Teacher`s belief about English language exposure.

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ABSTRACT

Bayu Aribowo, 2013. Teacher’s Beliefs about English Language Exposure. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University

Language exposure is a means to provide students with English as much as possible to facilitate their English learning. However, English learning in the area of English as a foreign language has limited or less exposure since the students are exposed with English mostly in the classroom only. Related to this, the use of first language might also influence students in the exposure of English. Meanwhile, specific geographical and sociological condition can take part as well related to the exposure of English. Based on these facts and situations, it seems that observing the teacher’s beliefs about English language exposure in such a setting of study is worth doing.

This study tries to see such beliefs from the point of view of several aspects as the sources of exposure. They are materials, teacher talk, classroom interaction, and the use of first language. The problem formulated to answer is ‘What beliefs does the teacher hold about English language exposure?’

To give a thorough description and interpretation, a case study analysis was applied from the participant’s experience. The interview was conducted to one 8th grade English teacher of a chosen state junior high school and classroom observations were performed to validate the findings.

The findings from the analysis show that materials are considered suitable as long as they suit the curriculum, support the syllabus, and facilitate the students for national exam. The materials must support students’ vocabulary mastery. Teacher-centered method is also regarded as the most appropriate way for students nowadays although in the contrary with the curriculum. Therefore, the teacher can present the most exposure with teacher talk. The teacher talk in English is considered useful when used as instructional language and classroom language. Even so, students’ characteristics and time constraint may lead the teacher to limit its use. Classroom interaction using English, although not obliged to use, can be helpful for language exposure mainly in the expressions. Lastly, the first language is believed to be a language that can help students’ comprehension, especially in their receptive skill, and functions as an agent to mediate students in learning the language with more comfort.


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ABSTRAK

Bayu Aribowo, 2013. Teacher’s Beliefs about English Language Exposure. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University

Pemajanan bahasa adalah salah satu cara untuk menyediakan pengetahuan bahasa Inggris sebanyak mungkin kepada siswa dalam memfasilitasi mereka dalam pembelajaran bahasa Inggris. Meski begitu, proses pembelajaran bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing lebih terbatas karena para murid hanya mendapatkan pajanan bahasa tersebut di dalam kelas saja. Pemakaian bahasa ibu juga bisa mempengaruhi pembelajaran bahasa Inggris di dalam kelas dalam hubungannya dengan pemajanan bahasa Inggris. Sementara itu, kondisi sosio-geografis tertentu juga bisa ikut mempengaruhi tingkat pemajanan tersebut. Berdasarkan fakta dan situasi tersebut, keyakinan guru dalam pemajanan bahasa Inggris di lokasi semacam itu dianggap pantas untuk diteliti.

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk melihat keyakinan guru tersebut dari sudut pandang yang berhubungan dengan pemajanan bahasa. Aspek-aspek tersebut mencakup materi, ujaran guru, interaksi di dalam kelas, dan pemakaian bahasa ibu. Permasalahan yang akan dijawab pada penelitian ini adalah ‘Keyakinan seperti apa yang dimiliki guru mengenai pemajanan bahasa Inggris?’

Untuk memberikan penjelasan dan interpretasi yang mendalam, diterapkanlah analisis studi kasus dari pengalaman partisipan. Wawancara dilakukan terhadap satu orang guru bahasa Inggris kelas 8 di salah satu sekolah menengah pertama negeri terpilih dan juga observasi terhadap kelas-kelas yang ditunjuk dijalankan sebagai media validasi temuan.

Hasil dari analisis menunjukkan bahwa suatu materi dianggap cocok jika sudah sesuai dengan kurikulum, mendukung silabus yang sudah dibuat, dan memfasilitasi siswa dalam menghadapi ujian nasional. Materi tersebut juga harus mendukung siswa dalam menguasai kosa kata. Metode pengajaran yang terpusat pada guru juga dianggap sebagai metode yang paling tepat dalam mengantarkan materi walaupun sebenarnya bertolak belakang dengan yang ada di kurikulum. Dengan begitu, guru bisa memanfaatkan ujarannya untuk memajankan bahasa sebanyak mungkin. Ujaran guru dalam bahasa Inggris dianggap bermanfaat ketika dipakai sebagai bahasa pengantar dan dalam bentuk ungkapan rutin. Walaupun begitu, karakteristik tertentu siswa dan terbatasnya waktu bisa menjadi unsur penentu guru dalam membatasi ujaran dengan bahasa Inggris. Walaupun tidak diwajibkan, interaksi di dalam kelas menggunakan bahasa Inggris bisa dimanfaatkan sebagai suatu cara untuk memaksimalkan pemajanan bahasa Inggris terutama ketika masuk ke dalam materi ekspresi. Terakhir, bahasa ibu dipercaya sebagai suatu bahasa yang dapat membantu pemahaman murid, terutama kemampuan reseptif mereka, dan berfungsi sebagai sebuah perantara bagi siswa untuk belajar bahasa Inggris dengan lebih nyaman.


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TEACHER’S BELIEFS ABOUT

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXPOSURE

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree ofMagister Humaniorain English Language Studies

BAYU ARIBOWO 116332005

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDY

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY


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TEACHER’S BELIEFS ABOUT

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXPOSURE

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree ofMagister

Humaniorain English Language Studies

BAYU ARIBOWO 116332005

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDY

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY


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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Bayu Aribowo

Nomor Mahasiswa : 116332005

Demi perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

TEACHER’S BELIEFS ABOUT

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXPOSURE

Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan. Dengan demikian saya memberikan hak kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta. Pada tanggal: 23 Januari 2014

Yang menyatakan,


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude firstly to my parents who never stop loving and caring for me, my brother who keeps his faith in me, as well as my lovely beautiful girlfriend who is always so supportive in everything I do for the present and future. Big respect is also paid to my friends in arms who are always there for me in finishing this thesis until the last minute and for providing me space to stand in the place where I can see things from the angle I never spotted before. Never could I encounter such an adventurous path of life without their presence. I would love to thank my mates in my hometown too since they really know how to keep my sanity and insanity in its proper place. This thesis will never be done without the help of the school I worked at, the teachers there, and my magnificent students who might not know how they have influenced my life. Therefore, the credit goes to all of them too. Lastly, the appreciation is given to all lecturers and staffs who have done their great job in this educational institution.


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TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE ... i

ADVISOR’S APPROVAL PAGE ... ii

DEFENCE APPROVAL PAGE ... iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PUBLIKASI ... v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii

LIST OF FIGURES ... x

LIST OF CODES AND ABBREVIATION ... xi

ABSTRACT ... xii

ABSTRAK ... xiii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the study ... 1

B. Problem limitation ... 7

C. Problem formulation ... 7

D. Research goals ... 7

E. Research benefit ... 8

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW A. Theoretical review ... 9

1. Teacher’s belief ... 9

a. Definition ... 9

b. Nature ... 14

c. Role ... 17

2. English as a foreign language learning ... 19

a. Overview ... 19

b. Characteristics of EFL learners ... 21

3. Theory of language exposure ... 23


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1) Type of input ... 24

2) Sources of input... 28

a) Materials ... 28

(1) Authentic materials ... 29

(2) Modified/simplified materials... 30

b) Teacher talk ... 32

c) Classroom interaction ... 34

b. The role of first language in EFL class ... 36

B. Theoretical framework ... 39

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Research method ... 41

B. Nature and sources of data ... 43

C. Data setting and participant ... 43

D. Data collection method ... 45

1. Interview ... 46

2. Observation ... 47

E. Data analysis ... 48

F. Triangulation ... 49

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS A. Introduction ... 50

B. English teaching and learning in the setting of the study ... 50

C. Teacher’s belief about English language exposure ... 52

1. Material ... 53

a. The characteristics of the material... 53

b. The teaching method of the material ... 59

c. Focus of the material ... 61

2. Teacher talk ... 64

a. The use of teacher talk... 64

b. The limitation of teacher talk ... 67

3. Classroom interaction... 70

a. Teacher-student interaction ... 70

b. Student-student interaction ... 73

4. First language ... 75

D. Discussion ... 80

1. Material ... 80

2. Teacher talk ... 83

3. Classroom interaction... 85


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CHAPTER V CONCLUSION

A. Conclusions ... 90

B. Implications ... 95

C. Recommendations ... 96

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 98

APPENDICES ... 106

A. Interview transcription and coding ... 106


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LIST OF FIGURES

1. Figure 2.1: Teacher cognition, schooling, professional education, and

classroom practice... 18

2. Figure 2.2: Three circles of English... 20

3. Figure 2.3: Resource and result of classroom interaction... 36

4. Figure 3.1: Stages of data analysis adapted from Creswell... 48


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CODES

Abbreviations

RSBI : Rintisan sekolah berstandar internasional/Designated international standard school

