T1 112011065 Full text

THE USE OF FIRST LANGUAGE AT BILINGUAL
PRESCHOOL: SATYA WACANA CHILDREN CENTRE

THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan

Yenny Ismi Pratiwi
112011065

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
2015

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in
any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any
university. To the best my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material
previously published or written by any other person expect where due references
is made in the text.
Copyright@2015. Yenny Ismi Pratiwi and Rindang Widiningrum, M.Hum.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be produced by any means without
permission of at least one of the copyright owner or the English Language
Education Program, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian
University, Salatiga.
Yenny Ismi Pratiwi

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Cover ............................................................................................................. i
Approval Page ............................................................................................... ii

Copyright Statement ...................................................................................... iii
Publication Agreement Declaration ................................................................ iv
Table of Content ............................................................................................. v
Thesis Body
Abstract ............................................................................................... 1
Key Words ............................................................................................ 1
Introduction .......................................................................................... 1
Literature Review ................................................................................. 4
A. The Use of First Language (L1) .............................................. 4
The Study ............................................................................................. 9
A. Context of the Study ............................................................... 9
B. Participants ............................................................................. 10
C. Instrument of Data Collection................................................... 10
D. Data Collection Procedure........................................................ 10
E. Data Analysis Procedure........................................................... 11
Findings and Discussion ....................................................................... 11
Other Findings ...................................................................................... 18
Conclusion ............................................................................................ 21
Acknowledgement ......................................................................................... 23
References ..................................................................................................... 24

Appendixes .................................................................................................... 27

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THE USE OF FIRST LANGUAGE AT BILINGUAL PRESCHOOL:
SATYA WACANA CHILDREN CENTRE
Yenny Ismi Pratiwi

ABSTRACT
The existence of the students' first language (L1) in the L2 classroom has become
an ongoing debate for many years and has made the pros and cons toward the
topic emerge. Inspired by the controversion, this study aiming to discuss the use
of Indonesian (L1) in a bilingual preschool which uses Indonesian (L1) and
English (L2) as the daily language communication. The context of the study was
at a bilingual preschool, Satya Wacana Children Centre. The data for this study
were collected through classroom observation and post-interview with the teacher
as the participant. The result of this study suggest that the use of L1 in teaching
bilingual preschool was useful for the teacher in teaching L2 to young learner.
There are 7 usage of L1 used by the teacher, they were for checking
comprehension, classroom management, giving instruction, teaching new

vocabulary items, showing empathy and solidarity, delivering information and the
last are giving feedback and encouraging. This study is expected to give a better
insight for teacher in teaching bilingual school especially to those the very young
learner.
Keywords: The use of L1, TEYL, Bilingual

INTRODUCTION
As now we are living in a globalization era, people become more aware
with the importance of English. Therefore, there is a significant development in
people’s interest in learning English, as it is said by Phillipson (1992) that English
has a dominant position...;in education systems as the most widely learnt foreign
language (p. 6). In Indonesia itself, the spread of English education nowadays also
gaining popularity and is being introduced since the early age students. It can be
seen now that many formal and informal preschools and kindergartens are

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growing so fast and they already set English (L2) as their daily language and as a
means of instruction in classroom with a little amount in the use of the first
language (L1) which known as Bilingual school.

However, the existence of the students' first language (L1) in the L2
classroom like that has become an ongoing debate for many years. The use of L1
is believed should be inexistent within the L2 classroom since it is considered as
a “bad thing”, because the learners should have a maximum exposure to the target
language. Moreover, Spahiu (2013) argued that using L1 in the English Foreign
Language classrooom (EFL) will only lead to more dependence on the language
which may hinder their progrees in mastering the target language. Students will
tend to use their L1 when they do not know how to say a word in the target
language since it is allowed in the classroom, thus it can disturb their acquisition
in learning English. Prodromou (2002) as cited in Krajka (2004) illustrate the bad
effect on the use of L1 by using a set of methaphors that it is such “a drugs though
with therapeutic potential which may damage your health and may become
additive” and also it is such a “wall” that will become an obstacle in teaching.
However, when talking about teaching the target language to those the
very young learners, it is important to consider who our students are. Meaning
that young learners whose ages are between 3-5 years old are classified as the
low-level learner and are believed that they still in a phase of acquiring their L1,
teacher should use a language which is understandable by the students. Thus they
still need to get and use their L1 even in learning English and as it is argued by
(Schweers, 1999; Larsen-Freeman, 2000; Nation, 2003; Butzkamm, 2003) cited in

