T1 112009114 Full text
TYPES AND PURPOSES OF ACTIVITIES IN TEYL CLASSES IN SATYA
WACANA CHILDREN CENTER
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
112009114
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
TYPES AND PURPOSES OF ACTIVITIES IN TEYL CLASSES IN SATYA
WACANA CHILDREN CENTER
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
112009114
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
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TYPES AND PURPOSES OF ACTIVITIES IN TEYL CLASSES IN SATYA
WACANA CHILDREN CENTER
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
112009114
Approved by:
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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or
accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my
knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any
other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2013 Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati and Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika, M.A
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati:
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Name
: Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
Student ID Number
: 112009114
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: English Language Teaching Department
Faculty
: Language and Literature
Kind of Work
: Undergraduate Thesis
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Types and Purposes of Activities in TEYL Classes in Satya Wacana Children Center
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TYPES AND PURPOSES OF ACTIVITIES IN TEYL CLASSES IN SATYA
WACANA CHILDREN CENTER
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
ABSTRACT
Children tend to play everytime and everywhere they get a chance to do it. They
cannot help themselves to keep sitting and listening. Instead, they like moving
around and playing. Therefore, the kindergarten teachers should be creative in
providing activities. The fact that not many researchers provided the information
about the kinds of activities and the need of each activity for Teaching English for
Young Learners (TEYL) led the researcher to do this research and probe the
information from it. This research attempted to describe the kinds of activities and
their purposes in TEYL classes in Satya Wacana Children Center (SWCC),
Salatiga, Central Java. The participants of the study were two groups of students
of Bloomers and Blossoms classes in SWCC and two teachers. The data for this
descriptive study were collected from ten classroom observations and ten semistructured interviews with the teachers. The analysis of the data showed that there
were nine activities including coloring pictures, singing and dancing, drilling the
vocabulary, identifying pictures, performing role-play, watching movies, telling
stories, making art and craft, and using movements with their own purposes for
each activity.
Key words: teaching activities, teaching young learners, young learners, teaching
English.
INTRODUCTION
In Indonesia, English is considered as a foreign language. Nowadays, since English is
getting more important, many people want to know English. That is why many parents send
their children to schools which offer English, so that their children will be exposured to
English since early age. Based on Scott and Ytreberg (1998) cited in Setiawan (2009), young
learners are defined as children whose age was between five and ten.
Slattery and Willis (2001) cited in Puspani (2011) states that when learning a
language, children have at least six apparent characters. Firstly, they learn in a variety of
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ways by watching, listening, imitating or doing things. Secondly, they try to make sense of
situations by making use of non-verbal clues. Next, they can imitate sounds they hear quite
accurately and copy the way adults speak. Then, they are curious about anything they see,
hear, watch and smell. After that, they love playing and using their imagination. In addition,
they read simple and simplified English stories, such as comics, fairy tales, etc. As a result, it
also differs the way the teacher should teach them.
Bardakçı (2011) explains that teaching young learners differs from teaching teenagers
and adults in terms of their needs, expectations, learning style and strategies, interests,
psychological and cognitive development. Young learners are considered as kinesthetic
learners. Thus, they can easily get bored, and lose interest. They do not like sitting and
listening to their teacher all the time. If they enjoy the lesson, they will show it, but if they do
not, they will express this directly. Therefore, teachers can keep going on or change the
method they are using.
Research has demonstrated that teaching English for young learners requires different
activities than teaching English to adults. Cameron (2003) points out that teachers of
young learners need to understand how young children learn, must have English language
competence, should be able to motivate children to learn English, and be prepared to
teach early literacy in English. One of the optimal conditions for helping young children
learn is the recognition that for children, learning is active and experiential.
In teaching, it is obvious that the teacher must find out suitable activities for young
learners to match their need and make the learning process easier so that young learners can
comprehend and produce the language. Brown (2001) cited in Bardakci (2011) claims that
children can also concentrate on something if the things are interesting for them. Teachers
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can do various activities to keep their interests and attentions alive, such as singing, moving,
coloring pictures, etc.
Based on explanation above, it can be inferred that creating interesting activities is
important in teaching English for young learners. The fact that not many researchers
discussed about the activities and the purposes of each activities used to TEYL led the
researcher to do the research. I was wondering to seek the answer of my research question. It
was “What are the types and the purposes of activities in TEYL classes?” This research was
conducted in Satya Wacana Children Center and aimed to describe the types and purposes of
activities in TEYL classes
From this study, I as a researcher comprehend the types of activities in TEYL classes
and their purposes. This research could be useful for kindergarten teachers in TEYL through
kinds of activities, may provide the information of using the activities and their purposes. So,
the teacher may be more aware about the way they teach English to young learners through
the activities. The result of this research may suggest other questions for further research on
children activities and the approach or method of teaching. In my point of view, this research
may lead the teachers to reconsider the activities used in the classes and their purposes.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Since English has taken an important role in globalization, nowadays many
kindergartens tend to start introducing English to the children in their classes. Many parents
also want to send their children to the kindergarten which offers English so that the children
would be exposured with English from the very first time. Thus, TEYL classes are getting
popular. According to Edmonson (1999), young children are children of five to twelve years
old. After that, Phillips (2006) as cited in Puspani (2011) states, young learners refers to
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children of the first year of formal schooling (five or six years old) to eleven or twelve years
of age.
The question is how to teach English for the young learners since young learners have
their own characteristics compared to the adults. From the point of view in English teaching,
TEYL is complex as teaching adults and adolescents because children have their own
uniqueness. Therefore, there are many things to be considered, and need to be understood by
a teacher before he/she is able to teach children (Cameron, 2001 cited in Atmaja, 2007)
Characteristics of Young Learners
In order to create better ways in TEYL, teachers have to realize the ability of children.
Firstly, children have an ability to learn something new easily by imitating what other people
of society do, such as their daily activities, or special skill and then develop it into more
complex stuff that may be useful for their future progress (Baldwin, 2000 cited in Atmajaya,
2007). It is widely known that the children are so good at imitating. They can imitate what
they see and hear. Based on Cameron (2001) cited in Gonca (2009), the children are
enthusiastic and lively. In addition, the children learn best through hands-on activities.
Children learn best by doing things. As Scott and Ytreberg (1990) cited in Gonca (2009)
states that they gain the understanding through hands, eyes, and ears. The physical world is
dominant at all times. Art and craft activities, brightly coloured visuals, toys, puppets and
TPR activities, which help them to concentrate on the class well, must be a part of the
language classroom.
The second, children have an ability to learn such complex structure of language fast.
Malia Kneezek (1997) has an example of this fact. Starting from just crying and babling,
baby then immitates what olders try to speak. Finally, baby can speak. By the age around
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three or four years old, they are already able to arrange various words in a conversation and
speak fluently in their mother tongue. After that, they are still developing. Thus, the teacher‟s
responsibility is to help them realize the huge potential in a wide range of intelligences
through activities, materials, and situations in the classroom. Children are happy to study
when their natural set of intelligences are tapped into. Also, teachers should appeal to their
uniqueness and preferences and present the language through various materials.
The third characteristic is children can learn the language naturally. The children
simply pick up the language and use it. They can learn everything naturally through their
behaviorism act as well as the fact that children are more enthusiastic and lively as learners.
Robert Bley-Vroman, one of the major proponents of this position, explains that children
acquire language naturally because they still have access to their Universal Grammars (UG).
That means since the language shares the same pattern, children can produce sentences they
have never heard before.
The forth characteristic is the children have short attention span. Children cannot keep
their concentration centered on boring things that are always repeated for the whole hour, and
once they reach the maximum limit of their boredom, they will start either feeling sleepy or
playing around (Kneezek,1997). In addition, children tend to be active and like to play
around.
The fifth characteristic is the children have simple mindedness. They often focus on
one object or feature of a problem at a time. Teachers may have noticed that when a two-to
four-year old child is sorting blocks of different shapes, and colors, he will sort them by
colors rather than by color and shape. For example, he stacks all the blue triangles, squares,
and circles together and all the red triangles, squares , and circle together. He has focused on
one feature of the blocks. So, the children can just focus on one aspect and cannot divide their
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focus on two. Knowing that fact, the teacher must find out the suitable way to teach English
for young learners in order to match their need and make the learning process easier so that
the young learners can comprehend and produce the language.
Comprehension-based Activities
Gordon (2007) stated that there are some effective comprehension-based activities
implemented with young language learners. At the comprehension-based activities, helping
children understand language becomes the focus of instruction. It means that by placing
emphasis on comprehension in the beginning level classroom, teachers act very much act like
caretakers who talk to babies and do not expect first words to start emerging until many
months later.
The first activity in the comprehension-based activities is Total Physical Response
Approach/TPR. Language teachers who use the TPR provide directions to students while
language learners respond by performing relevant actions. In the TPR approach, the activities
can be TPR songs and games. The songs used are like „Head Shoulder Knees and Toes‟,
„Hokey Pokey‟ or „Simon Says‟. Meanwhile in TPR games, the games are „Clap and Snap‟,
„Don‟t Let it drop‟, „Preposition Gymnastic‟, and „Edible or Inedible?‟. The second activity
after TPR songs and games is directed drawing where children here create pictures that
follow the teacher‟s directions, such as „Weather Forecast‟, „A Chalk Monster‟, and „A
Funny Face‟. The third one is TPR pantomime which the students can participate fully. It
represents various events that range from going to the beach or walking around the
neighborhood to morning or bedtime activities.