SKL : Standar kompetensi lulusan/ Learning outcome EFL : English as a foreign language

ESL : English as a second language L1 : First language

L2 : Second language

Codes

MT-C : Material characteristics MT-TM : Teaching method MT-F : Material focus

TT-U : Teacher talk using English

TT-L : Teacher talk limitation using English

CIT-U : Classroom interaction using English between teacher and students CIT-P : The purpose of interaction using English between teacher and

students

CIS-U : Classroom interaction using English among students CIS-P : The purpose of interaction using English among students FL-U : The use of first language use


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ABSTRACT

Bayu Aribowo, 2013. Teacher’s Beliefs about English Language Exposure. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University

Language exposure is a means to provide students with English as much as possible to facilitate their English learning. However, English learning in the area of English as a foreign language has limited or less exposure since the students are exposed with English mostly in the classroom only. Related to this, the use of first language might also influence students in the exposure of English. Meanwhile, specific geographical and sociological condition can take part as well related to the exposure of English. Based on these facts and situations, it seems that observing the teacher’s beliefs about English language exposure in such a setting of study is worth doing.

This study tries to see such beliefs from the point of view of several aspects as the sources of exposure. They are materials, teacher talk, classroom interaction, and the use of first language. The problem formulated to answer is ‘What beliefs does the teacher hold about English language exposure?’

To give a thorough description and interpretation, a case study analysis was applied from the participant’s experience. The interview was conducted to one 8th grade English teacher of a chosen state junior high school and classroom observations were performed to validate the findings.

The findings from the analysis show that materials are considered suitable as long as they suit the curriculum, support the syllabus, and facilitate the students for national exam. The materials must support students’ vocabulary mastery. Teacher-centered method is also regarded as the most appropriate way for students nowadays although in the contrary with the curriculum. Therefore, the teacher can present the most exposure with teacher talk. The teacher talk in English is considered useful when used as instructional language and classroom language. Even so, students’ characteristics and time constraint may lead the teacher to limit its use. Classroom interaction using English, although not obliged to use, can be helpful for language exposure mainly in the expressions. Lastly, the first language is believed to be a language that can help students’ comprehension, especially in their receptive skill, and functions as an agent to mediate students in learning the language with more comfort.


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ABSTRAK

Bayu Aribowo, 2013. Teacher’s Beliefs about English Language Exposure. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University

Pemajanan bahasa adalah salah satu cara untuk menyediakan pengetahuan bahasa Inggris sebanyak mungkin kepada siswa dalam memfasilitasi mereka dalam pembelajaran bahasa Inggris. Meski begitu, proses pembelajaran bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing lebih terbatas karena para murid hanya mendapatkan pajanan bahasa tersebut di dalam kelas saja. Pemakaian bahasa ibu juga bisa mempengaruhi pembelajaran bahasa Inggris di dalam kelas dalam hubungannya dengan pemajanan bahasa Inggris. Sementara itu, kondisi sosio-geografis tertentu juga bisa ikut mempengaruhi tingkat pemajanan tersebut. Berdasarkan fakta dan situasi tersebut, keyakinan guru dalam pemajanan bahasa Inggris di lokasi semacam itu dianggap pantas untuk diteliti.

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk melihat keyakinan guru tersebut dari sudut pandang yang berhubungan dengan pemajanan bahasa. Aspek-aspek tersebut mencakup materi, ujaran guru, interaksi di dalam kelas, dan pemakaian bahasa ibu. Permasalahan yang akan dijawab pada penelitian ini adalah ‘Keyakinan seperti apa yang dimiliki guru mengenai pemajanan bahasa Inggris?’

Untuk memberikan penjelasan dan interpretasi yang mendalam, diterapkanlah analisis studi kasus dari pengalaman partisipan. Wawancara dilakukan terhadap satu orang guru bahasa Inggris kelas 8 di salah satu sekolah menengah pertama negeri terpilih dan juga observasi terhadap kelas-kelas yang ditunjuk dijalankan sebagai media validasi temuan.

Hasil dari analisis menunjukkan bahwa suatu materi dianggap cocok jika sudah sesuai dengan kurikulum, mendukung silabus yang sudah dibuat, dan memfasilitasi siswa dalam menghadapi ujian nasional. Materi tersebut juga harus mendukung siswa dalam menguasai kosa kata. Metode pengajaran yang terpusat pada guru juga dianggap sebagai metode yang paling tepat dalam mengantarkan materi walaupun sebenarnya bertolak belakang dengan yang ada di kurikulum. Dengan begitu, guru bisa memanfaatkan ujarannya untuk memajankan bahasa sebanyak mungkin. Ujaran guru dalam bahasa Inggris dianggap bermanfaat ketika dipakai sebagai bahasa pengantar dan dalam bentuk ungkapan rutin. Walaupun begitu, karakteristik tertentu siswa dan terbatasnya waktu bisa menjadi unsur penentu guru dalam membatasi ujaran dengan bahasa Inggris. Walaupun tidak diwajibkan, interaksi di dalam kelas menggunakan bahasa Inggris bisa dimanfaatkan sebagai suatu cara untuk memaksimalkan pemajanan bahasa Inggris terutama ketika masuk ke dalam materi ekspresi. Terakhir, bahasa ibu dipercaya sebagai suatu bahasa yang dapat membantu pemahaman murid, terutama kemampuan reseptif mereka, dan berfungsi sebagai sebuah perantara bagi siswa untuk belajar bahasa Inggris dengan lebih nyaman.


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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter covers introductory parts about this research such as background of the study, problem limitation, problem formulation, research goals, and the benefit of the study

.

A

.

Background of the study

Exposure is one way, either naturally or given, which will affect human’s brain or mental condition to recognize, comprehend, and be more aware about the discussion being exposed. Related to the language learning as the focus of the study, exposure becomes a significant aspect on how someone can acquire the language. There are several experiences or studies in the past that show how substantial exposure to language is in language learning or acquisition. One of them is about Akbar, a 16th century Mogul emperor of India, as told in an article in New York Times online (Galliot, 2007). He desired to learn whether language was innate or acquired through exposure to the speech of adults. He had a belief that people learn language by listening to each other and therefore a child could not develop language alone. He then ordered a house built for two infants and stationed a mute nurse to care for them. The result was obvious. The children did not acquire speech, which seemed to verify Akbar’s hypothesis that language is acquired and does not simply emerge spontaneously in the absence of exposure to speech.


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The article also tells another experience about exposure in the more recent era. The online newspaper shows the importance of exposure in language acquisition by covering a news about Ana Gabriella Rodriguez, a 23 year-old graduate student at the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris, who had an impressive ability to effortlessly switch among five languages; English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hungarian. It is related to her parents’ job as Venezuelan diplomats since she moved frequently following them in several countries with different languages including Caracas, Washington, Lisbon, and Budapest, in addition to Paris. This demonstrates how someone can acquire a language with the help of exposure, in this case from the place they live. Provided with the language they are unfamiliar with yet, they are required to hear and practice the language they have in contact every day, making them receive maximum amount of exposure. As a result, language acquisition is inevitable.