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Nazary (2008) that complete deletion of the L1 is not appropriate. Furthermore,
those perspective about the negative effect of using L1 in L2 classroom is slowly
changing as more professionals realize the facilitating role and the importance of
L1 in an EFL classroom. Schweers (1999) argued that among a number of
professionals in the field of second language acquisition, “there appears to be an
increasing conviction that the first language has a necessary and fascilitating roles
in the second and foreign language classroom” (P.6). The benefit of using L1 also
proposed by Harmer (2001) in which it can be used to explain things, so that it
will help the learner to understand the materials.
In a bilingual school system itself, teachers are required to use L2 more
than L1 and they switch from the target language to the students’ first language
for some purposes. Moreover, as for young learners, English is something new
and they have little or even no knowledge about it, so by also using the learners
first language in the medium of instructions for the beginning and low level
learners is the most useful thing (Cole, 1998 in Nazary 2008). A previous study
conducted by Schweers (1999) about the use of L1 in his Monolingual Spanishspeaking classes in Puerto Rico, showed that 80% students think the use of L1 is
very useful in the classroom. In addition, they find L1 useful for some occasions

such as to explain difficult concepts; when they feel lost; to feel more comfortable
and confident; to check comprehension and to define new vocabulary items.
Based on that statement, it can be concluded that when the L1 is used
appropriately, the use of L1 in teaching English is actually can be very useful.

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According to Harbord (1992) mother tongue should be used for three main
reasons: it is a students’ prefered strategy, a humanistic approach, and it leads to
an effective use of time. It is because in some cases it cannot be denied that
teacher need to use the students’ L1 to explain the materials especially to the
young learner, to make them completely understand the instruction. However, the
teacher should be wise in deciding when and why should they use L1 in teaching
English to young learner and also the quantity. As it is said by Hoff (2013) that
the teachers’ language choice of communication in EFL classroom instruction is
important for the learning process.
By considering those issues, this study is conducted in order to examine
more about the importance of using L1 in teaching English to a bilingual
preschool with a limitation of the research question: to what purpose does the
teacher use L1 in teaching English to young learner in a bilingual preschool? The

result of this study, hopefully can give a better insight to teacher about in what
occasions should L1 is used in teaching target language (English) to young
learner.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Use of First Language (L1)
According to Sharaerai (2012), the use of L1 in the English classroom has been
and will remain an issue that everyone has an opinion about and there are
arguments in regard to the pros and cons of using the L1 in classroom in the world
of English language teaching. Different approaches have also been developed
toward the use of L1 in second language instruction (Tabaeifard, 2014). He then

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further defined the approaches as the monolingual approach and bilingual
approach. In monolingual approach, Phillipson(1992) as cited in Zacharias (2003)
stated that in teaching English as foreign or second language, better through the
medium of the target language. In other words, it can be said that the use of L1 is
abandoned in the classroom. The other approach whih is the bilingual approach, is
defined as “the approach of those teachers who use L1 in their classes wisely”
(Nazary,2008). However, a growing number of ideas from the experts such as

Spratt (1988) stated that recently there is no clear line whether first language
should be used or not in the foreign language classroom. Most of the researchers
propose the benefit method of using L1 or bilingualism is an advantage in
teaching English. “By exploring the role of students' L1 in English language
classrooms, one of the fundamental principles is the method by which EFL
teachers manage the process of language instruction in their classrooms” (Nazary,
2008). In regard to the use of L1 in EFL classroom, there are 7 possible usages of
L1 in which commonly used by teachers as it is claimed by Tang (2002) cited in
Khati(2011) that the mother tongue was used by the majority of teachers and
responded positively toward its use. Those 7 usage are going to be explained
further in this study, which are proposed by some experts such as Grim, Tang,
Meyer, and Cook:
a. Checking comprehension
In teaching learning process, it is important to always check the students’
comprehension to make sure whether they understand about the lesson. In the
context of bilingual school, the use of L1 in checking the students’

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comprehensioon become one benefit. Holthouse (2012) claim that the mother

tongue can be used to check that students have actually understood something the
teacher has said to them in English.
b. Giving instruction
Another common use of L1 is for giving instruction (Grim, 2010).
Especially for the low-level learner such as preschool student, the use of L1 is
considered necessary. Giving instruction is said to be effective to help the students
achieve the goal of the classroom activity in teaching and learning process. When
the students do not understand the instruction given in English, then teacher can
shift by using the L1.
c. Classroom management
According to Spratt (1988), there at least three occasions on which teacher
may want to use the first language, and the first occasion is for instruction and
classroom management. Classroom management has been defined as the
provisions and procedures necessary to establish and maintain an environment in
which instruction and learning can occur (Duke, 1979). In other words, it can be
said that classroom management is about maximizing efficiency and disciplinary.
(Baron,1999)(Megableh et al., 2007, p.1) in Koerner stated that Classroom
management is the procedures and routine actions applied by the teacher to
maintain the classroom to be quiet and smooth. In relation to the use of L1, it is
necessary to use the students’ L1 in managing the classroom, for example

“managing a noisy group of students and disciplining an off-task behavior” (Grim,
2010).

