LEARNING AND LANGUAGE

LEARNING AND LANGUAGE

By:

JON SASTRO

ENGLISH PROGRAM

FAKULTY AND TEACHING TRAINING

MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF BENGKULU

2011

LEARNING AND LANGUAGE

v  What is language?

Bahasa Inggris adalah bahasa Jermanik Barat, yang berasal dari Inggris. Bahasa ini merupakan kombinasi antara beberapa bahasa lokal yang dipakai oleh orang-orang Norwegia, Denmark, dan Anglo-Saxon dari abad ke-6 sampai 10.

Bahasa Inggris adalah bahasa pertama di Amerika Serikat, Antigua dan Barbuda, Australia, Bahama, Barbados, Bermuda, Britania Raya, Guyana, Jamaika, Saint Kitts dan Nevis, Selandia Baru dan Trinidad dan Tobago.

Di dunia bahasa Inggris merupakan bahasa kedua pertama yang dipelajari. Bahasa Inggris bisa menyebar karena pengaruh politik dan imperialisme Inggris dan selanjutnya Britania Raya di dunia. Salah satu pepatah Inggris zaman dahulu mengenai kerajaan Inggris yang disebut Imperium Britania (British Empire) adalah tempat “Matahari yang tidak pernah terbenam” (“where the sun never sets”). Tata bahasa Inggris memiliki variasi dalam struktur dan penggunaannya, itu tergantung tradisi yang digunakan oleh suatu negara yang dipengaruhi oleh bahasa asli dari negara tersebut. Secara umum, tata bahasa yang dipedomani adalah tata bahasa Inggris Amerika dan Inggris Britania Raya (British).

The Study of Language Acquisition

·           Language acquisition

One of the first things that should strike any half observant parent is the speed and apparent accuracy in which a child proceeds to learn his or her own language. This remarkably rapid development seems to fly in the face of many known facts about the nature of language so much so that it has become widely accepted in the scientific community to think of language and its acquisition as one of many utterly unexplainable mysteries that beset us in our daily lives. Even the most clever of scientists today do not know where to begin with trying to unravel the range of complexities that all of language brings. Even so, the child moves ever onward, seemingly with little deference to this so-called mystery and proceeds with little effort to crack the sacred code nonetheless.

How could this be? Firstly, parents provide very little in the way of language instruction to the child contrary to what might be believed, parents do not teach their children to speak. Most parents wouldn’t even have the means in which to explain language overtly to a child even if they wanted). In fact, parents spend the majority of time correcting falsehoods (those little white lies) rather than correcting erroneous grammars.

On the mere face of it, one would think children grow-up being little lawyers seeking out truths rather than little linguists seeking out correct hypotheses to their language. Thank God, the latter indeed prevails. Children will continue to lie in order to take-on an advantage, while, without exception, by-and-by acquiring their mother language. By the time a child enters pre-school, she has more-or-less mastered much of her target language. However, in light of these remarkable achievements, children do seem to go through varying degrees of stages along the way to their full mastery. It is this notion of stages of acquisition that has interested the developmental linguists most.

·         Language Acquisition vs. Language Learning

By Judie Haynes

Should grammar be taught to young elementary age English language learners? Learn what the difference is between language acquisition and language learning.

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is about teaching grammar rules to very young English language learners. Those of you who follow the "Ask Judie" bulletin board already know my answer to that question. I would not teach grammar out of context to young students. (I am asked for grammar lessons for 1st and 2nd graders!) Research has shown that "out of context" grammar drills do not work with students of any age. Teachers of English language learners should really be developing the oral communication, reading, vocabulary, and writing skills of their young students. The grammar will take care of itself. Read predictible books. Teach thematic units. Any mention of a grammar rule should be within the context of those texts.

FACTORS AFFECTING SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

·      Age and Language Learning

                   What exactly is the relationship between age and language learning? There are numerous myths and misconceptions about the relative abilities or inabilities of language learners of different ages. Do children learn language faster? Is it impossible for adults to achieve fluency? In a word - no. These and other common beliefs are simply not true. Children do not necessarily learn faster than adults and, in fact, adults may learn more efficiently. Furthermore, there is no loss of language ability or language learning ability over time. Age is not a detriment to language learning, and by all accounts, learning a second (or third etc) language actually keeps the older language learners mind active.

·      Age Related Factors In Language Learning

                   Health is an important factor in all learning, and many chronic diseases can affect the ability of the elderly to learn. Hearing loss affects many people as they age and can affect a person's ability to understand speech, especially in the presence of background noise. Visual acuity also decreases with age. (Hearing and vision problems are not restricted exclusively to the older learner, however.) It is important that the classroom environment compensate for visual or auditory impairments by combining audio input with visual presentation of new material, good lighting, and elimination of outside noise (Joiner, 1981).

