T1 112008137 Full text
TEACHERS’ OPINION TOWARDS THE USE OF
LITERATURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG
LANGUAGE LEARNERS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Wian Anggono
112008137
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
TEACHERS’ OPINION TOWARDS THE USE OF
LITERATURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG
LANGUAGE LEARNERS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Wian Anggono
112008137
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
i
TEACHERS’ OPINION TOWARDS THE USE OF
LITERATURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG
LANGUAGE LEARNERS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Wian Anggono
112008137
Approved by:
Christiana Sidupa, M. Hum
Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT
Supervisor
Examiner
ii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
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university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material
previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is
made in the text.
Copyright@ 2013.Wian Anggono and Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means
without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English
Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University,
Salatiga.
Wian Anggono:
iii
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Name:
Wian Anggono
Student ID Number: 112008137
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English Department
Faculty:
Language and Literature
Kind of Work:
Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive
royalty free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
Teachers’ Opinion towards the Use of Literature in Teaching English to
Young Language Learners
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Date
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Verified by signee,
Wian Anggono
Approved by
Thesis Supervisor
Thesis Examiner
Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT
Christiana Sidupa, M. Hum
iv
TEACHERS’ OPINION TOWARDS THE USE OF LITERATURE IN
TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Wian Anggono
ABSTRACT
As the front-liner of the educational system, teachers are given
very huge duty and responsibility to teach their students. There are so
many ways of them in doing their duty. One of the possibilities is using
literature in their language teaching. However, there are still some
arguments within the concept of using literature in English language
teaching. Many researchers, like McRae (1991), Hişmanoğlu (2005),
Cremin, Mottram, Bearne and Goodwin (2008), argue that teachers were
often lack of background, preparation and knowledge of literature in
teaching. This study tried to find out what actually happened to the
practice of using literature in teaching English in Indonesia, especially
Salatiga and Semarang Regency. The research question of this study is
“what are the teachers‟ views toward the use of literature in English
teaching?” As a matter of fact, the advantages, problems and
methodologies when they were dealing with literature were covered as
well. The data were collected from classroom observations and
interviews with the teachers that used literature in their English teaching.
The result showed that all the teachers had positive views toward the use
of literatures because it brought some advantages which were
memorability and linguistic modeling benefits. Nonetheless, they also
confessed that it was time consuming and difficult in selecting the kinds
of literature. They prefered to use story and song as their favorite types of
literature. Ultimately, they used discussion and simulation or role-play
as their way of using literature in their teaching.
Keywords: literature as teaching material, young learners, kinds of
literature, teachers‟ view, TEYL.
INTRODUCTION
English is now very popular in Indonesia, it has been taught since the
earliest age of the students. Pre-schools, kindergartens and elementary school now
include English as one of their subjects. They use English even as their main
subject and also as everyday language. Reflecting on my own experience, I was
1
introduced to English language by my English teacher in my fourth grade of the
elementary school. I thought that was rather late, because based on the
Baxamusa‟s article (2012), the ability to think about and the ability to understand
second language are during four to ten years old. It could be said that it is the
golden age of our brain development. Therefore, during that age, it is time to
optimalize their brain capacity by giving them input about languages. Moreover,
recently researchers have shown an increased interest in Teaching English to
Young Learners (TEYL). Lenneberg (1967) in Pinter (2006) said that the Critical
Period Hypothesis (CPH) which suggested that brain plasticity was only
conducive to language learning only until puberty. Therefore we have to make use
this golden period of children brain, because it is the best time to learn language.
Nevertheless, teaching English to very young learners as a foreign
language has its own difficulty. Cameron (2001) considers children do not have
the same ability to use language to talk about language as older learners. In other
words, they do not have the same access to meta-language that the teachers use.
She also adds that children easily lose their interest on the material and are less
able to keep themselves motivated on materials they find difficult. Therefore,
teachers need a strategy to make young English learners more interested to the
lesson. One way to attract children‟s interest in learning English is by using
literature in their teaching and learning activity. Teaching English through
literature has been used in many English speaking countries (Rass & Holzman,
2011). On the other hand, Sell (2005) also concludes that literature in the target
language may enhance language learning at primary level since the cognitive
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processes of young learners are particularly adept at dealing with narrative
structures. McRae (1991) adds that children learn to use language through
invention, experimentation and stories. The language they use is rapidly related to
imaginative stimuli, so it may be very relevant to use literature in children
education, especially in teaching English.
Essentially, there were several specific reasons why I was interested in
researching the use of literature in TEYL. Despite the fact that many researchers
claimed that literature was beneficial, many of them also argued that teachers had
negative views toward using literature in English teaching. One of them is McRae
(1991). He said that teachers felt rather inadequate when facing literature, either
they had no literacy qualification or they had not studied literature in their past
learning. Hişmanoğlu (2005) added that teachers were often lack of preparation in
the area of literature teaching. He also said that teachers didn‟t have the
background and training in literature and they lacked of pedagogically-designed
appropriate materials. Those were also supported by Cremin, Mottram, Bearne
and Goodwin (2008). Their research revealed that teachers were lack of
professional knowledge and assurance with children‟s literature and the minimal
knowledge of global literature.
From those experts‟ statements, I was wondering what exactly happened
with literature and English teaching in Indonesia, especially Salatiga and
Semarang Regency. Did the teachers in Salatiga and Semarang regency also have
negative view and lack of knowledge and preparation of using literature in their
teaching? I was interested in doing my research on the use of literature to teach
3
young English learners in local schools in Indonesia. My research here focused on
knowing the teachers‟ views in using literature. This issue then later on became
my research question. “What are the views of the teachers about using literature in
TEYL?” Therefore, this study aimed to examine the teacher‟s views on how the
teachers select the literature, their methods and their problem in using literature to
teach English.
Teachers are the front-liner in education world. They take a crucial part in
the process of students learning, so teacher should have a way to teach
interestingly. With this study hopefully teachers could be wiser in selecting
literature based on the students‟ need, and this research would encourage other
educators to try using literature in their teaching. By doing this research this study
would give contribution to the teaching of English, especially young learners. I
also wished that the result of this research could usefully add and enrich teachers‟
repertoire of methods and pedagogy. And hopefully, the result of this study would
enrich the literature about the use of literature to teach English to young learners.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Theoretical Background
To analyze the research questions of this study, the research will use
several theories from the experts. The theories about young learners, literature,
selecting literature, methods and approaches of using literature in teaching English
are discussed in attempting to answer the research question about how the
teachers use literature in teaching English to young learners.
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1. Young Learners
Pinter (2006) classifies the characteristics of younger learners as children
who are at pre-school or in the first couple of years of schooling, have a holistic
approach to language, which means that they understand meaningful messages but
cannot analyze language yet, have lower level of awareness about themselves as
language learners as well as about process of learning, have limited reading and
writing skills even in their first language, they are more concerned about
themselves than others, have a limited knowledge about the world and they enjoy
fantasy, imagination and movement. Whereas, Cameron (2001) said in her book
that young learners mean those between five and twelve years old.
If we look at the statements by the experts above, it can be concluded that
the classifications of young learners are not determined by their ages. It is because
every child starts their language learning in various ages. The term „young
learners‟ entirely functions as an umbrella to cover a range of ages. In other
words, if they are still early learners, they can be categorized as young learners.
But in general, young learners can be categorized as those between five and
twelve years old.
2. Literature
Murdoch (1978) in Lazar (1993) said that literature is a sort of disciplined
technique for arousing certain emotion. Whereas Barthes (1978) in Lazar (1993)
said that literature is the question minus the answer. According to McRae (1991)
literature is any text whose imaginative content will stimulate reaction and
response in the receiver. Therefore, to classify the kind or type of literature, I will
5
also use the theory from McRae (1991) which called literature with small “l”. It is
about the type of literatures other than classic literature. He said that literature is
often associated with canonical literary works. What he means by canonical
literary works are great literature and the study of literature. For example: classic
literary works such as drama, poetry, Holy Bible, Holy Quran, etc. Those literary
works often called Literature with capital “L”.
Whereas, he has a notion that literature is not merely the great literature as
said above. So he proposed literature with small “l”, McRae (1991) defined
literature with small “l” as any text whose imaginative content will stimulate
reaction and response in the receiver. Still in McRae statement, literature with
small “l” may include songs, lyrics, scripts, short stories, novels, folktales,
comics, films, eulogy, haiku, biography, memoirs, advertisements, newspapers,
letter, notes, recipes, leaflets, etc. He said that everything whose imaginative
content will stimulate reaction and response in the receiver is called literature.
If we see again at the theories from the experts above, literature was
defined in various explanations. However, the theory proposes by McRae seems
to fit this research more. The theory of literature with capital „L‟ and small „l‟ was
also used by some studies which are similar with this study, and it will be
discussed later on in Literature Review Presentation point.