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d. Explaining complex grammar points
Tang, proposed that L1 can be used to explain complex grammar points.
Moreover, Teacher usually prefer to use the students’ first language to explain
difficult concept of grammar, since it is easier to make the students understand the
term and rule in teaching grammar. This statement is also in line with the study of
Al-Abdan (1993) and Al-Nofaie (2010) which found that many teachers use
native language for explaining grammar. For example, students will have a chance
to compare between the target language structure and their first language
structure. It is also said to be efficient in term of time when explaining the
difficult grammar point.
e. Reduce students’ language anxiety
For low-level learners, the process of learning a new language is diffucult
and sometimes, it is also frustrating if the students are exposed to the target
language-only instruction. As seen above, the absence of the student’s first
language when explaining the unfamiliar word can raise the level of anxiety the
students feel (Meyer, 2008). Allowing to use the students’ L1 in the classroom
can reduce the students’ anxiety. Moreover, according to Horowitz et al; Mac
Intyre and Gardner, in Brown, 2000: 151 cited by Meyer stated that:
“language anxiety itself can be classified into three components such as: 1)
Communication apprehension, learners’ inability to adequately express
mature thought and ideas, 2) Fear of negative social evaluation, the
learners’ need to make a positive social impression on others, and 3)Test
anxiety or apprehension over academic evaluation”.
Using L1 in the classroom can reduce those componets, for example the
communication apprehension, using L1 allow students to share their thought and

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also ideas, then the test anxiety also can be reduced by implementing the students’
first language in giving instruction.
f. Teaching new vocabulary
Students’s first language is also commonly used when teachers teach new
vocabulary items. According to Reineman (cited in Stapa & Majid, 2006)
eventhough some new vocabulary can be expressed through drawings and
pantomime, the abstract and difficult words need to be explained by using the
students’ first language in order to save time. A case study conducted by
Bouangeune (2009) at the National University of Laos found the effectiveness of
using L1 in teaching vocabulary through translation exercise and dictation. It can
be concluded that teacher may explain the new vocabulary items by using
translation method, such as give the vocabulary in English then say it in the
students’ first language. Bouangeune also concludes that it can prevent the
misunderstanding of the new word meaning by providing a clear, simple and brief
explanation in the learners’ first language.
g. Showing empathy or solidarity
Under some circumstances such as in mantaining a friendly atmosphere
and build a good social relationship with the students in the classroom, L1
become

a useful weapon to keep contact with the students (Cook, 2001).

According to Grim (2008) empathy or solidarity is defined as the L1 use to raise
the sense of closenes with students. The use of L1 itself may includes giving
jokes, talk about non-topic related or something to tell with the students, and even

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apologizing. Moreover, Osswald (2010) argued that the situation like this is also
said to be effective to build up a good teacher-student relationship.
THE STUDY
Context of the study
The setting of the study was at Satya Wacana Children Centre (SWCC).
This school is located in Jl. Diponegoro 52-60 Salatiga, Central Java. The reason
why I choose SWCC as the setting and the teacher as the subject was because this
school use bilingual system where Bahasa Indonesia and English are used as the
medium of instruction in teaching and learning process and also used as the daily
communication. Thus it fits into my topic. In this school there are 4 level classes
which are Twigs (2-3 years old), Buds (3-4 years old), Blossoms (4-5 years old)
and Bloomers (5-6 years old). Since I am going to examine the use of L1 in
preschool level whose the students’ age are around 3-5 years old, thus I choose
the Buds class to be observed to get a brief overview and valid data on the use of
L1 in this bilingual preschool.
Participants
For the participant, there was only one participant who is the teacher in the
Buds class.The participant and the class were choosen by using purposive
sampling because I only focused on the 3-4 years old students.

