Causes of Children Laziness in Studying English

Study English is fun for some people, but it is boring for the other. Study English is compulsory in many countries that have no English in their native language and it becomes a government project. Nowadays, study English start from earlier level of school. It means that children are required to learn English as soon as possible starting from elementary school even from kindergarten. But, studying English not always easy and fun for them, some of children are feel that English are boring lesson and they are also lazy to study that. The children laziness in study English is caused by the following factors: differences in writing and pronunciation, misconception in teaching, and children misconception about English.

The first cause which is immediate is the differences writing and pronunciation in English. As we know, Bahasa Indonesia has the phonetic writing system wherein the writings clearly reflect consistently the sounds, different to English that words in English are written differently as opposed to the way they pronounced. Children learning English would find English writing system confusing considering the fact that there is no direct one-to-one correspondence between the pronunciation of a word and its spelling. For example, the word “apple” is pronounced 'æpl, it is different to Indonesian pronounce. So the children could be confused and become lazy to study English because of the problem in writing and pronunciation.

Second cause is the teacher misconception in teaching. Children in elementary school who is about 6-11 years old are have limited ability in absorbing the material in English lesson. They need a right method to optimize their ability, to absorb maximum material of the lesson in class. But in reality, teachers have been wrongly assumed the children as being “a miniature of adults”, in which the way they learn English exactly the same as the way adults do. They tend to approach the teaching-learning process in the same way as they would teach adults. In class such like that the children tend to be bored because of uninteresting lesson, and also lazy to attend to next English class.

The third cause is the children misconception about the English. As we know in Indonesia, as an implication of positioning English as a foreign language, English is just learned in classrooms, not widely used as a means of communication by people across the regions. This lack of exposure makes children difficult to see English learning as being functional and useful for them. For example, children who learn English in their school but never use it in their everyday life will think that English is not useful and only a lesson in class. So, they have no motivation to study English in class and think that English is useless.

As you can see the causes of children laziness in study English are differences in writing and pronunciation, misconception in teaching, and children misconception about English. If children feel lazy to study English, it could hamper their own skill in English and also the government project.

 Biyantiko Galih

Joining Informal Courses Makes Students Smart

          Joining informal courses has become a trend among the students in learning. They feel the needs to get more time to study because they think that the study time at school is not enough to acquire the lesson. Before we go further, let us examine what is the definition of Informal learning according to Jay Cross, one of the biggest advocates of informal learning, ”Informal learning is the unofficial, unscheduled, impromptu way most of us learn to do our jobs. Informal learning is like riding a bicycle: the rider chooses the destination and the route. The cyclist can take a detour at a moment’s notice to admire the scenery or help a fellow rider.” Based on the definition above, we believe that joining informal courses is one of the ways that can help the students to be brighter and smarter than the ones who only studying in formal institutions.
          Firstly, we are going to discuss how informal courses can offer the students to have more study time. The frequency of studying plays a really significant role to students achievement. One of ways to increase the study frequency is by joining informal courses. As we all know, the informal courses take place out of the school time. It means that instead of studying at school, the students will be able to have a special time to study their lesson more.
          Secondly, let us see the relationship between having more time to study and acquiring better understanding. There is nothing instant to get something what we want, not excluding to be smart. The more we study, the more we understand and the more we acquire the subject that we learnt. In this process, time is the significant factor that determines how far we master the lesson. The additional time that we get from joining informal courses allows students to acquire better understanding.
          Thirdly, the ultimate effect of acquiring better understanding is the smartness of the students. Smartness is not easy to get. It needs a quite long process of acquiring and collecting information. If students join informal courses that make them have more time to study, means that they are able to acquire thorough information about the lesson. They can get better understanding than other students who do not join informal courses. Then, if they know better about the lesson, it will make them smarter and brighter compare to other students who only study at ordinary school time.
          In short, informal courses give a chance to the students to have more time in studying and acquiring the lesson better. As a result, the dream of the parents to have smart children will be accomplished. Therefore, it would be better if parents send their children to join informal courses for the sake of children’s future.

