AN ANALYSIS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT BASED ON STUDENTS’
REPORTED IN LEARNING ENGLISH
(A Study at SMP N 2 Bukittinggi Second Grade Students 2014/2015 Academic Year) Oleh
Riny Rahmadhany **)
*) Hevriani Sevrika, M.Pd dan *) M. Khairi Ikhsan, M.Pd Staf Pengajar Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat
ABSTRACT
This research analyzed theparents’ involvement in helping their children in learning English. It included activities at home, at school and other places that support the children in English achievement.
This research was descriptive study that used quantitative approach in data processing. The purpose of the research was to analyzed the dominant type that used by the parents in helping the children in learning English based on the children reported. Parental involvement consisted of six types that taken from Epstein’s theory. The data got from questionnaires that give to all students second grade at SMP N 2 Bukittinggi 2014/2015 academic year. They consisted of ten classes, 395 students. The questionnaire consisted of 24 statements which each of type consist of 4 statements. The highest score showed the dominant type of parental involvement that used by the parents basedon the students’ reported. After the data processed, the highest score 55.88% was gotten by the first type (parenting). It showed that this type was the dominant type that used by the parents in helping their children in learning English. Whereas, the lowest score 44.04% was gotten by the type 2 (communicating).
Key Words :Dominant type, Learning English, Parental Involvement
*) Pembimbing
**) Penulis
INTRODUCTION
Family and parent have the most central and enduring influence on children’s lives. It means that family has a big contribution to their members. The parents need to know as far as they involve in children lives. Therefore, everyone can know about parents’ contribution to their children education. It can be seen by the children’s reported. Regarding this case, the researcher has an experience when she was at senior high school that some of her friends said that they had busy parents. They said their parents did not aware about the school rules, in example they did not interest about the children appearance when they went to school. Then, when the researcher at SMP N 2 Bukittinggi for practice teaching, the researcher found the same
case on some students there. The researcher did an interview with some of students who reported their parents ask for the school day and others said that their parents did not much involve in their learning. It means that from the students’
reported, the researcher knows about the parental involvement on the students learning.
Parents have a large effect to help their children achieving high academic standards.
When parents collaborate with the school to help their children learn and when the parents participate in school activities and decision- making about their children’s education, the children achieve at higher level in education.
When school, family, and community groups work to support the children learning, they tend to do better in school. Also, it will make the
children stay in school longer and like school more.
On the other side, some of the parents do not know the important of parental involvement on children’s learning. It is because the differences of parents’ thinking in guiding their children in their education. Sometimes, it is also about the time and sometimes about the ways to involve. If the parents know how to involve in the children learning, they will see the positive impact of parental involvement to the children outcome at school. Moreover, parental involvement is important because of the benefits that parental involvement brings.
Hence, to improve students’
achievement in learning at school, increasing parental involvement can be the good way. It is because the closest person around the children is parents. Moreover, English is as the foreign language to the children that will be more complicated if they learn without any help. It becomes a useful thing if the parents try to involve on it.
The problem of this research focused on parental involvement based on students’
reported in learning English. The researcher has purpose to identify the dominant type of parental Involvement that got from students’ reported in learning English at SMP N 2 Bukittinggi second grade students years 2014/2015.
DISCUSSION
There are many people who constribute in the children’s lives. The biggest one derives from parents. Elliot and Dweck (2005:259) define that the parents are central figures in the children’s lives especially in education. Then, Abbott and Langston (2006:66) assert that parents are persons who have high responsibility relate to children’s need. Thus, parents are as a central place in education where parents as educators on it. It will show that how far relationship between children and parent to help the children reach success.
Everyone has a role in their live. For example: parents, they have role toward their children. Parents should create a comfortable situation at home. Abbott and Langston (2006:65) assert that parents as the first environment provider to children before
experience in the real world. If the parents treat the children well at home automatically, it will be seen on their attitudes at school. On the contrary, the bad attitudes will be seen if home environment is not well. That is why environment as determine children attitudes.
In addition, parental involvement is one of the parents’ role toward their children.
Hornby (2005:4) clarifies that parental involvement is a collaboration between parents and teacher about the students. Later, Rafiq et al (2013:210) defines that parental involvement is the activities which help the children increasing their learning in different subject. Thus, Its explain that the parents and the teachers need team work. Both of them influence the children’s education. Parental involvement is the activities that involve parents and teachers to create a good students behavior as a result improve their achievement in different subjects.