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Instrument of data collection
The instrument of data collection for my observation, I used fieldnotes and
observation protocol during my observation since the teacher did not allow me to
record the teaching and learning processes. Then, the last I also conduct a postinterview with the teacher. For the interview, I used semi-structured interview to
collect the data by using audio recorder.
Procedure of data collection
In attempt to answer the research question, this study goes through a
number of steps in collecting the data. First of all I obtained the school principal’s
permission before doing my observation. The next step was to meet the classroom
coordinator and the homeroom teacher to arrange the observation schedule. After
I have arranged the schedule, I conducted 1 time pre observation on February 17th
with the duration of one times teaching and learning process from 8:00 a.m until
10:00 a.m. by using fieldnotes to give me a brief overview about the use of L1 in
in the classroom, also to help me fill my observation protocol. After that, I did 7
times classroom observations in class from February 18 th until February 27 th, with
the duration of one times teaching and learning process from 8:30 a.m to 10.00
a.m. Finally, to get further data, I also conducted a short post-interview with the
teacher on February 27 th or the last day of the observation with the duration about
10 minutes.
Data analysis Procedure
The data is in qualitative form since after I got the data I analysed my
fieldnotes of the teacher’s talk in which the teacher use the students’ first
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language (L1), then classified it into the data analysis table that I have prepared.
After that, I elaborated and interpreted the data by using related theories or
literature review and also with the addition of the interview result to support the
analysis.
DISCUSSION
This chapter provides an analysis of the data from the observation and the
interview result on the use of L1 in teaching bilingual preschool and the purpose
of using it in teaching bilingual preschool. Based on the data collected, it showed
that the students’ first language had a variety of usage to be used in class in
certain occasions. I found 7 usage of L1 used by the teacher in SWCC, a bilingual
preschool. They were for checking comprehension, classroom management,
giving instruction, teaching new vocabulary items, showing empathy and
solidarity, delivering information and giving feedback. Each of the result will be
further discussed below.
A. Checking comprehension
In the teaching and learning process, sometimes teacher will ask some
questions or recall the students background knowledge to check their
comprehesion. Atkinson (1987) suggested that L1 can be used to check
comprehension by asking question to the students. Usually in checking
comprehension the teacher will explain certain explanation and after that he or she
will ask question to check the students’ comprehension, in case of SWCC the way
the teacher checked the students’ comprehension is by asking them at the

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beggining of the class. From the observation I only found several occassions when
the teacher use L1 in checking understanding. The observation result were shown
in the evidence below.
When the teacher was about to begin the coloring lesson, she brought a fruit
and showed it to the students, she said:
1. Teacher: “Anak-anak, masih ingat ini buah apa ya?”

Students: “Belimbing”
Teacher: “Ya that’s right, ini belimbing atau starfruit.”
(Observation 1, February 18 th, 2015)
The general overview from the example above shows that teacher check the
students’ background knowledge before starting the lesson to check their
comprehension. In the interview, the teacher said that :
“Using Indonesian (L1) is helpful to make it easier for the students to
understand my question in checking their comprehension and avoid to waste
the time.When I ask them in L1, the students can understand the meaning
directly so they also answer it properly” (Teacher A, February 27, 2015)
As it is argued by Cook(2001) cited in Zacharias (2003) that using L1 in certain
occasion can be efficiently save time. If the teacher asked using the target
language and the students could not grasp what the teacher was saying it would
waste the time just to make the students understand about her question which is
not really necessary. Thus, it can be said that using L1 in checking comprehension
is useful.
B. Classroom management
It is believed that an effective teaching and learning process, should also
have a conducive classroom, as a teacher they have to be able to manage the

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condition of the classroom and also control the students’ behavior. According to
Richard (1990), classroom management itself refers to the ways teacher controls
and organizes the students’ activities such as their movement, behavior and
interaction in class. Based on the result from the 7 observations it showed that
the teacher always use the L1 in managing the classroom when she failed to
manage the classroom by using the target language (English). The purpose of the
use of L1 to manage the classrom were showed on the following excerpt.
1. “Stop judge your friend, nggak usah ngurusi temannya, berdoa sendiri

saja”
2. “Steven duduk yang baik biar nggak keinjak temannya”
3. “Kalau berdoa itu ngajak ngomong siapa sih? Tuhan kan? Yang sopan
berdoanya ayo”
4. “Ayo jangan pukul-pukul meja miss nggak mau kalo anak-anak gitu”
5. “Gil yang baik to sama temannya nanti temannya nangis lho”

6. “Hayo-hayo Steven sama Gil kalau rebutan gitu miss gak kasih bolanya
aja. Nanti dapet giliran kok tapi tunggu ya”
(Observation 1, 3, 5, 7 , February 18th ,23th, 25th, 27th 2015)
From the excerpt above it shows that in Satya Wacana Children Centre (SWCC),
mostly the teacher use L1 to manage the classroom such as to warn the noisy
students who hit the table or to give them advice because in several occasions
teacher warned some noisy students in class by using L2 but she failed to make
the students listened to her. The result is also in line with the teacher who stated in
the interview that:

