The Prospect of ELT in Indonesia

 The Opportunity for Higher Education

Lack of preparation is not the fault of institutions of higher education. Most colleges, especially the less selective schools at the community college level, have poured time and money into providing remedial courses to help underprepared students succeed, but the effort has done little to overcome the dropout problem. There have also been experiments with providing community college students with various supports such as counseling, the creation of “learning communities” that keep students together for mutual support, or providing extra financial resources to help meet living costs. However, these programs are costly and have had only modest success (Bettinger, Boatman, & Long, 2013).  Building on success  makes sense to focus on higher learning to build on the successes achieved in expanding primary and secondary education. As Islamic Development Bank (2013) mentioned that, “A 'tried and tested' approach of investing in buildings and equipment, backed up by a programme of staff training and curriculum development,has been highly effective”.

 In the near term, more could be done to better inform students and their families about available options, including the availability of financial aid for well-prepared students from low-income families; the importance of matching one’s interests and skills with what different institutions have to offer; and the availability of more work-focused career and technical training for those most likely to drop out of college saddled with too much debt. Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)(2013) told that they support to Islamic higher education in Indonesia has shown that offering Islamic education alongside a science and technology curriculum will prepare students for the challenges of the knowledge economy and the requirements of a competitive labour market. IsDB channels 59% of its education funding in Indonesia through the Islamic system to help raise standards and equip students with excellent qualifications. Islamic education is managed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs while the conventional system is overseen by the Ministry of Education (IsDB, 2013).

The challenges of English Language Teaching in Indonesia (PART 2)

2. The Quality of Teacher

Quality of teacher has become one of the challenges in English language teaching in Indonesia, because the government is still focus on the quantity of teacher rather than on quality. Chodidjah (2015, p. 42) mentioned that,

Another measure of lack of quality of English teachers is shown on the result of the TOEIC Test given to hundreds of the practicing English teachers. In 2007, for example, out of 13,102 teachers more than 50 percent were categorized as within the novice level, and only 15 percent tested at intermediate or higher levels. Only about 4 percent of the total test takers demonstrated a basic working proficiency level or above and could be considered potentially effective teachers.

In 2013 the same test was given to 907 teachers from ten different regions. The result showed that only about 9 percent are at the appropriate English proficiency level to teach, and the largest group of these is at the elementary level (Research and Development Service and Assessment  Department  International Test Center, 2013, as cited in Chodidjah, 2015, p. 42).

The quality of teacher is one of important things in English learning teaching, because of the quality teachers will produce the quality students. Hence, the poor achievements of students can also be attributed to the poor quality of teachers in Indonesia (Jalal et al. 2009, p. 7).  The  new policy is the culmination of several previous attempts to improve the quality of teachers as a means to improving the overall quality of education, following a number of preceding policies and strategies initiated to improve the quality and competency of teachers. In conclusion, the quality of students is influenced by the teachers’ quality, in relation to create a good students’ achievement have to develop teachers’ quality.

A paper of Poster as the instructional media in the class

CHAPTHER I

INTRODUCTION

A.      Background

Learning is a process of communication between learners, teachers and teaching materials. Communication will not run without the aid of conveying a message or media. The message to be communicated is that learning content in the curriculum as outlined by the instructor or facilitator and other sources into the symbols of communication, both verbal symbols and symbols of non-verbal or visual .

The use of media in teaching can help children in providing meaningful experiences for students. But they can also make it easier for students to understand something abstract becomes concrete.

In that case, use of posters in the teaching method is one type of media.Giving poster may be accompanied by a description and illustration statement.

Use posters to do in learning the power of reason can help the students to explain what they understand of the material explanation of the educators which they describe as a poster. Through student poster see, observe, and finally submit ideas through words visibly through posters. Thus poster not only as tools but students can help the interpretation of the object being observed.

Based on the above, it should be examined whether the use of posters in the learning process results will be better than learning only provided with lectures, descriptions and statements.

B.     Research Question

1.       What is the explanation of the method of learning using posters?

2.       What is the procedure contained in the learning method using posters?

3.       What are the learning style when using posters?

C.      Purpose of Writing

1.       To explain the learning method uses posters

2.       To describe the procedures contained in the learning method uses posters

3.       To find out if your learning style using posters

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A.      POSTER

Generally, posters consist of illustrative pictures/photographs; artwork and printed work used as communicative advertisements presented in conciseforms for public display. They are not just pictorial, but visual presentation of simple, brief and well-articulated summary of written works to stimulate an audience.