·      Aptitude:

Aptitude refers to the special ability involved in second language learning (Douglous et al 1995). The relationship between aptitude and second language learning success is a very important one and various studies, such as Gardner (1980) and Skehan (1989) have reported that aptitude is a major factor determining the level of success of second language learning (Douglousetal1995).

Students can have a good aptitude for learning. This can infer various things, such as:

·         The understanding of the function of words in sentences.

·         The ability to understand and use grammatical rules.

• Memory of key words, what they mean and how to use them.

An important point regarding aptitude and second language learning is that successful learners may not be strong in all the components of aptitude and can still succeed at learning a second language. For example, some individuals may have strong memories but only average abilities in the other components of aptitude (Spada 1999).

·         Motivation:

The social psychological factor of motivation has been proven to account for differential success in second language learning.  A motivated student can be defined as someone who:

"Expends effort, is persistent and attentive to the tasks at hand, has goals, desires and aspirations, enjoys the activity, makes attributions concerning success or failure, is aroused and makes use of strategies to aid in achieving goals   (Dornyei 2003, p.173).

It makes sense that those individuals who are motivated to learn the second language will learn faster and to a greater degree than those who are not.  Considering most primary schools now have a compulsory second language program, this can result in students who are learning a second language either resenting or being enriched by the learning.   This is supported by Gass (1993): If the students only reason for learning a second language is external pressure, a students motivation may be minimal and result in lack of success(p.11).  Furthermore, if students feel that they are not going to need the language in their lives, students may not be motivated and attitudes toward leaning that language may be negative (Gass et al 1993). As a second language teacher, it is important that you adopt strategies to motivate the students to learn. 

·         Learning Strategies:

As in all school topics, learning strategies are a factor of second language learning. One definition of learning strategies is:

Steps or actions taken by learners to improve the development of their language skills (Gass et al 1993, p.265).

Different learning strategies work best for different people when learning a second language.  For example, one student may learn vocabulary through writing and practicing the vocabulary using cue cards, whereas another student may only read the vocabulary and learn that way.

Although it is clear that students can be more successful in second language learning if they adopt particular learning strategies to suit them, theorists such as Bialystok (1990) and Cohen (1992), have found the learning strategies field to have its problems, as some aspects are not yet clear.  These problems include that it is difficult to separate the conscious from the unconscious and the difficulty of showing what contributions they have on language learning (Gass et al 1993).  As Grass (1993) insights, learning strategies is clearly an important area but there needs to be more theoretically sound research.

·         Personality:

Learners emotional states have a powerful influence on their behaviour and performance in the classroom and other learning situations.  There are various theories that claim that personality factors are important predictors of success in second language learning.  Personality traits such as extroversion, introversion, risk-taking, independence and empathy have been the basis of discussions and disputes relating to this topic (Ellis 1986).

Pengajaran Bahasa Inggris di  Sekolah Dasar

Kalau kita berbicara tentang pengajaran, orang mau tak mau harus mengarahkan perhatian pada 4 hal utama yaitu i) tujuan yang hendak dicapai, ii) strategi belajar mengajar, iii) buku ajar, dan iv) kompetensi profesional untuk berwe-wenang mengajarkannya. (Nababa, 1993: 181).

Perlu disadari bahwa Lembaga Pendidikan Tenaga Kepen-didikan (LPTK) yang bertang-gung jawab atas pendidikan tenaga-tenaga kependidik-an, tidak mempunyai program pendidikan tanpa tenaga kependidikan yang memiliki kewenangan mengajar-kan bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Dasar. Sebelum adanya Kurikulum Kependi-dikan yang berlaku secara Nasional tahun 1994, LPTK diarahkan untuk menghasilkan tenaga pengajar untuk SMA.

Jangankan untuk Sekolah Dasar, untuk Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan atau SMK dan SLTP pun LPTK tidak siap. Ini berarti bahwa penyelenggaraan pengajaran bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Dasar tidak ditangani oleh guru yang memang kompetenasi mengajar bahasa Inggris untuk SD. Ini berarti bahwa pengajaran bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Dasar diselenggarakan secara coba-coba belaka. Padahal apapun juga yang diajarkan di SD sebagai lembaga pendidikan dasar yang paling awal, mempunyai pengaruh yang besar terhadap pengajaran di jenjang pendi-dikan yang lebih tinggi. Kuat lemahnya dasar yang berhasil diletakkan di Sekolah Dasar akan menentukan perkembangan selanjut-nya.

Alexei A. Leontiev dalam bukunya Psychology and the Language Learning Process   (1989) mengemu-kakan mengenai belajar bahasa pada masa kanak-kanak bahwa “Language learning in an early age of a child (6 – 12 years old) has a deceptive effect. His language development will be greatly affected by his experience in learning the language. When he has undergone the right track of learning his language acquisition will develop smoothly (Leontiev, 1989 : 211).

