EEJ 2 (2) (2012) English Education Journal http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej DEVELOPING AN ENGLISH INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL FOR BRIDGING COURSE PROGRAM Tri Kusnandi , Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Program Pascasarjana, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia Abstrak Studi ini mencoba untuk mencari tahu materi apa yang dibutuhkan pada siswa kelas 7 pada program Bridging Course di SMPN 2 Magelang, bagaimana “Good Start for Beginners” efektif dan sesuai. Berdasarkan masalah yang ada, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan materi instruksional pada program bridging course oleh siswa dan guru. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan Research & Development (R&D). Peneliti menggunakan semua langkah yang diajukan oleh Hyland (2003:83). Pertama, survey, berdasarkan KTSP SMP RSBI Negeri 2 Magelang dilakukan kepada siswa SMP kelas VII. Kedua, peneliti mengembangkan materi. Ketiga, validasi dilakukan untuk penyesuaian. Sampai akhirnya siswa menyukai materi tersebut. Pencapaian siswa setelah menggunakan “Good Start for Beginners” terbilang baik. Rata-rata skor siswa 80,42 yang mengindikasikan bahwa buku “Good Start for Beginners” efektif dan sesuai untuk digunakan. Abstract This study is an attempt to find out what kinds of English materials are needed by grade seven students in the bridging course program of SMPN 2 Magelang, how the “Good Start for Beginners” is developed, why a validation is needed, and whether the “Good Start for Beginners” is effective and appropriate. Based on the research problems, this study is aimed to develop an English instructional material for bridging course program used by teachers and students. The approach used in this study is Research and Development (R&D). I used all of the steps proposed by Hyland (2003:83). First, a survey was done by mapping the needs of the students based on KTSP of SMP RSBI Negeri 2 Magelang for grade seven of Junior High School. Second, I developed material. Third, a validation is really needed for adjusting. Finally, the students gave the good opinions about the book. All of them liked the material very much. The students’ achievement after being taught by using “Good Start for Begin- ners” is good. The total average of students’ achievement on four language skills was 80, 42. It implies that “Good Start for Beginners” teachers and students textbook are effective and appropriate to use. © 2012 Universitas Negeri Semarang Info Artikel Sejarah Artikel: Diterima Agustus 2012 Disetujui September 2012 Dipublikasikan November 2012 Keywords: Developing English Instructional Mate- rial Bridging Course RSBI  Alamat korespondensi: Kampus Unnes Bendan Ngisor, Semarang 50233 E-mail: jurnalpps@unnes.ac.id ISSN 2087-0108 207 Tri Kusnandi & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati / English Education Journal 2 (2) (2012) INTRODUCTION The teaching of English as an Internatio- nal Language today takes place in a wide varie- ty of contexts: in Outer and Expanding Circle countries, in private and public institution, with young children and adults, with monolingual and bilingual teachers. Cortazzi and Jin (1996) refer to the culturally influenced aspects of a lan- guage classroom as a ‘culture of learning’. Well (1991:52-53) describes a number of levels of lite- racy, each of which represents a different view of literacy. The first level is what he calls performative. The emphasis at this level is on the code as code. The second level is functional. This perspective emphasizes the uses that are made of literacy in interpersonal communication. The effort above is based to conduct the Government law no. 20 in 2003 about National Education System that sta- tes Government and/ or local government run at least one of education system for any education level to be developed as a designated Internatio- nal Rating School or Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf In- ternasional (RSBI). Our government has launched a program called-RSBI for 4 years. The first RSBI schools involved 102 in 2007, 102 in 2008, and 93 in 2010 and in 2011 there are 36 private and pub- lic schools. So there are totally 333 RSBI junior high schools in Indonesia now. But the progress of RSBI was not successful yet because there are still many schools which have many problems in preparing the prospective students, the sixth gra- ders of elementary school to study at higher level in the beginning of junior high school. They are not ready to study by using English in the teach- ing and learning process. Besides, most elemen- tary school students have difficulties to improve the knowledge and skills when are getting the English bridging course, they feel bored and do not pay attention because the program and ma- terials which are presented by the teacher are not interesting and attractive. Based on the problems above, this study aims to find out what kinds of English materials are needed by grade seven stu- dents in the bridging course program of SMPN 2 Magelang and their opinion about the existing English material, how the “Good Start for Be- ginners” is developed, why a validation