English Language Learning THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

proficiency and academic achievement that preclude them from assessing, processing, and acquiring unmodified grade-level material in English. 10 A second language learner is different from a very young child acquiring a first language. 11 Young children learn their first language in their daily activities, they listen to the language when they were a baby, and they listen it with a pleasure, they learn the language through the acquisition process. And it is different with the second language learners. Mostly in Indonesia, students learn language in their own country, as Lightbown and Spada write that the older learners have to solve the problem and engage in discussion of the language. 12 Learning related to the education. There is a relation among education, learning and training, as Crow and Crow write on his book, “the terms education may be interpreted to connote the process through which experience or information is gained, or it may be use to indicate the result of such training, or the product of the learning process.” 13 Abdurrahman writes Education is “transfer pengetahuan dan nilai.” Transfer knowledge and value. From both transfers can be achieved through learning and teaching process to get the whole of the materials aspect. According to a definition formulated by a group expert for the dictionary of Education, education is, “1 the aggregate of all the process by which a person develops ability, attitudes, and other forms of behavior of practical value, in the society in which he lives; 2 the social process by which people are subjected to the influence of a selected and controlled environment especially that of the school so that they may obtain social competence and optimum individual development.” Reprinted 10 Margo Gottlieb, Assessing English Language Learners: Bridge from Language Proficiency to Academic Achievement, Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press. Inc., 2006, p. 3. 11 Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada, How Language are Learned,3 rd Edition, New York: Oxford University Fress, 2010. p. 29. 12 Ibid., p. 30. 13 Lester D. Crow and Alice Crow, INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATION – Fundamental Principles and Modern Practices, New York: American Book Company, 1960, p. 53. from Dictionary of Education, edited by Carter V. Good, copyright, 1945, by the McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. 14 From the entirely statement about learning, in summary, learning has the complex meaning, it also has the purposes, methods and ways. In learning someone must have a new point and an evaluation, about what, why, and how it’s happened or done. Learning can change everything; it can be he or another that impact should be prepared, in the behavior changing, for instance if he has a bad thing in something, he should be better after he learn. People learn in a conscious way, so he knows the improvement after he learn. Furthermore, the most fundamental realities of language learning is that language is a tool of communication. Because most of the teacher doesn’t encourage the students to see that English is a communication tools, they only focus on the memorizing vocabularies, grammar rules, and preparation for the test and never involves the language as a communication tools. Studying English may be exciting if the students are introduced to make the communication with a new world possible, allow the student to face-to-face with someone from the foreign country, read the books, world magazines and news, or even watch films and listen to the song in English. Learning English is mean the developing the ability to understand and interact with the world. 15 2. English Language Skills The language skills itself define to the productive skills and receptive skills. a. Productive Skills The word productive is an adjective form of word produce, produce has a same meaning as create or make. If this is related to this language context, productive skills can be defined as language that produced. The productive skills are speaking and writing, because learners doing these need to produce language. 14 Ibid., 15 Don Snow, From Language Learner to Language Teacher, Michigan: McNoughton Gunn, Inc., 2007. P. 21 They are also known as active skills. They can be compared with the receptive skills of listening and reading. 16 In summary, why it is called as active skills, because when someone uses the language people can see the result of these activities. And here are some definition about speaking and writing. 1 Speaking According to Jones, “speaking is a form of communication, so it is important that what you say is conveyed in the most effective way. How you say something can be as important as what you say in getting meaning across.” 17 It’s called speaking if people produce the sound with the meaning, if someone can understand about what the people say, so that it can be called as speaking. Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information Brown, 1994; Burns Joyce, 1997. 18 Because it has a meaning, speaking should be an interactive way in communication, because in this process people can understand the meaning each other. 