CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents a general description of the study. It covers the
background of the study, the problem statements, the objectives of the study,
the scope of the study, the significance, and definition of key terms. At the
end of this chapter, the organization of the thesis will be presented.
1.1 Background of the Study
A curriculum is concerned with the plan, implementation, evaluation,
management, and administration of education programs (Nunan,1988:8). This definition
is in line with what the Government (BSNP, 2006) has maintained that curriculum
is a set of plans and rules about goals, contents, and learning materials as
well as the way of using it as a guidance for the implementation of learning
activities aimed at a specific goal. The National Education Department has
developed (since 2006) a new curriculum called Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) which is later on called
School Based Curriculum (SBC). SBC was designed to be one of the educational
innovations to enhance the quality of education.
SBC is viewed as an
operational curriculum which is prepared and implemented in each educational
unit. In designing SBC, each educational unit should take into account
competency standards and basic competences designed by the National Education
Standard Bureau or BSNP. Regarding this, Bolstad (2004:7) maintains that:
However, schools needing
to be responsive to their environment alludes to what is arguably the most
important rationale for SCBD: the view that SCBD provides a means for shaping
curriculum to suit unique local needs and resources of students and communities
(2004:7).
In relation to
the characteristics
of School Based Curriculum, Bolstad (2004:13) points out that teachers are
responsible for developing the curricula besides the implementation of the
curricula. It means that the teachers should be involved in decision making,
relating to the curriculum development and implementation. The teacher should also
design and implement their own curriculum in the form of syllabus and lesson
plan. Moreover, in Indonesian context, SBC is adaptive in the sense that the
teachers can adapt the existing curriculum to meet the local needs.
Unfortunately, since SBC was released in Indonesia, based on the
researcher’s observation, the process of learning has not shown changes in the
teaching of English particularly at the research site where the researcher
teaches. The teaching strategies or approaches that the teachers used seem to
be the same as in the previous curriculum. Although there are usually a lot of
trainings such as IHT (In House Training) and socialization of SBC in each
school unit, SBC has not been fully implemented. This has been reported by
Mulyasa (2007) that the implementation of SBC
does not immediately solve the problems because there is an important question emerging, namely,
have any educational units, school managers,
education holder, teachers, and
headmaster, made the existing curriculum as a base in implementing their duties and
functions? (translated from Mulyasa:2007:4-5).
Similarly,
Zainurrahman (2009) in his study points out that School Based Curriculum which
is being applied in Indonesia is now perceived as a curriculum that gives place
to the variations of the school. The curriculum is built by the school based on
consideration of some internal and external significance variables related to
the school itself. However, as autonomous curriculum, it also demands teacher
and school to be skilled and trained. This demand then causes different
perception of the teachers as the curriculum user of the SBC.
Moreover, Suharto (2009) in
his study maintains that the implementation of SBC seems not to run well due to
some factors such as the teacher’s teaching competence, and no detailed
information in SBC needed by the teachers.
Previous studies investigating SBC have been conducted by some
researchers such as Hasbullah (2007) ; Halawa (2008) among others.
The first research was conducted by Hasbullah (2007) in his study
entitled ‘Desain dan Implementasi SBC Mata Pelajaran Pendidikan
Agama Islam’. He conducted a comparative study at secondary high schools.
The study reveals that the implementation of SBC in the teaching Pendidikan Agama Islam needs to be
improved and completed. There are some aspects in the curriculum implementation
such as instructional planning, the teaching learning process, and the
evaluation that are still far from the
expectation of the curriculum. Moreover in the evaluation stage, Hasbullah
reported, the teachers did not do the evaluation during the teaching process but only the evaluation
after the teaching has been ended, and there is not much variation of the
evaluation aspects.
Another study was conducted by Halawa
(2008) in his study about ‘Implementasi KTSP Mata Pelajaran Matematika di SMAN Sirombu’.
The result of the research describes that there were good participation from teachers in making
syllabus and lesson plan. But, the implementation of the teaching and learning
process was not suitable with the plan that
had been made.
The two studies above gave an idea to conduct a further study on the
implementation of SBC in the researcher’s field of study, that is English. At the same time, English is
very important as a tool for international communication.
In addition, through this study, the researcher chose different
participants in another level of education who have not been investigated yet,
that is vocational students.
Therefore, looking at the fact in the field on the implementation of SBC
and related previous studies, the
researcher was motivated to conduct a study on the implementation of SBC. To
make deeper research, the focus of the research is on the evaluation system.
The evaluation is one of the important aspects in teaching besides the planning
and the process of English instruction. As Gronlund (1985:6) maintains:
The main purpose of classroom instruction is to help
pupils achieve a set of intended learning outcome. These outcomes would typically include all desired pupil
changes in the intellectual, emotional, and physical spheres. When classroom
instruction is viewed in this way, evaluation
becomes an important part of the teaching – learning process. Intended
learning outcomes are established by the instructional objectives; the desired
changes in pupils are brought about by the planned learning objectives; and the
pupils’ changes in learning progress is periodically evaluated by tests and
other evaluation devices.
Similarly, Sudjana (2006:v) points out that evaluation is one of the
strategies in enhancing the quality of teaching learning process and of the
learning outcome.
The researcher is a more interested in the evaluation because she considers
this aspect of teaching is not well-administered and well-defined based on her
observation on the teaching practice at the schools where she teaches. Based on
the discussion with her fellow teachers, it is found that evaluation is very
hard to do in measuring the students’ achievement fairly, at the same time,
some of the teachers did not have a complete format in their evaluation. Therefore,
a deep investigation of the evaluation is expected to give a new vision and a
refreshment of how evaluation should be like. Also, it is hoped that the writer
will find the real description of the English evaluation. Later on, the fact
found in the field is contrasted with the related theory of the evaluation
system. Therefore, if there is a gap, there will be a solution. If there is
not, there will be a suggestion for the betterment of the evaluation system in
the future.
