English Language Course THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1 Needs assessment The term need assessment involves find out what the learners know and can do and what they need to learn and do so that course can bridge the gap. It is not the value- free process, the teacher’s view influence to what the course is about, the institutional constraints, and the students’ perceptions of what of what is being asked of them. 2 Determining goals and objectives Sometime we use the term goals and objective in or writing. But what they are, and what the relationship between them is. Goals are the general statements of the overall, long terms purposes of the courses. And the objectives are a specific ways in which the goals will be achieved. The goals of course represent the destination; the objectives, the various points that chart the course toward the destination. Setting the goals and the objective provides a sense of a direction and a coherent framework for the teacher in planning the course. Teacher may ask what the appropriate goals and objectives are, but to know it, teacher can see to the students. Teacher can analyze the students’ needs, the policies of the institution, and the way of the teacher conceptualizes the content, among other factor. There are for types of goals for language learners that proposed by Stem 1992, those are proficiency goals, cognitive goals, affective goals, and transfers goals. Proficiency goals include general competency, mastery og the four skills listening, speaking, reading, writing, or mastery of specific behaviors. Cognitive goals include mastery of linguistic knowledge and cultural knowledge. Affective goals include achieving positive attitudes and feelings about the target language achieving confidence as a user of the language in one self as a learner. Transfers goals involve learning how to learn so that one can call upon learning skills gained in one situation to meet future learning challenges. Goals should be realizable. The goals should be address to the program concretely; it may be the wishes of the teachers about the course are going to be. But the main issues today are that many teachers do not formulate the goals and objectives at all or do only after having thought about what they will teach and how. And another issue involves clarity with respect to students’ needs. If the need is clear it may make the set goals is easier. 3 Conceptualizing content Conceptualizing the contents is teacher figure out which aspect of the language and language learning she will include, emphasize, and integrate in her course. Many teachers still conceptualize the contents traditionally, that may be experienced in their own learning, that content is grammar, vocabulary, and sentence pattern, it also supported by Richards and Rodgers 1986, two decades ago, language teaching was still heavily influenced by a structural view of language. 4 Selecting and developing materials and activities. For the teacher, think about the material they will use, activities that their students will do, and techniques they will employ become the ideas to start the course not by determining the objectives or conceptualizing the content. Choosing material may mean they develop the new material for which there are no suitable materials, collecting variety materials, or adapting existing materials. There are varieties of factors in choosing, developing or adapting materials considered by the teachers. And two of the most important are effectiveness in achieving the purposes of the course and the appropriateness for the students and the teachers. Because of the lack of time that teacher has, most of teacher often prefer to choose the existing materials. Developing the materials and the activities for using them requires time and a clear sense of why they will be used, how and by whom. Developing materials requires time before, during, and after the course – for preparing, using, and modifying them, respectively. 5 Organization of content and activities. In organizing the contents and the activities, teacher can focus on the lesson level the organization of each lesson and on the course level the overall organization of the course. The first we look at the considerations of the sequencing material and then at the overall organization of the course. The complementary of the sequencing is building and recycling. In deciding how to sequence the material, one considers building from the simple to the complex. And the principle of recycling materials means that students encounter previous material in new ways: in a new skill area, in a different type activity, or with a new focus. 6 Evaluation For most teacher, evaluation means evaluation within the course: assessing students’ proficiency, progress, or achievement. How proficient student in listening is, whether student improve their writing skill, whether student has learned the English for their work place. Those are the evaluation. Evaluation in course also includes the evaluation the course itself. Whether the course is effective, and in what way. Evaluation not only linked to the students’ assessment and progress, even though the student has good achievement after the course or the feedback on the effectiveness of the course. If the students got the test well and has a progress then we said that the course had been effective. And if the students didn’t have any progress they didn’t do the test well, then we questioned the effectiveness of the course. Here the function of the evaluation, we evaluate the entire elements of the course, why the student doesn’t achieve the target achievement of the course, why the student doesn’t make the progress expected. The course is evaluated to promote and improve its effectiveness and also to provide documentation for policy reasons, such as continued funding or retention in the curriculum. Any part of course development can be evaluated. 7 Consideration of resources and constraints. Resources and constraints are two ways of looking at the same thing. Another side Andrew suggested some ideas in increasing learner involvement in course management, he wrote that the first, if the teachers want their students to be active in the classroom, he should decrees his dominance in the classroom activity. T he second is knowing the students’ learning style because every students has different way in learning, they may have different interest and abilities, so that it’s very important for the teachers to know the nature of the language learning. The third make the communication as the major of learning process not a grammar, teacher as co-participant not dominant in the course. The fourth is motivation. The fifth is the subject that the students learn; students who involved more in the course make the course more effective and make the material increased. 33

