The Use of English as Medium of Instruction

4. The Use of English as Medium of Instruction

According to Villegas 2000, the medium of instruction is the language used by the teacher to teach. Furthermore, teaching the language, or educational content, through the target language increases the amount of exposure the learner gets to it, and the opportunities they have to communicate in it, and therefore to develop their control of it. In this study, the language used as the medium of instruction is English. English is used in the real class interactions and it is not learned explicitly. It means that English is used by the teachers to teach subject matters and by the students to learn the subject matters. Furthermore, English is used for means of communication in the classroom. Mohan 1986 emphasizes that view with his statement which is quoted as follows: Language is not just a medium of communication but a medium of learning across the curriculum. The goal of integration is both language learning and content learning. Content-based classrooms are not merely places where a student learns a second language; they are places where a student gains an education. Hence, the benefits of studying language through subject content are evident in students language and content acquisition. In conclusion, immersion program contributes to the students’ proficiency in the medium language since the focus is on the exchange of important messages, and language use is purposeful Curtain, 1995. Making English the medium of instruction, it would be difficult for anyone who does not know English to cope with new developments Al-Sultan, 2009. In line with this, Met 1993 states that the use of English as foreign language in the non-English speaking countries’ immersion classes, like in PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Indonesia, may raise difficulties among the teachers and the learners. English is used in schools, in the non-English speaking countries, in order to immerse the language so that the learners do not only master the contents but also the foreign language used as the medium of instruction.

B. Theoretical Framework

The theories described in the previous section underly the research process. The principles of immersion program, including the definition by Met 1993, Richards and Schmidt 2002, Bostwick 2005, and Dinas Pendidikan 2008, the objectives by Met 1993, the characteristics by Johnson and Swain 1997, and the types of an immersion program by Richards and Schmidt 2002 need to be reviewed to give the researcher a picture of what an immersion program looks like and how it should be implemented. By reviewing the principles, the researcher also understands how important an immersion teacher’s roles in carrying out the immersion classes to is. Since the study is conducted in SMA Negeri 1 Klaten, a state school which is carried out under a governmental system, it is also really important to understand the guideline on the implementation of immersion classes issued by Dinas Pendidikan Propinsi Jawa Tengah 2008 in order to identify whether the implementation of immersion classes in SMA Negeri 1 Klaten is in accordance to the standard required by the government. By reviewing the principles, the researcher understands how the immersion program is implemented in SMA Negeri 1 Klaten. Specifically, the researcher will be able to identify whether the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI