13 learning activities using CBI are expected to develop both the content mastery and
the language mastery. Then, once the teaching-learning activities are done, students are also expected to have a broad understanding of the people using the
target language cross-culture understanding.
2.1.1.4 The Role of Teacher and Learners
The ideal role of learners in Content-Based Instruction CBI is as active interpreters of input who are willing to tolerate uncertainty along the path of
learning and explore alternative learning strategies, also to seek multiple interpretations of oral and written texts. Other than that, learners are seen as the
sources of content and joint participants in the selection topics and activities Richards Rodgers, 2001. In short, learners are regarded as autonomous beings
responsible for their learning process. Alongside the learners, the teacher who sometimes in CBI is referred as
instructor is the person responsible for selecting authentic materials for classroom use, the students’ needs analysts, and the creator of truly learner-centred classroom
Brinton et al., 2003. However, the most ideal role for teacher in CBI is as the facilitator of the content learning. As a facilitator, teacher should be responsible in
keeping context and comprehensibility, especially in planning and presentation, analyzing students’ needs, and creating a truly learner-centred class.
2.1.1.5 Comprehensible Input: Material and Delivery
According to Brinton et al. 2003, the content used in Content-Based Instruction CBI may serve as a provider of rich context for the language
14 classroom, allowing the teacher to present and explain specific language features.
Rich context here refers to the comprehensible input, a challenging language that is slightly above the current linguistic level of the students, or formulated by i + 1,
which provides the foundation for successful language acquisition Brinton, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003. By placing the difficulty level slightly above the
students’ linguistic level, the input will be challenging in a way that the students will be able to decode the message by utilizing extra linguistic context, knowledge
of the world, and the previous linguistic competence. In accordance with Brinton et al., Krashen 1985 also stated that the
materials for the immersion class should be constructed by considering the comprehensible input hypothesis. The comprehensible input will give respectable
impact on students’ language acquisition, especially in the international class, which employs the principle of immersion class. Hence, sufficient exposure of the
input will give higher guarantee of achieving success in acquiring the language for the students.
In the immersion class, the speech that takes place around the students is also considered as the comprehensible input for the students. Therefore, by
exposing them to the constant trial of using the second language in the classroom, students are allowed to improve their own proficiency with little emphasis on error
correction and grammatical accuracy. Other than that, students are allowed to give responds in their first language during the early years of studying to gather
sufficient grammatical rules and vocabulary items of the second language. Therefore, they are expected to be able to develop their communication and
opportunities of getting enough comprehensible input for the learning process. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15
2.1.1.6 Content-Based Instruction Teaching Models
In the development of Content-Based Instruction CBI implementation across the time, there are three common teaching models of CBI which are widely
implemented in language immersion classes. According to Brinton et al. 2003 in Content-Based Second Language Instruction, these models are:
a. Theme-Based Language Instruction
In this model, the class is structured around topics or themes, with the topics forming the backbone of the course curriculum. The thematic content in
this model provides rich input for lessons that are either language-based or skill-based.
b. Sheltered Content Instruction
In this model, the subject-matter teacher, who has had special training in working with the second language, modifies the presentation style to help
the students comprehend the materials. This is due to the ongoing process of students to acquire the second language. The objective of this model is to help
students master the subject matter, but at the same time, teacher spends more time helping the students with language-related issue.
c. Adjunct Language Instruction
In this model, there have to be more than two instructors in the class. These instructors teach the class the same materials but with two different
points of emphasis. One instructor uses the material to teach the content matter, whereas the other instructor uses it to teach the language skills.
16
2.1.1.7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Content-Based Instruction
Content-Based Instruction CBI has some advantages in its implementation, especially related to the content learning. The advantages are:
a. Learners are relatively more motivated in learning due to the variation of the subject matters and contents.
b. The content of the study is selected according to students’ need. c. The target language mastery happens subconsciously.
d. The approach seeks to build on students’ knowledge and basic experience. Richards Rodgers, 2001
Since the materials for the teaching-learning activities are chosen based on students’ needs, it can be inferred that this approach can be more effective in
helping students master the second language compared to other approaches or methods. By using this approach, students will be able to construct their
understanding of the second language based on their knowledge and basic experience, combined with the materials that are chosen according to their needs.