3. Advantages of Using Literature
The use of literature in teaching English gives many advantages both for
students and the teachers. There are three findings that are revealed by Scott &
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Huntington (2007). Those findings can also be said as the advantages of using
literary works in teaching language to novice learners. The first advantage of
using literature in teaching language to novice learners is helping students develop
cognitive flexibility and affective awareness. Secondly, using literature can be
used to develop students‟ insight qualities in the earliest stages of language
learning. And the last one, when discussing literary works in L2 or target language
with novice learners, they can be more productive in using the first language.
Lazar (1993) also states in his book entitled “Literature and Language Teaching”
that literature can be highly motivating the students in learning English. To
complete it, Parkinson and Reid Thomas (2000) list, with more or less approval,
the ten benefits of using literature.
Here are the ten benefits of using literature that were listed by Parkinson
and Reid Thomas (2000). First, they mention about cultural enrichment. Reading
literature promotes cultural understanding and awareness so that will enrich the
cultural knowledge of the students. Then, the second is linguistic model.
Literature provides examples of “good” writing, linguistic diversity, expressive
ranges, and so on. The next is mental training. Better than any other disciplines,
literature trains the mind and sensibility. The fourth advantage is extension of
linguistic competence. Literature stretches the competences of learners who have
mastered the linguistic rudiments. The next benefit of literature is authenticity
since literature is genuine linguistic material, not a linguistically contrived
textbook. Number six is memorability, because literature, especially poetry and
songs, is memorable. It can be a memorized archive of linguistic usage. The
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seventh advantage is rhythmic resource. Poems assist the learner in assimilating
the rhythms of a language. The benefit number eight is that literature can be a
motivating material. Literature is more likely to engage with and motivate a
learner than artificial teaching inputs because it is generated by some genuine
impulse on the part of the writer and deals with subjects and themes which may be
of interest to the learner. The next is open to interpretation, because literature is
open to interpretation and can serve as a basis for “genuine interaction” between
learners. The last one is convenience. It is clear that literature is a handy
(photocopiable) resource.
From those experts, we can see that there are advantages and values in
using literature to teach English. Despite the fact that there are many advantages
of using literature in classroom, there also some problems underlying the use of
literature in teaching English. As Gray (2000) says that literature is authentic
material, Collie & Slatter (1987) argue that as authentic material, most works of
literature are not fashioned for the specific purpose of teaching a language. Same
as Collie & Slatter statement, Hill (1986) says that the inclusion of literature was
ungradable and unsuitable as a model and as the teaching of English for specific
purpose increased. Specific purpose here means the learners‟ need. Collie &
Slatter (1987) & Hill (1986) agree that teacher often complained that the language
of literature was irrelevant with the learners‟ need.
4. Literature Selection
The first step of using literature in teaching EFL is selecting the literature.
This is very important, because according to McRae (1991) the selection of
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literary text for use in language teaching is difficult, controversial and ultimately
pretty subjective. Thus, the teachers need to be careful in selecting the literature.
They should use literatures that are suitable for their pupils. The text selections
according to McRae (1991) are divided into: accessibility, difficulty, story, the
theme-based approach, text grouping, the pleasure of the text, relevance and
recognition.
Different from that, Lazar (1993) suggests that the criteria in selecting
literature involve the students‟ cultural background, the students‟ linguistic
proficiency, and the students‟ literary background. Lazar (1993) also adds that
there are other factors to consider when selecting literary text. Those factors are
the availability of the text, the length of the text, the exploitability of the text, and
how it will fit with syllabus.
The selection of literature is indeed very crucial in Teaching English,
especially to young learners. Teachers have to consider plenty of things, like what
the experts says above, before they choose the most suitable material for their
students. Later, this research would be underlain by those two experts‟ theories of
selecting literature.
5. Methodology of Using Literature
Based on Durant‟s (1995) review, there are four methodologies which he
said as the main possible methodologies of teaching literature. The first
methodology is lecture. Lectures are perhaps the most-used method in teaching
literature, especially for exposition of individual texts or groups of texts to large
numbers of students. Durant (1995) said that typically lectures are monologues
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(sometimes monologues with time set aside for questions or discussion at the
end); and they appear appropriate to transferring information from the lecturer to a
group of students. The second methodology is informal dialogue. In this scenario,
the student is asked by the supervisor to report on what she or he has been doing;
the supervisor then sits back for an extended answer, while the student talks in
detail about what she or he has read and thought. Thirdly, workshops are
involved. Workshops generally take the form of simulations, tasks and role-play.
They involve, essentially, a concern to impose structure on learning-events, by
specifying a task which offers students a clear idea of what they are supposed to
do, and achievable goals or outcomes to motivate and direct the learning process.
The last one is self-access learning. These, where available, have the effect of
freeing students from the constraint of having to work together at the same pace,
or in the same sequence. They can also provide a high degree of individualised
learner-feedback.
B. Literature Review Presentation
Tasneen (2010) had conducted similar study entitled “Literary Texts in the
Language Classroom: a study of teachers‟ and students‟ views at international
schools in Bangkok” which aimed to find out the teachers‟ and the students‟
views about using literary texts in the language classes at some international
schools in Bangkok. This study also investigated about how much compatible are
the classroom activities with their views and what kind of materials do the
teachers prefer to use in their English language teaching. The research questions
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were attempted to be answered through questionnaires (for the students and the
teachers), interviews (the teachers and the students) and some classroom
observations.
The study conducted by Tasneen (2010) resulted that both the teachers
(37%) and students (68%) believed that literature was an asset to be used as the
language teaching resource. However, she added that both the teachers and the
students faced some problems with literature in the language classrooms; 88% of
the teachers thought that, for the students the linguistic level of the text and
sometimes the cultural unfamiliarity hindered their comprehension of the texts.
They liked both literatures with small and big „L‟ to be used in their language
classrooms. In fact some of them added that in a number of cases literature with
small „l‟ was more functional, as it gave the students quicker glimpses of various
styles and structures.
With the existence of this similar research conducted by Tasneen (2010) I
could draw some hypotheses toward the research question of this study. From the
study by Tasneen (2010) hypothetically the teachers have positive view toward
the use of literature in English language classroom. In addition, I hope this similar
study could also guide me through every process in finishing this research.
THE STUDY
Research Methodology
A.
Context of the study
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.
This study was set in eight schools in Salatiga and Semarang regency,
Central Java, Indonesia. There were some reasons why I chose Salatiga and
Semarang regency as my context of the study. The first reason is that the English
education in Salatiga and Semarang regency is growing so fast. Almost every
school includes English as their main subject. Likewise, there are a lot of
elementary schools and kindergarten in Salatiga and Semarang regency. So that it
will make me easier to find the participants of my research.
B.
Participants
This study used random samplings strategies. The participants of this
study were eight teachers who were teaching English for young learners in
Salatiga and Semarang Regency. The criterion in selecting the teachers as the
participants was those who were using literature in their English teaching. Pseudo
name were used instead of mentioning the real name of participants (teachers) in
this research. Those participants were Teacher A, Teacher B, and Teacher C and
so on. The teachers were interviewed and observed (recorded) while they were
teaching. The observation supplemented the interview data. It functioned to
provide more information about the actual teaching learning activities in the
classroom and to see the actual teaching-learning activities in the classroom. The
classes were selected based on the these two criterions. First, the classes were
taught English regularly. It meant that the English course was taught for example:
every week or two times a week. Secondly, they were using literature in teaching
English in the class.
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C.
Instruments of Data Collection
In attempting to get the answer of my research question, I got the data
through semi-structured interview and observation. The interview focused on
examining the teachers‟ views (see Appendix A). Each interview lasted for around
twenty minutes. The interviews were done in Indonesian language because as
Nation (2003) suggested, it is easier and more communicatively effective to use
the L1. However, I translated both the questions and the answers from the
participants into English to make it easier for the readers to understand the data
(see Appendix B). I also did observations to some participants. It was done from
February until March 2013. The observations functioned to provide more
information about the actual teaching learning activities in the classroom. The
class activity was recorded from the beginning of the lesson until the end of the
lesson.
D.
Procedure
This study is descriptive qualitative research. The data was analyzed
qualitatively. The data collection procedures for this research were divided into
three steps. The first step was the first meeting with the participant of this research
which was the teachers. In this step, I asked permission to the schools‟ principals
and met the English teachers of the schools. I gave the teacher questions asking
about general information and decided the time and setting of the observation. The
second step was doing the observation. The observation was done to the classes
that were using literature in teaching English. To get information about the use of
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literature to teach English in classroom, the class activity was recorded from the
beginning of the lesson until the end of the lesson. After doing every observation,
I asked the teacher to arrange the last interview which I called the third section of
this data collection (see Appendix A). In that interview the teachers would be
asked some questions related to the teaching in the class that had been observed
before. The questions‟ order more or less were divided into questions focusing
the teacher‟s view in using literature to teach English. The questions would be
flexibly adjusted, depended on the needs until I get all the data.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
This section will be discussing about some emerging themes from the
interviews and observations data. Based on my research questions, this research
was conducted to know teachers‟ opinion and view toward the use of literature in
TEYL. Along with that, There were four emerging themes discussed in this
section which are: the advantage of using literature in TEYL, problems they face
when they are using literature in TEYL, the kinds of literature they prefer to use
and the reason for selecting the literatures and teachers‟ methodology of using
literature in teaching.
