The Understanding of Textbook

Good textbooks contain lively and interesting material for teachers and students and the following advantages of it are: 1. Textbooks offer suitable progression of language item; 2. Textbooks provide a number of vocabularies to students to be learnt outside the class; 3. Textbooks reduce the teacher from pressure of having original material for each class. 42 4. Textbooks present structure and a syllabus for a course; 5. Textbooks help standardize teaching that enable the students will receive the same materials and the same way in testing; 6. Textbooks keep quality if it is well-developed so the students will learn the tested and tried materials; 7. Textbooks are efficient so the teachers are able to allocate time to teaching; 8. Textbook can train teachers to increase their teaching experience; 9. Textbooks are visually interesting for teachers and students because they are designed with high standards. 43 Besides, there are some disadvantages of textbooks: 1. Textbooks tend to concentrate on the introduction of new language and controlled work that make teachers depend on the given textbooks; 2. Textbooks seem rigid sequences when they tend to follow the same format from one unit to the next. 44 3. Textbooks may hold inauthentic language. They provide inauthentic language against teaching points and real language use; 4. Textbooks may change content that frequently fail to represent true issues; 5. Textbooks may not represent students‟ need because they are written for general market; 42 Harmer, op. cit., p. 257. 43 Richards, op. cit., pp. 254-255. 44 Harmer, loc. cit. 6. Textbooks are able to decrease the teachers‟ role as technician in presenting material; 7. Textbooks are expensive that is hard for students to afford it. 45

D. The Curriculum

1. The Understanding of Curriculum

Curriculum can be defined in many different perspectives. Making a concept of curriculum is needed especially in education field. As Posner states that “a curriculum is the content, standard, or objective for which schools hold students accountable. ” 46 It is also defined as “a set of instructional strategies teachers plan to use. ” 47 So, curriculum can be interpreted as a plan for a real educational program in a school. In addition, according to Standard Board of National Education – Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan BSNP curriculum is “seperangkat rencana dan pengaturan mengenai tujuan, isi, dan bahan pelajaran serta cara yang digunakan sebagai pedoman penyelenggaraan kegiatan pembelajaran untuk mencapai tujuan pendidikan tertentu. ” 48 It means curriculum is a set of planning and rule that contain objective, content, learning material and the way to use it as a guide to carry out teaching and learning activities to reach proper objective of education. Besides, the curriculum that is used in Indonesia, School-Based Curriculum –Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP is defined as “kurikulum operasional yang disusun oleh dan dilaksanakan di masing- masing satuan pendidikan.” 49 In this case, teachers and schools are given the policy to arrange the curriculum in their school. However, the arrangement of KTSP has to be guided by Content Standard –Standar Isi that covers basic framework and curriculum structure. 45 Richards, op. cit., pp. 255-256. 46 Posner, op. cit., p. 5. 47 Ibid. 48 Panduan Penyusunan Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan Jenjang Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, Jakarta: BSNP, 2006, p. 5. 49 Ibid.