T1 112007139 Full text
RESOLVING STUDENTS‘ INAPPROPRIATE RESPONSES : AN
ACTION RESEARCH
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Maria Trian Adventy
112007139
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
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RESOLVING STUDENTS‘ INAPPROPRIATE RESPONSES : AN
ACTION RESEARCH
Maria Trian Adventy
Satya Wacana Christian University
Abstract
This study is aimed to analyze kindergarten student‘s response towards teacher‘s
initiation during English class. The participants of the research were 27 kindergarten
students in TK Virgo Maria Ambarawa. The data were collected by recording the class
activity in order to see the real situation of the students. This study found that there are
several method that effectively can help the students to give appropriate responds to
the teacher‘s initiation. Media and material play an important role toward the students‘
ability to give appropriate responses as it seen in the study. Students shown different
attitude when they were taught (for example, vocabulary and greeting) using
explanation or picture compared to songs and gestures. It also related with student‘s
psychological needs, especially when a teacher decide to use certain method, media
and material. If only the teacher can fulfill those three aspects appropriately (method,
media and material), the purpose of the study, which is getting appropriate responses
from the students, would be achieved successfully.
Keywords: student‘s response, inappropriate responses, teacher‘s initiation, media,
material, method, gesture, song
Introduction
English as a foreign language in Indonesia has been officially taught at school
in 1950 (Dardjowijojo, 2000). By that time, the policy makers decided that English as
a foreign language is included in the school curriculum with the purpose of speeding
up national development and establishing relationship with other nations (Harsono,
1
RESOLVING STUDENTS‘ INAPPROPRIATE RESPONSES : AN
ACTION RESEARCH
Maria Trian Adventy
Satya Wacana Christian University
Abstract
This study is aimed to analyze kindergarten student‘s response towards teacher‘s
initiation during English class. The participants of the research were 27 kindergarten
students in TK Virgo Maria Ambarawa. The data were collected by recording the class
activity in order to see the real situation of the students. This study found that there are
several method that effectively can help the students to give appropriate responds to
the teacher‘s initiation. Media and material play an important role toward the students‘
ability to give appropriate responses as it seen in the study. Students shown different
attitude when they were taught (for example, vocabulary and greeting) using
explanation or picture compared to songs and gestures. It also related with student‘s
psychological needs, especially when a teacher decide to use certain method, media
and material. If only the teacher can fulfill those three aspects appropriately (method,
media and material), the purpose of the study, which is getting appropriate responses
from the students, would be achieved successfully.
Keywords: student‘s response, inappropriate responses, teacher‘s initiation, media,
material, method, gesture, song
Introduction
English as a foreign language in Indonesia has been officially taught at school
in 1950 (Dardjowijojo, 2000). By that time, the policy makers decided that English as
a foreign language is included in the school curriculum with the purpose of speeding
up national development and establishing relationship with other nations (Harsono,
1
2005). With this notion, many people wish to introduce English to their children at
their early age.
I am an English teacher and I teach in kindergarten level B, a second level of
grade which is a preparation level for elementary school. Some educationists argue
that if children learn foreign language early in his or her life, they would master it
quickly (Hery, 2003). Mc Laughlin and Genesee (Hery, 2003) state that children can
learn language faster and with a little difficulty compare to the adult. Moreover, Erik
(Hery, 2003) a neurologist also argues that before puberty, the brain ability of human
person is more capable to learn a language; meanwhile, after puberty, brain ability will
less able to learn. In similar view, Purwo (2003) argues that 4-12 year old is the best
stage of life to learn a new language. As I observed during my English class, I found
that some of my students have a significant difficulty. They were not able to give
appropriate responses to my question or my statements that I utter to them. To make it
clear, I will refer to some examples of the inappropriate cases. First, to begin the
lesson in the classroom, I always greet them with a simple dialogue, like ―good
morning‖ or ―how are you‖. I explained and gave example already to them about the
greeting that their respond should correspond with the question. However, many
times, they give inappropriate responses as they just imitate my greeting, like ―how are
you‖. Moreover, my students also repeat my instruction, like when I ask them ―what is
it?‖ and their answer is same question. This situation is not helpful for the process of
learning and it can confuse those who can answer appropriately. Second, sometimes I
found out that they respond inappropriately by using another language other than
English, like Indonesian or Javanese. Their answers are sometimes correct even
2
though they do not use English. These are the examples of what I call inappropriate
responses from my students. As I noticed, this inappropriate responses are
significantly getting more serious and more often. I am aware not to simply judge
them that they are not intelligence enough, but I try to see in different angle to find
method that can reduce their inappropriate responses. Moreover, I realized that
concrete action must be done to improve the situation so that they can have a good
foundation for their learning in English. As Hery (2003) explains that in the stage of 412, children learn very fast; therefore, if they do not get a solid and good foundation in
learning English, it can give negative impact for their future study in English. Gadner
(1975 : 89) says that ―a children will be a successful person if we teach them seriously
and properly, but if we fail to teach them, it will be the beginning of their failure‖.
Comparing to the previous study of Ani Purwanti (2012) entitled The
Implementation of English Language Teaching in Kindergarten (A Naturalistic Study
at B Class of TK Negeri Pembina Manahan Surakarta in the Academic Year
2011/2012), she recommends that the English‘ teacher in kindergarten should enrich
herself with many media and techniques and encourage the students with low
motivation and low intelligence. She found out that her students are more interesting
in media as the method in teaching English. I personally was inspired by her interest in
doing research in English language in kindergarten which actually expresses the same
concern with me. Another study has been done by Juang Rudianto Putra (2009)
entitled Creating a Positive English Language Teaching and Learning Environment in
EYL (Early Young Learner) Classroom Setting. He recommended that the key success
of teaching English in kindergarten is to grapple with what is called ‗classroom
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management‘. Therefore, a teacher is expected to be able to create a positive
classroom environment—a learning situation which is interesting, stimulating and
energizing. He pointed out the importance of class management by focusing on the
media which are interesting, simulating and energizing. As a conclusion, from both
previous studies above, the creative media was the key element in the success of
teaching English in kindergarten. The importance of the creative media is also my
concern in this thesis.
Therefore, based on this central problem which is the appropriate responses
during English lesson in kindergarten, I intended to do an action guided by a research
question: What method or kind of stimulus that appropriate for kindergarten students
to solve the problem of inappropriate responses in English class? It is a question of
methodology or approaches which can be used to help the kindergarten students in
English class. The concrete action that I would like to do is finding appropriate
stimulus which can help the students to give appropriate responses. Thus, I will use
stimulus-response approach from Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1980) which basically
explains that learning process is determined by the way someone gives an appropriate
stimulus so that it can lead and bring the students to give appropriate responses. The
stimulus which I would like to use is using media, which some media, like electronic
media, printed media, model and map are famous media in the education world
(Mujianto, 2007:4). Media is the visual instrument which effectively helps the students
to learn, since through viewing, an individual can memorize better than merely from
listening. Game and other activities are also another stimulus that I would like to
propose as a solution for that problem.
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The focus on this thesis is to find out the kind of stimulus or methods as the
solution for inappropriate responses. Therefore, for a conclusion, this study will
present a method which can be a better method to overcome the inappropriate
responses in the context of my kindergarten students in English class. This method is
basically a method which pays attention to the psychological background of the
kindergarten students as they like to do a lot of activities (sing a song, dance, etc) and
to have a visual reality (pictures, models, etc). By addressing their psychological
needs, this method will be more adequate and applicable for kindergarten students.
This method is also based on the real struggle in the particular situation as the writer
experienced; therefore, the method perhaps is not applicable in other context which
has different settings.
This study would be beneficial in terms of providing method about how
kindergarten‘s teachers should overcome the inappropriate responses from their
students. In addition, the findings of this study may encourage more research in the
teaching of English in kindergarten school and issues of teachers‘ professional
development in this area.