The UW-Madison Writing Centre Writer’s Handbook defines poster presentation as an advertisement or a display, which combines text and graphics to make project work “visually interesting and accessible...to a large group of other scholars and to talk to and receive feedbackfrom interested viewers”

(http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/presentation_poster.html#).

Again, the WJSHS Science Poster Presentation describes a poster as “a hybrid between a research paper and presentation.” Its main purpose is to communicate the whats, hows and essential findings of a research experience to guide future effort (wyshs.org/...poster%20 presentation).

These three definitions portray the description and essential characteristics of educative posters as visual medium of communication created for audience effect. They are designed in colourful, large font, attractive lay-out with logical appeal and

concise illustration of ideas and summaries.

a.      Summary

This alternative method of presentation is a great way to provide information to students quickly understand what they imagine, and ordered the exchange of ideas between them. The technique is also a new and clear way that allows students to express their perceptions and feelings about the topic being discussed in a relaxed atmosphere you. 

Use posters this time not merely as a means of entertainment, in the sense used merely complement the learning process so that students get more attention.But preferred to accelerate the learning process and help students capture the meaning of the educator. 

b.      Advantages of Posters

Some advantages of this media are that:

v  they require little material and are easy to produce;

v   you can fix them permanently in one place, remove them, and put them up again as the need arises;

v   they are accessible to a large number of people;

v   you can use them at any time without need for supervision.

c.       Disadvantages of  Posters

Some disadvantages of this media are that:

v  they are not useful for a large audience during a lecture;

v   they can be easily stolen or destroyed;

v   they are hard to store in good condition over long periods;

v   you need artistic skills or an artist to produce good quality ones.

B.      PROCEDURES

1.      Instruct each student to choose a topic that relates to the topic of general subjects or sub-topics under discussion. 

2.      Ask students to display their concept on a poster board or bulletin board that we specify its size. Display the poster must necessarily indicate its contents; that is, when I see people easily understand the idea without further explanation, either orally or in writing. However, students can also prepare a one-page explanation contains a more detailed description as well as further reference material. 

3.      The poster will not only be important to convey the message or the specific effects but are also able to influence and motivate the behavior of people who see it. 

4.      The characteristics of a good poster is: 

a.     posters can be created on paper, cloth, wood, zinc, etc.

b.    simple

c.     presents an idea and to achieve one goal ultimate

d.    colored

e.     A simple and accurate slogan

f.      clear comments

g.     motifs and designs vary

5.      During the lessons that have been determined, instruct students to put their visual presentation material and touring around the room to observe and discuss each poster.  For example, in the discussion of stress on health subjects, topics must include the following:

a.     causes of stress

b.    The symptoms of stress

c.     The effect of stress on yourself and others

d.    stress reliever

Then. one student described the symptoms of stress and create a poster showing pictures of the following:

·         People who are overweight standing on scales

·          The minimum alcoholic drink

·          Two men arguing

·         People headache

Below each image is given a short paragraph explaining how and why stress may exhibit the symptoms described it.

6.      Fifteen minutes before the end of the lesson, instruct the students to return to its original position and discuss what they think is valuable in these activities. 

There are some another innovative ways in using poster as the media in teaching learning.

Poster projects: Poster making can be done in pairs or groups with students working on a common topic or separate topics. Abstract topics help to stimulate the flow of ideas and encourage students to think out of the box. Presenting the posters in front of the class also opens up a forum of discussion for the students.

Opening statement: Creating a poster presentation of the topics that you will teach in class is always more visually appealing and interesting instead of listing or writing down the same on the black board.

Interpret the poster: Introduce a poster and ask your students to interpret the same. Learning will occur as students introspect, critically analyze and introspect on the poster.

Poster closure: Once a lesson has been covered, teachers can instruct the students to create a poster outlining the key information that constitutes the lesson. It can be a simple pen paper activity but will most certainly require the students to combine their thoughts and learning.

Structure the poster: In this task the teacher can give words related to the topic and ask the students to form a poster. Each group can be given a subtopic and will need to decide what their poster must focus on. Teachers will be able to both test the students’ knowledge and understand if they have any misunderstandings.

Jumbled poster: 

·         To learn events in the chronological order or in sequence, create a poster and cut into pieces.

·         Give the students the pieces and ask the them to rearrange the pieces to and put the poster together.

·         Here are some more creative poster making projects that can add life to your lesson! Ask students to create a poster to educate others about a particular issue- like recycling, or exercising regularly.