The second activity is guessing. In a language guessing game, the teacher describes an
object, person, or phenomenon and, after that, children try to identify the item. The games
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can be „Mystery Voice‟, „What‟s Missing‟, „Guess Who It Is‟, „Guess How Many‟, „Treasure
Box‟, and „Peek-a-Boo Stories‟. This game actually can provide comprehensible input to
language learners at the preproduction and the low-emergent proficiency levels.
The relationship between these activities and children‟s characteristics is the activities
can match with the children characteristics. Since Gonca (2009) says that children are
physically active, the activities also have to be able to make children physically active and
keep their interest alive. So, these activies such as TPR and guessing games which mostly use
movements can support children in learning English.
Research findings
According to the research conducted by Puspani (2011) the students‟ performance of
speaking after being taught using folktale through retelling the stories using flashcard was
improved. It shows that more students have improved in their speaking grade achievement
through one kind of activity, such as retelling the story using folktale.
Another research finding conducted by Griva and Semoglou (2012) shows that
activities are effective for the enhancement of young children‟s oral skills in the target
language. The physical activities, question and answer techniques, role play games,
constructions or drawings become an appealing teaching „tool‟ which promotes cooperation,
collaboration, and contributes to the development of foreign language skills, as well as
emotional and social skills. They provided the children with a rich experience of language
use through their having to listen to instructions and rules of the games and interacting with
their classmates. On the other hand, those kinds of activities help the young learners a lot to
acquire English and make the learning process much more interesting and fun. These kinds of
activities meet the students‟ characteristics like what Cameron (2003) explained that learning
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for children is active and experiential. Thus, this connection between the activities and the
children‟s characteristic could support the children in learning English.
THE STUDY
Method of Research
This study aimed to describe the types and purposes of activities in TEYL classes.
Since the study was descriptive, observations and interviews were used to conduct the
research. Ten observations were carried out in Satya Wacana Children Center, specifically
located in Salatiga, Central Java, in two different classes, Bloomers and Blossoms, in order to
capture the types of activities used in classes. Ten interviews with the teachers were done to
probe information about the purposes of doing the activities. The reason I conducted the
research in SWCC was because the school used bilingual language and provided many
various activities which could be good references for other schools. Meanwhile, the reason I
chose Blossoms and Bloomers was because their age range was suitable to become the
participants of my thesis.
Participants
The participants of this study were two teachers and two classes of kindergarten
students in the 2012-2013 academic year. In one class, there were around twenty students.
Since there were two classes, the number of the students were around forty students. The
reason I chose these classes was because the ages of the students ranged from four to seven
years old which was suitable to be the participants of my thesis.
Data Collection
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The research started in January, 2013. The research lasted for about four weeks.
Firstly, twenty students of Bloomers class were observed four times and around twenty
students of Blossoms class were observed six times during their lesson. Each observation
lasted for fourty-five minutes. A digital camera was used to record the teaching learning
activities in the classes. Then, I took notes about the kinds of activities and arranged the
questions based on the types of activities. The questions were about the purposes of doing
such activities and the importance of those purposes for TEYL. Secondly, in order to probe
information about the purposes of using activities in TEYL classes, semi-structured
interviews using MP4 with the teachers in every class were done. After that, I transcribed it
for data analysis.
Data Analysis Procedure
The first step in data analysis was transcribing and analizing the data. Then, I
classified the data based on the coding related to the types and purposes of teaching activities
in the classes. I classified those into groups of responses according to the main ideas of the
questions (Lynch, 1996, pp. 142-143). From the observation, I identified the types of the
activities used, and from the interview I identified the purposes of the activities used. I
interpreted the data classifications through descriptive written explanation (Lynch, 1996,
p.147).
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This section presents the analysis of data which has been divided into two parts. Part
one is the types of the activities and part two is the purposes of each activity used by
kindergarten teachers. I elaborated the data based on my interpretation after observations and
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interviews. The observations and interviews revealed some activities. Each activity had its
own purposes related to the goal of the lesson being taught.
A. Coloring the pictures
From ten observations I conducted, the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 10th observations
showed that the teachers used coloring activities. The coloring pictures were usually done at
the end of the lesson,for example, identifying the pictures or choosing the right pictures. Then
they colored the pictures on their worksheet. In one occasion, the students were asked to
color the pictures of certain fruits. They were asked to color based on the actual color of the
fruits to study the various colors of the fruits. Based on the interviews I did, there were six
purposes of the coloring pictures activity. Below are the explanation of each purpose.
A.1. Promote students‟ motivation.
Promoting motivation for young learners is essential since such motivation leads
young learners to be eager in learning English. Without motivation, young learners have no
courage to learn the language. In the interview, the teacher said,
1. Nah, kadang kalau lewat mewarnai anak anak dibangunkan lagi moodnya, seperti
itu..
Sometimes through coloring the pictures, the students could boost their mood.
2. Karena sebagai ya betul, karena mood anak tetap terjaga karena kalau mereka harus
menulis terus, atau menulis, lalu menyilang, terus menjodohkan seperti itu, itu juga
membuat mereka capai.
It is to keep the children‟s good mood because if they have to keep writing or
crossing, then matching in the worksheet, it can make them tired.
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3. Iya, otomatis kalau misalnya mood mereka stabil, mereka dalam kondisi yang
bagus, otomatis apa yang kita sampaikan khan anak anak bisa menerima dengan
enak, seperti itu.
Yes, if the children‟s mood is good, they are in the good mood to study. Then, they
could automatically understand what we teach.
As revealed in the interviews, the students were asked to color the pictures at the end
of the class after they got the lesson. The teachers believed that coloring pictures was
effective to boost the children‟s mood. If they were in a good mood, they would understand
the lesson easily. The importance of motivation in learning English for young learners is
described by Cameron (2003). She pointed that teachers of young learners need to understand
how young children learn, must have English language competence, should be able to
motivate children to learn English, and be prepared to teach early literacy in English.
A.2. Develop student‟s imagination.
Developing the student‟s imagination is useful in learning English for young learners
since they love playing and using their imagination. Through their imagination, young
learners learn the language more easily. The explanation of this purpose could be found out in
their interviews with the teachers who said,
4. Yang pertama untuk membangun imajinasi anak, mereka apply karena setiap Senin
ada drawing,
The first purpose is to build children‟s imagination since there is drawing every
Monday.
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As mentioned above, by coloring the pictures, the children could develop their
imagination. The need to develop children‟s imagination in learning English is also discussed
in Slattery and Wilis (2001) cited in Puspani (2011) who states that one of the children‟s
apparent characteristic is that they love playing and doing imagination. Therefore, the activity
aimed to develop imagination through coloring as the technique. This technique was done by
teacher in this study.
A.3. Avoid boredom
Avoiding boredom is important for young learners in learning the language since it
means that the children doesn‟t feel bored. Instead, they feel enthusiastic and such
enthusiasm will lead them to be more motivated in learning English. Based on the interview
for the observation number 1, 3, and 5, I found out that one of the purposes of using the
coloring pictures activity is to avoid boredom. Below are some explanation from kindergarten
teachers about the purpose of such an activity.
5. Pertama, anak anak tidak bosan, tidak banyak bercerita, kadang kadang kalau anak,
uhm..tidak banyak omong.
Firstly, children would not be bored easily, talk to friends, and sometimes talk too
much.
6. Kita mengusahakan bagaimana menciptakan suasana belajar anak tidak monoton,
tidak Cuma pisang, banana..
We try to create the comfortable learning condition so that it would not be
monotonous. It is not only banana means pisang.
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7. Jadi, salah satu mewarnai itu adalah salah satu activitas kita pakai supaya anak anak
tidak merasa bosan seperti itu. Mungkin banyak menulis, banyak mengerjakan.
Jadi, kita sisipkan coloring, seperti itu
So, coloring is an activity we use so that the children would not feel bored. Maybe,
there are more writings and more doing worksheets. So, we can put the coloring
activity in between.
The teacher believed that from the activity, the students would not be bored because
coloring was one of the fun activities that the children like to do. They felt bored if the
activities were only writing, completing the worksheet, etc. So, the teachers added the
coloring pictures as an additional activity to make the students interested in learning English.
The importance of avoiding boredom is also explained by Bardakci (2011). He said that
young learners are considered as kinesthetic learners. They can easily bored, and lose their
interest. Thus, the teacher shoud be able to find the way so that the children can avoid their
boredom and understand the lesson.
A.4. Trigger the student‟s concentration
The teachers believed that by using the coloring activity, it increased the student‟s
concentration that would be useful to learn English.
8. Lebih ke konsentrasi anak ya? Semakin anak anak..ehm..ada waktunya anak anak
berbicara, ada waktunya anak anak nggak, jadi mereka nggak banyak omong
mereka sibuk dengan kegiatan.
It is more on children‟s concentration, right? There is time when children may talk,
and there is time they cannot. So, they could talk less because they are busy in
doing their activities.
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The teacher believed, since they were doing something fun such as coloring, their
concentration would be attracted to such an activity. The children were busy and concentrated
with their coloring in the class and at the same time they concentrated about the English
learning since they had to color up the pictures related to the topic being discussed in the
class. Hence, the coloring was important in triggering the student‟s concentration, so that they
would understand the material. The relation between activity and concentration is also stated
by Brown (2001) cited in Bardakci (2011) that children can also concentrate on something as
long as an adult can if the things are interesting for them. Thus, teachers did various activities
to keep the students‟ interest and attention alive. By grabbing their concentration on what
they are learning, surely it makes the learning process goes well and easier for the children.
