55 from Indonesian to English by himselfherself. This translation process was
imperfect due to the teacher’s unpreparedness of employing English, as proven by many typographical errors and mistakes in the sentence structures see Appendices
3 and 4 pp. 74-82. In dealing with the mistakes in the modules, the students usually correct the
mistakes by predicting the most appropriate term or meaning of the part being questioned. For example, when dealing with typographical errors, students looked
for a particular term which has the closest meaning or form with the term in question, whereas when dealing with the mistakes in sentence structure students
tried to find the most logical meaning of the sentence in question. Especially when dealing with the mistakes in the sentence structure, the students were not able to
ask the teacher to correct the mistakes for the teacher himselfherself was not usually aware that heshe made a mistake in translating the modules. This kind of
problem was harmful for the students, as stated by some students in the interview that during the examination they made several miscalculation on Physics and
Chemistry due to the mistranslation of some registers in the subjects.
4.2.3 The Influences of Content-Based Instruction on Students’ Reading Comprehension
From the elaboration given on the previous section, it can be seen how the activity of reading is done in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, both in
English class and in Science classes. Furthermore, in accordance with one of the teacher’s responsibilities to keep context and responsibility Richards Rodgers,
2001 and one of the principles of teaching reading that teacher should teach for PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
56 comprehension Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003, the researcher sought
whether the teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta have already fulfilled their ideal role in terms of teaching reading comprehension to the students. Serving as the
guideline for the researcher to seek how teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta teach reading comprehension in the international class was the four ways proposed by
the International Reading Association IRA as listed in Reading Instruction and Assessment: Understanding the IRA Standards Armbruster Osborn, 2002. The
four ways were the ways proposed by IRA for the teacher to help the students enhance their reading comprehension. Each of the four ways will be elaborated
below.
4.2.3.1 Provide Direct Instruction and Model When and How to Use Multiple Comprehension Strategies
In the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, the teachers and lecturers in charge of the international class did not provide enough support that the students
need to enhance their reading comprehension. This situation happened because there was no direct instruction of the comprehension strategies. Daily activities in
the class mainly consisted of: a The teacher or lecturer delivered the material from the modules, usually in Indonesian or half-English; b The teacher or
lecturer gave some exercises in English; c The students got the exercises done; d The teacher or lecturer led the class discussion, mostly in Indonesian. These
activities were carried out with the assumption that the students have read the modules before the class, and thus there were no comprehension strategies which
were employed in the class, especially because the material for the class discussion PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
57 was mostly came from the teacher’s or lecturer’s explanation, not from the
students’ reading. However, the activity of drawing inference, an example of activities
involving comprehension strategies, can be found in Biology modules as one of many exercises. From Modul Biology for XI Class Semester 1 which was compiled
by Budi Setyawan and Didik Purwaka, the Biology teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, most exercises expect the students to draw inference from the
elaboration of the materials. Some examples are: Example 1:
“... Suggest reasons why microvilli are only possible in animal cells but not in plant cells. 1 mark ...” Modul Biology for XI Class
Semester 1, Chapter I: Cell Structure
Example 2: “... Although prokaryotes are more numerous and widespread than
eukaryotes, their level of complexiti and efficiency is restricted. What has enabled eukaryotes to become more complex? 2 marks
...” Modul Biology for XI Class Semester 1, Chapter I: Cell Structure
Despite the mistakes in the spelling and in the English sentence structure, these exercises are good in teaching students how to draw inference from what
they have read in the modules. By exposing students to these kinds of exercises, the students are then trained to select the most suitable information from the
reading to answer the questions given. Unfortunately, this kind of exercise can only be found in Biology module. Physics module and Chemistry handouts both
contained exercises that mostly required the students to do some calculations. Some examples are:
58 Example 1:
“... Estimate the moment of inertia of a tennis ball for rotation about a diameter. A tennis ball has a mass of 0,70 kg, an auter radius of 32
mm and a thickness of 5 mm. ...” Physics for XI Level, Chapter 6: Equilibrium of Rigid Body
Example 2: “... A door has a height of 2.1 m, a width of 1.1 m, a thickness of 42
mm, and a uniform density of 0.88 x 10
3
kgm
3
. What is the moment of inertia of the door about an axis along its hinges? ...”