Also, students will acquire the language in the context of its use, eliminating the problem of transfer from instruction Krahnke, 1987 as quoted in Richards
Rodgers, 2001. Regardless the advantages in its implementation, CBI also have some
disadvantages. The main disadvantage of CBI is the problem of adult learners in learning the language. It happened because of adult needs’ of analytical and formal
instruction. This kind of problem is rarely encountered in children learners, most possibly because of the existence of the brain lateralization process, following the
critical period theory. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
17
The next theory which will be elaborated is the theory of immersion class as the basis of international class. This is based on the reason that CBI is mainly
implemented in immersion class, which is also the focal point of this study. Due to this reason, the researcher discusses the theories of immersion class to give an
insight into CBI implementation in the real life teaching-learning activities.
2.1.2 International Class
Immersion class, which is the basis of international class, is an educational program in which a second language is taught through Content-Based Instruction
CBI. In the immersion class, students study the regular subjects in the target language. The emphasis is on the subject matter learning, and little time is spent
focusing on the formal aspects of the target language Lightbown Spada, 2000. In Indonesia, the term international class may refer to several definitions.
Some define it merely as a classroom with English as the medium of teaching- learning activities, whereas some define it as a classroom with English as the
medium of teaching either regular or international curriculum. Despite the interpretations of international class, all of them refer to a similarity of principle,
which is the use of CBI as the teaching approach. Here, English as the target language is seen as a device for the content instruction, not the subject of
instruction Richards Rodgers, 2001. International class is supported by some goals which have been proposed
by Richards Rodgers. The goals are: a. Developing a high level of proficiency in the foreign language.
18 b. Developing positive attitudes toward those who speak the foreign language
and toward their cultures. c. Developing English language skills commensurate with expectations for a
student’s age and abilities. d. Gaining designated skills and knowledge in the content areas of the
curriculum. Richards Rodgers, 2001
From Richards Rodgers’ point of view, there are some goals which support the popularity of international class globally. With its principles which are
implemented in the international class, CBI could develop students’ proficiency in the target language gradually. Also, through international class, students will build
positive attitudes toward the target culture and the people using the target language. These attitudes are important for the students to possess, in a way that
they learn not only the cognitive aspects of the language, but also other aspects of the language, such as the social and cultural aspects of it.
The elaboration above is about the theories of immersion class and how immersion class makes use of the principles of CBI in its implementation. The
study focuses on the significant influences of CBI implementation in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the eleventh grade students’ English
reading comprehension, thus further elaboration focuses on the nature of reading and reading comprehension.
19
2.1.3 Reading
In Practical English Language Learning, reading is perceived as a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background
knowledge to build meaning Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003. Reading is a language skill which plays a major role among other language skills because
reading is considered as the core of the skills Handayani, 1997: 1, thus the mastery on reading skill may lead to the mastery of other language skills. Bright
McGregor 1970: 62 as quoted in Handayani’s research even supported the statement by saying that general knowledge depends on reading.
2.1.3.1 The Nature of Reading
The act of reading, or more appropriately referred as meaningful reading, consists of four major parts: the reader, the text, strategies, and fluency. When a
reader reads a text, the reader combines hisher background knowledge of a particular topic with the information that heshe gets from the text to build
meaning to get a comprehension. In reading the text, the reader employs a wide variety of reading strategies, and to obtain the comprehension faster and better, the
reader uses hisher ability to read at an appropriate rate fluency. In the activity of meaningful reading, the overall goal other than
comprehension “is not to remember most of the specific details but to have a good grasp of the main ideas and supporting ideas, and to relate those main ideas to
background knowledge as appropriate” Grabe Stoller, 2002: 11-12. It is also important to notice that the primary focus in the classroom should be on getting
meaning from the printed materials. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20 Anderson proposed some principles for teaching reading in his work. The
principles are: a. Exploit
the reader’s background knowledge.