Literature Review / theoretical framework
Teaching and learning English for young learners
The purpose of learning language in the kindergarten school is to enable
children to express their thought, ideas and feelings in a simple and appropriate
language, to communicate effectively and to give a motivation in learning language
(Somantri 2006:6). However, in the reality, this purpose is difficult to be
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accomplished. Many kindergarten‘s students find it difficult to express their thoughts
and feelings in discussion in the classroom. Even, the teacher sometimes needs to
motivate them to talk or say something. It happens primarily with English as one of
the subject which is introduced in the kindergarten. Learning English is considered
difficult and challenging for kindergarten level that makes teachers feel reluctant and
not motivated. The problem of inappropriate responses perhaps is one of the common
problems in learning English. Some educationists say that the inappropriate responses
are caused by the lack of vocabularies in English. Wilkins (1972) argued that ―without
grammar very little can be conveyed, and without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed.‖ Numerous studies have investigated English learning, and have
particularly emphasized the importance of vocabulary learning. Among many,
Harmon (1998) and Rupley, Logan, & Nichols (1999) argue that excellent vocabulary
abilities are beneficial in inferring meaning from English sentences. The English
language education field thus should pay more attention to developing innovative
English vocabulary learning tools. Vygotsky (1978) argues that vocabularies are
important for the students in their early stage of education.
Young students sometimes give wrong answers, but we cannot conclude that
their ability to analyze and to think are also weak and inadequate. On the contrary,
children actually have a maximum ability to analyze and to think; however, their limit
in memorizing the symbols and signs such as language make them unable to express
their thought (Vygotsky, 1980). Other experts say that inappropriate responses occur
because the teachers are not able to create conducive situation for the children to learn.
In other words, there are no appropriate stimuli for the children. For kindergarten
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students, the medium of learning English is very important. According to Arsyad
(2002:26), appropriate medium can help the student to cope with the limitation of
senses, time and space and it can give a concrete experiences in their daily life.
Regarding to my problem about inappropriate responses in English lesson,
some experts suggest that the teacher should be able to give a creative media in
teaching English, for example, by using flashcard. Flashcard is a media that can help
the students enriches their vocabulary. In this method, the students are shown some
cards with words and picture explaining the meaning of the words. Other media is
simulation. Simulation is a game which is joyful and combines elements in reality so
that the students can be more creative in giving solution (Joyce and Weil, 1985: 296).
Miller & Gildea (1987) also indicated that learning vocabulary is an everyday practice.
They demonstrated that learners learn vocabulary at a rate of about 13 words per day.
If vocabulary learning is meaningful to learners, they will naturally understand the
meaning and usage of the words learned. Generally, learning English vocabulary from
abstract definitions in the dictionary is slow and less successful. More importantly,
dictionary-based learning leads to problems when using language in real world
situations (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). Vygotsky gives another suggestion that
human relationship is based on stimulus-response paradigm. Therefore, if we want to
get appropriate response, we should first of all give appropriate stimulus (Vygotsky,
1980). Appropriate stimulus for the students in kindergarten is media that address their
psychological condition. For example, children like to have activity so we give
stimulus which addresses it, like sing a song, game, etc.
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Those theories above basically suggest two things that inappropriate responses
in kindergarten are caused by the lack of vocabularies from the students and by the
lack of creative media in teaching English. As I observed, one common inappropriate
response during my English lesson is that my students give answers in other languages
(Javanese or Indonesian) other than English. If I connect this situation to the theory
above, the inappropriate responses is precisely because of the lack of English
vocabularies (Wilkins, 1972; Harmon, 1998; Rupley, Logan, & Nichols, 1999). My
students actually know the answers of my question; however, they are not able to
express it correctly because they do not have words to say it. This lack of vocabularies
sometimes is also accompanied by lack of correct pronunciation. Regarding to the
second suggestion about creativity in teaching English, I found that sometimes I didn‘t
prepare a creative and interesting media so that my English lesson does not attract
their attention. Many times, I use pictures and songs to teach English and I do not try
other media. Two suggestion of the theory above that creativity can be done in giving
flashcard and simulations or games perhaps can give another solution to my problem.
Media is appropriate stimulus for the students so that the students can give appropriate
responses (Vygotsky, 1980).
Based on the theories in previous section, the better solution for my problem is
providing creative media in teaching English. In my opinion, creative media is the
most important aspect in teaching in kindergarten, since children‘s psychological
situation needs a special treatment that address their need for playing game,
visualization and other physical activities. Kindergarten students are easily distracted
if we do not give them interesting media of learning. Moreover, based on the
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Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia tentang Pendidikan di Taman KanakKanak Pasal 1.14 UU Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003: “Pendidikan
Taman Kanak-Kanak bertujuan membantu pertumbuhan dan perkembangan jasmani
dan rohani agar memiliki kesiapan bagi pendidikan selanjutnya dengan prinsip
belajar sambil bermain” (Kindergarten school is meant to help the children to grow
and develop physically and spiritually so that they have readiness to enter the
following education with a principal playing and studying). Based on this regulation,
kindergarten students are not primarily meant to gain knowledge, but they are
prepared to gain knowledge; therefore, they should have a good impression that study
is pleasing and nice. Studying is not simply memorizing many things and preparing
for exam, but it is a happy process of learning. Giving a creative media is meant to
introduce them to enjoyable and interesting learning. Creative media also make the
process of learning more alive and not boring for both teacher and students.
In a practical level, I will apply this solution by making a creative media in
teaching English. This creative media, as Vygotsky says, plays an important role as a
stimulus for my students so that they can give appropriate responses in return
(Vygotsky, 1980). The creative media will be applied in my lesson in the beginning of
class, during the process of learning and in the end of lesson. I will develop three
models, namely using models (like pictures, caricature, an imitation of something,
etc), activities (games, songs) and simulations (imitating a gesture of something).
Understanding the Term “Inappropriate Responses”
The term ―inappropriate responses‖ is the key concept in this study. According
to Kathleen AJ Moor (2007), students‘ responses in the English lesson can be
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differentiated into six categories: (1) an appropriate or correct response; (2) a partially
correct response; (3) an incorrect or inappropriate response; (4) a response in their
native language, rather than in English; (5) another question; (6) or no response. This
study focuses on the ―incorrect or inappropriate responses,‖ a situation when the
students respond insufficiently to the teacher questions which causes the teachinglearning process does not seem to be proceeding smoothly and efficiently (Kathleen,
2007). Therefore, it can be concluded that inappropriate responses includes any kind
of students‘ responses that hinder and distract the learning process in the classroom
which is in this study is during English lesson. The causes of inappropriate responses
are two, namely the content and language (Kathleen, 2007). Some students lack the
linguistic ability in English to express themselves clearly, but this does not preclude
their comprehension of the material. However, it is also true that some students cannot
give appropriate responses because they do not know the content itself.
The Study
Problem in my Classroom
In teaching English, I always use replica and other medium to explain the
lesson to the students which I thought can help them learn English. However, based on
my observation, many times they were not able to give appropriate responses. They
gave incorrect answers to my questions. For instance, I showed some replicas of fruits,
like apples and star fruits, to help them to answer the English word for it; however,
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they did not give correct answers. They seemed to have difficulty to give correct
answers even though I showed them the replicas of the fruits. In my preliminary
observation, these inappropriate responses were caused by the inappropriate methods
in my English lesson. This study basically wants to address this particular situation of
inappropriate responses of my students during the English lesson by providing a better
media of teaching as a stimulus.
The critical question/research that I want to analyze is what kind of method or
stimulus which can solve the problem of inappropriate responses during English class
in my kindergarten school? I specify the solution to the school where I teach English,
namely Virgo Maria I Kindergarten School Ambarawa, since I encounter the problem
of inappropriate responses on that particular context and situation. It is observed that
the students did not give respond appropriately to the teacher‘s teachings. The students
gave inappropriate responses during my English lesson by giving answers in other
language and by giving wrong answers.
Class Description
This research project involves me and one partner who helps in recording the
process of research and my kindergarten students in TK Virgo Maria I Ambarawa.
The teacher was an Indonesian young woman who is still studying in the Satya
Wacana Christian University. The class consists of 27 students who are not familiar
with English. They speak in Bahasa and Javanese in their daily life. Most of their
parents are not familiar with English as well. Even if they know, they only know basic
English like numbers or animals which they get from television. Therefore, it becomes
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a difficulty for my students to recall their memories or learn English more outside my
class. The goal of this English class is to teach the basic English for the kindergarten
students, for example, English vocabulary and grammar.
