r/AGUSTINUS SEMIUN

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Vol. I No, 2, March A0t0

Indawan SyaluiThe Inlluence of SQ4R Method Towardthe Students,Reading Comprehension

/Agustinus SemiunOn Interactive English Classroom

KletusEromCrrltural Imagery in Nominal Marklng Systern ofManggaraian r.,anguage: Gulturar tingi*istic perspectives

AIex lvladarTe,aching.English as a Foreigrn r.rangrrage in rndonesiar.E Quest for ltppto. prlate lUethod

Ataburan Clemenslhe Importance of Coirrstnrcting Good euestions

Damianus TalokA Proposed Strategy for Scientilic \ffriting(In The Light of English Langruage Learning Strategy)

Floribertha LakeEnglish as a World t angruage

REFEMENGEIOllINf,l, 0r I'ANGUAGE AI{D Lf,l[GUAGE TEACHNG

EngHsh Education Study prograrrrTeacher Training ad Eduqationar $Eilnces facurty

Widya Mandira Catholic University Kupang

RETERENGE i vor. r No.2 Pages 41-82 Kupang, March 2010 ISSN:2085-949X

s'q,

V,

Advisor

ChairmanVice-ChairmanManaging EditorSecretaryLanguage Consultant

Senior EditorsDr. MonicaDjoehanaD. Oka MA(JniversitasNegeri Malang-UlO,Dr. GregorNeonbasuSVD(Unwira), Dr. Agustinus Semiun, MA(Jndana)

EditorsDr. Damianus Talok, MA(Unwira)Dr. Kletus Erom, M.Hum (Unwira)Drs. Aleksius Madar, M.Ed (Unwira)Drs. Thomas Ola Dosinaeng, MA (Unwira)Drs. Klemens Ataburan, M.Hum (Unwira)Dra. Floribertha [ake, SS, MA (Unwira)

Address: English Education Study ProgramJl. A. Yani 5A-52 Kupang 85225,Timor, NTT,Indonesia

REFERENCE Journal of language and Language TeachingPublished twice a year (May and November) for language and literature researchers; languageteachers and students.REFERENCE Joumal of language and Language Teachingwelcomes articles on language, literattue, and language teaching

Dean of Teacher Training and EducationalSciences FacultyDr. DamianusTalolq MADr. Kletus Erorn, M.Hum

'i:+

Drs. Klemens Ataburan, M.HumPricillaHomay, S.PdDr. Monica DjoehanaD. Oka Ua

- 0.r- ,*--t -*-ISSN:2085-949X

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REFERENCEJOURNAL OF LANGUAGI AI{D TANGUAGE TEACHING

Vol..l No.2, March 2010,"+"

lndawan SyahriThe Influence of SQ4R Method Toward the Students'Reading Comprehension

Afrtiffir{isri.FOn Interactive English Classroom

Kletus EromCultural lrnagery in Nominal,Marking System of Manggaraian Language:Cultural Linguistic Perspectives

Alex MadarTeaching English as a Foreign [anguage in lndonesia:A Quest forAppropriate Method

Ataburan ClemensThe Importance of Constructing Good Questions

Damianus TalokA Proposed Strategr for Scientific Wiitrag(in the liglx of English language learning stratery)

Floribertha LakeEnglish as a World Language

41-47

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55-61

62-68

69-72

73-77

78-82

REFENffiMJournal of Langnnge and Langnnge TeachingVol.l No.2, March 2010, pp. 48-54

INTRODUCTION

This article presents classroom interactionwhere teacher factor is a motivator. It is an attemptto argue that beside other factors the use ofEnglish of the teachers of English to createinteraction in English is a key to students' Englishlearning achievement. The discussion ofclassroom interaction will lead to a briefdescription ofa real condition of English teachingpractice in Indonesia including in NTT. To end,this article presents suggestion for classroominteraction, regarded as a solution to theinteraction problem in the teaching of Englishparticularly in Indonesia. The article starts bypresenting the brief development of English andthe teaching of English in Indonesia, to bepresented next.

Since many years ago English is taught as aforeign language in non-native English countries.The main purpose is to obtain education qualityto improve human resources. The teaching ofEnglish in schools therefbre is to rneet the needofpeople of the non-native English countries thatis to be able to use En-qlish as mediuni ol'

ISSN:2085-949X

rvorldwide communication. This has madeEnglish a global language. and then, seen as aphenomenon indicating that English is a languageof all countries or of everybody in the world.