A. Teacher’s view in using literature in English teaching
This part will talk about teachers view toward using literature in their
teaching. The interview data found that almost all of the teachers gave positive
view toward using literature in their teaching. Some of them gave similar opinion
toward this issue.
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In my opinion it is one way to make them interested in learning English.
Through some literatures such as short stories that they have been already
familiar with, they will be more interested and familiar with English
language so that it will make us easier to teach and easier also for them to
learn English. (Teacher A)
The opinion from Teacher A above showed that for the Teacher A, literature was
very good in making the students interested to learn English. Similar to teacher
A‟s statement, using literature was a good way to attract the students‟ attention
were also declared by Teacher D. It could make Teacher D easier in doing her job.
In my opinion, literature helps me to teach them easily, I feel that literature
also help the students be interested to the teaching. So that it makes me
easier in doing my job as a teacher, because I can say that literature here
could act as my assistant in teaching. (Teacher D)
We can see that according to them literature is really helpful in making the
students interested in the materials. This is similar to the concept of reason in
using literature by Collie & Slatter (1987). They say that literature deals with
themes and topics which are intrinsically interesting, because it uses part of the
human experience, and treats them in ways designed to engage the readers‟
attention. The use of literature in teaching English does not only attract children‟s
attention, but also facilitates integration of the language skills (Ghosn, 2002). That
opinion is also revealed by Teacher G.
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It‟s fun, instead of explaining to them directly, I tend to use literature to
make it more fun so that the students will be interested more and not
getting bored. I think it is effective also, as long as the students know the
vocabulary so that they will understand the material. In my institution, the
English learning for children are focused more on vocabulary, because it is
simpler than learning grammar. So, I use literature here as the models of
language to teach them vocabularies. (Teacher G)
As what Ghosn (2002) proposes, Teacher G said that besides it makes the students
interested, literature also facilitates integration to the language area which is
vocabulary. Almost all of the participants in this research gave positive views
about using literature in teaching English language, but there is one respondent
which is Teacher E who mentioned not only the advantages, but also the
challenges in the application of research in her class.
I think applying literature for them is quite difficult, because they tend to
be interested more in moving things, so if I apply it to them they will be
interested but for short time and then forget it. And if I read them a story,
they will be interested more to the teacher rather than the story itself. So, I
think literature is useful for some reasons only, when the teacher is active
it will works really well. (Teacher E)
Therefore, from all those respondents it can be concluded that teachers‟
view toward literature in English teaching is positive. This is similar to what
16
Tasneen‟s (2012) research that both students and teachers had positive view that
literature is a good language learning resources.
B. The advantages of using literature in English teaching
As you see in my introduction part, we all know that there are so many
advantages of using literature in English teaching proposed by the experts. In this
section, the advantages of literature in English teaching from the point of view of
the front-liner in it, which are the teachers, will be discussed. There are several
advantages that were stated by the participants of this research. Their opinions are
various one to the others, and in this section it will be seen deeper the opinions
about the benefits of literature in English language teaching.
Here is one opinion that was said by Teacher C about the advantages of
using literature in English teaching.
It is useful for the students. From the literature itself, they can learn
vocabulary, and also they can learn the structure of every sentence. So it is
a good example for them in learning English language. For the teacher, it
is helpful, because by using it, I feel that the students are more interested
and paying more attention to the teaching so that I don‟t need to yell at
them. (Teacher C)
The same opinion also told by Teacher G and Teacher E. They agreed that using
literature can be useful because it can become models for the language they teach.
I think it is effective, as long as the students know the vocabulary so that
they will understand the material. In my institution, Children learning of
17
English is focused more on vocabulary, because it is simpler than learning
grammar. So I use literature here as the models of language to teach them
vocabularies. (Teacher G)
Here is the Teacher E opinion about advantages of using literature on English
teaching.
It makes me easier to teach. For me literature is like the prolongation or
extension of me. So I can say that I am explaining and the literature is
modeling. When using literature the students will remember better.
(Teacher E)
From the opinion of Teacher C and Teacher G and Teacher E above, it
could be said that the benefit that they got from literature was the linguistic
modeling from literature itself. Teacher C could use literatures as the example
language for the students. The benefit of literature as a linguistic model iss also
discussed by Sell (2005) in his list of ten benefits of literature in foreign language
classroom. He says that literature can be used as linguistic model. He added that
literature provides examples of good writing, linguistic diversity, expressive
ranges, and so on.
Another benefit that was revealed from the interview with the respondents
is the memorability aspect.
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It makes me easier to teach. For me literature is like the prolongation or
extension of me. So I can say that I am explaining and the literature is
modeling. When using literature the students will remember better.
(Teacher E)
From the view of Teacher E using literature will make the students remember
better. This view is also supported by Teacher D‟s argument.
They will remember and understand it by listening to the story and looking
at the pictures, moreover when I use song which is followed by doing the
gestures so that they will notice and understand the meaning of the song.
(Teacher D)
Those two opinions from the teachers are agreed by Maley and Moulding (1985)
they said that literature is having the benefits of memorability. Because literature,
especially poetry and songs, is memorable, it can be a memorized archive of
linguistic usage. Eventually, It is very agreeable with Teacher D‟s opinion.
Along with those two views I also found interesting fact about modeling
and memorability benefits of using literature in English teaching. There are 3
teachers that use literature as a model of language and asked their students to
make their own literature based on the models. They claimed that by using that
method it will make them remember everything because they experience it
themselves.
So far I still asked them to make a narrative text or short story. Like for
example yesterday when I discussed about transportation, I asked them to
write a story about what transportation that they use when they were in
19
their vacation. Another example when we discussed about profession, I
asked them to make their own story about what are their aspiration in the
future. I asked them to look at the example of short story as a guide. By
asking them to create their own literature, I believe that the students will
always remember that. (Teacher A)
In that statement, Teacher A used literature as a model for the students and asked
them to create their own literature. During my observation in Teacher A‟s class it
was clearly shown that Teacher A asked her students to produce their own
literature in a kind of short story. By asking them to create their own literature,
Teacher A believes that the students will always remember what Teacher A taught
them. The same opinion also stated by Teacher B below.
I think children tend to imitate what they experience. If they introduced to
literature and they try to practiced it and imitate it by asking them to create
their own literary work like short story, it will be easier for them to learn
and remember it. (Teacher B)
Teacher B agreed that by asking them to create their own literature, it will be
easier for them to learn and remember it. To make it complete Teacher H also
stated that
As I experience when I taught writing to the students, I use literature, in
this case short story, as an example for the students before they made their
own short story. By doing that I found out that students will memorize it
better the next day. (Teacher H)
20
These were supported by Bertrand (2010) in Read (2010), he said that usually the
children take the story they've read and using the vocabulary they've learnt around
the subjects in the story can personalize it and re-create their own story. It's a very
enriching process. From those teachers statements, it can be concluded that from
the point of view of the teachers, literature has memorability and linguistic
modeling benefits as what Sell (2005) and Maley and Moulding (1985) stated in
their works.
C. Problems in using literature to teach English to young learners.
Using literature in English teaching has so many advantages. Teachers
have claimed it as a fact of their teaching. Nevertheless, from the interviews with
all the respondents, it is found out that there are also some problems underlying
this issue. As suggested by McRae (1991), the selection of literary text for use in
language teaching is difficult, controversial and ultimately pretty subjective. He
adds that the criteria in selecting literatures are manifold, and probably every
individual teacher would place the important points that follow in a different order
of importance (McRae, 1991). Thus, this chapter will reveal teachers‟ views about
the problem they faced when they are using literature in their class. In general,
there are two main problems that were revealed from the interviews with the
respondents. The first one is the problem with time and the second one is the
problem in selecting the literatures. Most of them were experiencing both
problems.
Some teachers confirmed that they have problem in time management for
preparing the literature to teach the students.
21
In my opinion, I can‟t handle the time, because in preparing the literature it
needs much time. The literature that is given can‟t be random literature, I
should consider the topic, theme, level, etc. So it is sometimes time
consuming in preparation. (Teacher A)
Another idea was also declared by Teacher B and Teacher D. They also have
problem in time usage. However, in both teachers‟ statements, they said that the
problem also relied on the selection of the literature which will be discussed also
later on. Here are their statements.
It maybe my fault in selecting the literature itself, because one literature
can be applied nicely in certain class but maybe won‟t be in another class.
When I use literature maybe it makes them lose focus because they enjoy
the literature too much and forget the main material. And it is time
consuming also. (Teacher B)
In addition to that, Teacher D said that
Sometimes, I have difficulty when looking for or selecting literature for
them. Besides the limited time, media and money, I also have to consider
their level in English. My students are not so good in English so that I have
to select literature that is easy enough for them and suitable for their level.
