Students` and teachers` perceptions on the english competency-based curriculum implementation at the sixth grade of elementary school.

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THE ENGLISH COMPETENCY-BASED CURRICULUM

IMPLEMENTATION AT THE SIXTH GRADE

OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

A Thesis

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Brita Hapsari

Student Number: 021214046

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2007

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I honestly declare that this thesis which I wrote does not contain the works or part of the works of other people, except those cited in the quotations and bibliography, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, 18 August 2007 The writer,

Brita Hapsari (021214046)

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how t o accept t hings I cannot change. . .

And please give me br aver y

t o change t hings I can change. . .

Ever y second is pr iceless . . .

Ever y second cannot be changed by anyt hing . . .

Ever y second cr eat es happiness . . .

And when t he happiness can be f ound in t he

silence . . .

I f ind it in my f amily . . .

This t hesis is dedicat ed t o:

My f at her ,

R. Sudj adi

My mot her ,

Ar diat i Chamasiah

My beloved f amily

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I am very grateful to have Allah SWT in my life that always guides me and gives me chances to do my best. Thank God I have finally finished writing my thesis after striving until my last sweat to do the biggest part of my study.

I would like to begin giving my thankfulness to FX. Ouda Teda Ena, S.Pd., M.Pd. and Y. Veniranda, S.Pd., M.Hum. for their guidance, patience, and worthy suggestions during the best time when I was finishing my thesis. Furthermore, I sincerely appreciate the kindness and assistance of the lecturers and administrative staff of the English Language Education Study Program. This would not be easy without them all.

I also feel thankful to the Head Master, Dra. Erna Krusmaningsih, the English teachers, Evi Ghiashofa, S.Pd. and Deny Eka Candrawati, S.Pd. and the 6th grade students of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta for their cooperation during my research.

I thank God for giving me the best parents in my life. My greatest and deepest gratitude goes to my parents, R. Sudjadi and Ardiati Chamasiah, who have given me a chance to study at Sanata Dharma University where I experienced many marvellous and fabulous events and met my best and close friends who gave colours in my life. Had they not supported me, I would not have been able to finish my thesis. I dedicate the last project of my study to them.

I give a million thanks to my beloved brothers and my sisters in-law who are always ready twenty-four hours to help me. In addition, my special thanks go to my cute nieces and nephews who always cheer me up with their naughtiness and funny things they made. I also feel thankful to Andreas Dimas who always

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my bad times. I thank Viera whose innocence really amuses me. I also thank Nisa and the big family of CMM.

I feel so grateful to have Iin as my best friend who is always next to me in my ups and downs. I thank her for the supports during my working days of thesis. Thanks for the nicest and unforgettable memories I made with her. I also feel so thankful to the big family ofIbu Restutami Slamet for giving me advice to work harder on my thesis. I thank her for giving me a chance to be a part of her family.

I also would like to whole-heartedly give my deepest gratefulness to I Ketut Wijaya Kusuma who has coloured my days. I thank him for his guidance, patience and fully supports on my thesis. I would not be this tough and have struggled harder without his supports. I thank him for drawing a picture and giving me a path in my heart. Never did I meet a person like him.

My special thank goes to EME’s family for giving me a chance to grow up and upgrade myself not only to be the real teacher with so much fun, but also to be a better individual and have another meaning of life. I would like to deeply thank the General Manager of EME, Mas Agga, who has given me a different sight of friendship, love, and life. I thank the big family of EME, Mbak Iiek and Mbak Nyta, Rina, Grace, Melly, and all EME’s students. Seldom did I have a great family that successfully brought me up.

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TITLE PAGE ………... APPROVAL PAGE ………. BOARD OF EXAMINERS ………. STATEMENTS OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ……….. DEDICATION PAGE ……….. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………. TABLE OF CONTENTS ………. LIST OF TABLES ………... LIST OF FIGURE ……… LIST OF APPENDICES ……….. ABSTRACT ………. ABSTRAK... CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study ………... B. Identification of the Problems ……… C. Limitation of the Problems ……… D. Problem Formulation ………. E. Objectives of the Study ………... F. Benefits of the Study ………... G. Definition of Terms ……… CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Theoretical Description ……….. 1. Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign

Language ……… 2. English for Young Learners ………... a. The Elementary School Children ………... b. Child Language Development ………...

Page i ii iii iv v vi viii xi xii xiii xiv xv 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 8 8 12 12 14 Page

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3. Curriculum Development in Indonesia ……….. a. 1994 Curriculum ……… b. Competency-Based Curriculum ………. c. The Differences between 1994 Curriculum and

Competency-Based Curriculum ………. d. Perceptions ………. B. Theoretical Framework ……….. CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY

A. Method ………... B. Research Participants ………. C. Setting ……… D. Research Instruments ………. 1. Questionnaire ………. 2. Interview ……… 3. Field Notes ………. E. Data Gathering Technique ………. F. Research Procedure ……… CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A. Research Findings ……….. 1. The Implementation of the Competency-Based

Curriculum ………. a. Reading Skill ……….. b. Speaking Skill ……… c. Writing Skill ………... d. Listening Skill ……… 2. The Students’ Perceptions on the Implementation of

Competency-Based Curriculum ………. a. The Students’ Background Knowledge of English … b. The Implementation of Competency-Based

16 17 18 22 23 26 28 29 30 30 30 31 32 33 34 36 36 36 38 41 42 43 45 Page

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c. The Facilities for the Implementation of

Competency-Based Curriculum ………. d. The Result of the Competency-Based Curriculum

Implementation ……….. 3. The Teachers’ Perceptions on the Implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum ………. B. Discussion ………. 1. The Implementation of Competency-Based

Curriculum ………. a. Reading Skill ……….. b. Speaking Skill ……… c. Writing Skill ………... d. Listening Skill ……… 2. The Students’ Perceptions on the Implementation of

Competency-Based Curriculum ………. a. The Students’ Background Knowledge of English … b. The Implementation of Competency-Based

Curriculum in Teaching Learning Process ………… c. The Facilities for the Implementation of

Competency-Based Curriculum ………. d. The Result of Competency-Based Curriculum

Implementation ……….. 3. The Teachers’ Perceptions on the Implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum ………. CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions ……… B. Suggestions ……… BIBLIOGRAPHY ……… 47 49 51 56 56 56 58 62 64 65 65 66 68 69 70 72 75 76

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Table 1. A Competency-Based Curriculum Guideline for the 1st Semester of 6th Grade of Elementary School ………... Table 2. A Competency-Based Curriculum Guideline for the 2nd Semester

of 6th Grade of Elementary School ………... Table 3. The Differences between 1994 Curriculum and

Competency-Based Curriculum ………... Table 4. A Blueprint of the Questionnaire ………. Table 5. A Blueprint of the Interview ………

Page 19 20 22 31 32

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Figure 1. Perceptions in This Research ………

Page 23

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APPENDIX 1 A Permission Letter for a Research ……….. APPENDIX 2 A List of Students’ Marks ………. APPENDIX 3 Field Notes ……….... APPENDIX 4 An Interview Guideline ……… APPENDIX 5 A transcript of an interview with the first teacher ………… APPENDIX 6 A transcript of an interview with the second teacher ……... APPENDIX 7 A Curriculum Guideline ………... APPENDIX 8 A Syllabus of Speed Up English 6 ………... APPENDIX 9 Research Calendar ……… APPENDIX 10 A Questionnaire ………

Page 79 80 81 92 95 105 111 114 118 121

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Hapsari, Brita. 2007. Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions on the English Competency-Based Curriculum Implementation at the Sixth Grade of Elementary School.Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

English is a language which is widely used through all over the world. It has been taught to the students from the first grade of Elementary School students to college students. It is taught to Elementary School students as one of the non-compulsory subjects. At SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta, the English teachers implemented Competency-Based Curriculum.

This research was attempted to observe the implementation of English Competency-Based Curriculum at the sixth grade of Elementary School as one of the non-compulsory subjects taught at school. This research aimed at identifying how the Competency-Based Curriculum was implemented at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. The students’ and teachers’ perceptions on Competency-Based Curriculum were studied in this research.