To go with such global phenomenon, we inIndonesia have rnade changes in various aspects.In education for example, govemment has madeoverseas cooperation to proglwn overseas studies.Besides, government let certain educationalinstitutions or universities or secondary schoolsto open wide to provide overseas interests to studyin Indonesia. Then a number of universitiesincluding Nusa Cendana Kupang have respondedthis global phenomenon by preparing a set ofprogram to let the universities go global.Similarly, to provide interests of Indonesian oroverseis children, a number of outstandingsecondary schools have changed into the sopopularly called "Sekolah Bertaraf Intemasional".These kinds of changes made by the non-nativeEnglish countries is likely to make all people ofall countries, that according to Waters (1995),become "one community and one culture...q,hich nrar; be hannoniorrsll' or dishannon iouslvintegrated" at sorrre time.

ON INTERACTTVE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

Agustbus Semiunli e,

Universitas Nusa Cend*'i KupangJl. Adisucipto Penfui, Telp. 0380-881642

e-mai I : agustinussemiun@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Learning English by using it in classroom context is in line vgith the theories of learning oracquiring language. Learning by using it is also recommended by present English curriculumand communicative approach. The use of English recommended as such is to create and promoteinteraction for such kind of leaming. Creating English interaction during classroom instructionis providing classroom communication for students to learn English communicatively. Teacherin suclt interaction is a key factor for the interaction to occur. This article tries to reveat conceptof interaction in relation to teachers' role accompanied by the use of English during Englishclassroom instruction and it ends by suggesting tertiary institutions to produce high qualityteachers of English and an independent training center to train the practicing teachersprofessionally.

Key Words: interactive and English classroottt

50 REFERENCE, J. of Language and Language Tbaching, Vol.l No.2, 2010

of English find difficult to make students ofEnglish language classroom interactivedue to thestudent factor. Besides, one thing which isinteresting but unusual is that the teacher is notable to make the class of fast leaming interactive.An action research by Snell (1999) for example,reports an unresponsive class in Japan eventhough the students are able to answer theirteacher's question.

The discussion of classroom interactionmotivated by the use of English as medium nextcould be helpful for teachers' perception that theuse ofEnglish to teach English helps the teachers'role to play on one side, and the opportunities forthe students to leam English by listening fromand using with the teachers. This happens onlyby creating and promoting interaction by usingEnglish as a medium.

ON ENGLISH CLASSROOMINTERACTION

Action and reaction are trvo inseparable!-

activities thown in interaction. But action andreaction are nothing to do with interaction iftheydo not show reciprocation. Interaction thereforeme ans a c t i n g re c i p ro c al 11,, a c t i ng upo n e tx: h o t he rand so-called trvo-r.vay interaction (Tlromas,I987). So if tu,,o people interact, it means each

has effect for one else. This indicates the use ofEnglish to learn to use English.

Such reciprocally acting is called classroominteraction in classroom language teaching. Theteacher and students are acting reciprocally. Theteacher's acting will cause the students'reacting.The students'reacting is an action forthe teacherto react. That is the way the classroom interactionis pattemed. Such kind of interaction. accordingto Thomas (1987) serves a function to provideconditions for learning. It means the intemalprocess of individual leaming on the part of thestudents can occur only through interactionconditions.

The problem arousing with respect to thisclassroom interaction is about wliat kind ofclassroom interaction the teachers and thestudents must create to provide conditions forstudents to leam. This question irnplies that theteacher is a key to such interaction, because, as a

nratter of fact. the teacher always initiates theclas'sroom interaction. Two-way (teacher --

students and students - teacher or multi - way(teaclrer - students. students - teachers. and

students - students) interaction occurs only withthe teacher's presence or role. In other words, noteacher no interaction and no interaction nolearning occurs on the part of the students.Interaction between or among the students in theclassroom occurs but it is still under the controlof the tqpcher. Such explanation also indicatesthe real use ol English accompanying theclassroom instructional activities performed bythe teacher. No activities without the teachers'use of English.

Unlike the traro-way interaction in theclassroom as so described, one-way interactiondoes not show reciprocation as also said byThomas (198J). Students are unresponsive thatcan make the teacher frustrated. Theunresponsiveness of the students defi nitely causes

no interaction forthe students themselves to learn.Horver,er, keeping silence ofthe students may be

a kind of reaction u.hich is at one time as actionfor the teacher to react in the form of askinghimself for instance hon' to solve out such kindof passive class n'hich is common tor most non-native teachers of English. including the teachersin Indonesia. Here the silence is actually reactirlgthat has caused the teacher to react by speakingagain using English.

