A study of aged 6 children`s second language acquisition in Jogjakarta Montessori School - USD Repository
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
A STUDY OF AGED 6 CHILDREN’S SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION IN JOGJAKARTA MONTESSORI SCHOOL
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN Research Paper
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Ika Riezky Octaviana
Student Number: 141214017
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2019
i
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
DEDICATION PAGE
I dedicated this research paper for my beloved mother Erna Haryanti and
also my daddy my only one hero who is in Heaven now Drs. Dwi Anto Sulistiawan,
also my dearest Abdurrahman Hanif Wardoyo, and my Soetedjo’s family also
Triyogo’s family also my best friends, Melisa, Tyas, Putri, Gita, and Tia.
iv
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ABSTRACT
Octaviana, Ika Riezky (2019) A Study of Aged 6 Children’s Second Language
Acquisition in Jogjakarta Montessori School. Yogyakarta, English Language
Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
All children learn language from their society. The writer appoints in a
social issue about how children are able to speak English frequently with one
another. When children turn to 6 years old, the children are successful
communicators. All depends on children psychology and their language acquisition.
When parents teach their children English, they will memorize it in a long time
because they get in when they are still in young age. They easily absorb new thing
since childhood. In this research, the writer uses some theories from Piaget, Noam
Chomsky, Krashen, and Vygotsky.
This study has two research questions to be solved, they are; 1. What are the
factors that help children acquiring the second language? 2. How do children aged
6 acquire their second language?
To answer those two questions, the writer conducted a qualitative research
and ethnography research to gather the information. Qualitative research is a
research which needs explanation answers, not only yes or no responses. The writer
will do some interviews. The sources of data were parents who have children in
aged 6. Then, ethnography research is observed around the environment.
The result based on the method showed that children have some factors to
help them to acquire their English. The factors that help them are age, intelligences,
and learning way. There are four ways of how the young learners at Jogjakarta
Montessori School acquired English, they are clarifying the information that they
have got; conversing through talking with their friends; bridging their ideas; and
imitating the teacher.
Keywords: children language acquisition, factors that help children acquiring their
L2, children language development
vii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ABSTRAK
Octaviana, Ika Riezky (2019) A Study of Aged 6 Children’s Second Language
Acquisition in Jogjakarta Montessori School. Yogyakarta, English Language
Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
Anak-anak belajar bahasa dari lingkungannya. Penulis mengangkat sebuah
isu sosial yaitu bagaimana cara anak-anak bisa lancar berbahasa inggris dengan
yang lain. Ketika usia anak sudah mencapai 6 tahun, anak-anak sudah bisa
berkomunikasi dengan lancar. Semua itu bergantung pada psikologi anak itu
sendiri dan cara mereka dalam mempelajari bahasa kedua. Ketika orang tua
mengajarkan bahasa inggris kepada anaknya di usia yg cukup muda, anak itu akan
mengingat dalam kurun waktu yang cukup lama karena mereka mendapatkan itu
ketika mereka masih kecil. Mereka sangat mudah untuk menyerap hal-hal baru
sejak mereka kecil.Di dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan teori dari Piaget,
Noam Chomsky, Krashen, dan Vygotsky.
Penelitian ini mengandung dua pertanyaan, yaitu 1. Faktor apa saja yang
mempengaruhi akuisisi bahasa anak-anak di umur 6 tahun? 2. Bagaimana cara
anak-anak di umur 6 tahun belajar bahasa kedua mereka?
Untuk menjawab 2 pertanyaan tersebut, penulis menggunakan metode
kualitatif dan etnografi. Penulis akan mewawancarai orang tua yg mempunyai
anak umur 6 tahun. Sasaran penulis adalah orangtua yang memiliki anak usia 36 tahun.
Berdasarkan hasil dari metode yang diterapkan menunjukkan bahwa anakanak memiliki beberapa faktor yang membantu mereka dalam penguasaan bahasa
inggris. Beberapa faktor itu adalah umur, intelegensi, dan bagaimana cara mereka
belajar. Peneliti juga menemukan empat cara yang membantu anak-anak
berbahasa Inggris. Empat cara itu adalah mereka akan mengklarifikasi apa yang
mereka dapat, mereka akan mengobrol dalam bahasa Inggris dengan temannya,
mereka akan membuat jembatan untuk mengungkapkan apa yang ingin dia
bicarakan, dan mereka akan meniru guru mereka.
Kata kunci: kemahiran berbahasa anak, faktor yang membantu anak menguasai
bahasa kedua, perkembangan bahasa anak
viii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank to ALLAH SWT, who has given me
strength until the end of this final paper so that I am able to finish and face the whole
obstacles in my life.
I would like to thank him and show my appreciations to my beloved lecturer
Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A., Ed.D as my advisor for the whole process and
also for motivating me to finish my final paper. Also I thank all of the lecturers who
have given me a lot of motivation.
I would like to show my appreciation and send my gratitude for my the one
and only beloved and beautiful mother Erna Haryanti for cheering me up for the
first time I started my study in Sanata Dharma University until I finish my final
paper and my study. My one and only hero father Drs. Dwi Anto Sulistiawan but
he is in Heaven and all of my family for helping my mother to finance me.
The last but not least, for my lovely boyfriend Abdurrahman Hanif
Wardoyo who gave me so much love, supports, also motivates me in my study life.
I would like to thank him for being my best boyfriend and for cheering me up when
I was down. My great thank for my best friends Gita, Tyas, Melisa, Putri, and Tia
for always supporting me and give so much power for me to finish my final paper.
Ika Riezky Octaviana
ix
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................... i
APROVAL PAGES ........................................................................................................ ii
DEDICATION PAGE ………............................................................................ iv
STATEMENT OF WORK'S ORIGINALITY ..................................................... v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI .................................................... vi
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................. ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... x
LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................
A. Research Background ................................................................ 1
B. Methodology .............................................................................. 5
CHAPTER II. DISCUSSION ..............................................................................
A. Literature Review ....................................................................... 6
B. Theoretical Framework .............................................................. 9
C. Finding And Discussion ............................................................. 16
CHAPTER III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .....................
A. Conclusions ................................................................................ 24
B. Recommendations ...................................................................... 26
x
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 27
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 28
xi
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
Appendix
Appendix 1 The Interview Blueprint ................................................................... 28
Appendix 2 List of Responses for the Interview .................................................. 30
xii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter elaborates the background, objective, and approach of the
study.
A. Research Background
All children learn language from their society. The mental abilities of a little
child seem to be rather limited in many ways. Children extract regularities from the
speech they hear. The sentence produced by children is more like a reconstruction
rather than imitation. In order to gain a language, children should attend both speech
and context in which speech occurs. They should try to comprehend what they hear
and try to point the purpose of which they are capable on.
Lindfors (1980) describes the fact about children that focused on children
language acquisition.
“Virtually every child, without special training, exposed to surface level language
data in interaction, builds from themselves-in a short period of time and at a
prelogical stage in their cognitive development-a deep level, abstract, and highly
complex system of linguistic structure.” (p.91).
In addition of acquiring the structure of the language of their community, a
child acquires the complex underlying rule system governing that they use; how
and when to say what to whom.
1
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
2
One of the most remarkable achievements of children is also one of the most
commonplaces. Rice (1989) states that the study of children language focus on
linguistics, developmental psychology, sociology, anthropology, and education,
and it links about the nature of human intellectual competencies to apply questions
of how best to teach young children.
Children will construct formal language by looking at the environment and
how their parents teach them the language. Producing English in daily life is
important especially when they entering an international school because it’s a little
bit difficult. If they do not know the vocabulary, we cannot use and speak English
in an appropriate way.
In this paper, the writer appoints a social issue about how children are able
to speak English frequently with each other. The writer analyzes children aged 6 as
the subject of this research. When children turn 6 years old, the children are
successful communicators. Helot (2002) states that children are able to make their
listeners understand about what they want to tell even before they have reached
mature levels of comprehension and production. They try to arrange words that they
have gotten from the previous years. The children also try to speak to their parents
whenever they want something and try to produce the English words that they have
got. Children language development should be adaptable with how children learn,
their ability to discover, decide the concept of things, and entry information also
their motivations. All of these abilities are essential to the learning process and to
the development of language.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
3
Based on the writer’s observation on September 24th, 2018 in Jogjakarta
Montessori School, it is found that when one is going to analyze children language
acquisition, one has to look at the children experience. It depends on the children
psychology and their language acquisition. If the parents give their children some
knowledge or practices in English, the children will learn from the task because
they are still young and they absorb knowledge easily. They produce English in
their activity at home or school. Parents do some repetitions in words and children
will memorize the words because they have a good memory. Parents send their
children to international school to learn English actively. However, some parents
are workaholic so they do not have time to teach their children at home.