A.5. Build the student‟s comprehension
As the kindergarten teachers said in the 3rd, 4th, and 10th interviews that the teacher
believed that the coloring activity was useful to build the student‟s comprehension since
through the fun activity, the coloring activity, was easier for the children to understand the
lesson. Below are some teachers‟ opinions about such activity :
9. Tetapi ketika mereka harus beranjak ke level yang lebih tinggi, paling tidak untuk
TK kecil, itu anak anak harus diperkenalkan dengan konsep warna buah itu
seperti apa. Jadi, pemahaman anak tentang konsep warna buah itu sudah bisa
didapat seperti jeruk. Jeruk itu warnanya apa, oranye.
But, when they have to go up to the higher level, the children have to be
introduced with many kinds of fruits‟ colors. So, they could understand about the
fruits‟ color, for example, orange has orange color.
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10. Iya, mengerti konsep warna itu dari coloring. Kemudian, bisa kita tingkatkan
dalam pemakaiannya, bisa kita kaitkan misalnya antara pemakaian warna dan
benda. Red chair, jadi anak anak bisa, oke, get the red chair, nanti anak anak akan
ambil kursi yang warna merah.
Yes, they would understand about the color through coloring. Then, we could
apply it in daily life, for example, when we say „ok, get the red chair‟, then they
would understand and get the chair which has the red color.
While coloring the pictures and being attracted to that kind of activity, the children
learnt about the color‟s name in English and also fitted in the color with the object, for
example the fruit‟s color. They knew that grape‟s color is purple, so they colored the pictures
with purple. It is how the children can comprehend the lesson by coloring the pictures. The
relation between coloring the pictures and comprehension is also said by Gonca (2009). He
said that children may learn more effectively through pictures, spatial images, hands-on
activities and movement.
B. Singing and dancing
In the second observation, singing and dancing were done in the kindergarten. The
students together with the teacher sang together about some English songs and used some
gestures and did some movements as well. The teacher used TPR approach and some of the
songs were „Hokey Pokey‟, „Tea Pot‟, etc and the students were supposed to respond the
song by performing relevant actions. Based on the second interview, the purposes of singing
and dancing are as follow.
B.1. Develop the relationship and togetherness among the students.
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Based on Gordon ( 2007), a friendly environment is essential for successful second
language learning. Such an idea went hand in hand with what was mentioned by the teacher
below.
11. Jadi tujuannya untuk mendekatkan satu sama lain, kemudian menyatukan mereka,
seperti itu. Membangun suasana yang akrab, yang hangat, iya, untuk memulai
suatu aktivitas.
So, the purposes are to make them closer to each other and to unite them. In order
to start the activity, we are trying to create a comfortable situation.
The teacher believed that singing a song together while dancing or doing some
movements or using gestures would develop the relationship and the togetherness among the
students. She believed that by creating the togetherness among the students, the learning
process would be condusif since the situation was warm and fun. The importance of
developing the relationship and togetherness among the students is also said by Stephen
Krashen hypothesis cited in Gordon (2007). He said that if people are exposed to a second
language, they will inevitably pick up the language provided by the new language and an
emotional barrier created by fear, tension, boredom, or lack of interest is not present. He
refers to that negative emotional barriers under the name of affective filter. From here I can
conclude that a classroom with a low affective filter provides an optimal language-teaching
environment that can support the learning process.
B.2. Enrich the vocabulary.
The teacher believed that songs could be used as vocabulary input since there were
many vocabulary items inside it. And through fun activity such as singing, the students learnt
English more easily. Below are what she said about this purpose :
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12. Kemudian, yang kedua mengajarkan vocabulary, jadi lewat lagu itu kita bisa
belajar vocab, seperti itu.
Then, the second purpose is to teach the vocabulary. So, through songs we can
learn the vocabulary items.
13. Kemudian belajar termasuk cara kerja sesuatu. Khan itu khan procedure juga
khan, seperti itu.
Then, they learn about how something works. So, we can include the procedure.
14. Belajar bagian apa namanya bagian tubuh juga, kemudian apa namanya, dirction
juga khan, kiri kanan, seperti itu.
They also learn about the body parts, giving directions, and so on.
The teacher used Total Physical response (TPR). Based on Brown (1994) cited in Sari
(2009) that TPR is based on the theory that memory could improve through association with
physical movement. It means, the children will be able to memorize easily when their teacher
teaches them to use not only verbal language, but also use gestures or movements.
B.3. Build the student‟s comprehension
The teacher believed songs and movements could help the students to understand the
meaning or the idea of a song. For example, they sang about the tea pot while moving their
two hands as if they were handle and the tea pot‟s mouth. Then, they sang about how to pour
the water from the tea pot while describing it through their movements as well. Below is the
explanation from the teacher on how songs and movements built the student‟s
comprehension.
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15. Kemudian ditambah lagi dengan gerakan gerakan itu sangat membantu anak anak
untuk memahami apa yang lagu itu sampaikan.
Then, we add the body movements that help the children a lot to understand the
meaning of the songs.
The teacher believed it could be the strength of this activity that the students could
grasp clearly meaning by performing the action since such an activity belongs to TPR. The
relationship between TPR and building the comprehension is also stated by Gordon (2007)
that TPR enables language learners to develop a better grasp of word meaning. Rather than
the teacher mention the words and translate into Bahasa Indonesia, through TPR to perform
action and manipulate objects, the students learn the meaning of the words by experiencing
them in their real life without a need to be explained by the teacher.
B.4. Avoid boredom
The teachers believed that singing and dancing activity can avoid boredom for the
children since they moved around and had fun together, so that their enthusiasm kept alive
and it would help the children acquire the target language for the final goal. Below is her
explanation.
16. Dibandingkan dengan belajar di kelas mungkin sedikit menjemukan karena kalau
menyanyi itu khan anak anak riang, jadi suasananya riang..
Compared to studying inside the class that may be boring, singing activity could
make the children happy and the situation would be cheerful as well.
Honig (1995) and Williams (1998) claims that singing can be a powerful means of
teaching young learners since singing allows them to have fun and move around, reveal
18
enthusiastic and delight feelings while singing, so that the children are likely to join in.
Starting from keep their ethusiastic alive, the children would not feel bored.
B.5. Promote students‟ motivation.
The teacher believed that by singing and dancing or doing movements, the children
would be eager to learn English. The children felt that the situation would be condusif, fun
and interesting since the children could sing while moving around together.
17. Suasana yang dibangun lebih enak, seperti itu. Anak anak lebih, iya betul, anak
anak lebih semangat, seperti itu.
The mood would be better and the children would be more motivated.
The teacher believed that through singing while doing movements could create the
relaxing atmosphere that later can make the students motivated. The relation between the
relaxing atmosphere and the effectiveness of learning English is also said by Klancar (2006).
He said it is crucial to get a positive and relaxing atmosphere for gaining maximum results in
teaching and learning process.
C. Drilling the vocabulary
The third activity found out in the 3rd and 7th activity was drilling the vocabulary.
The teacher would mention particular vocabulary items related to the topic and the students
repeated after him/her. It was done continuously so that the students would be familiar with
such vocabulary items. This kind of activity had some purposes according to the kindergarten
teacher as follow:
C.1. Enrich the vocabulary
19
The teachers believed that by repeating particular words the students were able to
memorize the words related to the topic discussed. From such memorization, it would enrich
the student‟s vocabulary. Below are the explanation from the kindergarten teachers.
18. Jadi, masuk ke vocab juga ya seperti itu, jadi drilling itu untuk pembendaharaan
vocab juga, pemahaman konsep tentang vocab.
So, the drilling can be helpful for enriching the vocabulary items or the concept
about vocabulary items.
19. Mungkin selain pronounciation juga sebagai pengucapan yang berulang ulang itu,
penggunaan yang berkali kali yang berulang ulang itu lama lama istilahnya khan
anak anak terbiasa dengan konsep itu, dengan kata itu.
Maybe beside pronunciation, the children would get used to those words and
memorize the words as we mention them so often.
According to Larsen-Freeman (2000), there are several techniques that closely
associated with Audio Lingual Method and one of them is repetition drill. Repetition drill is a
technique which the students are asked to repeat the teacher‟s model as accurately and
quickly as possible. The teacher says a word from a vocabulary list under a certain topic and
then the students repeat it. Thus, from getting used to repeat particular words, the students
would gain more new vocabulary items and remember them.
C.2. Develop the student‟s pronunciation level
It was clearly seen that the purpose of drilling the vocabulary was also to develop the
student‟s pronunciation because the children know how to pronounce words in English
correctly from the teacher.
20
20. Itu jadi tujuannya memang untuk bagaimana mengucapkan vocab itu dengan
benar.
So, the purpose is indeed to let children know how to pronounce the words
correctly.
The relation between doing repetition and developing the pronunciation level is
explained by Slattery and Willis (2001) cited in Puspani (2011). They said that one of six
apparent characteristics the children have in order to learn the target language is that they can
imitate sounds they hear quite accurately and copy the way adults speak.
D. Identifying pictures
From the observation number 1, 4, 9, and 10, it was found out that the activity was
identifying pictures. The teacher explained about a story first. After that, the students were
asked to choose the pictures by putting a tick on the right pictures, or drawing circle on them
based on what the teacher told about. Below are the purposes of identifying pictures.
D.1. Build the student‟s comprehension.
By identifying the pictures which began with telling the story related to the topic, the
teacher believed such an activity could build the student‟s comprehension since it would lead
the students to know and decide which is the good one and the bad one.