C. Students Learning Achievement

There are many definitions about achievement. People can freely interpret what achievement is. In athlete’s competition achievement can be the status of the winning, if he wins that is the achievement. In cooking, if someone cook and have a good taste then many people like his cooking it can be said that it is his achievement. In academic context achievement may be things that has achieved up the standard score. In Longman Dictionary, achievement is something important that you success in doing by your own efforts. In Oxford dictionary, learning achievement means as a thing that somebody has done successfully, especially using their own effort and skill. Norman stated that achievement is something that students have learned. 34 It means that it is the result of the learning process from the students, students need process to get the achievement, and it is not the instant. After they have done their learning they will get their achievement. In Thoha’s book Achievement is the extents to which a person has achieved something acquired certain information or mastered certain skills, usually as a result of specific information or mastered certain skills, usually as a result of 33 Anderew Peter Littlejohn, Increasing Learner Involvement in Course Management, TESOL QUARTERLY, Vol. 17, 1983, p. 595-598. 34 G.E. Norman, Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching, New York: Mc. Millan Publising, Co., inc, 1976 P. 303. specific instruction. 35 Achievement something can be gotten after the process of the learning. Meanwhile Myra Pollack S. and David Miller S writes on their book that learning achievement is students’ action that they have disciplined mines and adhere to traditional morals and behavior. It can be shown from their competency in academic subjects and traditional skill while they are demonstrating through test and writing. 36 Achievement can be seen from the students after following the test or examination after the process of teaching-learning. Achievement is something that students are going to achieve when they are learning. Every school has a standard of the study. There is a correlation between achievement and standard, as Torsten Husen write on his book, standard is the average of achievement, and it is the minimum of requirement to pass. 37 That mean that standard in learning is very important, if there is no standard, teacher will not know what the students have achieved. Teacher can decide the standards for the students, in language for example, teacher decided that student have understand and interpret written and spoken language in a variety of the topics, or students can use the language both within and beyond the school setting, 38 if students can do or through that standard, mean students have gotten their achievement. It also supported by Stanley, that achievement in education means result of the test designed to determine a students’ mastery of a given academic area. 39

D. Framework of Thinking

Learning language may be a boring activity for some students, but school and teacher should have the alternative way to encourage the student in order to 35 M. Chabib Thoha, Teknik Evaluasi Pendidikan, Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada, 1996, p. 44. 36 Myra Pollack S. and David Miller S., Teachers, Schools, and Society, new York: Mc Graw Hill, 2005, p. 330. 37 Torsten Husen, The Learning Society, translated by P. Surono Hargosewoyo, Yusuf Hadi Miarso with the title: Masyarakat belajar, Jakarta: PT. Raja Grafindo, 1995, p. 42. 38 Alice Omaggio Hadley, Teaching Language in Contex, 3th edition, Boston: Wendy Nelson, 2001, p. 37. 39 Julian C. Stanley, Measurement in Today’s School, New Jersey: Prentice Hall inc, 1964, p. 16. learn the language more interactive and fun. The writer sees that English language course can be the alternative way to improve the students need beside their activity in the classroom. Teacher in the English language course can create the different atmosphere. Because the student seem studying the formal way in the classroom, in the English language course teacher can take it more freely, students can express themselves without any curriculum stressing. But somehow, curriculum is very important. As Don Snow writes that learning language is how the students involve to the real communication , if in the classroom students didn’t focus on the communication skill, so the English language course can take it role. English language course can be the addition of English learning process in the classroom. In other way, school create the English language course is to help the student to master the English language, they hope that the student will get to the good attitude in English language learning, they will be motivated in classroom and the last they will get good on the test. Thus, if the school and the teacher work on it seriously and continuously, the English language course may be the effective way in improving the student competence in English language learning, even in the first the student only has the interest, but it can be the first thing that they want to learn English language seriously. As we know that in English language course student will get new knowledge of English, then the writer assume that the students who always attend the English language course will have different achievement with the student who rarely attend the course. From the statement above, the writer thinks that there will be correlation between the English language course students’ attendance and the students’ achievement in English language learning. If the students intensive in following English language course they should be motivated in learning English language and finally they have a positive grade in English language learning in the classroom.

E. Theoretical Hypothesis

Based on the theories which are discussed above English language course can help the student in English language learning, means that it has the positive impact to the student. If the students follow it continuously they would have the good achievement in English language learning.