THE USE OF INDONESIAN IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN...

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THE USE OF INDONESIAN IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN SMK N 2

SALATIGA

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirement for Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Uswatun Khasanah

112009030

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

SALATIGA

2013

ii


SALATIGA

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirement for Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Uswatun Khasanah

112009030

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

SALATIGA

2013

ffiPERPUSTAKAAN UNIvERSITAS

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Jawa Tengah, lndonesia

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Name: Uswatun Khasanah

Student ID Number: 112009030

Study Program: PBI (Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris) English Department

Faculty: Language and Literature

Kind of Work: Undergraduate Thesis

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THE USE OF INDONESIAN IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN SMK N 2 SALATIGA

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Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika, M. A. Anita Kurniawati, M. Hum

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All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the

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Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.

Uswatun Khasanah:

mailto:[email protected]

1


SALATIGA

Uswatun Khasanah

Abstract

This study attempted to analyze the use of Indonesian in teaching English in SMK N 2

Salatiga. The participants of this study were two teachers who taught English in SMK N 2

Salatiga. The data used for this research were classroom observation and interview. The

observations were video recorded and mainly focused on the use of Indonesian in teaching

English. The finding of this study showed that the teacher used Indonesian for 5 different

purposes; aimed to ask questions, explain material, translate word, give instruction and

command students, and tell stories and make jokes.

Keywords : Classroom observation, Teacher’s beliefs, First language use, English as an

L2

Introduction

Background of the study

Nowadays English is the most widely used as an international language. English has

gained the status as a major language in the world. The teaching and learning English has

increased throughout the world which produced a new cadre of professional, for example

teachers of English as Foreign Language (EFL). English as a Foreign Language is not the

language of communication in the society. EFL is taught in a country where English is not

the native language, for example teaching English in Indonesia.

In this study the term first language (L1) is used to refer to Bahasa Indonesia.

Teachers use first language quite frequently in their classrooms and that they do it for many

reasons and purposes. Language teachers think it’s important to use L1 in teaching English to

help the students to have better understanding about the materials. Usually the teachers use

L1 in explaining difficult materials, difficult words, and discussing the materials. But some

may believe that the teachers should avoid using L1 in teaching EFL. According to Cook and

Turnbull (2001) teaches have to use the target language without considering the students’

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first language, a principle that the teachers’ use the target language acknowledges that L1 and

L2 can exist simultaneously (as cited in Beressa, 2003).

This study addressed the following research question, “what are the uses of first

language (Bahasa Indonesia) in teaching English in SMK N 2 Salatiga?” The purpose of this

research was to describe the use of Indonesian in teaching English. More specifically, this

study aimed to find for what purposes the teachers used Indonesian in teaching English.

Although there have been a number studies done on the use of L1 in teaching English

in many different countries, I believe that it was necessary to carry out an additional research

on the similar topic in Indonesian context. The result of this study could be useful for both of

teachers who are teaching English as a Foreign Language and also to the students in learning

English because other teachers would realize when they will use Indonesian in teaching

English to their students.

Literature review

This paper analyzes the use of first language (Indonesian) in teaching English. The

focus is on how the teachers conceptualize the use of Indonesian as teacher talk in their

classroom. Teacher talk has important impact in teaching and learning process. According to

Zsendroi (2010) teacher talk is the language typically used by teachers in the process of

teaching. Teacher talk is one of the communicative functions that the teachers usually use

during the process of teaching. According to Yung (2011) there are four types of teacher talk.

First is informative teacher talk, which means that the teachers deliver their opinion, fact as

well as some concept through word and students process the information. The second, is

directive teacher talk, which means that teacher talk is used to direct the activities running in

the classroom. The accurate application of directive language can make the teaching efficient

and effective. The third, is eliciting teacher talk, which aims to inspire students and further

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obtains their answer in class. The forth, is feedback to the students’ answer, which refers to

the way of teachers to respond to the students’ answer.

