Atri Nadia Astarina, 2015 CRITICAL LITERACY IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
A CASE STUDY IN ONE PUBLIC JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN BANDUNG Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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aforementioned ways inserted as the features of various teaching program activities will be described in the following sections.
5.2.1.1 The Encouragement of Students’ Awareness of Text as Value-Laden
In order to be critically literate, students should be firstly aware that “no text
is neutral” Wallace, 2003; Wood, et.al, 2006. Therefore, the first characteristic of this teaching program was encouraging students to be conscious that the texts they
meet or create in their daily life are not neutral and as simple as they see. In this study, the teaching program was found effective in encouraging students to realize
that notion. It was proven by students’ responds which indicated that the teaching program encouraged students to think and investigate further before believing the
information in the texts. The encouragement was employed by having students to read the texts in active and reflective manner, so that they would be able to analyze
the texts critically. In this sense, the students were stimulated by the provision of suitable contextual and controversial topic and materials, the distribution of guiding
questions to analyze the texts regarding the topic discussed, and the use of various media.
a. The Provision of Suitable Contextual Topics, Authentic Materials, and
Various Media
The selection of suitable topics and materials was considered significant in the teaching program which attempted to develop students’ critical literacy. With regard
to the learning topics, it was suggested that the practice of critical literacy pedagogy a
pply the social movement topics around students’ life Freire Macedo, 2005 who suggested the social movement topics around students’ life in the practice of critical
literacy pedagogy. In this teaching program, there were three topics that were adjusted with the syllabus of English for eighth grade students. As previously
mentioned in Chapter IV, the topics were mainly about Indonesia involving My Indonesia, Social Equality of Indonesia, and Natural Disasters in Indonesia. These
Atri Nadia Astarina, 2015 CRITICAL LITERACY IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
A CASE STUDY IN ONE PUBLIC JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN BANDUNG Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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perpustakaan.upi.edu
topics were considered appropriate to be given for students in the first attempt of incorporation of teaching program to critical literacy. It was because the topics were
near with students’ life and likely potential to promote students’ discussion. The aforementioned description of topics selection was asserted by the data
revealed from students’ interview. In this way, all interviewees stated that they preferred the topics that were relevant with their daily life. It was because the topics
allowed them to increase their knowledge regarding the issues in a real life. Furthermore, it
allowed them to participate actively in “finding the solutions” Kevin. Based on the interview, it was found that one of the most favorite topics in
the teaching program was about social inequality as indicated by one student “it told
us about the life of people in the street and how hard their life is, the effect is I can be more tolerant and respect them” Andy. Hence, the students’ statement showed that
the topics in the teaching program enabled them to reflect their life and become more sensitive towards the social condition around their life. It is related with the theory
that critical literacy should empower students to be critically conscious about the sensitive issues in the society, then to take action on it Wood, Soares, Watson,
2006; Dale Margison, 2010. In relation to the teaching materials, various authentic texts from many
sources were selected. Based on the classroom observation, the authentic teaching materials were found
“beneficial for exploring criticality” Brown, 1999; Wallace, 2003; Freire, 1998 cited in Emilia, 2005 besides creating teaching learning process
more contextual and promoting students’ discussion as also by Freire 1998 cited in Emilia 2005. These findings we
re supported by Vivi’s statement in the interview who commented that the contextual materials were more interesting than the textbook
materials which provided limited visualization. She further stated that the contextual materials triggered her to understand, criticize and give opinions toward issues in
daily life. The aforementioned student’s statement became an evidence that the use of authentic materials in the critical literacy pedagogy had enabled students to read
“the
Atri Nadia Astarina, 2015 CRITICAL LITERACY IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
A CASE STUDY IN ONE PUBLIC JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN BANDUNG Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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word and the world” Freire Macedo, 1987 and view literacy as “a critical arena for cultural and social power
” Emilia, 2005; Mochinsky, 2008. Additionally, the teaching program was equipped by various media in
delivering the materials. In this teaching program, the students were introduced that text is not only limited to printed text. On the other hand, it also refers to various
forms of language and images provided in digital, audio, visual, and audiovisual used as vehicles for people to communicate one another using codes and conventions of
society Leicester Taylor, 2010; Coffey, 2010; Gee, 2010 in Gustine, 2013; and Metcalfe et.al, 2013. Thus, many media such as printed text, video, pictures, and
power point presentation were utilized to support the effectiveness of the teaching program. Besides, literacy, which became the concern of this study, refers to “the
ability to use language and images in rich and varied forms to read, write, listen, speak, view, represent, and think critically about ideas” Expert Panel on Ontario,
2004. Based on the interview, the use of various media in the teaching program was
recognized to be different with the previous regular teaching. On this point, Sabrina said:
Bedanya tuh sek arang lebih banyak pak ai media k aya video, presentasi, tek s. Bi asanya tuh k alo tugas cuma dari buk u. Kalo sek arang bahasa inggrisnya lebih terlatih vocabularynya
lebih nambah, berfik ir k ritisnya juga terlatih k arena k ita harus selalu menganalisis tek s -tek s dari media lebih dalam.
The difference between previous teaching learning process and this teaching program is the use of various media such as video, power point, text. Generally, we just learnt from
textbook. In this teaching program, we have to analyze the texts provided in various media deeply. It encouraged us to have more vocabularies and think more critical.
From the statement above, it could be seen that the provision of various media
supported students to develop their English proficiency and critical capacity. Among all media given, video was the most favorite media for students as stated by Kevin the
video “made me as the visual person, easier to understand what is being discussed”.
It is similar to the theory which states that the audiovisual provided by the video can
Atri Nadia Astarina, 2015 CRITICAL LITERACY IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
A CASE STUDY IN ONE PUBLIC JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN BANDUNG Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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help develop students’ comprehension of the text by integrating the function of eyes watch, ears listen, and brain watch, ears and identify Candlin, 1981; Astarina,
2012. In addition, video provides authentic materials and cultural input Tobing, 1993; Sherman, 2003; Hu, 2006 which makes the learning process more contextual
and culture based. It is in line with the materials suggested for critical literacy which should be authentic and contextual Freire Macedo, 1987; Freire, 1998 cited in
Emilia, 2005.
b. The Provision of Guiding Questions