CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of six parts. They are the research background, problem formulation, problem limitation, objectives of the research, research
benefits and definition of terms used in the research.
A. Research Background
English, todays, is not merely a language which is used by its native speakers. It now widely spread around the world as a result of international trade,
travel, and industry McKay, 2002: 18. English is essential for those who deal with such international activities to share information, ideas, knowledge, and so
on. Since English becomes lingua franca to communicate among people of different nations, people are required to be able to understand and use English as
an access to enter world communication. Indonesia, as a developing country, needs not only natural resources but
also human resources which are important to maintain the elements of development. Qualified human resources are needed to keep this country in
progress and to answer many problems that occur in this country. Beside mastering their own specialities, they are demanded to be able to interact with
people from other countries. According to McKay 2002: 15-16, “By the beginning of the nineteenth century Britain had become the world’s
leading industrial and trading nation. Most of the innovations of the Industrial Revolution were of British origin, resulting in new terminology
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for technological and scientific advance. Hence, those who wanted to learn more about these innovations needed English both to understand the new
terminology and talk to English speaking inventors and manufacturers.”
Thus, English has important role in this globalization era. Because English is neither mother tongue nor lingua franca among
Indonesian, it needs to be learned and practiced. Moreover, Graddol McKay, 2002: 18 notes “Today over 84 per cent of the internet servers are English
medium…. These figures clearly demonstrate that one needs to know English today in order to access and contribute to both printed and electronic
information.” Considering the matter, both governmental and non-governmental schools place English as a compulsory school subject. In addition, to improve
education quality, some schools in Indonesia have used English as a language to convey information in certain school subjects other than English. The schools
attempt to apply an international standard of education so that the students andor the graduates can compete with others in the international level Astika, 2009.
Moreover, some regulations have been made by government of Indonesia as the foundations of the presence of SBI Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional in Indonesia.
To achieve the purpose of SBI, as stated above, the schools conduct bilingual classes for some school subjects. However, there are some problems that
occur in carrying out bilingual classes. According to Astika 2009, one of the problems is the unprepared teachers to use English as the lingua franca in class.
Although the portion of using English in bilingual classes is not as much as in English class, teachers of those subjects should learn English to avoid
misunderstanding under topics discussed and to cope with their profession’s PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
demand. Thus, some schools which apply SBI conduct English courses for the teachers to overcome the problem.
In recent days, the bilingual classes are still limited to some certain subjects. Some of the subjects include Math, Physics and Biology. Here, the
writer focuses her research on English course for teachers of Biology. The writer also perceives that Biology is chosen because it uses more verbal language than
other those subjects which mostly use numbers and there are always up-to-date English written works related to it which can be obtained easily. As a matter of
fact, Biology teachers are still at the beginning level of English proficiency. Based
on the survey Astika, 2009, 33.3 of bilingual teachers do not have ability to communicate in English. Meanwhile, they are expected to be able to communicate
in English for their profession’s demand and improvement of education quality. Therefore, they should be at least able to read and understand English texts since
there are many written works related to Biology that are offered. This is essential for them to enrich their knowledge and to help them support their teaching tasks.
Furthermore, as bilingual teachers, they have a task to develop learning materials in English. In developing the materials, teachers may modify the available books
written in English. Here, they will employ their reading skills in completing the task. For these reasons, it is obvious that people use English not only for
communicative purposes but also for specific purposes in order to deepen their knowledge in certain field and to accomplish their profession’s demand.
According to Hutchinson and Waters 1987: 19, “English for specific purposes is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content
and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning”. It means that the topics and the kind of teaching learning process are based on the learner’s needs.
The need to learn English in specific purposes will appear when they find difficulties in reading English texts. In this research, the texts are related to
Biology so that the English learning will be much meaningful to Biology teachers as the learners. Regarding with the reason stated above, the writer attempts to
design a set of English reading materials for Biology teachers. Besides, there has not been such material available yet.
In conclusion, the reasons of deciding to design a set of English reading materials for Biology teachers are based on three considerations. First, the school
policy requires Biology teachers to also use English in class as a means of communication. Second, many written works related to Biology which are
important to support teaching-learning process are written in English. Third, the writer discovers that most Biology teachers are still at the beginning level of
English proficiency. Therefore, the materials are designed as a guideline to help the learners understand English text.
By designing a set of English reading materials for Biology teachers, the writer expects the materials will be helpful for them in order to comprehend many
written works in English and to increase their reading skill. Furthermore, they will enrich their knowledge to support their teaching tasks in bilingual classes for the
development of education quality. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
B. Problem Formulation
In the research, there are two main problems that the writer is going to solve. The two problems can be formulated as follows:
1. How is a set of English reading materials using Content Based Instruction CBI for Biology teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta designed?
2. What does the designed set of English reading materials using Content Based Instruction CBI for Biology teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta look
like?
C. Problem Limitation
The research is limited to the discussion on designing a set of English reading materials using CBI for Biology teachers of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta. As
stated in the research background, there are three main reasons why the writer chooses Biology subject as her research object. First, only certain classes use
English as a lingua franca in class other than English. One of them is Biology. Second, Biology uses more verbal language than the other two subjects mentioned
in the research background which have tendency to arithmetic. Last, there are a lot of up-to-date written works related to Biology which can be obtained easily, and
the works are closely related to our daily life as human beings. Apparently, the existence of schools which utilize English in teaching
learning processes of school subjects other than English subject has not widely spread yet in Yogyakarta. For example, SMAN 3 Yogyakarta is one of some
schools which apply it. In an online article entitled Program Pembelajaran SMA PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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