Transcript Locality and Identity: The Inclusion of Local Stories in

Ahmad Bukhori, Nia Nafisah, and Ika L. Damayanti
Indonesia University of Education
SoLLs.INTEC.09
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
5-6 May 2009
Introduction
 English learning in Indonesia
 English as a foreign language, now introduced earlier
 Haliday’s (1985) Genre-Based Approach in Indonesian national
curriculum of English; narrative text for junior and senior high
schools
 Wells’ (1987) four literacy levels (performative, functional (JHS),
informational, and epistemic (SHS)
 Children’s literature improve students’ interest (Lazar, 1993)
 Relevance of learning material with students background
knowledge (Gu, 2003; Blachowicz & Fisher, 2003; Elley, 1997)
 Local stories support students’ learning of English (Muslim,
2008)
 Globalization
 Economic, social, political, psychological, and
philosophical hegemony (Sasaki, 2004)
 Stealing children’s innocence by corporate
culture (Giroux, 2000)
 Uprooted and lost generation (Mahfudin, 2009)
 Awareness of self-identity (Giden 1991, in Barker,
2000)
Introduction Cont.
 Identity
 Who, what, and how to behave (Giden, 1991 in Barker, 2000)
 Various ethnics in Indonesia. Majors:







Javanese, Sundanese (Java),
Padangese, Batakese (Sumatra),
Balinese,
Madurese,
Dayakese (Kalimantan)
Bugisi (Sulawesi)
Asmat (Papua)
 Nurturance through formal schooling


Civic education for democracy and self-identity (Saifullah, 2009)
School dance from childhood games and plays (Sunaryo, 2009)
 Questions:
 How do Indonesian text-books incorporate
local stories?
 How do teachers and students perceive the
inclusion of local stories in the text-book?
 How does this inclusion influence students’
English learning process?
Method
 Descriptive in nature
 Sample :
 10 teachers of junior and senior high schools
 Students 50 high school and 18 junior high
 Instrument :
 Questionnaire


Students (nationalism, reading interest, local/foreign stories in learning)
Teachers (nationalism, reading interests, local/foreign stories teaching
process)
 Interview
 Location
 Urban and suburban schools in Bandung West Java Indonesia
 Public and religion schools
Finding : Text-book, grades, and authors
No
Titles
Grades
Authors
Publishers
1
English on Sky Book 2
IX
Mukarto dkk.
Erlangga
2
Real Time Student’s Book 2
IX
Nina A. Bates
Phibeta A Gama
3
Contextual Learning
XII
Wachyu Sundayana dkk
Grafindo
4
Look Ahead 1
X
Theresia & Eudia
Erlangga
5
Linked to the World 1
X
Soeprapto & Darwis
Yudhistira
6
Learning to Use English
XI
Fernando et.al.
Piranti Darma Kaloka
7
Seize Your English!
XII
Ahmad Bukhori et.al.
Al-Ihsan Press
8
Let’s Talk
IX
Bachtiar Bima etl.al.
Pakar Raya
9
English in Context
X
Wachyu Sundayana,
et.al.
Grafindo Utama
10
Developing Competencies in English
IX
Anwar Sofyanda, et.al
Grafindo
Finding : number of stories
No
Titles
Number of
foreign stories
Number of local
stories
Comparison
1
English on Sky Book 2
6
4
More foreign story
2
Real Time Student’s Book 2
11
0
No local at all
3
Contextual Learning
5
1
More foreign story
4
Look Ahead 1
9
2
More foreign story
5
Linked to the World 1
5
1
More foreign story
6
Learning to Use English
16
6
More foreign story
7
Seize Your English
8
1
More foreign story
8
Let’s Talk
5
4
More foreign story
9
English in Context
4
8
More local story
10
Developing Competencies in
English
Total
4
4
Equal proportion
73
31
Finding Cont.
 Foreign and local stories in each English text-book
Finding Cont: Teachers
 Nationalism
 Very patriotic, proud of being Indonesians


Born, raised, work, and live in the country
Prefer local food and clothes, not always music
 Reading interest
 Many interested in reading local stories
 A few interested in reading both stories (int’l schools)
 English Teaching
 Many found easier to teach narrative using local stories
 A few found indifferent between both stories
Finding Cont: Students
 Nationalism (food, film, fashion)
 Majority, proud of being Indonesians, a few less proud
 Like local food and fashion better due to availability and affordability
 Many prefer foreign music due to creativity and English learning.
 Reading interests
 Junior high and religion school Ss like local stories better.
 Senior high Ss of urban school prefer foreign stories to the local ones.
 Learning process
 Students of junior high and religion schools learn the four language
skills better with local stories with slight difference for each skill
 Some high school students learn the four language skills better with
both foreign and local stories
Discussion
 Inclusion of narrative texts:
 As mandated by the curriculum, all sample books have included narrative
texts in various forms, meeting the minimum requirement for a good text
book set by the government.
 Most students found it easier to learn the four English language skills using
local stories (Lazar, 1993; Tomlinson, 1990; Wright, 1989), supported by
(Muslim, 2008).
 The content of text-book is rather relevant with students’ background or
prior knowledge (Graves et.al., 2004; Gu, 2003; Blachowicz & Fisher, 2003;
Elley, 1997).
 Foreign stories are still dominant in English text-books.
 Stories from Java are still central
 Most book writers and publisher are in Java island
Discussion Cont.
 Nurturing nationalism by teachers
 Introducing local stories and cultures
 School location determines students, interests and nationalism.
 The less urban, the more nationalistic
 Students’ intellectuality also influences their nationalism.
 High achieving is more critical and less nationalistic.
 Type of schools affect the sense of nationalism.
 Religion school is more nationalistic, history approves
 School levels influence the sense
 JHS students are more nationalistic
 Less exposed to foreign cultures
Conclusion
 Sample books have included narrative texts, but foreign story is still dominant.
 Stories from Java island are still central.
 Teachers tend to have higher sense of nationalism than their students (maturity and
understanding of self-identity).
 Ss from urban schools have less sense of nationalism due to their environment.
 Some teachers find local stories support the teaching of narrative texts using local
literature but others find it indifferent
 Most students find it easier to learn the four skills of English via local stories but a few
found indifferent.
 The younger the students, the higher the nationalism .
Suggestion
 More quality local stories included in text-books.
 Also, more non-Java stories included.
Thank you
Terima kasih