In that article, Fred Genesee, a professor of psycholinguistics at McGill University in Montreal, provides a scientific foundation for it that a child simply needs to be exposed to a different language for at least 30 percent of his or her waking time to acquire it. He also signifies the importance of immersion in an environment where the new language is needed for adults who are in the process of learning additional language. This suits Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition that concludes several studies stating that more exposure to a second language results in increased proficiency (1985: 14).

The events above signify the importance of exposure in language learning or acquisition. However, the condition might differ in the classroom context as the


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setting of this study. Since English becomes the focus in this study, it is quite necessary to see the position of English nowadays in language learning. Hasman (2004:21) suggests that “English has been an international language for only 50 years

.

If the pattern follows the previous language trends, we still have about 100 years before a new language dominates the world”. It is one reason why English is learnt world-wide intensively even in the EFL context. Learning a foreign language in the classroom obviously has several differences in its application if compared to the story life of Rodriguez above in acquiring the language. Firstly, there is a pattern that must be followed by the learners so that they can learn such a language accordingly to their level of comprehension. This pattern is what is called curriculum. Secondly, a figure is needed to guide the learners in learning the language. This figure is the one who will direct the learner in the learning process, provide them with the knowledge needed, and verify their understanding. This important figure is the teacher.

It must be noted too that EFL students learn English mostly in the classroom. It’s also related to the role of English as the foreign language where the language is not used as a daily basis or regularly as a means of communication by the students. Then, most students treat English as one subject at school only, meaning that they learn English with quite limited intensity and mark-oriented instead of proficiency construction

.

Moreover, their primary source of English as the input is received when they are at school, specifically from English lesson only

.

Considering the story about how Rodriguez acquired the languages above, the teacher must be aware about the role of exposure in teaching the language as


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Nation (2003) emphasizes that it is very important that L2 use is maximized in the classroom where learners have little opportunity to meet and use the L2 outside the classroom. These arguments then function as the essential starting point to see the teacher’s beliefs about language exposure in teaching English in the classroom context.

Looking on the other side of such matters, the exposure of English is also strongly related to the use of first language in the classroom practice, which in fact is still in question whether it will help learners in acquiring the knowledge about language or even become an obstacle for them to achieve the goal of language learning

.

How the use of first language is scientifically debatable is confirmed by Jadallah’s (unknown year) research that shows a number of studies having been conducted, which either support or oppose the use of first language in EFL classroom, showing that each side has their own reason in the promotion or restriction of first language based on the findings from those research

.

Meanwhile, teachers, no matter if they care or not, realize this fact and it, either direct or indirectly, affects their performance in the classroom mainly in how they use either English or first language in the classroom

.

Therefore, seeing those realities above, it is quite a meaningful interest to see what teachers, who hold an essential position in education process, have in mind about exposing English to maximize the input for the students while considering the role and part of the first language in the classroom especially in the place where this research was conducted with its distinctive geographical and sociological characteristics

.


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To clarify the stance of this research, several studies with related topics are considered worth to discuss in this part

.

There have been numerous research in the past related to teachers’ belief

.

Borg (2003) explains how teachers’ belief has been majorly discussed in its relationship with curricular aspect of language teaching such as grammar teaching and literacy instruction in foreign and second language context

.

Apart from biological factors, exposure is clearly of crucial importance in enhancing language acquisition as well as learning

.

The significance of language exposure has been discussed in previous discussions and studies in the same field

.

Lubega (1979), for instance, conducted a research which took Uganda as its object of research where people there speak English as a second language

.

He found that language exposure is “vital to language learning and the type and level of language proficiency that emanates from the language learning process is almost entirely determined by language exposure”

.

It shows how exposure takes a significant value even if the language has the function as a secondary language

.

It implies that even they already have people around them speaking the language, they still need to maintain close contact to the language in their learning process

.

Another study by Solcova (2011) on teaching speaking skills, also brings the indirect discussion about the importance of the way teacher interacts in the class as the form of language exposure

.

In some part, he explains that the teachers’ role in the exposure of learners to language should not be underestimated because not only it is a clear fact that some aspects of language


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are acquired subconsciously, teachers are a source of input for learners and even more so in an EFL context where the language lessons might be the only opportunity for some learners to listen to English being studied

.

This kind of study tries to view that the language exposure is described to be substantial moreover in the area where English is not a primary language spoken in the society

.

Ajileye (1998) in her research sees the effect of exposure to English language activities outside the classroom in students’ writing

.

It was observed that there exists a significant mutual relationship between the degree of exposure to English language use outside the classroom and performance in written English

.

She makes sure that an exploitation of opportunities for English language activities would definitely enhance proficiency in English language

.

All of those studies indicate the same conclusion that language exposure becomes one of many significant language learning aspects that can improve learners’ proficiency in English

.

This research then is made to see how teachers construct this fact as their belief which might or can affect or is reflected in their experience and way of teaching in the classroom, especially in the place where the object of the study performs her professional line of work

.

B

.

Problem limitation

There is a time constraint in carrying out this research

.

Therefore, I limit this study in several aspects

.

It is stated in the title of this study that the teachers’


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belief about language exposure is the focus area of the research

.

Exposure in this study refers to the total amount of contacts with the target language in the classroom

.

Thus, the teachers’ belief’s limitation covers several objects related to things connected to the input the learners acquired in the classroom whenever the lesson is performed such as teacher talk, teaching material, and classroom interaction

.

It also considers the first language the teachers would likely use and would obviously confront to the exposure of English

.

C

.

Problem formulation

This research is conducted to provide the answer for the following research question: What beliefs does the teacher hold about English language exposure?

D

.

Research goals

This research is brought up with a purpose as framed previously

.

The aim of this research is to identify and describe the teacher’s beliefs about language exposure the students acquire in the classroom from several aspects covering it like materials, teacher talk, classroom interaction, and the one that influence them as done by the use of the first language

.

By having this goal, it is expected that the readers will see and understand how the teacher’s beliefs in the setting of the study are reflected and later on can have the benefits as stated in the following sub-chapter

.


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E

.

Benefit of the study

As any other research done in the area of English language teaching, this study also has its own significance in its accomplishment

.

Such importance is partitioned into two kinds

.

The first one is the practical benefit

.

This study was done in an educational institution that had certain kind of demographical and sociological characteristics

.

Because of that, this research hopefully could provide some insight for other educational practitioners in such institution with similar characteristics to construct, deconstruct, or even reflect their own belief about language exposure which might affect them in their way of teaching

.

This research is also beneficial for the teachers, mainly who teach in the same level of education as the participant, to evaluate their use of English in the classroom for maximum result of their students’ output or proficiency

.

The second one is scientific benefit

.

This research gives advantages in providing valuable information related to the teachers’ beliefs about language exposure which can also operate as a reference for further studies

.


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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, there are two sub-chapters that consist of theoretical review and theoretical framework

.

The theoretical review will contain discussion and portrayal about all the theories and the literature used for the research

.

Meanwhile, the theoretical framework as the second sub-chapter connects the theoretical review with the assumptions, therefore determines the type of data and how to analyze them

.

A

.

Theoretical review

In theoretical review, the theories related to the topic of this research are presented and given in detail

.

It also covers the key constructs which is relevant to answer the research question

.

Those theories are the theory of teachers’ belief, theory of English as a foreign language, and the theories of language exposure

.

1

.

Teachers’ belief

a

.

Definition

As a previous trend, research on education were done covering aspects such as techniques and methods of teaching

.

Then, like teaching techniques and method, the focus also changes over time following the era

.

The trend then shifted


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into more various grounds including not only about what people do in education but also about what people think about education

.

Since the mid-1980s, research on teaching and teacher education has shifted dramatically from a focus on behaviors to an interest in cognition (Richardson, 1996)

.

One topic about this concentration is about teachers’ belief

.

Before discussing about teachers’ belief, one must understand the meaning of the word ‘belief’ itself as the key concept

.

There are indeed many definitions about beliefs

.