When the teachers use teacher talk in explaining the materials, they are trying to

make themselves to be understood easily by the students. Though the teacher talk is

important in language teaching, it is not easy for the students to understand teacher talk

especially when English is mostly used. Sometimes teachers’ talk may involve more than one

language in order to help the learners to get better understanding about the teaching materials

or classroom instructions, for example, the use of first language (L1) in the English

classroom. According to Nunan (1991) teacher talk is very important, for both the

organization of the classroom and the processes of L2 acquisition. It is important for the

organization of the classroom because through teacher talk it can be seen that the teaching

plan is success or not. In terms of acquisition, teacher talk is important because it is the major

source of understanding the target language that received by the learner (as cited in Taneo,

2011). As English as a foreign language is not used in Indonesia, Indonesian as the mother

tongue may be used in teacher talk in order to speed up the processes of learning.

According Harrison (1973) acquiring a second or foreign language is a very different

thing from the acquisition of mother tongue. Teaching English should also consider the

language that is used by the society or mother tongue. Stern (1983) also argued that the first

language is maintained as the reference in the acquisition of the second language (as cited in

Zacharias, 2010). It means that through teacher talk, teachers should have as clear as possible

of what they want to deliver in their teaching process which may involve the first language in

order to make it easier in acquiring second language.

Teachers use first language quite frequently in their classrooms and that they do it for

many reasons and purposes. Language teachers think it’s important to use L1 in teaching

English to help the students to have better understanding about the material. Although the use

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of L1 in foreign language learning is critical, research shows that the uses of L1 to certain

extends may have positive impact to the learners. For example, Macaro (1997) said that L1 is

the learners’ language of thought and the use of L1 at certain occasion may help improve the

learners’ comprehension (as cited in Chaniago, 2011).

In teaching and learning process, the use of Indonesian can be positive and negative

for the teacher and students’ development. The following study shows the positive and

negative impact of using L1 in English classroom. In their study, Campa & Nassaji (2009)

reported that the teachers used a noticeable amount of L1 in their classroom for different

purposes such as translation, administrative issue, and personal comment. The teachers used

L1 most often for creating the comfortable classroom atmosphere which they believe this was

the effective strategy to encourage the students to participate in the learning process. In other

words, the purposes were both pedagogical and social, and were intended not only to

facilitate L2 learning by helping the learners to get better understanding the L2 instruction,

but also to create a supportive and enjoyable environment for learning to take place.

Another positive impact of using L1 is that it can be used to reduce the students’

anxiety. By making jokes in the students’ first language, it can create a less threatening

atmosphere in the classroom. According to Hemminder (1987) the use of L1 can lower

students’ anxiety and enhances the positive affective environment for the students to make a

progress in their L2 learning (as cited in Taneo, 2011). Language anxiety comes around the

students when they learn a new language. Meyer (2010) also stated that language anxiety has

strong effective influence on second language acquisition (as cited in Widagdo, 2010).

The use of L1 in teaching and learning is aimed to make second language learning

more effective and efficient. In the English classroom, L1 has been used for various purposes.

Not only to help the students to get better understanding about what the teachers were going

to teach but also Grim (2010) found that the L1 could have strategic impact and be actually

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considered as a profitable communicative and teaching strategy. Through planning for

comprehension breakdown, teachers can present form by giving learners the opportunity to

process, notice and perhaps acquire the new input. Because most of L2 teachers do not

practice an L2 teaching principle, and accepting L1 as potential successful instrument could

therefore help produce successful teaching strategy. Weihua (2009) also said that one of

teaching methodology which is grammar translation method that involve mother tongue in

the teaching and learning process may help the learner get the general idea what they are

going to learn a new language.

Some teachers believe that the use of first language (L1) in teaching English is useful

but some may believe that the teachers should avoid using it. Many teachers believe that the

second language should be used totally in teaching English. According to Duff and Polio

(1990) they have generally found that although instructors acknowledge the importance of

teaching in L2, most of them still use L1 to a certain degree in their classrooms (as cited in

Campa & Nassaji, 2009 ).

Related to that issue, there is a popular belief that the use of L1 has been considered

as bad character in the second language or foreign language leaning. There are many who

have argued that the use of first language should be limited in L2 teaching because the use of

L1 may have negative effect which can impede the learners’ L2 learning. Baw (2002) said

that the excessive use of L1 in learning L2 does not give the students any chance in to

practice the new learnt language (as cited in Raouf, 2010). In other word, the use of L1 in L2

classroom is the major cause of students’ problem in learning new language.

