166 theory of language competence for young English learners and adapts it with the
character of Indonesian elementary school students. The theoretical model is formulated into three main constructs. They are
standard competence, criteria of competence, and indicators. Those three main constructs consist of the abilities that should be able to be performed by
Indonesian elementary school students to indicate their English written competence.
a. Standard Competence
The Standard of English written Competence of Indonesian elementary school students is defined as
the minimum requirements of competence in written English language communication that should be able to be performed by
the elementary school students in Indonesia. The standard is divided into two categories. The first one is the competence of text understanding reading that is
the learners’ ability to know and comprehend the meaning of written English texts organizationally and pragmatically that they find in daily life, such as at home, at
school, and in public places. The second one is the competence of text production writing that is the learners’ ability to create written English text organizationally
and pragmatically in daily life, such as at home, at school, and public places. The standard is defined by considering the concept that language functions as a means
of communication of a person to convey his idea towards others Fromkin, 1996:5. When someone knows and uses a language, he speaks or writes and be
understood by others who knows his language. This means he has the capacity to
167 produce sounds or signs that indicate certain meanings and to understand or
interpret the sounds or signs which are produced by others.
b. Criteria of Competence
Criteria of competence consist of the criteria that shape each standard competence. These criteria are formulated based on the adapted theories of Penny
Mc Kay’s language competence for young English learners that she adopts from Bachman and Palmer’s theory of language competence. The criteria of
competence, in fact, are not observable, in a way, they are not measurable. Therefore, each criterion of competence is indicated by statements of abilities
which are more observable through the test takers’ respond to the test items. These statements are called Indicators.
c. Indicators
Indicators are the measurable statements of abilities that learners’ should perform within the criteria of standard competence. The criteria of text
understanding and text production are classified into two aspects: Organizational and pragmatic knowledge. The indicator under the organizational knowledge for
text understanding competence includes : first, Grammatical knowledge which is indicated by learners’ abilities to decode letters and words match sounds with
letters, with phonic blends, to read and understand a growing range of vocabulary relating to daily life, such as: at home, at school, and in public places, and to
understand a growing range of structure of sentences and short passages to form meanings. Second, Textual knowledge which is indicated by learners’ ability to
predict meaning from a range of cues title, illustration of short passages. While
168 the Pragmatic Knowledge includes functional and sociolinguistic knowledge
which are indicated by learners’ ability to use their personal experience and their knowledge of the context when they meet an unknown word in the text and to
identify the main ideas in in the text and locate specific information from the text. The organizational knowledge of text production writing competence,
includes: first Grammatical knowledge which is indicated by learners’ abilities to write vocabulary words in the right spelling and to build cohesion across
sentences and parts of sentences with appropriate structure eg: appropriate punctuations, relationships of time simple tenses, quantity, connective etc.
Second, Textual knowledge which is indicated by learners’ abilities to build cohesion across sentences and parts of sentences with appropriate structure eg:
appropriate punctuations, relationships of time simple tenses, quantity, connective etc. While the pragmatic knowledge covers functional and
sociolinguistic knowledge which are indicated by learners’ abilities to write their idea into sentences with appropriate meanings. The table below will show it more
clearly:
CATEGORIES CRITERIA
INDICATORS Aspects of
L
anguage Competence
Learners are
able to
1. TEXT