The researcher also explores the problems faced by the teachers related
to the evaluation, and the students’ responses toward the evaluation in a private
vocational school in south Bandung.
The researcher chose the vocational school due to the fact that the
researcher is a teaching staff at a vocational school. This was expected to make
the research easier to accommodate since the teachers, the students, and the
personnel of the school are familiar with the researcher. At the same time, it
is also expected that the result of the study will be natural. Moreover,
nowadays a vocational education is paid a serious attention by the government
(Sinar Harapan,12/2/2010). Vocational schools are an alternative way to reduce
unemployment (Khalik, 2008). New graduates from the junior high school are
recommended to enter this kind of education. Therefore, the study is expected
to give much contribution to society as vocational school students are given a
high expectation to reduce unemployment.
Finally, the results of the study
can provide teachers with knowledge about the evaluation system of the existing
curriculum in the teaching of English. The results of the study can give a
clear description of how SBC is implemented in term of the evaluation aspect
for English teaching, some problems and its solution, for better practice of
the implementation of SBC in the future.
1.2
Problem Statements
This study was focused on answering the following research questions.
1. How
is SBC implemented with the specific reference to the evaluation system in English
teaching for the students of a
vocational school?
2. What
are the problems faced by the teachers in administering evaluation?
3. What
are the students’ responses toward the evaluation system?
1.3
The Objectives of the Study
Based on the research problems, the study were:
1. To
find out the implementation of SBC in
the teaching of English for the first, the
second, and the third grades students at a private vocational school in South
Bandung in terms of the evaluation
system.
2. To
explore the problems of the evaluation system based on SBC Curriculum at a private
vocational school in South Bandung.
3. To
describe the students’ responses toward the evaluation system at a private
vocational school in South Bandung.
1.4
The Scope of the Study
The
scope of the study was limited to exploring the implementation of the
evaluation system in English teaching of the students in all grades at the
school in the second semester, then finding out some problems faced by the
teachers related to the evaluation system, and at last elaborating the
students’ responses toward the evaluation system. The instruments used in
collecting the data were observation, questionnaires, interview and document
analysis.
1.5
Significance of the Study
The result of the study is expected to give some beneficial
contributions to the theory, educational practice and professional practice in
EFL context in Indonesia.
The theoretical
significance of this study is that it is expected to enrich the literature
about the curriculum development of English, especially the implementation of
evaluation system for vocational school. Moreover, practically, the study
provides a real description of the implementation of SBC in the
real situation especially in term of the evaluation system. For the teachers
themselves, the result of the study will hopefully give a solution of the problems they face or a
suggestion for betterment in the teaching of English. For the school decision
maker, the result of the study will give a second consideration in making a
certain policy related to evaluation. Finally, in terms of professional
practice, the results of the study will hopefully give a meaningful input or as
a reference for English teachers on how to implement the SBC curriculum
especially in the evaluation system at a vocational school.
1.6 Definitions of Key Terms
There are some
key terms used in the paper, such as evaluation, SBC and vocational school. Evaluation refers to “ the systematic inquiry into
instructional sequences for the purpose
of making decisions or providing
opportunity for reflection and action”.
Evaluation program often makes use of
data from language assessment, along with
non- assessment data, to arrive at
its conclusion (Lynch,2005:1). Evaluation in the study refers to
the assessments that the teachers have
been carried out during the teaching
process and after the teaching process. It is also included the evaluation on
the midterm test and final test. Therefore, evaluation and assessment stated
here in the paper are interchangeable. Meanwhile SBC stands for Kurikulum
Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (School Based Curriculum). It refers to the
curriculum that has been regulated to be applied at schools in Indonesia since 2006. Finally, vocational
School in the study refers to a private vocational school majoring in
automotive and mechanical engineering,
located in Soreang, South Bandung as the site of the study.
1.7 Organization of the Thesis
Title: The
Evaluation System of English Teaching in the Implementation of SBC for
Vocational School
(A Case Study at
a Private Vocational School in Soreang,
South Bandung, West Java)
Chapter I Introduction
This chapter
elaborates some general background information about the study, starting from
the reason of choosing the topic, the purpose of the study, the scope and the
problems statement, and finally, the clarification of the main terms used in
the paper.
Chapter II Literary Review
It presents some
relevant literature as the basic points of the study, especially dealing with
evaluation in the English teaching for vocational school. It also elaborates
some previous research which supports the study and the gap that the study will
fill (Emilia, 2008: 164).
Chapter III Methodology
It presents the
research design that is used in the study, also the methods used to collect the
data, and to analyze the obtained data. The instruments of the study are also
stated in this chapter.
Chapter IV Result and Discussion
In the chapter
IV, it is explored the findings of the study that have been gained from the
collected data and the result of the data analysis. The discussion of the
findings is also elaborated here.
Chapter V Conclusion and Recommendation
This is the end
of the paper, presenting the conclusion of the findings of the study. The
recommendation for future research is also defined here.
1.8 Synthesis
This chapter has discussed the introduction part of the study. It
provided the background of the study, the problem statements, the objectives of
the study, the scope of the study, the significance, the definition of key
terms, and the organization of the thesis. Moreover, the details of the
theoretical foundation will be explained in the next chapter.
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