The influences of content-based instruction implementation in international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the 11 th grade students` speaking participation - USD Repository
THE INFLUENCES OF CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION IMPLEMENTATION
IN INTERNATIONAL CLASS OF SMAN 3 YOGYAKARTA
THON THE 11 GRADE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PARTICIPATION
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Ratna Paramita
Student Number: 041214024
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to God Almighty, the one who always give His grace and blessing to me even in the hardest moments of my life. Without Him, this thesis would have never been finished.
My great gratitude goes to my major sponsor, Paulus Kuswandono, S.Pd., M.Ed., who is always patient and helpful in guiding and waiting for me to complete my thesis. I would like to show my deep appreciation to Markus Budiraharjo, S.Pd., M.Ed., he is the first person who opened the possibilities and gave encouragement to research the international class. I would also like to show my thankfulness to all the PBI lecturers for their lectures, their guidance, their criticism, and their feedback from my very beginning days in PBI.
My sincere gratitude goes to all the teachers and students in SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, Bu
Teri, Bu Susilowati, Pak Kusworo, Pak Ichwan Aryono, Bu Ninik Sutarsini, Pak Budi
Setiawan, Bu Cherry, Bu Iik, and all the students of XIA1 SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, who helped
me in completing my research and data collection with their participation, cooperation and attention.
I would like to address my deepest and greatest gratefulness to my wonderful parents,
Drs. Murni Rahwinarto, and Wikaningsih, S.Pd, and my sisters, Handitya Saraswati and
Tria Arumni, who always show their sincere love, attention, appreciation, and give their
motivation for me. Their supports are enormous for me during my hardest time. To Simbah
Nyutran , my grandmother Utari Nayono, I would like to thank also for her endless support
and attention.To all of my best friends and research collaborators, Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang,
S.Pd., Elizabeth Bara Christina, Brigitta Andriani Lestari, and Theresia Vina Indriani,
S.Pd., I would like to express my deep gratitude for all the help, suggestions, and supports,
even in my most depressed times. Hopefully I can always share my moments with them. I would also thank all friends in PBI year 2004, for sharing the precious moments with me.
My big gratitude goes to Patricia Angelina Lasut, S.Pd., as my heartfelt and helpful proof- reader, for her enourmous help and guidance. At last, I would like to show my deep gratitude to Daniel Yosika Munte, S.H. for his love and for sharing our moments together although we are in separate ways now.
Ratna Paramita If I can reach the stars Pull one down for you Shine it on my heart So you could see the truth That this love I have inside Is everything it seems But for now I find It’s only in my dreams And I can change the world I will be the sunlight I your universe You would think my love was really something good If I could change the world (Eric Clapton – Change the World) I dedicate this work for my family, my best friends, my future life, and Daniel. I know I can not change the world, but I know I can do my very best for all of you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE …………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL PAGES …………………………………………………… ii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ………………………… iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………. v DEDICATION PAGE …………………………………………………. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………. ix ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………. xii
ABSTRAK ………………………………………………………………. xiii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………
1 B. Problem Identification ……………………………………………….
5 C. Problem Formulation …………………………………………………
6 D. Problem Limitation ………………………………………………….
6 E. Research Objectives …………………………………………………
7 F. Research Benefits ……………………………………………………
7 G. Definition of Terms ………………………………………………….
1 A. Research Background ……………………………………………….
10 A. Theoretical Description ………………………………………………
10 1. Content-Based Instruction ……………………………………….
10 2. International Class ……………………………………………….
20
3. Speaking …….……………………………………………………
22 B. Theoretical Framework ………………………………………………
25 CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ………………………………….
27
8 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE …………. B. Research Participants ………………………………………………..
28 C. Research Instruments ………………………………………………..
50 C. The Influences of Content-Based Implementation on Students’ Speaking Participation ………………………………………………
64 APPENDICES …………………………………………………………
62 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………
60 B. Suggestions ………………………………………………………….
60 A. Conclusions ………………………………………………………….
55 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ……………
2. The Influences of CBI Implementation in the International Class on Students’ Speaking Participation …………………………
52
1. Speaking Skill in the International Class of SMAN 3 ……………
52
5. Types of Content-Based Instruction Implemented ………………
29 D. Data Gathering Technique …………………………………………..
47
45 4. Comprehensible Input and Material Design ……………………..
43 3. The Role of Teacher and Learners ……………………………….
2. The Implemented Principles of Content-Based Instruction in the International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta …………………………
38
36 B. The Significance of the Influences of Content-Based Instruction Implementation in the International Class ……………. 38 1. Brief Overview of International Class in SMAN 3 Yogyakarta …….