(Teacher D)
From those answers confessed by some teachers, we can see that for them, using
literature is sometimes time consuming. This finding is also supported by
O‟Connell (2009) he says that it is the biggest cause of excluding literature from
the language classroom, the over-riding factor which supposedly clinches the
22
argument, is that there is no time in the school syllabus for such wasting time
material like literature.
Another problem of using literature in English teaching that arouse from
the interview sections with the respondents was the selection of the literatures.
Some teachers confessed that they sometimes got difficulty in choosing or
selecting the suitable literatures to teach their students. Like what Teacher B and
D have already mentioned above, Teacher E stated that
The problem occurs when the literature I chose is not suitable with their
age. They can‟t understand when the materials are too alien for them. So I
have to choose the material that is familiar for them. (Teacher E)
Lazar (1993) suggests that the criteria in selecting literature involve the students‟
cultural background, the students‟ linguistic proficiency, and the students‟ literary
background. Along with that statement, Teacher H also claimed that it was hard to
choose literature in Teacher H‟s teaching.
When I have to search the literature, it is sometimes hard for me because I
have to consider so many things, the suitability, the length of the story and
the difficulty for the students. I have to find the most suitable literary
works for them. (Teacher H)
Lazar (1993) also adds that there are other factors to consider when selecting
literary text. Those factors are: the availability of the text, the length of the text,
the exploitability of the text, and how it will fit with syllabus.
Selection of literary text for use in language teaching is difficult,
controversial and ultimately pretty subjective (McRae, 1991). From those
23
discussions above, we can draw a conclusion that teachers were sometimes get
problems or difficulties in the process of using literature in their teaching. The
main problems that they usually got were the time limit and the selecting of
literature. It proves that McRae‟s (1991) hypothesis which mentioned about the
criteria in selecting literatures are manifold, and probably every individual teacher
would place the important points that follow in a different order of importance is
very true.
D. The kinds of literature they prefer to use and the reason for selecting the
literatures
McRae (1991) divides literature into literature with capital “L” and
literature with small “l”. Literature is often associated with canonical literary
works. What he means by canonical literary works are great literature and the
study of literature. For example: classic literary works such as drama, poetry,
Holy Bible, Holy Quran, etc. those literary works often called Literature with
capital “L”. Whereas, he defines literature with small “l” as any text whose
imaginative content will stimulate reaction and response in the receiver. Still in
McRae statement, literature with small “l” may include: songs, lyrics, scripts,
short stories, novels, folktales, comics, films, eulogy, haiku, biography, memoirs,
advertisements, newspapers, letter, notes, recipes, leaflets, etc. He says that
everything whose imaginative content will stimulate reaction and response in the
receiver is called literature. So with the theory which is proposed by McRae, I
want to know what literary works were used by the teachers.
24
From the participants‟ answers, most of them were using short story and
song lyrics as their materials. A view of them was also using poems and minidrama. Nevertheless majority of them were using story as their preference either
short story text or story books.
So far, I‟m still using story books and short story texts, because I realize
that they are still elementary students, so their grade and level in English is
still not too good. And I thought that the most suitable material for them is
short story. (Teacher H)
From the statement above it can be seen that Teacher H prefered to use story
books and short story texts because Teacher H thought that it would be suitable
for elementary school students. In agreement with Teacher H, Teacher D
confirmed that Teacher D was also using story books, and Teacher D added some
detail information about it.
I usually use story book, which has pictures in it, we read it first for them
and show the pictures to them then we translated it into their language, so
that they will understand the English word of the pictures. They will
remember and understand it by listening to the story and looking at the
pictures. (Teacher D)
In the statement above, Teacher D was using story books frequently, and Teacher
D added that s/he tend to use story book that has pictures in it so that the students
will understand the English word of the pictures and they will remember and
understand it by listening to the story and looking at the pictures. During my
observation, it was also seen that they majority were using story in teaching
25
English to their students. It is clear that story, no matter kinds of it, is preferred a
lot by the teachers.
Another kind of literature that is very popular to use based on their
answers in the interview is song. Almost all of them used song in their teaching
with the reasons which were various, and here are some opinions from them.
I usually use song, short story, mini drama and also posters. For songs, I
usually make it myself because I tried to adjust to the students need or to
the theme. Sometimes, song lyrics that is already created or already in
books are not always suitable for students‟ needs and the theme, so I
usually made the lyrics myself. (Teacher F)
In this case, Teacher F was creating the lyrics himself. It was due to the suitability
with the learners‟ need and the theme s/he brought. Teacher F also added,
From my experience for about 9 years in teaching children I notice that
averagely children likes singing, no matter their voice are good or not, it
doesn‟t matter. The importance one is they like song. That‟s why I prefer
song in my teaching. (Teacher F)
Additionally, Teacher C has the same opinion about using song lyrics when
teaching.
In my class I still only use short story and sometimes song. I use those
literatures because I think those literatures are not too complicated for my
students. If I use other materials like poems for example, I think it is not
suitable for them because since they are young learners I think it is better
to teach them simpler use of English like what I find in short story and
26
song. In addition I use song more for their entertainment. I hope when I
use song they feel enjoy and not stressed. (Teacher C)
From those statements by the interviewees, it can be affirmed that the
reason they use song as their teaching materials is because the students enjoys it.
Once again, McRae (1991) in his book “Literature with a Small „l‟ ” provided
some support toward the reason they use song as their teaching materials. McRae
(1991) summarized that the reason for using songs are well-known and hardly
need to be gone into again here: familiarity, accessibility, memorability, the close
links between sound and sense, rhythm and rhyme, melody and meaning, as well
as simple enjoyable language practice, are all valid reasons for using song. In the
end, the answers from the teachers shows that they were all preferring to use
literature with small „l‟ rather than the capital „L‟.
E. Teachers’ methodology of using literature in teaching
At this point, we will be discussing about kind of methodology or way of
teaching that the teachers use when they include literatures in their teaching. From
the interviews it was found out that the way teachers used literature in their
teaching is various. On the other hand, some of them were in agreement of the
same technique as can be seen from their answers below.
I have 2 ways of teaching and it depends on the number of the students.
First, when the numbers of the students are about 15 or below, I usually
asked them to form their seat in circle and we do sharing and small
discussion. In the bigger number of students, I usually divide them into
several small groups and I let them discuss the material with their group.
27
Or sometimes I ask the representatives of them to read the literatures I give
or the literatures they made themselves and also some kind of role-play.
(Teacher A)
In the statement above Teacher A explained two ways of teaching, but I
recognize that the thing Teacher A use is the same, which is discussion. Teacher
A also added that s/he used role-play also in the teaching. An almost similar
statement is also confirmed by Teacher C.
Sometimes I ask them to read the short story and I help them to correct the
pronunciation and tell the meaning of the words they haven‟t known yet.
Sometimes I also ask them to form groups and discuss in their group. Also
I often ask them to act or practice the things in the text. But usually I just
teach them as standard teachers do, you know, teacher standing in front of
the class and the students pay attention to me. (Teacher C)
Teacher C also mentioned discussion as his/her way in teaching which is
collaborated with teacher centered teaching. In addition, Teacher C stated his/her
believe toward discussion in class.
I focus More to group discussion, it is my way to make them cooperate
with other, to communicate and be active. I believe that somehow group
discussion is more enhance them to memorize something rather than when
they work themselves. I also doing what usually teacher do, like teacher
centered teaching. I teach them and they listen to me. I used to do it when
we are going to face test or examination. Usually when I gave them short
28
story I walk around them and help them with their problem or explain if
they have questions or difficult vocabularies. (Teacher B)
From what Teacher B said, it is clear that s/he also prefers group discussion in
class; Teacher B added that group discussion can make them communicative,
active and cooperative with others. Teacher B believes that somehow group
discussion can enhance them more to memorize something rather than when they
work themselves. It was agreed by McRae (1991), he said that discussion, in
pairs, in groups, or in the form of debate or whole class interaction will develop
reading memory, memory reference search and recall.
Another methodology that was popularly used by the participants was
role-playing or simulation.
Very effective, because in my opinion students cannot concentrate only to
the teacher or to one object only but always change to the other object, so
here literature is very effective and suitable for which are very active and
dynamic. One technique to deal with that matter is making them
practice/doing the words in a song or story. For example: the rabbit jump,
jump, jump. The students will also do jumping. (Teacher E)
It is very clear explanation that was established by Teacher E that in order to deal
with active students Teacher E used role-playing as his/her technique in teaching.
By the side of the statement above, Teacher F is in agreement with Teacher E
statement.
29
I like it more in practice material, not theoretical materials. Back to the
children‟s characteristic which is playing and active. For example singing
and mini drama. . . . . I also notice that children is active, their motoric
ability is strong, so I also have to provide a place for them like using mini
drama every the end of semester . . . .