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“Sometimes, L1 really helps me to control the students’ behavior inside and
outside the class and they understand it better than using L2. Then, when
they seems lost focus and talk so noisy in class usually I will use L1 to warn
them and get their attention again because using L2 sometimes did not work
because they did not know what I mean”. (Teacher A, February 27, 2015)
Since the teacher deals with young learner in which the nature of children is said
to be active that they will always explore new things around them until we warn
them to sit still, teacher should be able to make their command understandable
(Milstein, 2012). Of course, the way the teacher told the students by using
Indonesian language, helps to make it understandable because if it is explained by
using the target language, there is no guarantee that the students can grasp the
information or not.
C. Giving instruction
The next function found from the observation was giving instruction. The
teacher usually used L1 to give instruction or direction or say the instruction in L2
then directly translate it into L1 because often the students did not understand the
instruction or what they should do because it contained several steps. Thus, to
help them usually teacher prefers to use Indonesian or using direct translation than
using only English in giving instruction. The evidence from the observation which
showed the implication of L1 in giving instruction is on the following excerpt:
1. “Line up, baris dulu”
2. “We’re going to stamp, kita mau nyetempel”
3. “Cutting the starfruit, potong belimbingnya”
4. “Aldi and Felice, look at the white board. Ayo lihat papan tulisnya”
5. “Let’s count together, ayo berhitung sama-sama ya”

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6. “Sorting the square by its color ya, anak-anak pisahkan sesuai warnanya
dipiring ya”
7. “Yang harus anak-anak lakukan adalah memasukkan benangnya ke dalam
lubang ini”
8. “Anak-anak tempelkan potongan gambar-gambar ini pakai lemnya di
kertas”
9. “Ayo berdiri di tempat, semua lihat kaca sudah bagus belum nyanyinya”
(Observation 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, February 18 th, 19th, 24th, 25th, 26th 2015)
Based on the excerpt above, the teacher usually use direct English-Indonesian
translation or Indonesian only in giving instruction to make it easier for the
students to understand and follow the instruction. At first, the teacher explained
what the students had to do in L2, but then the teacher will directly translate it into
L1 as it is shown in the 1 st excerpt until the 6th excerpt since there would be no
guarantee that the students could get the explanation correctly or not if it is
explained in the L2. It is also stated in the interview with the teacher that:
“A good instruction is the one which is understandable by the students so
what are being said by the teacher will be done by the student. So, it is such
a helpful tool to use Indonesian (L1) or translation to execute my
instructions”. (Teacher A, February 27, 2015)
Thus, it can be concluded that the use of L1 in giving instruction was helpful and
it is in line with Cook (2001) argued that L1 is helpful to explain task to the
students, give the activities’ instruction, and give individual comments to the
students dealing with error.

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D. Teaching new vocabulary items
Since English is a new language for the young learner, sometimes there must
be some English words that are difficult for them or they do not know the
meaning. Therefore the teacher should be able to give the students a clear and
understandable explanation considering that the students are new English learner.
“don’t hit the table” then suddenly a student asked “table itu apa miss?” and the
teacher simply answered “table itu meja”. Based on the one example from the
observation, it can be analyzed that L1 is effectively help teacher to explain the
new vocabulary by simply translate it into L1 in order to save time in explaining
it. Thus, using L1 to tecah the new vocabulary items would be the simplest way.
Here were the other examples from the classroom observation.
1. “Ini belimbing, belimbing itu star fruit”
2. Teacher: “it’s like a star ya? Star itu apa?”

Students: “bintang miss”
3. “Kita mau ke folkhouse, folkhouse itu panti jompo tempatnya opa, oma,
embah- embah”
4. “Seven itu angka berapa? Tujuh”
5. “Big itu besar, berarti kalau bigger itu lebih besar”

(Observation 1, 2, 6, February 18 th, 20th, 26th 2015)
From the data above it can be seen that the easiest way to teach the new
vocabulary is by translating it into Indonesian or in another way such as the
excerpt 3, teacher first translate the English word into Indonesian, then give

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further information such as what is the function of the thing since it is a new word
for them. The teacher also state the reason in the interview that:
“Preschool students is classified as a new language learner and there must
be alot of new English word they do not know, that’s why I translate it into
Indonesian to describe the difference between the word in first language and
the target language so the students will not confuse about the concept of the
subject matter” (Teacher A, February 27, 2015)
Zacharias (2003) stated that “the mother tongue is the window into students’
understanding of the concepts being taught, because it can provide a quick and
accurate translation of the English word especially abstrat word” meaning that it
can be used to make sure that the students has fully understand about the concept
of the word.
E. Showing empathy and solidarity
From the total of 7 times observations I found that while In the teaching and
learning process, sometimes the teacher talked about a not-related-topic and made
jokes with the student in Indonesian language (L1) in attempt to show empathy
and solidarity to raise the sense of closeness to the students. The following excrept
from the observation result illustrate the concept.
1. “Ernest masih sakit kepalanya?”
2. “Sudah lihat film nya big hero belum?”
3. “Steven, have you got your medicine? sudah minum obat belum?”
4. “Mama mana ? mama nggak ada disini”
5. Student: “miss aku selak ngantuk lho”

Teacher: “lho? Masa mau tidur dilapangan?”
(Observation 1, 2, 7, February 18 th, 19th, 27th 2015)