There are 3 factors that indicate language acquisition. The first is the
language to be acquired; the second is the children abilities of the tendency that
they bring to language acquisition; and the third is the language that the child heard
and the speaking context (Rice, 1989). All of these components have the biggest
attention. The problem is to characterize how these aspects fit together in children
mind for the spontaneous appearance of their second language.
In this era, people use English frequently. Thus, parents need to practice
their children speaking English. It can increase their knowledge in English. They
are still young, it is the exact time to teach them English. When parents teach their
children English words, the children will memorize them in a long time because
they get in when they are still in their young age. It is good for their prior
knowledge. Children do not always need to respond in order to learn new language
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4
skills (as cited in Rice, 1989, p.19). They are able to easily get an opportunity to
absorb the interactions in conversations of other people.
Seeing the phenomenon of the children’s ability to acquire English and the
result of the observation above, the writer proposes two research questions to be
answered. They are:
1. What are the factors that help children acquiring the second language?
2. How do children aged 6 acquire their second language?
Based on the research problems, the writer would like to explain the analysis
of the questions.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
5
B. Methodology
In methodology, the writer provides the data gathered from local civilians
in Jogjakarta Montessori School. The participants are parents who have children
aged 6 years old. In collecting the data, the writer used Qualitative Method and
Ethnographic Research.
Qualitative Method is a method that provides reason for those questions, not
just yes or no questions. It provides a perception from the participants. The writer
has to make sure that this method to gather the data is valid. The writer conducted
interview with 5 parents. The writer gave some questions to them related to the
research questions and out of them that are still related to children learning their L2.
Ethnography as a method has certain distinctive characteristics (Angrosino,
2007, p. 567). It is conducted in a naturalistic setting in which real people live. In
this case, the research is conducted in Jogjakarta Montessori School, where students
attended the classes from 8.00am to 1.00pm for five days a week. It is the art used
to describe a group. The process is inductive. The writer is looking for predictable
patterns in the lived human experiences by a careful observation (Sangasubana,
2011). In Ethnography method, the writer observed 6 children when they were in
class and did public speaking in English. The writer heard them and gave some
questions related to their topic in English. The writer also looked at how they learn
and referred to what factor that each children use.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
This chapter consists of three parts, namely literature review of the study,
the theoretical framework and findings and discussion.
A. Literature Review
Children love to create many ideas. They are not constrained in receiving
new knowledge from parents or teachers as they will formulate their own
knowledge. Therefore, children do not only imitate their parents. When they find
something, they will ask some questions to their parents. They are curious with
something and they will find the meaning or the function of things. When they find
it, they will automatically produce something in their brain. Finally, they
understand and create some new words or vocabularies.
Widdowson (2003) states that language which is authentic in the sense of
being produced in contexts of native speaker use is likely to arrange it in certain
ways and making it inauthentic. When we learn a language, as mother tongue or
second language, we will develop a theory of its structures and the representative
of its use. In language teaching, there have been numbers of ideas that have been
too readily embraced because they have sounded exceptionally good.
According to Noam Chomsky (1950) children are born with an ability to
learn any human languages. He claims that certain structures which children use so
accurately must be already on the child’s mind. He believes that every child has a
6
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
7
‘language acquisition device’ or LAD which encodes the major principles of a
language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain.
In this paper, the writer adapts Piaget’s Cognitive Development (2000)
stages, there are:
1. Sensorimotor (birth – 2 years old)
Early language development begins during this stage. This stage involves
the use of motor activity. Knowledge is limited in this stage, because it is based on
physical interactions and experiences. Knowledge develops through sensory and
motor abilities. Children also understand world through senses and actions.
2. Preoperational (2 - 7 years old)
During this stage, children begin to use language, memory and imagination.
Children engage in make believe and can understand and express relationships
between the past and the future. Knowledge is represented by language, mental
imagery, and symbolic thought. Children understand world through language and
mental images.
3. Concrete Operational (7 - 11 years old)
Intellectual development in this stage is demonstrated through the use of
logical and systematic manipulation of symbols, which are related to concrete
objects. Thinking become less egocentric, along with increased awareness of
external events, and involves concrete references. Children are able to give logical
reason about concrete objects and events. Children understands world through
logical thinking and categories.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
8
4. Formal Operation (adolescence – adulthood)
Adolescents and adults use symbols related to abstract concepts.
Adolescents are able to think about multiple variables in systematic ways, formulate
hypotheses, and think about abstract relationship and concepts.
Children are able to think deeply about the exact events and able to tell
reason abstractly and theoretically. They will be conscious of world through critical
thinking and logical reasoning.
Children will imitate their parents to acquire new information and imitate
about how to act. Vygotsky (1978) states that children are interconnected through
learning and development since newborn. In studies of children’s mental
development it is generally simulated that only those things children can do on their
own are indicative of mental abilities.
There is also a fact saying that in school learning process, they introduce
something new into the child’s development. Vygotsky (1978) argues that in order
to elaborate the dimensions of school learning process, there is a new and
exceptionally important concept which the issue can’t be resolved: the zone of
proximal development.
Vygotsky (1978) adds that there are two developmental levels; the first level
called the actual developmental level, it means that the level of development of a
child’s mental functions has been established as a result of certain already
completed developmental cycles. The second level is zone of proximal
development. It means that children are able to do something by themselves. Before
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
9
children stand by themselves, parents or teacher will do some assistance in
children’s activities.
B. Theoretical Framework
This part consists of factors that help children acquiring their English
language acquisition and the stages.
1. Children Language Acquisition
The facilities that help children acquiring their language acquisition consist
of factors, stages, and reasons.
a. The factors that help children acquiring their English language acquisition.
There are also some factors that influence children acquire language. Ellis
(1985) states that there are some general factors which influence second language
learning such as age, aptitude, intelligence, cognitive style, attitudes, motivation,
and personality. Those factors will help children to acquire the second language.
Each factor is described as follows:
1) Motivation
This is the most important factor in acquiring children second language.
Richards (1985) believes that motivation as a factor determines person’s desire to
do something. It means that learners really want to achieve more than those who do
not want to learn.
There are 2 types of motivation proposes by Ellis & Ligtbrown (1990);
a) Integrative motivation: learner studies a language because they involved with
the culture of the target language, so children are able to communicate with
people in another culture.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
10
b) Instrumental motivation: a learner’s want to achieve for learning the second
language are functional and useful, for example they need the language to get a
better job and to pass the tests.
It is stated that learners can be dominate by those types of motivation.
Children have an integrative motivation. It means that there is a factor which
predicts second language achievement for children. In spite of that, there is a
situation when learners want to learn foreign language as their L2, the integrative
motivation become the most important motivation than the others.
2) Attitude
Ellis (1982) distinguishes that attitude is beliefs about factors as the source
of language culture and their own culture. In case of classroom learning, it is
affected on the task given by their teachers, (as cited on Siti Khasinah 2014, p. 259).
It means that language attitudes are the attitudes which speakers of different
languages have toward other’s languages or to their own language. Gardner and
Lambert (1983) classify the attitudes into three types:
a) Attitudes towards learners environment and people who speak L2,
b) Attitudes that concerned in learning language,
c) Attitudes towards languages and language learning in general.
It is important to use the attitudes when we have to speak to other people. It
can influence children in either positive or negative side. That is why we need to
underline this factor. Children can also differentiate who is older or younger than
them. Because of that, parent needs to apply this when they teach them.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
11
3) Age
Age is also an important factor that influences second language acquisition.
It is true that children are better at language acquisition than adults. Richards (1985)
notes that learning a language in puberty will be the most difficult part because the
brain lacks with the ability and adaptation.
Other researchers also proved that children who start learning a foreign
language achieve more native-like accent than those who start in adults, and they
are also better in the acquisition of grammar (Patkowski, 1980). It is because
children absorb their knowledge very well and they still wanted to know everything.
4) Intelligence
Ellis (1985) states that intelligence is a general ability to master academic
skills, it is defined and measured in terms of linguistic and logical mathematicalabilities, (as cited on Siti Khasinah 2014, p. 293). The studies on intelligence show
a strong relationship between intelligence and acquisition of a foreign language but
only as far as academic skills are concerned.
Gardner (1983) describes 8 types of Multiple Intelligence:
a) Linguistic: ability to make the language to gain certain goals.
b) Logical-mathematical: ability to think logically, detects patterns, and tells
deductive reason.
c) Spatial: ability to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more
confined areas.
d) Musical: ability to learn with some songs, they will understand more when
teacher use some music.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
12
e) Bodily-kinesthetic: ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily
movements.
f) Interpersonal: capacity to understand intentions, motivations, and desires of
other people.
g) Intrapersonal: ability to understand self-identity.
h) Naturalistic: ability to understand the natural world.
