sociolinguistics and language teaching of smk antah berantah

CHAPTER 1
CONTEXTUAL SITUATION TABLE


SUBJECT CONTEXTUAL SITUATION

Students
- Low motivation
- Low achievement
- Low participation

School facilities
- Language laboratory provided
- Material provided
- Large hall

Teachers
- 5 ( five ) English teachers for 36 classes
- Lecturers at a University who are willing to give an assistance

Family
- Uneducated
- Middle – low socio-economic background

Setting

- Located in a suburb
- Many mangoes-trees
CHAPTER 2
DISCUSSION

A. Background
As everybody knows globalization and free competition are already here in Indonesia. In the near future, we will face even more competition as we advance further in the Globalization era. Make no mistake, the competition among developing countries like Indonesia will be tight and fierce, because globalization requires every country to open up its market and give access to other nationals. In time, every single occupation will become accessible to any global citizen as long as he or she has the right qualification and competence. Global-citizenship will increasingly be measured by skill, knowledge, competency and value, instead of one’s nationality or origin. A person becomes more globally accepted if he possesses more global qualification ( Suyanto,2007).
Responding to the era of globalization every country must prepare and empower its resources without a delay. Otherwise, they will be left behind. For this reason Government urgently sets about to empower all its resources, especially toward the raising of the capability of our vocational school students must be equipped with globally recognized tools to make them more acceptable, competitive, and upgradeable, in accordance with the world demands.

B. Problems
In fact most of school systems do not meet the government goals. Many problems which are not so easy to overcome come up in the field. As an example, here is the condition of a certain school and its indicators:
1. Students
a. Most of the students have low motivation to study
Motivation is considered to be a prominent factor in students’ achievement. Students coming from high-motivated group tend to perform better than those of low – motivated group. Based on this assumption it can be concluded that most of the students in this school are low motivated.
Some indicators support this assumption:
1) The students often play truant.
2) Nearly 50% of the students do not fulfill the school tuition.
3) Many students always come late.
4) Some students do not wear appropriate school uniform.
b. Most of the students have low achievement
It is true that teachers always hope their students get good scores. In fact, it is hard to find in this school since they have low-achievement.
The following indicators show their low-achievement;
1) Many students failed in their final-examinations. Most of them have to join remedial teaching to take their remedial testing.
2) Most of their homework and assignments cannot be correctly finished.
c. Most of the students have low –participation
One factor which might influence the teaching learning process is students’ participation in learning process. Low participation will result in teacher-centered which allows the teachers to speak a lot and lets the students be passive listener during the process.
This happens in this school since;
1) The students never do their homework.
2) The students never collect their assignments.
3) The students do not pay attention to the teacher’s explanation.
4) The students do not take part in a discussion.
5) The students do not give response to the teacher’s question.
6) The students do not have any reference-book.

2. School facilities
This school is well-equipped. It provides the students a language laboratory which is designed for forty-five students and compiled with sufficient-materials to support the teaching learning process. Besides, it has a large hall where many school activities can be conducted in.
3. Teachers
This school has five English teachers for thirty-six classes. If each classes has four English teaching hours. Every teachers will approximately have twenty-eight teaching hours which is considered to be a hard work for them.
This school is located near a reputable University which has an English Department whose teachers are willing to give an assistance whenever the school needs.
4. Students’ Family Background
Most of the students come from middle-low socio-economic background of a family.75 % of them are farmers and labors. They come from uneducated people who have to struggle for their lives. They work from warning to evening to raise their income and do not pay touch attention to their children education. While the rests are those coming from middle socio-economic background. They work as civil-servant, entrepreneurs, and other economic sector.
5. Setting
This school is located in a suburb, a little bit far from city centre, and lack of supervision. There are many mangoes-trees in this school that enable the students to study outdoors in a shady and fresh environment.

C. Planning
As many problems come up in the field, the problems teachers attempt to solve are carried out by all school components as well as parents and environment. The students and their parents involved in this program are asked to come for an interview or fill up questioners. By involving the students and their parents in this program, it is expected there will be a significant improvement gained by the students because what they get is really what they need. Besides it can raise the sense of belonging of students and their parents toward this school. The proposed programs are as follows :
1. Creating joyful learning by applying various kinds of teaching techniques / methods. This program is designed to overcome the problem of low motivation. By applying this program it is expected that the students will join the class cheerfully and be ready to follow the teaching-learning process.
2. Applying reward and punishment system.
It is an attempt to solve the problem of low-achievement and low-participation as well. This system is considered to be very effective because it will encourage both the low and high achievers to get better achievement. They will compete to get the reward and avoid punishment.
3. Making use of all the facilities optimally.
This school is equipped with good facilities. Teachers have to make use of these facilities optimally to bring many teaching varieties or techniques to avoid students’ boredom and enhance their knowledge. This is also considered to be able to empower the school system.
4. Giving permission to students to bring the material home.
Studying at school is bordered with the schedule and time allotment. It is wise to let the students bring the material home since they have more time to study at home.
5. Consulting experts when having difficulties.
This school is lucky enough since it is located near a reputable University whose lectures are willing to give an assistance when it is needed. This is the way to empower and to enhance the students as well as the teachers and give significant contribution to the school itself.
6. Giving good examples by using the video of a successful alumnus.
7. Hiring new English teachers.

D. Obstructions
There are some predictable obstructions in applying the programs. They might come from parents, students, or the school-systems that will be described as follows :
1. Parents
Most parents are hard-workers, they don’t have time to attend the interview conducted by the teachers or to fill up the questionnaires. If it happens there will be a solution for the teachers by conducting a home-visit program, but it is considered to be expensive.
2. Students
Having students in condition as such, is really dilemma. They might not give the invitations to their parents and / or they neglect all the teachers’ explanation.
3. The school –systems
This school is a vocational school, and English is considered not to be an important subject. Teachers have to be able to convince their colleagues to brake out this perception.

E. Conclusions and Suggestions
1. Conclusions
The teacher’s competence in classroom management is largely a function of his or her understanding of the dynamics of effective classroom management. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to enable teachers to understand more effectively problems they face in the field and the way to overcome those problems. So they can create and maintain the healthy condition in which the teaching learning process can be conducted effectively and efficiently
2. Suggestions
a. Make good relationships between teachers- students, teachers-teachers, and students-students.
b. Consult the people from Guidance and Counseling in understanding withdrawal.
c. Motivate the students to keep their mangoes-trees so that they can take the benefit of the fruits to assist their school tuition.
Reference

1. Suyanto, Prof.,Ph.D, Director General of Management of Primary and Secondary Education , a welcome remark on the International Workshop for Vocational School English Teachers, 2007