According to Cook and Turnbull (2001) teachers have to use the target language

without considering the students’ first language, a principle that the teachers’ use the target

language acknowledges that L1 and L2 can exist simultaneously. Some other researchers

have shown the negative impact of using L1 in L2 classroom was based on Polio (1994) and

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Atkinson (1987) the use of L1 in the classroom can create laziness among students and

failure to maximize English (as cited in Miles, 2004). Cook (2001) also believes that the

successful of L2 acquisition depends on keeping the L2 separated from the L1 and see the L1

and L2 as separate entities (as cited in Beressa, 2003). It means that the interference of L1

can make the students depend on the teacher and make them lazy and fail to maximize the

use of the target language in the classroom.

The study

This research was a descriptive study to describe the use of Indonesian by teachers in

English classes and analyzed the teachers’ reason in using Indonesian in their teaching. This

research was conducted in SMK N 2 Salatiga., one of prominent senior high schools which

Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan (SMK) in Salatiga, Central Java. This school has competent

teachers of English.

Participant

In this research, I selected two teachers in one of senior high school in Salatiga as the

participants in this study. I used a purposive sampling technique to choose the teachers.

According to Zacharias (2011) purposive sampling is selecting group of people that can meet

certain criteria. The criteria were teachers who taught different classes in SMK N 2 Salatiga.

Research Instrument

This research used both observation checklists and stimulated recall interview

questions. I did the classroom observation and focused on the teachers’ talk during teaching

and learning. During the classroom observation, I used checklists to make notes about

purposes of the teachers to use Indonesian. Besides observation, this research also used

stimulated-recall interview in answering the research questions. According to Brown &

Rodgers (2002) and Nunan (1989) stimulated recall interview is a technique in which the

researcher records and transcribes part of a lesson and then gets the participant to comment

7

on what was happening at the time the activity took place (as cited in Zacharias, 2011). In

other words, simulated-recall interview gives access into teachers’ cognitive domain as they

teach. I used five questions to seek information on the use of Indonesian in teaching English.

And some questions based on the class observations to find for what purposes the teachers

used Indonesian in teaching English.

Data collection

I started this research by meeting with the headmaster to obtain permission for my

research. After that I met and spoke to the English teachers about my research and asked their

consent to be my participants. Then I made an appointment to do the observations and the

interview. I did the classroom observations ten times. It was shown in the following table,

No Date Class Time

1. Friday, February 1st 2013 X TGB A 2 x 30 minutes

2. Friday, February 1st 2013 X TKK 2 x 30 minutes

3. Tuesday, February 5th

2013 X TEI C 2 x 45 minutes

4. Wednesday, February 6th

2013 X TKJ A 2 x 40 minutes

5. Thursday, February 7th

2013 XI TMO C 2 x 45 minutes

6. Friday, February 8th

2013 XI TAV 2 x 30 minutes

7. Saturday, February 9th

2013 X TGB B 2 x 40 minutes

8. Wednesday, February 12th

2013 XI TEIC 2 x 40 minutes

9. Friday, February 15th

2013 X TAV 2 x 30 minutes

10. Saturday, February 16th

2013 X TGB B 2 x 40 minutes

The observations focused on the use of Indonesian in the teachers’ talk during

teaching. I recorded the teachers’ talk using a video recorder. After the observation, I

transcribed the data for analysis. In order to get enough data, I interviewed the teachers using

8

stimulated recall interview by presenting the observations transcript to the participants. The

focuses of the interview were to find out to what extent, for what purposes and reasons why

the teachers used Indonesian in teaching English. After the interviews and classroom

observations, the data were compiled and analyzed qualitatively.

Data analysis procedure

The data were gathered from the classroom observations and stimulated-recall

interviews. For the analysis, the data were transcribed using a clean transcription method.

