commit to user
76
Second, in bilingual education, the students have better skills in learning English than other schools which only use one language as the medium of
instruction. During teaching learning activities, the teachers always gave the students material, either tasks or note, in English. They also tried to make
communication with their students in English. It showed that they were making every effort so that in the future the students are able to communicate in English
fluently and help them to cope with global competition and cooperation. Third, teachers in bilingual education are required to be creative and open
minded. It means that the teachers should avoid delivering the materials in conventional techniques. In International Standardized School, where the
researcher did the research, the teachers delivered the materials in English, so they attempted to make the materials interesting. Before the teacher gave the
explanation about the topic they taught, they asked the students to make a simple experiment or a simple practice about the topic. It was done to make the students
understand the concept of the topic that they had just learned. By doing this, the teacher expected the students to become active and enthusiastic in the teaching
learning activities. In choosing and giving materials, the teacher must be careful. Although the materials were taken from internet or international source, such as
My Pals text book from developed country Singapore, they must be suitable with the curriculum used and the students’ need.
b. The Weaknesses
Besides the strengths, there are also some weaknesses in implementing bilingualism in the teaching learning activities in the International Standardized
commit to user
77
School. First, bilingualism creates students’ confusion towards the lesson. When the teachers taught some materials in English, there were some students who still
did not understand what the teachers were teaching. It can be seen from the result of the survey that the researcher took 20 students randomly, 45 of the
respondents understood the material delivered in English, while 55 did not understand. It made the teachers to have to explain twice or three times until the
students understood. Second, bilingual education produces the low learning achievement of the
students. For the students who have the difficulty of understanding the material delivered in English, they should study hard by themselves to make a good mark
in any test or exercises. Based on the observation that the researcher did, when the teacher gave a simple quiz in English, where the material had been given from the
last meeting, most of the students got bad mark. Actually, the students understood the concept of the material for the quiz but they just did not know how to answer
the question in English. Third, teachers of bilingual class should be a bilingual person, who
masters Indonesian language and English well, but in fact the teachers still lack of using English in communicating with the students. The teachers did not pay
attention to the language the teacher and the students used. The teachers concerned more on the concept of material rather than on the language. It can be
seen from the observation, that the teachers did not correct the students’ utterances when the grammar was not correct. It is not appropriate since the
objective of this program is to produce the outcomes having international
commit to user
78
standard. If the students are expected to have international standard, they should pay attention to their language.
B. Discussion
In the research finding, the researcher discusses some research findings concerning with the implementation of bilingualism in the teaching learning
activities in International Standardized School, SD Negeri SBI Gemolong, which was observed from many dimensions. In order to justify the research finding, the
researcher discussed it with the other relevant references. In International Standardized School, teachers are required to use English
as the instructional language. It is not easy for the teachers to use English fully in delivering materials, so the teaching learning activities are conducted in bilingual
program. The bilingual program is using L1 Indonesian language and L2 foreign language “English” to learn content of subject matter, in this case
Mathematics and Science. In this research context, the teaching model which is carried out in the bilingual program is bilingual transitional education. When the
teachers taught the materials, they used partial English rather than full English. It is in line with Krashen 1997, who states that bilingual transitional education
shows the use of language partially. The longer time teachers use English, the greater amount of the vocabulary the students get.
Bilingual teaching in some subjects matter, Mathematics and Science, has purpose to prepare the students to have International standard and global
competitiveness ability. During the teaching learning activities, teachers taught the materials in English. They also gave the students tasks and note in English.