Pendapat Leontiev ini  memberi peringatan bahwa pengajaran bahasa, khususnya suatu bahasa asing, harus, harus dijalani sesuai dengan tuntutan pembelajaran anak. Dan untuk dapat berbuat demikian, diperlukan seorang guru yang benar-benar kompeten untuk itu.

Karena pengajaran bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Dasar masih belum merupakan kegiatan kurikuler nasional, maka buku ajarpun tidak tersedia. Guru harus menggunakan bahan ajar darurat yang kesesuaian dan kemanfaatannuya tidak bisa dipastikan.

Dan dengan tidak tersedianya guru bahasa Inggris di SD, strategi belajar-mengajar yang benar dan sesuai dengan kebutuhan pem-belajaran siswa juga tidak bisa di kembangkan.

Kesimpulannya hanya satu: hasil belajar bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Dasar tidak bisa dinilai, karena tidak tidak bisa ditentukan tujuan yang hendak dicapai.

Jikalau pandangan Leontiev dijadikan pegangan, maka dapat diprediksi bahwa pengajaran bahasa Inggris di SLTP dan di SMU juga tidak mampu mencapai tujuan yang diharapkan. Dan yang lebih buruk, kesalahan belajar di SD akan dibawa serta di SLTP dan SMU dan selanjutnya. Selain dari itu gairah siswa untuk belajar bahasa Inggris tidak atau akan sukar di kembangkan karena mereka mempunyai pengala-man yang tidak menyenangkan mempelajari bahasa itu di Sekolah Dasar.

·           Oleh Prof. Hj. Kasihani K.E. Suyanto, M.A., Ph.D.

Kurikulum Bahasa Inggris sebagai muatan lokal yang ada bila benar-benar kita cermati masih banyak kelemahannya. Tujuan yang merupakan salah satu komponen penting pengajaran bahasa Inggris tidak sesuai untuk perkembangan anak usia 6–12 tahun. Empat Kurikulum Muatan Lokal (Jatim, Jateng, Jabar, DIY) yang telah dikaji menunjukkan adanya perbedaan dalam pendekatan dalam penysusunan, tujuan, dan materi/topik.

Pembelajaran bahasa asing untuk sekolah dasar di luar negeri sudah dimulai tahun 60-an, mencapai puncak pada tahuan 70-an dan sempat surut. Namun sekarang sejak tahun 90-an telah terjadi ledakan anak belajar bahasa asing lebih dini. Bahasa asing di SD sebenarnya untuk memperkenalkan kepada siswa bahwa ada bahasa lain selain bahasa ibu.  Di Indonesia dengan adanya kebijakan di muka, seyogyanya bahasa Inggris diperkenalkan melalui kegiatan yang sesuai dengan kegiatan di dunia anak. Misalnya, belajar kosakata dan kalimat sederhana tentang apa yang ada di sekitarnya atau belajar sambil menggambar, menyanyi, bermain, dan berceritera. Bagaimana kenyataan di lapangan sekarang? Anak-anak SD ditugasi untuk menerjemahkan kalimat-kalimat yang sulit, mencatat tata bahasa dengan istilah yang tidak dimengerti oleh siswa, dan mengerjakan pekerjaan rumah yang sering tidak jelas perintahnya sehingga ada jawaban yang rancu.

PERATURAN PEMERINTAH REPUBLIK INDONESIA
NOMOR 19 TAHUN 2005
TENTANG
STANDAR NASIONAL PENDIDIKAN

·       Pasal 7

1.    Kelompok mata pelajaran agama dan akhlak mulia pada SD/MI/SDLB/Paket A, SMP/MTs/SMPLB/Paket B, SMA/MA/SMALB/ Paket C, SMK/MAK, atau bentuk lain yang sederajat dilaksanakan melalui muatan dan/atau kegiatan agama, kewarganegaraan, kepribadian, ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi, estetika, jasmani, olah raga, dan kesehatan.

2.    Kelompok mata pelajaran kewarganegaraan dan kepribadian pada SD/MI/SDLB/Paket A, SMP/MTs/SMPLB/Paket B, SMA/MA/SMALB/ Paket C, SMK/MAK, atau bentuk lain yang sederajat dilaksanakan melalui muatan dan/atau kegiatan agama, akhlak mulia, kewarganegaraan, bahasa, seni dan budaya, dan pendidikan jasmani.

3.    (3) Kelompok mata pelajaran ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi pada SD/MI/ SDLB/Paket A, atau bentuk lain yang sederajat dilaksanakan melalui muatan dan/atau kegiatan bahasa, matematika, ilmu pengetahuan alam, ilmu pengetahuan sosial, keterampilan/kejuruan, dan muatan lokal yang relevan.