36 A. Learners’ Background: Learners’ Characteristic and Their Attitude towards Speaking ………………………………
33 CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION …….
32 F. Research Procedure ………………………………………………….
31 E. Data Analysis Technique …………………………………………….
65
APPENDIX B Interview Checklists ……………………………………
68 APPENDIX C Interview Transcripts …………………………………..
70 APPENDIX D Field Notes …………………………………………….
75 APPENDIX E Physics Handout ……………………………………….
84 APPENDIX F Biology Handout ……………………………………….
88 APPENDIX G Chemistry Handout ……………………………………
92
ABSTRACT
Paramita, Ratna. 2009. The Influences of Content-Based Instruction Implementation in
th
International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the 11 Grade Students’ Speaking
Participation . Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Programme, Department
of Language and Art Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata
Dharma UniversityThis thesis is about the relation between Content-Based Instruction implementation and students’ participation in speaking English. It is quite interesting and new to talk about the international class phenomenon. The reason is because international class has become a new trend these recent days since it uses English as the main instructional language in the teaching-learning process. But, there are also doubts in the process of international class implementation since it is not clear yet whether international class really brings something different in answering the increasing challenges in global needs or not. To answer the premise, the researcher chose speaking as an object, since speaking is one of the productive skills, along with writing, that is hard to learn and master.
Regarding the background above, the research was done to answer two research problems, namely 1) how significant is the influence of Content-Based Instruction implementation in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta? and 2) what are the influences of the implementation of Content-Based Instruction in the international class to the students’ speaking participation?
The research is a descriptive study with qualitative method. The population of the research is the eleventh grade students of international class in SMAN 3 Yogyakarta with random sampling. To answer the first and second question, the researcher used both field notes and interview.
The findings of this research stated that the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta did not fully implement the principles of Content-Based Instruction and there were no significant influences of CBI implementation. Hence, this situation did not give significant improvement towards students’ speaking participation. The researcher then suggests the schools to comprehend the basic principles of CBI, prepare the human resources who are ready to implement CBI and to review the regulation and practice in implementing CBI for schools that have already opened international class. In relation to the improvement of the students’ speaking participation, the researcher provides the principles to teach speaking in order to help teachers in enhancing students’ participation in speaking English. Keywords : Content-Based Instruction, international class, immersion programme, students’ participation, speaking.
ABSTRAK
Paramita, Ratna. 2009. The Influences of Content-Based Instruction Implementation in
th
International Class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on the 11 Grade Students’ Speaking
Participation . Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan
Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas
Sanata DharmaSkripsi ini membahas tentang hubungan antara penerapan Content-Based Instruction and partisipasi siswa dalam berbahasa Inggris. Cukup menarik dan merupakan hal baru untuk membicarakan fenomena kelas internasional ini. Ini karena kelas internasional telah menjadi trend baru belakangan ini karena penggunaan bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa pengantar utama dalam proses belajar mengajarnya. Namun, muncul juga keragu-raguan dalam proses penerapan kelas internasional karena belum jelasnya kemampuan kelas internasional dalam memberikan perbedaan dalam menjawab tantangan yang semakin besar di kebutuhan global. Untuk menjawab tantangan tersebut, peneliti memilih kemampuan berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris sebagai obyek penelitian karena kemampuan berbahasa Inggris, bersama dengan kemampuan menulis, merupakan salah satu dari kemampuan produktif yang sulit untuk dipelajari dan dikuasai.
Berkaitan dengan latar belakang di atas, penelitian dilakukan untuk menjawab dua permasalahan, yaitu 1) seberapa signifikankah pengaruh dari implementasi Content-Based
Instruction di kelas internasional SMAN 3 Yogyakarta? dan 2) apakah pengaruh-pengaruh
dari implementasi Content-Based Instruction di kelas internasional terhadap partisipasi siswa dalam berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris? Penelitian ini merupakan kajian deskriptif yang menggunakan metode kualitatif. Populasi penelitian adalah siswa-siswa kelas sebelas dari kelas internasional di SMAN 3 Yogyakarta yang dipilih secara acak. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua, peneliti memakai field notes dan interview.
Hasil dari penelitian ini memperlihatkan bahwa kelas internasional SMAN 3 Yogyakarta belum secara penuh mengimplementasikan prinsip-prinsip Content-Based
Instruction dan tidak ada pengaruh signifikan dari penerapan Content-Based Instruction.