21. Owh, oke..itu lagi lagi kita juga mengajarkan tentang konsep neat and clean. Neat
and clean itu rapi dan bersih. Nah, dari gambar itu anak anak bisa
membandingkan mana yang rapi dan bersih, anak anak bisa memilih gambar
mana yang bersih, anak anak bisa tahu. Ini miss gambar yang A, anak anak bisa
melingkari gambar itu dan dikasih warna.
21
Here, we also teach about the concept of being neat and clean. „Neat and clean‟
means in Bahasa Indonesia „rapi dan bersih‟. Well, from those pictures, the
children could choose which one is clean and which one is neat. The children can
give circle the correct pictures and color them.
22. Nah, dari situ khan anak anak jadi tahu, yang mana yang baik, which one is nice,
which one is not nice.
Well, from those kind of activities, the children can know which one is nice,
which one is not.
By seeing the differences and comparing the pictures, the teachers believed it could be
helpful for the students to understand the material being taught. The relation between
identifying pictures and the comprehension is also discussed by Harmer (2001) cited in Sari
(2009). Pictures are one of the teaching materials specifically in visual material. He said that
most learners are visual minded, so activites relating to the picture are a great assistance in
teaching.
D.2. Enrich the student‟s vocabulary.
This school is a bilingual school and the teachers use English in teaching. Also, the
students got the vocabulary items from the picture, for example if the picture contained the
fan picture which was set „off‟ or „on‟, then they would know the difference between those
two words since the teachers translated that in Bahasa Indonesia „off‟ means „mati‟ and „on‟
means „menyala‟ . Then, the teacher taught about „turn off‟ and „turn on‟ based on the
pictures and the information on it and translated the meaning of them. Below are their
explanations.
23. Selamanya mengajarnya pakai bahasa Inggris pasti vocab.
22
As long as we teach in English, we automatically teach the vocabulary items.
24. Coba dilihat alatnya itu apa, jadi mereka harus tahu lagi, turn on dan turn off.
Kalau turn on, berarti hidup khan, kalau turn off berarti dimatikan, atau memang
sudah mati, nah, dari situ anak anak jadi tahu.
Then, they would know the meaning of „turn on‟ and „turn off‟. „Turn on‟ means
in Bahasa Indonesia „menyalakan‟, „turn off‟ means in Bahasa Indonesia
„mematikan‟. So, through the activities, the children would understand.
Thus, identifying picture can enrich the student‟s vocabulary items because the
teacher gave the meaning in every words written in every picture on their worksheet. It is in
line with what Zacharias (2002) said that L1 can provide a quick and accurate translation
and explanation of English words.
E. Performing role-play.
From the interview number 4, the next activity was performing short play. The
teacher asked the students to perform a particular role-play in front of the class, for example
about the worker‟s community. Then, the students acted out as if they were a doctor, a driver,
a teacher, etc. They used words related to particular job they were acted in English. The
teacher had some purposes as mentioned below.
E.1. Enrich the vocabulary.
As the teacher said, it was obviously clear that performing role-play would enrich the
student‟s vocabulary because they were not only accept the input from the others but also to
produce some output since they had to speak to run their role. The students would gain some
23
new vocabulary items from their friends and also the teacher related to the topic being
discussed.
25. Uhm...mungkin itu bisa ke yang tadi itu, bisa pemahaman vocab. Meskipun dari
hal yang sangat simple.
It can enrich the vocabulary items, although through the very simple things.
The students who performed role-play as the doctor would acquire the new words
related to the health field. It went the same for the driver job, then the students learned about
mechanic words. The relation between role-play and enriching the vocabulary is clearly
uttered by Gordon (2007). Role-play activities can be effective for investigating and learning
the vocabulary items on natural and social sciences.
E.2. Increase the student‟s pronunciation level.
Since the students produced some output, they spoke, then it could increase the
student‟s pronunciation level. They are not only as the receiver of what the teacher said, but
also being actively involved in speaking English in the class. Learning by speaking has the
greater chance for the students to develop their pronunciation from the earlier stage and will
be benefit in learning English. Below is the explanation from the teacher.
26. Kemudian pronounce, anak anak jadi tahu, seperti itu.
Then, the children would know how to pronounce it.
As the teacher said, the teacher believed that by learning English through speaking
could enhance the pronunciation level for the children. It is in line with the research finding
conducted by Griva and Semoglou (2012) that shows activities such as role-play are effective
for the enhancement of young children‟s oral skills in the target language.
24
E.3. Avoid boredom.
Based on Gordon (2007), such an activity can be described as virtual visual materials
that evolve in real time. Thus, in this research the students used their imagination to act like
what they wanted, such as a doctor, a teacher, etc. From the imagination that was alive, the
teacher believed the students could keep their interest since they love playing and using their
imagination. Since their interest kept alive, the students felt less bored.
The relation between avoiding boredom and the learning process based on Atmaja (
2009) is that children cannot keep their concentration centered on boring things that are
always repeated for a whole hour, and once they reach the maximum limit of their boredom,
they will start either feeling sleepy or playing around and it will become an obstacle in
learning process. It is because the children have short attention span (Wright, 1984). They
cannot stand on thinking and thinking again due to this limitation. So, the teacher used this
activity to avoid the student‟s boredom.
E.4. Promote motivation in learning English
From the observation, it could be inferred that performing role-play could promote
motivation in learning English. The relationship between role-play and promoting the
student‟s motivation is also stated by Slattery and Willis (2001) cited in Puspani (2011). They
says that one of the students‟ apparent characteristics in learning the target language is they
learn in a variety ways by watching, listening, imitating or doing things. By imitating the
particular job and doing the short play, surely it makes the students motivated in learning
English.
Additionally, Gordon (2007) states that role-plays give children an opportunity to use
language in interactive situations and to receive language input as well as produce language
25
output. By giving an interactive situation, the students is eager to learn English. Moreover,
based on him, role-plays enable children to envision and experience occurences and contexts
that are removed from their day-to-day lives. Based on Slattery and Willis (2001) cited in
Puspani (2011),they mentioned that the nature of children is love playing and using their
imagination. The connection between their characteristic and the role-plays can promote their
motivation in learning English.
E.5. Build the student‟s comprehension
In this research, one of the purposes of playing short-play was to make the student
understand about the topic, especially in the social studies. They would understand how to
behave or to differenciate between bad behaviours and good behaviours since the children
need to develop their intelligence. The teacher believed by acting it out, it helped the students
to understand more easily.
27. Nah, dari situ, dari peragaan seperti itu, kita mengajarkan anak jadi ini lho, kalau
jadi temen itu jangan seperti ini, jadi kayak kucing dan tikus, nggak pernah akur,
selalu berantem. Tetapi kalau kita berteman itu harus yang berbagi. Jadi kita
memberikan pemahaman anak anak seperti itu juga.
Well, from the act we teach the children how to behave, don‟t be like cat and
mouse who cannot get along well. But, we have to share with our friends. So, we
give the understanding for the children like that.
The teacher believed that learning by doing is a good method for the children to gain
the comprehension because the children tended to use procedural memory according to the
Georgetown University Study. The relation between doing role-play which immitates the
26
particular job and English comprehension is in line with Baldwin (2000) cited in Atmaja
(2007) saying that children can learn easily by imitating what other people of society do.
F. Watching Movies
As the teacher said in the interview number 4, the students watched the particular
movie, usually in the social studies. At the end, together with the teacher, the students
discussed about the story and the social value behind the story. Through this kind of activity,
the teacher had some aims as follow :
F.1. Enrich the vocabulary.
It was clearly seen that they would gain some new vocabulary items from the movies
they watched since the movies used English language. Below is the teacher‟s explanation.
28. Kalau itu mungkin lebih ke vocab ya, karena input itu. Iya, betul..lebih ke
eksplore vocab, seperti itu.
It is more for the vocabulary items, because the children get the input. Well, it is
like exploring the vocabulary.
The teacher believed that by watching movies, the children could gain some new
vocabulary items although actually they did it unconsiously. It is line with what Harmer
(2001) cited in Sari (2009) said that the children generally display an ethusiasm in learning
and curiosity about new words they have just heard while learning.
F.2. Stimulate the student‟s participation in the class.
27
The teachers believed that participation is important in learning English since by
participating in the class, the children could gain the understanding in English learning
process. Below is the teacher‟s explanation.
29. Jadi, anak anak juga mulai punya opini. Jadi itu juga bisa memberikan, mereka
belajar untuk memberikan opini, seperti itu melatih keberanian mereka
memberikan opini dan berpartisipasi di dalam kelas.
So, the children would have opinions. So, it can teach them how to deliver the
opinions and to trigger them in giving opinion and take a part in learning process
inside the class.
After the students watched the movies, the teacher asked some questions and the
students gave the answers. There was communication between teacher and students. The
teacher believed that the students could learn on how to participate in the class by giving their
opinions about the movies. The importance of participating in the class is also said by Liu
Ling, et al, 1984:16 as cited in Lu Lianzhang 2003, cited in Pratiwi 2007. Participation as a
part of communication is the most important function of language that has social function.
F.3. Avoid the boredom
From the observation, it could be inferred by watching movies, the students would not
be bored since they were attracted in the media (film) the teacher used. The movies helped
the children to be enthusiastic and at the same time learning process happened through them.
The relation between using the aids like movie and reducing the boredom is said by Shin
(2006) cited in Sari (2009). It is implied that using teaching aids, in this case, movies activity,
can reduce the student‟s boredom toward the lesson.