·         Ask students to create a poster pretending that they are part of a story and are inviting people for an event in the story. (like a poster inviting the town for the ball in the Cinderella story)

·         Ask students to create a poster-infographic to explain statistics or share the results of a study that they did.

·         Ask students to create a poster to remind themselves of or remember an important learning strategy, or classroom rule.

·         You may ask students to create an alert poster for a fake hurricane, to help them learn about weather alerts.

·         Ask students to make a 3d poster without using any pens, paints or markers.

Why Posters?

From the list of activities given above, it is obvious that posters can have quite a positive effect on the process of learning. The best advantage of poster making is that it facilitates team work and understanding along with facilitating creative thinking and extensive research and reading. It provides students with an opportunity to learn by doing, in turn strengthening the learning. Students are able to visually represent the key points and while presenting elaborate on the same which facilitates their retention and recall of events and facts. Poster making and presentation is also an effective tool for evaluating the students’ knowledge and creates opportunities for active discussion and participation. Be it the traditional posters or technologically advanced computer presentations, poster making and presentations can actively engage students in their learning process.

C.      VARIATION

1.      You can choose to form teams of two or three, as an alternative to individual deployment, especially if the topic has a limited scope. 

2.      Follow up with a poster session with a panel discussion, with some students who displayed the posters as a panelist. 

CHAPTER III

CLOSING

A.      Conclusions

Poster is one of the media that can enhance students' motivation. In addition, the use of the poster as a medium of learning will be easier to build students' creativity and innovation in making an impression. In terms of understanding of teaching materials if the poster will be more acceptable, because it is presented in a different way, of course, easy to be caught and not always with an explanation of the educator.

Using posters also can overcome the passivity of students if lectures are always learning model will be less effective if it continues like that. Media poster later expected the students to better understand the subject matter taught by teachers, and then instructed the students to draw or sketch on this poster media.

REFERENCES

Aduradola, Remi R. (2013). The power of student’s involvement: using poster as teaching            tools in managing large classes. English for specific purposes world. 40 (14), p 2-3

Bahri, Aswan syaiful and Zain. (2010).  Teaching and Learning Strategies. Jakarta: Rineka           Copyright.

Heinich and friend. (2005).  Instructional Technology and Media for Learning        8 ^thEdition . New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Silbermen, Melvin L. (2011). Active Learning trans. Raisul Muttaqien. Bandung: Nusamedia.

The challenges of English Language Teaching in Indonesia (PART 1)

1.  The Effect Globalization

Globalization is a certainty, so its impact on life, including language. Indonesian language is one of languages in the world which had also been affected by globalization. As note by Sahriati (2014, p. 51), “The influence of globalization on Indonesian language is seen at Indonesian vocabularies when Indonesian language is more acknowledged by other citizens of the world, and the greater amount of literature written by Indonesian writers”. The increasing of technology  is one of causal factors which develop vocabularies among our people. Nowdays, people are almost acquainted with terminologies about computer, mobile phone, SMS, email, download or homepage. Some terminologies are present due to the presence of technological advance terminologies in Indonesian language. For example, email become "surat elektronik". SMS (Short Message Service) in Indonesian is "pesan singkat", or homepage is translated into "laman", while download become "mengunduh" (Sahriati, 2014, p. 51). However, sometimes people prefer using foreign term to looking for an exact translation in Indonesian for some motives of practicability, meaning accuracy, or just a prestige. Finally, globalization compels a nation to arrange strategy in order not only to witness globalization, but also to have an important role in the process of it. Chinnammai (2005, p. 2) stated that,

Globalization also has given the impact in education in Indonesia. Globalisation on education bring rapid developments in technology and communications are foreseeing changes within school systems across the world as ideas, values and knowledge, changing the roles of students and teachers, and producing a shift in society from industrialisation towards an information-based society.

In modern area, education is becoming a lifelong learning and training process, developing transferable skills and knowledge that can be applied to competitive markets where knowledge and information is being traded as a commodity. The impact of globalization in education, especially in used technology in English learning teaching in the classroom is  made available in used some programs and education materials  in electronic form such as teachers are preparing materials in electronic form; and students are generating papers, assignments and projects in electronic form. So, it helps the member of education in teaching learning process.