Gardner (1983) states that every person has 8 intelligences, which can
develop by themselves at different times. Learners should try to develop all types
of intelligences because it is affected for our learning. According to Gardner (1983)
people are completely different in intelligent and learners should learn in different
ways. That is why parents teach their children in many different ways, so that the
children know everything that their parents give to them to learn.
5) Aptitude
Richards (1985) explains that aptitude is the natural ability to learn a
language. Aptitude itself refers of how well a learner able to learn a foreign
language in a given amount of time and under given conditions. All children acquire
their first language successfully.
6) Learning Styles
Learning style is known as cognitive style. It is the concrete way in which
a learner tries to acquire new information. Ellis (1990) mentions that parents have
different learning way or different strategy for how learners accumulate new L2
rules and how they automate existing ones. Also, Keefe (1994) describes learning
styles as “the characteristic cognitive, affective, and psychological behaviors that
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13
serve relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and
respond to the learning environment,” (as cited in Ellis, 1994, p. 295).
Students’ learning styles can be influenced by many factors such as their
genetic background, their culture, and previous learning experience. (Siti Khasinah,
2014) It can be shown while doing research, the writer found some children learn
by seeing picture and listening to the music. While, some children chose to sit down
quietly and wrote all the things that the teachers said.
If parents give more attention to their learning style and the children also
have high motivation and have positive attitudes, the children are likely to succeed
in their second language acquisition.
7) Personality
Personality is a set of features that characterized a person. It has been stated
that this concept is hard to be defined and measured because of its complicated
nature. Research by Ellis (1990) reveals that the most important personality factors
are; introversion/extroversion, self-esteem, inhibition, risk-taking, anxiety, and
empathy.
Those are the factors that are able to make children acquire second language.
People have their individual differences, children also have it. Those factors seem
to be an important part of the learning process, which can contribute to the success
or failure of a second language learner.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
14
b. Stages of Language Acquisition
There are some stages that many experts say about children’s language
acquisition. The writer provides some stages, but the writer only adapts Piaget’s
theory.
How children learn to talk is provided by studies which suggest that the
children simply imitated and listen to the language around them until they can try
to start conversation. This certainly ensures that the child is able to start talking
something which marks an important transition for both the child and her/his
caregivers in many cultures.
a) Piaget’s Stages (2000)
There are 4 stages that Piaget’s provides:
1. Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
Knowledge develops through sensory and motor abilities. Children also
understand world through senses and actions. There are 6 substages in sensorimotor
stages. They are; substage 1 (birth to 1 month), substage 2 (1 to 4 months), substage
3 (4 to 8 months), substage 4 (8 to 12 months), substage 5 (12 to 18 months),
substage 6 (18 to 24 months).
2. Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
Knowledge is represented by language, mental imagery, and symbolic
thought. Children understand the world through language and mental images. The
writer used this stage because the subjects of this paper are 6 year old children.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15
c. Reasons of Language Acquisition
People have their second language acquisition. Children also have it.
Children language is a subject of infinite complexity, bristling with problems at
every point-problems of functional and structural psychology. The age at which
collective monologue marks a stage of development is between 6 years old. The
higher forms of conversation do not on the average appear before the age of 5, at
any rate among children of the same age and of different families.
Krashen (1981) mentions language acquisition is a same process that
children use in acquiring first and second languages. It requires meaningful
interaction in the target language-natural communication-in which speakers are
concerned with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
Children’s control of the structure of their language, largely mastered by the
time they come to the first grade, is basic to all their learning. It will depend on their
knowledge of the relationships between the sounds and the meanings of their
language.
Based on Lindfords’ book (2013), it states that there are three brief examples
showing the child is actively influenced and controlled by their environment toward
their own language growth.
First, children are influenced by the way their mothers talk to them. It means
that children will adapt when their mothers talk. It actively creates their brain to
arrange some new words and they will arrange it into a simple sentence that they
are able to use. Mother uses shorter, simpler sentences than in adult conversation.
Mother does everything to keep the child in the interaction.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
16
Second, the young child seems to actively control the linguistic environment
to get the data they will requires. It means that children are guided by their intuitive
for learning a new language, through their interaction with people and things in
their environment. A child seems to be actively seeking and using experience that
helps them in their language learning task.
Third, the child’s active use of things (as well as people) is important in
building the fundamental understandings that we see or hear their first express when
their “burst into speech” (Nelson, 1973). The environmental “stuff” on which the
child acts and with which they interact to build themselves the meanings expressed
in a language, includes far more than narrow linguistic “data”. This interactive view
differs from the behaviorist notion of the child simply being shaped by the
environment.
C. Finding and Discussion
The writer took around 3 months to collect the data. The writer met 5 parents
who have children around 6 years old that have mastered their second language
which is English in Jogjakarta Montessori School. While doing the research, the
writer did an observation in Jogjakarta Montessori School to interview the parents.
The writer also observed the classroom situation to complete the data and
make the data reliable. The writer did an observation 10 times and 3 hours in a day.
Also, the writer interviewed the classroom teacher who was always with them in
class. The questions for the interview are listed in the appendix. This method is to
measure how many times parents teach their children in home.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
17
Based on the interview and after conducting inductive analysis to find the
patterns of the data, the writer found that children have 4 ways to acquire their
English language acquisition. They are clarifying the information that they have
got, conversing through talking with their friends, bridging their ideas, and
imitating the teacher.
1. Collecting information and making clarification.
The first finding of this research is that the young learners of age six at
Montessori School acquired English language through the process of collecting
information and making clarification.
All six participants of the research underwent a process of collecting
information. When the writer did an observation in class, the writer found that
children frequently asked questions to the teacher when they did not understand
about the topic. This is the case of what Vygotsky (1978) says that children are able
to do something by themselves. They know their need of information, so they asked
questions. After gathering some information, the students clarified the information
through various activities. They drew something with their color pencils and made
a mind map to help them understand about the topic.
In addition, there are two out of six children are imagery learner. Children
no 2 is an imagery learner because she learns by looking and drawing the ideas and
suddenly the idea comes out. Children no 3 is also an imagery learner. Based on the
writer view, if the teacher gives him a textbook with some images on it, he can
receive it well. Children no 4 is a kinesthetic learner, she always make a mind map
using connecting lines and circles to help her to understand the topic. Children no
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
18
1 is both observer and auditory learner because she learn by hearing her friends and
teacher. When she did not understand about the topic, she will ask to their friends
first then she will ask the teacher to make her more understand. Children have their
own intelligences to help them to learn as Gardner (1983) states before that human
have 8 multiple intelligences.
2. Conversing and exposing themselves in the language experience.
The second finding is that the young learners of age six at Montessori
School acquired English language through the process of conversing and exposing
themselves in the language experience.
Some children are talkative. They were not felt satisfied if they did not get
what they want. It means that children asked to their friends and invited them to
join their conversation. Children will have some conversations with their friends to
dig their knowledge. Based on the observation, the writer found that all children
will mixed up with a small conversation and discussing their favorite books,
movies, and heroes. All of them are using English in their conversation, it is good
to help them to acquire their English. Widdowson (2003) states that language which
is authentic in the sense of being produced in contexts of native speaker.
Helot (2002) says that children use language for building relationships,
thinking, playing with words, and learning. In addition, parent no 4 said that, “they
want to learn English naturally not because we forced them to.” That is why
children are enjoying their conversation using English. At first, the writer though
that they are passive learners but those conversing, they actually use English in their
conversation.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
19
One of six children likes to use Indonesian more than English when he wants
to speak with his teacher. It is because he knows that his teacher is Indonesian and
speak Indonesian. The teacher said that, “he likes to use Indonesian with me but I
forced him to speak in English, because we need to make sure that they are able to
master English.” The writer thought that the teachers’ statement was true but it is
also true that children will not forget their first language.
3. Bridging
The third finding is that the young learners of age six at Montessori School
acquired English language through the process of bridging.
Some children use text and images when they did public speaking in class.
Based on the observation, the writer found four of six children use texts to help
them to comes up their ideas and tell it in front of the class. Two of six children
used images to help them to tell the story. Piaget (2000) states that children start to
think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent object. It is
proved by children no 3 and children no 6 when they began their public speaking
in class. They tried to arrange their story line into some pictures. They felt confident
when they tried to tell their story in front of their friends while the others were using
paper to write down the story line. Parents train them with some media to increase
their ability to learn it in interesting way. It is because children like to use learning
media.
