AN ANALYSIS OF MANAGING MIXED ABILITY USED BY ENGLISH TEACHERS IN CLASSROOM AT SMP N 2 KOTO BARU DHARMASRAYA
Oleh:
Roza Pratiwi *)
**) Hervina Asty dan **) Suharni Staff Pengajar Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat
ABSTRAK
Mengatur macam-macam kemampuan siswa di dalam kelas merupakan salah satu bagian penting dari manajemen kelas yang harus dilakukan seorang guru dalam proses belajar mengajar.
Ini merupakan suatu keahlian yang penting yang harus dipelajari oleh guru, sehingga hal ini perlu dipahami oleh guru sebelum menerapkannya di sekolah. Di samping itu, mengatur perbedaan kemampuan siswa juga dijelaskan sebagai cara dalam mengatur jalannya proses belajar mengajar di dalam kelas, yang mana keahlian ini harus dimiliki oleh setiap guru.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat bagaimana guru mengimplementasikan cara mengatur perbedaan siswa di dalam kelas. Partisipan dari penelitian ini adalah 4 orang guru Bahasa Inggris SMP N 2 Koto Baru Dharmasraya. Dalam mengumpulkan data, peneliti menggunakan angket dan observasi. Kedua instrument tersebut digunakan untuk melihat bagaimana guru mengimplementasikan cara mengatur perbedaan kemampuan siswa di dalam kelas di SMP N 2 Koto Baru Dharmasraya. Hal pertama yang dilakukan peneliti adalah meminta guru untuk mengisi angket yang terdiri dari 28 pernyataan. Setelah itu peneliti melakukan observasi dengan menggunakan field note dan observation checklist sebagai alat selama proses observasi. Dalam menganalisa data yang diperoleh dari angket, peneliti menggunakan formula yang diusulkan oleh Riduwan. Sementara dalam menganalisa data hasil observasi, peneliti menggunakan tahap analisa data deskriptif yang diusulkan oleh Gay dan Airasian. Setelah menganalisis data angket, peneliti menemukan persentase untuk setiap partisipan, di antaranya; partisipan pertama 78, 6%, partisipan kedua 76, 4%, partisipan ketiga 78, 6% dan partisipan keempat74, 3%. Sementara untuk hasil analisis data observasi, peneliti menemukan bahwasanya banyak indikator yang tidak diimplementasikan oleh keempat partisipan tersebut. Padahal mengatur macam-macam kemampuan siswa di dalam kelas sangat memberikan kontribusi yang baik di dalam proses belajar mengajar. Berdasarkan penelitian ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa guru Bahasa Inggris di SMP N 2 Koto Baru Dharmasraya belum mengimplementasikan cara mengatur macam-macam kemampuan siswa di dalam kelas dengan baik.
Keywords: Classroom Management, Managing Mixed Ability
*) Penulis
**) Pembimbing
INTRODUCTION
Teacher is one of the important components in the teaching learning process.
Teachers play various roles in a classroom, but surely one of the most important is that of classroom manager. Effective teaching and learning cannot take place in a poorly managed classroom. It means that, good classroom management provides an environment in which teaching and learning can flourish. It does not just appear out of nowhere, but it takes a good deal of effort to create and the person who is most responsible for creating it is the teacher.
Classroom management is one of the most essential parts to become an effective classroom teacher. Teachers who possess the ability to manage their classrooms are able to create an environment where learning is the focus. According to Ming-Tak and Wai- shing (2008:3), effective management is a key factor contributing to a positive classroom environment. It has been clear that classroom management is a term used by teachers to create and maintain an optimal learning conditions and a pleasant atmosphere to achieve the learning objectives.
In addition, Duke in Evertson and Weinstein (2011:1043) defines that classroom management constitutes the provisions and procedures necessary to establish and maintain an environment in which instruction and learning can occur. It means that, the expectations that never lost and always demand teachers how the lessons that are given by the teacher are fully mastered by the students. This is a difficult enough problem that is felt by the teachers.
Because the teachers will face students with not only as individuals with all of their uniqueness, but also as social beings with mixed abilities and the teacher should be a good manager for it.
Moreover, managing mixed ability in classroom management have to be known well by the classroom teachers in order to be success in managing the classroom, because the ability of teacher in choosing and implementing the appropriate ways while managing the classroom will determine the successful of the classroom management process. According to Knight and Anthony (2006:35), mixed ability is what researchers often refer to as heterogeneous grouping for all or part of the day. This happens for a number of reasons, but mainly because of different learning styles, different learning speeds and variations in motivation. Ireson and Hallam in Bremner (2008:1) suggest that teachers need to recognize that a class is mixed ability because students have different strengths, weaknesses, and develop at different rates. The students have different preferences for learning and displaying their work.