F.4. Promote motivation in learning English
28
The teacher believed that by watching movie, children would be more interested
rather than when they just listened to the teacher in the class. Since th
WACANA CHILDREN CENTER
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
112009114
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
TYPES AND PURPOSES OF ACTIVITIES IN TEYL CLASSES IN SATYA
WACANA CHILDREN CENTER
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
112009114
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
i
TYPES AND PURPOSES OF ACTIVITIES IN TEYL CLASSES IN SATYA
WACANA CHILDREN CENTER
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
112009114
Approved by:
ii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or
accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my
knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any
other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2013 Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati and Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika, M.A
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati:
iii
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
As a member of the (SWCU) Satya Wacana Christian University academic community,
I verify that:
Name
: Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
Student ID Number
: 112009114
Study Program
: English Language Teaching Department
Faculty
: Language and Literature
Kind of Work
: Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty free
right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
Types and Purposes of Activities in TEYL Classes in Satya Wacana Children Center
along with any pertinent equipment.
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This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
iv
TYPES AND PURPOSES OF ACTIVITIES IN TEYL CLASSES IN SATYA
WACANA CHILDREN CENTER
Meykke Alvia Yuntiawati
ABSTRACT
Children tend to play everytime and everywhere they get a chance to do it. They
cannot help themselves to keep sitting and listening. Instead, they like moving
around and playing. Therefore, the kindergarten teachers should be creative in
providing activities. The fact that not many researchers provided the information
about the kinds of activities and the need of each activity for Teaching English for
Young Learners (TEYL) led the researcher to do this research and probe the
information from it. This research attempted to describe the kinds of activities and
their purposes in TEYL classes in Satya Wacana Children Center (SWCC),
Salatiga, Central Java. The participants of the study were two groups of students
of Bloomers and Blossoms classes in SWCC and two teachers. The data for this
descriptive study were collected from ten classroom observations and ten semistructured interviews with the teachers. The analysis of the data showed that there
were nine activities including coloring pictures, singing and dancing, drilling the
vocabulary, identifying pictures, performing role-play, watching movies, telling
stories, making art and craft, and using movements with their own purposes for
each activity.
Key words: teaching activities, teaching young learners, young learners, teaching
English.
INTRODUCTION
In Indonesia, English is considered as a foreign language. Nowadays, since English is
getting more important, many people want to know English. That is why many parents send
their children to schools which offer English, so that their children will be exposured to
English since early age. Based on Scott and Ytreberg (1998) cited in Setiawan (2009), young
learners are defined as children whose age was between five and ten.
Slattery and Willis (2001) cited in Puspani (2011) states that when learning a
language, children have at least six apparent characters. Firstly, they learn in a variety of
1
ways by watching, listening, imitating or doing things. Secondly, they try to make sense of
situations by making use of non-verbal clues. Next, they can imitate sounds they hear quite
accurately and copy the way adults speak. Then, they are curious about anything they see,
hear, watch and smell. After that, they love playing and using their imagination. In addition,
they read simple and simplified English stories, such as comics, fairy tales, etc. As a result, it
also differs the way the teacher should teach them.
Bardakçı (2011) explains that teaching young learners differs from teaching teenagers
and adults in terms of their needs, expectations, learning style and strategies, interests,
psychological and cognitive development. Young learners are considered as kinesthetic
learners. Thus, they can easily get bored, and lose interest. They do not like sitting and
listening to their teacher all the time. If they enjoy the lesson, they will show it, but if they do
not, they will express this directly. Therefore, teachers can keep going on or change the
method they are using.
Research has demonstrated that teaching English for young learners requires different
activities than teaching English to adults. Cameron (2003) points out that teachers of
young learners need to understand how young children learn, must have English language
competence, should be able to motivate children to learn English, and be prepared to
teach early literacy in English. One of the optimal conditions for helping young children
learn is the recognition that for children, learning is active and experiential.
In teaching, it is obvious that the teacher must find out suitable activities for young
learners to match their need and make the learning process easier so that young learners can
comprehend and produce the language. Brown (2001) cited in Bardakci (2011) claims that
children can also concentrate on something if the things are interesting for them. Teachers
2
can do various activities to keep their interests and attentions alive, such as singing, moving,
coloring pictures, etc.
Based on explanation above, it can be inferred that creating interesting activities is
important in teaching English for young learners. The fact that not many researchers
discussed about the activities and the purposes of each activities used to TEYL led the
researcher to do the research. I was wondering to seek the answer of my research question. It
was “What are the types and the purposes of activities in TEYL classes?” This research was
conducted in Satya Wacana Children Center and aimed to describe the types and purposes of
activities in TEYL classes
From this study, I as a researcher comprehend the types of activities in TEYL classes
and their purposes. This research could be useful for kindergarten teachers in TEYL through
kinds of activities, may provide the information of using the activities and their purposes. So,
the teacher may be more aware about the way they teach English to young learners through
the activities. The result of this research may suggest other questions for further research on
children activities and the approach or method of teaching. In my point of view, this research
may lead the teachers to reconsider the activities used in the classes and their purposes.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Since English has taken an important role in globalization, nowadays many
kindergartens tend to start introducing English to the children in their classes. Many parents
also want to send their children to the kindergarten which offers English so that the children
would be exposured with English from the very first time. Thus, TEYL classes are getting
popular. According to Edmonson (1999), young children are children of five to twelve years
old. After that, Phillips (2006) as cited in Puspani (2011) states, young learners refers to
3
children of the first year of formal schooling (five or six years old) to eleven or twelve years
of age.
The question is how to teach English for the young learners since young learners have
their own characteristics compared to the adults. From the point of view in English teaching,
TEYL is complex as teaching adults and adolescents because children have their own
uniqueness. Therefore, there are many things to be considered, and need to be understood by
a teacher before he/she is able to teach children (Cameron, 2001 cited in Atmaja, 2007)
Characteristics of Young Learners
In order to create better ways in TEYL, teachers have to realize the ability of children.
Firstly, children have an ability to learn something new easily by imitating what other people
of society do, such as their daily activities, or special skill and then develop it into more
complex stuff that may be useful for their future progress (Baldwin, 2000 cited in Atmajaya,
2007). It is widely known that the children are so good at imitating. They can imitate what
they see and hear. Based on Cameron (2001) cited in Gonca (2009), the children are
enthusiastic and lively. In addition, the children learn best through hands-on activities.
Children learn best by doing things. As Scott and Ytreberg (1990) cited in Gonca (2009)
states that they gain the understanding through hands, eyes, and ears. The physical world is
dominant at all times. Art and craft activities, brightly coloured visuals, toys, puppets and
TPR activities, which help them to concentrate on the class well, must be a part of the
language classroom.
The second, children have an ability to learn such complex structure of language fast.
Malia Kneezek (1997) has an example of this fact. Starting from just crying and babling,
baby then immitates what olders try to speak. Finally, baby can speak. By the age around
4
three or four years old, they are already able to arrange various words in a conversation and
speak fluently in their mother tongue. After that, they are still developing. Thus, the teacher‟s
responsibility is to help them realize the huge potential in a wide range of intelligences
through activities, materials, and situations in the classroom. Children are happy to study
when their natural set of intelligences are tapped into. Also, teachers should appeal to their
uniqueness and preferences and present the language through various materials.
The third characteristic is children can learn the language naturally. The children
simply pick up the language and use it. They can learn everything naturally through their
behaviorism act as well as the fact that children are more enthusiastic and lively as learners.
Robert Bley-Vroman, one of the major proponents of this position, explains that children
acquire language naturally because they still have access to their Universal Grammars (UG).
That means since the language shares the same pattern, children can produce sentences they
have never heard before.
The forth characteristic is the children have short attention span. Children cannot keep
their concentration centered on boring things that are always repeated for the whole hour, and
once they reach the maximum limit of their boredom, they will start either feeling sleepy or
playing around (Kneezek,1997). In addition, children tend to be active and like to play
around.
The fifth characteristic is the children have simple mindedness. They often focus on
one object or feature of a problem at a time. Teachers may have noticed that when a two-to
four-year old child is sorting blocks of different shapes, and colors, he will sort them by
colors rather than by color and shape. For example, he stacks all the blue triangles, squares,
and circles together and all the red triangles, squares , and circle together. He has focused on
one feature of the blocks. So, the children can just focus on one aspect and cannot divide their
5
focus on two. Knowing that fact, the teacher must find out the suitable way to teach English
for young learners in order to match their need and make the learning process easier so that
the young learners can comprehend and produce the language.
Comprehension-based Activities
Gordon (2007) stated that there are some effective comprehension-based activities
implemented with young language learners. At the comprehension-based activities, helping
children understand language becomes the focus of instruction. It means that by placing
emphasis on comprehension in the beginning level classroom, teachers act very much act like
caretakers who talk to babies and do not expect first words to start emerging until many
months later.
The first activity in the comprehension-based activities is Total Physical Response
Approach/TPR. Language teachers who use the TPR provide directions to students while
language learners respond by performing relevant actions. In the TPR approach, the activities
can be TPR songs and games. The songs used are like „Head Shoulder Knees and Toes‟,
„Hokey Pokey‟ or „Simon Says‟. Meanwhile in TPR games, the games are „Clap and Snap‟,
„Don‟t Let it drop‟, „Preposition Gymnastic‟, and „Edible or Inedible?‟. The second activity
after TPR songs and games is directed drawing where children here create pictures that
follow the teacher‟s directions, such as „Weather Forecast‟, „A Chalk Monster‟, and „A
Funny Face‟. The third one is TPR pantomime which the students can participate fully. It
represents various events that range from going to the beach or walking around the
neighborhood to morning or bedtime activities.