The writer of this article wants to highlightthat there are two main factors, teacher andstudent factors. for classroom interaction if wecan infer from the idea of classroom interactionaccording to Thomas above. A special note is thatexcept the teacher factor, the student factor is not,so far, blamed that students themselves cause theclassroom less ifnot zero interaction. Thus, qriterof this article agrees that the teacher is central tomake the classroom mean a lot for the studentsto learn, but in one condition that that the teachermust use English to teach English or toaccompanv any instructional activities to beperformed by the teachers.

In conjunction with the use of English toteach English, Chaudron (1988) presents fourmajor hreas that exemplify the nature ofinteraction and its possible effects on languageleaming on the teacher's side as follow. Firsr,the selectiviqv of teachers' speech must go withthe capability of the language two (L2) learnersof heterogeneous backgrounds (in mixed NativeSpeakers and Non Native Speakers classes) interms of cultural noffns. The students must be

treated in similar r,vav not in ditl-erent rvay to all

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students of different backgrounds. Negativethinking about the students of minority groups,slow learning, and lowsocioeconomic status willresult in fewer educational advantages forminority groups because they have problem toparticipate in interaction as reported by Laosa inChaudron (1988).

Second, the choice oflanguage addressed

to students determines the quality ofthe language

envirorunent in the classroom. The choice oflanguage can influence the acquisition process

on the part of the students. The students of"minority group" or slow learning students are

motivated to learn due to the way the teacher use

Ianguage to promote interaction. Greater use ofEnglish as target language by the teachers isencouraged. In relation to this, Chaudron (1988)

says that the perfect competence in the target

language is achieved by means of providing a

rich target language environment in order toexecute instruction and drill of target language( E ngl ish) as well as discip I inary and managementoperations. So. English language environment byinteracting in English including disciplinemaintenance and classroom management, can

help the leamers to advance.Third, the pattems of questioning behavior

can facilitate interaction to occur. What theteachers have to keep with them is in terms ofhow to make questions in types of open-endedand specifi c-general information questions. The

teachers have to always modi$ their questions

to help the students understand easily. Themodification can be in repetition or rephrase orparaphrase. Questioning pattems are also thernain attention to pay on, on the part of theteachers. To bear in mind the teachers shoulduse questions in more complex way to promotegreater responsiveness of the students. Theimportant thing to be remembered by the teachers

in asking questions to promote and maintainclassroom interaction by checkingcomprehension. checking confirmation, and

requesting clarifi cation (Chaudron, I 988). These

questions are to get feedback or information fromthe students based on which the teachers can

identify the problems or difficulties and thesolution for better interaction. Here, Chaudron

stresses on the competence of the teachers to use

English as a medium of instruction in oider tocreate and promote interaction. In short the

Semiun, On Interactive Englkh Classroom 5l

questions should gear the students' ability andmotivate the students to answer in English.

Quite similarly, Gebhard (2000) gives fivefactors contributing to making classroominteractive. The first is reducing teacher centrality,but thigjs not to mean that the teacher keeps silentor use llidonesian instead of English. The secondis appreciating the uniqueness of individuals. Thisis not to limit the freedom of each student. The

third is giving chances to students to express

themselves in meaningfrrl way. This is to manifest

the concept of globalplassroom perspective. The

forth is giving opportunities to the students tonegotiate meaning between them and with theirteacher- This is to leam by interacting in theclassroom. Ttre last is giving the studentsopportunity to choose what to say and to decidehow they say what they are going to say. This isto prornote practice of leaming by doing.

The followiilg are important points inferredfrom the opinions or explanations presented above,

that interaction means a lot for leaming. flrsr it issuffice to say that the teacher is cen*al for the

classroom interaction to occur, and so is regarded

as an interaction factor to be improved as well as

to whom suggestions or critics from the public are

addressed. Secondatr,acher of English should have

adequate if not very good mastery of English,speaking in particular, so he or she can controlhimself to speak in such a way that he or she can

meet the major areas as proposed by Chaudronabove. Thirdthe teacher should be clever enough

to se and know each individual personally to meet

the contibutive factors as proposed by Gebhardabove. That is important for.the teacher to attract

the students, so they always feel free to say whatthey wantto say.