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As in the excerpt 3, in the middle of the teaching process, the teacher suddenly
reach a student who was coughing and asked his health. In addition, teacher also
used L1 to joke with the students as it is shown in the excrept 2,4,5. Making jokes
and talking a not-related topics in class such as asking about the student’s health
using L1 is good to build interpersonal relationship and to show concern to the
students (Polio, C. & Duff, P.,1994). Teaching young learner is different with
teaching adult learner because the teacher should be able to have a sense of
closeness to the students so that the students will also feel comfortable with the
teacher. This is also supported by the interview result with the teacher that:
“since I teach young learner, so I should be able to have a sense of closeness
with them. Usually I communicate with them using Indonesian Language
their mother tongue”.(Teacher A, February 27, 2015)
To build a friendly relationship, teacher and students should also have a good
communication too because preschool students are new learners of English, to use
Indonesian instead of the target language while communicating to them is an
effective way to achieve that.
Other Findings
Besides those 6 functions of L1 which I have mentioned above, there were 2 other
functions that I found from the observation and which are not stated in the
literature review. They were delivering information and giving feedback. Each
also will be discussed later below.

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F.

Delivering information
In the observation, it was found that the teacher always use the students’ L1

whenever she wants to inform the students about something or some news. The
example of the observation result shown below in the excrept:
1. “Besok hari jumat libur ya?”
2. “Opa oma di panti jompo itu sudah tua, badannya lemah sudah nggak
kuat kaya anak-anak”

(Observation 2, 7, February 19 th, 27th 2015)
On the excerpt 1 above, it shows how the teacher delivered the information from
the school that there will be no class on the following day. In that case, the teacher
used Indonesian (L1) just to make sure that the students understand what the
teacher was talking about. While on the excerpt 2, it shows that giving
information is also one function of explanation. The purpose is to inform the
students about something but not too detail like giving explanation. As it is stated
by the teacher in the interview:
“it is not easy to give information to the students in English because they may
misunderstood the information or even they do not understand it. My attempt
in using L1 is to give a clear yet understandable information for the
students.” (Teacher A, February 27, 2015)
In attempt to make the information clearer and to avoid confusion, the teacher
chooses to use Indonesian. It is in line with Spratt (1998) that in order to avoid
ambiguity, misunderstanding and confusing among the students about the
information, it is better to use the first language.

19

G.

Giving feedback and encouraging
In the Buds class, I also found another function of L1 during the observation

which is giving feedback to the students. According to Ioannou-Gregorio &
Pavlov(2013:14), there are many ways to give feedback to young learners such as
individualy, in group or to the whole class, or in form of self-correction or peerfeedback. Feedback help the students to know their strength and weaknesses, and
also it can motivate and keep them to learn. The observation result was shown in
this excerpt below:
1. “Oke, hebat Gil”
2. “Hari ini anak-anak sudah melakukan kerja yang bagus ya”
3. Student: “Miss aku ndak bisa kerjain sendiri”
Teacher: “Ayo coba dulu ndak usah takut salah”
Student: (crying)

Teacher: “Lho ayo coba dulu nggak apa-apa, Steven pasti bisa. Bukan
Steven namanya kalo nangis”
(Observation 2, 3, February 19 th, 23th 2015)
On the first and second excrept, it shows that the teacher give feedback to the
students by praising what the students’ have done and appraising their work.
Sometimes, teacher need to give the positive feedback like that to a child after they
have done a good job because it can motivate them to keep doing like that or
something better than that (Kohn, 2006). Not only giving feedback, sometimes the
teacher often encourage the students just to build their confidence. As it is
suggested by Dorney 1994:281 cited in Demetriou (2014) that there are many

20

different ways to increase young learners’ interest in learning L2 such as
“emphasising on what they can do during learning a new language instead of what
they cannot do and encourage them not to be afraid of making mistakes because it
is a part of learning”. From the interview it is also stated by the teacher that:
“young learner might feel anxious when they cannot do a task which is new
for them. If it happened, my job is to encourage them to finish it by
approaching them and talk in L1 because they understand what I mean in
that way more that using L2.” (Teacher A, February 27, 2015)
One example of encouraging the students found from the observation result can be
seen in excerpt 3. The teacher encourage the student and tried to build the student’s
confidence to do the task by himself when the students wanted to give up before
trying to do the coloring. By giving feedback and encouraging the students using
L1, it was effective and understandable as after the teacher encourage the students,
eventually he could finish his work by himself.
CONCLUSION
This study is aimed to know the teacher’s use of L1 (Indonesian) in
teaching bilingual preschool. After analyzing the classroom observation result and
the interview result, 7 usage of L1 used in teaching bilingual preschool at Satya
Wacana Children Centre (SWCC) were drawn. Generally, the role of L1 in this
preschool were checking comprehension, classroom management, giving
instruction, teaching new vocabulary items, showing empathy and solidarity,
delivering information and the last are giving feedback and encouraging.
Overall, it can be concluded that based on those results, L1 may still give
positive contribution in teaching English to young learner in order to achieve an
effective yet succesfull teaching and learning process especially in the case of Buds