This research took the two English teachers and ten students of the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta as the subjects of the research. The questionnaires were distributed to the ten students to gather the data. The researcher also collected data by interviewing the two English teachers. The field notes were also used in this research to complete the existing data by observing the classroom situation which consisted of 29 students.

The data gathered showed that the implementation of English Competency-Based Curriculum at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta obtained positive responses from the students. The class activities developed the four English skills. The reading skill was built up by asking the students to take turn reading passages while the teacher corrected their mispronunciations. The speaking skill was developed by mostly having card games as the media to help the students talk actively to achieve the competencies of speaking skill. The teacher developed the writing skill through writing assignments. The students were asked to make correct English sentences as the class activities as well. Meanwhile, the listening skill was built up by assigning the students to memorize and pay attention to the story read by the teacher. The teacher checked whether the students understood the story by giving some comprehending questions.

The teacher sometimes used media to do the class activity as well, so the competencies of the four English skills required in the curriculum guideline could be achieved successfully. The class atmosphere was so alive that the students could reach the competencies of the English skills when the teacher checked them. The teaching learning process also made the students enjoy learning English especially through the media available at school. The students could respond positively towards the class activities. They stated that the class activities at school such as games made them learn English more easily. Besides, the teachers stated that Competency-Based Curriculum was appropriate to be applied to the classroom since this curriculum could make the students achieve the competencies of the English skills. These evidences proved that the Competency-Based Curriculum was good and suitable to the condition of the sixth grade classroom at SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta.

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Brita Hapsari. 2007. Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions on the English Competency-Based Curriculum Implementation at the Sixth Grade of Elementary School. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Bahasa Inggris adalah sebuah bahasa yang di gunakan secara umum di seluruh dunia. Bahasa Inggris sudah diajarkan kepada siswa-siswi mulai dari kelas 1 Sekolah Dasar hingga mahasiswa. Bahasa Inggris diajarkan pada siswa-siswi Sekolah Dasar sebagai salah satu muatan lokal. Di SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta, guru-guru bahasa Inggris menerapkan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi.

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui penerapan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi untuk bahasa Inggris pada kelas 6 Sekolah Dasar sebagai salah satu muatan lokal yang diajarkan di sekolah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi diterapkan di kelas 6 SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. Persepsi siswa-siswi dan guru-guru terhadap Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi juga dipelajari dalam penelitian ini.

Penelitian ini menempatkan dua orang guru bahasa Inggris dan sepuluh siswa-siswi kelas 6 SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta sebagai subyek penelitian. Kuesioner-kuesioner dibagikan kepada 10 siswa-siswi untuk mendapatkan data. Peneliti juga mengumpulkan data dengan mewawancarai dua orang guru bahasa Inggris.Field notes juga digunakan untuk melengkapi data yang ada dengan cara mengobservasi keadaan kelas yang terdiri atas 29 siswa.

Data yang terkumpul menunjukkan bahwa penerapan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi untuk bahasa Inggris pada kelas 6 SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta mendapatkan tanggapan positif dari siswa-siswi. Aktifitas di kelas mengembangkan empat keterampilan berbahasa Inggris. Keterampilan membaca dikembangkan dengan meminta siswa-siswi untuk membaca bacaan bergiliran sementara guru membetulkan kesalahan pengucapan. Keterampilan berbicara dikembangkan melalui permainan kartu sebagai media untuk membantu siswa-siswi aktif berbicara untuk mencapai kompetensi-kompetensi dari keterampilan membaca. Guru mengembangkan keterampilan menulis melalui tugas-tugas menulis. Siswa-siswi juga diminta untuk membuat kalimat-kalimat bahasa Inggris yang benar untuk aktifitas di kelas. Sementara keterampilan mendengarkan dikembangkan dengan meminta siswa-siswi untuk menghafal dan memperhatikan cerita yang dibacakan oleh guru. Guru mengecek apakah siswa-siswi mengerti ceritanya dengan memberi beberapa pertanyaan yang berhubungan dengan bacaan.

Guru terkadang juga menggunakan media untuk aktifitas kelas sehingga kompetensi-kompetensi dari empat keterampilan berbahasa Inggris dalam pedoman kurikulum dapat dicapai dengan sukses. Suasana kelas sangat hidup sehingga siswa-siswi dapat mencapai kompetensi-kompetensi dari keterampilan berbahasa Inggris ketika guru mengecek. Proses belajar mengajar membuat siswa-siswi menikmati belajar bahasa Inggris khususnya melalui media yang ada di sekolah. Siswa-siswi dapat merespon dengan positif terhadap aktifitas-aktfitas kelas. Mereka mengatakan bahwa aktifitas-aktifitas kelas di sekolah seperti permainan membuat mereka belajar bahasa Inggris dengan lebih mudah. Disamping itu, dua orang guru bahasa Inggris menyatakan bahwa Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi cocok diterapkan di kelas karena kurikulum ini dapat membuat para siswa mencapai kompetensi-kompetensi dari keterampilan berbahasa Inggris. Hal ini membuktikan bahwa Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi itu bagus dan sesuai untuk situasi kelas 6 di SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the study which is investigated in this research. This chapter is divided into seven parts; they are background of the study, identification of the problems, limitation of the problems, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms.

A. Background of the Study

English has been taught to students in Indonesia. As a foreign language, English has become a complementary subject in formal schools in Indonesia. As a major subject, English starts being taught in Junior High School and continuously until the first year of college. At the age of thirteen years old, the Junior High School students used to be said as the appropriate level to begin learning English. However, the government changed the decision and made a new policy that English should be taught earlier in the Elementary School. Based on the Indonesian decree, English has been taught to the students of the fourth grade of Elementary School. The fourth grade of Elementary School is considered as an appropriate level to start learning English since the students at the early age of ten years old are still eager to learn something new especially to study a new subject.

Moreover, the younger the learners the easier they study English because children have unique attitude towards learning, especially a new language. When they learn what they are curious about, they go faster, cover more territory than they would everything of (Faw, 1980: 255). It will be better if English is

taught to the students in the very beginning level since the purpose of teaching English for children is to give basic knowledge to the students so as to prepare the students to learn English in the next level.

In 2001, the government changed the curriculum and started implementing a new curriculum. The previous curriculum was the 1994 English curriculum which put emphasis on the development of communicative competence and cover the four language skills based on the teacher-centered method (Depdikbud, 1994: 1-2). However, in the new curriculum, the Competency-Based Curriculum, the learners are the center of the teaching learning process.

This research attempts to investigate the classroom activities in the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum to teach English at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. The sixth grade students and the English teachers of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta are taken as the subjects of this research. The researcher takes the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta as the participants under a consideration that they have had the basic knowledge of English because they have learnt English since they were at the fourth grade and the fifth grade of Elementary School.

B. Identification of the Problems

The students in formal school in Indonesia used to begin learning English from the first grade of Junior high school. The aim of teaching English should be to enable our learners to communicate in that language (Golebiowska, 1990). However, English has been taught to the fourth grade of Elementary School because the fourth grade of Elementary School is considered as an appropriate

level to start learning English. The purpose of teaching English to children is at least to give the basic knowledge of English to the students to prepare the students to learn English in the next level.

In this research, the researcher analyzed the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum to teach English at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. The researcher also presented the students’ and teachers’ perceptions on the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum of English at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta.

C. Limitation of the Problems

This thesis discusses the classroom activities in class and also the teacher’s and the students’ perceptions on the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. This thesis also offers explanation about implementing Competency-Based Curriculum to teach English to children.

D. Problem Formulation

Based on the problem limitation, the problems are formulated as follows:

1. How is the English Competency-Based Curriculum implemented at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta?

2. What are the students’ perceptions on the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum of English at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta?

3. What are the teacher’s perceptions on the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum of English at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta?

E. Objectives of the Study

Related to the questions mentioned in the problem formulation, there are two objectives presented in this thesis. The first objective is to describe the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum of English at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. The second objective is to find out the perceptions of students and teachers on the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum to teach English to young learners. This research also provides some explanation whenever the writer finds classroom problems in the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum to teach English at the six grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta.

