Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents background of the study, identification of the problems, limitation of the problems, formulation of the problem, objectives of the study, and the significance of the study.

A. Background of the Study

Yogyakarta state university is one of the universities in Indonesia which has goals to create educational personnel and develop education and teaching knowledge instead of creating non-academic professionals. Since 2007, Yogyakarta State University YSU has a new vision in which the vision becomes more noticeable right now, which is to be world-class university. According to Marsigit 2009:1, there are two underlying reasons which lie beneath the vision of becoming world-class university. First is that, as a state university, Yogyakarta State University has obligation to follow the government ’s policy to develop International-Standard Schools . Hence, to support the government’s plan, YSU needs to take steps to be world-class university. Second is that the demand of the university ranking among universities in the national area or global area. To be a world-class university means to have a better quality of education. According to Levin 2006:2, to be WCU means to be 1 excellence in education of their students, 2 research, development and dissemination of knowledge and 3 activities contributing to the cultural, scientific and civic life if society. In order to achieve the aim to be world-class university, YSU established TASK Force in 2007 in order to develop and implement projects to be world-class university. One of the projects to be WCU is having International Study Programs. Right now, YSU has six international study programs which are Mathematics Education, Chemistry Education, Physic Education, Biology Education, Science Education and Accounting Education. Marsigit, 2009:1 states that those international study programs apply international standard curriculum, international standard teaching and learning process, international standard learning assessment, international standard references, international standard lecturers and so on. In accordance with the facts mentioned before, the demand of the use of English for the students of International Study Program is higher than those who do not include in the International Study Program. The students of International Study Program are required to have good ability both of productive and receptive skills of English in order to meet the requirements as the students of the International Study Program. Based on the result of the interview with some of the students from International Mathematics Education Study Program, the students are required to be able to use English both productive and receptive skills because the process of the teaching and learning inside the classroom is done by using bilingual language, English and Indonesian. And as an International Study Program, English is used as a dominance instructional medium in the process of teaching and learning. They add that the handbooks or references are in English, most of the tasks and homework given by the lecturers are English as well, so that they need to perform them in English. Therefore, in order to carry out the activities in the process of teaching and learning effectively and efficiently, the students need to be fluent in English especially in productive skills oral communication. However, in reality, the students of International Mathematics Education Study Program, find it difficult in carrying out the activities in the process of teaching and learning because of the language barriers. Based on the results of interview with them, they were able to understand the instructions and explanations from the lecturers during the lectures and they could understand the content of the handbooks or references but they found it difficult to understand native speakers who spoke in English and to deliver information or opinions in oral communication in English. From seven interviewees, only two interviewees who could speak English fluently without stopping many times and trying to find out the words that they were going to say. And the rest of the interviewees barely spoke in English. They took longer time to answer every question. They often stopped when they spoke and used Indonesian because they could not find the English words that they were going to say. Moreover, only few of them could speak in English accurately. Many of them tended to make mistakes in grammar. In accordance with the condition mentioned before, it can be concluded that the students of International Mathematics Education Study Program, are far from being called as fluent English speakers. Though, oral communication is very important for them as they are the students of International Study Program who are required to be able to do oral communication fluently in English in order to be effective and efficient during the learning process and later on when they graduate from the university. Independent Language Learning Center ILLC, the subdivision of Center of Language Development Pusat Pengembangan Bahasa of Yogyakarta State University, in order to facilitate and help students of International Study Program to learn speaking of English, carries out a pilot English tutorial program called English Speaking Club ESC. This program aims to help students of the International Study Program to improve their speaking skill and also listening skill in term of their academic and daily life contexts. Therefore, in the application, the program needs appropriate materials for the participants in order to achieve the aims. In order to be able to improve their English proficiency level especially in the oral communication, the students of International Mathematics Education Study Program need appropriate materials which suit their needs as the students of International Mathematics Education Study Program. The materials should cover the topics that they need in those two contexts. Moreover, the materials should be appropriate with their proficiency level, so that their learning will be effective and meaningful for them in improving their ability in oral communication. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop appropriate English learning materials for the students of International Mathematics Education Study Program.

B. Identification of the Problems