According to Zacharias (2011), a clean transcription of interview focuses on the content of

the interview. Then, the transcriptions were coded. Ideas that emerged from the interview

were divided into categories. The quoted examples from the data were used to support each

point in the analysis of the data. The data were analyzed descriptively, and some supporting

theories were used in the analysis.

Finding and discussion

This section discusses the use of Indonesian in teaching English in SMK N 2 Salatiga.

When I observed the teaching and learning process in class, both teachers used Indonesian in

teaching English. I divided the data into five big categories: asking questions, explaining

material, translating word, giving instruction and commanding students, and telling stories

and making jokes.

The first category of Indonesian use was in asking questions. In this class teacher A

taught about sentences in English and teacher B was about traffic light, as follows:

Teacher A : Ya betul, kalimat itu ada subjeknya betul?

Students : Yes

Teacher A : What kind of subject that can be used in a sentence?

Students : Things idea, and then place

9

From the conversation above, it can be seen that teacher A used Indonesian in asking

questions to the students. When he asked about sentences which consist of subject, it showed

clearly that he used Indonesian in asking questions.

It was also presented by teacher B, as seen below:

Teacher B : Okay. Let’s say you make both of pictures, gini ya, this is

number one, number two, up to number six. You read the

first bold phrase, frase pertama. A sign with I saw was the

driver must wear a seatbelt. kira-kira cocok nomer yang

mana?

Students : Enam, six.

Teacher B : ya tinggal ditulis saja. The driver must wear a seatbelt. Is

that clear? Jelas?

Students : jelas

From the conversation above, it can be seen that teacher B also used Indonesian in asking

questions to the students. He asked to the students in Indonesian which number that

appropriate with, kira-kira cocok nomer yang mana? In additon, he asked the students

whether they have already understood or not by using the word in Indonesian; jelas?. In the

interview, teacher A and B had same opinions about why they used Indonesian in asking

questions to the students. Based on the interview, teacher A said that,

Ya ini kan saya menjelaskan mengenai konsep, konsep subjek itu apa

kemudian konsep meja itu apa, meja itu fungsinya apa itu sebenarnya

sebagai konsep. Kalau meja bahasa inggrisnya sudah tau “table”. Tapi ini

karena saya ajak berfikir abstrak, berfikir yang agak tinggi begitu saya

change ke Indonesia. karena kalau pakai bahasa inggris dia tidak akan tau.

Similarly, teacher B said,

Jika dalam menterjemahkannya pertanyaan menurut saya hanyalah untuk

mempermudah mereka saja dalam memahami bahasa inggris pada kelas-

kelas tertentu. Bahkan ada beberapa kelas yang katakanlah kalau

menggunakan bahasa inggris secara full, mereka akan “pemalu”. Akan

menyulitkan bagi gurunya sendiri maupun kepada murid dalam mengajar

ataupun menerima pelajaran. Jadi memang keadaan setiap sekolah berbeda,

guru berbeda dan mungkin menurut saya hal tersebut adalah yang terbaik

atau yang saat ini yang digunakan rata-rata guru.

Teacher A said that he used Indonesian was because he wanted their students to understand

the material about concept. If the teacher used English instead of Indonesian, he would be

10

afraid that the students didn’t understand. Similarly, teacher B wanted their students easy to

understand the materials and also could make them confident in learning English. Based on

the interview, teacher B said that if he used English in asking questions to the students, he

thought that the students would be shy and tend to be silent. According to Hemminder (1987)

the use of L1 can lower students’ anxiety and enhance the positive affective environment for

the students to progress in their learning (as cited in Taneo, 2011). Meyer (2010) also argued

that language anxiety has strong effective influence on second language acquisition (as cited

in Widagdo, 2010). As an example, when I became a student-teacher in SMK N 2 Salatiga, I

experienced about the language anxiety. The students tended to be silent when they were

asked to speak in English, however when the students were asked by the teacher using their

mother tongue, they were able to share their opinions. It might happen because Indonesian

gives a freedom to them to express their opinions or ideas. In other word, L1 allowed students

to say what are thinking about. They also said that the student sometimes knew what they

would to say, but it was difficult to express in the target language. Thus, the use of

Indonesian in English classroom by the teachers was to encourage and help the students to

find out how to express their ideas with a great confidence, not only in Indonesian but also in

the target language.