Parental involvement has many influences to students in learning. It is not only academic but also non academic fields such as their passion, interest and behavior.
Afterwards, Epstein in Griffith et al (2008:177) explains that there are six types of parental involvement, include :
a. Parenting: basic responsibilities of families.
Helping of all family members to establish home environments to support children as students is the key. The activities like ensure the children’s health and safety, to prepare the children for school, to build positive home conditions that support school learning.
b. Communication: basic responsibilities of school.
It refers to communicate with families about school programs and student progress. Create two-ways communication channels between school and home that are effective and reliable. If there are some problems at both school and home, the parents and teachers can share each others to solve it.
c. Volunteering at school
This type refers to parent volunteers who assist teachers and children in classroom or in other school-based activities. It also refers to parents who come to school to
support students’ performances like sports activities, to attend workshops or other educational and training programs. Thus, they are able to assist their children in learning.
d. Learning at home
It involves families with their children in academic learning at home, including homework, goal setting, and other curriculum-related learning activities.
e. Decision making
It empowers to parents and bring perspective of families into school decisions and governance. It means that the families as participants in school decisions.
f. Collaborating with the community
It refers to school having connections with agencies, business representatives, religious groups and other groups that share responsibility for the children’s education and future successes. Likewise, it refers to connections that schools, students and families contribute to the community.
To promote student growth and school success at every age are needed cooperation between some sections that they have different role on it.
This widely accepted that parents, teachers, students and communities collaborate to improve students in learning. If they join to do it, the goal will successfully achieve.
Collaboration between parents and school will give positive merits. It is supported by Pretorius and Lemmer in Coetzee et al (2008:131) that there are some influences of parental involvement include:
a. For learners, parental involvement improves in learners’ academic achievements, increase self-esteem, decrease in behavioral problems, improve attitude toward school, increase commitment to schoolwork.
b. For parents, parental involvement will make feeling more positive about their ability to help their children and greater understanding of educators and their problems.
c. For educators and schools, parental involvement decrease educators’ work loads, educators’ understanding of the
learners’ increase, educators feeling more positive about their work and more resources available to the school.
This cooperation really influences some sections especially the students. They effect positively both academic or non academic field.
When talking about parental involvement in education, it has the role on students in learning English. Doyle (2008:6) supported that learning is an ability to get knowledge and know how to use it. Then, according to Corte in Dumont et al (2010:15) effective learning is the activity between some people in distribute knowledge through some process. Basically, learning is someone’s process to construct knowledge, it can be from experiencing and know how to use it. For instance, as students who study English at school. They make interactions with others to practice their knowledge about English. Then, they will know how to communicate with English and also some the culture there. It means that if people learn continuesly, they will change the behavior unconsciously because the good process will take to the good result.
RESEARCH METHOD
The researcher employed a descriptive research. Thomlison in Thyer (2010:120) asserts that descriptive research is aimed to describe a social phenomenon that observed by researcher.
Here, the researcher was going to choose questionnaire as an instrument to get the students’ reported about involved their parents in their learning English. According to Brace (2008:2) questionnaire is written form that used for gathering the data. Then, the researcher used purposive sampling technique to choose the participant. Thus, to find the dominant type the researcher chose all of the second grade students at SMP N 2 Bukittinggi 2014/2015 academic year as the population. There were 395 second grade students who were divided into ten classes. In this research, the questionnaire distributed to 395 participants, however 213 questionnaires were given back to the researcher. Then, the researcher chose the questionnaires back based on criteria (1) for children who have parents, (2) for children who live with them. Finally, only 51.4% or 203
questionnaires which agree with the criteria were analyzed as below.
There were consist of six types of parental involvement that each of types had four items so, the students had to fill up 24 items. To answer the questionnaires, the students had to choose one option. The researcher counted the frequency of the students response from questionnaire by using Likert scales. According to Boone and Boone (2012:1) Likert scale is the statement to measure attitudes, character and personality traits. It contained five options which had different points. They were always (5), often (4), sometimes (3), ever (2), never (1). Each of types had total score. It had the highest and the lowest score. The highest score became a dominant type that was usually used by the students there.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
This research looked for the dominant type of parental involvement based on students’
reported in learning English. Here, the finding showed the percentage each item in the questionnaire that filled up by the participants.
The first type was parenting. It helped families establish home environments to support children as students. The average of this score was 55.88%. From the four statements, the item number four showed that their parents more aware about their children watching on television. It meant that parent was worried about children’s television programs. It effected the children much. As the result, parents wanted the children to watch education programs.
