23 education program uses the language which is other than children
‟s mother tongue as a medium of instruction. Further, Garcia 2011 also emphasizes the aim of
bilingual education is for developing multiple understandings about languages and cultures, and foster appreciation for human diversity through general education
which is taught in two or more languages. For the purpose of this study, bilingual education is defined as education
program which does not only to teach English in order to develop the students‟ foreign language competence but also to teach content through English or in other
words using English as the media of instruction. Though English becomes the language instruction, Indonesian is still being used to teach certain subjects which
cannot or too difficult to be delivered in English.
b. Primary school in Indonesia
According to Law No. 202003, primary school and lower secondary school belong to the basic education. Basic education itself is general education
with a duration of nine years: six years in primary school or elementary education and three years in lower secondary school or junior secondary education. This
basic education is compulsory for the Indonesian citizens and it is well known as “wajib belajar sembilan tahun” or nine years compulsory education.
Seven until twelve year old children are required to attend Sekolah Dasar SD or primary school or elementary school. Primary school in Indonesia consists
of six grades grades 1 – 6. Primary schools in Indonesia are run either by the
government public school or sectors private schools. Nowadays, some private schools in Indonesia refer
to themselves as “national plus schools”. National plus
24 schools are schools which intend to go beyond the minimum government
requirements, especially with the use of English as medium of instruction or having an international-based curriculum instead of the national one.
For the purpose of this study, primary school which is chosen as the context of this study is private primary school which uses national plus
curriculum. This private primary school is also a bilingual school which uses English as a media of instruction. Most of the subjects in that school are delivered
in English, however certain subjects such as Bahasa Indonesia Indonesian and Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan Civics are delivered in Indonesian. Moreover,
English in this kind of school is given more than time slot than English in regular primary school. The students in this school learn English 6 hours of lesson a week
1 hour of lesson is 35 minutes.
c. Primary level students’ characteristics
Children in primary level are those whose ages are ranged between 7 until 12 years. Young learner in this level of education have different characteristics
from adult as follows: 1 they have unlimited physical energy which makes them often need to be physically active; 2 they have various emotional needs; 3 they
are emotionally excitable; 4 they are at their early stage of schooling so that they are still developing conceptually; 5 they are still developing their first language
literacy; 6 they learn slowly and easily to forget things; 7 they are self oriented; 8 they have excellent ability in imitating; and 9 they do not have the
same kinds of motivation in learning language as adults Brewster et al., 2004.
25 Nunan 2011 classifies young learners into two: 1 younger learners and
2 older learners. Children at grade 1-3 are included into younger learners, while children at grade 4-
6 are included into older learners. Nunan‟s 2011:2-3 identification of younger learners‟ and older learners‟ characteristics is presented
in the table below. Table 2.2 Younger Learners and Older Learners Characteristics
Younger learners Older learner
They are at pre-school or in the first couple of years of schooling.
They are well established at school and comfortable with school routines.
Generally, they have a holistic approach to language which means
that they understand meaningful messages but cannot analyze language
yet. They show growing interest in
analytical approaches, which means that they begin to take an interest in
language as an abstract system.
They have lower level of awareness about themselves as well as about the
process of learning. They show a growing level of
awareness about themselves as language learners and their learning.
They have limited reading and writing skills, even in their first language.
They have well-developed skills as readers and writers.
They are more concerned about themselves than others.
They have a growing awareness of others and their view points.
They have limited knowledge about the world.
They have a growing awareness of about the world around us.
They enjoy fantasy, imagination, and movement.
They begin to show an interest in real life issue.
Children characteristics can also be identified through their developmental stages as they progress from birth to adolescence in which children‟s social;
psychological; and intellectual development are build up through those four stages Nunan, 2011. According to Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist,
children develop through four stages in gaining knowledge about world, from
26 birth to adolescence: 1 sensori-motor stage; 2 pre-operational stage; 3
concrete-operational stage; and 4 formal operational stage. Children at primary level are already in the third stage, concrete-
operational stage. Children in this stage are at age of 7 to 11 or 7 to 12 Henniger, 2009 and Nunan, 2011. According to Henniger 2009, children in this stage are
less egocentric and their ability to see other‟s perspective is gradually established.
Furthermore, they are still developing their ability to think logically and also starting to make generalizations from the environment although it is limited
Henniger, 2009 and Nunan, 2011.
d. Teaching English at the primary level