The second category of Indonesian use was in explaining materials. Below are the

teachers’ explanations were Indonesian to the students:

Teacher A : That’s why you swipe the floor in the clean way.right?

okay, Sekarang kalau subjeknya berupa benda, buat kalimat

dengan things? Subjeknya things, subjeknya ada berapa

macam? ada dua, kategorinya ada dua konkret and…?

Students : Abstrak

Teacher A : Bedanya kalo konkret things and abstrak things, kalau

konkret bisa di indera, how many senses do you have? Kamu

tau artinya indera bukan hanya penglihatan, there are 5

senses, right? Vision, auditoria, smell, touch, tastes. Sekarang

coba yang bisa kamu indera apa aja.

11

From the conversation above, it can be seen that, teacher A used Indonesian in explaining

materials about sentences. When he explained about sentences, it clearly showed that he used

Indonesian subjeknya ada berapa macam? ada dua, kategorinya ada dua konkret and

abtract. He explained about two kinds of subject which concret and abstract.


Teacher B : Nomer 2 a school crossword. Let’s say you decide this is

the meaning of the phrases. Misalnya nomer satu ini. kalian

tinggal nulis huruf the crossword. bisa? Tidak perlu di sini

sudah ada semua. Is that clear?

Students : yes.

From the conversation above, it clearly showed that teacher B also used Indonesian in

explaining materials. He gave an example of how to do the exercises in Indonesian Misalnya

nomer satu ini. kalian tinggal nulis huruf the crossword. bisa? Tidak perlu di sini sudah ada

semua. In the interview, teacher A and B had same opinions about why they used Indonesian

in explaining materials. Based on the interview, teacher A said,

Maka karena saya mengingat anak-anak saya levelnya masih seperti itu, jadi

kalau saya jelaskan menggunakan bahasa inggris takutnya nanti pesan saya

tidak akan sampai. Jadi mengapa saya pakai ini, supaya pesan-pesannya itu

bisa dipahami. Ya intinya lebih memahami konsepnya dulu.


Saya cenderung menggunakan bahasa Indonesia sebagai bahasa penjelas

agar mereka lebih mengerti. Biasanya kalau kelas ini mereka tergantung

yang kurang. Maka daripada akan lebih cepat untuk mereka dalam

memahami. Mungkin cukup untuk membantu saja, yang lain untuk

memudahkan murid dan juga guru dalam menjelaskan materi.

Teacher A explained that he used Indonesian in explaining materials was because he wanted

the messages that he deliver was easy to be understood by the students. Similarly, teacher B

also noticed that if he used English, he was afraid that the students would be difficult to

receive the materials. Both teachers used Indonesian in explaining materials; to make the

students easier to understand the materials. I thought that the teachers should use Indonesian

12

or not in explaining materials with the consideration of students’ level. Thus, by using

Indonesian as their L1, the students could receive the material easier in order to improve their

English. Weihua (2009) said that one of teaching methodology is grammar translation

method, it involves mother tongue in teaching and learning process and it may help the

learner get the general idea about what they are going to learn in a new language. Macaro

(1997) said that L1 was the learners’ language of thought and the use of L1 at certain

occasion may help improve the learners’ comprehension (as cited in Chaniago, 2011).

The third category of Indonesian use was in translating words. Below are the teachers’

translations were Indonesian to the students:

Teacher A : Tables is use for.. Apa guna meja?

Students : Meletakkan buku

Teacher A : Meletakkan buku apa? Tables is used to take the book

From the conversation above, it can be seen that, teacher A used Indonesian in translating

word. When he asked the English word for meletakkan buku, he could know that no body

knew the answer. Then, he explained to the whole class that they could say table is used to

take the book for the word meletakkan buku.


Teacher B : Now, Ada yang tau what is tunnel? Tunnel: a place where?

Tunnel means?

Student : menara

Teacher : No, this is terowongan, there was a sign of underpass ahead.

What is underpass? We will see it later itu ada di soalnya.

There I saw a group of the road sign.