4. Imitating
Finally, the fourth finding is that the young learners of age six at Montessori
School acquired English language through the process of imitating the mentors.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20
Children will imitate their teachers and parents to acquire new information
and imitate about how to act. How children learn to talk is provided by studies
which suggest that the children are simply imitated and listen to the language
around them until they can try to start a conversation. Based on the observation, the
writer found that when the teacher explained about the topic some children imitated
the words or sentences that the teachers’ used. After that, they started to produce
some new English words that they have got and they will understand it slowly.
Gethin (1999) argues that some older children hear more new words than
others. Children have the ability to learn even more than one language at the same
time, because their minds are bright and they are not busy with the stress of life as
an adult. They are able to produce good English, they acquire English as well.
Through imitating their teacher, it helps them to acquire English easier.
In addition to answer the writer research question, there are some facilities
that help children acquiring second language. The first is age; in age 6 they already
have good English. It is proved based on the parents’ interviews that they trained
them since age 3 and in age 6 so they have good English. In addition, the classroom
teacher said that their English is good enough for grade 1 because they have critical
thinking and the teacher provoke them to speak English in class.
Richards (1990) states that language learning may be the most difficult part
to learn after puberty because the brain lacks the ability and adaptation. That is why
parents train them since age 3.
Second is intelligence, as Gardner (1990) says that human have 8 multiple
intelligences. Children also have their intelligence. The teacher said that some
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
21
children only read the book and their auditory skill is limited. It can be seen when
he did a presentation in class, some of them did not pay attention to him. After 15
minutes they are in a mess, their span attention is bad. Children no 4 is a kinesthetic
learner, while Children no 5 and Children no 6 are reading learners – they are based
on books.
The third is learning style (Ellis, 1990). It is proved based on the teacher
interview that children no 1 has a good cognitive skill. However, children no 6 has
to do a lot of exercise while for children no 3 is good in language skill. Children no
4 also has good cognitive skill, she is able to adapt in classroom. Children no 4 have
good language skill, and she can understand the topic well. Children no 1 and
children no 5 are less critical. Children no 2 is a passive student. Sometimes
children get confused on how they deliver or speak something.
Children are helped by media in acquiring L2. Parents teach them with
media to catch their interest in learning. Children are likely to use learning media
such as YouTube, Netflix, Songs, and books. Parents train them with some media
to increase their ability to learn it in interesting way. Also, by watching YouTube
or Netflix or Worldwide TV Channel, they are able to adapt the language easily.
Three out of five parents said that they use YouTube to support their children to
learn and the rest of them use worldwide TV Channels. Two out of five children
love to listen many songs to engage their English. All of them still keep an eye to
their children while their children are watching YouTube or worldwide TV
Channels. Parents use media to train their English, because their children not only
adapting their parents’ language and they started to speak and memorize it.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
22
Parents think that English is important to learn it since golden age. As Elliot
(1981) states that to master English since children are important in the way children
interest in language development was that child language could be approached in
the same way as adult language. All of the parents agree that English is really
important in this era because the world has grown better and they need to master
English. As Vygotsky (1978) says, “children’s learning begins long before they
attend school so any learning encountered in school by a child has a previous
history,” (p.257). That is why they teach them in aged 3, so that in aged 6 they have
already good in using English. English is the one of major skill for them to go
international, to communicate with people around the world. They all know that
English is a must for now to help them survive in social life.
Next, children cannot be forced to learn. Based on the parents answer, all of
them said that it comes naturally. Helot (2002) states that children use language for
building relationships, thinking, playing with words, and learning. Children need
and want it, so that their children learn by themselves and if they found difficult
words they will ask. If parents forced them to learn, the children do not want to
learn. Children will feel difficult to learn English and the worst thing is that they
will not like English. Parents do not force their children to learn English. One out
of five parents said that children cannot be forced, because they need to support
them but never force them to learn. Parent no 4 said that “They want to learn English
naturally not because we forced them to.” Children have high curiosity than adult
so that children want to know more about it.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
23
They are able to learn fast, in which they concentrate on the other sides of
life which is more important to them than acquiring language. Based on the writer’s
perception, all children are able to produce good English. Piaget (2000) adds they
are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things
in very concrete terms. They are able to make a clear sound and good pronunciation
in their sentences. Some parents said that producing or mastering English in their
brilliant age is not too early because soon in the future they want their children to
go abroad and make them know English better.
Chomsky (2009) claims that children learn language very quickly. Parents
are not forcing their children to speak English. Their children speak or learn by
themselves. Their children likes English, it makes them easy to learn English. Some
benefits that their children can speak English are their children can speak in two or
even three languages in an event, they can easily enjoy when they meet some friends
from any background (English, French, Indonesia, etc.), and they can speak English
easily and literally translate it into Indonesian if some of their friends do not speak
English.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter consists of two parts, namely conclusion and recommendations.
A. Conclusion
After conducting the research, the writer comes to the conclusion. In the
process of collecting the data, the writer found several description of the situation.
Children in 6 years old are good in speaking English. They didn’t feel ashamed or
awkward to talk to strangers. The writer also found that Piaget’s theories are true
when we will adapt it in our children. Piaget (2000) states that there are stages that
refers to children learning language.
The writer used qualitative method and ethnographic method to solve the
research problems. Qualitative method is used by the writer to give some questions
for parents and ethnographic is used to observe the children’s behavior while
learning in English.
Children have their own abilities. The writer found 4 patterns on how
children acquire their English. The first way is children will clarifying the
information that they have got. The second is children conversing through talking
with their friends. The third is children bridging their ideas. The last is children
imitating the teacher.
24
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
25
The important thing is there are factors that influence children in their
learning way are different from each other children. The writer found 3 out of 8
factors in children learning. The first factor is age, it is believed that children are
better at language acquisition than adults. It because children absorb their
knowledge very well and they still want to know everything. The second factor is
intelligence, it is proved that human have 8 multiple intelligences. The writer found
that children are auditory, imagery, and bodily-kinesthetic learner. Most of the
children are auditory and imagery learner. The third factor is learning style, the way
parent teach their children English is different. Parent is using media to teach them.
They are using books, YouTube, and worldwide TV Channels. That is why 6
children that the writer observed are quite good in their English.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
26
B. Recommendations
Besides getting all the knowledge about the children’s second language
acquisition, this theory has lots of lessons.
1. Parents
We are able to know that children have their own language acquisition. It is
really important to teach another language to children. They are able to utter
English is not considered as a taboo, it is the fact that children are able to speak
English.
2. Future Researcher
This study could become reference for other future researchers who want to
conduct a study regarding to children’s acquisition. Future researchers could
also complete this research paper if there is new information regarding to this
issue.
3. English Teacher
The teacher could be more aware to how children learn and the factors that
children have. Teacher should consider those things when they teach English
especially for children. Teacher should able to differentiate each children
regarding to the factors.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
REFERENCES
Aljoundi, E. K. (2014). Language acquisition theories. Language acquisition
theories.
Angrosino. (2007). Ethnographic research. In Angrosino, How to conduct
ethnographic research. Chicago: Angrosino.
Bialystok, E. (2008). Second-language acquisition and bilingualism at an early age
and the impact on early cognitive development. Canada: York University.
Chomsky, C. A. (2000). Child language acquisition theory. Child language
acquisition theory.
Frost, J. L. (1968). Early childhood education rediscovered. London: Holt,
Rinehard, and Winston.
Helot, C. (2002). First and second language learning in early bilingual education.
Cognitive theories and their implications for teachers. French: Education at
Societes Plurilinges.
Khasinah, S. (2014). Factors influencing second language acquisition. Factors
Influencing Second Language Acquisition.
Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning.
In S. D. Krashen, Second language acquisition and second language
learning. California: Pergamon Press Inc.
Rice, M. L. (1989). Children's language acquisition. America: University of
Kansas .
Richards, J. (1985). Longman dictionary of applied linguistics. England: Harlow,
Essex.
Sangasubana, N. (2011). How to conduct ethnographic research.The Qualitative
Report, 16(2), 567-573. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol16/iss2/14
Vygotsky. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Readings on the
development of children.
Widdowson, H. G. (2003). Expert beyond experience. Notes on the appropriate use
of theory in practice.
27
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Appendix 1.
The Interview Blueprint
INSTRUMENTS
QUESTIONS
1. Is it important to master English in their
golden age?
2. Is it too young for them to learn English?
THEORIES
- Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
stages (2000):
Sensorimotor (0-2y.o), preoperational (27y.o), concrete operational (7-11y.o),
formal operation (11-adulthood)
3. How often do you teach your children Gethin (1999)
speaking English? What media that you use Some older children hear new words than
to teach them English?
other, this is probably more equal and so
they learn at the same speed.
4. Have you ever force your children to Chomsky (2009)
learn English?
Children learn language very quickly.