Reflection of My Teaching
My students are 6-7 years old and in this context, they are very much in the
visual and motoric stage of learning. Their developmental stage of life is in visual and
motoric ability; therefore, they will be effectively learnt something which is visually
interesting and actively involving them. It does not mean that they do not have ability
to think or analyze logically, but they think and learn by seeing things or using their
senses. Children at this stage also learn by imitating other people, especially their role
figures, like parents and teachers. Realizing their stage of life, I aware that simply
make a dialogue in my English lesson without addressing their needs of visualization
and playing will not give an optimal result. Therefore, my method should involve their
needs to playand to have fun.
Moreover, I also realize that their vocabulary is limited because English is a
new lesson for them; therefore, they are not able to give appropriate responses, and
that‘s one reason why I give more portion in teaching vocabulary. Even though other
teachers always greet them; however, they do it in Indonesian which is a familiar
language for them. My method should be simple and does not imply so many
vocabularies which will make them confuse. Perhaps, it is important also that I use
more Bahasa than English to explain to them so that they can understand easily. It
should be a simple and interesting method.
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Therefore, we can conclude that the teacher should first of all find a method
which addresses the psychological needs of the students so that they can enjoy in
learning English which eventually can help them to give appropriate responses which
is the correct answer.
My Project of Action Research
Following up the observation above I decided to apply new actions to my
teaching. My project involved one partner. She helped me in collecting the data,
especially in the process of recording, but she did not involved in my class activities at
all. By doing this, I could maintain the natural flow of the learning process in my
English class as it happens in my daily class.
Following the notion of media of teaching which is the visual instrument that
effectively helps the students to learn (Mujianto, 2007:4) and appropriate stimuli of
Vygotsky which is the key element in achieving the appropriate responses from the
students (Vygotsky, 1978), three steps were taken to implement the plan:
First, I chose the simple material for her English lesson so that the students
were not too overburdened and they could enjoy the lesson. In kindergarten, there are
themes that become guidance for the teacher in their lesson plan. I have to follow
these theme create a suitable material to teach. In this case, I chose one of the themes the simple material – about English conversation.
Second, I proposed song as a new media in my English class. This proposal
was based on the observation above that the media using replicas were not helpful in
helping the students to give appropriate responses. Replica media did not address their
psychological needs as children who were more on the motoric level of learning.
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Therefore, I used a song to introduce the material to the students in order to attract
their attention and to make them actively involved in the process of learning. The
process went on that I gave example and the students followed. Through this
approach, the teacher was able to guide the students and to correct immediately some
inappropriate responses that happened.
Third, I also introduced a song which was combined with some simple
gestures. I invited my students to imitate my gestures of some objects. By combining a
song with some gestures, the students were physically involved in the learning
process. This method helped the students to memorize the new vocabularies, because
they were not only listening my explanation or see the replicas of some objects, but
they imitated and performed it through their body language. They memorized some
new vocabularies by experiencing them in their body language. That is one of my
considerations to put gestures in my song. For example, when they sing ―PantaiBeach‖ song, they made a certain movement of objects that they mention in the song.
They also have a version in Bahasa so they are able to get the idea faster and their
memory will last longer. For the children at their age, this experience address their
motoric ability which will help them to memorize better and eventually it will help
them to give appropriate responses. To give you a clear description, here I provide the
song : Ini pantai, ini gunung, ini bonbin dan ini candi
This is a beach, this is mountain, this is a zoo and this is temple.
Discussion
During the action research, I found that my students‘ initial reaction was happy
and enthusiastic because I asked them to stand, stretched their hand and chose a
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partner for the next activity. They were curious because they usually sit and listen to
the teacher for the whole time of the lesson, but at that time, I asked them to do
something new for them. This strategy was really helpful to create a joyful and
curiosity atmosphere for the students so that they wanted to pay attention again. Based
on my observations, many of my students immediately stood and run to find a partner,
but some seemed not really interested even though they still followed my instruction.
In my opinion, this situation was normal, since each student has their own personality
and way of reacting something. However, by the fact that many of them
enthusiastically followed my instructions, I felt that this method would be a successful
method.
When I started to introduce an English song, a simple English song contained
of simple conversation, they did not really pay attention. However, when I asked them
to sing that song with their partner, since it was a conversation, they seemed more
interesting. They made a conversation with their partner in a simple English words
(hello – hai and how are you – I am fine). I asked them to repeat several times so that
they become more fluent.
(1) T
S
T
S
T
S
T
S
T
T
Sing
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
hallo
hai
haiii
halloo
Good morning students
good morning Miss Venty
How are you?
I‘m fine.. thank you.. and you?
I‘m fine too..
stand up.. yook.. 1..2..3
Good morning my children how are you?
I‘m fine
Good morning my children how are you?
I‘m fine
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Good morning my children good morning everybody
Good morning my children how are you?
I‘m fine
T
:
masih ingat? (show gestures)
S
:
hallo my friend hallo my friend
S-S
:
hello my friend hello my friend
How are you? How are you?
I am glad to see you I am glad to see you
Ding dong ding.. ding dong ding..
T
:
ulangi lagi suaranya yang keras tapi.. 1..2..3
S-S
:
hello my friend hello my friend
How are you? How are you?
I am glad to see you I am glad to see you
Ding dong ding.. ding dong ding..)
I found that my students were excited and energized because they learnt
together with their partner so that they can help each other. My students learnt English
in a team and in their partnership. They can learn how to help each other in their study,
particularly in English lesson. I also found something interesting that some students
asked me to give other dialogue, since they had already mastered the one that I
previously taught to them. These students are the intelligent students, students with the
IQ level above average. So, I gave them a few more words, like ―what is your name.‖
This event was a consolation for me because I knew that some of them were really
enthusiastic and serious in my English lesson. In my opinion, a simple song helped
them to give appropriate responses because a song actively involved their participation
in the learning process. They were not only sitting for the whole lesson, but they sang
a song together with their partner.
After sometimes, I asked them to stop singing. I asked two of them to stand in
the front of the class and to show some gestures imitating some objects, like dog,
beach, temple, etc. However, nobody wanted to do that. In my opinion, they felt
embarrass to stand in front of their friends to do something that I asked. Therefore, I
16
did not push them, but I gave some example of some simple gestures so that they can
imitate and create their own gestures. They enthusiastically followed my gestures and
they laughed at some points because I imitated a funny gesture, like a dog. I combined
these gestures with a song as well which made them more interested in.
(2)S
:
T :
S :
T
S
T
S
T
T
S
T
S
T
S
T
S
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
T
S
T
S
T
S
T
S
T
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
ini pantai
yoo.. (memperagakan gerakan pertama dari lagu “ini pantai”)
ini pantai
Ini gunung
Ini bonbin
Dan ini candi
This is a beach
This is mountain
This is a zoo
And this is temple
nhaaa… sekarang, (show gesture - beach)
lauuuuttt…. Pantaiii… beaachh beach.. this is a beach
this is a..
beach
beach
ini (gesture - mountain)
mountain
(gesture - zoo)
a zoo
(gesture - temple)
temple
(gesture - ―animal song‖)
kucing cat, anjing dog, kupu kupu butterfly, burung bird, bebek duck,
gajah elephant
(gesture dog)
dog (hahahahahahaha)
(gesture butterfly)
butterfly
(gesture - bird)
bird
(gesture duck)
duck
(gesture elephant)
Based on my observation, by doing some gesture, they could memorize the
new English words easily, because if they forget the word, they will make a gesture.
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This happened when I asked one of them to mention the English word for ―anjing‖
(dog) and ―bebek (duck) and they made it into a gesture. In other words, this method
can help them to give appropriate responses, since it help them to have imagination of
the word.
After singing and doing some gestures, I looked at their face and they were
happy, because they enjoyed the lesson. This situation created a good condition in
learning English so that they would be more attentive during the class. Moreover,
these methods helped them to give appropriate responses, because by gesturing the
English words, they can memorize easily, since they have the imagination in their
mind. A simple song was helpful to my students because by singing a song, they could
easily memorize the words more than using replica methods. A song is an appropriate
stimulus for the students at their age.