The second activity is guessing. In a language guessing game, the teacher describes an
object, person, or phenomenon and, after that, children try to identify the item. The games
6
can be „Mystery Voice‟, „What‟s Missing‟, „Guess Who It Is‟, „Guess How Many‟, „Treasure
Box‟, and „Peek-a-Boo Stories‟. This game actually can provide comprehensible input to
language learners at the preproduction and the low-emergent proficiency levels.
The relationship between these activities and children‟s characteristics is the activities
can match with the children characteristics. Since Gonca (2009) says that children are
physically active, the activities also have to be able to make children physically active and
keep their interest alive. So, these activies such as TPR and guessing games which mostly use
movements can support children in learning English.
Research findings
According to the research conducted by Puspani (2011) the students‟ performance of
speaking after being taught using folktale through retelling the stories using flashcard was
improved. It shows that more students have improved in their speaking grade achievement
through one kind of activity, such as retelling the story using folktale.
Another research finding conducted by Griva and Semoglou (2012) shows that
activities are effective for the enhancement of young children‟s oral skills in the target
language. The physical activities, question and answer techniques, role play games,
constructions or drawings become an appealing teaching „tool‟ which promotes cooperation,
collaboration, and contributes to the development of foreign language skills, as well as
emotional and social skills. They provided the children with a rich experience of language
use through their having to listen to instructions and rules of the games and interacting with
their classmates. On the other hand, those kinds of activities help the young learners a lot to
acquire English and make the learning process much more interesting and fun. These kinds of
activities meet the students‟ characteristics like what Cameron (2003) explained that learning
7
for children is active and experiential. Thus, this connection between the activities and the
children‟s characteristic could support the children in learning English.
THE STUDY
Method of Research
This study aimed to describe the types and purposes of activities in TEYL classes.
Since the study was descriptive, observations and interviews were used to conduct the
research. Ten observations were carried out in Satya Wacana Children Center, specifically
located in Salatiga, Central Java, in two different classes, Bloomers and Blossoms, in order to
capture the types of activities used in classes. Ten interviews with the teachers were done to
probe information about the purposes of doing the activities. The reason I conducted the
research in SWCC was because the school used bilingual language and provided many
various activities which could be good references for other schools. Meanwhile, the reason I
chose Blossoms and Bloomers was because their age range was suitable to become the
participants of my thesis.
Participants
The participants of this study were two teachers and two classes of kindergarten
students in the 2012-2013 academic year. In one class, there were around twenty students.
Since there were two classes, the number of the students were around forty students. The
reason I chose these classes was because the ages of the students ranged from four to seven
years old which was suitable to be the participants of my thesis.
Data Collection
8
The research started in January, 2013. The research lasted for about four weeks.
Firstly, twenty students of Bloomers class were observed four times and around twenty
students of Blossoms class were observed six times during their lesson. Each observation
lasted for fourty-five minutes. A digital camera was used to record the teaching learning
activities in the classes. Then, I took notes about the kinds of activities and arranged the
questions based on the types of activities. The questions were about the purposes of doing
such activities and the importance of those purposes for TEYL. Secondly, in order to probe
information about the purposes of using activities in TEYL classes, semi-structured
interviews using MP4 with the teachers in every class were done. After that, I transcribed it
for data analysis.
Data Analysis Procedure
The first step in data analysis was transcribing and analizing the data. Then, I
classified the data based on the coding related to the types and purposes of teaching activities
in the classes. I classified those into groups of responses according to the main ideas of the
questions (Lynch, 1996, pp. 142-143). From the observation, I identified the types of the
activities used, and from the interview I identified the purposes of the activities used. I
interpreted the data classifications through descriptive written explanation (Lynch, 1996,
p.147).
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This section presents the analysis of data which has been divided into two parts. Part
one is the types of the activities and part two is the purposes of each activity used by
kindergarten teachers. I elaborated the data based on my interpretation after observations and
9
interviews. The observations and interviews revealed some activities. Each activity had its
own purposes related to the goal of the lesson being taught.
A. Coloring the pictures
From ten observations I conducted, the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 10th observations
showed that the teachers used coloring activities. The coloring pictures were usually done at
the end of the lesson,for example, identifying the pictures or choosing the right pictures. Then
they colored the pictures on their worksheet. In one occasion, the students were asked to
color the pictures of certain fruits. They were asked to color based on the actual color of the
fruits to study the various colors of the fruits. Based on the interviews I did, there were six
purposes of the coloring pictures activity. Below are the explanation of each purpose.
A.1. Promote students‟ motivation.
Promoting motivation for young learners is essential since such motivation leads
young learners to be eager in learning English. Without motivation, young learners have no
courage to learn the language. In the interview, the teacher said,
1. Nah, kadang kalau lewat mewarnai anak anak dibangunkan lagi moodnya, seperti
itu..
Sometimes through coloring the pictures, the students could boost their mood.
2. Karena sebagai ya betul, karena mood anak tetap terjaga karena kalau mereka harus
menulis terus, atau menulis, lalu menyilang, terus menjodohkan seperti itu, itu juga
membuat mereka capai.
It is to keep the children‟s good mood because if they have to keep writing or
crossing, then matching in the worksheet, it can make them tired.
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3. Iya, otomatis kalau misalnya mood mereka stabil, mereka dalam kondisi yang
bagus, otomatis apa yang kita sampaikan khan anak anak bisa menerima dengan
enak, seperti itu.
Yes, if the children‟s mood is good, they are in the good mood to study. Then, they
could automatically understand what we teach.
As revealed in the interviews, the students were asked to color the pictures at the end
of the class after they got the lesson. The teachers believed that coloring pictures was
effective to boost the children‟s mood. If they were in a good mood, they would understand
the lesson easily. The importance of motivation in learning English for young learners is
described by Cameron (2003). She pointed that teachers of young learners need to understand
how young children learn, must have English language competence, should be able to
motivate children to learn English, and be prepared to teach early literacy in English.
A.2. Develop student‟s imagination.
Developing the student‟s imagination is useful in learning English for young learners
since they love playing and using their imagination. Through their imagination, young
learners learn the language more easily. The explanation of this purpose could be found out in
their interviews with the teachers who said,
4. Yang pertama untuk membangun imajinasi anak, mereka apply karena setiap Senin
ada drawing,
The first purpose is to build children‟s imagination since there is drawing every
Monday.
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As mentioned above, by coloring the pictures, the children could develop their
imagination. The need to develop children‟s imagination in learning English is also discussed
in Slattery and Wilis (2001) cited in Puspani (2011) who states that one of the children‟s
apparent characteristic is that they love playing and doing imagination. Therefore, the activity
aimed to develop imagination through coloring as the technique. This technique was done by
teacher in this study.
A.3. Avoid boredom
Avoiding boredom is important for young learners in learning the language since it
means that the children doesn‟t feel bored. Instead, they feel enthusiastic and such
enthusiasm will lead them to be more motivated in learning English. Based on the interview
for the observation number 1, 3, and 5, I found out that one of the purposes of using the
coloring pictures activity is to avoid boredom. Below are some explanation from kindergarten
teachers about the purpose of such an activity.
5. Pertama, anak anak tidak bosan, tidak banyak bercerita, kadang kadang kalau anak,
uhm..tidak banyak omong.
Firstly, children would not be bored easily, talk to friends, and sometimes talk too
much.
6. Kita mengusahakan bagaimana menciptakan suasana belajar anak tidak monoton,
tidak Cuma pisang, banana..
We try to create the comfortable learning condition so that it would not be
monotonous. It is not only banana means pisang.
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7. Jadi, salah satu mewarnai itu adalah salah satu activitas kita pakai supaya anak anak
tidak merasa bosan seperti itu. Mungkin banyak menulis, banyak mengerjakan.
Jadi, kita sisipkan coloring, seperti itu
So, coloring is an activity we use so that the children would not feel bored. Maybe,
there are more writings and more doing worksheets. So, we can put the coloring
activity in between.
The teacher believed that from the activity, the students would not be bored because
coloring was one of the fun activities that the children like to do. They felt bored if the
activities were only writing, completing the worksheet, etc. So, the teachers added the
coloring pictures as an additional activity to make the students interested in learning English.
The importance of avoiding boredom is also explained by Bardakci (2011). He said that
young learners are considered as kinesthetic learners. They can easily bored, and lose their
interest. Thus, the teacher shoud be able to find the way so that the children can avoid their
boredom and understand the lesson.
A.4. Trigger the student‟s concentration
The teachers believed that by using the coloring activity, it increased the student‟s
concentration that would be useful to learn English.
8. Lebih ke konsentrasi anak ya? Semakin anak anak..ehm..ada waktunya anak anak
berbicara, ada waktunya anak anak nggak, jadi mereka nggak banyak omong
mereka sibuk dengan kegiatan.
It is more on children‟s concentration, right? There is time when children may talk,
and there is time they cannot. So, they could talk less because they are busy in
doing their activities.
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The teacher believed, since they were doing something fun such as coloring, their
concentration would be attracted to such an activity. The children were busy and concentrated
with their coloring in the class and at the same time they concentrated about the English
learning since they had to color up the pictures related to the topic being discussed in the
class. Hence, the coloring was important in triggering the student‟s concentration, so that they
would understand the material. The relation between activity and concentration is also stated
by Brown (2001) cited in Bardakci (2011) that children can also concentrate on something as
long as an adult can if the things are interesting for them. Thus, teachers did various activities
to keep the students‟ interest and attention alive. By grabbing their concentration on what
they are learning, surely it makes the learning process goes well and easier for the children.