Dengan demikian, situasi ini mengakibatkan tidak signifikannya peningkatan partisipasi para siswa dalam berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris. Dengan demikian, peneliti menyarankan sekolah-sekolah untuk memahami benar prinsip-prinsip dasar dari Content-Based Instruction, mempersipakan sumber daya manusia yang siap untuk mengimplementasikan Content-Based
Instruction dan meninjau kembali peraturan dan praktek dalam mengimplemetasikan Content-
Based Instruction untuk sekolah-sekolah yang sudah membuka kelas internasionalnya. Dalam
hubungannya dengan peningkatan partisipasi para siswa dalam berbicara bahasa Inggris, peneliti memberikan prinsip-prinsip dalam pengajaran kemampuan berbicara untuk membantu para guru dalam meningkatkan partisipasi siswa dalam berbicara bahasa Inggris. Kata kunci : Content-Based Instruction, kelas internasional, program imersi, partisipasi siswa, kemampuan berbahasa Inggris.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the researcher discusses the background of the research, the
problem identification, problem formulations, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits and definitions of terms.
A. Research Background
Indonesia’s education field today is facing a new era in perceiving English language. Nowadays, English has become a subject that is very important in Indonesia’s education. It is not only considered as an elective and secondary subject, but also one of the most important subjects that the students need to master. This is related to the fact that English plays an important role and is really needed in Indonesia’s education since English is used as the “lingua franca” of the international communication, scientific and modern technology, trade, and political change (Kartono, 1984:3). English is an international language that needs to be mastered by those who want to succeed in the world’s globalization.
How can we say that today, English plays important role in Indonesia’s education? The proof of that premise lays on today’s education hot issue, a new phenomenon in Indonesia’s education, namely the immersion class or widely known as international class. Indonesian government through its Ministry of Education tries to answer the needs of a generation who are ready to compete in
International class here refers to a class in which every subject is taught in English.
In reality, the implementation of international class does not run smoothly because there are a lot of questions and doubts whether the international class is really different from the regular class and whether it would bring advantages to the students. Currently, the implementation of the international class is seen as the way to promote the school and to gain prestige from the society. Some schools also take advantages from the international class by labelling it as a “prestigious and special class”, a class that really needs special preparations because it has so many differences compared to the usual traditional class. Thus, they also give “special price” or very expensive school fee to enter the international class. Because of that, not all of the schools in Yogyakarta, in particular, have the opportunity to open the international class. Only a few of them have international classes, such as SMA Negeri 1 Yogyakarta, SMA Negeri 3 Yogyakarta, and SMA
Muhammadiyah 1 Yogyakarta . It is also doubted whether the teachers who teach
in the international class have proficient English to teach in such class.The method used in the international class lies under the approach of Content-Based Instruction, which will be stated as CBI for the rest of the discussion. It is a method in which students are learning subjects through the foreign language, which is English. The main principles of CBI are giving the students the authentic materials from the language and making them accustomed to use the foreign language instead of only giving the formal principles or the structure of the language. The practice of CBI must expose all of the English language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Since the teaching-learning activities in the international class are done in English as the students’ minority language, it means that the acquisition of English to the international class students plays an important role for them in absorbing the subjects and material successfully. English is also needed for stating their opinions and thoughts or getting involved in the class discussion. This is where speaking for the international class students takes significant part. Speaking is one of the productive skills, along with writing; it indicates the language skills that are generated from the students for communication. The speaker’s proficiency in English will be known directly from their speaking. Speaker’s competence to speak up his mind and give response to others’ comment in daily conversation, the speaker’s ability to convey the words and sentences meaning in conversation, and also his fluency in English, will be known firstly from the words and sentences he speaks. So the students’ speaking proficiency later on will affect their ability in engaging with the international communication in global era. They will be able to follow, to absorb and to share information or opinion worldwide when they have sufficient English speaking skill.
From the background above, the researcher then realizes the importance of speaking as the basic means of communication. In relation to the international class as a means of developing students’ ability and preparation to face the globalization era, English speaking competence is really important to master. Indonesia’s international class, especially related to the students’ English speaking competence.
Related to speaking, there are so many researchers who have discussed this field, even though no one has related speaking skill to CBI in the immersion programme. Some of the works are intended to design a set of speaking instructional materials for the discussion method of intermediate students (Dewi, 2001). The researcher designed the material after observing the difficulties that the students faced in learning speaking, since the effective oral communication requires the ability to use the language appropriately in social interactions such as for arguing, persuading, or promising (2001:2). She then saw the discussion method as one way to stimulate students to express ideas and opinions and to interact in meaningful and realistic context.
