Curriculum KTSP School-Based Curriculum

According to Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 year 2003 on National Education System and Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 19 Year 2005 on National Education Standards states that the main reference of curriculum of primary and secondary are Standards of Content SI and Standard of Graduate Competences SKL, Teaching English in junior high school must cover four language skills; one of them is writing. There are some writing competences that students have to accomplish according to the regulation of ministry of National Education. Those competencies are standard competences and basic competences. The following tables are the standard competences and basic competences of English writing for junior high school of the eighth grade of 1 st and 2 nd semester. Table 3: Standard Competences and Basic Competences of Writing Skill for Eighth Grade 1 st Semester Standar Kompetensi Kompetensi Dasar Menulis 1. Mengungkapkan makna dalam teks tulis fungsional dan esei pendek sederhana berbentuk descriptive, dan recount untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekitar 6.1. Mengungkapkan makna dalam bentuk teks tulis fungsional pendek sederhana dengan menggunakan ragam bahasa tulis secara akurat, lancar dan berterima untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekitar 6.2. Mengungkapkan makna dan langkah retorika dalam esei pendek sederhana dengan menggunakan ragam bahasa tulis secara akurat, lancar dan berterima untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekitar dalam teks berbentuk descriptive dan recount Table 4: Standard Competences and Basic Competences of Writing Skill for Eighth Grade 2 nd Semester Standar Kompetensi Kompetenai Dasar Menulis 2. Mengungkapkan makna dalam teks tulis fungsional dan esei pendek sederhana berbentuk recount dan narrative untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekitar 12.1 Mengungkapkan makna dalam bentuk teks tulis fungsional pendek sederhana dengan menggunakan ragam bahasa tulis secara akurat, lancar dan berterima untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekitar 12.2 Mengungkapkan makna dan langkah retorika dalam esei pendek sederhana dengan menggunakan ragam bahasa tulis secara akurat, lancar dan berterima untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekitar berbentuk recount dan narrative From Table 3 and 4, the students of the eighth grade learn short essays. In the first semester, they learn descriptive and recount. For second semester, they learn recount and narrative. Thus, in an academic year, students of the eighth grade of junior high school learn three text types; they are descriptive, recount and narrative. Furthermore, the researcher used the standard competences and basic competences from the Table 3 and Table 4 as the basis in developing the writing materials for the eighth grade of junior high school students.

4. Materials Development

a. Definition of Materials Development

There are some definitions of materials development. Graves 2000: 149 defines material development is the planning process of creating units and lessons to achieve the goal and objective of the study. It also can be defined as the process of creating, choosing or adapting, and organizing materials and activities until the students can achieve the objective to help them in reaching the goals of the courses. Tomlinson 1998: 2 states materials development refers to anything to provide sources of language input and to exploit those sources in ways which maximize the like hood of intake. In designing materials, there are some points that need to consider. Graves 1993: 152 lists some considerations in organizing activities in developing material: a. Activities should draw on what students know and be relevant to them. b. Activities should focus on students’ outside of class need, if appropriate. c. Activities should build students’ confidence. d. Activities should allow students to problem solve, discover and analyze. e. Activities should help students develop specific skills and strategies. f. Activities should help students develop specific language and skills they need for authentic communication. g. Activities should integrate the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. h. Activities should enable students to understand how a text is constructed. i. Activities should enable students to understand own culture better. j. Activities should enable students to develop social awareness. k. Activities should be as authentic as possible. l. Activities should vary the roles and groupings. m. Activities should be various types and purposes n. Activities should use authentic texts or realia when possible o. Activities should employ a variety of materials.

b. Steps of Materials Developments