is needed in developing an English instructional material, how to produce a good English Instructional ma- terial, and whether the “Good Start for Begin- ners” in English teaching material is effective and appropriate for bridging course program in SMP RSBI Negeri 2 Magelang. The field of second (or foreign) langu- age teaching has undergone many fluctuations and shifts over the years. Different from physics or chemistry, in which progress is more or less steady until a major discovery causes a radical theoretical revision (Kuhn 1970), language teach- ing is a field in which fads and heroes have come and gone in a manner fairly consistent with the kinds of changes that occur in youth culture. In designing a course, we need a syllabus as a guideline in teaching learning activities sin- ce a syllabus is a document which says what will (or at least what should) be learnt (Hutchinson and Waters,1987:80). According to Widdowson (1978), syllabus is simply a framework within which activities can be threaten to pedagogy when it is regarded as absolute rules for determi- ning what should be learnt rather than points of reference from learning can be taken.In my study, I used communicative syllabus as we know that the students of junior high school should provide a lot of chances and practices to speak in various way. Their ages are still easy controlled in spea- king manner The new communicative approach to te- aching prompted a rethinking of classroom te- aching methodology. It was argued that learners learn a language through the process of com- municating in it, and that communication that is meaningful to the learner provides a better opportunity for learning than through a gram- mar-based approach. The arching principles of communicative language teaching methodology can be summarized as follow: make real com- munication, provide opportunities, be tolerant of learner’s errors, develop accuracy and fluency, link the different skills, and let students induce or discover grammar rules. Since the 1990s, the communicative ap- proach has been widely implemented because it describes a set of very general principles groun- ded in the notion of communicative competence as the goal of second language. Two current methodologies that can be described as extensions of the CLT movement but which take different routes to achieve the goal of communicative language teaching that is to develop learners’ communicative competen- ce. They are process-based CLT approaches and product-based CLT approaches. It refers to them as process-based methodologies since they share as a common starting point a focus on creating classroom processes. These methodologies are Content-Based Instruction (CBI) and Task-Based Instruction (TBI). Text-based instruction, also known as a genre-based approach, sees communicative com- petence as involving the mastery of different ty- Tri Kusnandi & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati / English Education Journal 2 (2) (2012) 208 pes of texts. This view of language owes much to the work of the linguist Michael Halliday. Accor- ding to Feez and Joyce (1998), TBI is based on an approach to teaching language which invol- ves: teaching explicitly about the structures and grammatical features of spoken and written texts, linking spoken and written to the context, deve- loping unit of work, and providing students with guided practice. Educational Research and Development (R&D) is an industry-based development model in which findings of research are used to design new products and procedures, which then are systematically field-tested, evaluated, and refined until they meet specified criteria of effectiveness, quality, or similar standards. There are many instructional design mo- dels. However, in this study the writer would re- fer to Banathy’s, Yalden’s, Kemp’s and Hyland’s model. But the writer would like to use Hyland’s model to design the English instructional materi- als for Bridging course in junior high school since each model has its own strength Literacy in foreign language education is much concerned by linguist since it is commonly defined as the ability to read or write. As stated in Government Regulation No 19, year 2005, chap- ter 5, article 25, verse 13 dealing with the graduate competence standard, the purpose of language education is to develop students’ communicati- on skills with emphasis on reading and writing according to their academic level. The ultimate goal of language education in SMP is to develop the students’ speaking skill different from SMA that is writing skill. SMP students are prepared to use the language, so that they are able to make conversation of interpersonal communication. According to Wells (1987), there are four litera- cy levels: performative, functional, informational and epistemic A curriculum then is a public document, record, a contract, or an instrument which rep- resents negotiation among all the parties invol- ved. It concerns with the ends of instructions, its social purpose. Another definition comes from Brown (2000) about English curriculum or sylla- Need Analysis Doing Survey Developing Material Experts and Teachers Validation Doing First Revision