From the data above, the writer found out that the students could learn English
effectively by using creative media which is song combined with simple gestures. It is
true that appropriate medium can help the student in learning something and to cope
with the limitation of senses, time and space and it can give a concrete experiences in
their daily life (Arsyad, 2002:26). The appropriate medium certainly will help the
student to give appropriate responses as well (Vygtosky, 1978). Based on my research,
the appropriate medium is song with simple gestures because it addresses the students‘
psychological situation as they are in the motoric and visual stage of learning. By
focusing on the medium, the focus of learning activity is not primarily on the content
of the lesson, but first of all on the students or the learner themselves. I realized that I
have made a significant shift in my learning approach. Before, I was used to focus on
18
the content and ignored the psychological need of my students. My focus at that time
was on the material and to make sure that my students knew a lot about English
vocabularies and grammars. I did not really address their needs and situation in their
stage of life; therefore, I did not apply any creative media in my English class.
However, the result was not optimal, since my students made many inappropriate
responses. By focusing on the learners, particularly on their psychological needs as I
have made during this research, I found that my students were able to give appropriate
responses. Therefore, I can conclude that the learner is the primary agent in the
learning process, since the success of learning process depends on the learners
themselves. In other words, the student-center approach which puts the students or
learners at the center of learning process higher than the teacher or the lesson plan is a
helpful and recommended approach for the kindergarten students, especially in
teaching English.
Based on the research, inappropriate responses from the students also reflect a
deeper situation which is the low motivation of the students to learn English. The
creative media certainly can attract the students to give attention and to motivate their
enthusiasm in learning English; however, it does not solve the problem of low
motivation from the students. The creative media perhaps can motivate them to stay
and concentrate on the lesson; however, it will not help them to learn seriously.
Therefore, based on my research, aside from creative media, I tried to approach them
personally and to give praise, support and simple gift so that they can be encouraged. I
approached those who seemed not really interested in the lesson. These students
needed a certain attention aside from the creative media.
19
Based on the research, English lesson for kindergarten students basically
applied more Indonesian than English vocabularies. There are two reasons for that
situation. First of all, by using Indonesian, the students can understand easily the
instruction so that they can give appropriate responses. I found out that sometimes my
students did not really understand the instruction which eventually caused
inappropriate responses. Secondly, learning English in kindergarten school is meant to
give the students a general idea of English. It is the first time for them to learn
English; therefore, English lesson should not be too heavy and too complicated, but it
should be simple, fun and entertaining so that they have a good experience in learning
English and it is not meant to prepare them for the next level of study English in
elementary school.
Conclusion
This study is aimed to find kind of stimulus that appropriate for kindergarten
students to solve the problem of inappropriate responses in English class. Based on the
data above, we could see the improvement on students‘ respond to the teacher‘s lesson
plan. The students obviously followed teacher‘s invitation to sing a song and to
respond her simple conversation. This method successfully helped the students to
learn English conversation. The teacher also successfully taught her students to learn
some new English vocabularies through a creative way: by imitating some objects
using their body. This method was simple but can attract the students‘ attention and
help them to memorize the new English vocabularies easily. In short, based on my
observation, a song combined with some gestures were helpful to increase the
student‘s ability in giving appropriate responds.
20
The significant changing happened at the time when the students gave
enthusiastic reaction to the teacher‘s new method, namely a song with simple gesture.
This spontaneous reaction indicated that the students get bored with the replica
method, since it stopped the creativity of the students and simply invite them to give
correct answers. The students, as I mentioned before, need a more participative
method which can address their creative imagination. This precisely can be achieved
through a song combined with a simple gesture. The significant changing also
occurred when the students gave appropriate answers during my English class.
Comparing with previous lesson where I applied replicas approach, this song method
unbelievably showed significant development of my students‘ responses.
The key points of this method are three. First of all, the students are disposed
psychologically that English lesson is fun and enjoyable which certainly can help them
to pay attention. Considering their age (6-7 years old), giving appropriate method is
the most important element to achieve the appropriate responds from the students.
Therefore, a song with some simple gestures precisely addresses their psychological
needs and involves them to participate actively. Secondly, this method is success
because the teacher is able to observe the students and give correction immediately for
any inappropriate responses. Considering their age, the teacher should clearly guide
them by giving clear instruction and by correcting them if they make inappropriate
responds. In the case above, the teacher gives instruction not only in English but also
in Bahasa which is helpful to them. Thirdly, the teacher needs to be patience in front
of them. It means that the teacher should repeat the instructions clearly and personally
gives attention to them. In other words, the focus is the students (student-center) and
21
not very much on the success of the lessons. Song method is clearly can help the
students to give appropriate responses.
This study focuses on one teaching context in a small area like Ambarawa and
in a particular context which is Virgo Maria kindergarten school in Ambarawa. This is
the limitation of this study, since the findings cannot be generalized for all teaching
context in Indonesia. The findings perhaps can be a model in which other teacher can
learn and compare to their context. The findings can be modified so that it can be
implemented in other context. Another limitation is that this study involves a small
number of participants. Therefore, it is hoped that this study can encourage more
studies to be conducted at other teaching contexts in which the need towards English
in kindergarten is higher. It is hoped also that further research can extent the number
of the participants to cover more issues that happen during English class in
kindergarten.
Based on the findings of this study that song with a simple gesture is the most
appropriate method in teaching English for kindergarten, the kindergarten teachers
should enrich and prepare themselves with similar methods, especially in the place
where English is not familiar. The teachers should be more focus on the initial
methods which are fun, creative and actively involve students‘ participations. The
content of the teaching should not be too difficult and complicated, but it must be a
basic English, like simple greeting and conversation. In a place where English is more
familiar, the teacher can less concern with the initial method and apply a more difficult
lesson. The findings also give another implication that the teacher should give a clear
instruction to the students by using the language that familiar to the students, by
22
repeating the instruction and by giving clear example so that the students can imitate
it. By giving clear instructions, the song with gesture can be understood clearly.
For the further research, based on the findings, the researchers can focus on the
kind of songs which address the psychological needs of the kindergarten students.
These kinds of songs use the language which is simple, memorable and familiar with
their daily life. Further research also can make a research on the efficiency of
combining Bahasa and English in a song as this study has been proposed.
23
Acknowledgement
This thesis would not have been completed without the help and support from
many people. Therefore, I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and
deep regards to my advisor Christian Rudianto, M.Appling for his guidance,
monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this thesis.
I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to Maria Eko,
M.Hum for her cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped me
in completing this task through various stages.
I am obliged to Ibu Agatha and Miss Dewinta. It is an honor for me to have
my research in TK Virgo Maria I Ambarawa. I am grateful for their cooperation
during the period of my assignment.
My special thanks to Alexander Hendra who always be a friend and teacher
for me. Aprillia, Inneke, Dewinta, Dewi, Nanda, Tyas, thank you for always be with
me.
I thank almighty, my parents, Siska and Anton, my dearest sister Maria, and
Leonardus Yosi for their constant encouragement without which this assignment
would not be possible. I love you.
Lastly, the one above all of us, the omnipresent God, for answering my
prayers, thank you so much Dear Lord.
24
References
Ali, Ahmad. (1984). Pendidikan Bahasa di TK. Jakarta: Depdikbud.
Azhar, Arsyad. (2002). Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Rajawali Press.
Brown, Collins, & Duguid. (1989). ―Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning‖
in Educational Researcher; v18 n1, pp. 32-42, Jan-Feb 1989.
Darjowidjojo, S. (2000). ―English teaching in Indonesia‖ in
Journal, 18 (1), 22-30.
English Australian
Depdiknas. (2008). Peraturan menteri pendidikan nasional. Jakarta: Direktorat
Depdiknas.
Harmon, ―Process Study of Word Learning,‖ in Julie C. Friedberg, (2007). Strategy
Use and Metalinguistic Awareness in Vocabulary Learning. Retrieved
December 2012 from http://www.jstor.org
Harsono, Y. (2005). English language teaching (ELT) in Indonesia: Facts, problems,
and possible solutions. English.Edu, 93-107.
Hidayat, Hery. (2003). Aktivitas Mengajar Anak TK. Bandung: Katarsis.
Joyce, Bruce and M. Weil. (1985). Models of Teachings. US: Pretice Hall.
