61 3
Building connection between students‘ prior knowledge and the new material
In this step, the new material was presented. However, the students were not directly asked to read it. They were asked to predict the content of
the text. It was done by presenting a new picture to the students with the title of the text. The picture was closely related to the text. The students firstly
asked to look at the picture and the title. Then, they were asked some questions related to the picture. After that, the students were asked to write
everything they know about the picture and the title of the text as their prediction. The students did this activity in pairs or groups in order to build
their cooperation with others and to make the activity became more challenging. After that, the researcher gave the text to the students.
Furthermore, the students were asked to match their prediction with the content of the text.
4 Comprehending the new material
Reading the text in depth became the activity in comprehending the new material. It was done to find the content of the text. While the students
read the whole text, the researcher also asked the students to highlight the difficult words. Nevertheless, they were not allowed to find its meaning from
the dictionary. The students were helped in finding its meaning by giving some clues. Next, doing the comprehension questions was also one of the
activities done in this step.
62 Another activity done in this stage was aiding the students to draw
relationship between personal experiences and the material or topic that has been discussed. This activity was an addition activity, which means that this
activity was done when the time and situation were possible. By asking the students to describe a topic that was familiar with them, based on the text
given with only limited information, the students then searched additional information got from their experience and their own knowledge. The students
then drew relationship between their personal experiences and or knowledge and the material or topic discussed.
b. Actions and Observations in Cycle 1
The actions of Cycle I were implemented three times; on Monday, October 7, on Tuesday, October 8, and on Thursday, October 10. The genres
of the text were Descriptive text and Recount text. The pictures used in Cycle I were selected appropriately based on the material being discussed. The
pictures were about the amazing animals and favorite idols for Descriptive texts and holidays for the Recount text. The pictures used in Cycle I were as
follows.
63
Figure I: The pictures which are used as teaching media in Cycle I
In this research, the researcher did the actions as the teacher. Meanwhile, the English teacher and the researcher‘s colleague took notes and
observed the teaching and learning process. The implementations of the actions were illustrated as follows.
1 Meeting 1
The first action in the first meeting was building the studen ts‘ interest
and attention. In this step, the researcher told the students the topic of the day. The topic was closely related to their real life. The researcher selected
describing amazing animals as the topic of the lesson. The students were attracted to the topic.
64 4: 1
Kalau “describing animals” bagaimana? Apakah kalian sudah
pernah belajar tentang “describing animals”? „“How about describing animal? Have you ever studied about describing animals?‟. Hampir
semua siswa menjawab
„Almost all of the students replied‟, ―Yes
Miss. ‖ “Oh, benarkah? Kalau begitu, pernah menggambarkan hewan apa
saja
?”„Oh, really? What were animals that you had ever described?‟
S secara bergantian menjawab “kucing, kelinci, gajah, singa, dan lain-lain miss
” „Some students replied, “cat, rabbit, elephant, lion, etc Miss‟. AP-A FN7P 129
In reference to the above quotation, when the researcher asked the students
about describing animals, almost all of them answered the questions cohesively. They could not help mentioning kinds of animals which they had
ever described. Therefore, it could be said that the students were attracted to the topic.
In building interest and attention, the researcher also used media to make the teaching learning process more interesting. The researcher chose
pictures to build the students‘ interest and attention. The next step were accessing prior knowledge and exploring key
words. In this step, pictures were still used as the media. In accessing prior knowledge, the researcher tried to recall students‘ knowledge about the
pictures. The use of pictures had a great role in this step. Some questions were asked to the students in relation to the pictures shown in the LCD projector.
The students were enthusiastic in answering the questions. Conducting Questioning and Answering session about the picture was
aimed at exploring the students‘ vocabulary. Although they were familiar with descriptive text about describing animals, the students still needed guidance in
65 building their vocabulary mastery. By using pictures, the students‘
background knowledge was activated. Looking at the pictures, the students, then, expressed their ideas by mentioning some words and statements related
to the picture. By asking the students some questions related to the picture, the teacher helped them in exploring the students vocabulary related to the topic
and the picture. While asking the students some questions related to the picture, the researcher was also writing the words mentioned by the students
on the whiteboard. The next step was
building connection between students‘ prior knowledge and the new material. In this step, the researcher showed the
students a new picture. It was a picture of a panda. The researcher chose the picture since the new text was about Panda. Then, questioning and answering
session was conducted to explore the students‘ vocabulary about the new picture. The illustration could be seen in the Appendix A FN
– 7page 129. In the third step of Schema Activation Strategy, the researcher asked
the students to make predictions. The predictions may be in the form of words, phrases, and even sentences related to the picture and the title of the
text. In doing that, the students were divided into some groups. Each group consisted of four to six students.
In making predictions, most of the students‘ predictions were in the form of words and phrases. They were enthusiastic in joining the activity.
However, their predictions were limited and closely similar among the groups. It was understandable because it was the first time for the students to have
66 making predictions activity, especially in English subject. It could be proven
from the quotation of the interview transcript below. 4: 2
R :
Apakah adik pernah diajar dengan cara seperti tadi, yang menggunakan gambar dan ada kegiatan memprediksi isi
teks? Have you ever been taught by using pictures and
making predictions?
S1 :
Pernah, tapi bukan Bahasa Inggris. Yes, but it was not English subject.
R :
Jadi kalau Bahasa Inggris baru pertama kali ini ya? So, for English subject, is this the first time?
S1S2 : Iya. Yes
AP-B Int.Tran10P 166 The quotation showed that the teachers had never conducted making
predictions activity for English subject. It might be the cause of the students‘ confusion in doing the activity. That is why, the predictions between one
group and the other groups were closely similar. The students tended to cooperate not only with their group but also with other groups.
After that, the texts were given to the students. They were asked to scan and skim the text in order to check their predictions. In this activity, the
students had actually had some ideas and knowledge about Panda. Then, when they scanned and skimmed the text, they tried to make connection between
their prior knowledge and the new material. In this step, most of the students‘ predictions were suitable for the text. However, most of
the students‘ predictions were very general. The examples of the students‘ predictions were
as follows: ―from China, Panda eats bamboo, herbivorous animal, white and black color, like a doll, big animal, mammals
‖ Appendix AFN – 7.