F. Benefits of the Study

This thesis is expected to give valuable contributions to the teachers, the curriculum writer, and also the next researchers dealing with teaching and learning for young learners.

1. Teachers

This thesis is expected to give valuable contribution to the teachers especially those who teach the young learners. It can make the teachers aware of the classroom difficulties. Also, it can help the teachers and give some alternatives to overcome the difficulties which usually occur in

teaching English to young learners. The teachers are expected to be able to handle the problems.

2. Curriculum writers

This thesis is supposed to give a valuable contribution to the curriculum writers. This thesis can be a consideration in making a new curriculum which is appropriate for teaching Elementary School students. It can help the curriculum writer to decide what is suitable for Elementary School students. 3. Further researchers

Hopefully, this thesis can contribute something important and useful to the education field. This thesis is expected to be useful as a reference for the next researchers to conduct an observation dealing with teaching English to young learners.

G. Definition of Terms

1. Sixth grade students of Elementary School

According to ‘Undang-Undang nomor 2 Sistem Pendidikan Nasional’ about elementary education, elementary school refers to the first part of the nine-year system of the elementary education program which has the duration of six years (Soedijarto, 1992: 28). Whereas the regulation of the Republic of Indonesia states that those who are not less than six years old permitted to join a basic education (Depdikbud, 1994: 2).

Therefore, based on the definition mentioned before, Elementary School students are those who join a system of elementary education program which has the duration of six years.

2. Competency

It is stated in the fifth edition of Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture (2002) that competency which is the same as competence means an ability or skill to do what is needed.

Webster’s New Explorer Dictionary and Thesaurus (1999) states that competency is the same as competence as well. Competency, and also competence, is defined as an ability or skill.

According to Curriculum Centre (Pusat Kurikulum, Balitbang Depdiknas), competency is “a basic knowledge and an ability that are reflected in the attitude of thinking and acting” (2002: 1).

This research studies the Competency-Based Curriculum. This curriculum is based on the learners-centred which requires the students to achieve the competencies written in the curriculum.

3. Curriculum

According to Richard (2005: 8), a curriculum is a teaching guideline that covers all subjects in one situation.

A curriculum is a guideline for teaching learning process so that the aim of education can be achieved (Suprapranata-Hatta, 2004:1).

This research aims at evaluating whether the curriculum is acceptable and applicable to the real class situation.

4. Competency-Based Curriculum

According to the Curriculum Centre (Pusat Kurikulum, Balitbang Depdiknas), this curriculum focuses on the competence to be formed by the students (2002: 8). The competency-based approach puts emphasis more on

the consideration that curriculum must contain learning materials that equip the graduates with various competencies that are needed in the field.

5. Competency-Based Learning

According to the Curriculum Centre (Pusat Kurikulum, Balitbang Depdiknas), Competency-Based English Learning is expected to function as a means to develop students’ personality, knowledge, technology and arts, global concept and international communication capability (2002: 7-8). The Competency-Based Learning aims at generating optimal outputs that prepare the graduates to have good skills, knowledge, and capabilities to compete with the others.

6. Perception

A perception is defined as the process whereby the external tokens of objects and phenomena are reflected in someone’s consciousness (Leontive, 1981: 31). Through this definition, it means that someone is creating his or her perception when he or she is aware of experiencing an event or observing an object.

7. SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta

This school was located at Jl. Juwadi 2 Kotabaru Yogyakarta. There were 15 classes in total and the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta consisted of 3 classes. The number of the students was 393. The class C which was observed consisted of 29 students. Furthermore, there were two English teachers at SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta who were responsible for teaching English to all classes.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the writer discusses some theories related to the research problems. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part is about theoretical description. The theoretical description discusses some related theories used in the research. The second part is about theoretical framework which presents the discussion of how the theories are integrated in this research.

A. Theoretical Description

1. Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language

In Indonesia, English is learnt after people learn their first or native language. For most people, learning a second or foreign language is more difficult than learning their native language. Lado (1964: 38) states that, “Learning a foreign language is defined as acquiring the ability to use its structure within a general vocabulary under essentially the conditions of normal communication among native speakers at conversational speed.” It means that when students learn a foreign language, they have to learn its structures and general vocabularies, so they can have a conversation with the native speakers of the language.

As stated by Finocchiaro (1989: 17-18), there are five crucial factors that need to be considered in learning English as a foreign language. Age is one of the crucial factors. It also becomes a measurement to determine whether the learners are the children who can imitate the teacher easily and prefer to learn language through media (games, song, pictures, etc), or they are adults whose

native language habits are more deeply established and can analyze the new language. Therefore, age is important in learning English as a foreign language to select the appropriate methods and materials.

Another factor is ability which measures whether or not the learners have the ability to master a new language easily. In this case, each student has different level of ability of English, so everyone has different progress in learning English. Aspirations and needs are also important to determine whether the learners need to learn English to find a job, do further studies, conduct a business, or take a trip. Everyone learns English based on his or her objectives so that he or she has to know the goal first before deciding to study English.

Native language becomes the next crucial factor which finds out whether or not there are similarities between English and the native language of the learners, especially in sounds, structure, and vocabulary. Sometimes, people find difficulties in learning a new language because of the accent and the culture. The last factor is previous learning. This factor tries to find out whether the learners have studied any other foreign language or not. It aims at measuring the learners’ background knowledge of English and how much English they already know.

Richards and Rodgers (1986: 72) state that there are three principles of language learning. The first is the communication principle, i.e. activities that involve real communication promote learning. The second is the task principle, i.e. activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning. The third is the meaningfulness principle, i.e. language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process.

Krashen and Terrel (1983: 26) state the theory on second language acquisition and second language learning. The theory claims that adults have two distinctive ways of developing competence in second language. The first way is language acquisition that is by using language for real communication. Language acquisition is a natural way to develop linguistic ability, and is subconscious process. Children, for example, are not necessarily aware that they are acquiring a language. They are only aware that they are communicating.

The second way to develop competence in a second language is by language learning. Language learning is “knowing about” language, or “formal knowledge” of a language. While acquisition is subconscious, learning is conscious. Learning refers to “explicit” knowledge of rules, being aware of them and being able to talk about them. This kind of knowledge is quite different from language acquisition, which should be termed “implicit” (Krashen-Terrel, 1983: 26).

There are some techniques in teaching English as foreign language that are better known by the teacher. Newton (1976: 337-340) stated, at least, eleven techniques. The first one is that the teachers should create an atmosphere which encourages the students to speak English in the classroom because the students need to be accustomed as soon as possible to the unfamiliar sounds of the new language. The second technique is to let the students do most talking because the students are they who need to practice speaking, not the teacher, and in order to learn the language, they must use it.

The third technique is to correct the student errors by having students repeat the right form. This technique is needed because when a student makes an

error, either in pronunciation or in structure, the teacher should immediately produce the correct form and have the students repeat it after you do it several times. Adequate English language habits are developed by listening to and imitating correct methods of English speech.

The fourth one is that the teachers should introduce one new structure at a time. The teachers should let the students hear the structure a number of times, then have them repeat it many more times. They have to be sure that the students understand and are able to use the new structure correctly before the lesson goes on to new material.

Another technique stated by Newton (1976: 337-340) is that the teachers should insist on plenty of repetition. In this case, an approach of repetition drills with interest and enthusiasm might be needed. The teachers have to strive to obtain a good imitation not only of the words that constitute the structural pattern but also of its pronunciation and intonation as well. The next technique is that the teachers should give plenty of substitution drill. The value of the substitution drill is that it trains the student to use a great variety of words within a limited number of grammatical patterns, and hence be able to express in English a variety of concepts.

The seventh technique is that the teachers have to train the students to ask questions in English. The teachers should give plenty of drill on question forms, and then have the students ask questions of each other. The eighth technique is that the teachers have to prepare for the class. They should divide the semester’s work by the total number of teaching hours, and decide what they will teach in each class period. They do not have to forget to allow ample time for

review. The ninth technique is that the teachers should treat the textbook as a tool, not a tyrant. They use a textbook as a supplement to the teaching. Introduction of new material and preliminary oral drill should come from the teachers, and textbook should be closed while new structures and vocabularies are practiced. The teachers should be creative in the use of a textbook, employing its materials in a variety of ways.