Furthermore, managing mixed ability is one of the effective ways in classroom management that is recommended to be used while managing the mixed ability class. This ways focus on how the teacher manages the students that have different interest, strengths, weaknesses, learning speed, and motivation. Thus, the classroom teachers should use the ways of managing mixed ability while managing the classroom since it will be quite help them in the classroom management process that finally brings them to the successful of teaching.
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
Definition of Classroom Management Classroom management is crucial thing that cannot be separated from teaching and learning process. According to Kauchak and Eggen (2002:184), classroom management consists of all the teacher thoughts, plans, and actions that create an
orderly environment. It means that, classroom management can be defined as a series of teachers’ efforts for class condition, such as the potential in teachers themselves, facilities and learning environment in the classroom, which is devoted to the learning process can run in accordance with the plans and objectives to be achieved.
Moreover, Tileston (2004:64) defines that classroom management refers to all of the components necessary to assure that there is a sense of order in the classroom and that the classroom is the kind of place where students learn at an optimum.
This theory explains that classroom management is very important for teachers to make their students are comfortable in learning process so that the teachers can transfer the material effectively.
Definition of Mixed Ability
Loveless (2000:18) states that mixed ability are labeled as heterogeneous grouping. It means that mixed ability is having same definition with heterogeneous grouping. According to Conklin (2004:17), heterogeneous grouping combines students with varied ability levels. It can be assumed that teachers will face with individuals who have different language knowledge, different intelligences, different learning speeds, and different learning styles and preferences. It means that, this situation will make the teacher difficult to handle the students in the classroom process.
The key strategy for managing mixed ability or heterogeneous grouping is probably developing a positive and collaborative learning atmosphere in the classroom. A teacher should always try to make the whole class more involved in the studying process and overcome mixed- ability problems with classroom management tips. According to Cohen et al.
(2002:174), mixed-ability refers to classes
containing a wide range of ability. It can be assumed that mixed ability or heterogeneous grouping is the class that contains varied ability of the students. The students have different preferences for learning and displaying their work. In addition, there is no students can be the same in terms of language background, learning speed, learning ability and motivation.
Characteristics of Good Mixed Ability According to Rose (2001:4), there are some characteristics of good mixed ability, such as:
1. There is a sense of discipline and shared purpose in the class. It means that, the students have learned to work together and to be self-directed for short periods.
2. Both linguistic and non-linguistic skills are valued and every student can contribute even if the contributions are not linguistic.
3. Students’ work and drawings are displayed on the wall or kept in a class folder that is regularly reviewed. This point explains that all the students in the class will be involved and each student will have something appropriately challenging to work on.
4. To provide a range of challenges for different abilities, there will be a range of achievable objectives for many tasks.
Many of these objectives will be small and immediate, like learning five new words, saying one sentence correctly or repeating an earlier exercise and getting it right.
5. There will be time and space for everyone to think. It means that, students learn that they do not need to think when the teacher asks a question because the most able students will answer. They can be encouraged to note down the answer or put up their hands briefly when they know, without giving the answer. This
way, all students in the class will have the chance to think about the question.
6. There will be opportunities for regular assessment against a personal standard.
From this point, it can be understood that if students are helped to measure themselves against their own personal achievements, all students, including the stronger ones, can focus on improving their own performance and a value can be placed on the effort they have made.
Students in this class will have regular opportunities to find out how they are progressing.
7. The syllabus will be planned to allow a different rate of progress within each lesson. So, the students can work at the best speed for them. However, the general pace of the syllabus will be the same for all students; they can all feel that they are learning together. The more able students will learn more vocabulary and engage in more challenging practice.
Ways of Managing Mixed Ability
Harmer (2007:128-130) states that there are a variety of learning options designed around students’ different abilities and interests:
1. Working with different content.
This point explains that one way of working with students at different levels and with different needs is to provide them with different material, tailoring what the teacher give the students to their individual needs. Then, one way of offering different content is to allow students to make choices about what material that students are going to work with. Last, if the teacher wishes the students to read outside the class, the teacher will encourage the students to choose which books that the students want to read.
2. Different student actions
a. Give students different tasks.
From this point, the teacher may asks all students to look at the same reading texts, but make a difference in terms of the tasks to do in response to that text.
b. Give students different roles.
For example, if students doing a role-play, in which a police officer is questioning a witness, the teacher might give the student playing the police officer the questions they should ask, whereas the student playing the witness has to come up with their own way of expressing what they want to say.
c. Reward early finishers.
It means that, if all the students are doing the same tasks with the same content, some may well finish earlier than others, so the teacher need to be able to offer such students extension tasks to reward their efforts and challenge the further.
d. Encourage different student responses.