Miller, G. A., & Gildea, P.M. (1987). How children learn words. Scientific American,
257(3), 94–99. Retrieved December 12, 2012 from
http://www.amle.org/research/researchsummaries/vocabularyteaching/
Moor, Kathleen AJ. (2007). Extending English Language Learners' Classroom
Interactions Using the Response Protocol. Retrieved January 22, 2013, from
http://www.readingrockets.org
Mujianto. (2007). ―Penggunaan Media Pendidikan dalam Pembelajaran.‖ Makalah
pada Tardiknas Kota Tegal
Purwanti, Ani ―The Implementation of English Language Teaching in Kindergarten
(A Naturalistic Study at B Class of TK Negeri Pembina Manahan Surakarta in
the Academic Year 2011/2012),‖ Retrieved January 07, 2013,
from http://english.fkip.uns.ac.id/index.php/research
Purwo, Bambang Kaswati, (2003). Jurnal Intisari. Prodi Linguistik Terapan Bahasa
Inggris. Jakarta: Universitas Atma Jaya.
Putra, Juang Rudianto. (2011). Creating a Positive English Language Teaching and
Learning
Environment in EYL Classroom Setting, Retrieved January 7, 2013
from
http://eprints.umk.ac.id
25
Rupley, W. H., Logan, J. W., & Nichols, W. D. (1998/1999). Vocabulary instruction
in a balanced reading program. The Reading Teacher, 52, 336-347. Retrieved
November 13, 2012, from http://msit.gsu.edu/Readingconsortium
Somantri, S. (2006). Psikologi Anak Luar Biasa. Bandung: Refika Aditama.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological
Processes.
USA: Harvard University Press.
Wilkins. (1972). Linguistics in Language Teaching. London: Arnold.
26
ACTION RESEARCH
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Maria Trian Adventy
112007139
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
ii
iii
iv
RESOLVING STUDENTS‘ INAPPROPRIATE RESPONSES : AN
ACTION RESEARCH
Maria Trian Adventy
Satya Wacana Christian University
Abstract
This study is aimed to analyze kindergarten student‘s response towards teacher‘s
initiation during English class. The participants of the research were 27 kindergarten
students in TK Virgo Maria Ambarawa. The data were collected by recording the class
activity in order to see the real situation of the students. This study found that there are
several method that effectively can help the students to give appropriate responds to
the teacher‘s initiation. Media and material play an important role toward the students‘
ability to give appropriate responses as it seen in the study. Students shown different
attitude when they were taught (for example, vocabulary and greeting) using
explanation or picture compared to songs and gestures. It also related with student‘s
psychological needs, especially when a teacher decide to use certain method, media
and material. If only the teacher can fulfill those three aspects appropriately (method,
media and material), the purpose of the study, which is getting appropriate responses
from the students, would be achieved successfully.
Keywords: student‘s response, inappropriate responses, teacher‘s initiation, media,
material, method, gesture, song
Introduction
English as a foreign language in Indonesia has been officially taught at school
in 1950 (Dardjowijojo, 2000). By that time, the policy makers decided that English as
a foreign language is included in the school curriculum with the purpose of speeding
up national development and establishing relationship with other nations (Harsono,
1
RESOLVING STUDENTS‘ INAPPROPRIATE RESPONSES : AN
ACTION RESEARCH
Maria Trian Adventy
Satya Wacana Christian University
Abstract
This study is aimed to analyze kindergarten student‘s response towards teacher‘s
initiation during English class. The participants of the research were 27 kindergarten
students in TK Virgo Maria Ambarawa. The data were collected by recording the class
activity in order to see the real situation of the students. This study found that there are
several method that effectively can help the students to give appropriate responds to
the teacher‘s initiation. Media and material play an important role toward the students‘
ability to give appropriate responses as it seen in the study. Students shown different
attitude when they were taught (for example, vocabulary and greeting) using
explanation or picture compared to songs and gestures. It also related with student‘s
psychological needs, especially when a teacher decide to use certain method, media
and material. If only the teacher can fulfill those three aspects appropriately (method,
media and material), the purpose of the study, which is getting appropriate responses
from the students, would be achieved successfully.
Keywords: student‘s response, inappropriate responses, teacher‘s initiation, media,
material, method, gesture, song
Introduction
English as a foreign language in Indonesia has been officially taught at school
in 1950 (Dardjowijojo, 2000). By that time, the policy makers decided that English as
a foreign language is included in the school curriculum with the purpose of speeding
up national development and establishing relationship with other nations (Harsono,
1
2005). With this notion, many people wish to introduce English to their children at
their early age.
I am an English teacher and I teach in kindergarten level B, a second level of
grade which is a preparation level for elementary school. Some educationists argue
that if children learn foreign language early in his or her life, they would master it
quickly (Hery, 2003). Mc Laughlin and Genesee (Hery, 2003) state that children can
learn language faster and with a little difficulty compare to the adult. Moreover, Erik
(Hery, 2003) a neurologist also argues that before puberty, the brain ability of human
person is more capable to learn a language; meanwhile, after puberty, brain ability will
less able to learn. In similar view, Purwo (2003) argues that 4-12 year old is the best
stage of life to learn a new language. As I observed during my English class, I found
that some of my students have a significant difficulty. They were not able to give
appropriate responses to my question or my statements that I utter to them. To make it
clear, I will refer to some examples of the inappropriate cases. First, to begin the
lesson in the classroom, I always greet them with a simple dialogue, like ―good
morning‖ or ―how are you‖. I explained and gave example already to them about the
greeting that their respond should correspond with the question. However, many
times, they give inappropriate responses as they just imitate my greeting, like ―how are
you‖. Moreover, my students also repeat my instruction, like when I ask them ―what is
it?‖ and their answer is same question. This situation is not helpful for the process of
learning and it can confuse those who can answer appropriately. Second, sometimes I
found out that they respond inappropriately by using another language other than
English, like Indonesian or Javanese. Their answers are sometimes correct even
2
though they do not use English. These are the examples of what I call inappropriate
responses from my students. As I noticed, this inappropriate responses are
significantly getting more serious and more often. I am aware not to simply judge
them that they are not intelligence enough, but I try to see in different angle to find
method that can reduce their inappropriate responses. Moreover, I realized that
concrete action must be done to improve the situation so that they can have a good
foundation for their learning in English. As Hery (2003) explains that in the stage of 412, children learn very fast; therefore, if they do not get a solid and good foundation in
learning English, it can give negative impact for their future study in English. Gadner
(1975 : 89) says that ―a children will be a successful person if we teach them seriously
and properly, but if we fail to teach them, it will be the beginning of their failure‖.
Comparing to the previous study of Ani Purwanti (2012) entitled The
Implementation of English Language Teaching in Kindergarten (A Naturalistic Study
at B Class of TK Negeri Pembina Manahan Surakarta in the Academic Year
2011/2012), she recommends that the English‘ teacher in kindergarten should enrich
herself with many media and techniques and encourage the students with low
motivation and low intelligence. She found out that her students are more interesting
in media as the method in teaching English. I personally was inspired by her interest in
doing research in English language in kindergarten which actually expresses the same
concern with me. Another study has been done by Juang Rudianto Putra (2009)
entitled Creating a Positive English Language Teaching and Learning Environment in
EYL (Early Young Learner) Classroom Setting. He recommended that the key success
of teaching English in kindergarten is to grapple with what is called ‗classroom
3
management‘. Therefore, a teacher is expected to be able to create a positive
classroom environment—a learning situation which is interesting, stimulating and
energizing. He pointed out the importance of class management by focusing on the
media which are interesting, simulating and energizing. As a conclusion, from both
previous studies above, the creative media was the key element in the success of
teaching English in kindergarten. The importance of the creative media is also my
concern in this thesis.
Therefore, based on this central problem which is the appropriate responses
during English lesson in kindergarten, I intended to do an action guided by a research
question: What method or kind of stimulus that appropriate for kindergarten students
to solve the problem of inappropriate responses in English class? It is a question of
methodology or approaches which can be used to help the kindergarten students in
English class. The concrete action that I would like to do is finding appropriate
stimulus which can help the students to give appropriate responses. Thus, I will use
stimulus-response approach from Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1980) which basically
explains that learning process is determined by the way someone gives an appropriate
stimulus so that it can lead and bring the students to give appropriate responses. The
stimulus which I would like to use is using media, which some media, like electronic
media, printed media, model and map are famous media in the education world
(Mujianto, 2007:4). Media is the visual instrument which effectively helps the students
to learn, since through viewing, an individual can memorize better than merely from
listening. Game and other activities are also another stimulus that I would like to
propose as a solution for that problem.