The next technique is that the teachers should encourage the students and help them by praising their good performances and their progress (Newton, 1976: 337-340). The teachers should ask the harder questions of the better students and give them compliments towards their good effort because it can make them do their best.

The last technique is that the teachers have to create and have a fun atmosphere. They should let the English class be an enjoyable experience for them and the students. They might tell an occasional joke in English, simplifying structure and vocabulary as necessary.

2. English for Young Learners a) The Elementary School Children

The elementary school children grow and develop during their six years in school. According to Cole (1956: 124), the elementary school children are divided in two groups; the first three years are called the primary grade, and the last three years are called the intermediate grade. There are some characteristics, which differentiate the primary and intermediate grades. As a teacher we have to know children’s characteristics, so we can train them appropriately.

The subjects of this research are the sixth grade of elementary school children. They are considered in the intermediate grade. According to Cole (1956: 132-137), the development characteristics found in this period cover the physical, intellectual, emotional, and social aspects.

1. Physical Characteristics

The last three years of elementary school are usually a period of slower growth in height but more marked growth in weight than the previous period (Cole, 1956: 132-137). Because of the increased size and strength of the muscles and the development of better nervous control, children in the intermediate grade can do many things easily that were impossible at the earlier level. The children are now old enough to indulge in considerable amounts of handwork and are usually passionately interested in building practically anything.

2. Intellectual Characteristics

The children in this period are interested in learning all kinds of things, and they want to know as many facts as possible about as many different things as possible. During this period, the teacher should make arrangements for satisfying each pupil’s curiosity in as many fields as possible (Cole, 1956: 132-137).

3. Emotional Characteristics

The children in this period have much better powers of inhibition than the younger (Cole, 1956: 132-137). Violent outbursts are much less frequent, and many of the most conspicuous fears of the earlier period have been

outgrown. The chief emotional attachment of children in this period is to each other rather than to the teacher.

4. Social Characteristics

Children in the intermediate grade from a social period characterized by a devotion to “chums” and “gangs”. Certainly no social unit has any closer organization than the characteristic gang which first makes its appearance in the upper years of elementary school. The gang or club has many useful social values. It can change pupils from selfish, irresponsible children into partially socialized human beings (Cole, 1956: 132-137).

Children of this age are very active and dynamic, and all active and moving activities will attract their attention very much (Kartono, 1979: 199). They are interested in learning all things, including learning a second language. Furthermore, children cannot sit down and keep silent only. They are more interested in the activities that require them to move and be active when they are doing those activities.

b) Child Language Development

Based on the critical period hypothesis, it is stated that in this period of life, a language can be acquired more easily than the age after that period (Brown, 1987: 43). The critical period is the period of time from birth to puberty. The critical period related to the first and second language acquisition.

In Language File (1987: 253-255), there are stated three theories which attempt to account for how children acquire a language. The first theory is the

imitation theory. This theory claims that children learn language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear. According to this theory, language acquisition consists of memorizing the words and sentences of some languages. The theory stated the fact that children learn the language that is spoken around them by parents and others, no matter what the language of their ancestors may have been.

The second theory is the reinforcement theory. This theory asserts that children learn to speak like adults because they are praised, rewarded, or otherwise reinforced when they use the right forms and are corrected when they use wrong forms.

Another theory is the active construction of grammar theory. This theory holds that children actually invent the rules of grammar themselves. Their inventions are based on the speech they hear around them. Children listen to the language around them and analyze it to determine the patterns that exist.

c) Children’s Attitudes Towards Learning

Children have unique attitudes towards learning something. When they learn what they are curious about, they go faster, cover more territory than we would everything of (Faw, 1980, 255). Based on Faw, he remarks that children have their own way to learn a new thing. Children also have high curiosity about everything.

According to Chomsky and Bloomfield as cited in Faw, the children are in favorable conditions to learn a language (Faw, 1980: 256), because they are equipped by language acquisition device, which will enable them to acquire the

target language well. Students feel frustrated easily when they fail in learning a new language. It is shown by a low motivation and willingness to learn.

A high motivation and an appreciation to the learning process became crucial for acquiring a language in the beginning level so that students are willing to continue their learning. In this case the teacher should consider the children’s emotional and intellectual developments. The teaching methods used should be appropriate in terrifying perfect, but it will not hurt us to admit this fact.

3. Curriculum Development in Indonesia

Nunan states curriculum as a collaborative effort between teachers and learners, since learners are closely involved in the decision-making process regarding the content of the curriculum and how it is taught (Nunan, 1996: 2).

Stenhouse defines the curriculum as an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice (Stenhouse, 1975: 4).

Another theorist, Taylor (1979: 12), has a definition about curriculum. He states that the curriculum is not merely courses of study or subjects to be studied, but all the activities deliberately planned for the pupil by the school.

Meanwhile, curriculum centre also describes a curriculum as a set of plans about goals, contents, subject lessons and ways that are used as a guidance of the teaching learning activities to achieve a certain goal. The curriculum covers all subjects and guides what to do and what to achieve in the teaching learning process.

a. 1994 Curriculum

The teaching learning process at elementary school in Indonesia used to be based on the 1994 curriculum. The 1994 curriculum implemented the communicative approach in teaching English to the elementary school students. There are several points to be considered in teaching learning process (Depdikbud, 1994: 1-2). In the process of teaching learning, the approach used in the activity should consider the students’ learning motivation as the main factor that is determined by the meaningfulness of the materials.

Also, the teachers should realize that meaningfulness of the materials has very important roles in the students’ success. Materials and learning activities will become more meaningful if they are related to the students’ need, experiences, interests, values, and their future life. Furthermore, the students are the main subjects, not the object in teaching learning process. Their characteristics and their needs have to be considered in all decisions related to the teaching.

English has started to be one of the subjects in elementary school since 1994. The 1994 Elementary Education Curriculum stated that:

English is an important foreign language to be taught for the absorption and development of scientific, technology and arts, also the international relationship development. English can be taught if it is needed by the society in that area and supported by competent teacher to teach the subject. Therefore, English is considered as a non-compulsory subject in elementary school and English can be taught started from the fourth grade.

(Depdikbud, 1994).

It is clear that English is actually needed as an important foreign language. English will be taught to the fourth grade of elementary school as a

non-compulsory subject as long as it is supported by competent teachers. English can also be used to support the international relationship development.

b. Competency-Based Curriculum

Competency-Based Curriculum is a new curriculum of education in Indonesia which emphasizes the competence of the learners. It is worth it to be discussed because high schools in Indonesia have started implementing this curriculum which is also called as 2004 curriculum nowadays even elementary schools have implemented the Competency-Based Curriculum.

Mulyasa (2002) states that in the Competency-Based Curriculum the teachers are not the centre of the teaching learning process anymore, but the students take an important part in the teaching learning process. However, the head master and the teachers also take important roles in supporting the success of the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum even the teachers are very influential to determine the success in teaching learning process (Mulyasa, 2002).

Another expert, Usman (1990) states that a teacher has four functions. They are a demonstrator, a class manager, a facilitator or mediator and an evaluator. Based on the experts, it shows that the teachers play essential roles in the teaching-learning process and in the success of the Competency-Based Curriculum implementation.

In the Competency-Based Curriculum, the speaking and writing competencies have to reveal things known by Indonesian speakers and writers and applied to non-Indonesian listeners and readers. The reading competencies, in this curriculum, is hoped to obtain new information that happens in other countries.

According to the Curriculum Centre (Pusat Kurikulum Balitbang Depdiknas (2002: 1)), the theory of competency in Competency-Based Curriculum is a statement about what students hope can be known, can be respected, or can be done by them in each level and school. It also describes the students’ development that is achieved step by step and continuously to be competence.

