisa, Clarry Sada, and Ikhsanudin Ikhsanudin, ‘THE ENGLISH TEACHERS’PERCEPTIONS AND PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTING CURRICULUM 2013 IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL’, ICoTE Proceedings 2, no. 1 (2019): 89–94.
The research used Case study research which forms of qualitative research and the data were collected by interviewing, administering questionnaire, observing the classroom practices and reviewing the documents. The findings reveals that; (1) teachers have positive perceptions toward curriculum 2103 (2) there are four factors which influence teachers‟ perceptions toward the implementation of curriculum 2013, which includes teachers‟ teaching experience; teachers‟ educational background, teachers‟ teaching training, and teachers‟ personal experience; (3) teachers‟ perceptions contribute significantly in influencing teacher‟s decision making in the classroom related to the choice of learning and activities for students. Since teachers‟ perceptions have a powerful impact on teachers‟ classroom practices, teachers are required to improve their competences and keep up with the advance of knowledge and technology.37
From the five previous research above, it can be concluded that there are several similarities among the research, including to find the teacher's perspective on Merdeka Belajar, focus on the perspectives and problems faced by English teachers on curriculum implementation and use the same research method. Besides that, there are also several differences including different focus, different data collection technique and different subject.
37 Nurhayati, Tarjana, and Hersulastuti, ‘Teachers’ Perceptions toward the Implementation of 2013 Curriculum’.
29 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD A. Research Design
1. Research Approach
This research used qualitative approach. Qualitative is descriptive research in which the data collected are in the form of words or pictures rather than numbers and the results of the written research contain excerpts from the data to illustrate and strengthen the presentation.38
Research that is equipped with in-depth observations to understand the attitudes, views, feelings and behavior of a person or group of people about a certain matter or case. This research method prefers to use in-depth analysis techniques, namely examining problems on a ‘case by case’ basis because qualitative methodologies believe that the nature of one problem be different from the nature of other problems.
Qualitative researchers seek to understand a phenomenon by focusing on the total picture rather than breaking it down into variables. The goal is a holistic picture and depth of understanding rather than a numerical analysis of data.39
2. Types of research
This research use case study. A case study is a type of ethnographic research study that focuses on a single unit, such as one individual, one group, one organization, or one program. The goal is to arrive at a detailed description and understanding of
38 Robert Bogdan and Sari Knopp Biklen, Qualitative Research for Education (Allyn & Bacon Boston, MA, USA:, 1997).
39 ARY DONALD, ‘Introduction to Research in Education/Donald Ary, Lucy Cheser Jacobs y Asghar Razavieh--Washington. Ed’, 1990.
the entity (the “case”). Case studies use multiple methods, such as interviews, observation, and archives, to gather data.40
Case study research is a form of qualitative research based on human understanding and behavior based on human opinion. Subjects in research can be individuals, groups, agencies or communities. In the research process, there are several steps made, namely, determining the problem, choosing the appropriate design and instrument, collecting data, analyzing the data obtained and preparing a report on the research results. The final result of the research is a broad and deep picture of a particular phenomenon.41
Based on the description above, the researcher chose this method for the reason that this method is in accordance with the research objectives, namely to dig up information while understanding deeply the topics discussed. In addition, because this research is in a limited scope, that’s only in one school at MTSN 1 Ponorogo.
B. Research Setting
This study take place at MTSN 1 Ponorogo. MTSN 1 Ponorogo is located on Josari Jetis Ponorogo, East Java. The Reasons for selecting this school are as follows:
1. MTSN 1 Ponorogo is one of the schools that implements Merdeka Belajar Curriculum.
2. MTSN 1 Ponorogo is one of the public Islamic schools whose location is easy to reach so that it is hoped that it will make it easier to carry out research.
C. Data Source
The data sources in this research are:
40 ARY DONALD, ‘Introduction to Research in Education/Donald Ary, Lucy Cheser Jacobs y Asghar Razavieh--Washington. Ed’, 1990, 29.
41 Sri Yona, ‘Penyusunan Studi Kasus’, Jurnal Keperawatan Indonesia 10, no. 2 (24 April 2014): 76–80, https://doi.org/10.7454/jki.v10i2.177.