5. How important is it for you to register - Frost’s (1968)
your children in an international school for A growing e
A STUDY OF AGED 6 CHILDREN’S SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION IN JOGJAKARTA MONTESSORI SCHOOL
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN Research Paper
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Ika Riezky Octaviana
Student Number: 141214017
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2019
i
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
DEDICATION PAGE
I dedicated this research paper for my beloved mother Erna Haryanti and
also my daddy my only one hero who is in Heaven now Drs. Dwi Anto Sulistiawan,
also my dearest Abdurrahman Hanif Wardoyo, and my Soetedjo’s family also
Triyogo’s family also my best friends, Melisa, Tyas, Putri, Gita, and Tia.
iv
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ABSTRACT
Octaviana, Ika Riezky (2019) A Study of Aged 6 Children’s Second Language
Acquisition in Jogjakarta Montessori School. Yogyakarta, English Language
Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
All children learn language from their society. The writer appoints in a
social issue about how children are able to speak English frequently with one
another. When children turn to 6 years old, the children are successful
communicators. All depends on children psychology and their language acquisition.
When parents teach their children English, they will memorize it in a long time
because they get in when they are still in young age. They easily absorb new thing
since childhood. In this research, the writer uses some theories from Piaget, Noam
Chomsky, Krashen, and Vygotsky.
This study has two research questions to be solved, they are; 1. What are the
factors that help children acquiring the second language? 2. How do children aged
6 acquire their second language?
To answer those two questions, the writer conducted a qualitative research
and ethnography research to gather the information. Qualitative research is a
research which needs explanation answers, not only yes or no responses. The writer
will do some interviews. The sources of data were parents who have children in
aged 6. Then, ethnography research is observed around the environment.
The result based on the method showed that children have some factors to
help them to acquire their English. The factors that help them are age, intelligences,
and learning way. There are four ways of how the young learners at Jogjakarta
Montessori School acquired English, they are clarifying the information that they
have got; conversing through talking with their friends; bridging their ideas; and
imitating the teacher.
Keywords: children language acquisition, factors that help children acquiring their
L2, children language development
vii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ABSTRAK
Octaviana, Ika Riezky (2019) A Study of Aged 6 Children’s Second Language
Acquisition in Jogjakarta Montessori School. Yogyakarta, English Language
Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
Anak-anak belajar bahasa dari lingkungannya. Penulis mengangkat sebuah
isu sosial yaitu bagaimana cara anak-anak bisa lancar berbahasa inggris dengan
yang lain. Ketika usia anak sudah mencapai 6 tahun, anak-anak sudah bisa
berkomunikasi dengan lancar. Semua itu bergantung pada psikologi anak itu
sendiri dan cara mereka dalam mempelajari bahasa kedua. Ketika orang tua
mengajarkan bahasa inggris kepada anaknya di usia yg cukup muda, anak itu akan
mengingat dalam kurun waktu yang cukup lama karena mereka mendapatkan itu
ketika mereka masih kecil. Mereka sangat mudah untuk menyerap hal-hal baru
sejak mereka kecil.Di dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan teori dari Piaget,
Noam Chomsky, Krashen, dan Vygotsky.
Penelitian ini mengandung dua pertanyaan, yaitu 1. Faktor apa saja yang
mempengaruhi akuisisi bahasa anak-anak di umur 6 tahun? 2. Bagaimana cara
anak-anak di umur 6 tahun belajar bahasa kedua mereka?
Untuk menjawab 2 pertanyaan tersebut, penulis menggunakan metode
kualitatif dan etnografi. Penulis akan mewawancarai orang tua yg mempunyai
anak umur 6 tahun. Sasaran penulis adalah orangtua yang memiliki anak usia 36 tahun.
Berdasarkan hasil dari metode yang diterapkan menunjukkan bahwa anakanak memiliki beberapa faktor yang membantu mereka dalam penguasaan bahasa
inggris. Beberapa faktor itu adalah umur, intelegensi, dan bagaimana cara mereka
belajar. Peneliti juga menemukan empat cara yang membantu anak-anak
berbahasa Inggris. Empat cara itu adalah mereka akan mengklarifikasi apa yang
mereka dapat, mereka akan mengobrol dalam bahasa Inggris dengan temannya,
mereka akan membuat jembatan untuk mengungkapkan apa yang ingin dia
bicarakan, dan mereka akan meniru guru mereka.
Kata kunci: kemahiran berbahasa anak, faktor yang membantu anak menguasai
bahasa kedua, perkembangan bahasa anak
viii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank to ALLAH SWT, who has given me
strength until the end of this final paper so that I am able to finish and face the whole
obstacles in my life.
I would like to thank him and show my appreciations to my beloved lecturer
Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A., Ed.D as my advisor for the whole process and
also for motivating me to finish my final paper. Also I thank all of the lecturers who
have given me a lot of motivation.
I would like to show my appreciation and send my gratitude for my the one
and only beloved and beautiful mother Erna Haryanti for cheering me up for the
first time I started my study in Sanata Dharma University until I finish my final
paper and my study. My one and only hero father Drs. Dwi Anto Sulistiawan but
he is in Heaven and all of my family for helping my mother to finance me.
The last but not least, for my lovely boyfriend Abdurrahman Hanif
Wardoyo who gave me so much love, supports, also motivates me in my study life.
I would like to thank him for being my best boyfriend and for cheering me up when
I was down. My great thank for my best friends Gita, Tyas, Melisa, Putri, and Tia
for always supporting me and give so much power for me to finish my final paper.
Ika Riezky Octaviana
ix
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................... i
APROVAL PAGES ........................................................................................................ ii
DEDICATION PAGE ………............................................................................ iv
STATEMENT OF WORK'S ORIGINALITY ..................................................... v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI .................................................... vi
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................. ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... x
LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................
A. Research Background ................................................................ 1
B. Methodology .............................................................................. 5
CHAPTER II. DISCUSSION ..............................................................................
A. Literature Review ....................................................................... 6
B. Theoretical Framework .............................................................. 9
C. Finding And Discussion ............................................................. 16
CHAPTER III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .....................
A. Conclusions ................................................................................ 24
B. Recommendations ...................................................................... 26
x
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 27
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 28
xi
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
Appendix
Appendix 1 The Interview Blueprint ................................................................... 28
Appendix 2 List of Responses for the Interview .................................................. 30
xii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter elaborates the background, objective, and approach of the
study.
A. Research Background
All children learn language from their society. The mental abilities of a little
child seem to be rather limited in many ways. Children extract regularities from the
speech they hear. The sentence produced by children is more like a reconstruction
rather than imitation. In order to gain a language, children should attend both speech
and context in which speech occurs. They should try to comprehend what they hear
and try to point the purpose of which they are capable on.
Lindfors (1980) describes the fact about children that focused on children
language acquisition.
“Virtually every child, without special training, exposed to surface level language
data in interaction, builds from themselves-in a short period of time and at a
prelogical stage in their cognitive development-a deep level, abstract, and highly
complex system of linguistic structure.” (p.91).
In addition of acquiring the structure of the language of their community, a
child acquires the complex underlying rule system governing that they use; how
and when to say what to whom.
1
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
2
One of the most remarkable achievements of children is also one of the most
commonplaces. Rice (1989) states that the study of children language focus on
linguistics, developmental psychology, sociology, anthropology, and education,
and it links about the nature of human intellectual competencies to apply questions
of how best to teach young children.
Children will construct formal language by looking at the environment and
how their parents teach them the language. Producing English in daily life is
important especially when they entering an international school because it’s a little
bit difficult. If they do not know the vocabulary, we cannot use and speak English
in an appropriate way.
In this paper, the writer appoints a social issue about how children are able
to speak English frequently with each other. The writer analyzes children aged 6 as
the subject of this research. When children turn 6 years old, the children are
successful communicators. Helot (2002) states that children are able to make their
listeners understand about what they want to tell even before they have reached
mature levels of comprehension and production. They try to arrange words that they
have gotten from the previous years. The children also try to speak to their parents
whenever they want something and try to produce the English words that they have
got. Children language development should be adaptable with how children learn,
their ability to discover, decide the concept of things, and entry information also
their motivations. All of these abilities are essential to the learning process and to
the development of language.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
3
Based on the writer’s observation on September 24th, 2018 in Jogjakarta
Montessori School, it is found that when one is going to analyze children language
acquisition, one has to look at the children experience. It depends on the children
psychology and their language acquisition. If the parents give their children some
knowledge or practices in English, the children will learn from the task because
they are still young and they absorb knowledge easily. They produce English in
their activity at home or school. Parents do some repetitions in words and children
will memorize the words because they have a good memory. Parents send their
children to international school to learn English actively. However, some parents
are workaholic so they do not have time to teach their children at home.