Dewey (1933), as one amongst the first to realize the importance of beliefs in education, described belief as the third meaning of thought, ‘something beyond itself by which its value is tested; it makes an assertion about some matter of fact or some principle of law’ (p

.

6)

.

For him, belief is crucial since “it covers all the matters of which we have no sure knowledge and yet which we are sufficiently confident of to act upon and also the matter that we now accept as certainly true, as knowledge, but which nevertheless may be questioned in the future” (p

.

6)

.

Derived from that, Pajares (1992) describes belief as an “individual’s judgment of the truth or falsity of a proposition, a judgment that can only be inferred from a collective understanding of what human beings say, intend, and do” (p

.

316)

.

Bernat (2005), for instance, has summed up the definitions about beliefs from many researchers since the post-world war era

.

Some of those definitions suitable for the theoretical background of this research is insights, culture of learning, learner assumptions, self-constructed representational systems,


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conceptions of learning, and very strong filters of reality

.

Even though not too detailed, these definitions however can become a really good base of understanding to initially recognize what teachers’ belief is, later on, what it deals with, and what it is related to

.

Pajares (1992), quoting Bandura (1986), Dewey (1933), Nisbett & Ross (1980), and Rokeach (1968), signifies beliefs as the best indicators of the decisions individuals make throughout their lives

.

Moreover, although he sees belief as a messy concept, he states that beliefs and belief systems serve as personal guides in helping individuals to define and understand the world and themselves

.

M. Borg (2001: 186) states that “there is as yet no consensus on meaning and the concept has acquired rather fuzzy usage” about belief

.

However, she later on sums up that “belief is a preposition that may be consciously or unconsciously held, is evaluative in that it is accepted as true by the individual, and is therefore imbued with emotive commitment”

.

Going into the details, when we are talking about teachers’ belief, we should see the understanding about it given by Nespor (1987) which has been used as a foundation theory in every research related to the teachers’ belief

.

Without direct definition about teachers’ belief, he delivers the comprehension about belief with the accepted idea that teachers’ way of thinking and understanding are vital components of their practice

.

From this point of view, it is noticeable that teachers’ belief, in the realm of ideas is what the teachers think and what teachers know regarding to their profession which affect them in their performance

.

He also mentions that teachers’ belief is a significant influence that


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affects them in conceptualizing tasks

.

In the other way, their experience also becomes a factor that shape teachers’ belief (Nespor, 1987: 317)

.

In another source, Kagan (1992) gives her own classification about teachers’ belief

.

She believes that teachers’ belief is “a particularly provocative form of personal knowledge that is defined as a pre- or in-service teachers’ implicit assumptions about students, learning classrooms, and the subject matter to be taught” (1992: 66)

.

In the matter of fact, she realizes that this definition is actually misleading somehow knowing that the studies about teachers’ belief are mostly focused on specific academic context such as beliefs about teaching math, science, history, or else

.

However, she agrees with Feimar-Nemsen and Floden (1984) that pull a red line on the research taking teachers’ belief as their attention that the goals on studying teachers’ belief is to get inside the teachers’ heads to describe their subjective knowledge and belief

.

Quoting Calderhead (1996), teacher beliefs, as well as teacher knowledge and teacher thinking, comprise the broader concept of teacher cognition

.

Even so, teachers’ belief and teacher cognition share the same characteristics, as Kagan (1990) mention it as something that “is somewhat ambiguous, because researchers invoke the term to refer to different products, including teachers’ interactive thoughts during instruction; thoughts during lesson planning; implicit beliefs about students, classrooms, and learning; [and] reflections about their own teaching performance

.

” (p

.

420)

.


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Starting from her definition about belief previously, M. Borg (2001: 187) also comes up with a conclusion about teachers’ belief which refers to teachers’ pedagogic belief or those beliefs of relevance to an individual’s teaching

.

Furthermore, she claims that teachers’ belief serves as a guide to thought and behavior

.

More recent discussion about the term teachers’ belief is brought by Borg with his developing definition over time

.

Belief comes together with knowledge, theories, assumptions, and attitudes to form personal pedagogical systems that play a significant role in shaping teachers’ instructional decisions (1998)

.

In another year, he implicitly alters his theoretical discussion about teachers’ belief with similar concept he calls teacher cognition

.

Language teacher cognition includes what second or foreign language teacher think, know, believe and additionally, as part of teacher cognition constructs, attitudes, identities, and emotion (2012)

.

Lastly, Flavell (1987) views beliefs about language learning as “a component of meta-cognitive knowledge, which include all that individuals understand about themselves as learners and thinkers, including their goals and needs”

.

From all of the reviews about belief above, it can be inferred that teachers’ belief is what teachers view, think, and assume to be true in their point of view which will influence them in their professional performance and, on the contrary, may be affected by their experience as well yet not all beliefs they possess can be molded into doable action since there are limitations from many perspectives, such as personal, social, administrative, or other teacher-related factors, which bounds their certain beliefs to remain abstract

.


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b

.

Nature

Every entity always has its own distinctive nature, and so does teachers’ belief

.

What comes first concerning the nature of teachers’ belief is that teachers’ belief appear to be relatively stable and resistant to change (Brousseau, Book, and Byers, 1988; Herman and Duffy, 1989; in Kagan, 1992)

.

Another assumption also comes up and states that a teacher’s belief tend to be associated with a congruent style of teaching that is often evident across different classes and grade level (Evertson & Weade, 1989; Martin, 1989 in Kagan, 1992)

.

Bryan (2003, in Irez, 2006) also concludes the nature of belief from the contribution of many researchers and theorists

.

Accordingly, beliefs are psychological constructs that include understandings, assumptions, images, or propositions that are felt to be true

.

It is the one that drives a person’s actions and support decisions and judgments

.

Besides, teachers’ belief has highly variable and uncertain linkages to personal, episodic, and emotional experiences of an individual and, although undeniably related to knowledge, it is different from knowledge in that beliefs do not require a condition of truth

.

From that latter grasp about the nature of teachers’ belief, it signifies the importance of apprehending the difference between belief and knowledge

.

As many researchers have found, it is not so much that knowledge differs from beliefs, but that beliefs themselves constitute a form of knowledge (Murphy, 2000)

.

In another way, Ernest (1989, in Pajares, 1992) differentiates both terms by suggesting that knowledge is the cognitive outcome of thought and belief the


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affective outcome, but he acknowledged that beliefs also possess a slender but significant cognitive component

.

Different from the others, Kagan (1992) directly points out that he argues that most of a teacher’s professional knowledge can be regarded as belief

.

She claims that knowledge is considered a belief that has been affirmed as true on the basis of objective proof or consensus of opinion

.

Murphy (2000) later makes a further distinction between beliefs and knowledge based on Nespor (1987)

.

Beliefs are considered ‘static’, meaning whereas knowledge can be evaluated or judged, beliefs are something in contrary since there is usually a lack of consensus about how they are to be evaluated

.

Not only in evaluative aspect, both terms also deal with their relationship with the truth

.

Beliefs are said not to require a truth condition whereas knowledge must satisfy the ‘truth condition’ (Savasci-Acikalin, 2009)

.

Other than that, he also concludes that beliefs refer to suppositions, commitments, and ideologies and knowledge refers to factual propositions and the understandings that inform skillful action

.

While knowledge is based on objective fact, belief is differently based on evaluative judgment

.

The proper illustration of belief and knowledge is portrayed by Nespor (1987)

.

Teachers may have similar scientific knowledge

.

They are likely to teach in different ways because teachers’ beliefs are more powerful than their knowledge in influencing the way in which they teach

.

For this too, Mansour (2009) supports the fact with his empirical research he carried out

.

His finding


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shows that “there is an interactive relationship between knowledge and beliefs

.

The settled or developed teachers’ beliefs act as an information organizer and priority categorizer, and in turn control the way it could be used

.

In the interactions between knowledge and beliefs, beliefs control the gaining of knowledge and knowledge influenced beliefs” (p

.