Other writer, Maharani (2006), made the materials and evaluation instruments for speaking skill related to the Competency-Based Curriculum for SMA students in a programme called Program Pengembangan Wawasan Khusus. The researcher focused on developing the students’ speaking skill to prepare them in their later professional lives, as stated by Harmer (1991:1) that English offers a chance for advancement in their professional lives. They will get a better job with two languages than if they only know their mother tongue. English has a special position here since it has become the international language for communication. Maharani perceived speaking as the most important skill, since in the second or foreign language it has often been viewed as the most demanding from the other
The last author, Ismarini (2006) examined the difficulties that the students found when they were learning English. Ismarini was seeking the problems occur from all the English skills, but now the researcher wants to limit the example only from the speaking skill field. Difficulties in speaking occur when the students produce their own sentences without a model or format guidance; these will lead into poor grammar and vocabulary mastery, lack of fluency and accuracy in pronunciation, including stress and intonation (2006:26).
B. Problem Identification
The awareness of the needs to master English as the international language, the international classes’ phenomenon in Indonesia, and the speaking competence are the reasons for the researcher to conduct a research based on these topics. International class is based on the specific approach named Content-Based Instruction or CBI. All of the teaching-learning activities in the international class ideally should be based on this approach. This approach requires the teacher to teach all the content areas in the target language.
The implementation of CBI in the international class exposes the students to English in learning the content. Therefore, they are expected to improve their English skill mastery after getting the exposure in the international class. Hence, the researcher would like to know how significant is the influence of CBI implementation in international class to improve the student’s speaking participation.
The researcher limits the research only in the students’ speaking participation in order to obtain deeper and better understanding. Moreover, speaking as the productive skill becomes the basic needs of communication. The students’ English ability and mastery will be known first from how they speak, choose the vocabulary, and their fluency. The researcher chooses the eleventh grade students for two specific reasons; first, because they are seen to have had enough exposure in English, and second, they have not been given the burden to prepare for the final examination.
C. Problem Formulation
After having known the problems in conducting international class, the researcher formulates two questions that need to be answered by this research.
They are:
1. How significant is the influence of the CBI implementation in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta?
2. What are the influences of the implementation of CBI in the international class on the students’ speaking participation?
D. Problem Limitation
The researcher would like to limit the discussion on the significance of the influence in CBI implementation in the international class and the students’ participation in speaking English. The sample for this research, which later will be discussed more in Chapter III, is the students in 11
th
Grade of SMA Negeri 3 Yogyakarta who join the international class.
E. Research Objectives
According to the problem formulation, the research’s objectives are:
1. To find out how significant is the influence of the CBI implementation in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta.
2. To know the influences of CBI implementation in international class towards students’ speaking participation.
F. Research Benefits
The researcher expects that the research would bring benefits for the sake of better education in Indonesia. The thorough discussion of the research benefits will be:
1. For the English teachers, this research is expected to help the teachers in understanding more about CBI implementation in the international class, knowing its pluses and minuses, so that the teachers are able to develop better approach and method related to the situation that the teachers have in their classes.
2. The researcher also considers this research will bring benefit to the Indonesian Government, especially those in the Education Department. The reason is because this research is going to see whether the Indonesian education field is policy of the international class in schools later on will really be prepared for the sake of national education development.
3. The schools which have already opened international class in Indonesia are also expected to get benefits from this research. This research’s goal is to see whether they have done what are needed to make qualified and successful international class. Furthermore, through this research, the schools will also know the best ways to raise the students’ English comprehension and proficiency and their motivation to join international class.
4. This research is also expected to give a basic foundation about the implementation of CBI in the international class, so that this research will be helpful for those who want to conduct a deeper research on the same topic.
The researcher expects that this research will bring benefits to the researcher and the readers especially English teachers, the government especially the decision-makers in Indonesian Education Department and the schools which have already opened and run international classes in Indonesia, and also will bring clearer and more understandable explanation on the implementation of CBI in the international class.
G. Definition of Terms
The terms that are used in this research, namely international class, speaking, Content-Based Instruction or CBI, and SMA Negeri 3 Yogyakarta, are
1. International class or known as immersion program is described by Lightbown and Spada as they referred to Krashen (1984) as ‘communicative programs par excellence’ since the focus is almost exclusively on meaning through subject-matter instruction rather than on the form of the language itself (2000:431). In this study, international class refers to a specific class that is conducted by several schools decided by the government which has a speciality in conducting the teaching- learning activity by using English as the main language.
