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“That’s all for today, see you next meeting.” In the fifth and seventh observations, the teacher combined two languages, such as “Kita lanjutkan minggu depan.
Good Bye”, “OK, that’s all for today, besok kita lanjutkan membahas hasil pratikum kita hari ini
”.
B. The Teacher’s Difficulties in the Use of English
Teaching Biology in two languages, English and Indonesian, is not easy. The Biology teacher would face some difficulties in the use of English. In this
study, the researcher classified the difficulties into two categories. First was the mechanical difficulty, such as difficulty in composing the simple worksheet in
English. This difficulty related to how the teacher revise and compose the worksheet. Second were the difficulties related to teacher’s abilities of using
English, such as the difficulty in explaining materials in English, the difficulty in answering the students’ questions in English, the difficulty in making various
questions in English, the difficulty in making the various English sentences in greeting the students, and the difficulty in summing up the lesson in English.
These are the detailed descriptions of the teacher’s difficulties in the use of English.
1. The difficulty in composing the simple worksheet in English In international class, the test and the curriculum that are used by the
teacher is combination between the National Curriculum arranged by government and Cambridge curriculum. Therefore, the teacher would make the test in English,
including the worksheets that were distributed to the students. According to the
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teacher, composing the worksheets that were understandable for the students was not easy. “Membuat worksheet yang mudah dipahami siswa itu sulit, kadang
siswa tidak bisa memahami arti dari kata-kata yang digunakan dalam worksheet itu”
Interview, July. Based on the observation result, the teacher faced some difficulties related to the worksheet. It could be seen when the students asked
about the meaning of some parts of the worksheet. Therefore, the teacher could not copy directly the worksheet from Cambridge University. The teacher had to
simplify the language so that the students could understand the worksheets which were written in English.
In addition, when the teacher tried to simplify the English sentences, the teacher would make some grammatical mistakes. As the example, the teacher
would like to say ‘the function of the cell’ then the teacher wrote it in the worksheet ‘the function’s cell’. That phrase is incorrect. The teacher should write
‘the cell’s function’.
2. The difficulty in explaining materials in English Based on the observations, the researcher obtained the data that the
teacher, generally, used Indonesian in explaining material. Basically, the teacher had mastered the materials well. The teacher said that when she had to read the
textbook which is written in English, she could comprehend it well. However, when the teacher had to explain it in English to the students, she felt difficult.
“Ketika saya membaca buku Biologi dalam bahasa Inggris, saya dapat memahami maksudnya dengan baik, tetapi ketika saya ingin menjelaskan kembali
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materi tersebut dengan menggunakan bahasa Inggris, saya merasa kesulitan” Interview, September.
There was an important reason why the teacher felt difficult to explain the materials in English. If the teacher tried to explain materials in English,
occasionally, the teacher missed some parts. It meant that the teacher could not explain the materials clearly and completely. Hence, the students could not
comprehend the materials well. The teacher stated that many students complained that they could not understand what the teacher said in English. Therefore, the
teacher preferred used Indonesian to English in explaining the materials. According to the teacher, the students would understand the materials well if the
teacher used Indonesian.
3. The difficulty in answering the students’ questions in English Based on the observations, mostly, the teacher used Indonesian in
answering the students’ questions. As the teacher said in the interview, she could not manage what she wanted to say if she used English in answering the students’
questions. In fact, when the student asked a question to the teacher, there were some ideas that came up to the teacher’s mind. The teacher had known the answer
of that question. However, when the teacher tried to convey the answer in English, the teacher had to think hard. “Ketika ada siswa yang bertanya, saya sudah tahu
jawabannya tapi ketika saya ingin mengucapkannya dalam bahasa Inggris, saya jadi merasa kesulitan untuk menjawabnya”
Interview, September. It meant that she had to translate the ideas in her mind into English then conveyed it to the
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students. Surely, it was the difficult job for the teacher. Occasionally, the main point of her answer could not be conveyed well. The teacher was afraid that she
could not answer the questions clearly if she used English. In addition, the teacher did not have many English vocabularies.
Therefore, when the teacher would like to speak some information in English, the teacher had to stop in the middle of the sentence. The teacher did not know the
appropriate English words. It made the teacher combine the English sentence with the Indonesian words and phrases in answering the students’ questions.
4. The difficulty in making various questions in English Based on the observations, the teacher tended to make similar questions.
The teacher, mostly, asked about the definition, the function, the characteristics, the differences and similarities, for example “What are the characteristics of living
thing?”, “What is the function of nucleus?, “What is the meaning of excretion?”, “What is enzyme?”, “What are the differences between simple diffusion and
facilitated diffusion?” and so forth. According to the teacher, the forms of those questions were simple. It meant that the forms of those questions could be easily
memorized. The teacher only asked about the meaning, function, characteristics and so forth. In the interview section, the teacher ever told that if she wanted to
give long questions which were complicated, the teacher would use Indonesian. It was difficult for the teacher to ask in English. The reason was that the teacher
could not arrange the sentence well. The teacher was afraid that she would make grammatical mistakes. In addition, she was afraid that the questions would make
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the students confused. “Biasanya kalau saya punya pertanyaan yang panjang, dan saya tidak tahu bahasa Inggrisnya, saya akan menggunakan bahasa
Indonesia. Saya takut kalau menggunakan bahasa Inggris, siswa malah menjadi bingung”
Interview, September. The questions that the teacher meant were “Dimanakah terjadi proses sistesis protein?, “ Bagaimanakah proses terjadinya
difusi?”, “Dapatkah informasi ini kalian kaitkan dengan peristiwa osmosis?” and
so forth.
5. The difficulty in making the various English sentences in greeting the students Based on the observation, the researcher obtained the data that one of the
difficulties that were faced by the teacher was making various English sentences especially in greeting the students. Mostly, the teacher said “Good Morning” and
“Good Afternoon” in opening the lesson. Afterwards, the teacher asked the students’ condition by asking “How are you?”. The teacher said that she wanted to
know other English sentences that could be used especially to ask students’ condition. “Sebetulnya, saya belum mempunyai banyak referensi kalimat-kalimat
bahasa Inggris yang dapat digunakan untuk menyapa siswa Interview,
September. The reason was that the teacher felt that the way she greeted the students was just like a custom or habit. She considered that the question “How
are you?” was a usual question to greet. As a result, the students seemed getting
bored in responding that question. As the example, after the teacher asked “How are you?” then the students would answer “I am fine, thank you, and you?” and
this conversation always appeared in every meeting. Therefore, the teacher
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wanted to know other English sentences that could be used in greeting the students. The teacher believed that the good way in greeting students could build
good atmosphere in the class as well.
6. The difficulty in summing up the lesson in English The researcher obtained the data that the teacher, mostly, did not make
conclusion about the lesson in the end of class. The teacher said that she felt difficult to summarize the lesson in English. The teacher admitted that she had not
found the appropriate way in summarizing the lesson in English. “Sampai sekarang, saya masih kesulitan untuk menyimpulkan materi dalam bahasa Inggris
di akhir pelajaran” Interview, September.
C. The Proposed Solutions to Overcome Those Difficulties