The second type was communicating.
The average of this score was 44.04%. In this type, the parents involved their children learning focused on the item number seven that said their parents and teacher communicated each other to talk about their children achievement at school.
It could be a good or bad report. If a good report, it was the time for parents to endure it and if the bad one, it was the time for parents to change or correct it. In other words, communication between teacher and parents will help the children much.
The third type was learning at home. It showed the parents activities at home to help their children in learning English. The average
of this score was 54.18%. Then, it indicated that the item number 10 (Every time I do something well at school my parent compliments me) got the highest percentage. This statement asserted motivation for children. Thus, The parent was aware how to motivate children that include praising for their activity.
Then, the fourth type was volunteering at school. It was parent activities that had relationship with school directly. The average of this score was 46.25%. It showed that almost a half of the participants reported their parents include in this type. They came to school, gave some help for school to help their children in learning English.
The fifth type was decision making. It was about school policy and the rules. The result showed that the parent included to participate in school decisions and developing parents leader.
Also it helped to develop positive partnership between parents and then it increased parents understanding about the school policy. The average of this score was 54.33%. It also showed that in this type, the item number 19 (my parents apply the school’s rule well to me) got the highest percentage that indicated parents know about the school rules and applied to their children.
The last type of parental involvement was collaborating with community. The average of this score was 50.34%. The item number 22 (my parent supports me to attend community programs, e.g., the activities in English course place) got the highest percentage. The statement was about their parents who had high spirit.
They supported their children in every activity that could help them in learning English. It was reported by the participants that a half of their parents aware that relationship with community would encourage the children success at school.
Thus, from the research finding above, the researcher found that parents involve in their children learning English in various and different ways. This research chose a theory that classified some kinds of the parents involved in their children learning. It was consist of six types. There are parenting type, communicating type, learning at home type, volunteering at school type, decision making type, and collaborating with community type. Each types had different percentage. The highest score was
gotten by the type number 1 parenting. It had 55.88% of students reported that their parents involved in their learning English. They created good environment for children in learning English at home. Then, for the lowest score was gotten by the type number 2 communicating. It had 44.04% of the students reported that their parents communicated with them about English subject. It stated that their parents more understood about their responsibility at home to help the children in learning English than communicated with English teacher about their children improvement in English subject. Thus, the dominant type that had been gotten by this research was type number 1 parenting 55.88.
The data can be seen clearly on charts below:
According to Mombourquette (2007) that studied about correlation between Epstein’s parental involvement types and the student achievement, the result showed that the learning at home type and decision making type got the greatest positive correlation to student academic achievement, attendance and attitude toward school. Beside that, in this research the researcher found the dominant type was parenting type. It showed the difference finding because of factors that influence it. In this research, the researcher focused on students in learning English only, whereas according to Mombourquette, he focused on all subject matter at school and also saw about the students’
attendance at school.
Hence, the researcher found that from six types of parental involvement, each of percentage did not show the significant variance.
All of types were used by the parents to help the children in learning English. Additionally, The
participants were the students in the junior high school. They were early adolescents. It made the parents a little bit difficult in involving their activity especially in education. The early adolescents usually wanted to do everything by themselves. It was showed by research finding.
Their parents involved in their education but it was not completely like they were kids.
CONCLUSION
Improving children in learning every subject is the goal of many educators. Most efforts to increase it focused on school activity but some children spent their time not at school.
They spent it at home longer that anywhere else.
Thus, it makes more sense to strengthen the parental involvement. This research is about parental involvement in learning English. The purpose of this research was to identify the dominant type of parental involvement based on students’ reported their learning English. Based on the finding of this research, it can be conclude that there are many ways for parents to involve in students learning English. Here, Epstein grouped into six types of parental involvement. The researcher found all of the types were used in learning English based on students reported. The participants reported their parents participated in learning English in their ways.
The research showed that parenting type was the dominant type at this school where many participants reported their parents did this type much than other types. It indicates that parents’ role at home to involve in the children learning like create positive atmosphere at home to study has a big contribution than the parents’
role at school directly.
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55,88%
44.04%
54,18%
46.25%
54,33%
50,34%
The Types of Parental Involvement
Type 1 Parenting
Type 2 Communicating
Type 3 Learning at Home
Type 4 Volunteering at School
Type 5Decision Making
Type 6 Collaborating with Community
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