Penggunaan Bahasa Inggris Di SMP

CHAPTER II

USE OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN SMP

2.1 Subject Characteristics English

In order for teachers to develop competency-based curriculum and competency-based testing is better, teachers need to know the characteristics of subjects. It is important because the characteristics of a subject will provide its own color to the development of syllabus and assessment system.

A subject may have very different characteristics with the characteristics of subjects to another. For example, English has different characteristics with the subjects of Biology. Therefore, in order to teach well, teachers need information about the characteristics of English subjects.

English subjects have different characteristics with exact subjects or subjects the other social sciences. This difference lies in the function of language as a means of communication. This indicates that learning English is not just learning vocabulary and grammar in terms of knowledge, but should seek to use or apply that knowledge in communication activities. A student can not be said to master the English language if he has not been able to use English for communication purposes, even though he gets good grades on the acquisition of vocabulary and tatabahasanya. It is recognized that a person may not be able to communicate well if low vocabulary knowledge. Therefore, the mastery of vocabulary is still necessary but more important is not merely the mastery of the vocabulary but use the vocabulary knowledge in communication activities with English.

In language learning, the knowledge of receptive skills and productive skills. Receptive skills include listening skills (listening) and reading skills (reading), while the productive skills include speaking skills (speaking) and writing skills (writing test). Both receptive skills and productive skills should be developed in the process of learning English.
To be able to master these skills over well, students should be equipped with the elements of language, such as vocabulary. Mastery of vocabulary is only one necessary element in the mastery of language skills. Another element that is not less important is the mastery of grammar. It is understood that grammar helps a person to express his ideas and help the listener to understand the ideas expressed by others. Once again it should be emphasized that the grammar is just as auxiliary elements in the mastery of language skills. Therefore, teaching that emphasizes solely on knowledge of grammar should be abandoned. Grammar should be taught in order to facilitate the mastery of four skills that have been mentioned earlier.
Person's ability to communicate can be shown in two ways, namely verbal and written communication. If the communication is oral, there are other elements that need to be considered by the teacher, and of course need to be taught to his students, namely the utterance or pronunciation. More-over between English spelling and words sometimes differ greatly. Errors in the speech will cause a person not be able to express ideas precisely. Or, if he is in a position to listen to the speech of others, hence errors in his words will also affect the ability to understand what she heard. For example, someone who said the word procedure with speech / prosidur / certainly will not be understood by those who pronounce the word correctly / prəsi: djə /. Similarly, if the person is listening to the speech of others who pronounce it correctly, said that he would not catch the word.

It is strongly associated with speech problems are problems of intonation. In English, intonation has a very important role in communication. A word can be spoken with different intonation patterns and intonation of different give different meanings to the word. For example, the word Sorry to say sorry if uttered in a tone decreases, while if the word is pronounced with a rising tone, meaning is to ask someone to repeat what he just said. It is intended as a kind of notification that a person can not understand what is being said by others.  

Another thing to consider in the speech problem is the fact that English has sounds that are not the same as Indonesian. For example, in Indonesian Language can not find the sound / æ /. This sound is not the same as the sound / e / in Bahasa Indonesian. Therefore, students need to be trained to utter sounds that are not contained in the Indonesian language. And this means that students need to be trained through psychomotor learning. Students need to be trained to move his lips, tongue, and organs are needed in speech so as to produce a sound like the sound of which there are in English.

Mastery of vocabulary, grammar, and words need to be equipped also with a mastery of tatatulis in English. English spelling is so much difference with the words cause problems tatatulis spelling or writing into something that can not be ignored. Of course, this requires that the emphasis is the ability to communicate in writing.

Mastery of vocabulary, grammar, tatabunyi, and write the English grammar needs supported by a mastery of the meaning system. One thing that is often complained of by students learning English is that English has words that means not just one. They forget that the Indonesian actually also have a lot of words that have a variety of meanings. For example, the word origin of the second sentence below that do not have the same meaning:

1. The origin of me from Jakarta.

2. If my meeting should not be the origin.

The words that have a meaning much like this is also found in English. For example, That word in the sentence That boy is my friend with He said that his mother was sick. That word in that first sentence means' it 'while in the second sentence, That word means' that. "
Given that in all languages there are words which have a double meaning as the examples above, students need to be made aware that things like this is something natural. This has to be a part in teaching and learning English.