By Ninuk Retna Sumiarsih and Wahyu Kartika Wienanda

The Changing of Curriculum as the Cause of Students’ Failure

Since several years ago, Indonesian educational system has changed the types of the curriculum for many times. The first curriculum had been formed in 1950, but the formal curriculum is permanently implemented in 1968, and in 1975, the curriculum is renewed. Subsequently, the curriculum was renewed with Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi (KBK) and in the beginning of 2006 another change has been made that the curriculum was changed into Single Level Education Curriculum or Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP). According to The National Education System Act (No 20/2003) curriculum is a set of plan with regard to the objectives, content, and learning materials as well as the methods employed as guideline in conducting learning activities in order to achieve the goal of a certain education. The Government Regulation No. 19 year 2005 states that the basic curriculum framework is established with the purpose of providing guidance in the formulation of educational unit level curriculum and syllabus to each educational unit. Basically, the changing of curriculum mainly purposed to the need of the education development which is gradually change due to the developing era. But, here we can find that the fact is different from the concept that is given by the government. Therefore, this essay will elaborate further about the effect of the curriculum changing that cause to the students’ failure.

The very first cause that leads to the chain cause-effect is the curriculum changing. Actually, the successful implementation of the new policy on curriculum depends on the readiness of all parties involved in learning process at operational level, especially the teachers. But, in fact, the teachers are still confused because of lacking guidance from the government. The seminars and workshops are rarely held. Therefore, the teachers do not know how to make the concept of the study plan and how to make a step forward. Let us take an example of our two curriculums in Indonesia, in Kurukulum Berbasis Kompetensi the center of learning is on the teachers, but in Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan the center of learning is on the students. This different will come about teachers’ misunderstanding in making the study plan which leads to the worse effect.

The second, if the teachers could not progress the study plan, the students will surely gain the impact. When the teachers could not make the study plans properly, they will deliver the materials to the students in an unsuitable way. The implementation of the study plan in class will be out of what the government has expected as well. For instance, one of the teachers in SDN Lengkong III stated that she has some troubles when she deals with the changing of Kurukulum Berbasis Kompetensi to Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan. As she could not comprehend the main idea of both curriculums, she got stuck in developing the study plan. Thus, the execution of the study plan could not be considered as succeed. From the example above, we can infer that the teachers’ misunderstanding of the curriculum will be result in the wrong implementation of the study plan in the everyday learning process.

The last cause that produces the ultimate effect of students’ failure is the wrong implementation of the study plan. When the teachers do the activities in the class based on the wrong study plan, surely the activities cannot be done in the proper way. We know that from the previous explanation the government wants to balance the educational needed with the development era which is aiming to gain the students’ better future. Therefore, the proper way here means the things that are expected by the government cannot be done well by the executors of the study plan that are the teacher and the students. Furthermore, if the students do not get maximum education, also means that the educational system in Indonesia is fail.

In brief, the changing of curriculum will cause a chain effect that terminated with the students’ failure. In this case, when the curriculum is changed, the teacher will be confused because they do not get enough guidance and make them have not ready yet with the new curriculum. Then they could not deliver the materials effectively that make the students feel confused and fail to gain their goal. So, we expect to the government to think carefully before change the curriculum because something that they think will bring a benefit can turn out to be a disaster if they do not do it in a proper way.

References :

Lapomo, Nabisi. 2010. Belajar dan Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Depdikbud

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/indonesian_to_english/education_pedagogy/3338524-kurikulum_tingkat_satuan_pendidikan_ktsp.html: accessed on Sunday, November 21^st, 2010

www.vnseameo.org/downloads/malay/Indonesia.doc: accessed on Sunday, November 21^st, 2010

written by 

Rahayu Sekarini

Riska Ayu Wibisono

The Causes of Students’ Reluctance in Learning English Prose

The world of knowledge is clearly understood to provide several kinds of miscellaneous things along with the process of its development, one of which is the power of literature. As everyone knows, literature becomes an inseparable element of the language root. No wonder if every language then grows with its own literature as a distinguishable identity from another language. As stated on the course reader book of “Introduction to Literature” written by William Kenney, English literature is mainly divided into three components which are prose, poetry, and drama (Introduction to Literature, 1966). Underlining the division of literature itself, prose is considered as the most difficult one. Thus, students of State University of Malang who are now taking “Introduction to Literature” feel reluctant to associate themselves with English prose. Indeed, the purpose of this essay is to highlight several causes of students’ reluctance in learning English prose, three of which are evident: the complex language use, exposure on literary analysis and lack of enjoyment.   