21

class in Satya Wacana Children Centre (SWCC). All in all, hopefully this study can
give the young learner teacher a better overview about the use of L1 in teaching
English to young learner in a bilingual school. In addition, it is also important to
note that the teacher should also be wise in deciding the proportion of the language
use in class for example in deciding when and why should they use L1 in teaching
English to young learner and also the quantity.
However, this study has limitation concerning on the context of the study
which is only limited in one preschool and only conducted for several times. Thus
the findings could not be generalized to the other preschools. For instance, not all
preschool have the same use of L1 as in Satya Wacana Childen Centre (SWCC) in
the teaching of learning process. Therefore, considering the limitation I would like
to suggest for further study by enlarging the context of the study not only one
preschool but it could be more than 2 preschool to get a valid overview. The
findings could also be compared to another upper level of school for example in
senior high school because the findings would be different. Despite the limitations,
it is hoped that this study will give contribution to the other study on the purpose of
using L1 in the same or different context of the school and that it will enhance more
data which explore the purpose of L1 in the L2 classroom.

22

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I want to thank Allah SWT for always helping me from the
beginning of my study until I can complete my study.
On this occasion with great humility, I would like to express my sincere
thanks to my supervisor Rindang Widiningrum, M.Hum for her guidance,
patience and help. I also thank to my examiner, Anita Kurniawati, M.Hum, thank
you for your time and your feedback in examining my thesis. Next, I would like to
thank Satya Wacana Children Centre (SWCC) and Miss Edna for her contribution
in this study. I also would like to express my gratitude for my beloved parents,
thank you for your support and your prayer for me throughout my study. Then,
last but not least, my sincere thanks also goes to those who have given me help
and support especially my family, my friends Tya, Antok, Fitri, Cherry, Ulya,
abang and also the little triplets Daehan, Minguk, Manse who always accompany
me in doing my thesis so that this thesis can be finished.

23

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APPENDIXES

APPENDIX 1
Table 1. Observation Result
Date: February 18th – February 27th 2015
Teacher’s use of first language
Functions

Checking
comprehensio
n
Classroom
management

Is it
used or
not?



Examples












Giving
instruction

















Masih ingat ini buah apa anak-anak?
“Stop judge your friend, nggak usah ngurusi temannya,
berdoa sendiri saja”
“Steven duduk yang baik biar nggak keinjak temannya”
“Kalau berdoa itu ngajak ngomong siapa sih? Tuhan kan?
Yang sopan berdoanya ayo”
“Ayo jangan pukul-pukul meja miss nggak mau kalo anakanak gitu”
“Gil yang baik to sama temannya nanti temannya nangis
lho”
“Hayo-hayo Steven sama Gil kalau rebutan gitu miss gak
kasih bolanya aja. Nanti dapet giliran kok tapi tunggu ya”
“Line up, baris dulu”
“We’re going to stamp, kita mau nyetempel”
“Cutting the starfruit, potong belimbingnya”
“Aldi and Felice, look at the white boar. Ayo lihat papan
tulisnya”
“Let’s count together, ayo berhitung sama-sama ya”
“Yang harus anak-anak lakukan adalah memasukkan
benangnya ke dalam lubang ini”
“Sorting the square by it’s color ya, anak-anak pisahkan
sesuai warnanya dipiring” ya”
“Anak-anak tempelkan potongan gambar-gambar ini pakai
lemnya di kertas”
“Ayo berdiri di tempat, semua lihat kaca sudah bagus
belum nyanyinya”

27

Teaching new
vocabulary
items












Showing
empathy or
solidarity










Other findings
:
Giving
information
Giving
feedback
And
Encouraging





“Ini belimbing, belimbing itu star fruit”
Teacher: it’s like a star ya? Star itu apa?
Students: bintang miss
“Kita mau ke folkhouse, folkhouse itu panti jompo
tempatnya opa, oma, embah-embah”
“Seven itu angka berapa? Tujuh”
“Big itu besar, berarti kalau bigger itu lebih besar”
Teacher: don’t hit the table.
Student: table itu apa miss?
Teacher: table itu meja
“Ernest masih sakit kepalanya?”
“Sudah lihat film nya big hero belum?”
“Steven, have you got your medicine? sudah minum obat
belum?”
“Mama mana ? mama nggak ada disini”
Student: miss aku selak ngantuk lho
Teacher: lho? Masa mau tidur ?
Opa oma di panti jompo itu sudah tua, badannya lemah
sudah nggak kuat kaya anak-anak
Besok hari jumat libur ya





Oke, hebat Gil
Hari ini anak-anak sudah melakukan kerja yang bagus ya
Oo bukan begitu Aldi, itu terbalik. Coba dibuka lagi terus
dibalik.
 Student: “Miss aku ndak bisa kerjain sendiri”
Teacher: “Ayo coba dulu ndak usah takut salah”
Student: (crying)
Teacher: “Lho ayo coba dulu nggak apa-apa, Steven pasti
bisa. Bukan Steven namanya kalo nangis”

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APPENDIX 2
Interview result with the teacher
Date: February 27th, 2015
1. Sudah berapa lama kah mengajar di PAUD bilingual ini?

