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d. Written English Communicative Competence of Indonesian Elementary School English Learners
To develop an effective testing instrument, the researcher decides to take Mc Kay’s theory of communicative English competence for young learners that
she adapts from Bachman and Palmer’s theory of language ability as the underlying theory. Mc Kay puts examples of indicators of language ability of
reading and writing as follows:
READING ABILITY
Aspects of
language ability
Indicators Description
1. Organizatio nal
Knowledge
Grammatical Knowledge
Ability to decode for phonic-based
languages, Ability to match
sounds with letters, with phonic blends.
Knowledge of
a growing range of
Vocabulary Ability to read and
understand a
growing range of vocabulary.
Knowledge of
a growing range of
grammatical structures
Ability to
understand a
growing range of structures in their
reading.
Textual knowledge
Ability to predict meaning
from arrange of cues
Ability to use the semantic, syntactic
and graphophonic cues in the text.
Ability to use the range of cues e.g.
titles, illustrations that are available to
gain meaning from the text.
2. Pragmatic Knowledge
Functional Knowledge
Ability to draw on prior knowledge, and
knowledge
of different genres
Ability to use their personal
experience, and
their knowledge of the context, for
example, when
they meet
an unknown word in
Table 2. 4. Mc Kay’s examples of indicators of language ability of reading and writing 2006: 228
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the text.
Ability to
understand main
ideas and
connections
Ability to identify the main ideas in
the text. An ability to locate specific
information
Ability to
take responsibility
for their own learning
Ability to seek out opportunities
to read in the target
language. Keeping a reflective diary of
their reading.
Ability to ask for help. Ability to
follow through
after reading .
Sociolinguistic Knowledge
Confidence and
motivation
Showing curiosity about
print. Enjoying reading.
Being self-
motivated to read. Talking about their
reading and sharing it
with others.
Being confident
when they read a new text.
Ability to critically analyze
and interpret
Ability, usually in more
advanced children,
to understand
that some characters are
stereotyped in the story, or that there
may be other levels of meaning in the
text for example, that there is a
message for people to be friendlier to
each other.
WRITING ABILITY
Aspects of language
ability Indicators
Description 1. Organizatio
nal competence
Grammatical Knowledge
Knowledge of a growing range
of vocabulary Ability to write
using a growing range
of vocabulary.
Ability to
use vocabulary
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accurately
Knowledge of a growing range
of grammatical structures
Ability to use a growing range of
structures in their writing
Ability
to use
structures accurately
Textual knowledge
Ability to
organize paragraph
logically Ability to write
paragraphs logically and in
accordance with
the expected stages or genres e.g. for
recounts, orientation, events,
evaluative comment
or concluding
statement
Functional Knowledge
Ability to write to suit purpose
and audience Ability to write to
meet the purpose and audience, that
is, according to the appropriate genre.
Ability to
employ connectives
appropriately Ability to employ a
range of
connectives to
express sequence
e.g. next, then, finally
Ability to
follow through a
drafting procedure
Ability to draft and revise their work
for improvement.
Sociolingui stic
Knowledge Explicit
knowledge
of text structures
genres Ability to identify
purpose and
audience for
a writing
The examples of reading and writing abilities above are for young English learners in general. The researcher will adjust the abilities to the Indonesian young
English learners’. Due to the lack of information or literatures, the formulation of abilities or competencies of Indonesian young English learners is conducted by
adjusting Penny’s to the formulating conclusion derived from the situation of the
79 English teaching and learning in Indonesia which can be stated as “not-
conducive” for the English teaching and learning in Indonesian Elementary school level of education. Therefore, Penny’s formulation is simplified from nine
indicators for reading skills into six indicators, and from seven indicators for writing skills into three indicators. The adjustment is done based on the
researcher’s hyphotesizing about the students’ capacity. The adjusted abilities will be the researcher’s hyphothesis of the written English competence of Indonesian
elementary school students which can be seen from the diagram bellow:
Reading Skills
Organizational knowledge
Grammatical knowledge
decode letters and words match sounds with letters, with phonic
blends read and understand a growing
range of vocabulary understand a growing range of
structure of sentences and short passages
Textual knowledge predict meaning from a range of
cues title, illustration of short passages
Pragmatic knowledge
Functional and sociolinguistic
knowledge use their personal experience and
their knowledge of the context when they meet an unknown word
in the text identify the main ideas in in the
text and locate specific information from the text
Writing Skills
Organizational knowledge
Grammatical knowledge
write vocabulary words in the right spelling
Textual knowledge build cohesion across sentences
and parts of sentences with appropriate structure eg:
appropriate punctuations, relationships of time simple
Table 2.5. Mc Kay’s examples of indicators of language ability of reading and writing adjusted to Indonesian elementary school level of education
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tenses , quantity, connective etc
Pragmatic knowledge
Functional and sociolinguistic knowledge
write their idea into a growing range of sentences and passages
with appropriate meanings
2. Framework of Development of the Testing Instrument
Kategori