Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

English has become one of many subjects taught in all educational level in Indonesia including in Vocational High Schools. At the moment, there are two curricula implemented in Indonesia that is Curriculum 2006 and Curriculum 2013. Both of them put English as an important subject to be taught in Vocational High Schools. Based on curriculum 2006, English for VHS has the role to equip students with communication competences in daily life to face the globalization era and also to enhance students‟ communication competencies into higher level of competencies Standard Content of BNSP, 2006. In addition, VHS based on curriculum 2006 is aimed to improve the intelligence, knowledge, personality, moral value, and skill for independent life in the future and to continue the education based on their skills and competencies Standard Content, 2006. The skills and competences of VHS deal with requirements in target situation.The target situation of VHS students is the workplaces that require students to have competences based on their study programs. Vocational High Schools prepare their students to have skills that they can apply to compete in workplaces after they graduate. In response to that, English learning materials should be developed in accordance with students of VHS‟s study programs in order to make them motivate to learn English and also it can support their future career. In term of study programs in VHS, one of them is Multimedia Study Program. Like other study programs, this program is focused on particular skills and competences to meet learners ‟ needs in target situations.Multimedia Study Program prepares students to have several competences in multimedia fields, such as, working with multimedia applications for example, Macro Media Flash, sounds editor, visual editor, et cetera, creating and designing web sites, producing 3D animation, maintaining database server, establishing good user interface in multimedia, and so on. By having ability to communicate in English, students will be easier to operate many kinds of multimedia software which is mainly established and developed in English. Furthermore, English communication competence will enable them to broaden their ability in multimedia field to compete with international standard of multimedia development. Therefore, English teachers at Vocational High Schoolshould provide context of English materials which support their study program for better future careers. Unfortunately, it is found that all Vocational High Schools have the same English learning materials, especially in term of content. As the results, teachers of English subject teach all study programs in VHS by the same content of English instructional material. In means that the current existence of English textbooks for VHS is provided without considering the differences of VHS study programs. Consequently, the teachers do not have any choice to choose the textbook for VHS provided by the schools. These issues also happen to Multimedia Study Program at SMK 2 Sewon. Here, the needs of English competences are actually high but the students‟ proficiency of English is regarded still low. Regarding the absence of the particularity of English learning materials, students of Multimedia Study Program at SMK N 2 Sewon have low intention to learn English. Teachers taught English subject at SMK N 2 Sewon believe that one of factors affecting students have low intention to learn English is the unsuitability of the current English learning material toward students‟ fields. The absence of appropriate English instructional material for Multimedia students inhibit them to have ability in English because they do not have supportive learning activities that provide them English learning pathway based on the study program.Consequently, students get bored easily. It is also supported by the fact that instructional materials are a significant component in language teaching. They are the basic of the language input and language practice elaborated in the classroom Richards, 2001. Richards also claims that the existence of materials is a bridge to have a contact with the language when students are not with the teacher in the classroom 2001. Considering the fact of English language teaching and learning activity of SMK 2 Sewon, the English teachers believe that appropriate English learning materials that suit to Multimedia students is one of essential factors that need to be considered. In relation to this, the English learning materials specialized for Multimedia Study Program should cover topics and context which are relevant to their field. Therefore, developing English learning materials of students of Multimedia Study Program is the ultimate aim of this research in order to build a good starting point in involving them to the nature of good English learning activities that accommodate students‟ particular field, that is, Multimedia Study Program.

B. Identification of the Problem