28)

.

It must also be understood that teachers’ belief is something resistant to change (Brousseau et al

.

, 1988)

.

However, Murphy (2010: 7) mentions that changing belief is a complex, perhaps even mysterious, process

.

Though doable, Woods (1996) clarifies that teachers cannot simply at will 'change' one belief by itself

.

Instead, the change can only be encouraged but not mandated

.

Pajares (1992) mentions that Piaget’s concepts of assimilation and accommodation result in belief change

.

“Assimilation is the process whereby new information is incorporated into existing beliefs in the ecology; accommodation takes place when new information is such that it cannot be assimilated and existing beliefs must be replaced or reorganized” (p

.

320)

.

Beside those theoretical terms, reflection, that is intentionally, actively, and deliberately examining one’s experiences and beliefs, also the one that contributes to conceptual change (Di Pietro and Walker, 2005)

.

It must be understood that changing belief is not about abandoning beliefs but replacing them with more relevant beliefs (Nespor, 1987 in Murphy, 2010)

.

This opinion is supported by Dwyer et al (1990) who recommend implementing change in education must include changing teachers’ practices and beliefs by


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gradually replacing them with more relevant beliefs shaped by experiences in an altered context

.

Those concepts give a thorough comprehension on the way teachers’ belief changes and how it works with the other belief

.

c

.

Role

What is also significant in the discussion about teachers’ belief is its role in many aspects related to it, mainly to the teaching and learning practice, method, and development

.

Nespor (1987) conducted teacher belief study and the result “suggests that beliefs and belief systems have two important uses for teachers -task definition and cognitive strategy selection; and facilitation of retrieval and reconstruction in memory processes-while serving the overall function of allowing teachers to deal with ill-structured domains” (p

.

321)

.

Practically, “teachers’ belief play a major role in teachers’ decision making about curriculum and instructional tasks” (Nespor, 1987;Pajares, 1992 in Savasci-Acikalin, 2009)

.

Richardson (1996) states, "attitudes and beliefs are a subset of a group of constructs that name, define, and describe the structure and content of mental states that are thought to drive a person’s actions" (p

.

102)

.

To put it briefly, teachers’ belief determines what the teachers do in their professional occupation

.

Additionally, “teachers’ beliefs are closely linked to teachers’ strategies for coping with challenges in their daily professional life and to their general well-being, and therefore they shape students’ learning environment and influence students’ motivation and achievement” (TALIS, 2009)

.


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Borg (2003), placing teachers’ belief and teachers’ cognition in a par, tells how teacher cognition plays a pivotal role in teachers’ life as explained in the scheme below

.

Figure 2.1 : Teacher cognition, schooling, professional education, and classroom practice(Borg, 1997 in Borg, 2003: 82)

From the diagram above, it shows what teachers’ belief, which is a part of teachers’ cognition, affect and is affected by

.

Several features that influence teachers’ belief is firstly their experience in the classroom as a learner which form their perception of their early training in teaching

.

Not only shaping their belief, it also has effects their professional coursework

.

Professional coursework and teachers’ belief are intertwined, meaning that they work two ways by affecting


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each other

.

Another aspect is the contextual factors, such as motivation, expectations, society demand, standardized tests and school, which modify not just teachers’ beliefs but practice in the classroom as well

.

Classroom practice itself, as professional coursework, similarly intertwines with teachers’ belief

.

2

.

English as a foreign language learning

a

.

Overview

Talking about English language learning, we must understand first about Kachru’s 3 circles of English

.

World widely, the area of the English use is divided into three areas of circle

.

These circles represent the types of spread, the patterns of acquisition, and the functional allocation of English in diverse cultural context (Kachru, 1992: 356)

.

The first is inner circle which refers to the traditional cultural and linguistic bases of English

.

It covers countries using English as its primary language for daily use

.

The second one is the outer circle that represents the institutionalized non-native varieties in the regions that have through extended period of colonization

.

In the other words, it is countries that use English as second language

.

The third one is the expanding circle which includes regions where the performance varieties of the language are used essentially in EFL context or we can say, it includes those nations which acknowledge the importance of English as an international language

.

There, English does not have any special intra-national status or function (Takatsuka, 2008)

.


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Figure 2.2: Three circles of English(Kachru, 1992: 356)

Not only representing what has been said before, this classification then somehow influences the English language learning in every region because the significance of such language also differs in each circle

.

In the case of English as a foreign language, Broughton et al (1980) emphasizes that foreign language “is taught in schools, often widely, but it does not play an essential role in national or social life” (p

.

6)

.

In the expanding circle countries, English, as a world language, is taught among others in schools, but there is no regional variety of English which embodies such countries’ cultural identity

.

Even so, learners of English as a foreign language have a choice of language variety to a larger extent than second


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language learners

.

He gives the example of Japan in which both British and American varieties are equally acceptable and both are taught, foreign students of English in Mexico and the Philippines tend to learn American English, Europeans tend to learn British English, whilst in Papua New Guinea, Australasian English is the target variety

.

Those choices of variety are partly influenced by the availability of teachers, partly by geographical location and partly by political influence (p

.

7)

.

Still, not only the function of English that is different in each circle, it also has different use too especially for the learners

.

In a foreign language learning situation, counting English, “the language is not spoken in the immediate environment of the learner, although mass media may provide opportunities for practicing the receptive skills

.

There is little or no opportunity for the learner to use the language in natural communication situations” (Ringbom, 1987: 27)

.

It indirectly shows the importance as well as the role of English in the countries where English counts as foreign language

.

b

.

Characteristics of EFL learners

Ringbom (1987: 27) makes distinctions between second language learners and foreign language learners under the heading of time, input, teacher’s role, and skills

.

From there, the characteristics of foreign language learners can be summarized as follows

.

First, the foreign language learner can spend only a very limited time on learning

.

What usually happens in practice is that the time spent


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on learning is limited to the classroom hours and the time spent in preparation for the lessons

.

Secondly, the foreign language learner is also exposed to a very limited quantity of highly structured, selected and sequenced input

.

In fact, he adds as the third one, foreign language learning mainly takes place in a classroom situation and/or by study at home while there is little or hardly any learning from peers

.

Fourth, talking about most classrooms, the dependence on written material makes the oral skills less important since the classroom situation does not provide a genuine need for practicing spoken language in a natural communication context, even if various contrived oral uses of the language may be employed

.

The sequencing of skills largely depends on the aims and methods of the course

.

He also demonstrates that, in the case of foreign language learning, the learners’ success is somehow dependent on a number of factors, especially the general attitudes to the teacher and the classroom situation and the learners’ motivation

.

“Since the foreign language learner's whole personality is not involved in the learning process, most social and affective factors lose at least some of their importance in a foreign language learning context

.

Culture shock is hardly experienced at all, until the learner goes to the foreign country” (Ringbom, 1987: 29)

.

Getting more specific, the characteristics of Indonesian EFL learners have been a major topic in several discussions

.

Exley (2005) portrays how some literature defines Indonesian students has the characteristics of more passive, compliant and unreflective learner

.

Pikkert and Foster (1996, in Exley, 2005)


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report that in EFL in Indonesia, teachers have significant value because they are required to present a critical evaluation of ideas for students to memorize

.

One study by Beh (1997, in Exley, 2005) found that students in urban areas have higher levels of motivation in learning English than students in rural areas

.

The reasons for this cover both teachers and students side, and the difficulties students have concern with affording the required text

.

3

.

Theory of language exposure

The development of language depends on exposure to some specific linguistic experience (Curtis et

.

al 1974)

.

This kind of experience could be in various forms that later on will sharpen language skills such as what is read or heard for the receptive skills and what is spoken or written as the ones enhancing the productive skills

.

Although it is undoubtedly true, there is still debate about whether language learning is biologically-based or is directly related to the environment or language exposure and it has been a question for a long time (Agah, 2011)

.

Related to this, there are different opinions rising up

.