A.5. Build the student‟s comprehension
As the kindergarten teachers said in the 3rd, 4th, and 10th interviews that the teacher
believed that the coloring activity was useful to build the student‟s comprehension since
through the fun activity, the coloring activity, was easier for the children to understand the
lesson. Below are some teachers‟ opinions about such activity :
9. Tetapi ketika mereka harus beranjak ke level yang lebih tinggi, paling tidak untuk
TK kecil, itu anak anak harus diperkenalkan dengan konsep warna buah itu
seperti apa. Jadi, pemahaman anak tentang konsep warna buah itu sudah bisa
didapat seperti jeruk. Jeruk itu warnanya apa, oranye.
But, when they have to go up to the higher level, the children have to be
introduced with many kinds of fruits‟ colors. So, they could understand about the
fruits‟ color, for example, orange has orange color.
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10. Iya, mengerti konsep warna itu dari coloring. Kemudian, bisa kita tingkatkan
dalam pemakaiannya, bisa kita kaitkan misalnya antara pemakaian warna dan
benda. Red chair, jadi anak anak bisa, oke, get the red chair, nanti anak anak akan
ambil kursi yang warna merah.
Yes, they would understand about the color through coloring. Then, we could
apply it in daily life, for example, when we say „ok, get the red chair‟, then they
would understand and get the chair which has the red color.
While coloring the pictures and being attracted to that kind of activity, the children
learnt about the color‟s name in English and also fitted in the color with the object, for
example the fruit‟s color. They knew that grape‟s color is purple, so they colored the pictures
with purple. It is how the children can comprehend the lesson by coloring the pictures. The
relation between coloring the pictures and comprehension is also said by Gonca (2009). He
said that children may learn more effectively through pictures, spatial images, hands-on
activities and movement.
B. Singing and dancing
In the second observation, singing and dancing were done in the kindergarten. The
students together with the teacher sang together about some English songs and used some
gestures and did some movements as well. The teacher used TPR approach and some of the
songs were „Hokey Pokey‟, „Tea Pot‟, etc and the students were supposed to respond the
song by performing relevant actions. Based on the second interview, the purposes of singing
and dancing are as follow.
B.1. Develop the relationship and togetherness among the students.
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Based on Gordon ( 2007), a friendly environment is essential for successful second
language learning. Such an idea went hand in hand with what was mentioned by the teacher
below.
11. Jadi tujuannya untuk mendekatkan satu sama lain, kemudian menyatukan mereka,
seperti itu. Membangun suasana yang akrab, yang hangat, iya, untuk memulai
suatu aktivitas.
So, the purposes are to make them closer to each other and to unite them. In order
to start the activity, we are trying to create a comfortable situation.
The teacher believed that singing a song together while dancing or doing some
movements or using gestures would develop the relationship and the togetherness among the
students. She believed that by creating the togetherness among the students, the learning
process would be condusif since the situation was warm and fun. The importance of
developing the relationship and togetherness among the students is also said by Stephen
Krashen hypothesis cited in Gordon (2007). He said that if people are exposed to a second
language, they will inevitably pick up the language provided by the new language and an
emotional barrier created by fear, tension, boredom, or lack of interest is not present. He
refers to that negative emotional barriers under the name of affective filter. From here I can
conclude that a classroom with a low affective filter provides an optimal language-teaching
environment that can support the learning process.
B.2. Enrich the vocabulary.
The teacher believed that songs could be used as vocabulary input since there were
many vocabulary items inside it. And through fun activity such as singing, the students learnt
English more easily. Below are what she said about this purpose :
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12. Kemudian, yang kedua mengajarkan vocabulary, jadi lewat lagu itu kita bisa
belajar vocab, seperti itu.
Then, the second purpose is to teach the vocabulary. So, through songs we can
learn the vocabulary items.
13. Kemudian belajar termasuk cara kerja sesuatu. Khan itu khan procedure juga
khan, seperti itu.
Then, they learn about how something works. So, we can include the procedure.
14. Belajar bagian apa namanya bagian tubuh juga, kemudian apa namanya, dirction
juga khan, kiri kanan, seperti itu.
They also learn about the body parts, giving directions, and so on.
The teacher used Total Physical response (TPR). Based on Brown (1994) cited in Sari
(2009) that TPR is based on the theory that memory could improve through association with
physical movement. It means, the children will be able to memorize easily when their teacher
teaches them to use not only verbal language, but also use gestures or movements.
B.3. Build the student‟s comprehension
The teacher believed songs and movements could help the students to understand the
meaning or the idea of a song. For example, they sang about the tea pot while moving their
two hands as if they were handle and the tea pot‟s mouth. Then, they sang about how to pour
the water from the tea pot while describing it through their movements as well. Below is the
explanation from the teacher on how songs and movements built the student‟s
comprehension.
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15. Kemudian ditambah lagi dengan gerakan gerakan itu sangat membantu anak anak
untuk memahami apa yang lagu itu sampaikan.
Then, we add the body movements that help the children a lot to understand the
meaning of the songs.
The teacher believed it could be the strength of this activity that the students could
grasp clearly meaning by performing the action since such an activity belongs to TPR. The
relationship between TPR and building the comprehension is also stated by Gordon (2007)
that TPR enables language learners to develop a better grasp of word meaning. Rather than
the teacher mention the words and translate into Bahasa Indonesia, through TPR to perform
action and manipulate objects, the students learn the meaning of the words by experiencing
them in their real life without a need to be explained by the teacher.
B.4. Avoid boredom
The teachers believed that singing and dancing activity can avoid boredom for the
children since they moved around and had fun together, so that their enthusiasm kept alive
and it would help the children acquire the target language for the final goal. Below is her
explanation.
16. Dibandingkan dengan belajar di kelas mungkin sedikit menjemukan karena kalau
menyanyi itu khan anak anak riang, jadi suasananya riang..
Compared to studying inside the class that may be boring, singing activity could
make the children happy and the situation would be cheerful as well.
Honig (1995) and Williams (1998) claims that singing can be a powerful means of
teaching young learners since singing allows them to have fun and move around, reveal
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enthusiastic and delight feelings while singing, so that the children are likely to join in.
Starting from keep their ethusiastic alive, the children would not feel bored.
B.5. Promote students‟ motivation.
The teacher believed that by singing and dancing or doing movements, the children
would be eager to learn English. The children felt that the situation would be condusif, fun
and interesting since the children could sing while moving around together.
17. Suasana yang dibangun lebih enak, seperti itu. Anak anak lebih, iya betul, anak
anak lebih semangat, seperti itu.
The mood would be better and the children would be more motivated.
The teacher believed that through singing while doing movements could create the
relaxing atmosphere that later can make the students motivated. The relation between the
relaxing atmosphere and the effectiveness of learning English is also said by Klancar (2006).
He said it is crucial to get a positive and relaxing atmosphere for gaining maximum results in
teaching and learning process.
C. Drilling the vocabulary
The third activity found out in the 3rd and 7th activity was drilling the vocabulary.
The teacher would mention particular vocabulary items related to the topic and the students
repeated after him/her. It was done continuously so that the students would be familiar with
such vocabulary items. This kind of activity had some purposes according to the kindergarten
teacher as follow:
C.1. Enrich the vocabulary
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The teachers believed that by repeating particular words the students were able to
memorize the words related to the topic discussed. From such memorization, it would enrich
the student‟s vocabulary. Below are the explanation from the kindergarten teachers.
18. Jadi, masuk ke vocab juga ya seperti itu, jadi drilling itu untuk pembendaharaan
vocab juga, pemahaman konsep tentang vocab.
So, the drilling can be helpful for enriching the vocabulary items or the concept
about vocabulary items.
19. Mungkin selain pronounciation juga sebagai pengucapan yang berulang ulang itu,
penggunaan yang berkali kali yang berulang ulang itu lama lama istilahnya khan
anak anak terbiasa dengan konsep itu, dengan kata itu.
Maybe beside pronunciation, the children would get used to those words and
memorize the words as we mention them so often.
According to Larsen-Freeman (2000), there are several techniques that closely
associated with Audio Lingual Method and one of them is repetition drill. Repetition drill is a
technique which the students are asked to repeat the teacher‟s model as accurately and
quickly as possible. The teacher says a word from a vocabulary list under a certain topic and
then the students repeat it. Thus, from getting used to repeat particular words, the students
would gain more new vocabulary items and remember them.
C.2. Develop the student‟s pronunciation level
It was clearly seen that the purpose of drilling the vocabulary was also to develop the
student‟s pronunciation because the children know how to pronounce words in English
correctly from the teacher.
20
20. Itu jadi tujuannya memang untuk bagaimana mengucapkan vocab itu dengan
benar.
So, the purpose is indeed to let children know how to pronounce the words
correctly.
The relation between doing repetition and developing the pronunciation level is
explained by Slattery and Willis (2001) cited in Puspani (2011). They said that one of six
apparent characteristics the children have in order to learn the target language is that they can
imitate sounds they hear quite accurately and copy the way adults speak.
D. Identifying pictures
From the observation number 1, 4, 9, and 10, it was found out that the activity was
identifying pictures. The teacher explained about a story first. After that, the students were
asked to choose the pictures by putting a tick on the right pictures, or drawing circle on them
based on what the teacher told about. Below are the purposes of identifying pictures.
D.1. Build the student‟s comprehension.
By identifying the pictures which began with telling the story related to the topic, the
teacher believed such an activity could build the student‟s comprehension since it would lead
the students to know and decide which is the good one and the bad one.