There are 3 factors that indicate language acquisition. The first is the
language to be acquired; the second is the children abilities of the tendency that
they bring to language acquisition; and the third is the language that the child heard
and the speaking context (Rice, 1989). All of these components have the biggest
attention. The problem is to characterize how these aspects fit together in children
mind for the spontaneous appearance of their second language.
In this era, people use English frequently. Thus, parents need to practice
their children speaking English. It can increase their knowledge in English. They
are still young, it is the exact time to teach them English. When parents teach their
children English words, the children will memorize them in a long time because
they get in when they are still in their young age. It is good for their prior
knowledge. Children do not always need to respond in order to learn new language
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4
skills (as cited in Rice, 1989, p.19). They are able to easily get an opportunity to
absorb the interactions in conversations of other people.
Seeing the phenomenon of the children’s ability to acquire English and the
result of the observation above, the writer proposes two research questions to be
answered. They are:
1. What are the factors that help children acquiring the second language?
2. How do children aged 6 acquire their second language?
Based on the research problems, the writer would like to explain the analysis
of the questions.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
5
B. Methodology
In methodology, the writer provides the data gathered from local civilians
in Jogjakarta Montessori School. The participants are parents who have children
aged 6 years old. In collecting the data, the writer used Qualitative Method and
Ethnographic Research.
Qualitative Method is a method that provides reason for those questions, not
just yes or no questions. It provides a perception from the participants. The writer
has to make sure that this method to gather the data is valid. The writer conducted
interview with 5 parents. The writer gave some questions to them related to the
research questions and out of them that are still related to children learning their L2.
Ethnography as a method has certain distinctive characteristics (Angrosino,
2007, p. 567). It is conducted in a naturalistic setting in which real people live. In
this case, the research is conducted in Jogjakarta Montessori School, where students
attended the classes from 8.00am to 1.00pm for five days a week. It is the art used
to describe a group. The process is inductive. The writer is looking for predictable
patterns in the lived human experiences by a careful observation (Sangasubana,
2011). In Ethnography method, the writer observed 6 children when they were in
class and did public speaking in English. The writer heard them and gave some
questions related to their topic in English. The writer also looked at how they learn
and referred to what factor that each children use.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
This chapter consists of three parts, namely literature review of the study,
the theoretical framework and findings and discussion.
A. Literature Review
Children love to create many ideas. They are not constrained in receiving
new knowledge from parents or teachers as they will formulate their own
knowledge. Therefore, children do not only imitate their parents. When they find
something, they will ask some questions to their parents. They are curious with
something and they will find the meaning or the function of things. When they find
it, they will automatically produce something in their brain. Finally, they
understand and create some new words or vocabularies.
Widdowson (2003) states that language which is authentic in the sense of
being produced in contexts of native speaker use is likely to arrange it in certain
ways and making it inauthentic. When we learn a language, as mother tongue or
second language, we will develop a theory of its structures and the representative
of its use. In language teaching, there have been numbers of ideas that have been
too readily embraced because they have sounded exceptionally good.
According to Noam Chomsky (1950) children are born with an ability to
learn any human languages. He claims that certain structures which children use so
accurately must be already on the child’s mind. He believes that every child has a
6
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
7
‘language acquisition device’ or LAD which encodes the major principles of a
language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain.
In this paper, the writer adapts Piaget’s Cognitive Development (2000)
stages, there are:
1. Sensorimotor (birth – 2 years old)
Early language development begins during this stage. This stage involves
the use of motor activity. Knowledge is limited in this stage, because it is based on
physical interactions and experiences. Knowledge develops through sensory and
motor abilities. Children also understand world through senses and actions.
2. Preoperational (2 - 7 years old)
During this stage, children begin to use language, memory and imagination.
Children engage in make believe and can understand and express relationships
between the past and the future. Knowledge is represented by language, mental
imagery, and symbolic thought. Children understand world through language and
mental images.
3. Concrete Operational (7 - 11 years old)
Intellectual development in this stage is demonstrated through the use of
logical and systematic manipulation of symbols, which are related to concrete
objects. Thinking become less egocentric, along with increased awareness of
external events, and involves concrete references. Children are able to give logical
reason about concrete objects and events. Children understands world through
logical thinking and categories.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
8
4. Formal Operation (adolescence – adulthood)
Adolescents and adults use symbols related to abstract concepts.
Adolescents are able to think about multiple variables in systematic ways, formulate
hypotheses, and think about abstract relationship and concepts.
Children are able to think deeply about the exact events and able to tell
reason abstractly and theoretically. They will be conscious of world through critical
thinking and logical reasoning.
Children will imitate their parents to acquire new information and imitate
about how to act. Vygotsky (1978) states that children are interconnected through
learning and development since newborn. In studies of children’s mental
development it is generally simulated that only those things children can do on their
own are indicative of mental abilities.
There is also a fact saying that in school learning process, they introduce
something new into the child’s development. Vygotsky (1978) argues that in order
to elaborate the dimensions of school learning process, there is a new and
exceptionally important concept which the issue can’t be resolved: the zone of
proximal development.
Vygotsky (1978) adds that there are two developmental levels; the first level
called the actual developmental level, it means that the level of development of a
child’s mental functions has been established as a result of certain already
completed developmental cycles. The second level is zone of proximal
development. It means that children are able to do something by themselves. Before
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
9
children stand by themselves, parents or teacher will do some assistance in
children’s activities.
B. Theoretical Framework
This part consists of factors that help children acquiring their English
language acquisition and the stages.
1. Children Language Acquisition
The facilities that help children acquiring their language acquisition consist
of factors, stages, and reasons.
a. The factors that help children acquiring their English language acquisition.
There are also some factors that influence children acquire language. Ellis
(1985) states that there are some general factors which influence second language
learning such as age, aptitude, intelligence, cognitive style, attitudes, motivation,
and personality. Those factors will help children to acquire the second language.
Each factor is described as follows:
1) Motivation
This is the most important factor in acquiring children second language.
Richards (1985) believes that motivation as a factor determines person’s desire to
do something. It means that learners really want to achieve more than those who do
not want to learn.
There are 2 types of motivation proposes by Ellis & Ligtbrown (1990);
a) Integrative motivation: learner studies a language because they involved with
the culture of the target language, so children are able to communicate with
people in another culture.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
10
b) Instrumental motivation: a learner’s want to achieve for learning the second
language are functional and useful, for example they need the language to get a
better job and to pass the tests.
It is stated that learners can be dominate by those types of motivation.
Children have an integrative motivation. It means that there is a factor which
predicts second language achievement for children. In spite of that, there is a
situation when learners want to learn foreign language as their L2, the integrative
motivation become the most important motivation than the others.
2) Attitude
Ellis (1982) distinguishes that attitude is beliefs about factors as the source
of language culture and their own culture. In case of classroom learning, it is
affected on the task given by their teachers, (as cited on Siti Khasinah 2014, p. 259).
It means that language attitudes are the attitudes which speakers of different
languages have toward other’s languages or to their own language. Gardner and
Lambert (1983) classify the attitudes into three types:
a) Attitudes towards learners environment and people who speak L2,
b) Attitudes that concerned in learning language,
c) Attitudes towards languages and language learning in general.
It is important to use the attitudes when we have to speak to other people. It
can influence children in either positive or negative side. That is why we need to
underline this factor. Children can also differentiate who is older or younger than
them. Because of that, parent needs to apply this when they teach them.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
11
3) Age
Age is also an important factor that influences second language acquisition.
It is true that children are better at language acquisition than adults. Richards (1985)
notes that learning a language in puberty will be the most difficult part because the
brain lacks with the ability and adaptation.
Other researchers also proved that children who start learning a foreign
language achieve more native-like accent than those who start in adults, and they
are also better in the acquisition of grammar (Patkowski, 1980). It is because
children absorb their knowledge very well and they still wanted to know everything.
4) Intelligence
Ellis (1985) states that intelligence is a general ability to master academic
skills, it is defined and measured in terms of linguistic and logical mathematicalabilities, (as cited on Siti Khasinah 2014, p. 293). The studies on intelligence show
a strong relationship between intelligence and acquisition of a foreign language but
only as far as academic skills are concerned.
Gardner (1983) describes 8 types of Multiple Intelligence:
a) Linguistic: ability to make the language to gain certain goals.
b) Logical-mathematical: ability to think logically, detects patterns, and tells
deductive reason.
c) Spatial: ability to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more
confined areas.
d) Musical: ability to learn with some songs, they will understand more when
teacher use some music.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
12
e) Bodily-kinesthetic: ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily
movements.
f) Interpersonal: capacity to understand intentions, motivations, and desires of
other people.
g) Intrapersonal: ability to understand self-identity.
h) Naturalistic: ability to understand the natural world.