2. In this study, according to Bailey (as stated in Nunan, 2003: 48), speaking is the productive oral skill that deals with ability and the fluency of speaking English language in the real time situation.
3. In this study, Content-Based Instruction or CBI according to Brinton (in Nunan, 2003: 200) is learning the second language in the subject matter classroom through the content. It refers to an approach to second language teaching that teach around the content or the information that will be acquired by the students instead of teaching the linguistic.
4. SMA Negeri 3 Yogyakarta , in this study, is one of several state schools in Yogyakarta which have implemented International Class for several years in their teaching-learning activity.
The definitions that have been described above are expected to help the researcher to determine and understand the meaning of the terms that will be
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In this chapter, the researcher explains all the theories that the researcher
uses in conducting the research. This Review of Related Literature Chapter is divided into two sections, Theoretical Description and Theoretical Framework.
Theoretical Description describes all relevant theories that are used in the research, namely Content-Based Instruction or CBI, International Class, and Speaking Skill. The Theoretical Framework synthesizes all the major relevant theories to solve the research problems and relate all the theories to the research.
A. Theoretical Description
In this section, the theoretical description includes the fundamental theory of CBI, which becomes one of the main considerations in this research. Besides talking about CBI, this theoretical description discusses the nature of the international class itself, to give a clear insight about the object of the research.
The researcher also provides a theoretical description of the nature of English speaking skill and its teaching.
1. Content-Based Instruction
a. Background
According to Richard and Rodgers, Content-Based Instruction refers to the content or information that students will acquire, rather than around a linguistic or other type of syllabus.” (2001:204). Here, Content-Based Instruction does not teach the pattern or the strict rules of the language, but pays most attention to the context of where the language is used. Besides that, CBI also emphasizes on how this approach can help learners to understand the second or the foreign language from their daily-life situations.
CBI lies under the principles of Communicative Language Teaching that is well-known around 1980s. It believes that the ideal situation of learning second or foreign language is as a classroom that focuses on the real communication and enables learners to exchange the information; the subjects taught are more on contents, the subject matter from outside the domain. Hence, learners will learn broader life context and learn language as a by-product of learning about real- world content (Richard and Rodgers, 2001).
b. Principles
According to Richard and Rodgers (2001:207), CBI is formed into two central principles, namely: 1) People learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a means of acquiring information rather than as an end in itself. This first principle accommodates one motivation for CBI, to lead to more effective language learning.
2) CBI better reflects learners’ needs from learning a second language. This
ESL/EFL students is mainly for academic studies or mainstreaming. Hence, the main priority is to make the content of academic teaching- learning can be accessed as quickly as possible and also the processes through which such learning and teaching are realized.
These two principles will be used as the basic consideration in conducting the CBI class in deciding the materials, making a syllabus, and conducting the teaching-learning activities.
c. Theory of Language
According to Richard and Rodgers (2001: 207), there are numbers of theory about the nature of language that underlies CBI 1) Language is text- and discourse based.
CBI addresses the role of language as a vehicle for learning the content. It has implication on the centrality of linguistic entities longer than single sentences, because the focus of teaching is on how meaning and information are communicated and constructed through texts and discourse. CBI involves study of the textual and discourse structure of written texts such as letters, reports, essays, descriptions, book chapters, or of speech events like meetings, lectures, and discussions.
2) Language use draws on integrated skills.
CBI views language use as involving several skills together. In CBI class, learners are often involved in activities that link the skills, because this is how the skills are generally involved in the real world. 3) Language is purposeful.
In this theory, language is used for specific purposes which may be academic, vocational, social, or recreational. But the purpose gives direction, shape, and ultimately meaning to discourse and texts. For learners, in order to receive maximum benefit from CBI, they must get along clearly with its purposes and the language codes that signal and link the expressions of purpose. Language is potential to communicate meaning. In order to make the learners comprehend the content, teachers have to make some adjustments, modifications and simplifications that native speakers make in communicating with second language learners. The discourse that results from these simplifications is often referred to as “foreigner talk.” The modifications include simplification, well-formedness, explicitness, regularization, and redundancy (Stryker and Leaver, 1993 in Richard and Rodgers, 2001: 209).