In relation to what should be fulfilled bythe teachers to promote and maintain classroominteraction, Cranmer (1991) proposes fiveteachers' roles, i.e- motivator, informant,conductor, diagnoser and corrector. As amotivator, the teacher should have goodpersonality such as having overall attitude(sensitivity, sympathy. encouragement, open-mindedness, flexibility). He should also avoidsarcasm and ridicule aimed at the students, butappropriate personality role according to the

situation. Here, the teacher sometimes has to be

able to ait patemally, maternally, and fratemallyin harmony with the situations. The teacher nlttst

52 REFERENCE, J. of Language and Language Teaching, Vol.l No.2,2010

show his or her competence and confidence tothe students in terms of the clarity of thought,care in preparation, and efficiency in execution.Yet such performance does not mean that theteacher must know everything. Besides, he shouldprovide interest through varieties of topics withsenses of humor in visual aids like cartoons and

.iokes and show the needs of learning.As an infbrmcnt, the teacher must be able

to provide new input. extension of alreadypresented material, revision, explanation and

remedial work. Asaconductor,he must be able

to elicit, initiate rules and check that the students

have grasped the concept involved, explain,handle aids. provide models, give cues, establish

linguistic and situational contexts, giveinstruction for activities, and monitor theactivities. As a diognoser. he must be able todiagnose what should be taught by shou'ing the

need ta leam and evaluate the learner's errors interns ofthe needs fbr remedial work. Finalll'. as

'a fi)rfeclor. the teacher must come to a decisionabout what. hou, much" rvhen. and horl'to conect.

What happens in Indonesia?

English has been taught in secondaryschools since the independence of Indonesia in1945. and since 1990s, it has been one ofthe localcontent subjects for many of primary schools.However, it is a matter of fact that the teaching

of English has been failing since manyyears ago.

There must be numerous factors that have been

hindering the success of teaching. The follow'ingreports confirm this to be true.

As reported by Priyono in in Cahyono &Widiati (2004), until now the English teaching

as a foreign language in secondary schools inIndonesia has not shown satisfaction, even always

considered to be a failure. Such dissatisfaction.according Sadtono ( i 98 3 ) and Tomlinson ( 1 990),as cited by Priyono in Cahyono and Widiati(2004) has been the widely recognizedcharacteristic of teaching EFL in non Englishnative countries. In Indonesia for example,95,4oh

of public and 91,lYo of private school teachers

admitted that the English instruction has been so

f-ar unsuccessful (Survey result by Departrnent

of Education and Culture of RI, in 1990). Priyonoseems to argue that the teachers rarely if not never

use English as a medium to teach as to create and

promote interaction. Thus the teachers provide

insuffrcient English input for students to developinterlanguage. Priyono seems to highlight thefailure of the teachers to teach vocabulary. It isalso the serious problem that accounts for theunsatislactory results of EFL teaching andlearning. In regard with this, Priyono found thatthe teacfuprs fail to prepare the students with 1000

as required by junior school curriculum (500words at the first year, 250 the second, and another

250 atthe third/last year).Mantiri in Cahyono & Widiati (2004) says,

teaching English in hdonesia differs a bit fromregion to region in terms ofmotivation. TeachingEnglish in Bali for instance, differs from otherregions because Bali is an island of tourism,rvhere peop6 are strongly motivated to knowEnglish to communicate with tourists. Then, he

mentions teachers' low quality in terms of usingcommunicative language teaching (CLI). Not allteachers feel satisfied to using CLT. It maybecaused by the low capability of the teachers interms of English proficiency. In addition, theteachers many times are trained under the oldteaching style, or inadequately trained, that affects

much to CLf in ELT. Similarll', Dardowidjojo(1996). found that many English teachers are oflow English proficiency on one side, and are due

to they have low salary as public servants thatthey have to moonlight, on the other. He adds

that in terms ofclass size,4A to 50 students is toobig number of students for, even qualifiedteachers, to perform well.

