t ing 049589 chapter5
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES
This study sought to investigate the real phenomena of teaching English in two
different public elementary schools in Bandung Kulon Sub-district. The approach was
developed to reveal at least two senses. The first was to identify the teachers’ beliefs of
children, as they taught in elementary school. The second was to correlate their beliefs
with their teaching practices in their classes.
5.1 Conclusions
The major conclusion of the study is that the teachers had positive beliefs about
who children were. Most significantly, the teachers believed that the nature of children
was to play and have fun. In their knowledge, children loved playing and having fun
wherever and whenever they were. Despite attending the class to study, the children
would use any opportunity to play games with their friends. It means that children were
viewed as active individuals because they involved physical activities while playing.
They also would make use of any object in their surrounding to visualize their
imagination.
Another nature of children that the teachers believed was the children’s sense of
curiosity over things.
The teachers called the children as having the sense of
“activeness”. The children would ask anything they found interesting. Especially when
learning English, they had curiosity over the English words they wanted to know. They
also often encountered some students who experimented with their English.
The
students greeted or made a small talk using English with their teachers outside the class.
90
Children were believed to have high understanding towards people’s utterances,
despite their limited resources. In addition, they could also make use of their limited
resources to produce the language. As mentioned earlier, the teachers often met their
students who tried to use English to greet their teachers.
In terms of analogy, the teachers believed that children were like a blank paper
or canvas that could be sketched anything. What was sketched o the paper or canvas
would reflect the children’s characteristics. Therefore, the interpretation would be that
children were passive because they depended on what and who they encountered.
To the extent of learning English, the participants believed in what the theories
said about how children learned a language, especially English. In behaviorism theory,
children learned by responding the teacher’ instructions, and rewards played an
important role. In the sense of constructivism, the children needed adults to help them
learn the language. Interaction with adults and peers improved their competence in the
language. The children needed to be provided with opportunities to work on their own
to show their independence and competence. In the theory of multiple intelligences, the
children had different intelligences, some were good at music, some at math, some at
language, etc.
Thus, they should be treated differently in accordance with their
intelligence to support the success of the learning.
Even though the teachers had such beliefs, they performed many teaching
activities that were not quite relevant with many of their beliefs.
Their teaching
activities were still of classical way, with limited variations. They taught grammar
explicitly in order to make their students aware that English language had a set of rules
that were different from their native language. To make it worse, the students started
learning the rules from memorizing the patterns. They were demanded to keep the
91
patterns in their mind so that they could not make mistakes in using the language,
especially in doing the exercises in the textbooks.
Beside that, they were also
introduced to vocabularies and their translation in Bahasa Indonesia that they had to
memorize. The students were not exposed to why they were required to do that, not to
mention how to use those vocabularies. Without any context, they were told to recite
the vocabularies.
Surprisingly, English language was used in their classroom, but it was not used
as a means of communication—conveying ideas and thoughts. Rather, it was used to
give instructions, sometimes irrelevant use of instructions. For example, the students
were asked to stand up and sit down repeatedly without any purpose of doing so.
Again, no context was established during the English language teaching and learning.
Consequently, they could not develop more creative and various activities because their
concern was on teaching the students not on how to make the students were able to use
English purposefully.
As described In Chapter 2, there are two propositions regarding the teachers’
beliefs and the teaching practices.
Some experts claimed that there is a high
consistency between the teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices, while the others
suggested the contrary. Based on the investigation in this study, it seems that the
second claim applies to this study. The teachers’ beliefs seem to be less consistent with
what they performed in their English classes.
Through this study, however, it is hoped that the school authorities are more
aware of the situations of the English language teaching in their schools. Noticing the
situations, they can identify the good things and problems that take place during the
92
learning process. Thus, they can maintain the good things and help find ways out to
cope with the problems.
Finally, it is also hoped that the relevant instances provide more trainings,
seminars and workshops to the teachers of English in elementary schools.
The
trainings, seminars and workshops will benefit the teachers in more opening their
horizons in teaching English to young learners.
Such events will also provide the
opportunities to meet with other teachers to share information and experiences with
each other.
5.2 Recommendations for Further Studies
There are some limitations of the study, and the major one is the time allotment
for this study.
The study had limited time to explore more about the teachers’
perceptions and knowledge because they had tight schedule of teaching. They were
also busy with their household matters, as all of them were family kind of people.
Therefore, it is recommended to do further study with sufficient time with other
teachers in wider scope. It is also suggested that the time be enough to explore more
teachers’ perceptions and knowledge.
Moreover, though this study may not be generalisable to other settings, the most
concern falls on the teaching practices that are suitable for children. Therefore, it is
also recommended to those who have interests in EYL in public elementary school to
design the English language teaching and learning, such as teaching techniques, that
suits the conditions of the school, the students, and the teachers.
The last recommendation is conducting a study focusing on the teaching of
grammar in elementary school. Language cannot be separated from what so called
93
grammar. It has always been debatable, when teaching English, the teachers should or
not focus on the grammar instructions. A model using the approach of grammar will
be beneficial for the teachers of English in elementary school, so that they can provide a
model of English language teaching that is children friendly.