Trying out Doing second revision Producing The Final Product Figure 1. The stages of Research and Development (R&D) in the Material Development Model Adapted from Hyland’s (2003:83) 209 Tri Kusnandi & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati / English Education Journal 2 (2) (2012) bus that is designed for carrying out a particular language program. Nunan (1992, p.227) states that teaching materials are often the most substantial and ob- servable component of pedagogy. They determi- ne the quality of language input and the language practices during the learning process in the clas- sroom. In addition, Cunningsworth (Richards, 2003, p.251) has also summarized the role of materials (particularly textbook) in language te- aching as: a resource for presentation materials (spoken and written),a resource of activities for learners practice and communicative interaction, a reference source for learners on grammar, voca- bulary, pronunciation, and so on, for classroom, a source of stimulation and ideas activities, a syl- labus (where they reflect learning objectives that have already been determined), a support for less experience teachers who have yet gained their confidence. Teaching methodology also determines the English material-whether it follows audio-lingual methods, communicative approach etc. (Hatchin- son,1987) Substitution tables indicates the mate- rial of audio-lingual method, and a dialogue of a certain situation will appear in the textbook of communicative approach The effort to conduct the Government law no. 20 in 2003 about National Education Sys- tem, Government and/ or local government run at least one of education system for any educati- on level to be developed as a designated Interna- tional Rating School or Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional (RSBI). In SMP Negeri 2 Magelang, the program is conducted in a short course to assist commencing students to come “up to speed” before starting the learning process. There are 4 subjects are taught in the program, they are English, Physics, Biology and Information and Communication Technolo- gy (ICT). The bridging course in SMPN 2 Mage- lang is particularly useful for students who have no or limited prior study area, has a significant break from prior studies or who simply wish to have a refresher course in a particular field. METHODS Since the aim of R&D in this thesis is to develop or design a new product to improve Eng- lish teaching today in an English bridging course programs in SMP Negeri 2 Magelang as a designa- ted International rating school or RSBI. The research used Material Development Model adapted from Hyland’s (2003:57) begin- ning from mapping. Next, in developing material, I used material development proposed by Hyland (2003:83). It consisted of eight steps. The steps are mentioned in the procedure of this study. The writer conducted preliminary research on some elementary school students of the sixth grade in SDN Magelang 7 to know the real needs of students who will join the bridging course pro- gram. Then the observation was conducted on some students of grade 7 who studied in RSBI class on what problems they got in the lesson, and some interviews were also conducted in little English for Math and Science teachers who teach the beginners of student grade seven. This try out was conducted in SMP Negeri 2 Magelang when the bridging course program was running. SMP Negeri 2 Magelang is one of RSBI SMP in Magelang. It is located at Jl. Pier- re Tendean no. 8 Magelang. The Bridging course officials split 176 students into 7 classes; they are 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, 7E, 7F and 7G. I chose 7D ran- domly among some classes which had the same characteristics.There were 22 students in 7D at SMP RSBI 2 Magelang in the academic year of 2012-2013. I used them as the subjects of try out. They got eleven meetings to get Bridging course materials. After mapping the real needs of students who wanted to study in SMPN 2 Magelang, I used Material Development Model adapted from Hyland’s (2003:57) to develop English teaching material for the new students grade seven (7D). SD Negeri 7 Magelang is located in Jalan Pahlawan No. 1 Magelang 56117. It is one of best elementary schools in Magelang city. The writer used questionnaire and interview for the students and teachers involved. After doing the mapping, I constructed the syllabus and lesson plan which are mixed with need survey and the need of the seventh grade of SMP RSBI. Next, I called my product “Good Start for Beginners”. The data for material validation were gat- hered by distributing and gathering question- naires to 10 respondents and interviewing them informally. They were three lecturers from Tidar University of Magelang, one senior high school English teacher and anEnglish instructor of LPMP Central Java (Widyaiswara), five junior high school English teachers of SMPN 2 Mage- lang, and one English elementary school teacher. In line with the checklist of validation forms and suggestions which had been given by the experts and teachers, I intended to do some revisions. I consulted the revised material deve- lopment to my advisor before doing