2 Writing Lewin write on his book that writing is constructing the meaning through the text. 19 In the same book also he write that wring enable the students to think about, to process, to grow ideas about the topic we are teaching them, then writing enable the students to gain proficiency in a critically importanty skill; writing itself, which is obviously a key communication tool. As we see that writing produce the word, not like as speaking, writing is expressed the ideas inside the writers’ mind into written form. White editor writes on the introduction of the book New Ways in Teaching writing, that “writing can be viewed as involving a number of thinking process 16 http:www.teachingenglish.org.ukknowledge-databaseproductive-skills 17 Rhodry Jones, Speaking and Listening, London: John Murray Publisher Ltd., 1989, p. 14. 18 http:www.cal.orgcaelaesl_resourcesdigestsSpeak.html 19 Larry Lewin, Paving the Wayin Reading and Writing, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003, p. 118. which are drawn upon in varied and complex ways as an individual composes, transcribes, evaluates and revises Arndt, 1987; Raimes, 1985. ” 20 Like speaking, writing also produces the word, if speaking through the sound, writing explain it through the written form. b. Receptive Skills The receptive is receiving something then save it. In the language context, receptive skills are like we receive the information from the outside or the other and after that we process it passively. And the activity that include in receptive skills are listening and reading, because learners do not need to produce language to do these, they receive and understand it. These skills are sometimes known as passive skills. They can be contrasted with the productive or active skills of speaking and writing. 21 And below are a short definition about listening and reading. 1 Listening Listening is assuming greater and greater importance in many foreign language context, which have until relatively recently focused their efforts on the development of writing skills. 22 Listening is essential in teaching language; it’s not only as a receptive skill but also to the development of the spoken language proficiency. In listening student should get the idea from whatthe information they listen to. Listening also can help the students in improvement of the vocabularies. In language learning for example, through listening students can improve their competence in pronounce the word, produce the word when they speak, and also listening skill make the communication between the people or students more effective and understandable. 20 Ronald V. White Editor, New Ways in Teaching Writing, Illinois: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Inc. TESOL, 1995, p. v. an Introduction. 21 http:www.teachingenglish.org.ukknowledge-databasereceptive-skills 22 David Nunan and Linsay Miller editor, New Ways in Teaching Listening, Illinois: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Inc. TESOL, 2002, 2 nd ed., p. v an Introduction 2 Reading Reading is an interactive process that takes places between the text and the reader’s processing strategies and background knowledge. 23 Reading comprehension is a very complex activity. Like the eyes glance or move at the printed words, it is also happened in the readers mind, there will be so many words should be processed in the readers mind. Good in reading can be achieved through practice the lifetime. Reading is difficult, because one must work, one must accomplish multiple thing simultaneously. But good readers actually have a strategy because their good skill on it. 24 The simple view of reading proposed by Hoover and Gough is that reading is the product of decoding and comprehension. 25 Reading = decoding x comprehension Language is both knowledge and skill. A second important truth of language learning is that it is mastery of a skill as much as acquisition of knowledge. 26 That means that students don’t enough to know the vocabulary and the grammatical only, they also have to apply that knowledge in speech or writing, or comprehend the language with the speaker, and read the text. Language skills have the important roles in language learning. And it is a big part of language besides of language components. Students use those skills when they learn a language.

B. English Language Course

1. General concept of English language course In the Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, course is; “n probably before 1300 cours onward movement; borrowed from Old French cours, curs, from Latin cursus genitive curs ūs, a running race or course, from past participle stem curs- of curere to run. The sense of planned or 23 Kristin Lems etc. Teaching Reading to English Language Learners. 2010, p. 33. 24 Larry Lewin, Paving the Wayin Reading and Writing, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003, pp. 2-3. 25 Naomi Flynn and Rhona Stainthorp. The Learning and Teaching of Reading and Writing. England:Wiley, 2006, p. 8. 26 Don Snow, From Language Learner to Language Teacher. Michigan: McNoughton Gunn, Inc., 2007, p. 22. prescribed series of classes, lectures, etc. is first recorded in English in 1605; probably from French, found in the 1300’s and earlier. Earlier instances of the phrase of course literally, of or in the ordinary course are from 1541, replacing earlier be cours with the same meaning probably before 1300. –v. 1466, to pursue; from the noun. ” The term course somehow connects to the terms of curriculum and syllabus. Hutchinson and Waters 1987:65 have defined a course as “an integrated series of teaching-learning experiences, whose ultimate aim is to lead the learners to a particular state of knowledge”. 