4
The focus on this thesis is to find out the kind of stimulus or methods as the
solution for inappropriate responses. Therefore, for a conclusion, this study will
present a method which can be a better method to overcome the inappropriate
responses in the context of my kindergarten students in English class. This method is
basically a method which pays attention to the psychological background of the
kindergarten students as they like to do a lot of activities (sing a song, dance, etc) and
to have a visual reality (pictures, models, etc). By addressing their psychological
needs, this method will be more adequate and applicable for kindergarten students.
This method is also based on the real struggle in the particular situation as the writer
experienced; therefore, the method perhaps is not applicable in other context which
has different settings.
This study would be beneficial in terms of providing method about how
kindergarten‘s teachers should overcome the inappropriate responses from their
students. In addition, the findings of this study may encourage more research in the
teaching of English in kindergarten school and issues of teachers‘ professional
development in this area.
Literature Review / theoretical framework
Teaching and learning English for young learners
The purpose of learning language in the kindergarten school is to enable
children to express their thought, ideas and feelings in a simple and appropriate
language, to communicate effectively and to give a motivation in learning language
(Somantri 2006:6). However, in the reality, this purpose is difficult to be
5
accomplished. Many kindergarten‘s students find it difficult to express their thoughts
and feelings in discussion in the classroom. Even, the teacher sometimes needs to
motivate them to talk or say something. It happens primarily with English as one of
the subject which is introduced in the kindergarten. Learning English is considered
difficult and challenging for kindergarten level that makes teachers feel reluctant and
not motivated. The problem of inappropriate responses perhaps is one of the common
problems in learning English. Some educationists say that the inappropriate responses
are caused by the lack of vocabularies in English. Wilkins (1972) argued that ―without
grammar very little can be conveyed, and without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed.‖ Numerous studies have investigated English learning, and have
particularly emphasized the importance of vocabulary learning. Among many,
Harmon (1998) and Rupley, Logan, & Nichols (1999) argue that excellent vocabulary
abilities are beneficial in inferring meaning from English sentences. The English
language education field thus should pay more attention to developing innovative
English vocabulary learning tools. Vygotsky (1978) argues that vocabularies are
important for the students in their early stage of education.
Young students sometimes give wrong answers, but we cannot conclude that
their ability to analyze and to think are also weak and inadequate. On the contrary,
children actually have a maximum ability to analyze and to think; however, their limit
in memorizing the symbols and signs such as language make them unable to express
their thought (Vygotsky, 1980). Other experts say that inappropriate responses occur
because the teachers are not able to create conducive situation for the children to learn.
In other words, there are no appropriate stimuli for the children. For kindergarten
6
students, the medium of learning English is very important. According to Arsyad
(2002:26), appropriate medium can help the student to cope with the limitation of
senses, time and space and it can give a concrete experiences in their daily life.
Regarding to my problem about inappropriate responses in English lesson,
some experts suggest that the teacher should be able to give a creative media in
teaching English, for example, by using flashcard. Flashcard is a media that can help
the students enriches their vocabulary. In this method, the students are shown some
cards with words and picture explaining the meaning of the words. Other media is
simulation. Simulation is a game which is joyful and combines elements in reality so
that the students can be more creative in giving solution (Joyce and Weil, 1985: 296).
Miller & Gildea (1987) also indicated that learning vocabulary is an everyday practice.
They demonstrated that learners learn vocabulary at a rate of about 13 words per day.
If vocabulary learning is meaningful to learners, they will naturally understand the
meaning and usage of the words learned. Generally, learning English vocabulary from
abstract definitions in the dictionary is slow and less successful. More importantly,
dictionary-based learning leads to problems when using language in real world
situations (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). Vygotsky gives another suggestion that
human relationship is based on stimulus-response paradigm. Therefore, if we want to
get appropriate response, we should first of all give appropriate stimulus (Vygotsky,
1980). Appropriate stimulus for the students in kindergarten is media that address their
psychological condition. For example, children like to have activity so we give
stimulus which addresses it, like sing a song, game, etc.
7
Those theories above basically suggest two things that inappropriate responses
in kindergarten are caused by the lack of vocabularies from the students and by the
lack of creative media in teaching English. As I observed, one common inappropriate
response during my English lesson is that my students give answers in other languages
(Javanese or Indonesian) other than English. If I connect this situation to the theory
above, the inappropriate responses is precisely because of the lack of English
vocabularies (Wilkins, 1972; Harmon, 1998; Rupley, Logan, & Nichols, 1999). My
students actually know the answers of my question; however, they are not able to
express it correctly because they do not have words to say it. This lack of vocabularies
sometimes is also accompanied by lack of correct pronunciation. Regarding to the
second suggestion about creativity in teaching English, I found that sometimes I didn‘t
prepare a creative and interesting media so that my English lesson does not attract
their attention. Many times, I use pictures and songs to teach English and I do not try
other media. Two suggestion of the theory above that creativity can be done in giving
flashcard and simulations or games perhaps can give another solution to my problem.
Media is appropriate stimulus for the students so that the students can give appropriate
responses (Vygotsky, 1980).
Based on the theories in previous section, the better solution for my problem is
providing creative media in teaching English. In my opinion, creative media is the
most important aspect in teaching in kindergarten, since children‘s psychological
situation needs a special treatment that address their need for playing game,
visualization and other physical activities. Kindergarten students are easily distracted
if we do not give them interesting media of learning. Moreover, based on the
8
Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia tentang Pendidikan di Taman KanakKanak Pasal 1.14 UU Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003: “Pendidikan
Taman Kanak-Kanak bertujuan membantu pertumbuhan dan perkembangan jasmani
dan rohani agar memiliki kesiapan bagi pendidikan selanjutnya dengan prinsip
belajar sambil bermain” (Kindergarten school is meant to help the children to grow
and develop physically and spiritually so that they have readiness to enter the
following education with a principal playing and studying). Based on this regulation,
kindergarten students are not primarily meant to gain knowledge, but they are
prepared to gain knowledge; therefore, they should have a good impression that study
is pleasing and nice. Studying is not simply memorizing many things and preparing
for exam, but it is a happy process of learning. Giving a creative media is meant to
introduce them to enjoyable and interesting learning. Creative media also make the
process of learning more alive and not boring for both teacher and students.
In a practical level, I will apply this solution by making a creative media in
teaching English. This creative media, as Vygotsky says, plays an important role as a
stimulus for my students so that they can give appropriate responses in return
(Vygotsky, 1980). The creative media will be applied in my lesson in the beginning of
class, during the process of learning and in the end of lesson. I will develop three
models, namely using models (like pictures, caricature, an imitation of something,
etc), activities (games, songs) and simulations (imitating a gesture of something).
Understanding the Term “Inappropriate Responses”
The term ―inappropriate responses‖ is the key concept in this study. According
to Kathleen AJ Moor (2007), students‘ responses in the English lesson can be
9
differentiated into six categories: (1) an appropriate or correct response; (2) a partially
correct response; (3) an incorrect or inappropriate response; (4) a response in their
native language, rather than in English; (5) another question; (6) or no response. This
study focuses on the ―incorrect or inappropriate responses,‖ a situation when the
students respond insufficiently to the teacher questions which causes the teachinglearning process does not seem to be proceeding smoothly and efficiently (Kathleen,
2007). Therefore, it can be concluded that inappropriate responses includes any kind
of students‘ responses that hinder and distract the learning process in the classroom
which is in this study is during English lesson. The causes of inappropriate responses
are two, namely the content and language (Kathleen, 2007). Some students lack the
linguistic ability in English to express themselves clearly, but this does not preclude
their comprehension of the material. However, it is also true that some students cannot
give appropriate responses because they do not know the content itself.
The Study
Problem in my Classroom
In teaching English, I always use replica and other medium to explain the
lesson to the students which I thought can help them learn English. However, based on
my observation, many times they were not able to give appropriate responses. They
gave incorrect answers to my questions. For instance, I showed some replicas of fruits,
like apples and star fruits, to help them to answer the English word for it; however,
10
they did not give correct answers. They seemed to have difficulty to give correct
answers even though I showed them the replicas of the fruits. In my preliminary
observation, these inappropriate responses were caused by the inappropriate methods
in my English lesson. This study basically wants to address this particular situation of
inappropriate responses of my students during the English lesson by providing a better
media of teaching as a stimulus.