b. Build a strong vocabulary base. c. Teach for comprehension.
d. Work on increasing reading rate. e. Teach reading strategies.
f. Encourage readers to transform strategies into skills. g. Build assessment and evaluation into your teaching.
h. Strive for continuous improvement as a reading teacher. Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003
There are several main points which are included in Anderson’s point of view related to the principles for teaching reading, such as to “exploit the reader’s
background knowledge” Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003. This point refers to the definition of reading, in which reading involves the activity of
building the reader’s background knowledge and combining it with the information from the written text. Another important point is the one of “teach for
comprehension” Anderson, 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003, in which it implicitly states that reading is supposed to be for understanding and comprehension the
whole meaning of the written passage, not necessarily related to knowing the meaning of each vocabulary items in the passage.
In addition to that, reading is an activity which requires the readers to read critically. The requirement for the readers to read critically is then presented into
several sub-skills as mentioned by Abdullah. The sub-skills are: PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
21 a.
The ability to evaluate deductive inferences b.
The ability to evaluate inductive inferences c.
The ability to evaluate the soundness of generalisation d.
The ability to recognise hidden assumptions e.
The ability to identify bias in statements f.
The ability to recognise author’s motives g.
The ability to evaluate strength of arguments Abdullah, 1994: 291 as quoted in Alderson, 2000: 21
These sub-skills are essential for readers to possess. However, readers are not usually aware of these sub-skills when the sub-skills occur in the process of
reading. This unawareness is mainly because the sub-skills usually occur subconsciously during the process of reading. Furthermore, the sub-skills in the
ability to read critically lead to reading comprehension, which will be discussed in the next section.
2.1.3.2 Reading Comprehension
As stated above, the general aim of reading activity is comprehension. Comprehension in meaningful reading activity is formed by combining the
reader’s background knowledge and the information obtained from the reading passage, whereas reading comprehension itself is defined as an activity of
“understanding a text that is read, or the process of ‘constructing meaning’ from a text”.
3
3
Taken from http:www.nifl.govpartnershipforreading as quoted in http:wik.ed.uiuc.eduindex.phpReading_comprehension. Accessed on June 26, 2009.
22 In educational institutions, one of the teacher’s roles is to help students
enhance their reading comprehension, which matches one of the teacher’s roles in CBI that teacher should be responsible in keeping context and comprehensibility
Richards Rodgers, 2001 and the principles on teaching reading that teacher should teach for comprehension Anderson 2003 as quoted in Nunan, 2003.
According to the IRA International Reading Association Standards for Reading Professionals as written in Armbruster Osborn 2002: vii, there are four ways
that teachers can do to help students enhance their reading comprehension, in which each of them will be elaborated below.
2.1.3.2.1 Provide Direct Instruction and Model When and How to Use Multiple Comprehension Strategies
According to the National Reading Panel 2000 as quoted in Armbruster Osborn 2002, the term ‘comprehension strategies’ refer to the “specific
procedures that guide students to become aware of how well they are comprehending as they attempt to read and write”. The direct instruction of the
comprehension strategies includes three phases. The phases are: a.
Identifying, explaining, and modelling the strategy In this phase, teacher defines what strategy will be used, explain why
and how students should use the strategy, and teach students how to apply the strategy.
b. Guided practice
In this phase, students are supposed to be more active in applying the strategies given on the first phase. During the reading, teacher encourages the
23 students to apply the strategy actively. Teacher’s guidance in this phase
includes providing students with corrective feedback. c.