This point explains that the teacher can give students exactly the same materials and tasks, but expect (and accept) different student responses to them. In addition, almost any time the teacher asks students to respond creatively to a stimulus.
e. Identify student strengths (linguistic or non-linguistic)
One of the ways, the teacher can make a virtue of different student abilities is to include tasks which do not necessarily demand linguistic brilliance but instead allow students to show off other talents they have.
3. What the teacher does a. Responding to students.
During lessons, the teacher frequently has to responds to students, giving the students
feedback about how they are doing, or acting as a resource or tutor. The teacher always tries to tailor the response to the particular individual who is dealing with. When students are working in pairs or groups, the teacher should monitor the students’
progress. Then, the teacher should help students to correct some language that used by the students or help the students to organize information logically.
Moreover, the teacher should push the higher achieving groups of students to go further by asking the students how they might say something more effectively, or suggesting an extension to what they are doing. In addition, the teacher needs to make sure that in spending time with particular groups, it means that the teacher does not ignore or exclude others.
b. Being inclusive.
It means that, the teacher starts teaching and learning process by working at a level that all of the students are comfortable with. The teacher asks questions that all the students can understand and relate.
Then, the teacher should make sure that all of the students are involved with the topic or the task.
c. Flexible groupings.
This point explains that the teacher groups students flexibly for a number of tasks. Sometimes the teacher might put the students in different groups, so each group can do different task. Then, the teacher might put students at different levels in the same group.
RESEARCH METHOD
This study was descriptive qualitative research. Gay and Airasian (2000:257) state that descriptive research determines and describes the way things are.
It means that, descriptive research just describes the phenomena without giving treatment. Descriptive research has been becoming very useful in investigating many kinds of educational problems include classroom management problems. Thus, by conducting this descriptive research, the researcher would describe deeply the fact about ways of managing mixed ability implemented by English teachers at SMP N 2 Koto Baru Dharmasraya in managing the classroom during teaching and learning process. In selecting participant, the researcher should know the appropriateness of the participant of the research. Gay and Airasian (2000:281) state that selected research participant must be (1) able to provide the desire information and (2) willing to provide it to the researcher. Based on the criteria above, the researcher took 4 English teachers at SMP N 2 Koto Baru Dharmasraya as participants because there were only 4 teachers who taught English there. Moreover, the researcher collected the data through questionnaires and observation (field note and observation checklist).
RESEARCH FINDINGS
This research used two instruments to collect the data, they were questionnaire and observation (checklist and field note).
However, the purpose of this research was to see the implementation of ways in managing mixed ability implemented by English teachers in classroom at SMP N 2 Koto Baru Dharmasraya.
The result from the first instruments, it is shown by the percentage of the each questionnaire. The first participant is 78, 6%. It is categorized as often implemented.
The second participant is 76, 4%. It is categorized as often implemented. The third participant is 78, 6%. It is categorized as often implemented. The last participant is 74, 3%. It is also categorized as often implemented.
On the other hand, the result of observation shows that many indicators did not implemented by all of the participants in managing mixed ability during the classroom process. Whereas, all of the ways are give big contribution toward the effectiveness of teaching and learning process in managing mixed ability. It is supported by some experts who explain about managing mixed ability, Tomlinson (2001:32), Gurgenidze (2012:63), Simanova (2010:87) and Reyes and Jesus (2005:31).
According to them, if teacher has implemented the ways of managing mixed ability in teaching, the teacher can be said as good classroom manager and the process of implementation can be said as a good implementation of managing mixed ability.
These two results had answered the research question of this research that the implementation of managing mixed ability in classroom at SMP N 2 Koto Baru Dharmasraya was not good. Even though, the result of the questionnaire was categorized as often implemented, but there were many of the indicators did not apply during twice of observations.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion
Based on the research finding, the researcher formulated the conclusion into;
the result of both questionnaire and observation showed that the implementation of ways of managing mixed ability implemented by teachers in classroom at SMP N 2 Koto Baru Dharmasraya was not good. It is showed by the percentage of the
questionnaires between 70 % - 80 %, and the categories of the questionnaires are often implemented. Next, the observation checklist and field note showed that there were many of ways in managing mixed ability did not apply by all of the participants in classroom process. Whereas, all of the ways are give big contribution toward the effectiveness of teaching and learning process in managing mixed ability.
Suggestion
After doing the investigation phase in the field and analyzing the collected data, the researcher states insightful suggestions at this point. First, all teachers have to understand that classroom management is the key of teaching and learning process and it is part of their important role in teaching.
By understanding it, the teachers will realize that their task to come to the class is not simple job but complex job. Second, teachers also need to know about some supporting elements of classroom management that will help them in creating good and conducive classroom activities.
Third, related to the research finding, the researcher suggests that the teachers should be able to understand about the way how to manage mixed ability and the researcher also hopes that the English teachers have to consider it in classroom activities.
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