From the conversation above, it can be seen that, teacher B also used Indonesian in

translating word. When he asked the students about the meaning of tunnel, there was one

student who answered it into menara. Then he directly translated the correct meaning of

tunnel which means terowongan not menara. In the interview teacher A and B had different

13

opinions about the reasons why they used Indonesian in translating words. Based on the

interview, teacher A explained,

Tujuan ini saya ingin anak-anak acquire language. Jadi untuk bisa acquire

dan juga bisa tertanam dalam pikiran siswa, memang saya menggunakan

teknik translation. Translation itu memasukkan Bahasa Inggris lebih mudah

daripada tanpa translation. Jadi mereka tidak hanya mencerna tapi acquire

language, bisa masuk ke dalam memori-memori mereka.

On the contrary, teacher B explained,

Itu mungkin pertama-tama tujuannya sebetulnya adda beberapa hal, yang

pertama hal tersebut harusnya dihindari. Karena apa yang saya pelajari jika

langsung menterjemahkan murid tidak akan belajar apa-apa. Seharusnya

idealnya apa yang saya pelajari hal tersebut sebetulnya salah. Karena

seharusnya kita tidak harus serta merta menterjemahkan kedalam bahasa

Indonesia. kita harus menerangkan katakanlah what is tunnel? Tunnel is

kind of concret object which has narrow space inside of it, and things like

that. Jadi kita bisa katakanlah tidak harus leading. Kita tidak menyuapi tapi

kita membiarkan mereka agar berpikir dahulu. Tetapi secara idealnya apa

yang saya mengerti hal tersebut memang salah dan itu adalah opsi yang

terakhir apabila kita memang sudah tidak punya waktu. Akan tetapi idealnya

walaupun kita tidak menggunakan bahasa inggris tetapi kita harus tetap

untuk membiarkan mereka berfikir dahulu.

Both teachers had different opinions about the use of Indonesian in translating words.

Teacher A said that the use of Indonesian in translating words was to make the students easier

in acquiring English. He said that students not only understood the meaning of some words

but also they could acquire language in their memory. In line with teachers’ statements, Stern

(1983) stated that the first language is maintained as the reference system in the acquisition of

the second language (as cited in Zacharias, 2010). On the contrary, teacher B thought that the

use of Indonesian in translating words should be avoided. He thought that when he directly

translated some words to the students without giving them time to think. Therefore, it could

make the students couldn’t learn the material totally. The students just depended on the

teachers’ explanation and also it could make them lazy to think and also learn English. Based

on Polio (1994) and Atkinson (1987) the use of L1 in the classroom can create laziness

among students and failure to maximize English (as cited in Miles, 2004).

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The forth category of Indonesian use was in commanding and giving instruction.

Below are the teachers’ commands and instructions were Indonesian to the students:

Teacher A : Buat kalimat dengan Chair! ayo yang pojok. In the corner.

You are very very shy, what are you doing over there, kamu

sedang apa? Buat kalimat dengan chair!

Students : Chair is for sitting down.

Teacher A : Yes correct, Chair is for sitting down.

From the conversation above, it can be seen that, teacher A used Indonesian in commanding

and giving instruction to the students. When he commanded students to make sentences using

the word chair, he used Indonesian buat Kalimat dengan chair.


Teacher B : Okay draw it first. You don’t have to make it as good as on

the book. Yang penting jelas. As long as it is clear and you

can understand the pictures. Tidak perlu bagus2 yang penting

jelas. This will appear on the test. Soalnya ada di tesnya.

Sudah selesai? Sepuluh saja.

Students : Belum pak.

Teacher B : Make it fast. cepat sedikit! Five more minutes. Yang kecil

saja tidak usah besar-besar yang penting jelas!.

Students : Ya pak.

From the conversation above, it can be seen that, teacher B also used Indonesian in

commanding and giving instruction to the students. When he asked the students to draw the

pictures of road sign, he said yang penting jelas, tidak perlu bagus yang penting jelas and

tidak usah besar-besar yang penting jelas. In other words, he asked the students to draw a

clear picture. He also commanded the students to make it fast using Indonesian cepat sedikit.

