Specification of the Developed Product

7 On the other hand, there are some limitations of the products because those are only prototypes. Firstly, the main products only consist of two different kinds of pictures series and those only have two themes; 1 food, 2 adventures. Besides, those only focus on teaching listening skills. Then, due to the strict time in doing the research, the try-out for the book was done in only one school. The participants were only the fifth grade students of SD IT Insan Cendekia. Besides, the products only got the validations from 10 English teachers which were used as the expert‟s judgments without comparing to the other similar products in identifying the feasibility of the media. 8

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A. Theoretical Review

1. Teaching English as A Foreign Language to Children

a. The Characteristics of Children as Young Language Learners

Children are different from adults. They are not adults in miniature. They have their own way in learning something. According to Brown 2001: 88, unlike adults‟ attention span, children‟s can be shortened when they have to deal with material that they find it boring, useless, or too difficult. Likewise, Harmer 2001: 38 states that young children learn differently from older children, adolescents, and adults in the following ways: 1 They respond to the meaning even if they do not understand individual words. 2 They often learn indirectly rather than directly – that is they take in information from all sides, learning from everything around them rather than only focusing on the precise topic they are being taught. 3 Their understanding comes just from explanation, but also from what they see and hear and, crucially, have a chance to touch and interact with. 4 They generally display an enthusiasm for learning and curiosity shout the world around them. 5 They have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher. 6 They are keen to talk about themselves, and respond well to learning that uses themselves and their own lives as main topics in the classroom. 7 Young children have a limited attention span. They often get bored and lose their interest easily. Children learn and get information from everything that is going on around them. They learn best when they are cognitively, mentally, psychologically, emotionally, physically involved. It is impossible asking the children to only focus on the teacher‟s explanation along the teaching learning process.