Di Vesta (1974) and Chomsky (1970) propose that language is an innate ability and exposure does not make a significant difference in gaining this ability

.

In the other hand, Olson (1970) believed that language learning is directly related to the environment

.

Despite the fact that there are two opposite parties related to language exposure, learners are automatically exposed with such language whenever they conduct the learning process

.

The exposure is in the form of input


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and this input can be discussed together with the role of first language which accompanies it in the practice of language learning

.

a

.

Input

1) Type of input

Krashen (1985: 14) portrays the conclusion from several studies that more exposure to a second language results in increased proficiency while others show little or no relationship between exposure and proficiency

.

However, according to his review of those studies, such relationship exists in some school situation where exposure really entails comprehensible input

.

In the opposite side, there is weaker or no relationship where exposure does not entail comprehensible input

.

Input itself can be non-interactive in the form of texts that learners listen to or read (Ellis, 2008)

.

In other words, input is everything given to the learners about the language in any model of knowledge and skill

.

It may also come in the form of active participation in conversation

.

Input that learners receive holds a very important role in a language learning process since “being exposed to a language can be the best input for a learner” (Agah, 2011: 9)

.

Ellis (1985) suggests eight central conditions favorable for language acquisition and one, and the first one, is a high quantity of input directed at the learner

.

With input also, learners are ‘given the opportunity to make sense of what they hear or see, to notice the contexts in which the samples of the language are used, to interact with them as well as to compensate for the insufficiency’ (Straková, 2012)

.

This is in


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line with what Krashen (1985), as the representation of the innatist point of view, introduces as input hypothesis theory

.

In that theory, he proposes that language acquisition depends solely on what is called comprehensible input, which is a type of input slightly ahead of the learners’ current stage but which they can comprehend through means such as situational cues

.

He formulates this into i+1 (the learners’ current level + a bit beyond current level of competence)

.

The input hypothesis has several corollaries (Krashen, 2003)

.

First is that the speaking ability is not the cause but the product of acquisition

.

Although speaking can indeed indirectly assist in language acquisition, the ability to speak is not the cause of language learning or acquisition

.

Krashen insists that speech emerges by itself as a result of building competence through comprehensible input

.

This comprehensible input, according to Krashen, is most likely to be gained from interacting with another speaker of the language

.

In this case, the other speaker of the language is the teacher

.

Second, grammar knowledge will be automatically gained after enough input is mastered

.

Krashen strongly believes that this is done and acquired by exactly every language learner similarly using Chomsky’s point of view about language acquisition device and it is a better method of developing grammatical accuracy than direct grammar teaching

.


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As for the third, the teaching order is not based on the natural order

.

Instead, students will acquire the language in a natural order by receiving comprehensible input

.

Comprehensible input itself is divided into several types

.

Park (2002) suggests three potential sources of comprehensible input

.

One is pre-modified language input

.

In this kind of input, any input, whether it is spoken or written, can be simplified or modified in order to provide comprehension by presenting less difficult vocabulary items and complex syntactic structures which are beyond readers’ acquired language proficiency

.

Adjusting the syntactic and lexical feature of the input can increase the comprehensibility of the text by, for example, providing definitions of difficult vocabulary items, paraphrasing sentences containing complex syntactic structures, or enriching semantic detail

.

Furthermore, elaboration can be a preferred manner because elaborated input retains the material that language learners need for developing their interlanguage and provides with natural discourse model (Kim, 2003 in Bahrani, 2012)

.

Other than that, elaborated adjustments have the potential to supply the learners with access to the linguistic items they have not acquired yet (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991)

.

Urano (2002, in Bahrani, 2012) and Kong (2007, in Bahrani, 2012) also claim that lexical elaboration is more favorable than lexical simplification for the sake of sentence comprehension in reading and incidental vocabulary acquisition

.

However, Ellis (1995, in Bahrani, 2012) confirms that even though elaborations


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might help language acquisition, over-elaborated language input could be in fact counter-productive

.

Two is interactionally modified input

.

It is represented by the changes to the target structures or lexicons to accommodate potential or actual problems in understanding a message in a conversation

.

It is a type of language input that is interactionally modified through negotiation of meaning to make input comprehensible

.

This kind of comprehensible input is concluded from the study by Ellis (1994, in Bahrani, 2012) where three kinds of input conditions and their potential to facilitate comprehension were considered; the unmodified input, the pre-modified input, and interactionally modified input

.

The result shows that latter significantly facilitates comprehension more than the other types of input

.

It is necessary to put border between modified input and interactionally modified input in order to make a clear distinction of them

.

According to Long (1982, 1983 in Park, 2002), interactionally modified input only emerges when both parts of a conversation negotiate meaning to make their speech more comprehensible

.

When language learners face communicative problems and they have the opportunity to negotiate solutions to them, they are able to acquire new language

.

Three is modified output

.

Modified output is the response to interactionally modified input

.

Similar with interactionally modified input, it must occur in an interactional environment (Ellis, 1999)

.

Negotiation of meaning in a conversation stimulates the learners to modify their output and as the result, their


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modified output of one learner will automatically turn into and work as another learner’s comprehensible input

.

2) Sources of input

In the classroom situation where the learners study the language, there are various sources of input that are available during the learning activity

.

These sources of inputs are commonly similar for regular language class in elementary, junior high, or senior high school. They come from the materials, teacher talk, and classroom interaction (either student with student or student with teacher)

.

a) Materials

Material in ELT, especially EFL as the point of interest in this study, is one of the most important resources of input in language learning

.

Today, the sources of material used in the school are various

.

It moves far from conventional ones represented by written text in the form of books and advances in a variety of forms such as interactive slides, audio, video, online source like websites, or in the appearance of short functional text like posters, announcements, advertisements, recipes, and many more fitting the necessity of the learners

.

However, in Indonesian context, these material sources are made following the curriculum and the approach applied

.

English curriculum of 2006, as the one used in this thesis’ object of the study, aims students’ English communication skill in daily life as stated in its target competence

.

Therefore, the materials used often mimic the real life as if the students are put into the factual situation where they have to communicate with English

.

Such situation would initiate the education


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practitioners to make use of what is called as authentic material

.

In the other hand, there are some limitations or obstacles that prevent the teachers in using such materials and choose to use modified or simplified materials instead

.

(1) Authentic materials

The use of authentic materials in an EFL classroom is what many teachers involved in foreign language teaching have discussed in recent years (Kilickaya, 2004)

.

Rogers and Medley (1988) defines authentic material as 'appropriate' and 'quality' in terms of goals, objectives, learner needs and interest and 'natural' in terms of real life and meaningful communication (p

.

467)

.

While Harmer (1991) regards authentic texts as materials which are designed for native speakers; they are real text; designed not for language students, but for the speakers of the language

.

Jordan (1997, p

.

113) refers to authentic texts as texts that are not written for language teaching purposes

.

Nunan and Miller (1995) define authentic materials as those which were not created or edited expressly for language learners

.

This means that most everyday objects in the target language qualify as authentic material

.

Authentic materials is confirmed to be useful in increasing students' motivation for learning, makes the learner be exposed to the 'real' language as discussed by Guariento & Morley (2001, p

.

347)

.

In short, “authentic materials are materials that we can use with the students in the classroom and that have not been changed in any way for ESL students

.

A classic example would be a newspaper article that’s written for a native-English-speaking audience”


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(Sanderson, 1999)

.

There are some benefits in using this kind of materials (Philips and Shettlesworth 1978; Clarke 1989; Peacock 1997, in Richards, 2001)

.

First, they have positive effect on learner’s motivation

.

Second, they provide authentic cultural information

.

Third, they provide exposure to real language

.

Fourth, they relate more closely to learners’ needs

.

The last one, they support a more creative approach to teaching

.

However, in the other hand, Richards (2001) also points out that using authentic materials also carries some disadvantages which often occur in the area of EFL learning

.

It is obvious that authentic materials often contain difficult language, unneeded vocabulary items and complex language structures, which not only causes a burden for the teacher in lower-level classes but also cause difficulties in comprehension for the learners

.

