Background of the Problem

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Problem

Vocational schools in Indonesia are career-oriented schools. Such schools provide particular departments related to the studen ts’ future career. The students are prepared to meet the demands of industrial, social, or even technological needs, depending on their desired department. The vocational schools should be able to provide future professionals who potentially contribute to the nation’s industrial, social, and technological improvement. Otherwise, the students who choose to attend such schools will tend to be those who do not perform well in academic subjects. English teaching in Indonesian vocational schools are, indeed, different from that of other high schools due to different goals. The Education and Culture Ministry of Indonesia develops different curriculum for both schools. The curriculum developed for vocational schools tends to contain more functional materials than the one developed for ordinary high schools. However, similar with the other kinds of high schools, English teaching here identifies four skills, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, as an integral aspect. In Godean State Vocational School 1 SMKN 1 Godean, English is taught to all departments offered in the school. The departments are Multimedia, Accounting, Office Administration, and Marketing Departments. In those departments’ future career, the students are going to face many English terms for sure, especially in this globalization era. The developing technology surely demands graduates which achieve a good command of English. English reading comprehension is about guessing or grasping meanings from texts. In teaching reading, sometimes it is confusing for the teachers whether they should meet the needs of the curriculum given or the real students’ future career. In other words, the teachers might concern on the pedagogical competence or communicative competence. Both ways, of course, might give different effects towards students’ motivation. Combining the two aspects is the best way a teacher could put on the top of their checklist. For some cases, reading comprehension is also about understanding instructions through texts. If the vocational school students are dealing well with comprehending information and instructions, they will not get hard times in meeting people expectation for their future career. Reading is often dealing with long texts. Unfortunately, many students get instantly bored just after their first sight when getting such texts. Moreover, their boredom easily leads them either into lost motivation or low awareness. Authentic material has the potential in keeping them from such destructions.

B. Problem Identification