Still a fresh study by Semiun (2009) reportsthree main facts based on his research on the use

of English as a medium of instruction by seniorhigh school teachers in West Timor land. First,the intensity of using English of the Sl graduate

teachers does not show significant differencefrom that of Non-S I (D3 and non Englisheducation) graduate teachers. Second, similarly.the intensitl' of using English of the long teaching-experience teachers does not show significantdifference from that of short teaching-experienceteachers. The teachers oflong Sl graduates and

of long teaching experience should perform better

than those of Non-S I and short teaching-experience in intensity of using English duringclassroom instruction. See also Senriun (2009)

about "The intensity of using English: The Case

of Senior High School EFL kache'rs in West

Timor Ea.vt Nusa Tenggara. Third. as obtainedbv ureans of observation. the teachers favored to

54 REFERENCE, J. of Language and Language Tbaching, Vol.t No.2, 2010

reasons or arguments, and so on. By training onclassroom management the teachers are able tomanage classroom condition that every individualcan participate to speak freely to the teacher or toc lassmates nearby. The concentration is on simplestrategies to make the students active orparticipate during the classroom instruction.

The last,as suggested by Semiun (2009) inREFERENCE Volume l, No. l, it is theresponsibility of the universities, English studiesprograms in particular, to prepare studentteacherswith adequate if not perfect proficiency onEnglish language use, particularly the classroomEnglish use on one side and with adequate

RBT'ERENCES

ChaudrorL C. 1988. Second Language Classrooms,Research on Teaching and learning. NewYork: Cambridge University Fress

Cranmer. David. 1991. The teacher's role in theoral lesson -a reminderAi The Chalkface:Practical "lbchniques in Language teaching.Hong Kong: Nelson

Dardjowidjojo. S. 1996. The Socio-PoliticalAspects of English in Indonesia. TEFLINJOURNAL" Vol. VIII, No. l,August 1996

Freeman, D.L.& Long, M.H..1991. Anlntroduction to Second LanguageAcquisition Research. New York: Longman

Gebhard, J. G.. 2000. Teaching English as aForeign or Second Language. Michigan:The University of Michigan Press

Huda, N. I 999. Language Learning and Ti:aching.Malang: IKIP MALANG Publisher

McKay, S.L. 2002. Teaching English as anIntemational Language: Rethinking Goalsand Approaches. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press

Priyono. 2004. The logical Problems ofTeachingEnglish as a Foreign language in Indonesia.In Cahyono & Widiati (Eds.). The Tapestryof English Language Teaching and Leamingin Indonesia. Malang: State University ofMalang Press

Sadtono, E. 1983. Penguasaan Bhasa InggrisDosen di indonesia [English proficiency oflecturers in Indonesia]. Malang: IKIPMALANG

Savignon, Sandra' J. 1983. CommunicativeCornpetence: Theori, and Classroom in

capability on classroom management on the otheqbefore their university leave.

To close, learning English to use is notwithout interaction. English"interaction in theclassroom is in fact a strategy to communicate ina real si{ration to leam to use English- Dtringinteractiqn, the students can leam from others,classmatds, and their teacher. [t means the use ofEnglish as medium to interact during classroominstruction is strongly recommended for andrequired by the teachers of English, and the aimto learn English by rry_ng English is not only forknowledge but also foi use. In that way teacherfactor is still dominant to cause learning to useEnglish in theclassroom.

Second t anguage Leaming. Massachusetts:Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Scarcell4 Robin C. and Rebecca L. Oxfor'rd. 1992.The Tapestry ol Language Learning: theIndividual in the CommunicativeClassroom. Boston: Heile & HeilkePublishers.

Semiun, A. 2009. The Use of English as aMedium of Instruction by Senior HighSchool EFLTeachers in NTL Malang: PPS

Universitas Negeri MalangSemiun, A. 2009. The Intensity of Using English:

The Case of Senior High School EFLTeachers in West Timor East NusaTenggara. Kupang: REFERENCE Journalof Language and Language Teaching,Volume l, No. l, November 2009

Snell, L 1999. Improving Teacher-StudentInteraction in the EFL Classroom: AnAction Research Report. Tokyo. TheInternet TESL Journal, Vol. V. 4, April 1 999

Thomas, A.M. 1987. Classroom Interaction.Oxford: Oxford University Press

Waters. M. I 995. Globalization. In Globalizationand the Teaching of English in Indonesia.Asim Gunarwan. In Kam and Ward (Eds.).Singapore: SEAMEO Regional LanguageCentre

White, L. 1989. Universal Grammarand SecondLanguage Acquisition. Philadelphia: JohnBenj amins Publishing Company

Wllis, J. 1985. Teaching Englishthrough EnglishA Course in Classroom Language andTechniques. Hong Kong: ELBS/Longnran.

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