Gardner (1983) states that every person has 8 intelligences, which can
develop by themselves at different times. Learners should try to develop all types
of intelligences because it is affected for our learning. According to Gardner (1983)
people are completely different in intelligent and learners should learn in different
ways. That is why parents teach their children in many different ways, so that the
children know everything that their parents give to them to learn.
5) Aptitude
Richards (1985) explains that aptitude is the natural ability to learn a
language. Aptitude itself refers of how well a learner able to learn a foreign
language in a given amount of time and under given conditions. All children acquire
their first language successfully.
6) Learning Styles
Learning style is known as cognitive style. It is the concrete way in which
a learner tries to acquire new information. Ellis (1990) mentions that parents have
different learning way or different strategy for how learners accumulate new L2
rules and how they automate existing ones. Also, Keefe (1994) describes learning
styles as “the characteristic cognitive, affective, and psychological behaviors that
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13
serve relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and
respond to the learning environment,” (as cited in Ellis, 1994, p. 295).
Students’ learning styles can be influenced by many factors such as their
genetic background, their culture, and previous learning experience. (Siti Khasinah,
2014) It can be shown while doing research, the writer found some children learn
by seeing picture and listening to the music. While, some children chose to sit down
quietly and wrote all the things that the teachers said.
If parents give more attention to their learning style and the children also
have high motivation and have positive attitudes, the children are likely to succeed
in their second language acquisition.
7) Personality
Personality is a set of features that characterized a person. It has been stated
that this concept is hard to be defined and measured because of its complicated
nature. Research by Ellis (1990) reveals that the most important personality factors
are; introversion/extroversion, self-esteem, inhibition, risk-taking, anxiety, and
empathy.
Those are the factors that are able to make children acquire second language.
People have their individual differences, children also have it. Those factors seem
to be an important part of the learning process, which can contribute to the success
or failure of a second language learner.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
14
b. Stages of Language Acquisition
There are some stages that many experts say about children’s language
acquisition. The writer provides some stages, but the writer only adapts Piaget’s
theory.
How children learn to talk is provided by studies which suggest that the
children simply imitated and listen to the language around them until they can try
to start conversation. This certainly ensures that the child is able to start talking
something which marks an important transition for both the child and her/his
caregivers in many cultures.
a) Piaget’s Stages (2000)
There are 4 stages that Piaget’s provides:
1. Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
Knowledge develops through sensory and motor abilities. Children also
understand world through senses and actions. There are 6 substages in sensorimotor
stages. They are; substage 1 (birth to 1 month), substage 2 (1 to 4 months), substage
3 (4 to 8 months), substage 4 (8 to 12 months), substage 5 (12 to 18 months),
substage 6 (18 to 24 months).
2. Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
Knowledge is represented by language, mental imagery, and symbolic
thought. Children understand the world through language and mental images. The
writer used this stage because the subjects of this paper are 6 year old children.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15
c. Reasons of Language Acquisition
People have their second language acquisition. Children also have it.
Children language is a subject of infinite complexity, bristling with problems at
every point-problems of functional and structural psychology. The age at which
collective monologue marks a stage of development is between 6 years old. The
higher forms of conversation do not on the average appear before the age of 5, at
any rate among children of the same age and of different families.
Krashen (1981) mentions language acquisition is a same process that
children use in acquiring first and second languages. It requires meaningful
interaction in the target language-natural communication-in which speakers are
concerned with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
Children’s control of the structure of their language, largely mastered by the
time they come to the first grade, is basic to all their learning. It will depend on their
knowledge of the relationships between the sounds and the meanings of their
language.
Based on Lindfords’ book (2013), it states that there are three brief examples
showing the child is actively influenced and controlled by their environment toward
their own language growth.
First, children are influenced by the way their mothers talk to them. It means
that children will adapt when their mothers talk. It actively creates their brain to
arrange some new words and they will arrange it into a simple sentence that they
are able to use. Mother uses shorter, simpler sentences than in adult conversation.
Mother does everything to keep the child in the interaction.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
16
Second, the young child seems to actively control the linguistic environment
to get the data they will requires. It means that children are guided by their intuitive
for learning a new language, through their interaction with people and things in
their environment. A child seems to be actively seeking and using experience that
helps them in their language learning task.
Third, the child’s active use of things (as well as people) is important in
building the fundamental understandings that we see or hear their first express when
their “burst into speech” (Nelson, 1973). The environmental “stuff” on which the
child acts and with which they interact to build themselves the meanings expressed
in a language, includes far more than narrow linguistic “data”. This interactive view
differs from the behaviorist notion of the child simply being shaped by the
environment.
C. Finding and Discussion
The writer took around 3 months to collect the data. The writer met 5 parents
who have children around 6 years old that have mastered their second language
which is English in Jogjakarta Montessori School. While doing the research, the
writer did an observation in Jogjakarta Montessori School to interview the parents.
The writer also observed the classroom situation to complete the data and
make the data reliable. The writer did an observation 10 times and 3 hours in a day.
Also, the writer interviewed the classroom teacher who was always with them in
class. The questions for the interview are listed in the appendix. This method is to
measure how many times parents teach their children in home.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
17
Based on the interview and after conducting inductive analysis to find the
patterns of the data, the writer found that children have 4 ways to acquire their
English language acquisition. They are clarifying the information that they have
got, conversing through talking with their friends, bridging their ideas, and
imitating the teacher.
1. Collecting information and making clarification.
The first finding of this research is that the young learners of age six at
Montessori School acquired English language through the process of collecting
information and making clarification.
All six participants of the research underwent a process of collecting
information. When the writer did an observation in class, the writer found that
children frequently asked questions to the teacher when they did not understand
about the topic. This is the case of what Vygotsky (1978) says that children are able
to do something by themselves. They know their need of information, so they asked
questions. After gathering some information, the students clarified the information
through various activities. They drew something with their color pencils and made
a mind map to help them understand about the topic.
In addition, there are two out of six children are imagery learner. Children
no 2 is an imagery learner because she learns by looking and drawing the ideas and
suddenly the idea comes out. Children no 3 is also an imagery learner. Based on the
writer view, if the teacher gives him a textbook with some images on it, he can
receive it well. Children no 4 is a kinesthetic learner, she always make a mind map
using connecting lines and circles to help her to understand the topic. Children no
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
18
1 is both observer and auditory learner because she learn by hearing her friends and
teacher. When she did not understand about the topic, she will ask to their friends
first then she will ask the teacher to make her more understand. Children have their
own intelligences to help them to learn as Gardner (1983) states before that human
have 8 multiple intelligences.
2. Conversing and exposing themselves in the language experience.
The second finding is that the young learners of age six at Montessori
School acquired English language through the process of conversing and exposing
themselves in the language experience.
Some children are talkative. They were not felt satisfied if they did not get
what they want. It means that children asked to their friends and invited them to
join their conversation. Children will have some conversations with their friends to
dig their knowledge. Based on the observation, the writer found that all children
will mixed up with a small conversation and discussing their favorite books,
movies, and heroes. All of them are using English in their conversation, it is good
to help them to acquire their English. Widdowson (2003) states that language which
is authentic in the sense of being produced in contexts of native speaker.
Helot (2002) says that children use language for building relationships,
thinking, playing with words, and learning. In addition, parent no 4 said that, “they
want to learn English naturally not because we forced them to.” That is why
children are enjoying their conversation using English. At first, the writer though
that they are passive learners but those conversing, they actually use English in their
conversation.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
19
One of six children likes to use Indonesian more than English when he wants
to speak with his teacher. It is because he knows that his teacher is Indonesian and
speak Indonesian. The teacher said that, “he likes to use Indonesian with me but I
forced him to speak in English, because we need to make sure that they are able to
master English.” The writer thought that the teachers’ statement was true but it is
also true that children will not forget their first language.
3. Bridging
The third finding is that the young learners of age six at Montessori School
acquired English language through the process of bridging.
Some children use text and images when they did public speaking in class.
Based on the observation, the writer found four of six children use texts to help
them to comes up their ideas and tell it in front of the class. Two of six children
used images to help them to tell the story. Piaget (2000) states that children start to
think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent object. It is
proved by children no 3 and children no 6 when they began their public speaking
in class. They tried to arrange their story line into some pictures. They felt confident
when they tried to tell their story in front of their friends while the others were using
paper to write down the story line. Parents train them with some media to increase
their ability to learn it in interesting way. It is because children like to use learning
media.