Actually in my institution, the
methodology used for every child is different. It depends on every child‟s
characteris
LITERATURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG
LANGUAGE LEARNERS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Wian Anggono
112008137
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
TEACHERS’ OPINION TOWARDS THE USE OF
LITERATURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG
LANGUAGE LEARNERS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Wian Anggono
112008137
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
i
TEACHERS’ OPINION TOWARDS THE USE OF
LITERATURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG
LANGUAGE LEARNERS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Wian Anggono
112008137
Approved by:
Christiana Sidupa, M. Hum
Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT
Supervisor
Examiner
ii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
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university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material
previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is
made in the text.
Copyright@ 2013.Wian Anggono and Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means
without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English
Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University,
Salatiga.
Wian Anggono:
iii
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Wian Anggono
Student ID Number: 112008137
Study Program:
English Department
Faculty:
Language and Literature
Kind of Work:
Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive
royalty free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
Teachers’ Opinion towards the Use of Literature in Teaching English to
Young Language Learners
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Christiana Sidupa, M. Hum
iv
TEACHERS’ OPINION TOWARDS THE USE OF LITERATURE IN
TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Wian Anggono
ABSTRACT
As the front-liner of the educational system, teachers are given
very huge duty and responsibility to teach their students. There are so
many ways of them in doing their duty. One of the possibilities is using
literature in their language teaching. However, there are still some
arguments within the concept of using literature in English language
teaching. Many researchers, like McRae (1991), Hişmanoğlu (2005),
Cremin, Mottram, Bearne and Goodwin (2008), argue that teachers were
often lack of background, preparation and knowledge of literature in
teaching. This study tried to find out what actually happened to the
practice of using literature in teaching English in Indonesia, especially
Salatiga and Semarang Regency. The research question of this study is
“what are the teachers‟ views toward the use of literature in English
teaching?” As a matter of fact, the advantages, problems and
methodologies when they were dealing with literature were covered as
well. The data were collected from classroom observations and
interviews with the teachers that used literature in their English teaching.
The result showed that all the teachers had positive views toward the use
of literatures because it brought some advantages which were
memorability and linguistic modeling benefits. Nonetheless, they also
confessed that it was time consuming and difficult in selecting the kinds
of literature. They prefered to use story and song as their favorite types of
literature. Ultimately, they used discussion and simulation or role-play
as their way of using literature in their teaching.
Keywords: literature as teaching material, young learners, kinds of
literature, teachers‟ view, TEYL.
INTRODUCTION
English is now very popular in Indonesia, it has been taught since the
earliest age of the students. Pre-schools, kindergartens and elementary school now
include English as one of their subjects. They use English even as their main
subject and also as everyday language. Reflecting on my own experience, I was
1
introduced to English language by my English teacher in my fourth grade of the
elementary school. I thought that was rather late, because based on the
Baxamusa‟s article (2012), the ability to think about and the ability to understand
second language are during four to ten years old. It could be said that it is the
golden age of our brain development. Therefore, during that age, it is time to
optimalize their brain capacity by giving them input about languages. Moreover,
recently researchers have shown an increased interest in Teaching English to
Young Learners (TEYL). Lenneberg (1967) in Pinter (2006) said that the Critical
Period Hypothesis (CPH) which suggested that brain plasticity was only
conducive to language learning only until puberty. Therefore we have to make use
this golden period of children brain, because it is the best time to learn language.
Nevertheless, teaching English to very young learners as a foreign
language has its own difficulty. Cameron (2001) considers children do not have
the same ability to use language to talk about language as older learners. In other
words, they do not have the same access to meta-language that the teachers use.
She also adds that children easily lose their interest on the material and are less
able to keep themselves motivated on materials they find difficult. Therefore,
teachers need a strategy to make young English learners more interested to the
lesson. One way to attract children‟s interest in learning English is by using
literature in their teaching and learning activity. Teaching English through
literature has been used in many English speaking countries (Rass & Holzman,
2011). On the other hand, Sell (2005) also concludes that literature in the target
language may enhance language learning at primary level since the cognitive
2
processes of young learners are particularly adept at dealing with narrative
structures. McRae (1991) adds that children learn to use language through
invention, experimentation and stories. The language they use is rapidly related to
imaginative stimuli, so it may be very relevant to use literature in children
education, especially in teaching English.
Essentially, there were several specific reasons why I was interested in
researching the use of literature in TEYL. Despite the fact that many researchers
claimed that literature was beneficial, many of them also argued that teachers had
negative views toward using literature in English teaching. One of them is McRae
(1991). He said that teachers felt rather inadequate when facing literature, either
they had no literacy qualification or they had not studied literature in their past
learning. Hişmanoğlu (2005) added that teachers were often lack of preparation in
the area of literature teaching. He also said that teachers didn‟t have the
background and training in literature and they lacked of pedagogically-designed
appropriate materials. Those were also supported by Cremin, Mottram, Bearne
and Goodwin (2008). Their research revealed that teachers were lack of
professional knowledge and assurance with children‟s literature and the minimal
knowledge of global literature.
From those experts‟ statements, I was wondering what exactly happened
with literature and English teaching in Indonesia, especially Salatiga and
Semarang Regency. Did the teachers in Salatiga and Semarang regency also have
negative view and lack of knowledge and preparation of using literature in their
teaching? I was interested in doing my research on the use of literature to teach
3
young English learners in local schools in Indonesia. My research here focused on
knowing the teachers‟ views in using literature. This issue then later on became
my research question. “What are the views of the teachers about using literature in
TEYL?” Therefore, this study aimed to examine the teacher‟s views on how the
teachers select the literature, their methods and their problem in using literature to
teach English.
Teachers are the front-liner in education world. They take a crucial part in
the process of students learning, so teacher should have a way to teach
interestingly. With this study hopefully teachers could be wiser in selecting
literature based on the students‟ need, and this research would encourage other
educators to try using literature in their teaching. By doing this research this study
would give contribution to the teaching of English, especially young learners. I
also wished that the result of this research could usefully add and enrich teachers‟
repertoire of methods and pedagogy. And hopefully, the result of this study would
enrich the literature about the use of literature to teach English to young learners.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Theoretical Background
To analyze the research questions of this study, the research will use
several theories from the experts. The theories about young learners, literature,
selecting literature, methods and approaches of using literature in teaching English
are discussed in attempting to answer the research question about how the
teachers use literature in teaching English to young learners.
4
1. Young Learners
Pinter (2006) classifies the characteristics of younger learners as children
who are at pre-school or in the first couple of years of schooling, have a holistic
approach to language, which means that they understand meaningful messages but
cannot analyze language yet, have lower level of awareness about themselves as
language learners as well as about process of learning, have limited reading and
writing skills even in their first language, they are more concerned about
themselves than others, have a limited knowledge about the world and they enjoy
fantasy, imagination and movement. Whereas, Cameron (2001) said in her book
that young learners mean those between five and twelve years old.
If we look at the statements by the experts above, it can be concluded that
the classifications of young learners are not determined by their ages. It is because
every child starts their language learning in various ages. The term „young
learners‟ entirely functions as an umbrella to cover a range of ages. In other
words, if they are still early learners, they can be categorized as young learners.
But in general, young learners can be categorized as those between five and
twelve years old.
2. Literature
Murdoch (1978) in Lazar (1993) said that literature is a sort of disciplined
technique for arousing certain emotion. Whereas Barthes (1978) in Lazar (1993)
said that literature is the question minus the answer. According to McRae (1991)
literature is any text whose imaginative content will stimulate reaction and
response in the receiver. Therefore, to classify the kind or type of literature, I will
5
also use the theory from McRae (1991) which called literature with small “l”. It is
about the type of literatures other than classic literature. He said that literature is
often associated with canonical literary works. What he means by canonical
literary works are great literature and the study of literature. For example: classic
literary works such as drama, poetry, Holy Bible, Holy Quran, etc. Those literary
works often called Literature with capital “L”.
Whereas, he has a notion that literature is not merely the great literature as
said above. So he proposed literature with small “l”, McRae (1991) defined
literature with small “l” as any text whose imaginative content will stimulate
reaction and response in the receiver. Still in McRae statement, literature with
small “l” may include songs, lyrics, scripts, short stories, novels, folktales,
comics, films, eulogy, haiku, biography, memoirs, advertisements, newspapers,
letter, notes, recipes, leaflets, etc. He said that everything whose imaginative
content will stimulate reaction and response in the receiver is called literature.
If we see again at the theories from the experts above, literature was
defined in various explanations. However, the theory proposes by McRae seems
to fit this research more. The theory of literature with capital „L‟ and small „l‟ was
also used by some studies which are similar with this study, and it will be
discussed later on in Literature Review Presentation point.
