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4. English for Vocational School in the 2013 Curriculum
Vocational education is known as a formal secondary education which has special characteristics among other educational institutions. The special
characteristic of vocational school is organizing an educational program which is appropriate for various fields of work. According to Calhoen vocational education
is “an organized education program which is directly related to the preparation for a career requirement other than baccalaureate or advanced degree” as cited in
Soeharto, 1988, p. 1. Supriadi 2002 states that “vocational education is aimed to
produce productive human, not human who becomes a burden for his or her family, community and nation” p. 17. Based on Depdiknas 2003, there are four
aims of vocational school. The first aim is vocational school prepares the students in the field of work and to develop a professional attitude. The second aim is to
prepare the students in order to be able to choose their carrier, compete and develop themselves. The third aim is vocational school prepares the middle level
labors for business world and industries at the present time and the future. The last one is vocational school prepares the graduates in order to be productive, adaptive
and creative citizen. Related to the objective of vocational education, Bryl Shoemaker and
Thomas Arcy as cited by Soeharto 1988, p. 9 state the vocational education can be used as the preparation for the students before entering the job field. In short, it
can be concluded that vocational education is not only an education for the students to have continuity education as an aspect of general education, but also as
31 an organized education which prepares the students to be productive people as
their preparation to find jobs. Since English is as the international means of communication, it also
becomes compulsory subject in vocational school. English plays an important role in the student’s current and future links. The students in the vocational school are
expected to take parts in the global era community with adequate competence in English. Furthermore, the vocational school graduates can get better job and lives
by working for business sector in foreign countries. The 2013 Curriculum is the latest curriculum for national education in
Indonesia. According to Materi Pelatihan Guru Implementasi Kurikulum 2013 which is written by Kemendikbud 2014, the 2013 Curriculum is the continuation
of Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi KBK 2004 and Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP 2006. The purpose of changing the curriculum is to improve
morality and tolerance among Indonesian youth. Therefore, the implementation of the 2013 Curriculum emphasizes how important the aspect of attitude, skill, and
knowledge for building the students’ soft skill and hard skill.
However, in the 2013 Curriculum puts attitude on the higher priority than skill and knowledge. Attitude is related to how an individual view issues and other
people. Skill is related to how to do something while knowledge is related to how to understand the information and ideas. Based on
Krathwohl’s taxonomy, “attitude can be measured through accepting, responding, organizing or
internalizing, valuing and characterizing or actualizing ” as cited in Kemendikbud,
2014, p. 14. Skill is measured using Dyers’ taxonomy, which consists of
32 observing, questioning, experimenting, associating, and communicating. Then,
using Bloom’s taxonomy which is revised by Anderson, Kemendikbud 2014, p. 13 suggests knowledge can be measured through knowing or remembering,
understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. The approach used in the 2013 Curriculum is Scientific Approach. Scientific
Approach encourages the students to do observing, questioning, experimenting, associating and networking. Permendikbud no. 81 A tahun 2013 states that
learning process in the 2013 Curriculum must consists of observing, questioning, experimenting, associating and networking steps. In the observing step, the
students find the fact and the relation between object which is shown and the learning material. In the questioning step, the students ask what they do not know
about the material. In the experimenting step, the students explore more about the material by reading or discussion. In the associating step, the students conclude
the results of their experiment logically. The last step is networking or communicating which means that the students apply what they have learned in the
daily communication. To support those steps, there are two teaching models in the 2013
Curriculum. They are Project-Based Learning and Discovery Learning. Project- Based Learning involves the students working in the permanent groups to explore
learning issues in the framework of a realistic problem. Discovery Learning which is proposed by Bruner involves the students to draw their past experience and
existing knowledge to discover facts and relationships and new truths to be learned. English in the 2013 Curriculum becomes compulsory subject in
33 vocational school. However, the time allocation for English lesson is only two
contact hours each week in which one contact hour consists of 45 minutes.
B. Theoretical Framework
This research employs several theories in order to solve the problem. The research problem is to find out how cue cards improve speaking skill of the
students in X Kimia Industri of SMK Negeri 2 Depok. This section summarizes the relationship between the problem that will be solved and the related theories.
The theories used in this research are presented in the sections of The Nature of Speaking, Teaching Speaking Skill, The Use of Cue Cards as The
Teaching Media and English for Vocational School in the 2013 Curriculum. In the first section, The Nature of Speaking, there is a theory about the definition of
speaking which is used by the researcher as the foundation to know what actually speaking is. The knowledge of the characteristics of speaking and types of
speaking help the researcher understand the characteristics of speaking and the types of speaking. Those theories also help the researcher to decide what kind of
speaking that is taught to the students. Since this research d iscusses the students’
speaking skill, the theories of speaking fluency and accuracy are important as the foundation to know the meaning and characteristics of fluency and accuracy.
Fluency and accuracy are aspects which are measured in speaking. The theories, which are presented in Teaching Speaking Skill section, are
important for the foundation to teach speaking skill. Theory of the nature of teaching speaking is used to know the reason why speaking is taught to the
students. The knowledge of the aims of teaching speaking is also used to know
34 the goals of teaching speaking so that the teaching practice will not deviate from
the goals. To know the problems which are faced by the students in X Kimia Industri of SMK Negeri Depok, the researcher did the observation. The knowledge
of problems in teaching speaking is used to support the results of analyzing the students’ problems. The last theory in Teaching Speaking Skill, namely the
principles of teaching speaking, is used by the researcher as the guidance to teach speaking. Knowing the principles of teaching speaking, the researcher can
conduct the teaching and learning successfully. Therefore, the goal of this research, which is to help the students improve their speaking skill, can be
achieved. The knowledge of the use of cue cards as the teaching media is important in
this research since cue cards are the teaching aids used to help the students improve their speaking skill. The knowledge of the advantages of using cue cards
will be the foundation to understand what cue cards are and how cue cards can be used effectively in learning speaking. Understanding those theories, the researcher
choose the cue cards which can be used effectively in teaching and learning activities. Therefore, the knowledge of the advantages of cue cards is supported
by the knowledge of speaking activities using cue cards. The theory about communication drill Rivers, 1983, pp. 44-48 is the foundation to implement the
cue cards in the speaking activities in order to create the meaningful and effective learning process.
The knowledge in the section English of Vocational School in the 2013 Curriculum is also important in this research since this research will be conducted
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