The things that have been presented on the face can be classified into two domains that are important in the learning process. Both domains are the cognitive and the psychomotor domain. In addition to these two domains, there is one sphere that often spoken of in the learning process, namely affective domains. A teacher should also understand students' attitudes toward English and British culture. A student who has a positive attitude towards English and English culture are expected to master the English language better than students who have negative attitudes. Of course, this kind of attitude can be grown by the teacher in the learning process. Positive attitude towards English and the native speakers of English and British culture will help students to master the English language better. Conversely, if a student has a negative attitude towards English or native speakers of English and British culture as well, most likely he will be indifferent to the English language, which in turn will lead to boredom in learning. As a result, language skills will be lower.

An understanding of British culture does require attention. As an example, the British people would feel unhappy if we ask, for example, about his age. Understanding these needs is given to students not only at a high level of education but should start from the students are in junior high school level.

Another thing to consider in learning English is a language function. As has been stated before, the language serves as a communication tool. This term is still too general. The functions of language can be broken down into several sections. The first, the language used by teachers as a language of instruction in the classroom. This suggests that language has a function to explain and understand. In terms of teachers, the language used as a tool to explain and from the students, the language used as a tool to understand the explanation provided by the teacher. This function is called the heuristic function.

In the lives of everyday life, language is also used to alter or affect the environment. Another term often used is to manipulate the environment. For example, we can change our environment by asking someone to do something. We said to change because in fact he may not wish to do so but because we asked him, he then do that. Suppose we ask someone to clean the blackboard. Because this function is related to our efforts to change or manipulate the environment, then this function is called the manipulative function.

Other functions that can be seen at the time of a person using the language for writing, eg writing novels, poetry, short stories, etc.. Here the language used not to explain things but to develop one's imagination. Because of its function to develop the imagination is it such a function is called function imaginative.

Still there is one more function of language, ie language fungi that appear when we use it to express our experience. We use language to tell others of our experiences or our ideas. Because this function is related to the disclosure of our ideas, this function is called ideational function.

Be aware that language is not just an abstract object being studied, but something that people use every day. In studying the language as a communication tool, one needs to recognize the meanings of language that need to be mastered. According to Halliday (1973), the fundamental components of meaning in language is a functional component and all languages are arranged in two kinds of meaning: the meaning of ideational and interpersonal meanings, in addition to textual meaning. These components are manifestations of the linguistic system in a general purpose language use. The meaning of ideational, interpersonal, and textual are three kinds of meanings which are summarized in the language as an entity that forms the foundation of all language semantics. Ideational meaning is the realization of one's experience, good experience in the real world as well as experience in an imaginary world. According to Halliday ideational meaning is the meaning of 'in the sense of content'. Furthermore, interpersonal meaning is a meaning as a form of behavior that we (as a speaking or writing) addressed to someone else (as a listener or reader). In a sentence, the meaning of this interpersonal displayed in the changing role of the interaction, eg statements, questions, offers, and commands, as well as auxiliary verb modalilities (may, Could, Must, Would) that accompany it. For example, the following four sentences contain the same ideational meaning, but different interpersonal meanings:

1. Bill, close the door.

2. Could you closed the door, please?

3. If I were the resource you, I would close the door.

4. Why do not you close the door, Bill?

As has been stated previously, the ability to use the language can not be viewed solely from one's mastery of the vocabulary and grammar but in its ability to communicate. In connection with the ability to communicate this person needs to develop the ability to interact. Therefore, for students to communicate properly, they too should be equipped with interactive skills (interactive skills) are badly needed. Skills the student to submit the proposal, stating approval or disapproval is an example of this interactive skill.

A.    Participant Characteristics Educate

Learners are human beings with all of nature. They have feelings and thoughts and desires or aspirations. They have basic needs that need to be met (food, clothing, shelter), the need for security, the need to obtain confessions, and the need to actualize himself (to be himself in accordance with its potential).

In the stage of its development, junior high school students at the stage of rapid growth period, from every aspect. The following are developments which are closely related to learning, namely the development of cognitive, psychomotor, and affective.

1.      Aspects of Cognitive Development

According to Piaget (1970), the period that began at the age of 12 years, namely a more or less equal to the age of junior high school students, is a 'period of formal operations'. At this age, which develop in students the ability to think symbolically and to understand something significantly (meaningfully) without the need for a concrete object or even a visual object. Students have to understand the things that are imaginative.