Guru

: Baru 1 tahun ini saya mengajar disini

2. Untuk penggunaan Bahasa Indonesia itu sendiri di dalam proses
belajar mengajar seperti apa?
Guru
: Sebenarnya tergantung kebijakan guru masing-masing. Kalau
saya memang menerapkannya ya 70 % bahasa Indonesia dan 30% bahasa
Inggris karena mereka kan masih usia 3-4, dan keterbatasan saya dalam
menguasai bahasa Inggris itu sendiri.
3. Apakah kesulitan Anda dalam mengajar anak usia dini dengan sistem
bilingual?
Guru
: Kesulitannya paling karena mereka kan baru belajar bahasa ibu
mereka, ditambah bahasa Inggris jadi kesulitannya biasanya karena mereka
masih asing dengan banyak kata-kata bahasa Inggris jadi solusinya sih saya
harus bisa memberikan penjelasan yang jelas dan mudah dimengerti
contohnya menerjemahkan kalimat-kalimat baru ke bahasa Indonesia supaya
mereka tidak bingung dengan konsep pelajarannya. Lalu, anak-anak itu
kadang sering ngeluh karena nggak bisa mengerjakan hal yang baru mereka
temui, nah kalu seperti itu biasanya saya cuma mendekati mereka dan
menyemangati seperti kasusnya Steven itu kan saya harus membujuk “ayo-ayo
coba dulu kamu pasti bisa” supaya mereka mau menyelesaikannya dan dengan
cara seperti itu malah lebih bisa dimengerti.
4. Bagaimana menurut Anda dengan peran Bahasa Indonesia di sekolah
bilingual?
Guru
: Kalau menurut saya, peran Bahasa Indonesia ini memang sangat
diperlukan apalagi dalam mengajar anak-anak usia dini seperti mereka.
Karena ini sangat penting mengingat mereka sedang dalam tahap mempelajari
bahasa ibu mereka, juga berkomunikasi dengan bahasa Indonesia kan dirumah
jadi sangat membantu. Terlebih lagi mengajar anak-anak PAUD ini lebih
menuntut guru untuk bisa dekat dengan muridnya soalnya kalau kita bisa
dekat sama murid kan mereka belajar di kelas juga lebih nyaman, nah salah
satu caranya ya ngobrol sama mereka pakai bahasa Indonesia biar lebih akrab.

29

Yang jelas, menggunakan bahasa Indonesia ini berguna karena membuat
siswa lebih mudah memahami pertanyaan saat mereview pelajaran dan
menghemat waktu karena dengan mereka paham jadi jawabnya juga cepet.
5. Menurut Anda, kapan waktu yang tepat untuk menggunakan bahasa
Indonesia dalam proses belajar mengajar?
Guru
: Yang jelas kalau murid sudah lost focus, mereka akan mulai
berisik di kelas, saat itulah biasanya saya mengingatkan mereka dan mencoba
memfokuskan perhatian mereka lagi biasanya mereka lebih ngerti kalau di
peringatkan pakai bahasa Indonesia daripada pakai bahasa Inggris dan terbukti
efektif sih pakai bahasa Indonesia.
6. Biasanya bagaimana cara Anda membuat para siswa memahami
informasi dan melaksanakan perintah yang diberikan?
Guru
: Membuat anak-anak se usia mereka memahami suatu informasi
yang kita berikan dalam bahasa Indonesia saja susah apalagi pakai bahasa
Inggris, mereka bisa salah memahami info nya, jadi lebih efektif pakai bahasa
Indonesia saja untuk memberikan penjelasan dan informasi yang mudah
dipahami. Lalu untuk membuat mereka mau melaksanakan perintah, saya
harus memberikan perintah yang jelas karena karena perintah yang baik itu
yang bisa dimengerti supaya apa yang dikatakan oleh guru bisa dilaksanakan.
Biasanya pakai terjemahan dalam memberikan instruksinya contohnya draw
the line nanti saya translate ayo gambar garisnya ya begitu, sebisa mungkin
jelas dan dapat dimengerti dengan begitu sangat membantu.

30