Englisia NOVEMBER 2013 VOL. 1 NO.1, 49-80 Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa State Islamic University of Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh To improve the quality of English education in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), the Department of Education of NAD as policymaker has made some efforts, among others, sending some teachers for overseas training and also conducting in-service training in designing English teaching material. One of the results of the projects done by the Department of Education of NAD is an English textbook entitled “Eng- lish in Context for SMA/MA student year 1”, was distributed to some senior high schools in Banda Aceh in 2005. Lately, the textbook hasn’t been used effectively. Based on that fact, it is considered necessary to evaluate the textbook in order to know its relevant to curriculum used. The data of this study are the contents of Eng- lish in Context for SMA/MA students year 1, consist of objectives of the textbook, themes chosen, skills presented, task designed, types of the text, language focus provided, vocabulary, and just for fun sections as well as the physical condition of textbook. After the data were put based on their classifications, they were analyzed qualitatively by finding its relevancy to CBC. The relevant elements of textbook to CBC and the deficient element of the textbook were explained descriptively. The re- sult shows that only small portions of suggested material in CBC are provided in the textbook. The types of listening texts which are relevant to CBC are only recount and report. The genre of the reading texts which are relevant to CBC are recount, report, and news items. Meanwhile, the speaking task types provided in the textbook are dialogue, talks/speeches, plays/role play, discussion, and report. The deficient ele- ments found in the textbook are lack of clarity of the authors’ objective, repetition of the tasks designed, lack of variation in some skill’s presentation and some irrelevant materials to CBC. Keywords: Relevancy, English in Context Textbook, Curriculum THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT  FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE  TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED  THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 50 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 BACKGROUND To improve its education quality, Indonesia has changed its curriculum sev- eral times in 1962, 1968, 1975, 1984, and 1994, 2004 called the Competen- cy-Based Curriculum (CBC), 2006 called KTSP. Our focus in this study is CBC. CBC is aimed at preparing learners to have intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social competence. By having those competences, it is hoped that the learners can face and overcome every challenge and need in their life. In line with that, the government must meet the needs of the new curriculum in order to provide effective educational system for provinces in Indonesia. Based on government regulation Number 25 Year 2000 about the imple- mentation of education, every region can arrange and develop curriculum in accordance with potency and condition of its region. From that regulation, the government gives autonomy to provinces, districts and schools to arrange, de- velop, and also modify the curriculum based on their needs in accordance with national curriculum guidelines, standard of competency, basic competency and material. Since the CBC has been applied throughout Indonesia, teachers have had to use appropriate materials in teaching at school. Consequently, they have had to choose textbooks that suit the new curriculum. Though many English textbooks are provided by commercial publishers at the bookstores, it can not be guaran- teed whether or not they can fulfil the need of learners and teachers in some re- gions. About the important components within curriculum, Nunan (1991) says that the best material fulfils an important teacher’s education function, and re- moves much of the burden and time involved in designing materials. Material design can be difficult in foreign language contexts due to the inavailability of stimulus and authentic materials. Richards & Renandya (2005) state in their book that the materials provide the basis for the content of lessons, the balance of skill taught, and the kinds of Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 51 language practice students take part in. These may take the form of printed ma- terials such as books, workbooks etc. and nonprinted sources such as self-access materials on the internet. The role and use of materials in a language program is a significant aspect of language curriculum development. Indonesia, a non-English speaking country, really depends on English text- book as a primary source of information. It serves as the basis for the language inputs learners receive and the language practice that takes place in the class- room. As stated by Richards & Renandya (2005:66), for EFL (English as a foreign language) learners, the textbook becomes the major source of contact they have with the language apart from the input provided by the teacher. For teachers, it is an important resource in assisting students to learn English. Furthermore, the textbook serves as an instrument for enhancing knowledge and the attitude of learners. By using it, teachers can explain knowledge to students without spending a lot of time to write on the whiteboard as in the past. Besides, by having the textbook, the students can study on their own at home, and they can do some exercises based on their motivation or fin- ish homework given by their teachers. Without a textbook, the process of teaching learning will be teacher- dependent or teacher-centered where the students have to wait for the instruction and the material given by their teacher and can not study in advance at home. If they have the English textbook, they can do self-study anytime and anywhere they like outside of school time. To solve the problem mentioned above and improve the quality of English education in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), the Department of Education