Independent practice and application In this phase, students can independently apply the strategy to the new
materials. However, teacher still should monitor the comprehension. Armbruster Osborn, 2002
In dealing with the comprehension strategies, teacher is expected to choose from various possible activities to help students understand the content of the
reading materials better, for example by retelling, drawing inferences, getting the main idea, summarizing, and visualizing. From this point, it can be seen that there
should be some balance in the teaching-learning activities in the classroom, especially in the reading activity. In a program where students are expected to be
active and be autonomous learners, and that teaching-learning activities should be student-centred, teacher should also play a significant role in enhancing students’
reading comprehension by choosing the most appropriate activity. This way, students’ reading comprehension level would be increased with the support from
the teacher.
2.1.3.2.2 Model Questioning Strategies
Questioning strategies in this context refer to both questions from the teacher and students’ self-questioning activity. There are two major ways in using
the questioning strategies. First is to encourage the students to apply this strategy before, during, and after reading. Before reading, the students should be taught to
question, “What do I already know about this topic?” This way, they would PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
24 activate their background knowledge and thus the process of combining the
background knowledge and the new information from the passage can be done optimally. During reading, the students should be taught to monitor their
comprehension, by using questions such as, “What does this mean?” or “Is there anything unusual here?” Armbruster Osborn, 2000: 79. Also, students can also
try to predict what happens in the next section of their reading. After reading, the questioning strategy should involve the review to the reading. Questions such as
“What do you get from the reading passage?” can help the students not only to understand the passage, but also to relate the information they obtain from the
passage with the real life situation. The second way of questioning strategies is by using probing questions.
Probing questions refer to questions which require someone to analyze the answer of the questions deeply. By using the probing questions, the students are
encouraged to think at the higher level. This technique can be used by asking students some questions related to the reading, and later on asking them to clarify
their answer.
2.1.3.2.3 Teach Students to Connect Prior Knowledge with New Information
The definition of reading, or meaningful reading, involves the process of combining reader’s background knowledge and the new information obtained from
the reading passage to build meaning. One of the teacher’s roles in helping the students enhance their reading comprehension is to teach how to connect their
background knowledge with the new information obtained from the reading material to build meaning.
25 Before reading, teacher should activate students’ background knowledge. It
can be done by using questioning strategies as elaborated on previous section, by asking, “What do you know about this topic?” Other than using the questioning
strategies, the teacher can also notify the students with some vocabulary items that may appear in the reading passage, to help the students predict the content of the
passage. In addition to that, the connection between background knowledge and new
information should be improved by some post-reading activities. Again, questioning strategies can be very useful by posing the students to questions that
require them to analyse the reading. Also, in-pair discussion or classroom discussion can be done so that students can exchange their opinion or
understanding of the reading passage. Another activity which can be done to strengthen the connection between students’ background knowledge and the new
information is by asking students to relate the information from the passage with their daily life or with real life situations.
2.1.3.2.4 Teach Students Strategies for Monitoring Their Own Comprehension
After teaching and modelling students the ways to enhance their reading comprehension, teacher should teach strategies to monitor students’ reading
comprehension. It consists of: a being aware of the quality and extent of students’ understanding of text, and b when comprehension fails, knowing what
to do and how to do it. These strategies are important to ensure that the students PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
26 really comprehend the reading passage thoroughly and are able to employ other
strategies when they fail to comprehend a particular passage. This step is important in ensuring that students really comprehend their
reading. In this phase, teacher should model and encourage students the strategies to monitor their own comprehension. Again, questioning strategies can be
implemented by employing whilst-reading questions, such as, “What have you learned so far?” or “What do you think about the passage so far?” If students fail to
comprehend the reading, teacher should encourage them to reread the passage or to consult other resources related to the given topic. For example, when failure is
caused by difficulty in understanding the new vocabulary items, teacher should encourage students to guess the meaning of the word according to the context or to
consult the dictionary. The researcher focuses the research study to the significant influences of CBI
implementation on students’ English mastery from their reading comprehension. This is due to two reasons. First, the general aim of reading activity is
comprehension. Second, the mastery of reading may lead to the mastery of other language skills. Thus, in this study, the success of CBI is determined by the level
of students’ reading comprehension.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
In conducting the research, the researcher employed two main theories, namely the theory of Content-Based Instruction CBI principles and the theory of
reading comprehension. The first and main principle of CBI states that people learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a means
27 of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself. The statement is supported
by two main advantages of CBI implementation, namely: Learners are relatively more motivated in learning due to the variation of the subject matters and contents
and that the target language mastery happens subconsciously. These theories of CBI are related to its implementation in the international
class, since the principles of CBI are also serving as the basis of the teaching- learning activities taking place in the international class. One of the goals of
immersion class is to develop a high level of proficiency in the foreign language, which can be obtained through CBI implementation. This is due to the reason that
through CBI, the learners are expected to be more motivated in mastering the target language due to the variation of contents.