The critical question/research that I want to analyze is what kind of method or
stimulus which can solve the problem of inappropriate responses during English class
in my kindergarten school? I specify the solution to the school where I teach English,
namely Virgo Maria I Kindergarten School Ambarawa, since I encounter the problem
of inappropriate responses on that particular context and situation. It is observed that
the students did not give respond appropriately to the teacher‘s teachings. The students
gave inappropriate responses during my English lesson by giving answers in other
language and by giving wrong answers.
Class Description
This research project involves me and one partner who helps in recording the
process of research and my kindergarten students in TK Virgo Maria I Ambarawa.
The teacher was an Indonesian young woman who is still studying in the Satya
Wacana Christian University. The class consists of 27 students who are not familiar
with English. They speak in Bahasa and Javanese in their daily life. Most of their
parents are not familiar with English as well. Even if they know, they only know basic
English like numbers or animals which they get from television. Therefore, it becomes
11
a difficulty for my students to recall their memories or learn English more outside my
class. The goal of this English class is to teach the basic English for the kindergarten
students, for example, English vocabulary and grammar.
Reflection of My Teaching
My students are 6-7 years old and in this context, they are very much in the
visual and motoric stage of learning. Their developmental stage of life is in visual and
motoric ability; therefore, they will be effectively learnt something which is visually
interesting and actively involving them. It does not mean that they do not have ability
to think or analyze logically, but they think and learn by seeing things or using their
senses. Children at this stage also learn by imitating other people, especially their role
figures, like parents and teachers. Realizing their stage of life, I aware that simply
make a dialogue in my English lesson without addressing their needs of visualization
and playing will not give an optimal result. Therefore, my method should involve their
needs to playand to have fun.
Moreover, I also realize that their vocabulary is limited because English is a
new lesson for them; therefore, they are not able to give appropriate responses, and
that‘s one reason why I give more portion in teaching vocabulary. Even though other
teachers always greet them; however, they do it in Indonesian which is a familiar
language for them. My method should be simple and does not imply so many
vocabularies which will make them confuse. Perhaps, it is important also that I use
more Bahasa than English to explain to them so that they can understand easily. It
should be a simple and interesting method.
12
Therefore, we can conclude that the teacher should first of all find a method
which addresses the psychological needs of the students so that they can enjoy in
learning English which eventually can help them to give appropriate responses which
is the correct answer.
My Project of Action Research
Following up the observation above I decided to apply new actions to my
teaching. My project involved one partner. She helped me in collecting the data,
especially in the process of recording, but she did not involved in my class activities at
all. By doing this, I could maintain the natural flow of the learning process in my
English class as it happens in my daily class.
Following the notion of media of teaching which is the visual instrument that
effectively helps the students to learn (Mujianto, 2007:4) and appropriate stimuli of
Vygotsky which is the key element in achieving the appropriate responses from the
students (Vygotsky, 1978), three steps were taken to implement the plan:
First, I chose the simple material for her English lesson so that the students
were not too overburdened and they could enjoy the lesson. In kindergarten, there are
themes that become guidance for the teacher in their lesson plan. I have to follow
these theme create a suitable material to teach. In this case, I chose one of the themes the simple material – about English conversation.
Second, I proposed song as a new media in my English class. This proposal
was based on the observation above that the media using replicas were not helpful in
helping the students to give appropriate responses. Replica media did not address their
psychological needs as children who were more on the motoric level of learning.
13
Therefore, I used a song to introduce the material to the students in order to attract
their attention and to make them actively involved in the process of learning. The
process went on that I gave example and the students followed. Through this
approach, the teacher was able to guide the students and to correct immediately some
inappropriate responses that happened.
Third, I also introduced a song which was combined with some simple
gestures. I invited my students to imitate my gestures of some objects. By combining a
song with some gestures, the students were physically involved in the learning
process. This method helped the students to memorize the new vocabularies, because
they were not only listening my explanation or see the replicas of some objects, but
they imitated and performed it through their body language. They memorized some
new vocabularies by experiencing them in their body language. That is one of my
considerations to put gestures in my song. For example, when they sing ―PantaiBeach‖ song, they made a certain movement of objects that they mention in the song.
They also have a version in Bahasa so they are able to get the idea faster and their
memory will last longer. For the children at their age, this experience address their
motoric ability which will help them to memorize better and eventually it will help
them to give appropriate responses. To give you a clear description, here I provide the
song : Ini pantai, ini gunung, ini bonbin dan ini candi
This is a beach, this is mountain, this is a zoo and this is temple.
Discussion
During the action research, I found that my students‘ initial reaction was happy
and enthusiastic because I asked them to stand, stretched their hand and chose a
14
partner for the next activity. They were curious because they usually sit and listen to
the teacher for the whole time of the lesson, but at that time, I asked them to do
something new for them. This strategy was really helpful to create a joyful and
curiosity atmosphere for the students so that they wanted to pay attention again. Based
on my observations, many of my students immediately stood and run to find a partner,
but some seemed not really interested even though they still followed my instruction.
In my opinion, this situation was normal, since each student has their own personality
and way of reacting something. However, by the fact that many of them
enthusiastically followed my instructions, I felt that this method would be a successful
method.
When I started to introduce an English song, a simple English song contained
of simple conversation, they did not really pay attention. However, when I asked them
to sing that song with their partner, since it was a conversation, they seemed more
interesting. They made a conversation with their partner in a simple English words
(hello – hai and how are you – I am fine). I asked them to repeat several times so that
they become more fluent.
(1) T
S
T
S
T
S
T
S
T
T
Sing
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
hallo
hai
haiii
halloo
Good morning students
good morning Miss Venty
How are you?
I‘m fine.. thank you.. and you?
I‘m fine too..
stand up.. yook.. 1..2..3
Good morning my children how are you?
I‘m fine
Good morning my children how are you?
I‘m fine
15
Good morning my children good morning everybody
Good morning my children how are you?
I‘m fine
T
:
masih ingat? (show gestures)
S
:
hallo my friend hallo my friend
S-S
:
hello my friend hello my friend
How are you? How are you?
I am glad to see you I am glad to see you
Ding dong ding.. ding dong ding..
T
:
ulangi lagi suaranya yang keras tapi.. 1..2..3
S-S
:
hello my friend hello my friend
How are you? How are you?
I am glad to see you I am glad to see you
Ding dong ding.. ding dong ding..)
I found that my students were excited and energized because they learnt
together with their partner so that they can help each other. My students learnt English
in a team and in their partnership. They can learn how to help each other in their study,
particularly in English lesson. I also found something interesting that some students
asked me to give other dialogue, since they had already mastered the one that I
previously taught to them. These students are the intelligent students, students with the
IQ level above average. So, I gave them a few more words, like ―what is your name.‖
This event was a consolation for me because I knew that some of them were really
enthusiastic and serious in my English lesson. In my opinion, a simple song helped
them to give appropriate responses because a song actively involved their participation
in the learning process. They were not only sitting for the whole lesson, but they sang
a song together with their partner.
After sometimes, I asked them to stop singing. I asked two of them to stand in
the front of the class and to show some gestures imitating some objects, like dog,
beach, temple, etc. However, nobody wanted to do that. In my opinion, they felt
embarrass to stand in front of their friends to do something that I asked. Therefore, I
16
did not push them, but I gave some example of some simple gestures so that they can
imitate and create their own gestures. They enthusiastically followed my gestures and
they laughed at some points because I imitated a funny gesture, like a dog. I combined
these gestures with a song as well which made them more interested in.
(2)S
:
T :
S :
T
S
T
S
T
T
S
T
S
T
S
T
S
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
T
S
T
S
T
S
T
S
T
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
ini pantai
yoo.. (memperagakan gerakan pertama dari lagu “ini pantai”)
ini pantai
Ini gunung
Ini bonbin
Dan ini candi
This is a beach
This is mountain
This is a zoo
And this is temple
nhaaa… sekarang, (show gesture - beach)
lauuuuttt…. Pantaiii… beaachh beach.. this is a beach
this is a..
beach
beach
ini (gesture - mountain)
mountain
(gesture - zoo)
a zoo
(gesture - temple)
temple
(gesture - ―animal song‖)
kucing cat, anjing dog, kupu kupu butterfly, burung bird, bebek duck,
gajah elephant
(gesture dog)
dog (hahahahahahaha)
(gesture butterfly)
butterfly
(gesture - bird)
bird
(gesture duck)
duck
(gesture elephant)
Based on my observation, by doing some gesture, they could memorize the
new English words easily, because if they forget the word, they will make a gesture.