3. Advantages of Using Literature
The use of literature in teaching English gives many advantages both for
students and the teachers. There are three findings that are revealed by Scott &
6
Huntington (2007). Those findings can also be said as the advantages of using
literary works in teaching language to novice learners. The first advantage of
using literature in teaching language to novice learners is helping students develop
cognitive flexibility and affective awareness. Secondly, using literature can be
used to develop students‟ insight qualities in the earliest stages of language
learning. And the last one, when discussing literary works in L2 or target language
with novice learners, they can be more productive in using the first language.
Lazar (1993) also states in his book entitled “Literature and Language Teaching”
that literature can be highly motivating the students in learning English. To
complete it, Parkinson and Reid Thomas (2000) list, with more or less approval,
the ten benefits of using literature.
Here are the ten benefits of using literature that were listed by Parkinson
and Reid Thomas (2000). First, they mention about cultural enrichment. Reading
literature promotes cultural understanding and awareness so that will enrich the
cultural knowledge of the students. Then, the second is linguistic model.
Literature provides examples of “good” writing, linguistic diversity, expressive
ranges, and so on. The next is mental training. Better than any other disciplines,
literature trains the mind and sensibility. The fourth advantage is extension of
linguistic competence. Literature stretches the competences of learners who have
mastered the linguistic rudiments. The next benefit of literature is authenticity
since literature is genuine linguistic material, not a linguistically contrived
textbook. Number six is memorability, because literature, especially poetry and
songs, is memorable. It can be a memorized archive of linguistic usage. The
7
seventh advantage is rhythmic resource. Poems assist the learner in assimilating
the rhythms of a language. The benefit number eight is that literature can be a
motivating material. Literature is more likely to engage with and motivate a
learner than artificial teaching inputs because it is generated by some genuine
impulse on the part of the writer and deals with subjects and themes which may be
of interest to the learner. The next is open to interpretation, because literature is
open to interpretation and can serve as a basis for “genuine interaction” between
learners. The last one is convenience. It is clear that literature is a handy
(photocopiable) resource.
From those experts, we can see that there are advantages and values in
using literature to teach English. Despite the fact that there are many advantages
of using literature in classroom, there also some problems underlying the use of
literature in teaching English. As Gray (2000) says that literature is authentic
material, Collie & Slatter (1987) argue that as authentic material, most works of
literature are not fashioned for the specific purpose of teaching a language. Same
as Collie & Slatter statement, Hill (1986) says that the inclusion of literature was
ungradable and unsuitable as a model and as the teaching of English for specific
purpose increased. Specific purpose here means the learners‟ need. Collie &
Slatter (1987) & Hill (1986) agree that teacher often complained that the language
of literature was irrelevant with the learners‟ need.
4. Literature Selection
The first step of using literature in teaching EFL is selecting the literature.
This is very important, because according to McRae (1991) the selection of
8
literary text for use in language teaching is difficult, controversial and ultimately
pretty subjective. Thus, the teachers need to be careful in selecting the literature.
They should use literatures that are suitable for their pupils. The text selections
according to McRae (1991) are divided into: accessibility, difficulty, story, the
theme-based approach, text grouping, the pleasure of the text, relevance and
recognition.
Different from that, Lazar (1993) suggests that the criteria in selecting
literature involve the students‟ cultural background, the students‟ linguistic
proficiency, and the students‟ literary background. Lazar (1993) also adds that
there are other factors to consider when selecting literary text. Those factors are
the availability of the text, the length of the text, the exploitability of the text, and
how it will fit with syllabus.
The selection of literature is indeed very crucial in Teaching English,
especially to young learners. Teachers have to consider plenty of things, like what
the experts says above, before they choose the most suitable material for their
students. Later, this research would be underlain by those two experts‟ theories of
selecting literature.
5. Methodology of Using Literature
Based on Durant‟s (1995) review, there are four methodologies which he
said as the main possible methodologies of teaching literature. The first
methodology is lecture. Lectures are perhaps the most-used method in teaching
literature, especially for exposition of individual texts or groups of texts to large
numbers of students. Durant (1995) said that typically lectures are monologues
9
(sometimes monologues with time set aside for questions or discussion at the
end); and they appear appropriate to transferring information from the lecturer to a
group of students. The second methodology is informal dialogue. In this scenario,
the student is asked by the supervisor to report on what she or he has been doing;
the supervisor then sits back for an extended answer, while the student talks in
detail about what she or he has read and thought. Thirdly, workshops are
involved. Workshops generally take the form of simulations, tasks and role-play.
They involve, essentially, a concern to impose structure on learning-events, by
specifying a task which offers students a clear idea of what they are supposed to
do, and achievable goals or outcomes to motivate and direct the learning process.
The last one is self-access learning. These, where available, have the effect of
freeing students from the constraint of having to work together at the same pace,
or in the same sequence. They can also provide a high degree of individualised
learner-feedback.
B. Literature Review Presentation
Tasneen (2010) had conducted similar study entitled “Literary Texts in the
Language Classroom: a study of teachers‟ and students‟ views at international
schools in Bangkok” which aimed to find out the teachers‟ and the students‟
views about using literary texts in the language classes at some international
schools in Bangkok. This study also investigated about how much compatible are
the classroom activities with their views and what kind of materials do the
teachers prefer to use in their English language teaching. The research questions
10
were attempted to be answered through questionnaires (for the students and the
teachers), interviews (the teachers and the students) and some classroom
observations.
The study conducted by Tasneen (2010) resulted that both the teachers
(37%) and students (68%) believed that literature was an asset to be used as the
language teaching resource. However, she added that both the teachers and the
students faced some problems with literature in the language classrooms; 88% of
the teachers thought that, for the students the linguistic level of the text and
sometimes the cultural unfamiliarity hindered their comprehension of the texts.
They liked both literatures with small and big „L‟ to be used in their language
classrooms. In fact some of them added that in a number of cases literature with
small „l‟ was more functional, as it gave the students quicker glimpses of various
styles and structures.
With the existence of this similar research conducted by Tasneen (2010) I
could draw some hypotheses toward the research question of this study. From the
study by Tasneen (2010) hypothetically the teachers have positive view toward
the use of literature in English language classroom. In addition, I hope this similar
study could also guide me through every process in finishing this research.
THE STUDY
Research Methodology
A.
Context of the study
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.
This study was set in eight schools in Salatiga and Semarang regency,
Central Java, Indonesia. There were some reasons why I chose Salatiga and
Semarang regency as my context of the study. The first reason is that the English
education in Salatiga and Semarang regency is growing so fast. Almost every
school includes English as their main subject. Likewise, there are a lot of
elementary schools and kindergarten in Salatiga and Semarang regency. So that it
will make me easier to find the participants of my research.
B.
Participants
This study used random samplings strategies. The participants of this
study were eight teachers who were teaching English for young learners in
Salatiga and Semarang Regency. The criterion in selecting the teachers as the
participants was those who were using literature in their English teaching. Pseudo
name were used instead of mentioning the real name of participants (teachers) in
this research. Those participants were Teacher A, Teacher B, and Teacher C and
so on. The teachers were interviewed and observed (recorded) while they were
teaching. The observation supplemented the interview data. It functioned to
provide more information about the actual teaching learning activities in the
classroom and to see the actual teaching-learning activities in the classroom. The
classes were selected based on the these two criterions. First, the classes were
taught English regularly. It meant that the English course was taught for example:
every week or two times a week. Secondly, they were using literature in teaching
English in the class.
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C.
Instruments of Data Collection
In attempting to get the answer of my research question, I got the data
through semi-structured interview and observation. The interview focused on
examining the teachers‟ views (see Appendix A). Each interview lasted for around
twenty minutes. The interviews were done in Indonesian language because as
Nation (2003) suggested, it is easier and more communicatively effective to use
the L1. However, I translated both the questions and the answers from the
participants into English to make it easier for the readers to understand the data
(see Appendix B). I also did observations to some participants. It was done from
February until March 2013. The observations functioned to provide more
information about the actual teaching learning activities in the classroom. The
class activity was recorded from the beginning of the lesson until the end of the
lesson.
D.
Procedure
This study is descriptive qualitative research. The data was analyzed
qualitatively. The data collection procedures for this research were divided into
three steps. The first step was the first meeting with the participant of this research
which was the teachers. In this step, I asked permission to the schools‟ principals
and met the English teachers of the schools. I gave the teacher questions asking
about general information and decided the time and setting of the observation. The
second step was doing the observation. The observation was done to the classes
that were using literature in teaching English. To get information about the use of
13
literature to teach English in classroom, the class activity was recorded from the
beginning of the lesson until the end of the lesson. After doing every observation,
I asked the teacher to arrange the last interview which I called the third section of
this data collection (see Appendix A). In that interview the teachers would be
asked some questions related to the teaching in the class that had been observed
before. The questions‟ order more or less were divided into questions focusing
the teacher‟s view in using literature to teach English. The questions would be
flexibly adjusted, depended on the needs until I get all the data.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
This section will be discussing about some emerging themes from the
interviews and observations data. Based on my research questions, this research
was conducted to know teachers‟ opinion and view toward the use of literature in
TEYL. Along with that, There were four emerging themes discussed in this
section which are: the advantage of using literature in TEYL, problems they face
when they are using literature in TEYL, the kinds of literature they prefer to use
and the reason for selecting the literatures and teachers‟ methodology of using
literature in teaching.