21. Owh, oke..itu lagi lagi kita juga mengajarkan tentang konsep neat and clean. Neat
and clean itu rapi dan bersih. Nah, dari gambar itu anak anak bisa
membandingkan mana yang rapi dan bersih, anak anak bisa memilih gambar
mana yang bersih, anak anak bisa tahu. Ini miss gambar yang A, anak anak bisa
melingkari gambar itu dan dikasih warna.
21
Here, we also teach about the concept of being neat and clean. „Neat and clean‟
means in Bahasa Indonesia „rapi dan bersih‟. Well, from those pictures, the
children could choose which one is clean and which one is neat. The children can
give circle the correct pictures and color them.
22. Nah, dari situ khan anak anak jadi tahu, yang mana yang baik, which one is nice,
which one is not nice.
Well, from those kind of activities, the children can know which one is nice,
which one is not.
By seeing the differences and comparing the pictures, the teachers believed it could be
helpful for the students to understand the material being taught. The relation between
identifying pictures and the comprehension is also discussed by Harmer (2001) cited in Sari
(2009). Pictures are one of the teaching materials specifically in visual material. He said that
most learners are visual minded, so activites relating to the picture are a great assistance in
teaching.
D.2. Enrich the student‟s vocabulary.
This school is a bilingual school and the teachers use English in teaching. Also, the
students got the vocabulary items from the picture, for example if the picture contained the
fan picture which was set „off‟ or „on‟, then they would know the difference between those
two words since the teachers translated that in Bahasa Indonesia „off‟ means „mati‟ and „on‟
means „menyala‟ . Then, the teacher taught about „turn off‟ and „turn on‟ based on the
pictures and the information on it and translated the meaning of them. Below are their
explanations.
23. Selamanya mengajarnya pakai bahasa Inggris pasti vocab.
22
As long as we teach in English, we automatically teach the vocabulary items.
24. Coba dilihat alatnya itu apa, jadi mereka harus tahu lagi, turn on dan turn off.
Kalau turn on, berarti hidup khan, kalau turn off berarti dimatikan, atau memang
sudah mati, nah, dari situ anak anak jadi tahu.
Then, they would know the meaning of „turn on‟ and „turn off‟. „Turn on‟ means
in Bahasa Indonesia „menyalakan‟, „turn off‟ means in Bahasa Indonesia
„mematikan‟. So, through the activities, the children would understand.
Thus, identifying picture can enrich the student‟s vocabulary items because the
teacher gave the meaning in every words written in every picture on their worksheet. It is in
line with what Zacharias (2002) said that L1 can provide a quick and accurate translation
and explanation of English words.
E. Performing role-play.
From the interview number 4, the next activity was performing short play. The
teacher asked the students to perform a particular role-play in front of the class, for example
about the worker‟s community. Then, the students acted out as if they were a doctor, a driver,
a teacher, etc. They used words related to particular job they were acted in English. The
teacher had some purposes as mentioned below.
E.1. Enrich the vocabulary.
As the teacher said, it was obviously clear that performing role-play would enrich the
student‟s vocabulary because they were not only accept the input from the others but also to
produce some output since they had to speak to run their role. The students would gain some
23
new vocabulary items from their friends and also the teacher related to the topic being
discussed.
25. Uhm...mungkin itu bisa ke yang tadi itu, bisa pemahaman vocab. Meskipun dari
hal yang sangat simple.
It can enrich the vocabulary items, although through the very simple things.
The students who performed role-play as the doctor would acquire the new words
related to the health field. It went the same for the driver job, then the students learned about
mechanic words. The relation between role-play and enriching the vocabulary is clearly
uttered by Gordon (2007). Role-play activities can be effective for investigating and learning
the vocabulary items on natural and social sciences.
E.2. Increase the student‟s pronunciation level.
Since the students produced some output, they spoke, then it could increase the
student‟s pronunciation level. They are not only as the receiver of what the teacher said, but
also being actively involved in speaking English in the class. Learning by speaking has the
greater chance for the students to develop their pronunciation from the earlier stage and will
be benefit in learning English. Below is the explanation from the teacher.
26. Kemudian pronounce, anak anak jadi tahu, seperti itu.
Then, the children would know how to pronounce it.
As the teacher said, the teacher believed that by learning English through speaking
could enhance the pronunciation level for the children. It is in line with the research finding
conducted by Griva and Semoglou (2012) that shows activities such as role-play are effective
for the enhancement of young children‟s oral skills in the target language.
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E.3. Avoid boredom.
Based on Gordon (2007), such an activity can be described as virtual visual materials
that evolve in real time. Thus, in this research the students used their imagination to act like
what they wanted, such as a doctor, a teacher, etc. From the imagination that was alive, the
teacher believed the students could keep their interest since they love playing and using their
imagination. Since their interest kept alive, the students felt less bored.
The relation between avoiding boredom and the learning process based on Atmaja (
2009) is that children cannot keep their concentration centered on boring things that are
always repeated for a whole hour, and once they reach the maximum limit of their boredom,
they will start either feeling sleepy or playing around and it will become an obstacle in
learning process. It is because the children have short attention span (Wright, 1984). They
cannot stand on thinking and thinking again due to this limitation. So, the teacher used this
activity to avoid the student‟s boredom.
E.4. Promote motivation in learning English
From the observation, it could be inferred that performing role-play could promote
motivation in learning English. The relationship between role-play and promoting the
student‟s motivation is also stated by Slattery and Willis (2001) cited in Puspani (2011). They
says that one of the students‟ apparent characteristics in learning the target language is they
learn in a variety ways by watching, listening, imitating or doing things. By imitating the
particular job and doing the short play, surely it makes the students motivated in learning
English.
Additionally, Gordon (2007) states that role-plays give children an opportunity to use
language in interactive situations and to receive language input as well as produce language
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output. By giving an interactive situation, the students is eager to learn English. Moreover,
based on him, role-plays enable children to envision and experience occurences and contexts
that are removed from their day-to-day lives. Based on Slattery and Willis (2001) cited in
Puspani (2011),they mentioned that the nature of children is love playing and using their
imagination. The connection between their characteristic and the role-plays can promote their
motivation in learning English.
E.5. Build the student‟s comprehension
In this research, one of the purposes of playing short-play was to make the student
understand about the topic, especially in the social studies. They would understand how to
behave or to differenciate between bad behaviours and good behaviours since the children
need to develop their intelligence. The teacher believed by acting it out, it helped the students
to understand more easily.
27. Nah, dari situ, dari peragaan seperti itu, kita mengajarkan anak jadi ini lho, kalau
jadi temen itu jangan seperti ini, jadi kayak kucing dan tikus, nggak pernah akur,
selalu berantem. Tetapi kalau kita berteman itu harus yang berbagi. Jadi kita
memberikan pemahaman anak anak seperti itu juga.
Well, from the act we teach the children how to behave, don‟t be like cat and
mouse who cannot get along well. But, we have to share with our friends. So, we
give the understanding for the children like that.
The teacher believed that learning by doing is a good method for the children to gain
the comprehension because the children tended to use procedural memory according to the
Georgetown University Study. The relation between doing role-play which immitates the
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particular job and English comprehension is in line with Baldwin (2000) cited in Atmaja
(2007) saying that children can learn easily by imitating what other people of society do.
F. Watching Movies
As the teacher said in the interview number 4, the students watched the particular
movie, usually in the social studies. At the end, together with the teacher, the students
discussed about the story and the social value behind the story. Through this kind of activity,
the teacher had some aims as follow :
F.1. Enrich the vocabulary.
It was clearly seen that they would gain some new vocabulary items from the movies
they watched since the movies used English language. Below is the teacher‟s explanation.
28. Kalau itu mungkin lebih ke vocab ya, karena input itu. Iya, betul..lebih ke
eksplore vocab, seperti itu.
It is more for the vocabulary items, because the children get the input. Well, it is
like exploring the vocabulary.
The teacher believed that by watching movies, the children could gain some new
vocabulary items although actually they did it unconsiously. It is line with what Harmer
(2001) cited in Sari (2009) said that the children generally display an ethusiasm in learning
and curiosity about new words they have just heard while learning.
F.2. Stimulate the student‟s participation in the class.
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The teachers believed that participation is important in learning English since by
participating in the class, the children could gain the understanding in English learning
process. Below is the teacher‟s explanation.
29. Jadi, anak anak juga mulai punya opini. Jadi itu juga bisa memberikan, mereka
belajar untuk memberikan opini, seperti itu melatih keberanian mereka
memberikan opini dan berpartisipasi di dalam kelas.
So, the children would have opinions. So, it can teach them how to deliver the
opinions and to trigger them in giving opinion and take a part in learning process
inside the class.
After the students watched the movies, the teacher asked some questions and the
students gave the answers. There was communication between teacher and students. The
teacher believed that the students could learn on how to participate in the class by giving their
opinions about the movies. The importance of participating in the class is also said by Liu
Ling, et al, 1984:16 as cited in Lu Lianzhang 2003, cited in Pratiwi 2007. Participation as a
part of communication is the most important function of language that has social function.
F.3. Avoid the boredom
From the observation, it could be inferred by watching movies, the students would not
be bored since they were attracted in the media (film) the teacher used. The movies helped
the children to be enthusiastic and at the same time learning process happened through them.
The relation between using the aids like movie and reducing the boredom is said by Shin
(2006) cited in Sari (2009). It is implied that using teaching aids, in this case, movies activity,
can reduce the student‟s boredom toward the lesson.
F.4. Promote motivation in learning English
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The teacher believed that by watching movie, children would be more interested
rather than when they just listened to the teacher in the class. Since th