In the interview, both teachers had the same opinion about the reason why they used

Indonesian in commanding and giving instruction to the students. These opinions were

clearly stated by those teachers in the interview. Teacher A said,

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Saya pakai Bahasa Indonesia karena instruksi saya agar bisa dimengerti.

Kalau saya pakai bahasa inggris, siswa saya suruh apa tidak tau. What can I

do sir? Aku mau apa? Ya dia tidak akan melakukan apa yang disuruh. Jadi

instruksi itu penting ya, bisa dilakukan itu memang harus dipahami apa

instruksinya.


Tentu saja yang pertama untuk memudahkan kami semua. Yang lainnya

adalah saya menginginkan agar semuanya berjalan dengan seperti apa yang

saya inginkan. Ini bertujuan agar anak-anak lebih jelas dan mengerjakannya

dengan tepat. Maka saya akan langsung menggunakan switch ke bahasa

Indonesia, sehingga mereka dapat memahami dan melakukan tugasnya

dengan baik.

In this case, both teachers had the same opinions about the use of Indonesian in commanding

and giving instruction to the students. Teacher A and B said that they used Indonesian to

make the instruction clear and easy to be understood by the students. Thus, the students could

do what they had to do in the classroom and it could make the teaching and learning process

efficient. According to Yung (2011) the use of L1 in giving instruction to the students will

make the accurate application of directive language which means it can make the teaching

efficient and effective.

The fifth category of Indonesian use was in telling stories and making jokes. Below

are the teachers’ examples of using Indonesian to the students:

Teacher A : Nama dulu, please. Make a sentence ayo apa? Melakukan

sesuatu, is itu kan untuk present continous tense ya boleh tapi

harus yang bentuk –ing ya?

Students : Bambang is sweeping

Teacher A : Bambang is sweeping. Bambang sedang menyapu. Jadi

bambang ini termasuk orang yang rajin ya. biasanya cewek

yg nyapu. Dan cewek kalau nyapu ya harus bersih. Kalau ga

nanti dapat orang brewok. It’s true right? if you don’t sweep

the floor clearly, you will have a beard. Do you like beard

man?

Students : No

From the conversation above, it could be seen that, teacher A used Indonesian in telling

stories and making jokes. As an example, Bambang sedang menyapu. Jadi bambang ini

16

termasuk orang yang rajin ya. biasanya cewek yg nyapu. Dan cewek kalau nyapu ya harus

bersih. Kalau ga nanti dapat orang brewok. He told the students whether sweeping usually

was done by woman not man. He said that if woman sweep should in clearly way, so that

they didn’t have beard man.


Teacher : Hari ini, today it means road sign sudah selesai?. Next week

we are going to continue the material. Masih ada satu materi

lagi.Kita review materi lagi setelah itu kita pulang. But for

next week we are going to have a test first. We are going to

review it a little bit for fifteen minutes. Masih ingat apa

masih lupa?

Students : Lupa

Teacher : Masih lupa? Okay jangan dihapus dulu. Present continuous

tense. Anyone of you still remember what is present

continuous tense? Masih lupa?

Students : Masih lupa. I don’t know.

From the conversation above, it could be seen that, teacher B also used Indonesian in telling

stories and making jokes. He asked the students using Indonesian, Masih ingat apa masih

lupa?, masih lupa?. He asked whether the students still remember about the lesson or not.

But then the teacher asked by saying do you still forget? And it made the whole class noisy.

In the interview, both teachers gave same reasons why they used Indonesian in telling stories

and making jokes. Teacher A explained in the interview, as the following,

Ice-breaknya itu berupa joke, tell story. Kalau pakai bahasa Indonesia itu

lebih bagus, kan tujuannya supaya mereka rileks. Kalau pakai bahasa inggris

malah nanti mereka jadi tegang lagi. Ini mengapa sih? malah dia mikir lagi.

Panas lagi otaknya nanti bisa error itu. Makanya untuk ice-breaking, untuk

joke seperti itu pakai bahasa Indonesia tidak apa-apa. Dan juga membuat

atmosphere di kelas itu kondusif, buat Suasana tidak tegang.