Physics for XI Level, Chapter 6: Equilibrium of Rigid Body
4.2.3.2 Model Questioning Strategies
Other than merely choosing the most appropriate post-reading activity, it is also important for teacher to teach students the questioning strategies to enhance
their reading comprehension. However, the teachers of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta did not model or teach questioning strategies to their students
optimally. From the classroom observations, the researcher did not see any pre- reading, whilst-reading, or post-reading questioning strategies. The students were
only exposed to questions when they have to do the exercises from the teachers. And even though the exercises involved questions that required the students to
draw inferences or to analyze the information found in the modules, they were not exposed to questions to monitor their reading comprehension.
In class discussion, however, probing questions often appeared. Teachers or lecturers, when leading the class discussion, often asked the students to answer
some questions, then asked them to explain or clarify their answers by asking, “How do you know?” or “Can you explain your answer?” With these probing
questions, the students learned to think in higher level, and thus led them to improve their analysis skill based on their comprehension. Unfortunately, the
59 content of class discussion mainly came from the teachers’ or lecturers’
explanation of the material, not from the written modules, so it could not be justified whether or not the questioning strategies related to reading
comprehension really take place.
4.2.3.3 Teach Students to Connect Prior Knowledge with New Information
Reading comprehension takes place when the reader is able to combine the background knowledge with the new information obtained from the text to
generate meaning. Thus, one of the teacher’s roles in enhancing the students’ reading comprehension is to teach them how to connect background knowledge
with new information. However, during the classroom observations in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, the researcher did not find any specific
effort made by the teachers or lecturers in activating the students’ background knowledge before reading or in strengthening the connection between the
background knowledge and the new information from the reading passage after reading.
In the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, there were no pre-reading activities which usually included questioning activities to activate background
knowledge. When the students were assigned to read a particular reading material, they directly go the whilst-reading activity, without being engaged to the pre-
reading. However, since the post-reading activity mostly consisted of class discussion, the students could strengthen the connection between background
knowledge and new information through the exchange of information that took place within the class discussion.
60
4.2.3.4 Teach Students Strategies for Monitoring Their Own Comprehension
One of the ways to monitor the students’ comprehension is by employing whilst-reading questions. However, since questioning strategies could not
explicitly be found in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, it was difficult for the students to monitor their own comprehension. When
comprehension failed to take place, the most common way which could be observed in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta was that the students
raise questions to the teacher. However, this activity did not usually happen in the classroom discussion.
The students were rather reluctant in asking questions to the teacher about the things that they did not understand. Usually, when their own comprehension failed,
they asked their friends to explain the materials to them. Another way that the students usually did when their own comprehension failed was to browse the
explanation they needed from the Internet or other sources. By either asking their friend to explain the material for them or referring to the Internet or other sources
to look for the specific information which is needed, the students could overcome their difficulty in understanding the materials.
61
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter contains two major parts of the research. The first part covers the conclusions of the research. The conclusions were obtained by comparing and
contrasting the theories related to Content-Based Instruction CBI in the international class and reading comprehension with the results of the field notes
and interviews. The second part of this chapter is the suggestions for a better implementation of CBI and in improving students’ reading comprehension.
5.1 Conclusions
The conclusions of the research were drawn after the researcher compared and contrasted the theories of Content-Based Instruction CBI in the international
class and reading comprehension with the teaching-learning activities as portrayed in SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. The conclusions address the two formulated problems.
First is related to CBI implementation in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, and second is related to the influence of CBI implementation in the
international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the eleventh grade students’ English reading comprehension.