In this case, competency is not merely defined as the ability to perform job technically, but also to involve the key competencies that are more intelligent and mental emotional needed in enhancing professionally.

According to Departemen Pendidikan Nasional (2002), English lesson has some aspects based on the Competency-Based Curriculum including:

1. Language skills which consist of listening, speaking, reading and writing. 2. Language competences which consist of actional competence, linguistics,

socio-cultural, strategy and discourse.

3. The development of positive behaviors towards English as a means of communication.

Meanwhile, Pusat Kurikulum Balitbang wrote the Competency-Based Curriculum guideline as stated in Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1. A Competency-Based Curriculum Guideline for the 1st Semester of 6th Grade of Elementary School

Standard Competencies Basic Competencies Listening

1. The students are able to understand a simple instruction and information in the context of responding

a. The students are able to respond a simple instruction with an action in the classroom and outside the class.

and the language. instruction with an action in games.

c. The students are able to comprehend an oral story through pictures to help them.

Speaking

2. The students are able to express a simple instruction and information.

a. The students are able to have a small conversation which involved actions such as doing something, giving a command or giving a clue.

b. The students are able to have a small conversation to ask or give services or things which involved actions such as asking for help, giving help, asking things and giving things. c. The students are able to have a small

conversation to ask or give information which involved actions such as reminding, expressing likes or dislikes, asking an amount, asking conditions, giving comments, giving opinions or suggesting.

d. The students are able to express politeness which involved expressions such as “Would you please…” and “May I …”

Reading

3. The students are able to comprehend a simple and descriptive text with pictures.

a. The students are able to read a short and simple text loudly with the right intonation and correct pronunciation.

b. The students are able to comprehend a descriptive text with pictures.

Writing

4. The students are able to write a short and simple passage.

a. The students are able to write a simple and functional text.

b. The students are able to write a simple greeting card.

Table 2. A Competency-Based Curriculum Guideline for the 2nd Semester of 6th Grade of Elementary School

Standard Competencies Basic Competencies Listening

1. The students are able to understand a simple instruction and information

a. The students are able to respond a simple instruction with an action in the classroom and outside the class.

in the context of responding and the language

b. The students are able to respond a simple instruction with an action in games.

c. The students are able to comprehend an oral story through pictures to help them.

Speaking

2. The students are able to express a simple instruction and information.

a. The students are able to have a small conversation which involved actions such as doing something, giving a command or giving a clue.

b. The students are able to have a small conversation to ask or give services or things which involved actions such as asking for help, giving help, asking things and giving things. c. The students are able to have a small

conversation to ask or give information which involved actions such as expressing feeling, responding an expression, expressing doubtfulness, asking and asking for explanation. d. The students are able to express politeness

which involved expressions such as “Would you please…” and “May I …”

Reading

3. The students are able to comprehend a simple and descriptive text with pictures.

a. The students are able to read a short and simple text loudly with the right intonation and correct pronunciation.

b. The students are able to comprehend a descriptive text with pictures.

c. The students are able to comprehend a simple narrative text with pictures.

Writing

4. The students are able to write a short and simple passage.

a. The students are able to write a simple and functional text.

b. The students are able to write a simple greeting card.

The direction of competencies development stated that standard competencies and basic competencies become a direction and basic to develop the main materials, teaching learning activities and indicate the competencies achievements of the evaluation. The teachers should pay attention to the standard

process and standard evaluation in designing teaching learning process and evaluation.

c. The Differences between 1994 Curriculum and Competency-Based Curriculum

Mulyasa (2002) stated the differences between 1994 Curriculum and Competency-Based Curriculum as seen in Table 3.

Table 3. The Differences between 1994 Curriculum and Competency-Based Curriculum

No 1994 Curriculum Competency-Based Curriculum 1. Mastering material approach,

emphasizing the understanding of the content.

Using competency approach, emphasizing the understanding of the ability or certain competency in school related to the jobs available in society.

2. Uniformity of the implementation of materials to every student.

Competency standard that considers the various abilities of the learners such as the ability, the rate of learning as well as the culture.

3. Learners are seen as “carte blanche” that the teacher can draw anything on it.

Every learner is seen as a human with his or her own ability and personality as well as his or her talent and capability, so the function of schooling is to dig out those abilities.

4. The development of curriculum is done from the central government.

Government and society develop the curriculum, so the society also determines what is actually needed by the students. 5. Subject being taught in school is

sometimes imbalanced to the facilities and the ability of the school or the needs of the environment around the school.

School is given a full authority to expand its syllabus based on the needs of the students and society.

6. Teacher is the centre of teaching learning process.

Teacher is a facilitator whose duty is to create conducive atmosphere to the students.

7. Sciences, skills and attitudes are developed through exercises such as answering questions.

Sciences, skills and attitudes are developed based on the understanding that will shape individual competence.

8. Most of learning activities are done in the classroom.

Learning process is conducted to stimulate cooperation between school, society and working world in making competency of the learners.

9. Evaluation is done nationally and does not touch the personality of learners.

The teacher does evaluation and the evaluation focuses on the process and the learning outcome.

4. Perceptions

Many experts have defined what perception is. According to Leontive (1981: 31), perception is defined as the process whereby the external tokens of objects and phenomena are reflected in someone’s consciousness. Based on this definition, Leontive conforms that someone is creating his or her perception when he or she is aware of experiencing an event or observing an object. If he or she is not aware, he or she cannot shape his or her perception on something.

In this research, the perceptions are related to the study which is shown as follows:

TLP CBC implementation experience awareness perceptions

Figure 1. Perceptions in This Research

This research discusses the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum at school. In this case, the students and the teachers as the actors in the teaching learning process experience the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum in class. When they experience the teaching learning process, they are

aware of it. Therefore, perceptions are shaped through their awareness of the Competency-Based curriculum implementation in the teaching learning process.

Warga (1983: 207) also states that perceptions are based on past experiences. It means that someone can also shape his or her perception after he or she experienced something. When someone did not experience an event or observe an object, he or she cannot form perception.

Meanwhile, Cook (1994: 150) remarks that perception is the selection, organization and interpretation of sensory data. It shows that perception is important process that helps people define their world and guide their behaviours.

Kreitner (1989: 126) adds that perceptions will lead to the change of attitudes, motivation and behaviours. This means that perceptions may create outcomes within individuals.

This research studies perceptions since perceptions are needed to evaluate the existing curriculum whether the curriculum is acceptable and applicable to the real class situation.

During the process of shaping the perceptions, an individual might be influenced by some factors which possibly obstruct his or her perception. According to Winardi (1992: 47-48) and Warga (1983: 210-213), the factors influencing perceptions which both researchers find them almost the same are stated as follows:

1. Stereotyping

Stereotyping is a kind of judgment. Everyone will have different perception from the others since each person has different point of view to

stereotyping. Stereotyping can influence perceptions because of an individual’s restricted amount of information about what he or she has experienced and observed.

2. Self-concept

An individual may think that he or she is qualified, intelligent, and patient. This belief on his or her qualification may take an important role as it affects how an individual perceives what he or she is facing. The way how an individual sees and feels about himself or herself is called self-concept.

3. Situation

Situation cannot be separated from perceptions since the habits familiar with an individual and expectation desired by an individual affects his or her perception. For instance, when someone has been accustomed to one situation, he or she will find some difficulties if he or she faces another situation which he or she never experiences.

4. Needs

Needs influence perceptions. If an individual finds needs of what he or she has experienced and observed, he or she must shape positive perception in his or her mind. However, when he or she does not have certain purposes of what he or she has experienced and observed, he or she can shape the perception more naturally.

5. Emotion

Emotion has significant influence on perceptions as strong emotion tends to block out stimuli. It means that when an individual is angry, he or she

tends to send away the situation that is opposite to his or her emotion. An individual cannot feel two emotions at a time. Therefore, the dominant one will exist.

B. Theoretical Framework

This research studies the students’ and teachers’ perceptions on the English Competency-Based Curriculum implementation at the sixth grade of Elementary School. In this research, Elementary School students are taken to be the research participants. As one of the non-compulsory subjects at school, English is taught to the students as a foreign language. The English teachers of the school are also considered as the subjects of the research since the students’ and teachers’ mother tongue is Indonesian. Therefore, the theory of teaching and learning English as a foreign language is regarded as an important theory for the research.