A. Teacher’s view in using literature in English teaching
This part will talk about teachers view toward using literature in their
teaching. The interview data found that almost all of the teachers gave positive
view toward using literature in their teaching. Some of them gave similar opinion
toward this issue.
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In my opinion it is one way to make them interested in learning English.
Through some literatures such as short stories that they have been already
familiar with, they will be more interested and familiar with English
language so that it will make us easier to teach and easier also for them to
learn English. (Teacher A)
The opinion from Teacher A above showed that for the Teacher A, literature was
very good in making the students interested to learn English. Similar to teacher
A‟s statement, using literature was a good way to attract the students‟ attention
were also declared by Teacher D. It could make Teacher D easier in doing her job.
In my opinion, literature helps me to teach them easily, I feel that literature
also help the students be interested to the teaching. So that it makes me
easier in doing my job as a teacher, because I can say that literature here
could act as my assistant in teaching. (Teacher D)
We can see that according to them literature is really helpful in making the
students interested in the materials. This is similar to the concept of reason in
using literature by Collie & Slatter (1987). They say that literature deals with
themes and topics which are intrinsically interesting, because it uses part of the
human experience, and treats them in ways designed to engage the readers‟
attention. The use of literature in teaching English does not only attract children‟s
attention, but also facilitates integration of the language skills (Ghosn, 2002). That
opinion is also revealed by Teacher G.
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It‟s fun, instead of explaining to them directly, I tend to use literature to
make it more fun so that the students will be interested more and not
getting bored. I think it is effective also, as long as the students know the
vocabulary so that they will understand the material. In my institution, the
English learning for children are focused more on vocabulary, because it is
simpler than learning grammar. So, I use literature here as the models of
language to teach them vocabularies. (Teacher G)
As what Ghosn (2002) proposes, Teacher G said that besides it makes the students
interested, literature also facilitates integration to the language area which is
vocabulary. Almost all of the participants in this research gave positive views
about using literature in teaching English language, but there is one respondent
which is Teacher E who mentioned not only the advantages, but also the
challenges in the application of research in her class.
I think applying literature for them is quite difficult, because they tend to
be interested more in moving things, so if I apply it to them they will be
interested but for short time and then forget it. And if I read them a story,
they will be interested more to the teacher rather than the story itself. So, I
think literature is useful for some reasons only, when the teacher is active
it will works really well. (Teacher E)
Therefore, from all those respondents it can be concluded that teachers‟
view toward literature in English teaching is positive. This is similar to what
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Tasneen‟s (2012) research that both students and teachers had positive view that
literature is a good language learning resources.
B. The advantages of using literature in English teaching
As you see in my introduction part, we all know that there are so many
advantages of using literature in English teaching proposed by the experts. In this
section, the advantages of literature in English teaching from the point of view of
the front-liner in it, which are the teachers, will be discussed. There are several
advantages that were stated by the participants of this research. Their opinions are
various one to the others, and in this section it will be seen deeper the opinions
about the benefits of literature in English language teaching.
Here is one opinion that was said by Teacher C about the advantages of
using literature in English teaching.
It is useful for the students. From the literature itself, they can learn
vocabulary, and also they can learn the structure of every sentence. So it is
a good example for them in learning English language. For the teacher, it
is helpful, because by using it, I feel that the students are more interested
and paying more attention to the teaching so that I don‟t need to yell at
them. (Teacher C)
The same opinion also told by Teacher G and Teacher E. They agreed that using
literature can be useful because it can become models for the language they teach.
I think it is effective, as long as the students know the vocabulary so that
they will understand the material. In my institution, Children learning of
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English is focused more on vocabulary, because it is simpler than learning
grammar. So I use literature here as the models of language to teach them
vocabularies. (Teacher G)
Here is the Teacher E opinion about advantages of using literature on English
teaching.
It makes me easier to teach. For me literature is like the prolongation or
extension of me. So I can say that I am explaining and the literature is
modeling. When using literature the students will remember better.
(Teacher E)
From the opinion of Teacher C and Teacher G and Teacher E above, it
could be said that the benefit that they got from literature was the linguistic
modeling from literature itself. Teacher C could use literatures as the example
language for the students. The benefit of literature as a linguistic model iss also
discussed by Sell (2005) in his list of ten benefits of literature in foreign language
classroom. He says that literature can be used as linguistic model. He added that
literature provides examples of good writing, linguistic diversity, expressive
ranges, and so on.
Another benefit that was revealed from the interview with the respondents
is the memorability aspect.
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It makes me easier to teach. For me literature is like the prolongation or
extension of me. So I can say that I am explaining and the literature is
modeling. When using literature the students will remember better.
(Teacher E)
From the view of Teacher E using literature will make the students remember
better. This view is also supported by Teacher D‟s argument.
They will remember and understand it by listening to the story and looking
at the pictures, moreover when I use song which is followed by doing the
gestures so that they will notice and understand the meaning of the song.
(Teacher D)
Those two opinions from the teachers are agreed by Maley and Moulding (1985)
they said that literature is having the benefits of memorability. Because literature,
especially poetry and songs, is memorable, it can be a memorized archive of
linguistic usage. Eventually, It is very agreeable with Teacher D‟s opinion.
Along with those two views I also found interesting fact about modeling
and memorability benefits of using literature in English teaching. There are 3
teachers that use literature as a model of language and asked their students to
make their own literature based on the models. They claimed that by using that
method it will make them remember everything because they experience it
themselves.
So far I still asked them to make a narrative text or short story. Like for
example yesterday when I discussed about transportation, I asked them to
write a story about what transportation that they use when they were in
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their vacation. Another example when we discussed about profession, I
asked them to make their own story about what are their aspiration in the
future. I asked them to look at the example of short story as a guide. By
asking them to create their own literature, I believe that the students will
always remember that. (Teacher A)
In that statement, Teacher A used literature as a model for the students and asked
them to create their own literature. During my observation in Teacher A‟s class it
was clearly shown that Teacher A asked her students to produce their own
literature in a kind of short story. By asking them to create their own literature,
Teacher A believes that the students will always remember what Teacher A taught
them. The same opinion also stated by Teacher B below.
I think children tend to imitate what they experience. If they introduced to
literature and they try to practiced it and imitate it by asking them to create
their own literary work like short story, it will be easier for them to learn
and remember it. (Teacher B)
Teacher B agreed that by asking them to create their own literature, it will be
easier for them to learn and remember it. To make it complete Teacher H also
stated that
As I experience when I taught writing to the students, I use literature, in
this case short story, as an example for the students before they made their
own short story. By doing that I found out that students will memorize it
better the next day. (Teacher H)
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These were supported by Bertrand (2010) in Read (2010), he said that usually the
children take the story they've read and using the vocabulary they've learnt around
the subjects in the story can personalize it and re-create their own story. It's a very
enriching process. From those teachers statements, it can be concluded that from
the point of view of the teachers, literature has memorability and linguistic
modeling benefits as what Sell (2005) and Maley and Moulding (1985) stated in
their works.
C. Problems in using literature to teach English to young learners.
Using literature in English teaching has so many advantages. Teachers
have claimed it as a fact of their teaching. Nevertheless, from the interviews with
all the respondents, it is found out that there are also some problems underlying
this issue. As suggested by McRae (1991), the selection of literary text for use in
language teaching is difficult, controversial and ultimately pretty subjective. He
adds that the criteria in selecting literatures are manifold, and probably every
individual teacher would place the important points that follow in a different order
of importance (McRae, 1991). Thus, this chapter will reveal teachers‟ views about
the problem they faced when they are using literature in their class. In general,
there are two main problems that were revealed from the interviews with the
respondents. The first one is the problem with time and the second one is the
problem in selecting the literatures. Most of them were experiencing both
problems.
Some teachers confirmed that they have problem in time management for
preparing the literature to teach the students.
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In my opinion, I can‟t handle the time, because in preparing the literature it
needs much time. The literature that is given can‟t be random literature, I
should consider the topic, theme, level, etc. So it is sometimes time
consuming in preparation. (Teacher A)
Another idea was also declared by Teacher B and Teacher D. They also have
problem in time usage. However, in both teachers‟ statements, they said that the
problem also relied on the selection of the literature which will be discussed also
later on. Here are their statements.
It maybe my fault in selecting the literature itself, because one literature
can be applied nicely in certain class but maybe won‟t be in another class.
When I use literature maybe it makes them lose focus because they enjoy
the literature too much and forget the main material. And it is time
consuming also. (Teacher B)
In addition to that, Teacher D said that
Sometimes, I have difficulty when looking for or selecting literature for
them. Besides the limited time, media and money, I also have to consider
their level in English. My students are not so good in English so that I have
to select literature that is easy enough for them and suitable for their level.