To answer the first formulated problem, the researcher made some field notes from classroom observations and made comparison and contrast of the
theories related to CBI in the international class as elaborated in Chapter II with the teaching-learning activities taking place in the international class of SMAN 3
Yogyakarta. Based on the observations which were conducted, the researcher PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
62 could see that the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta implemented CBI
only in Science classes, namely Biology, Chemistry, and Physics classes. In those classes, there were two kinds of teaching activity taking place. First is the one with
the assistance of regular subject teachers, in which the teaching was conducted in Indonesian. Second is the one with the assistance of guest lecturers from several
universities in Yogyakarta, who were expected to teach in English. The international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta put the emphasis on written
English rather than spoken English. The emphasis is employed by familiarizing the students with modules and exercises which were written in English. Also, students
were expected to write practicum reports from their Science classes in English. In terms of the role of teacher and learners, the students of the international
class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta have already fulfilled their role as the autonomous beings who were responsible for their own learning process. Teacher’s role,
however, was not fully fulfilled yet since they have not acted as the facilitator of the content learning due to their unpreparedness in using English as the
instructional language. In addition to that, the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta did not implement any of the three CBI teaching models proposed by
Brinton et al. 2003. The international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta only took little characteristics from each of the teaching models and combined them in the
teaching-learning activities done in the classroom. In short, although the two basic principles of CBI as proposed by Richards
and Rodgers 2001 have already been implemented in the international class of CBI, the exposure of English as the target language in the class was not optimal.
This is due to the fact that the exposure of English was only in the forms of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
63 modules and exercises which were written in English, and also in the form of guest
lecturers who teach in the international class with English as the instructional language.
To answer the second formulated problem, the researcher concluded that there was only little influence of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on
the students’ reading comprehension. This conclusion was based on the interview conducted by the researcher, in which the students did not perceive their learning
in the international class improve their reading comprehension. Other than that, the researcher found three points in the international class
of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta which were related to reading. First, the modules, which are written in English, contained many typographical errors and mistakes in the
English sentence structure, which might be harmful for students’ English learning. Second, not many efforts were done by the teachers in enhancing students’ reading
comprehension. Teachers or lecturers, who were supposed to model techniques in enhancing students’ reading comprehension, did not optimally do the effort. The
students were left to comprehend the reading passage and overcome the problems in reading on their own, without given any explicit model by the teachers on how
to ensure and enhance reading comprehension. Third, the teachers did not encourage the students to make reading a habit, especially outside the classroom.
In addition to that, the English teachers did not fully encourage the students to read from various kinds of reading passages, whereas in Science classes most reading
activities actually took place outside the classroom. As the conclusion, there was only little yet insignificant influence of CBI
implementation in the international class in improving students’ reading PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
64 comprehension. This is due to the imperfect implementation of CBI in the
international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. Other than that, it is caused by the absence of explicit model and supervision by the teachers in teaching the students
the ways to enhance their reading comprehension.
5.2 Suggestions
Related to the results of the research, the researcher has two suggestions concerning Content-Based Instruction CBI implementation in the international
class. These suggestions are applicable not only to SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, but also for schools in general. The researcher expected these suggestions to be helpful for
further improvement of the quality of education in Indonesia.
1. Suggestions towards schools
The suggestions towards schools are mainly related to CBI implementation. The researcher suggests that schools having an international school should review
the implementation of CBI in the international class. The review can be done by learning the basic principles of CBI and then revising the existing system of
international class in accordance with the basic principles of CBI. Other than that, the researcher suggests that schools which plan to start an
international class should learn the basic principles of CBI before starting the international class. By doing this, it is expected that the international class would
portray an ideal international class in accordance with the principles of CBI. Also, it is expected that the appropriate and ideal implementation of the basic principles
of CBI in the international class would lead the students to improve their English more gradually.
65
2. Suggestions towards teachers
The suggestions towards teachers are mainly related to the improvement of students’ English reading comprehension. Seeing that students cannot enhance
their reading comprehension without any assistance, the researcher suggests that the teachers should employ the four ways proposed by the International Reading
Association IRA as elaborated in Chapter IV of this research study to help the students enhance their reading comprehension. Also, teachers should explicitly
teach and model the ways to enhance the students’ reading comprehension and monitor the results of the reading. Related to reading in general, teachers should
encourage the students to improve a habit of reading both inside and outside classrooms. By employing these suggestions, it is expected that the students will
enhance their reading comprehension thoroughly. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
