Background of the Study

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the research background, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, and definitions of terms used in the study.

A. Background of the Study

Facing the globalization era, communication through common language is a necessity. In order to be able to communicate and associate actively with global society, quality of human resources should be increased. Many people believe that mastering foreign language is one of the ways to develop the human resources. In Indonesia, English as a foreign language has been used as the bridge to broaden knowledge. It is also considered as the first language to improve science, technology, art and culture to maintain the relationship with other countries Depdiknas, 2004. This study focuses on English for Senior High School students since English has become one of compulsory subjects for Final Examination. Moreover, many of students should prepare themselves to look for jobs. Most of companies prefer those who have an ability to use English. Consequently, Senior High School students should equip themselves with various skills, including using English in spoken or written form to face the working world. Moreover, to develop the human resources through education, changes have been made to improve curriculum used. In 2006, government set up Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP or School­Based Curriculum for PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 2 every formal education in Indonesia. Made as the improvement of the previous curriculum, Competency Based Curriculum, the guideline of School­Based Curriculum is not too different from the CBC guideline. It puts communicative competence of learning English at school and emphasizes on the development of four basic language skills. Those are listening, speaking, reading, and writing Depdiknas, 2003:6. The teachers role in School–Based Curriculum is a facilitator. Therefore, preparing materials and helping the students in learning are teachers’ responsibilities. In language learning, teachers are demanded to be creative in creating or using materials. With various kinds of interesting materials used, the students will be interested in learning English. Dealing with materials used in teaching, many kinds of short functional texts are used. According to BNSP 2006, there are three scopes of English learning in Senior High School. One of them is to comprehend and create any kinds of short functional text, and monologue and essay in any kinds of genres. At this point, the short functional text can be in a form of notices, cards, posters, announcements, invitations, advertisements, etc. Furthermore, in line with the development of science and technology, human needs are increasing. In everyday life, short functional texts are important media to communicate, to do some humanitarian actions, and especially to fulfill their needs on accomplishing task. Here, advertisement, announcement, and invitations are daily life short functional texts used in teaching English for Senior High School students. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 3 As the consequences, the students and teachers need instructional materials on short functional texts. However, it is difficult for many teachers to find and design English teaching materials, especially on short functional texts. Therefore, this study is conducted to give a contribution by proposing instructional materials on short functional texts for Senior High School students grade X.

B. Problem Formulation