The implication in the British language teaching is that learning will be meaningful if the input (subject matter) in accordance with students' interests and talents. Teaching English will succeed if the compiler syllabus and teachers able to adjust the level of difficulty and variation of input with expectations and characteristics of students so that their learning motivation is at its maximum.

At this developmental stage also develops the seven intelligences in the Multiple Intelligences proposed by Gardner (1993), namely: (1) linguistic intelligence (a functional language skills), (2nd) mathematical-logical intelligence (ability to think coherently), (3) intelligence musicals (the ability to capture and create pitch and rhythm), (4) spatial intelligence (the ability to form images mentaltentang reality), (5) bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (the ability to produce fine motor movement), (6) intra-personal intelligence (the ability to know yourself and develop a sense of identity), and (7) interpersonal intelligence (the ability to understand other people). The seven kinds of intelligence is growing rapidly and when it can be used by English teachers, will greatly assist students in mastering English language skills.

2.      Aspects of Psychomotor Development

Psychomotor aspect is one important aspect to be known by teachers. The development of psychomotor aspects as well as through several stages. The stages include:

a.       Cognitive Stage

This phase is marked by the existence of movements that are stiff and slow. This happens because students are still in the learning stage to control its movements. He should think before making a movement. At this stage students often make mistakes and sometimes the frustration level is high.

b.      Associative stage

At this stage, a student takes a shorter time to think about the movements. He began to associate the movement that is being studied with a movement that was known. This phase is still in the middle stage in psychomotor development. Therefore, the movements at this stage is not yet the movements are automatic. At this stage, a student still uses his mind to make a movement but the time needed to think less than that at the time he is in the cognitive stage. And because the time needed to think more short, the movements have started not rigid.

c.       Phase autonomy

At this stage, a student has reached a level of autonomy is high. The learning process is almost complete, although he still can improve the learned movements. This phase is called the stage of autonomy because students already do not require the presence of an instructor to perform the movements. At this stage, the movements have been made spontaneously and therefore movements that do not require learners to think about the movements.

3.      The development of Affective Aspects

The success of the process of teaching English is also determined by an understanding of the affective aspects of student development. Affective realm includes emotions or feelings held by each learner. Bloom (Brown, 2000) provides a definition of the affective realm, divided into five levels of affective implications in junior high school students are more or less as follows: (1) aware of the situation, phenomenon, community, and the objects around, (2) responsive to the stimulus- stimuli in their environment, (3) can assess, (4) have started to organize the values in a system, and determine the relationship between the values that exist, (5) have started and know the characteristics of these characteristics in form of value system.

Understanding of what is perceived and responded to, and what is believed and appreciated is a very important thing in the theory of second language acquisition or foreign language. Personal factors are more specific in student behavior that is very important in mastering various teaching materials, which include:

1.      Self-esteem, the rewards given to someone to himself.

2.      Inhibition, which attitude to defend themselves or protect the ego.

3.      Anxiety (anxiety), which includes the frustration, worry, tension, etc..

4.      Motivation, namely the urge to perform an activity.

5.      Risk-taking, that is the courage to take risks.

6.      Empathy, namely the nature relating to the involvement of individual self in the feelings ofothers.

CONCLUSION

From the above we can conclude that there are still many obstacles that must be faced in the effort to improve the quality of English language teaching in schools. For that, the author has some suggestions that might be useful to fellow English teacher in Indonesia.

1.        Always maintain our ability to converse in English for language fluency is maintained.

This is necessary because it can motivate our students to be able to speak fluently. It may be difficult at all if we never met people who also speak English. Therefore, the authors have a proposal for English teachers in this sort of club (conversation club) for the event to meet and exchange ideas among English teachers in the same region. Thus, our expertise in using English will always remain intact.

2.        Always emphasize the function and application of all elements of grammar that we explain to the students. Make sure that students really understand when they have to use the structure.

3.        Give additional vocabulary that will be useful for everyday conversation on the students and introduce students with teen magazines in English so that they become fond of reading and gain a lot of extra vocabulary from the magazine. Thus, students will be confident if you have to associate with foreign teenagers who speak English.

Although we do not have the power to change the curriculum, at least make sure that the repetition of material that we give a deepening of what has been learned about the students and not just repeat but do not make students more able to apply them