Seeing the principles and advantages of CBI in accordance with its implementation in the international class, the researcher sought the influences of
CBI implementation in the international class to students’ reading mastery, or to be specific, reading comprehension. Reading is chosen as the skill being observed in
the research because meaningful reading combines the reader’s background knowledge with the information that heshe gets from the text to build
comprehension. Also, it is considered that general knowledge depends on reading. These statements are important in accordance with one of CBI objectives, namely
to activate and develop existing English language skills, which can be done through meaningful reading.
Seeing the importance of reading in accordance with language learning in the international class, and in an attempt to seek the significant influences of CBI
implementation on the students’ English reading comprehension, the researcher PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
28 employed the second theory in the research. The second theory is the theory of
reading comprehension. The theory of reading comprehension in this research refers to the four steps which should be taken by teachers to help students enhance
their reading comprehension. Furthermore, the success of CBI implementation in this research is defined through the success of students’ reading comprehension.
29
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the description of the methodology employed in conducting the research. In detail, this chapter describes the method and the steps
taken in completing the research. There are elaborations on research method, research participants, research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis
technique, and also the research procedure.
3.1 Research Method
In conducting the research, the researcher employed qualitative research. The decision to employ qualitative research was due to two reasons. First,
qualitative research is considered to be the most appropriate research to employ when facing several different variables in the cases being researched Ary, Jacobs
Razavieh, 2002. Second, qualitative research is considered to be able to give thorough and trustworthy result to the research. Hence, by employing the
qualitative research and considering the variables in the research, the researcher expected the results of the research to be dependable, reliable and valid, and have
minimum research bias. The researcher used descriptive study as the research method used to
address the formulated problems. In the research, the descriptive study served as the primary study of the research because the researcher wanted to gain the
understanding of the problem being observed in its natural setting, the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. This is also due to the fact that descriptive study
30 pays attention to the context of the events, the subjects’ point of views, reasons for
the events, and the phenomena that need more exploitation and explanation, especially when facing several variables correlating to each other. Other than that,
descriptive study is appropriate to be used in this research study since it “aimed at ascertaining the status of a set of variables, ... without any critical analysis or
attempt to test casual hypotheses”.
5
3.2 Research Participants
The subjects of the research were the eleventh grade students of the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. The eleventh grade students were
chosen because they have had the sufficient amount of the exposure of English, the experience and the broader knowledge compared to the tenth grade students. Also,
they were not as busy as the twelfth grade students in terms of the preparation for the final examination.
The background knowledge of the research participants is considered quite good, especially in relation with the research. This is due to the selection test that
they had to take before enrolling into the international class. Thus, the researcher assumed that their basic ability in English is relatively better than students in
regular class. In conducting the research, the researcher employed random sampling, in
which the researcher chose a number of students to be observed randomly. The use of random sampling was due to the reason that random sampling is a fair
technique, in which each member of the population has an equal opportunity to be
5
Taken from http:www.answers.comtopicdescriptive-study. Accessed on June 26, 2009.