1. The vice principle of curriculum 2. English teacher of MTSN 1 Ponorogo
3. Documents from english teacher’s such as teaching module in English learning, project module, etc.
D. Data Collection Technique
There are many kinds of technique of collecting data such as observation, interview, questionnaire, documentation and test. In this research, the researcher used observation, interview and documentation as technique of collecting data.
1. Observation is the process of gathering open-ended, first-hand information by observing people and places at a research site.Observing in a setting requires good listening skills and careful attention to visual detail. 42 In observation, the researcher observed in depth how the learning process is in the classroom by paying attention to the strategies and methods used by the English teacher. The researcher observed all the activities from the first to the end of teaching and learning process in class.
2. A qualitative interview occurs when researchers ask one or more participants general, open-ended questions and record their answers. In qualitative research, you ask open- ended questions so that the participants can best voice their experiences unconstrained by any perspectives of the researcher or past research findings.43 In qualitative survey interviews, an interviewer asks open-ended questions without response options and listens to and records the comments of the interview.44
In conducting interviews, the first thing that must be compiled is a list of people who will be interviewed. They provide information related to the problem statement. The data collected from the interviews are:
42 John W Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative, vol. 7 (Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2002).
43 Ibid, 382.
44 John W Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative, vol. 7 (Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2002).
a. The vice principle of curriculum. Researchers will conduct interviews with vice principle of curriculum about concept and curriculum development of Merdeka Belajar curriculum at MTSN 1 Ponorogo.
b. English teachers at seventh grade of MTSN 1 Ponorogo. Researchers will conduct interviews with teachers about strategies and methods of teaching English in the classroom using the Merdeka Belajar curriculum as well as the problems received during the use of the Merdeka Belajar curriculum and how they overcome them.
3. Documents consist of public and private records that qualitative researchers obtain about a site or participants in a study, and they can include newspapers, minutes of meetings, personal journals, and letters. These sources provide valuable information in helping researchers understand central phenomena in qualitative studies.45 In this research, the researcher will get data in documentation such as teacher’s teaching module.
E. Data Analysis
In this research, the researcher used content analysis and thematic analysis as technique of analysis data:
1. Content analysis focuses on analyzing and interpreting recorded material to learn about human behavior. The material may be public records, textbooks, letters, films, tapes, diaries, themes, reports, or other documents. Content analysis usually begins with a question that the researcher believes can best be answered by studying documents.46 Here the researcher uses content analysis to analyze the documents that have been collected and then will be analyzed in depth to understand more deeply from the document.
45 John W Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative, vol. 7 (Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2002), 223.
46 ARY DONALD, ‘Introduction to Research in Education/Donald Ary, Lucy Cheser Jacobs y Asghar Razavieh--Washington. Ed’, 1990.
2. Thematic analysis or commonly referred to as interpretive thematic analysis is defined as a method by identifying, analyzing and reporting themes or patterns contained in the data. According to Liamputtong, there are two main steps that must be carried out in thematic analysis. First, the researcher reads the entire contents or transcript of the interview and tries to give meaning from the transcript data. The next step is for researchers to create or create theoretical concepts or ideas related to these codes and themes.47 Thematic analysis is used by researchers to analyze the results of data from questionnaires, interviews and observations.
F. Validity
To validate the data for this research, triangulation was used. According to Campbell and Fiske, Triangulation is a powerful way of demonstrating concurrent validity, particularly in qualitative research.48
Triangulation is the process of corroborating evidence from different individuals (e.g., a principal and a student), types of data (e.g., observational fi eldnotes and interviews), or methods of data collection (e.g., documents and interviews) in descriptions and themes in qualitative research. The inquirer examines each information source and fi nds evidence to support a theme. This ensures that the study will be accurate because the information draws on multiple sources of information, individuals, or processes. In this way, it encourages the researcher to develop a report that is both accurate and credible.49
G. Research Procedure
There are four procedures in this study including 1. Planning
47 Novendawati Wahyu Sitasari, ‘MENGENAL ANALISA KONTEN DAN ANALISA TEMATIK DALAM PENELITIAN KUALITATIF’, n.d.
48 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion, and Keith Morrison, Research Methods in Education (routledge, 2002).
49 John W Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative, vol. 7 (Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2002).