27 Course should have the specific objective of their students to what kind of skill the students will be brought, and also should know about what the students really need in their daily life. There are many students in the course activities, so that in teaching-learning process the teacher should be as smart as possible to handle the students to get its aims of the course. In the course, student has specific subject to be learned, in English language context for example, in this condition student who join the English course they have the motivation on to be the good user of English language or another part of English language. There is a course because there is a syllabus; a syllabus design is a part of course development, and a course is part of curriculum. A courses or a course content is order by the syllabus also its specification. 28 As mentioned before that course should have the ultimate aims, so that syllabus becomes the important role to achieve the aims. The syllabus can help the teacher as the guidelines in teaching-learning activities. After we see the definition of the course then we continue to the course process, it is begun by planning, the planning include the considering the students, thinking of the contents, materials and the activity that included into the courses, or everything that help the teacher to construct the good in teaching course. 29 in 27 Kathleen Graves ed., Teachers as Course Development, Cambridge: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1996, p. 3. 28 Ibid., 29 Tessa Woodward, Planning Lessons and Courses, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 1. constructing the course teacher should have the good planning of the teaching- learning activity, teachers plan in every aspect in the course process, not only the material that they will be taught but also plan in everything about the students condition and need. In the courses, curriculum and syllabus may be the guide for the teacher to plan the materials, contents and activities. Beside of the syllabus, teacher also can plan by considering the past learning experiences, using the course books, and learning as teacher teach. 30 It can be a suggestion for the teachers to reflect on the kind of experiences they are offering students and to consider how these relate to the students’ general educational development. If particular kinds of classroom roles, mental processes and types of content are continually being offered to students in the course. Course process development is similar to that of curriculum development. Course development include planning a course, teaching it, and modifying the plan, both while the course is in the progress and after the course is over. 31 The same book, Kathleen Graves writes that when teacher who is about to design a new course then asks whether there are any guidelines, whether there is any procedure to follow, and the answers hope is yes. No teacher wants to reinvent the wheel, if there is a procedure to follow, they will ask what it is. In the course practice the answer of the question may be “yes” or “no”: yes, because there is a guidelines, procedures, models, and principles to help the teacher to know the situation and the condition of the course itself or the students, those are also can help the teacher as a resources for their teaching and organizing the progress of the students, and no, because the guidelines is not a recommendation, because there no a procedure can guarantee the successful of the course. The situation can be different for each teacher, and also the teacher itself. Courses program should have framework components. The framework components that suggested by Kathleen Graves are: 32 30 Ibid., p. 4-6 31 Kathleen Graves ed., Teachers as Course Development, Cambridge: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1996, p. 3 32 Ibid., p. 12-35 1 Needs assessment The term need assessment involves find out what the learners know and can do and what they need to learn and do so that course can bridge the gap. It is not the value- free process, the teacher’s view influence to what the course is about, the institutional constraints, and the students’ perceptions of what of what is being asked of them. 2 Determining goals and objectives Sometime we use the term goals and objective in or writing. But what they are, and what the relationship between them is. Goals are the general statements of the overall, long terms purposes of the courses. And the objectives are a specific ways in which the goals will be achieved. The goals of course represent the destination; the objectives, the various points that chart the course toward the destination. Setting the goals and the objective provides a sense of a direction and a coherent framework for the teacher in planning the course. Teacher may ask what the appropriate goals and objectives are, but to know it, teacher can see to the students. Teacher can analyze the students’ needs, the policies of the institution, and the way of the teacher conceptualizes the content, among other factor. There are for types of goals for language learners that proposed by Stem 1992, those are proficiency goals, cognitive goals, affective goals, and transfers goals. Proficiency goals include general competency, mastery og the four skills listening, speaking, reading, writing, or mastery of specific behaviors. Cognitive goals include mastery of linguistic knowledge and cultural knowledge. Affective goals include achieving positive attitudes and feelings about the target language achieving confidence as a user of the language in one self as a learner. Transfers goals involve learning how to learn so that one can call upon learning skills gained in one situation to meet future learning challenges. Goals should be realizable. The goals should be address to the program concretely; it may be the wishes of the teachers about the course are going to be.