Firstly, the infectious cause of students’ reluctance in learning English prose is actually due to the complexity of the language. The complex language use here contextually refers to the difficult form of language which is used to verbalize every single event in the story. Indeed, most of the prosaic words are usually characterized as having the complex language features since it appears to a common thing that the authors may use figurative languages, or ancient English words/phrases which form appealing dictions in certain sentences. In fictions, such as prose, the term figurative language is defined as a kind of language which departs from the language employed in the traditional, literal ways of describing persons or objects. Using figurative languages is actually making imaginative descriptions towards several events of the story in fresh ways. Somehow, English prose veils particular words or phrases by either using figurative or literal languages. Thus, to catch what is actually being conveyed by the author, students are dragged to make a clear distinction on how a sentence links to the literal meaning or is figuratively stated. In other words, a literal image involves no necessary change or extension in the meaning of the words. Meanwhile, an image is figurative when it must be understood in some sense other than the literal. For example, in William Faulkner’s short story “Dry September”, there are lots of images of dryness. For the most part, the individual images are perfectly literal. It has not rained for a long time and the land is parched and dry. Yet, by their frequent recurrence, the images take on a suggestive power, arousing associations with barrenness, and frustration, all of which are relevant to the story’s meaning. However, in Stephen Crane’s novel The Red Badge of Courage, figurative imagery is likely to be significant. Men are frequently compared to brute animals. The recurrence of this kind of comparison suggests skepticism. It seems to be implied that a man is essentially an animal, driven blindly, like other animals. Referring to those examples, English prose obviously requires not only the surface meaning but also the mixture of literal and figurative speeches. Accordingly, students find themselves uncovered with these kinds of language features in English literature. Hence, when they learn English prose, they are then either concretely or abstractly exposed to picture several sort of images in such a way. No wonder if a majority of students set their mind up with a stigmatic view in which English prose complexly deal with a matter of complication in the use of language form. Even worse, they do not feel comfortable every time they learn English prose. A feeling of reluctance somehow contemplates swiftly on their soul which subsequently violates the way they learn English prose. In short, the complexity of language in English prose draws on somewhat students’ feeling towards the literary environment through the learning process.

Secondly, the significant cause of students’ reluctance in learning English prose constitutes with the exposures of literary analysis. We presume that the word ‘analyze’ will immediately evoke hostile responses in many students. According to Longman dictionary, to analyze means to examine something or to tear things into pieces. However, analysis itself is not quite tearing things into pieces. To analyze a literary work is to identify the separate parts that make it up. Furthermore, it is also to determine the relationship among the parts and to discover the relation of the parts to the whole. In some analyses do seem to leave the work torn to pieces, figuratively speaking, this means simply that they are not complete analyses. The end of the analysis is always dealing with the understanding of the literary work as a unified and complex whole. In addition, analysis must be not only properly understood but also rightly undertaken. Analysis then can often be drudgery. Lots of elements of prose are required to be examined critically by the students. Some of these questions might be brought up by the students when they are exposed to analyze some literary works from the teachers. The questions include ‘Why must we always analyze everything? Why can’t we just enjoy what we read?’ Seemingly, it is a fair question that comes up through the students’ mind. To illustrate this point, let us show you some of the examples in analyzing the story which makes students fed up. In Introduction to Literature class, students are assigned to read Desiree’s Baby written by Kate Chopin. They need to give responses for some critical questions related to the story. In other words, they are actually analyzing the elements of that kind of prosaic work, such as the plot, setting, characters, theme, etc. These kinds of literary activities take lots of time for the students to deal with. Indeed, they sometimes feel terribly bored since they need to have deep interpretations to analyze it. As the result, they do not work maximally in tearing up the content of the prose. Even worse, some are just copying their classmates’ work because they unwillingly read the story. Briefly speaking, the exposures in literary analysis affect the students’ feeling on how they comprehend themselves in learning English prose.

Thirdly, the remarkable cause of students’ reluctance in learning English prose is interrelated with the lack of enjoyment that students have. Philosophers and psychologists have created a large body of literature relating to the enjoyment, but definitions of ‘enjoyment’ vary. In philosophy, Perry (1967) argues that ‘enjoyment’ is  

non-evaluative, non-cognitive pro-attitude toward some actual object for what it is in itself, which object is a present doing, undergoing, or experiencing on the part of the subject or is something which is intimately connected with a present doing, undergoing, or experience on his part. To be enjoying a thing or to be deriving enjoyment from it is to have such a pro-attitude toward it. To enjoy or to derive enjoyment from a thing in a dispositional sense is to have a tendency to have this attitude toward it (p. 214).