17
This happened when I asked one of them to mention the English word for ―anjing‖
(dog) and ―bebek (duck) and they made it into a gesture. In other words, this method
can help them to give appropriate responses, since it help them to have imagination of
the word.
After singing and doing some gestures, I looked at their face and they were
happy, because they enjoyed the lesson. This situation created a good condition in
learning English so that they would be more attentive during the class. Moreover,
these methods helped them to give appropriate responses, because by gesturing the
English words, they can memorize easily, since they have the imagination in their
mind. A simple song was helpful to my students because by singing a song, they could
easily memorize the words more than using replica methods. A song is an appropriate
stimulus for the students at their age.
From the data above, the writer found out that the students could learn English
effectively by using creative media which is song combined with simple gestures. It is
true that appropriate medium can help the student in learning something and to cope
with the limitation of senses, time and space and it can give a concrete experiences in
their daily life (Arsyad, 2002:26). The appropriate medium certainly will help the
student to give appropriate responses as well (Vygtosky, 1978). Based on my research,
the appropriate medium is song with simple gestures because it addresses the students‘
psychological situation as they are in the motoric and visual stage of learning. By
focusing on the medium, the focus of learning activity is not primarily on the content
of the lesson, but first of all on the students or the learner themselves. I realized that I
have made a significant shift in my learning approach. Before, I was used to focus on
18
the content and ignored the psychological need of my students. My focus at that time
was on the material and to make sure that my students knew a lot about English
vocabularies and grammars. I did not really address their needs and situation in their
stage of life; therefore, I did not apply any creative media in my English class.
However, the result was not optimal, since my students made many inappropriate
responses. By focusing on the learners, particularly on their psychological needs as I
have made during this research, I found that my students were able to give appropriate
responses. Therefore, I can conclude that the learner is the primary agent in the
learning process, since the success of learning process depends on the learners
themselves. In other words, the student-center approach which puts the students or
learners at the center of learning process higher than the teacher or the lesson plan is a
helpful and recommended approach for the kindergarten students, especially in
teaching English.
Based on the research, inappropriate responses from the students also reflect a
deeper situation which is the low motivation of the students to learn English. The
creative media certainly can attract the students to give attention and to motivate their
enthusiasm in learning English; however, it does not solve the problem of low
motivation from the students. The creative media perhaps can motivate them to stay
and concentrate on the lesson; however, it will not help them to learn seriously.
Therefore, based on my research, aside from creative media, I tried to approach them
personally and to give praise, support and simple gift so that they can be encouraged. I
approached those who seemed not really interested in the lesson. These students
needed a certain attention aside from the creative media.
19
Based on the research, English lesson for kindergarten students basically
applied more Indonesian than English vocabularies. There are two reasons for that
situation. First of all, by using Indonesian, the students can understand easily the
instruction so that they can give appropriate responses. I found out that sometimes my
students did not really understand the instruction which eventually caused
inappropriate responses. Secondly, learning English in kindergarten school is meant to
give the students a general idea of English. It is the first time for them to learn
English; therefore, English lesson should not be too heavy and too complicated, but it
should be simple, fun and entertaining so that they have a good experience in learning
English and it is not meant to prepare them for the next level of study English in
elementary school.
Conclusion
This study is aimed to find kind of stimulus that appropriate for kindergarten
students to solve the problem of inappropriate responses in English class. Based on the
data above, we could see the improvement on students‘ respond to the teacher‘s lesson
plan. The students obviously followed teacher‘s invitation to sing a song and to
respond her simple conversation. This method successfully helped the students to
learn English conversation. The teacher also successfully taught her students to learn
some new English vocabularies through a creative way: by imitating some objects
using their body. This method was simple but can attract the students‘ attention and
help them to memorize the new English vocabularies easily. In short, based on my
observation, a song combined with some gestures were helpful to increase the
student‘s ability in giving appropriate responds.
20
The significant changing happened at the time when the students gave
enthusiastic reaction to the teacher‘s new method, namely a song with simple gesture.
This spontaneous reaction indicated that the students get bored with the replica
method, since it stopped the creativity of the students and simply invite them to give
correct answers. The students, as I mentioned before, need a more participative
method which can address their creative imagination. This precisely can be achieved
through a song combined with a simple gesture. The significant changing also
occurred when the students gave appropriate answers during my English class.
Comparing with previous lesson where I applied replicas approach, this song method
unbelievably showed significant development of my students‘ responses.
The key points of this method are three. First of all, the students are disposed
psychologically that English lesson is fun and enjoyable which certainly can help them
to pay attention. Considering their age (6-7 years old), giving appropriate method is
the most important element to achieve the appropriate responds from the students.
Therefore, a song with some simple gestures precisely addresses their psychological
needs and involves them to participate actively. Secondly, this method is success
because the teacher is able to observe the students and give correction immediately for
any inappropriate responses. Considering their age, the teacher should clearly guide
them by giving clear instruction and by correcting them if they make inappropriate
responds. In the case above, the teacher gives instruction not only in English but also
in Bahasa which is helpful to them. Thirdly, the teacher needs to be patience in front
of them. It means that the teacher should repeat the instructions clearly and personally
gives attention to them. In other words, the focus is the students (student-center) and
21
not very much on the success of the lessons. Song method is clearly can help the
students to give appropriate responses.
This study focuses on one teaching context in a small area like Ambarawa and
in a particular context which is Virgo Maria kindergarten school in Ambarawa. This is
the limitation of this study, since the findings cannot be generalized for all teaching
context in Indonesia. The findings perhaps can be a model in which other teacher can
learn and compare to their context. The findings can be modified so that it can be
implemented in other context. Another limitation is that this study involves a small
number of participants. Therefore, it is hoped that this study can encourage more
studies to be conducted at other teaching contexts in which the need towards English
in kindergarten is higher. It is hoped also that further research can extent the number
of the participants to cover more issues that happen during English class in
kindergarten.
Based on the findings of this study that song with a simple gesture is the most
appropriate method in teaching English for kindergarten, the kindergarten teachers
should enrich and prepare themselves with similar methods, especially in the place
where English is not familiar. The teachers should be more focus on the initial
methods which are fun, creative and actively involve students‘ participations. The
content of the teaching should not be too difficult and complicated, but it must be a
basic English, like simple greeting and conversation. In a place where English is more
familiar, the teacher can less concern with the initial method and apply a more difficult
lesson. The findings also give another implication that the teacher should give a clear
instruction to the students by using the language that familiar to the students, by
22
repeating the instruction and by giving clear example so that the students can imitate
it. By giving clear instructions, the song with gesture can be understood clearly.
For the further research, based on the findings, the researchers can focus on the
kind of songs which address the psychological needs of the kindergarten students.
These kinds of songs use the language which is simple, memorable and familiar with
their daily life. Further research also can make a research on the efficiency of
combining Bahasa and English in a song as this study has been proposed.
23
Acknowledgement
This thesis would not have been completed without the help and support from
many people. Therefore, I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and
deep regards to my advisor Christian Rudianto, M.Appling for his guidance,
monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this thesis.
I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to Maria Eko,
M.Hum for her cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped me
in completing this task through various stages.
I am obliged to Ibu Agatha and Miss Dewinta. It is an honor for me to have
my research in TK Virgo Maria I Ambarawa. I am grateful for their cooperation
during the period of my assignment.
My special thanks to Alexander Hendra who always be a friend and teacher
for me. Aprillia, Inneke, Dewinta, Dewi, Nanda, Tyas, thank you for always be with
me.
I thank almighty, my parents, Siska and Anton, my dearest sister Maria, and
Leonardus Yosi for their constant encouragement without which this assignment
would not be possible. I love you.
Lastly, the one above all of us, the omnipresent God, for answering my
prayers, thank you so much Dear Lord.
24
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