The theory of English for young learners is relevant to this research because the research participants are not only the teachers, but also the 29 students of Elementary School who are still at the early ages. Those students are regarded as young learners of English. The researcher also presents more information about the Elementary School students, their language development and also attitudes towards learning. Those theories are considered to be significant to this research.

The curriculum development in Indonesia is also presented since this theory is relevant to the research which studies about the implementation of English Competency-Based Curriculum at Elementary School. The researcher presents more details theory by comparing the Competency-based Curriculum to the previous curriculum.

The researcher presents the theory of perceptions as well. Perceptions are needed to evaluate whether the curriculum is acceptable and appropriate for the teachers and the students. After implementing the curriculum, that curriculum can be measured by the teachers and students. The teachers’ and students’ perceptions on the strengths and the weaknesses of the curriculum are hoped to evaluate the existing curriculum to be better.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the methodology which was used in the research. It covers method, research participants, setting, research instruments, data gathering technique and research procedure.

A. Method

This research was aimed at observing the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum at the sixth grade of elementary school of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta and observing students’ and teachers’ perceptions on the Competency-Based Curriculum. The method used in this thesis was a qualitative research. This research was conducted by using research instruments.

This study also employed a descriptive research as a type or category of research referring to investigation which utilizes already existing data or non-experimental research with a preconceived hypothesis or research questions (Selinger and Shohamy, 1989). In a descriptive research, the kind of data analysis that was carried out was often qualitative. The analysis of qualitative research was in the form of narrative description and interpretation. In this descriptive research, the field notes were interpreted in the form of narrative description.

Descriptive research focused on problem solving of current and existing problems. It was also an activity consisting of data collection in order to answer research questions currently existing. The implementation of descriptive

research was not only limited to data collection and arrangement, but also analysis and interpretation of the data.

Descriptive method was chosen since it was widely used and covered more aspects than other methods. Thus, this method provided current information and a chance to identify useful factors for the research.

The kind of descriptive method used in this research was a survey. A survey gave advantages in which a researcher could conduct a further research. Conducting a further research would allow one to investigate one’s personality, one’s experience, and there was also a chance to investigate the reason for one to behave in certain way (Sevilla, 1993: 80). The survey avoided providing a chance to gain knowledge needed to solve existing problems and also intensively and detailed focuses on a case. The survey involved one or several people in a certain time.

B. Research Participants

In this research, the English teachers and the sixth grade of Elementary School of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta were taken as the research participants. The purposive sampling and stratified sampling were used as the methods of sampling. The purposive sampling was used to collect data not only from the point of view of the students, but also from the teachers. Moreover, both of the English teachers and the sixth grade students of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta were considered to have specific information dealing with her research. The researcher also used stratified sampling in this research. Ten students were taken as the samples. Five students who obtained the highest scores and five students who

obtained the lowest scores of English were chosen. The sixth grade students of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta were taken as the subjects of this research under the consideration that they had the basic knowledge of English since they had learned English when they were at the fourth grade and the fifth grade of Elementary School.

C. Setting

The research took place at SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. This school was chosen because this school was considered as one of the favorite and well known public schools in Yogyakarta. Moreover, this school still implemented Competency-Based Curriculum when this research was conducted. A preliminary research was done on May 22-24, 2006. After having a preliminary research, the researcher did a further observation from August 9, 2006 until September 13, 2006.

D. Research Instruments

To answer the research problems stated in chapter I, surveys through a questionnaire and an interview were conducted as the main instruments to gather data. The researcher also used an observation to complete the gathered data.

1. Questionnaire

According to Ary (1979: 175), a questionnaire is divided into two types, they are structured or closed form and unstructured or open form. A structured questionnaire contains the questions and alternative answers to them. In

the questionnaire form, there will be some alternatives for each number to choose. The answers provided by each question should be exhaustive of all possible responses and at the same time mutually exclusive. An unstructured questionnaire does not include suggested answers. There is no limitation for the respondents to explain the answer. The respondents are free to give answers.

In conducting this research, the researcher used the combination of the two types to answer the first and the second research problems. Thus, a set of questionnaire was composed to gather data from the respondents.

The researcher also made a blueprint of the questions in the questionnaire distributed to the students that could be seen in Table 4.

Table 4. A Blueprint of the Questionnaire

Number Questions Descriptions

1. 1 to 3 These three questions asked about the students’ background knowledge of English.

2. 4 to 9 These questions gathered information about the process of teaching learning activities in the class based on Competency-Based Curriculum.

3. 10 to 13 These four questions collected data about facilities used in the class from the students.

4. 14 to 16 These three questions gathered any information about the result of Competency-Based Curriculum in the real class.

2. Interview

Ary (1979: 175) divides an interview into two types: structured and unstructured. In a structured interview, the questions and the alternative answers

are permitted to the subjects, and they are predetermined followed by all respondents. It is inflexible and may seem formal.

On the other hand, an unstructured interview is flexible and more informal since free questioning is possible regarding their views, beliefs, and attitudes. Subjects are given freedom to go beyond simple responses to the questions asked and to reveal their views. In this case, the researcher chose the unstructured type to answer the first and the third research problems. The researcher used the interview as one of the research instruments to assemble the teachers’ opinions and perceptions towards Competency-Based Curriculum (See Table 5).

Table 5. A Blueprint of the Interview

Number Questions Descriptions

1. 1 to 2 These two questions asked about the teachers’ point of view of Competency-Based Curriculum.

2. 3 to 12 These questions gathered information about the teachers’ opinion about the process of teaching learning activities in the class based on Competency-Based Curriculum.

3. 13 to 16 These four questions collected data about the teachers’ opinion about facilities used in the teaching learning process in the class.

4. 17 to 20 These four questions gathered data on how the students respond the teaching learning process and the result of Competency-Based Curriculum implementation in the class.

3. Field Notes

The researcher used field notes in the class observation to collect data about the students’ responses towards the teaching learning process in the class.

She did an observation to generate conclusion then offer the solutions if necessary. Observation of behavior was used since it plays a vital role in Indonesia, where it can be more accurate than asking people what they do or think.

It was also meant to avoid the data to be biased because of people’s eagerness to be polite, to the extent of the answer that they think the others wanted to hear rather than the correct answer. For example, when a teacher asked the students whether they understood what was explained in a class situation, the students would answer yes. However, when the teacher gave some questions based on what was explained previously, the students could not give any answer.

The researcher decided to use field notes as one of the methods since field notes contain what the researcher heard and saw during the class activities. The researcher took a note on the important actions that were related to the students’ reactions about teaching learning process using Competency-Based Curriculum.

E. Data Gathering Technique

In doing her research, the researcher gathered data from the students and also the English teachers of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta by using an observation, an interview and a survey. The researcher observed the classroom in order to know the condition and atmosphere in the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum. The researcher had observed the classroom for several times so that she could measure the progress in implementing Competency-Based Curriculum.

Also, the researcher conducted an interview to complete the data. She interviewed an English teacher who was responsible for the class which was observed. The researcher interviewed the English teachers of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta as a means of collecting data, also. The researcher also collected the data about the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum from the point of view of the students. She talked to the students to know whether or not the competencies had been achieved.

Besides, the researcher distributed a set of questionnaire to the students to obtain the data. Not only the questionnaire, but also the researcher distributed the reflection sheets which evaluated the students’ daily progress in learning English.

F. Research Procedure

The first step was asking permission from the school. The researcher asked for the headmaster’s permission to conduct her research in the school. After acquiring the permission from the headmaster, she asked permission to the English teacher who taught the sixth grade and was responsible for the class used to be observed. Then, after the head master and the English teacher allowed the researcher to do a research there, she began conducting a research.

In the beginning of the research, the researcher did an observation in the class. She observed the situation in the classroom. She paid attention to the teaching learning process. The researcher analyzed what might be the problems in teaching and learning English by implementing Competency-Based Curriculum.