Kalau menggunakan joke dengan bahasa inggris mereka juga tidak akan

mengerti. Dan juga membuat hubungan antara guru dengan murid menjadi

katakanlah agak renggang dan tidak bisa berjalan dengan baik. Dan juga

bisa membuat atmoshphere di kelas semakin baik. Tentu saja tergantung

juga dengan karakter gurunya apakah kaku atau tidak juga membedakan.

17

Both teachers had same opinion that the use of Indonesian in telling stories and making jokes

could be useful in teaching English. Teacher A said that the use of Indonesian in telling

stories and making jokes as an ice breaking could make the atmosphere in the classroom

relax. Similarly, teacher B said that if he used English in telling stories and making jokes, the

students would be confused and didn’t understand about what the teachers’ said. The

atmosphere in the classroom would be better and also could make the relationship between

teacher and students good. In this case, if the teachers could make the atmosphere in the

classroom more comfortable, it could encourage the students to participate in teaching and

learning process. In accordance with teachers’ statements, Campa and Nassaji (2009)

reported that the teacher use of different languages in the classroom is not only to facilitate

L2 learning by helping the learners to get better understanding the L2 instruction, but also to

create a supportive and enjoyable environment for learning to take place. In other words, by

telling stories and making jokes, it could create a less threatening atmosphere in the

classroom that could make students feel enjoy and also can encourage them to learn English.

Conclusion

In summary, this finding showed that the teachers in this study used Indonesian in

their English classes. The teachers used Indonesian for the purpose of asking questions,

explaining material, translating word, giving instruction and commanding students, and

telling story and making joke. Both teachers supported the use of Indonesian in teaching

English in SMK N 2 Salatiga.

Nonetheless, both teachers had the same ideas that they believed the use of Indonesian

was needed in teaching English. First, the teachers’ beliefs about the use of Indonesian in

their teaching were required to make the students easy to understand the material and make

them confident in learning English. Second, the students could receive the material that the

teachers want to explain by using Indonesian. Third, students could understand the meaning

18

of difficult words in order to improve their English. Forth, the use of Indonesian helped the

good organization in the classroom by making the teachers’ instruction clear and easy to

understand by the students. Thus, it could make the students improve their language

proficiency. As a conclusion, the use of Indonesian could help the students to acquire and

improve their language proficiency of English.

This study provided knowledge about the use of Indonesian in teaching English at

Senior High School especially in Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan (SMK). It was possible for the

Senior High School teachers in making their teaching become more efficient. In addition, the

description of the positive impact in using Indonesian may also be useful information for

teachers in Senior High School in preparing the students to improve their English proficiency.

There are two limitations in this study. The first one is this study is only focused on

teaching context in Senior High School in Salatiga, especially in Sekolah Menengah

Kejuruan (SMK). Second, this study involved a small number of participants which were two

teachers. Further research may include more partipants to reveal more issues on the use of

Indonesian in teaching English. I would suggest that the findings of this research could be

considered by the teachers in teaching English in which Indonesian needs to be used. Besides,

the use of Indonesian should be reduced bit by bit to make teaching and learning process

more efficient. It might be mixed between 40% using Indonesian and 60% using English. I

would also suggest that it needs to do further research that looks at what are the purposes of

using Indonesian by the teachers in teaching English to senior high schools’ students.

19

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis would not have been finished without the support of many people. I wish

to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Bapak Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika, M.A., who

were abundantly helpful and patience in guiding me to finish this thesis in a limited time.

Deepest gratitude is also Ibu Anita Kurniawati, M. Hum., as my thesis examiner. Without

whose knowledge and assistance this study would not have been completed. I would like to

thank to the English Senior High school teachers in SMK N 2 Salatiga who were willing to

share all their thought, experiences and knowledge to support this thesis. I also wish to

express my love and gratitude to my beloved family who always supports me. Special thanks

also go to my husband, Bahtiar Adi Nugroho, who also supports me by his prayer. I also

thanks to my friends, Ica Frizka Shinta Rina Anita Titin and Lutfi, who always supports me

and help me in doing my thesis. All my best I give to Allah that I can finish this study in time

by His plan.

1

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