Related to this, Tamo (2009) agrees that authentic materials should be used in accordance with students’ ability and add that suitable tasks can be given to learners in which total understanding is not important

.

She also consents about the opinion that in the earlier stages, non-authentic materials can be used

.

However, she stresses too that upon students’ dealing with materials from their own subject area, authentic materials should be introduced

.

(2) Modified/simplified materials

“For language learners, difficult language is the problem with authentic text” (Day, 2002)

.

As explained before, the original language as native speakers


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have become the barrier in the language learning process in some cases

.

Too many unrecognized words or structure is the main issue for the learner to study the language

.

It will however still become the source of input

.

But if an utterance in the material, as an instance, is presented but the message cannot be conveyed because of so many foreign vocabularies, not only the learners will fail to at least infer the message but also the input will not be a comprehensible one

.

As for this reason, the education practitioner often choose to use or make modified or simplified material to adjust the language knowledge they need to pass so that it would be understandable for the learners

.

Day (2002) emphasizes that simplified materials carry an outstanding strength which is they are the best material for teaching beginning and intermediate students because they are already set to the right linguistic level

.

Widdowson (1978, in Guariento and Morley, 2001) believes that simplification can take place, within the conventions of a given language field, while maintaining authenticity in the sense of learner’s response

.

To achieve this goal, the text has to be simplified into a form which engage the learner’s interest and impress him as being in some way relevant to his concerns

.

At lower level, “materials do not have to be given an artificial ‘genuine-look in order to be accepted by the learner

.

What matters more is that they should be executed” (Guariento and Morley, 2001)

.

In other words, the simplified materials are more suitably and preferably chosen for the junior level of language learner in the EFL context because it suits their language proficiency

.


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Even though simplified material is very helpful, it is not free from infirmity

.

Guariento and Morley (2001) mention that not so little textbook writers make recourse to simplification with a haste that is often undignified resulting in a not ‘well-executed’ text

.

In the other case, texts lose their redundant feature and are shortened in the listening material

.

b) Teacher talk

Even in the most autonomous, learner-centered class of language learning, the involvement of a teacher is obligatory and inevitable

.

Lewton-Brain (1993) suggests that teachers should support the students to have an evaluation on their work, guide the clarity of a lesson, conceptualizing and making a decision of something

.

They should also give a help to the students so the students understand where they go

.

This can be done by giving criticism, observation and sharing experience

.

In other occasion, the teachers must be able to perceive the strong points and interest of the students then helps the students to grow up

.

How teachers’ role takes part in the learning process significantly is explained by Gass and Selinker (2001, in Leaver, Ehrman and Shekhtman, 2005)

.

They strongly emphasize that acquiring a second language truly depends on acquiring the sound system of that language

.

In the class, the students can get the real example directly

.

In the context of language class, they can learn the pronunciation and accent from the teachers as well as sentence arrangement and even the way of their teachers’ thinking

.

‘The students consider their teachers as


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the source of assistance to learn English’ (Razak, 2003)

.

From this point, it is evident to see the teacher as the one source of input in the classroom for the learners especially from what is familiar with the term teacher talk

.

Several definitions of teacher talk are developed by some theorists

.

Richards (1992: 471) defines teacher talk as a various language which the teacher uses in the learning teaching process

.

Meanwhile, Brown (2006) regards teacher talk as simply the time when the teacher is speaking

.

In more detail, Osborne (1999) classifies teacher talk as speech used by teachers that is characteristically modified in four areas: phonology (consisting of morphology and vocabulary), syntax, and discourse

.

By this definition, it is very important for the teachers to adjust their talk to the students, such as using vocabularies accordingly to the students’ level, for the sake of students’ comprehension

.

As a conclusion, teacher talk is the language used by the teacher to communicate with the students which has been modified and adjusted to the students’ level of language proficiency (Jonathan, 2008)

.

Practically, the pedagogical system in most of the school in Indonesia is teacher-centered, meaning that the teacher would likely do the most talking in the class

.

Therefore, teacher talk is the main medium that is used by the teacher to pass the skills and knowledge to the students

.

However, recent studies have been done with further findings about teacher talk which moved beyond the source of input (Ellis, 2008: 796)

.

It does


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not only function as input but in fact also shapes learners’ contributions to the discourse as inhibiting or increasing learners’ participation and scaffolding learners’ production (Walsh, 2002 in Ellis, 2008)

.

Seeing its effect and significance, teacher talk can be regarded as one of the most significant resource of input in the classroom

.

c) Classroom interaction

Classroom interaction is a media for learners mainly to increase students’ oral proficiency because they can directly practice using the language they learn

.

“Interaction provides learners with opportunities to encounter input or to practise the L2” (Ellis, 2008: 784)

.

Derived from Krashen’s input hypothesis, Long (1996) concludes that interactional hypothesis referred to when learners engaged with their interlocutors in negotiations around meaning, the nature of the input might be qualitatively changed. In other words,

“Language is acquired as learners actively engage in attempting to communicate in the target language

.

The hypothesis is consistent with the experiential philosophy of “learning by doing”

.

Acquisition will be maximized when learners engage in tasks that “push” them to the limits of their current competence

.

” (Nunan, 1999: 51)

By interacting in the classroom, learners have not only the chance to perform their language competency but also the opportunity to learn more from the interaction because, instead of functioning as an output, classroom interaction also has a role to be the input for the other learners since one’s output can be others’ input as previously mentioned

.

It emphasizes the importance of comprehensible input and also claims that it is most effective when it is modified through the negotiation of


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meaning

.

When the interaction is in progress, they may not fully understand the utterances coming from the interlocutor, but they will try to understand and interpret the meaning of the utterances

.

Long’s interaction hypothesis supports that the development of language proficiency is promoted by direct interaction and communication

.

Ellis (1988: 95) also underlines that “interaction contributes to development because it is the means by which the learner is able to crack the code”

.

Similar with what Nunan says, he concludes that by interaction, learners can infer what is said even though they still have the absence of understanding about some linguistic item in the message because it is not yet a part of his competence

.

Acting as the source of input, classroom interaction comes in every communication means inside the classroom either it’s between teacher and students or among students

.

Naimat (2011) in his research confirms as well about the significance of interactional method in a foreign language class, stressing about the interaction between teacher and students

.

Because teachers are considered knowledgeable in their classroom, the interaction would likely initiate the transfer of knowledge as the immersion of input for the learners

.

Teachers talk as previously discussed can also reflect classroom interaction between students and teacher

.

Teachers’ planning provided before the class would commence classroom interaction too that later on will result in input like explained in the scheme below


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Figure 2.3: Resource and result of classroom interaction (Allwright and Bailey, 1991: 25 in Ellis, 2008: 784)

Johnson (1995, in Naimat, 2011) clarifies that interaction among students provides a greater social context for prompting language use than traditional instructions

.

Therefore, it would increase students’ chances to use the second language

.

Meaning, more use of the language would provide more input as well

.

Rivers (1987) shares the same opinion about the interaction between students

.

Interaction involves not only the expressions of the learners’ view as the output but also understanding the views of the others so the learners will share their ideas among each other where one listens and responds to others and others as well

.

b

.

The role of first language in EFL class

As mentioned previously, teacher talk is one essential source of input in the classroom

.

However, when speaking in the EFL context, it is unavoidable for the teachers to utilize or make use of the first language in the classroom to help them in transferring the language knowledge

.

In the other hand, the students are often intrigued or forced to use their first language since they have insufficient English language proficiency

.

Using first language in the EFL, or ESL, classroom is like a double-edged sword

.

This concern is introduced by Yang (1992) after reviewing Robert Lado’s

Syllabus Input

Method Practice Opportunities

Atmosphere Receptivity

Classroom interaction


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concept of contrastive analysis hypothesis

.

It divides the role of first language into two

.

The first one is called positive transfer, or simply transfer

.

It is a positive transfer when the first language and the foreign language share similar elements, such as structure, which result in correct utterance

.