94
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES
This study sought to investigate the real phenomena of teaching English in two
different public elementary schools in Bandung Kulon Sub-district. The approach was
developed to reveal at least two senses. The first was to identify the teachers’ beliefs of
children, as they taught in elementary school. The second was to correlate their beliefs
with their teaching practices in their classes.
5.1 Conclusions
The major conclusion of the study is that the teachers had positive beliefs about
who children were. Most significantly, the teachers believed that the nature of children
was to play and have fun. In their knowledge, children loved playing and having fun
wherever and whenever they were. Despite attending the class to study, the children
would use any opportunity to play games with their friends. It means that children were
viewed as active individuals because they involved physical activities while playing.
They also would make use of any object in their surrounding to visualize their
imagination.
Another nature of children that the teachers believed was the children’s sense of
curiosity over things.
The teachers called the children as having the sense of
“activeness”. The children would ask anything they found interesting. Especially when
learning English, they had curiosity over the English words they wanted to know. They
also often encountered some students who experimented with their English.
The
students greeted or made a small talk using English with their teachers outside the class.
90
Children were believed to have high understanding towards people’s utterances,
despite their limited resources. In addition, they could also make use of their limited
resources to produce the language. As mentioned earlier, the teachers often met their
students who tried to use English to greet their teachers.
In terms of analogy, the teachers believed that children were like a blank paper
or canvas that could be sketched anything. What was sketched o the paper or canvas
would reflect the children’s characteristics. Therefore, the interpretation would be that
children were passive because they depended on what and who they encountered.
To the extent of learning English, the participants believed in what the theories
said about how children learned a language, especially English. In behaviorism theory,
children learned by responding the teacher’ instructions, and rewards played an
important role. In the sense of constructivism, the children needed adults to help them
learn the language. Interaction with adults and peers improved their competence in the
language. The children needed to be provided with opportunities to work on their own
to show their independence and competence. In the theory of multiple intelligences, the
children had different intelligences, some were good at music, some at math, some at
language, etc.
Thus, they should be treated differently in accordance with their
intelligence to support the success of the learning.
Even though the teachers had such beliefs, they performed many teaching
activities that were not quite relevant with many of their beliefs.
Their teaching
activities were still of classical way, with limited variations. They taught grammar
explicitly in order to make their students aware that English language had a set of rules
that were different from their native language. To make it worse, the students started
learning the rules from memorizing the patterns. They were demanded to keep the
91
patterns in their mind so that they could not make mistakes in using the language,
especially in doing the exercises in the textbooks.
Beside that, they were also
introduced to vocabularies and their translation in Bahasa Indonesia that they had to
memorize. The students were not exposed to why they were required to do that, not to
mention how to use those vocabularies. Without any context, they were told to recite
the vocabularies.
Surprisingly, English language was used in their classroom, but it was not used
as a means of communication—conveying ideas and thoughts. Rather, it was used to
give instructions, sometimes irrelevant use of instructions. For example, the students
were asked to stand up and sit down repeatedly without any purpose of doing so.
Again, no context was established during the English language teaching and learning.
Consequently, they could not develop more creative and various activities because their
concern was on teaching the students not on how to make the students were able to use
English purposefully.
As described In Chapter 2, there are two propositions regarding the teachers’
beliefs and the teaching practices.
Some experts claimed that there is a high
consistency between the teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices, while the others
suggested the contrary. Based on the investigation in this study, it seems that the
second claim applies to this study. The teachers’ beliefs seem to be less consistent with
what they performed in their English classes.
Through this study, however, it is hoped that the school authorities are more
aware of the situations of the English language teaching in their schools. Noticing the
situations, they can identify the good things and problems that take place during the
92
learning process. Thus, they can maintain the good things and help find ways out to
cope with the problems.
Finally, it is also hoped that the relevant instances provide more trainings,
seminars and workshops to the teachers of English in elementary schools.
The
trainings, seminars and workshops will benefit the teachers in more opening their
horizons in teaching English to young learners.
Such events will also provide the
opportunities to meet with other teachers to share information and experiences with
each other.
5.2 Recommendations for Further Studies
There are some limitations of the study, and the major one is the time allotment
for this study.
The study had limited time to explore more about the teachers’
perceptions and knowledge because they had tight schedule of teaching. They were
also busy with their household matters, as all of them were family kind of people.
Therefore, it is recommended to do further study with sufficient time with other
teachers in wider scope. It is also suggested that the time be enough to explore more
teachers’ perceptions and knowledge.
Moreover, though this study may not be generalisable to other settings, the most
concern falls on the teaching practices that are suitable for children. Therefore, it is
also recommended to those who have interests in EYL in public elementary school to
design the English language teaching and learning, such as teaching techniques, that
suits the conditions of the school, the students, and the teachers.
The last recommendation is conducting a study focusing on the teaching of
grammar in elementary school. Language cannot be separated from what so called
93
grammar. It has always been debatable, when teaching English, the teachers should or
not focus on the grammar instructions. A model using the approach of grammar will
be beneficial for the teachers of English in elementary school, so that they can provide a
model of English language teaching that is children friendly.
94