The problems of English Language Teaching in Indonesia (PART 2)

2. Students motivation

Every student needs a motivation to push herself/himself to study or do some important thing in her/his life. Ruesch (2009) stated that “motivation is tied to individuals’ personal, scholastic, and professional goals, as well as to their self-concept and identities, both imagined and real”. Students’ environment influences the students’ motivation towards their learning in second or foreign language context (Yulia, 2013, p. 3). Some of the students in Indonesia still lack of motivation, so that impact on social nature of the learners. The lack of students motivation, poor attitude of students in learning English and fell short of teachers with sufficient English language competence are the contributors of the low ability in English (Dardjowidjojo, 1996, cited in Kam, 2004).  Motivation is one the most important factors in language learning and is a key determinant of frequency and type of strategy (Mattarima &  Hamdan, 2011, p. 106). So, motivation effects how hard learners are willing to work on a language activity, and how much they will persevere when they are challenged. In brief, when student motivation is good, the learning achievement can be good as well. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation have been used to explain the success or failure to fulfill any task. In the junior high school context in Indonesia, students’ motivation could vary depending on students’ perceptions and intention of learning a foreign language. English for example is one of the compulsory subjects to be taught at all levels of education. In junior high school, if the students are not good at English for the national examination, then it is difficult for them to continue their studies to senior high school, though the students’ grades are based on both the national examination (60 %) and the school examination (40 %) (Yulia, 2013,  p. 4).

The Problems of English Language Teaching in Indonesia (PART I)

1. Curriculum changed

Curriculum in Indonesia is always changes for many times. According to Prihantoro (2015, p.79),

Since 1945, the curriculum has changed several times, namely in 1947, 1952, 1964, 1968, 1975, 1984, 1994, 2004, 2006, and 2013. The development of the curriculum can be mapped into six periods, namely: (1) Curriculum 1975; (2) Curriculum 1986; (3) Curriculum 1994; (4) Curriculum 2004; (5) school based curriculum (SBC) which refers to the National Education Standards, and (6) Curriculum 2013.

The main objective of curriculum development is not only to produce teaching, but also to  improve the quality of education standards. Yet every curriculum renewal has still shortage in line.

The  implementation of curriculum has created some controversies in role, not only in KTSP, but also in curriculum 2013. The implementation of KTSP is not appropriate between the goals of the curriculum, especially in the teaching of English in Indonesia in general, and the evaluation used to measure the success of the teaching and learning process. For example, the implementation of the National Examination (UN) for the student in grade 9 and 12, which only tests listening and reading, has misled the direction of the teaching and learning of English in Indonesia (Putra, 2014, p. 66). There are four skills in English; listening, speaking, writing, and reading, but teachers only focus on the listening and writing as the preparing of the National Examination. So, the students do not practice to use the language in communication in the classroom which are commonly found. Whereas, the implementation of the curriculum 2013 has created considerable confusion of teachers, especially for among teachers who are in line of the curriculum implementation. The main causes of the confusion are most likely that teachers have not been equipped with sufficient training and resources, and also the curriculum 2013 is  introduced too quickly without sufficient time for understanding the concepts, curriculum content, and how training would be managed for teachers (Chodidjah, 2015, p. 43). Therefore, curriculum considered as one of the big  problem that faced in English Language Teaching (ELT) in Indonesia.

Tutoring a second grade student of senior high school in pesantren Al Manar

The tutor gave a treatment to a student in pesantren al-manar. The student name is Aufa. She is in second grade of senior high school. Based on the teacher’s interview, she had lack of ability in English, especially in the basic component of English, vocabulary. she also cannot use the vocabulary in a conversation. Depend on her problem, the tutor gave the student a treatment for three meetings in three weeks. The tutoring was conducted in front of Al Manar dormitory.

In the first meeting, we meet to do the tutoring after praying asar. The  tutor treated the student by giving  a test of vocabulary. The tutor gave 10 questions related to the vocabulary in choice form. She spent time for 10 minutes to finish the exercise. After finishing the test, we discuss to find the correct answer and to know the meaning of all the vocabulary in the questions. Based on result of discussing the answers, the student had three wrong answers. Afterward, the tutor gave  more explanation how to use the vocabulary in a conversation.

Next, in the second meeting, the tutor did the same way in giving the treatment to the student. Before doing the treatment, the tutor makes a conversation by asking the student related to the vocabulary that the student have gotten in previous meeting. The conversation was done in five minutes. In this meeting, the tutor gave 15 questions that must be answered by the student in fifteen minutes. For this section the student can answer fourteen questions with the correct answer.  It showed the better result for the student in understanding the vocabulary in context.

In the last meeting, the tutor did not give the student a test anymore, but the tutor guide the student to apply the vocabularies in daily activity. Such as describe the places around her and ask her about her activity in long day.

Thus, in the end of meeting, the tutor closed by giving a motivation to the student in learning English, and also giving motivation to study hard for gaining  her dream.