Background of the Study

grader including the interpersonal, transactional, and functional texts. The materials of these three text types are divided into twelve chapters under the heading of communicative utterances which represents both the main language function which is used in respective text type and the notion contextualized in the chapter, and an additional ‘singing a song’ chapter. Each chapter is divided into four types of activities resembling the learning framework which encompasses observing and questioning, collecting information, associating, and communicating. There needs to be a study regarding the effectiveness of how the textbook is organized and how this organization reflects well the learning principles adopted by the Curriculum 2013. The second problem deals with the activities designed in the textbook. The activities are divided into four main activities based on the observation-based learning framework Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 2012; Nuh, 2012a promoted in the Curriculum 2013 which sequentially consists of observing and questioning, collecting information, associating, and communicating. Activities in observing and questioning begin with showing many examples or exposures of language in action through written or spoken language with the help of audio- visual media. In this stage, learners are expected to actively participate, questioning or responding to the language exposures. Collecting information consists of guided activities which help to deconstruct the text for critical analysis purposes as well as internalizing new knowledge and skills. Associating is a semi guided activity which is expected to develop learners’ critical and creative thinking. Lastly, the communicating activity opens opportunities for students to present the language they have learned and to self-assess their achievement through the compulsory learning journals. This questions whether the activities designed can meet the initial purposes and expectations of the observation-based learning framework adopted by the Curriculum 2013. The third problem deals with the suitability and practicality of the model texts with regard to learners’ proficiency level and comprehensiveness. Most of the model texts in the textbook are presented in the form of dialogs. This is in line with the text types learned in the 8 th grade of Junior High School in Indonesia according to the Curriculum 2013 which includes interpersonal, transactional, and functional texts, the three of which work best in exchanges. As observed in the textbook, it is revealed that the model texts which are focused on the listening skills are significantly less than the written model texts. It is also notable that the length of model texts to gradually extend throughout the chapters. These distinct features of the model texts may need to be examined further. The fourth problem deals with the depiction of multi-ethnicity in Indonesia, especially the representation of six ethnic groups embodied in the six newly-introduced characters: Edo as the representation of the Papuan, Siti as the representation of the Javanese, Udin as the representation of the Sundanese, Dayu who represents the Balinese, Lina who represents the Minahasan, and Beni who represents the Batak. In the textbook, they acts as fellow students who are mainly being examples or showing the picture of the use of the material in real life situation, as well as guiding the activities. Considering that ethnicity has been a sensitive and urgent issue in Indonesia since before the independence, this decision to introduce ethnic-associated characters as representation of the multi- ethnicity in Indonesia needs to be examined thoroughly so that it will not result in a drawback despite its noble expectation. Considering the accessibility of the researcher and the wide range of the problems, the researcher limits the problems of the research to the depiction of the ethnicity in the textbook When English Rings a Bell for SMPMTs Kelas VIII, as the researcher believes that the topic is one of the most urgent and recurrent issues in Indonesia. In regard to this matter, the researcher applied qualitative content analysis on the linguistic aspect of the textbook using the theory of interpersonal metafunction, proving that the textbook mainly contains the language of interaction dialogs and monologs with the roles of speakers and listeners mostly involve the six newly-introduced characteristics who come from six different ethnic groups. The decision to analyze the textbook deeper into the linguistic aspect of within-clauses functional linguistics, rather than merely count the number of dialogs produced by the ethnic-determined characters, is in order to find out whether the textbook suggests any stereotyping of certain ethnic characters unconsciously through its dialogs. Acknowledging that there is a possibility of ethnic inequalities in the depiction of multi-ethnicity in the textbook, this research expects to clarify such possibility so that it may lead to the betterment of textbook design and material development in the area of representation of multi-ethnicity in textbooks.