This is the condition where learners can take advantage of such situation to learn the correct form of the language

.

On the other side, there is also negative transfer or usually called with the term ‘inference’

.

It is the contrast circumstance where both language have different structure and do not share similar element, which may result in error in production of the foreign language

.

“The first language has long been considered the villain in second language learning, the major cause of a learner’s problems with the new language

.

” (Dulay, Burt, and Krashen, 1982)

.

This understanding has been believed and around for decades

.

Although this issue is more to the case of second language acquisition, it cannot be denied that first language use in EFL classroom is unavoidable since “the first language has a small but important role to play in communicating meaning and content

.

” (Nation, 2001: 1)

.

From several methods of conveying the meaning of an unknown word, such as definition in the second language, demonstration, showing picture, diagram, or real object, or first language translation, the latter is considered the most effective one with probability that first language translations are usually clear, short and familiar (Nation, 2001: 4)

.


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Optimistically, using the first language can help learning

.

Auerbach (1993, in Nation, 1997), speaking for countries like Indonesia and Japan where little English is spoken outside the classroom, argues for the reasoned appropriate use of the learners’ L1 in the L2 classroom wherever this will have positive effects on the learners and learning

.

He proposes the use of L1 to

“…explain the procedure for a task where confusion would result if it was done through the L2, to prepare for tasks that would be too difficult without this preparation, to allow learners to say what matters to them and to give them a role in managing and directing the classroom, to explain some vocabulary and grammar points and to show it is a valued resource in the classroom

.

” (p

.

24)

However, Ellis (2008: 801) has an argument about how operating first language in the EFL or ESL classroom is considered controversial because applying different theories of L2 acquisition would result in different findings about the use of first language too

.

As an instance, he views the interactionist perspective where emphasis needs to be given to ensure learners’ maximum exposure to the L2 input

.

In the other hand, he perceives the socio-cultural point of view that the first language can function as a tool to scaffold learner production in the L2

.

Personally, he argues that the first language should be used as little as possible

.

From the other’s standpoint, Cook (2001) suggests that first language should be used for several aspects in teaching only such as explaining grammar, organizing tasks, disciplining students, and implementing tests

.

The findings from Duff and

Polio (1991, in Ellis, 2008: 802) show another fact about the use of first language in foreign language classroom

.

First language is used variably depending on


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several variables such as the specific language being taught, departmental guidelines, the actual lesson content, the nature of the teaching materials, and the extent to which the instructors had had formal teacher training

.

In addition, Renandya (2012), in his point of view mentions how first language can be quite advantageous in EFL classrooms

.

He states that first language can be used as many or less as possible as long as its application has clear pedagogical reason in EFL learning practice

.

B

.

Theoretical framework

The study about teachers’ belief would be appropriately studied with the adoption of teacher cognition model by Borg (2003), as also already presented in the previous sub-chapter in page 18

.

With this model, we can see how teachers’ belief becomes the core of the subject matter, what key constructs that shape it, and how it is torn apart to identify its influential elements

.

Borg (2003) proposes that there are four ideas that can influence teachers’ belief; schooling, professional coursework, contextual factors, and classroom practice

.

Each of these components will affect what they have in mind about the exposure to English

.

How their experience being a learner as a trainer before they become teachers, their experience when they become teachers, contextual factors in teaching like motivation, curriculum, or institution, as well as classroom practice, all of them determine teachers’ belief about everything related their being as a teacher and in this case also about language exposure

.

However,


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7.35 After scoring, the teacher gives compliment to the students for their performance then provides some advice and encouragement

Telling the students that she needs to calculate the score since there are several aspects that she needs to evaluate.

Paying attention to the students, sometimes responding to what the teacher says. Some are with Indonesian and some use English in Indonesian way. A student asks about the grade in the role play. The other

students are then quiet waiting for the teacher’s reply

Teacher mostly uses English for this time

combined with some

Indonesian in minority.

Students uses Indonesian to ask

The teacher mixes English and Indonesia

7.40 Asking the students to open their student books in a certain page about text. She explains about recount text, what it is, gives

examples about it and asks the students if the can give other

examples.

The teacher gives list of words taken from one text in the students’ book and asks them to

Students take their books and pay attention to the teacher.

Several students give such examples without having to be appointed Taking their books and write all of the words down

Students focuses on the teacher’s speech

The teacher mixes

Indonesian and English but repeats some terms

consistently such as ‘past experience’ and ‘past verb’


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find the meaning. The students are given time about 10 to 15 minutes

Repeating the asked words. When the students still ask, she spells the words.

Students ask the teachers to repeat some words because they have never heard them before

The teacher seems to avoid writing the asked words in the whiteboard. Sometimes she says the word in Indonesian way. A student asks the teacher politely to write those words on the whiteboard but the teacher ignores the request and starts spelling. 8.00 The teacher

confirms if the students are finished and then tells the students to open certain page about a short recount text where she took the words from. She asks the students to read them.

Students read the text. Some make use of their translator or dictionary

8.13 The time is running out and the teacher gives a chance for

students who can give the correct translation for the words given according to the text with available

Several students race for the markers and write the word.


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The teacher tells the students to give the meaning 8.18 The teacher

checks the words by asking the class if the meaning is right quickly. There are two incorrect

meanings and she asks the students for correct answers.

Students confirm the about the right answers.

A student gives the correct answers.

The teacher asks students using several repeated classroom languages such as ‘Is it

correct?’ ‘What do you think about this?’ ‘is it true?’

Students mostly answer with English but direct to the point. 8.22 The teacher gives

points for all who wrote the word meaning and those who correct the meaning. She gives homework to answer questions about the text and offer the other students a point if they can send her the summary of the text the next day. The teacher apologizes for extending the time a little bit, closes the lesson, and greets the class after that.

Student pay attentions

The students greets back in English


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Grade : 8B

Day/Date : Tuesday, October 8th2013 Time : 09.50-11.15 (2 contact hours)

Time Activities Situations Notes

Teacher Students

9.50 Greets students

Asking students how they do, if there is anyone absent, and if there is any assignment

Greeting the teacher back Students properly reply

Several students are not paying attention and jesting one another.

All use English at this time

9.55 Asking the

students who have not performed for speaking test. The teacher asks if they are ready yet.

The teacher ignore that kind of reply and appoints the other students to performs

Some students who haven’t raised their hands

Several answer not seriously that they have not. A pair of students come up followed by other 9 pairs

Other students are talking each other. Not much paying attention to the

performers.

Many students perform poorly. They still bring notes in their performance. The

pronunciation is not clear and they do not speak loud enough. It even takes time too long for some pairs of student to finish their performance since they do not really memorize and need to check their notes. 10.40 The teacher gives

comments on the performers and their performance. She encourages them to be better next time

Students pay attention to the teacher.

The teacher uses

Indonesian and Javanese dominantly in this class for this occasion.


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10.47 Asking the students to open certain page in the students’ book about recount text. She explains about recount text.

She tries to open communication by asking the students the example of recount text. The teacher corrects the

student and invites more to give more examples

Students open the page .

A student sitting in the front row tries to answer in Indonesian with low voice. Several students give more answers, still using

Indonesian.

Teacher mixes the language but Indonesian is more

dominant.

11.00 The teacher asks the students to write down some words taken from one text in the students’ book and tell them to find the meaning.

The teacher walks around to see if the students are doing right.

Students take their books and write down the words.

There are some students asking the students to repeat the words.

Several students open their laptops and discuss with their to find the meaning of the words

Taking their books and write all of the words down

The teacher deploys Indonesian mostly but still repeats some terms as the previous class consistently such as ‘past experience’ and ‘past verb’. Different from the morning class, she writes the words down on the whiteboard.


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11.13 The teacher asks if the students have finished.

Being aware that the time is out, she makes the task homework and tells them to read the text so that they can find the correct meaning of the words given. She closes the session and greet the students

Several students respond that they have not

finished.

Students greet her back.