Then, the researcher interviewed the English teacher to collect more information about the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum in the class. Before the research finished, the researcher distributed a set of questionnaire to the students which asked about the students’ perceptions towards the teaching learning process. Besides, the students were also asked whether or not the competencies had been achieved. The researcher also did an interview to collect the teachers’ point of view toward the difficulties in teaching English to young learners.

36

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter discusses the findings and the data analysis of the study. The researcher interprets the data and answers the research questions previously mentioned in chapter I based on the research findings.

A. Research Findings

1. The Implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum

The field notes were used to gather the data about the condition and implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum in the classroom. It was considered as one of the effective research instruments to gather the data since the data collected was based on the real situation in the classroom. The researcher did the class observation using field notes five times started from 9th August, 2006 until 13th September, 2006.

Based on the curriculum, the teacher should develop four skills which consisted of reading skill, speaking skill, writing skill and listening skill when they implemented the curriculum. The researcher collected information about the teacher’s strategies to develop those skills through the field notes.

a. Reading Skill

The teacher developed the reading skill on the first day of the observation which was conducted on Wednesday 9th August. The material of that day was about “Public Places” with “Present Continuous” as the language focus.

The teacher started the lesson by checking the students’ homework to mention some public places. The classroom situation was noisy when the lesson started. The students were rather difficult to handle. However, they became more active when the teacher gave them the class activities. The teacher asked the students to read aloud a passage about going on a picnic in turn. Every student in the class raised his or her hand wanted to read the text.

In addition, when the teacher discussed the text and gave some comprehending explanation about the text, each student wanted to express his or her opinion, so the class became noisier. Nevertheless, when the teacher gave them some comprehending questions related to the material, the students were eager to answer the questions and they could answer the questions well.

In the middle of the lesson, some students made mistakes in pronouncing some words. When it happened, the teacher rectified the mistakes directly. For example:

A male student pronounced the word “look” as “lok”. Another student pronounced the word “will” as “wail”.

The teacher corrected the mispronunciation soon and asked the students to read the text once again.

The reading skill was also developed on the third day of the observation which was carried out on 30th August, 2006. The topic was about “Hobby” which put emphasis on “Likes and Dislikes” as the language focus. The teacher began the class by asking the students to read aloud a text in the book. The students took turn in reading the text on page 28. Then, the teacher gave

explanation about likes and dislikes. After giving explanation, the students spared much time to do exercise in the book and discuss them. In the class, the teacher used a blackboard and chalks as the facilities to deliver the material. She used “Speed Up English 6” by Yudhistira as the source book.

The teacher also checked the students’ understanding about the material studied by asking them to mention what they like and dislike orally. The students did not find many problems. They paid attention to the teacher’s explanation and they did the practice seriously. Although they sometimes made a few noises, they could understand the material well. When it came to the practice, they could comprehend the text quite well since they could answer the questions related to the text given by the teacher.

b. Speaking Skill

The teacher developed the speaking skill on the second day of the observation. It was conducted on 23rd August, 2006. The teacher began the class by checking the students’ homework. The students in the class and the teacher discussed a topic in the source book about requesting and giving commands. The skill developed that day was speaking skill. The class was so noisy in the beginning of the lesson. However, when the teacher explained the materials, they then kept silent and listened to the teacher’s explanation, except three male students at the back who did not pay attention to the materials. They laughed and talked to each other.

The teacher then gave explanation about requesting and giving commands and she spared more time for the students to practice it. The students in

the class practiced requesting and giving commands through the card games. She had a pile of cards on which there was a note about requesting or giving commands. Each student would hold three different cards in his or her hand. Their job was to make a request or give a command to their friends one by one.

Another student who was asked should do what was requested or commanded. If they refused it, they should give a good argument why they did not want to do it. This kind of game worked well to practice requesting and giving commands. The students were eager to do what was ordered in the games. They were really excited to the class activity. However, some students did not pay attention and do the games appropriately. It was natural that there were some students in a classroom who could not concentrate well in the class and sit down calmly on the chair.

The teacher also built up the speaking skill on the third day of observation which was carried out on 30th August, 2006. In the class, the teacher used a blackboard and chalks as the facilities to deliver the material. She used “Speed Up English 6” published by Yudhistira as the source book.

However, she also developed the class activity to be more communicative by giving card games about “Likes and Dislikes”. She divided the students into six groups of five students. Each group would receive a pile of cards where there was a different picture on each card. They would distribute the cards fairly and then they started making sentences based on the picture using the form of “I like V-ing” or “I dislike V-ing”. They competed with the partners in each group to create the sentences fast and spontaneously. The students who could make the sentences correctly would take the cards to collect.

At the end of the games, they would count how many cards they collected in the games. The students with the most cards would be the winner while the students with the fewest cards would be punished by giving a writing assignment about their favourite things.

The class situation was so alive in joining the games that everyone in the class could have fun. They were so obedient and they did not make many troubles. They became more cheerful when they were having the games.

On the fourth day of the observation, the teacher developed the speaking skill. It was conducted on 6th September, 2006. The topic was still about “Hobby”. The teacher asked the students’ hobbies first before she went on. The students mentioned some activities they like doing such as swimming, listening to the music, watching TV, shopping, etc.

Then, the teacher asked the students to make 10 hobbies that they usually do. Then, they were divided into five groups. Each group consisted of 5 or 6 students. Every student should tell his or her hobbies to the other friends in his or her group. Then, they should find some friends in his or her group who had the same hobbies as his or her. For example, one of the student A’s hobbies was swimming. He or she would say, “I like swimming”. Then, he or she would ask the other friends in his or her group by asking, “Do you like swimming?” When the other students said, “No, I do not.”, it meant that they did not have the same hobbies.

However, if his or her friends answered “Yes, I do.”, it meant that he or she had the same activities as his or her. After that, he or she could ask further information about the place, the time or the reasons why they did it. They were

taught to ask “Why do you like swimming?”, “Where do you like swimming?”, “When do you like swimming?”, etc. They could practice it although sometimes they still made mistakes so that the teacher should pay attention and rectify their mistakes.

c. Writing Skill

The writing skill was developed on the first day of the observation conducted on 9th August, 2006. The material was about “Public Places” and the language focus was about “Present Continuous”.

The teacher started the lesson by checking the students’ homework to mention some public places. The classroom situation was noisy when the lesson started. The students were rather difficult to handle.

The teacher asked the students to create a short and simple story. When the teacher gave time to the students to make a short and simple story, some students were busy with their own business. A few students did not even pay attention to the topic delivered by the teacher. It showed that in a classroom with twenty-nine students there were some different characteristics. Some students fully concentrated to the teacher’s explanation. Only that there were also a few students who did not focus on the material.

In developing writing skill, the teacher did not use any significant facilities to deliver the material, but a dictionary to consult, the source book “Speed Up English 6” by Yudhistira, a blackboard and chalk to write down some important notes on the blackboard.

The teacher also developed the writing skill on the second part of the last day of the observation which was conducted on 13th September, 2006. In the second part of teaching learning English, the teacher explained about the use of “I am going to V1”. She explained the affirmative form, negative form and also the interrogative form. The students were so enthusiastic that they could absorb the material quite well.

The teacher gave some common verbs and asked the students to create sentences that expressed plans in the future using the available verbs. They were able to carry out what the teacher wanted them to do. They made the affirmative sentences. Then, they changed the affirmative sentences into negative and interrogative with different subjects so that they could differentiate the to-be. They could even express what they planned to do in the future directly.

d. Listening Skill

The fifth day of the observation was done on 13th September 2006. The material was about “Shopping”. On the last day of the observation, the teacher developed the listening skill. The teacher began the class by asking the students to mention things that they usually bought in a supermarket. Then the teacher continued asking them about the things that they usually bought in a traditional market. The students were very active mentioning their daily needs and some other things. Suddenly, the class became so noisy that the students wanted to be the first to mention the things they buy in a supermarket or a traditional market. However, everything was well handled.

