•
Discourse competence actionable competence, linguistic competence, socio cultural and strategic competence.
•
Developing positive attitude on the English language as a tool of communication.
C. Material, Syllabus and Curriculum.
Language is one of the means of communication which is commonly used by human beings. It is the most important means of communication and widely
used by people all over the world. Instructional materials are partially related to syllabus while syllabus and
curriculum are two different but closely related matters. This close relation is the reasons why the two are sometimes used synonymously by some experts. In the
present context, materials are an important component within the curriculum. They are used to achieve the instructional objectives which have been formulated.
Therefore, instructional materials used for teaching learning process must be selected carefully. They must be in consonant with the curriculum so that the
instructional objectives can be achieved. This is in line with what Kasbollah 1993 suggests that the material selection should be based on the instructional
objectives, the needs of the learners and on the local situation where the learners are studying.
According to Richards and Rodgers 1986
5
, the roles of instructional material within a functional communicative methodology might be specified as
follows: 1.
Materials will focus on the communicative abilities of interpretation, expression and negotiation.
2. Materials will focus on understandable, relevant and interesting
exchange of information rather than on the presentation of grammatical form.
5
Jack C Richards Theodore S Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 30.
3. Materials will involve different kinds of texts and different media, which
the learners can use to develop their competence through a variety of different activities and tasks.
Materials are an important component within the curriculum. They are used to achieve the instructional objectives, which have been formulated. Therefore,
instructional materials used for teaching learning process must be selected carefully. They must be in consonant with the curriculum so that the instructional
objectives can be achieved. Since the roles of instructional materials are very important to achieve the instructional objectives, it is hoped that the teachers be
more selective and creative in selecting the most appropriate materials for their students.
The word curriculum is used interchangeable with syllabus. A syllabus is a plan which a teacher translates into activities in the classroom. It is part of a
curriculum excluding the element of curriculum evaluation Huda, 1999
6
. This definition is in line with that of Robertson in Yalden, 1987
7
that the curriculum includes the goals, objectives, content, processes, resources and means of
evolution of all learning experiences planned for pupils both in and out of the school and community through classroom instruction and related programs, and
he defines syllabus as a statement of the plan for any part of the curriculum, excluding the element of curriculum evaluation itself. Thus the main distinction
between a syllabus and a curriculum is that a syllabus is part of a curriculum excluding the element of curriculum evaluation.
In the 2004 English syllabus, the approach adopted in the teaching and learning process is communicative approach, basically this approach is another
version of meaning based approach. Therefore, the approach to be applied in the 2004 English syllabus is communicative approach.
6
Nuril Huda, Language Learning and Teaching; Issues and Trends, IKIP Malang,1999, P.32
7
Janice Yalden, The Communicative Syllabus: Evolution, Design and Implementation,
London: Prentice Hall International, 1987, p. 40.
The general goal of English teaching is the acquisition of discourse competence, actional competence, linguistic competence, socio culture
competence and strategic competence with emphasize on discourse competence. Therefore, it is not emphasizing on oral skill but the all competences are equally.
The students have the actional competence of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and linguistic competence that is in accordance with the determined
themes. The curriculum is very vital to lead teaching-learning process and to
organize all components involved in educational program systematically. Following the curriculum in important in order to gain the instructional objectives
in the teaching-learning activities. In line with the change of time, the progress of science and technology also
increases. Consequently, the society’s needs toward the progress of science and technology increase so that the students’ needs also change. To meet such a
change, the curriculum must also be changed because curriculum is a reflection of situation in a certain period of time. Therefore, a perfect curriculum has never
been found. Realizing the need for such a change, the government always tries to
improve the curriculum. The latest version of curriculum is well-known as Competency Based Curriculum
2004. The objective of teaching is to developed students’ competence to
communicate in the target language in real communicative contexts. Communicative competence is indicated by an ability to use the language
appropriate for a given social context. The latest model in language literary stated by Celce Murcia, Dorney and
Thurrell 1995 that language is not only a set of rules but also communication. This model is famous as communicative competence, which is represented in
celce Murcia et.al 1995:10 as follows
8
:
8
Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, Standar Kompetensi Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris SMPMTs,
Jakarta: Pusat Kurikulum, Depdiknas, 2004. P.6.
Picture 1: communicative competence model from Celce Murcia, et.al The picture above represents that the main competency to be master in
English language teaching consist of discourse competence. Its competence as also supported by four other competences is that, linguistic competence, actional
competence, socio-cultural competence, and strategic competence. Discourse competence, this component is concerned with the mastery of
ways to combine grammatical forms and meaning to produce either a spoken or written utterance wholly in various forms. Unity of an utterance can be attained
through form cohesion and meaning coherence. Cohesion is the relationship between utterance and grammatical structure devices to enable one to interpret the
meaning of a discourse. Coherence is the relationship among several meanings in an utterance text. Finally the actual meaning of an utterance depends partially on
the social context in which it occurs. Discourse competence can only be reached when students have got the supporting competence, actional competence, socio
cultural competence and strategic competence. Linguistic competence is identical with grammatical competence which
involves the mastery of language codes both verbal and non-verbal, such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, spelling and semantic. This competence is
required for the understanding and expressing literal meaning of an utterance.
Discourse Competence
Linguistic Competence
Actional Competence
Socio-Culture Competence
Strategic Competence
Actional competence is identical with the four language skills, which stands for listening, speaking, reading and writing, the four skills of language should be
taught in an integrated manner in the teaching of English in junior high school. The linguistic competence such as grammatical, vocabulary, pronunciation, and
spelling are taught to support the mastery of the four language skills. Thus, the students are expected to be able to use the language through listening, speaking,
reading and writing. Socio-cultural competence deals with socio-cultural and discourse rules. It
relates to the extend an utterance is expressed and understood correctly in different sociolinguistic context, which in turn depend on certain factors such as
speaker-listener status, the objective of the interaction, and the rules and norms of the interaction.
Strategic competence consists of the mastery of both verbal and non-verbal communication strategies used by a speaker to a make-up for the weakness in
communication due to the limitations of circumstances, and b to strengthen the effectiveness of communication. For instance, the paraphrasing strategy is used
when a speaker forgets a certain grammatical structure.
D. Instructional Material for MTs Recommended by the Latest English