In addition, the dictionary defines the term ‘enjoyment’ as the condition of enjoying anything; pleasure or satisfaction, as in the possession or occupancy of anything; possession and use; as, the enjoyment of an estate (1913 Webster). Generally, the enjoyment of literature, including prose is meant to be a feeling of great amusement to be able to learn literature in a relaxed atmosphere. Referring to the history of literature, it is actually born with a sense of pleasure for people to associate with. However, a number of people, including students have come up with a confronted view towards literature itself. Even worse, they learn literature, particularly English prose because they are actually supposed to learn. Let us point out the case aroused in Introduction to Literature class in State University of Malang. Most of the students who learn Introduction to Literature course have the willingness to read stories from the textbook because they are going to face an examination. Not only that, they read the literary texts, such as English prose, when they are assigned to finish some tasks and make the report of that. A study conducted by Crookes and Schmidt demonstrates that enjoyment in learning process relates to the students’ motivation. Further, the students’ motivation influences how their interest and enthusiasm are build up throughout the process of learning (Crookes and Schmidt, 1991). Consequently, the lack of enjoyment in learning English prose does a matter in making students reluctant to read prosaic works in literature.

In summary, literature in fact does not seem to give significant roles for the students. In the process of learning most of the students find themselves difficult in coping with English Literature especially English prose. Even though English prose is created as a matter of enjoyments in reading, a number of students still encounter troubles on how they effectively understand it. As a result, they seem to be reluctant to discover the content of prosaic works. The major causes of this matter which become the catalyst of students’ reluctance in learning English prose are the complex language use, exposure on literary analysis and lack of enjoyment. As a recommendation, to make the students enjoy learning English prose, the teachers need to select the literary texts, including prosaic works which are fascinating and not hard to analyze. We propose a story written by Hans Christian Anderson entitled with ‘The Emperor New Clothes’ to be used in the process of learning English prose.

 Sources:

Cline, Jay, Ken Williams, Dan Donlan. 1969. Spectrum: Literature and Composition 2. Massachusetts:

        Ginn and Company.

Kenney, William. 1966. How to Analyze Fiction. New York: Monarch Press.

Sisko, Yvonne Collioud. 2006. Looking at Literature. New York: Longman. 

Written by

Muh. Khoirul Anwar

Isna Rakhmawati

Running Sentence Game as a Variation in Teaching Grammar

English is interesting to be learned because there are several structural approaches that we have to study such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In this case, the four structural approaches need grammar as one subject matter that has to be studied to understand them. In fact, studying grammar is boring, but it is essential for us because without learning grammar we will be confused to learn English well. To avoid boring grammar class, we need a variation to encourage the students. The variation that we can use is running sentence game. Running sentence game is a variation of teaching grammar that will bring several effects, three of which are interest, situation, and attitude.

Interest is one of the immediate effects from the using of this game in the grammar class. We can know when we mention that the activity in the class is game, students will give a different reaction. The reaction which appears is feeling excited at having class. Let us check in one of grammar class of the third semester in Malang State University as the example! In this class, students are taught by a practical lecturer. We will look the difference in teaching by using normal method and game. First, the students look bored when the practical lecturer uses the normal method to teach them. Students only hear what are said by the practical lecturer and answer what are asked by her. On the other hand, students look interested when the practical lecturer invites them to play a game. In this case, students will have more participation. Only by hearing the name of this game, students will be curious of how to play running sentence game. Consequently, they will be interested in joining the class.

Not only the interest but also the situation in the class will be influenced if we apply this game in grammar class. The game will give a different atmosphere in the class because it will raise conducive and active situation in the boring grammar class. We still take the third semester grammar class in Malang State University as the instance. In one side, due to the teaching English grammar by using normal method, a silent situation will cover the whole of classroom. Then, the result will be upside down when the practical lecturer uses running sentence game in the class because the active of students’ participation will be seen in learning process. Through doing this game, students do not only stay in their chairs but also merry-go-round of the commuting trains to arrange the puzzle on the wall to their friends. Therefore, students will learn while having exercise.

Another impact that will be the ultimate effect is students’ attitude. By applying this game, the combination of excited feeling and interesting situation in the grammar class will be followed by apparition of students’ desire to learn grammar better and more serious. By observing the same example as on the paragraph above, we will know how far the students’ desire to learn English grammar seriously by using the normal method and this variation method. As what have been explained in the previous paragraph, the using of normal method in teaching can decreases students’ desire to learn English, since they only want to learn English grammar in the class without doing review at home. In the other case, students will be motivated to study English grammar in the class and at home if we combine the teaching method by using this game. The reason is that the students do not want to lose for the next game.

Finally, through this essay we can know how important we use some variations in teaching English, especially grammar. The reason is that according to students, grammar is one of the difficult things in learning English if you want to expert in it. The using of running sentence game will bring several effects, such as interest, situation, and attitude. As the good educator, we should give the best for our students, especially how to interest them learning the subject matter that we teach. 

Written by

Risky Ayu Dewi C

Trisna A