In this meeting, the teacher gave the students a practice on listening. She asked the students to prepare a piece of paper and a pen. Then, she mentioned slowly, clearly and correctly 25 things in a supermarket or a traditional market one by one. What the students should do was write down those 25 things correctly. After mentioning all the things, she checked the students’ work and discussed it together. She also checked the spelling of what the students wrote. Then, the students counted the mistakes they made.

After they finished checking, the teacher read a short passage clearly with the correct pronunciation. The students listened to the story seriously and paid much attention because they had to memorize the things mentioned in the story and retell the story with their own words to the other students in their own groups afterwards. This kind of activity could help the students to develop their listening and speaking skill at the same time since the students were required to be able to build up their listening by paying attention to the story and memorizing it, so they could retell the story.

2. The Students’ Perceptions on the Implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum

The researcher also collected data about the students’ perceptions to complete the data obtained from the observation. She could acquire the information about the students’ perceptions on the class activities which implemented the Competency-Based Curriculum by distributing a questionnaire to ten students who were considered to be significant to complete the data.

The questionnaire was distributed to the students to verify the existing data further. Stratified sampling was used to find the samples of students to fill in

the questionnaire. The samples of the research were ten sixth grade students of SD Negeri Serayu in class C. The group of the ten students consisted of five students who had the highest score and five students with the lowest score on their report.

The questionnaire consisted of sixteen questions which were divided into four groups. Those sixteen questions covered all elements of a successful Competency-Based Curriculum implementation. Those elements are process, students, teacher, facilities, and result.

The researcher divided the sixteen questions in the questionnaire into four groups. Questions number 1 to 3 asked about the students’ background knowledge of English. The questionnaire also contained of data about the implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum. The information about the Competency-Based Curriculum implementation was shown in the questions number 4 to 9 which gathered information about the process of teaching learning activities in the class based on Competency-Based Curriculum. Moreover, questions number 10 to 13 also explained about the Competency-Based Curriculum implementation since those questions collected data about facilities used in the class from the students.

The last three questions, those were questions number 14 to 16, gathered information about the result of Competency-Based Curriculum in the real class. Those questions could also give information about the Competency-Based Curriculum implementation because students’ achievements could also be an indicator of the success of Competency-Based Curriculum implementation. The students’ achievements could help the researcher to conclude whether the competencies were achieved successfully.

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ABSTRACT

Hapsari, Brita. 2007. Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions on the English Competency-Based Curriculum Implementation at the Sixth Grade of Elementary School.Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

English is a language which is widely used through all over the world. It has been taught to the students from the first grade of Elementary School students to college students. It is taught to Elementary School students as one of the non-compulsory subjects. At SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta, the English teachers implemented Competency-Based Curriculum.

This research was attempted to observe the implementation of English Competency-Based Curriculum at the sixth grade of Elementary School as one of the non-compulsory subjects taught at school. This research aimed at identifying how the Competency-Based Curriculum was implemented at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. The students’ and teachers’ perceptions on Competency-Based Curriculum were studied in this research.

This research took the two English teachers and ten students of the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta as the subjects of the research. The questionnaires were distributed to the ten students to gather the data. The researcher also collected data by interviewing the two English teachers. The field notes were also used in this research to complete the existing data by observing the classroom situation which consisted of 29 students.

The data gathered showed that the implementation of English Competency-Based Curriculum at the sixth grade of SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta obtained positive responses from the students. The class activities developed the four English skills. The reading skill was built up by asking the students to take turn reading passages while the teacher corrected their mispronunciations. The speaking skill was developed by mostly having card games as the media to help the students talk actively to achieve the competencies of speaking skill. The teacher developed the writing skill through writing assignments. The students were asked to make correct English sentences as the class activities as well. Meanwhile, the listening skill was built up by assigning the students to memorize and pay attention to the story read by the teacher. The teacher checked whether the students understood the story by giving some comprehending questions.

The teacher sometimes used media to do the class activity as well, so the competencies of the four English skills required in the curriculum guideline could be achieved successfully. The class atmosphere was so alive that the students could reach the competencies of the English skills when the teacher checked them. The teaching learning process also made the students enjoy learning English especially through the media available at school. The students could respond positively towards the class activities. They stated that the class activities at school such as games made them learn English more easily. Besides, the teachers stated that Competency-Based Curriculum was appropriate to be applied to the classroom since this curriculum could make the students achieve the competencies of the English skills. These evidences proved that the Competency-Based Curriculum was good and suitable to the condition of the sixth grade classroom at SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta.

xv

ABSTRAK

Brita Hapsari. 2007. Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions on the English Competency-Based Curriculum Implementation at the Sixth Grade of Elementary School. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Bahasa Inggris adalah sebuah bahasa yang di gunakan secara umum di seluruh dunia. Bahasa Inggris sudah diajarkan kepada siswa-siswi mulai dari kelas 1 Sekolah Dasar hingga mahasiswa. Bahasa Inggris diajarkan pada siswa-siswi Sekolah Dasar sebagai salah satu muatan lokal. Di SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta, guru-guru bahasa Inggris menerapkan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi.

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui penerapan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi untuk bahasa Inggris pada kelas 6 Sekolah Dasar sebagai salah satu muatan lokal yang diajarkan di sekolah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi diterapkan di kelas 6 SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta. Persepsi siswa-siswi dan guru-guru terhadap Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi juga dipelajari dalam penelitian ini.

Penelitian ini menempatkan dua orang guru bahasa Inggris dan sepuluh siswa-siswi kelas 6 SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta sebagai subyek penelitian. Kuesioner-kuesioner dibagikan kepada 10 siswa-siswi untuk mendapatkan data. Peneliti juga mengumpulkan data dengan mewawancarai dua orang guru bahasa Inggris.Field notes juga digunakan untuk melengkapi data yang ada dengan cara mengobservasi keadaan kelas yang terdiri atas 29 siswa.

Data yang terkumpul menunjukkan bahwa penerapan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi untuk bahasa Inggris pada kelas 6 SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta mendapatkan tanggapan positif dari siswa-siswi. Aktifitas di kelas mengembangkan empat keterampilan berbahasa Inggris. Keterampilan membaca dikembangkan dengan meminta siswa-siswi untuk membaca bacaan bergiliran sementara guru membetulkan kesalahan pengucapan. Keterampilan berbicara dikembangkan melalui permainan kartu sebagai media untuk membantu siswa-siswi aktif berbicara untuk mencapai kompetensi-kompetensi dari keterampilan membaca. Guru mengembangkan keterampilan menulis melalui tugas-tugas menulis. Siswa-siswi juga diminta untuk membuat kalimat-kalimat bahasa Inggris yang benar untuk aktifitas di kelas. Sementara keterampilan mendengarkan dikembangkan dengan meminta siswa-siswi untuk menghafal dan memperhatikan cerita yang dibacakan oleh guru. Guru mengecek apakah siswa-siswi mengerti ceritanya dengan memberi beberapa pertanyaan yang berhubungan dengan bacaan.

Guru terkadang juga menggunakan media untuk aktifitas kelas sehingga kompetensi-kompetensi dari empat keterampilan berbahasa Inggris dalam pedoman kurikulum dapat dicapai dengan sukses. Suasana kelas sangat hidup sehingga siswa-siswi dapat mencapai kompetensi-kompetensi dari keterampilan berbahasa Inggris ketika guru mengecek. Proses belajar mengajar membuat siswa-siswi menikmati belajar bahasa Inggris khususnya melalui media yang ada di sekolah. Siswa-siswi dapat merespon dengan positif terhadap aktifitas-aktfitas kelas. Mereka mengatakan bahwa aktifitas-aktifitas kelas di sekolah seperti permainan membuat mereka belajar bahasa Inggris dengan lebih mudah. Disamping itu, dua orang guru bahasa Inggris menyatakan bahwa Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi cocok diterapkan di kelas karena kurikulum ini dapat membuat para siswa mencapai kompetensi-kompetensi dari keterampilan berbahasa Inggris. Hal ini membuktikan bahwa Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi itu bagus dan sesuai untuk situasi kelas 6 di SD Negeri Serayu Yogyakarta.