(Teacher D)
From those answers confessed by some teachers, we can see that for them, using
literature is sometimes time consuming. This finding is also supported by
O‟Connell (2009) he says that it is the biggest cause of excluding literature from
the language classroom, the over-riding factor which supposedly clinches the
22
argument, is that there is no time in the school syllabus for such wasting time
material like literature.
Another problem of using literature in English teaching that arouse from
the interview sections with the respondents was the selection of the literatures.
Some teachers confessed that they sometimes got difficulty in choosing or
selecting the suitable literatures to teach their students. Like what Teacher B and
D have already mentioned above, Teacher E stated that
The problem occurs when the literature I chose is not suitable with their
age. They can‟t understand when the materials are too alien for them. So I
have to choose the material that is familiar for them. (Teacher E)
Lazar (1993) suggests that the criteria in selecting literature involve the students‟
cultural background, the students‟ linguistic proficiency, and the students‟ literary
background. Along with that statement, Teacher H also claimed that it was hard to
choose literature in Teacher H‟s teaching.
When I have to search the literature, it is sometimes hard for me because I
have to consider so many things, the suitability, the length of the story and
the difficulty for the students. I have to find the most suitable literary
works for them. (Teacher H)
Lazar (1993) also adds that there are other factors to consider when selecting
literary text. Those factors are: the availability of the text, the length of the text,
the exploitability of the text, and how it will fit with syllabus.
Selection of literary text for use in language teaching is difficult,
controversial and ultimately pretty subjective (McRae, 1991). From those
23
discussions above, we can draw a conclusion that teachers were sometimes get
problems or difficulties in the process of using literature in their teaching. The
main problems that they usually got were the time limit and the selecting of
literature. It proves that McRae‟s (1991) hypothesis which mentioned about the
criteria in selecting literatures are manifold, and probably every individual teacher
would place the important points that follow in a different order of importance is
very true.
D. The kinds of literature they prefer to use and the reason for selecting the
literatures
McRae (1991) divides literature into literature with capital “L” and
literature with small “l”. Literature is often associated with canonical literary
works. What he means by canonical literary works are great literature and the
study of literature. For example: classic literary works such as drama, poetry,
Holy Bible, Holy Quran, etc. those literary works often called Literature with
capital “L”. Whereas, he defines literature with small “l” as any text whose
imaginative content will stimulate reaction and response in the receiver. Still in
McRae statement, literature with small “l” may include: songs, lyrics, scripts,
short stories, novels, folktales, comics, films, eulogy, haiku, biography, memoirs,
advertisements, newspapers, letter, notes, recipes, leaflets, etc. He says that
everything whose imaginative content will stimulate reaction and response in the
receiver is called literature. So with the theory which is proposed by McRae, I
want to know what literary works were used by the teachers.
24
From the participants‟ answers, most of them were using short story and
song lyrics as their materials. A view of them was also using poems and minidrama. Nevertheless majority of them were using story as their preference either
short story text or story books.
So far, I‟m still using story books and short story texts, because I realize
that they are still elementary students, so their grade and level in English is
still not too good. And I thought that the most suitable material for them is
short story. (Teacher H)
From the statement above it can be seen that Teacher H prefered to use story
books and short story texts because Teacher H thought that it would be suitable
for elementary school students. In agreement with Teacher H, Teacher D
confirmed that Teacher D was also using story books, and Teacher D added some
detail information about it.
I usually use story book, which has pictures in it, we read it first for them
and show the pictures to them then we translated it into their language, so
that they will understand the English word of the pictures. They will
remember and understand it by listening to the story and looking at the
pictures. (Teacher D)
In the statement above, Teacher D was using story books frequently, and Teacher
D added that s/he tend to use story book that has pictures in it so that the students
will understand the English word of the pictures and they will remember and
understand it by listening to the story and looking at the pictures. During my
observation, it was also seen that they majority were using story in teaching
25
English to their students. It is clear that story, no matter kinds of it, is preferred a
lot by the teachers.
Another kind of literature that is very popular to use based on their
answers in the interview is song. Almost all of them used song in their teaching
with the reasons which were various, and here are some opinions from them.
I usually use song, short story, mini drama and also posters. For songs, I
usually make it myself because I tried to adjust to the students need or to
the theme. Sometimes, song lyrics that is already created or already in
books are not always suitable for students‟ needs and the theme, so I
usually made the lyrics myself. (Teacher F)
In this case, Teacher F was creating the lyrics himself. It was due to the suitability
with the learners‟ need and the theme s/he brought. Teacher F also added,
From my experience for about 9 years in teaching children I notice that
averagely children likes singing, no matter their voice are good or not, it
doesn‟t matter. The importance one is they like song. That‟s why I prefer
song in my teaching. (Teacher F)
Additionally, Teacher C has the same opinion about using song lyrics when
teaching.
In my class I still only use short story and sometimes song. I use those
literatures because I think those literatures are not too complicated for my
students. If I use other materials like poems for example, I think it is not
suitable for them because since they are young learners I think it is better
to teach them simpler use of English like what I find in short story and
26
song. In addition I use song more for their entertainment. I hope when I
use song they feel enjoy and not stressed. (Teacher C)
From those statements by the interviewees, it can be affirmed that the
reason they use song as their teaching materials is because the students enjoys it.
Once again, McRae (1991) in his book “Literature with a Small „l‟ ” provided
some support toward the reason they use song as their teaching materials. McRae
(1991) summarized that the reason for using songs are well-known and hardly
need to be gone into again here: familiarity, accessibility, memorability, the close
links between sound and sense, rhythm and rhyme, melody and meaning, as well
as simple enjoyable language practice, are all valid reasons for using song. In the
end, the answers from the teachers shows that they were all preferring to use
literature with small „l‟ rather than the capital „L‟.
E. Teachers’ methodology of using literature in teaching
At this point, we will be discussing about kind of methodology or way of
teaching that the teachers use when they include literatures in their teaching. From
the interviews it was found out that the way teachers used literature in their
teaching is various. On the other hand, some of them were in agreement of the
same technique as can be seen from their answers below.
I have 2 ways of teaching and it depends on the number of the students.
First, when the numbers of the students are about 15 or below, I usually
asked them to form their seat in circle and we do sharing and small
discussion. In the bigger number of students, I usually divide them into
several small groups and I let them discuss the material with their group.
27
Or sometimes I ask the representatives of them to read the literatures I give
or the literatures they made themselves and also some kind of role-play.
(Teacher A)
In the statement above Teacher A explained two ways of teaching, but I
recognize that the thing Teacher A use is the same, which is discussion. Teacher
A also added that s/he used role-play also in the teaching. An almost similar
statement is also confirmed by Teacher C.
Sometimes I ask them to read the short story and I help them to correct the
pronunciation and tell the meaning of the words they haven‟t known yet.
Sometimes I also ask them to form groups and discuss in their group. Also
I often ask them to act or practice the things in the text. But usually I just
teach them as standard teachers do, you know, teacher standing in front of
the class and the students pay attention to me. (Teacher C)
Teacher C also mentioned discussion as his/her way in teaching which is
collaborated with teacher centered teaching. In addition, Teacher C stated his/her
believe toward discussion in class.
I focus More to group discussion, it is my way to make them cooperate
with other, to communicate and be active. I believe that somehow group
discussion is more enhance them to memorize something rather than when
they work themselves. I also doing what usually teacher do, like teacher
centered teaching. I teach them and they listen to me. I used to do it when
we are going to face test or examination. Usually when I gave them short
28
story I walk around them and help them with their problem or explain if
they have questions or difficult vocabularies. (Teacher B)
From what Teacher B said, it is clear that s/he also prefers group discussion in
class; Teacher B added that group discussion can make them communicative,
active and cooperative with others. Teacher B believes that somehow group
discussion can enhance them more to memorize something rather than when they
work themselves. It was agreed by McRae (1991), he said that discussion, in
pairs, in groups, or in the form of debate or whole class interaction will develop
reading memory, memory reference search and recall.
Another methodology that was popularly used by the participants was
role-playing or simulation.
Very effective, because in my opinion students cannot concentrate only to
the teacher or to one object only but always change to the other object, so
here literature is very effective and suitable for which are very active and
dynamic. One technique to deal with that matter is making them
practice/doing the words in a song or story. For example: the rabbit jump,
jump, jump. The students will also do jumping. (Teacher E)
It is very clear explanation that was established by Teacher E that in order to deal
with active students Teacher E used role-playing as his/her technique in teaching.
By the side of the statement above, Teacher F is in agreement with Teacher E
statement.
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I like it more in practice material, not theoretical materials. Back to the
children‟s characteristic which is playing and active. For example singing
and mini drama. . . . . I also notice that children is active, their motoric
ability is strong, so I also have to provide a place for them like using mini
drama every the end of semester . . . .
Actually in my institution, the
methodology used for every child is different. It depends on every child‟s
characteris