In short, there are three items of theories about the nature of language which underlies CBI proposed by Richard and Rodgers (2001). All of the theories play the same strong influence in the implementation of CBI. The three theories are: language is text and discourse-based; language use draws on integrated skills;
d. Theory of Learning
Brinton, Snow & Wesche (1989: 17) stated that any kinds of CBI model that are being used
Share the fact that content is the point of departure or organizing principle of the course-a feature that grows out of the common underlying assumption that successful language learning occurs when students are presented with target language material in meaningful, contextualized form with the primary focus on acquiring information.
Second language is best learned when the focus is on mastery of content rather than on mastery of language. CBI thus stands in contrast to traditional approaches to language teaching in which language form is the primary focus of the syllabus and of classroom teaching.
One important effect from the core principles of CBI is that people learn a second language most successfully when the information they are acquiring is perceived as interesting, useful, and leading to a desired goal. If content with a high level of interest is chosen, learners may acquire the language more willingly.
Some content areas in CBI are becoming more useful as a basis for language learning that others and the students will learn in their best performance when the instruction addresses the students’ needs.
CBI stated as standing in contrast to traditional approaches since the second language in CBI is best learned when the principal focus in on the content mastery rather than language mastery. The theory also stated that the language acquisition in CBI will be successful when: some content areas are more useful as a basis for language learning than the others; students learn best when instruction addresses students’ needs; and that teaching builds on the previous experience of
e. Objectives and Types of Learning and Teaching Activities
An example of the objectives in CBI comes from the theme-based Intensive Language Course (ILC) at the Free University of Berlin. There are four objectives, linguistic, strategic, and cultural, identified for multi-themes programme (Brinton et al., 1989:32) 1) To activate and develop existing English language skills.
2) To acquire learning skills and strategies that could be applied in future language development opportunities.
3) To develop general academic skills applicable to university studies in all subject areas.
4) To broaden students’ understanding of English-speaking people.
For types of learning and teaching activities, Stoller (1997 in Richard and Rodgers, 2001: 212) provides a list of activities classified according to their instructional focus 1) Language skills improvement 2) Vocabulary building 3) Discourse organization 4) Communicative interaction 5) Study skills 6) Synthesis of content materials and grammar In designing the class which uses CBI, there are two principles that need to be acquired, the objectives and the types of teaching and learning activities. The example of making objectives in CBI can be seen from Free University of Berlin with four objectives in linguistics, strategic, and cultural. Stoller (1997) provides a list of activities to decide the types of learning and teaching activities, which are: language skills improvement; vocabulary building; discourse organization, communicative interaction, study skills, and synthesis of content materials and grammar.
f. The Role of Teacher and Learners
Stryker and Leaver (1993: 286, in Richard and Rodgers, 2001: 213) stated that the main objective of CBI is to create autonomous learners in order to “understand their own learning process and … take charge of their own learning from the very start. Richard and Rodgers then added that in CBI the learners are expected to support each other in their collaborative modes of learning (Richard and Rodgers, 2001: 213). Hence, it is clear that CBI encourages students to be autonomous and be able to cooperate with other students in order to gain a better understanding in the teaching-learning activities. In CBI, the learners learn something by really doing the thing. This assumption of learners role then is enhanced by Richard and Rodgers who stated that “learners are expected to be active interpreters of input, willing to tolerate uncertainty along the path of learning, willing to explore alternative learning strategies, and willing to seek multiple interpretations of oral and written texts” (Richard and Rodgers, 2001: 213).
The teachers or the instructors in CBI are expected to be more than just good language teacher. They have to be knowledgeable in the subject matter and also able to draw out that particular knowledge from their learners (Stryker and Leaver 1993:292, in Richard and Rodgers, 2001: 214). Therefore, the instructors in CBI are expected to make context and comprehensibility as the main concern in their teaching planning and execution, to become the need analysts for their students, to be responsible in selecting and adapting the authentic materials for teaching, and to create a real learner-centred class.
g. Comprehensible Input: Material and Delivery
Brinton defines CBI’s characteristic feature as “…the teaching of language through exposure to content that is interesting and relevant to the learners” (Brinton in Nunan, 2003: 201). The content itself has several purposes. One of them, it supplies a rich context for the language classroom, and allows the teacher to present and explain specific language features. The rich context that is stated by Brinton gets along with what Krashen (1985, in Nunan, 2003) stated as comprehensible input, the challenging language that is slightly above the current linguistic level of the students which provides the foundation for successful language acquisition, or usually referred as (i + 1). Making the materials higher than the students’ linguistic level will force the students to comprehend the linguistic competence and their knowledge of the world. In the international class, this comprehensible input will give reputable results for students in acquiring language that results in students’ achievement in obtaining the language.