4. Imitating
Finally, the fourth finding is that the young learners of age six at Montessori
School acquired English language through the process of imitating the mentors.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20
Children will imitate their teachers and parents to acquire new information
and imitate about how to act. How children learn to talk is provided by studies
which suggest that the children are simply imitated and listen to the language
around them until they can try to start a conversation. Based on the observation, the
writer found that when the teacher explained about the topic some children imitated
the words or sentences that the teachers’ used. After that, they started to produce
some new English words that they have got and they will understand it slowly.
Gethin (1999) argues that some older children hear more new words than
others. Children have the ability to learn even more than one language at the same
time, because their minds are bright and they are not busy with the stress of life as
an adult. They are able to produce good English, they acquire English as well.
Through imitating their teacher, it helps them to acquire English easier.
In addition to answer the writer research question, there are some facilities
that help children acquiring second language. The first is age; in age 6 they already
have good English. It is proved based on the parents’ interviews that they trained
them since age 3 and in age 6 so they have good English. In addition, the classroom
teacher said that their English is good enough for grade 1 because they have critical
thinking and the teacher provoke them to speak English in class.
Richards (1990) states that language learning may be the most difficult part
to learn after puberty because the brain lacks the ability and adaptation. That is why
parents train them since age 3.
Second is intelligence, as Gardner (1990) says that human have 8 multiple
intelligences. Children also have their intelligence. The teacher said that some
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
21
children only read the book and their auditory skill is limited. It can be seen when
he did a presentation in class, some of them did not pay attention to him. After 15
minutes they are in a mess, their span attention is bad. Children no 4 is a kinesthetic
learner, while Children no 5 and Children no 6 are reading learners – they are based
on books.
The third is learning style (Ellis, 1990). It is proved based on the teacher
interview that children no 1 has a good cognitive skill. However, children no 6 has
to do a lot of exercise while for children no 3 is good in language skill. Children no
4 also has good cognitive skill, she is able to adapt in classroom. Children no 4 have
good language skill, and she can understand the topic well. Children no 1 and
children no 5 are less critical. Children no 2 is a passive student. Sometimes
children get confused on how they deliver or speak something.
Children are helped by media in acquiring L2. Parents teach them with
media to catch their interest in learning. Children are likely to use learning media
such as YouTube, Netflix, Songs, and books. Parents train them with some media
to increase their ability to learn it in interesting way. Also, by watching YouTube
or Netflix or Worldwide TV Channel, they are able to adapt the language easily.
Three out of five parents said that they use YouTube to support their children to
learn and the rest of them use worldwide TV Channels. Two out of five children
love to listen many songs to engage their English. All of them still keep an eye to
their children while their children are watching YouTube or worldwide TV
Channels. Parents use media to train their English, because their children not only
adapting their parents’ language and they started to speak and memorize it.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
22
Parents think that English is important to learn it since golden age. As Elliot
(1981) states that to master English since children are important in the way children
interest in language development was that child language could be approached in
the same way as adult language. All of the parents agree that English is really
important in this era because the world has grown better and they need to master
English. As Vygotsky (1978) says, “children’s learning begins long before they
attend school so any learning encountered in school by a child has a previous
history,” (p.257). That is why they teach them in aged 3, so that in aged 6 they have
already good in using English. English is the one of major skill for them to go
international, to communicate with people around the world. They all know that
English is a must for now to help them survive in social life.
Next, children cannot be forced to learn. Based on the parents answer, all of
them said that it comes naturally. Helot (2002) states that children use language for
building relationships, thinking, playing with words, and learning. Children need
and want it, so that their children learn by themselves and if they found difficult
words they will ask. If parents forced them to learn, the children do not want to
learn. Children will feel difficult to learn English and the worst thing is that they
will not like English. Parents do not force their children to learn English. One out
of five parents said that children cannot be forced, because they need to support
them but never force them to learn. Parent no 4 said that “They want to learn English
naturally not because we forced them to.” Children have high curiosity than adult
so that children want to know more about it.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
23
They are able to learn fast, in which they concentrate on the other sides of
life which is more important to them than acquiring language. Based on the writer’s
perception, all children are able to produce good English. Piaget (2000) adds they
are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things
in very concrete terms. They are able to make a clear sound and good pronunciation
in their sentences. Some parents said that producing or mastering English in their
brilliant age is not too early because soon in the future they want their children to
go abroad and make them know English better.
Chomsky (2009) claims that children learn language very quickly. Parents
are not forcing their children to speak English. Their children speak or learn by
themselves. Their children likes English, it makes them easy to learn English. Some
benefits that their children can speak English are their children can speak in two or
even three languages in an event, they can easily enjoy when they meet some friends
from any background (English, French, Indonesia, etc.), and they can speak English
easily and literally translate it into Indonesian if some of their friends do not speak
English.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter consists of two parts, namely conclusion and recommendations.
A. Conclusion
After conducting the research, the writer comes to the conclusion. In the
process of collecting the data, the writer found several description of the situation.
Children in 6 years old are good in speaking English. They didn’t feel ashamed or
awkward to talk to strangers. The writer also found that Piaget’s theories are true
when we will adapt it in our children. Piaget (2000) states that there are stages that
refers to children learning language.
The writer used qualitative method and ethnographic method to solve the
research problems. Qualitative method is used by the writer to give some questions
for parents and ethnographic is used to observe the children’s behavior while
learning in English.
Children have their own abilities. The writer found 4 patterns on how
children acquire their English. The first way is children will clarifying the
information that they have got. The second is children conversing through talking
with their friends. The third is children bridging their ideas. The last is children
imitating the teacher.
24
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
25
The important thing is there are factors that influence children in their
learning way are different from each other children. The writer found 3 out of 8
factors in children learning. The first factor is age, it is believed that children are
better at language acquisition than adults. It because children absorb their
knowledge very well and they still want to know everything. The second factor is
intelligence, it is proved that human have 8 multiple intelligences. The writer found
that children are auditory, imagery, and bodily-kinesthetic learner. Most of the
children are auditory and imagery learner. The third factor is learning style, the way
parent teach their children English is different. Parent is using media to teach them.
They are using books, YouTube, and worldwide TV Channels. That is why 6
children that the writer observed are quite good in their English.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
26
B. Recommendations
Besides getting all the knowledge about the children’s second language
acquisition, this theory has lots of lessons.
1. Parents
We are able to know that children have their own language acquisition. It is
really important to teach another language to children. They are able to utter
English is not considered as a taboo, it is the fact that children are able to speak
English.
2. Future Researcher
This study could become reference for other future researchers who want to
conduct a study regarding to children’s acquisition. Future researchers could
also complete this research paper if there is new information regarding to this
issue.
3. English Teacher
The teacher could be more aware to how children learn and the factors that
children have. Teacher should consider those things when they teach English
especially for children. Teacher should able to differentiate each children
regarding to the factors.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
REFERENCES
Aljoundi, E. K. (2014). Language acquisition theories. Language acquisition
theories.
Angrosino. (2007). Ethnographic research. In Angrosino, How to conduct
ethnographic research. Chicago: Angrosino.
Bialystok, E. (2008). Second-language acquisition and bilingualism at an early age
and the impact on early cognitive development. Canada: York University.
Chomsky, C. A. (2000). Child language acquisition theory. Child language
acquisition theory.
Frost, J. L. (1968). Early childhood education rediscovered. London: Holt,
Rinehard, and Winston.
Helot, C. (2002). First and second language learning in early bilingual education.
Cognitive theories and their implications for teachers. French: Education at
Societes Plurilinges.
Khasinah, S. (2014). Factors influencing second language acquisition. Factors
Influencing Second Language Acquisition.
Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning.
In S. D. Krashen, Second language acquisition and second language
learning. California: Pergamon Press Inc.
Rice, M. L. (1989). Children's language acquisition. America: University of
Kansas .
Richards, J. (1985). Longman dictionary of applied linguistics. England: Harlow,
Essex.
Sangasubana, N. (2011). How to conduct ethnographic research.The Qualitative
Report, 16(2), 567-573. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol16/iss2/14
Vygotsky. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Readings on the
development of children.
Widdowson, H. G. (2003). Expert beyond experience. Notes on the appropriate use
of theory in practice.
27
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Appendix 1.
The Interview Blueprint
INSTRUMENTS
QUESTIONS
1. Is it important to master English in their
golden age?
2. Is it too young for them to learn English?
THEORIES
- Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
stages (2000):
Sensorimotor (0-2y.o), preoperational (27y.o), concrete operational (7-11y.o),
formal operation (11-adulthood)
3. How often do you teach your children Gethin (1999)
speaking English? What media that you use Some older children hear new words than
to teach them English?
other, this is probably more equal and so
they learn at the same speed.
4. Have you ever force your children to Chomsky (2009)
learn English?
Children learn language very quickly.
5. How important is it for you to register - Frost’s (1968)
your children in an international school for A growing e