a try out. When they agreed with my developed materials, Tri Kusnandi & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati / English Education Journal 2 (2) (2012) 210 I was able to move on to the next step. This try out was conducted on the seventh grade of Junior High School Students. The stu- dents were as Bridging Course Program partici- pants in the academic year of 2012-2013. After doing the try out, if there are still improvements, I did second revision. The criteria employed for the validity of the tryout in sorting out the material development is suitable with the curriculum or not. Questionnaires were distri- buted to both the teacher and the students to find out their opinion on “Good Start for Beginners” student text book Finally, I edited and revised the material in order to generate the better products. The fi- nal “Good Start for Beginners student textbook was written and finalized with some illustrations. Then the fixed materials development was rea- dy to be reprinted, demonstrated, published and distributed to the public. The final book “Good Start for Beginners” were also being written and finalized with some illustrations related to the genre item. DISCUSSION After finding some facts according to ma- terial development in “Good Start for Beginners” textbook, there were no significant obstacles. In the first step, a survey was done by mapping the needs of new students of Junior High School and the needs of the Standard Competence and Basic Competence in Junior high School.Develo- ping material, as the second step, was combined with some activities and the validation was done by experts and teachers on the developed draft product (the mapping, syllabus, lesson plan, a student textbook and a teacher textbook).In the first revision, there were only few corrections in “Good Start for Beginners” textbook. Next, I conducted the try out in Junior High School in grade seven students of SMP Negeri 2 Magelang. After trying out, I conducted the second revision of the students’ questionnaire.Finally, according to the result of this study, the average score of the test was higher than the school passing gra- de. The student’s average score was 74, 78 for the listening section, 82, 32 for speaking section, 76, 57 for the reading section , and 88, 04 For the wri- ting section. So, the average of the four language skills was 80, 42, it was upper than the school pas- sing grade of English learning process at SMPN 2 Magelang that is 75. It meant the developed materials, “Good Start for Beginners” textbook in the bridging course program, was completely good.Next, “Good Start for Beginners” students textbook and “Good Start for Beginners” teach- ers textbook became the new products.In this study, I used all of the steps proposed by Hyland (2003:83). They were conducting the survey, de- veloping material, experts and teachers validati- on, doing first revision, trying out, doing second revision, producing the final product and the last step was disseminating. The fixed new product materials development was ready to be printed, demonstrated, published, and distributed to the public. CONCLUSION First, the students said that they found it difficult with the previous English materials and sometimes they were bored. They needed an at- tractive material such as English songs or chants, games and various English teaching learning mo- dels.Second, I developed material which is called “Good Start for Beginners” textbook for teach- er and students. This study can encourage the students to like English lessons. They can show their speaking and writing ability in daily life and academic context. Third, a validation is really needed in developing an English instructional material. The purpose of this step was to gather input, suggestion, and criticism on the developed materials then it was used to adjust the material to create the final developed material. Finally, the students gave the interesting opinion about the developed materials. All of them liked the mate- rial very much. The students’ achievement after being taught by using “Good Start for Beginners” textbook is good. And according to the result of this study, the average of the four language skills was 80, 42, it was upper than the school passing grade of English learning process at SMPN 2 Ma- gelang that is 75. It meant the developed materi- als, “Good Start for Beginners” textbook in the bridging course program, was completely good. This implies that “Good Start for Beginners” textbook as English teaching material is effecti- ve and appropriate for bridging course program especially for grade seven students of SMP RSBI Negeri 2 of Magelang. REFERENCES Diknas, 2006. Panduan Pengelolaan RSBI,Jawa Ten- gah,2006. Feez, Susan and Joyce,Helen. 2002. Text-Based Syllabus Design. Sydney: Macquarie University Hutchinson,Tom and Waters, Alan. 1987. English for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge. Hyland, Ken. 2004 . Genre and Second Language Writing. New York: The University 211 Tri Kusnandi & Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati / English Education Journal 2 (2) (2012) Hyland,Ken. 2003. 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