has made some efforts; among others are sending some teachers to be trained overseas and conducting in-service training in the field of designing English teaching material, especially designing English textbooks. For this attempt, the Department of Education spent lots of money to fund the project of English text- book writing. THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 52 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 The idea of training in designing textbooks came from the need to cater to the new English curriculum, overcome the problem of lacking access to English sources and also to realize the education law, called Qanun Number 23 Year 2002 which states that the curriculum in NAD must be Islamic. It is suggested that a curriculum applied in NAD be modified with the culture or condition of its region in order that the material taught will be easier understood by students. But, of course they should also be taught conversational English in order to an- ticipate the real language outside of their school when they live in English speak- ing countries. One of the results of projects done by the NAD Department of Education is a textbook for the first year of senior high school, entitled “English in context for SMA/MA student year 1”, wrote and distributed to some senior high schools in Banda Aceh since 2005. At the time it was launched, the textbook was used by English teachers and considered as the compulsory book for students. In fact, the textbook was not widely available at school libraries and was not sold at the bookstores. After that, the textbook has been ignored by some teachers. They thought that the textbook was not really synchronized with the present curricu- lum. They preferred to use other English textbooks in teaching learning process. Actually, English in context for SMA/MA student year 1 textbook has been de- signed to meet the need of CBC and the local need. In response to this, the writer was encouraged to investigate the problem. It is considered necessary when a textbook is used and applied in language teach- ing learning at school, then, it is evaluated in order to know the quality of the textbook whether or not it is relevant to the present curriculum. Moreover, as far as the writer knows there is no similar research on this issue. In line with that, the writer was interested in doing research on analyzing the textbook produced by NAD Department of Education. Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 53 THEORETICAL REVIEW Definition of the Textbook There are various definitons of textbook made, such as a textbook can be defined as a collection of writing which is made by the author systematically con- taining materials of certain subject by following the curriculum implemented at that time (Depdiknas, 2004:6). A textbook can also be defined as “one type of text, a book for use in an educational curriculum (Brown, 2001:141).” To sum up the definition of the textbook, it can be concluded that text- book is a book which consists of the materials of certain subject, English for ex- ample, used by the teacher and the students in carrying out a learning-teaching process in the classroom. And the materials which are provided in a textbook are designed based on a valid curriculum. The Role of Textbook in Teaching-Learning Textbook plays an important role in supporting learning and teaching in schools. Textbook should enable students learn how to make use of different ways of learning. It should also provide an appropriate amount of quality text for students to “read to learn” independently. It is also important to ensure that too much information is covered, in order to leave room for students to learn how to learn. Students will then have opportunities to develop diverse skills of learning base on their interests, needs and abilities. According to Martono (2005), there are some central roles of a textbook in developing students’ ability as follows. a. Books play a role as information source, and teachers’ role is the agent and information seller. b. Books are able to attract students’ interest and willingness to master all the information served with high motivation THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 54 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 c. Books can be students’ learning-manager, where it provides information in various difficulties, including test and its related answers. d. Books are able to fulfill curriculum demand and implement the curriculum messages or even more. e. Books are able to be used as the tool of shaping student’s instinct and forming student’s attitude in dealing with the relatively quick changes of the world by this 21st century. f. Books provide essential and strategic information to solve problems. g. Books provide communicative, interesting and non-monotone infor- mation. The role of instructional materials within a functional/communicative methodology might be specified in the following terms: a. Materials will focus on the communicative abilities of interpretation, ex- pression, and negotiation. b. Materials will focus on understandable, relevant, and interesting ex- changes of information, rather than on the presentation of grammatical form. c. Materials will involve different kinds of texts and different kinds of media, which the learners can use to develop their competence through a variety of different activities and tasks. In addition to the above mentioned roles’ of a textbook, McGrath explains “the textbook is considered as a central element in teaching-learning encounters, not only in school settings but frequently also in tertiary-level service English con- texts. It will tend to dictate what is taught, in what order, and to some extent, how as well as what learners learn (McGrath, 2006:174).” Garinger (2002) explains about the role of the textbook as follow: Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 55 The role of the textbook in the language classroom is a difficult one to de- fine perfectly and exactly. Using only textbooks, from cover to cover, with- out any supplemental material is not the most satisfactory method for meet- meeting students needs, however, both teachers and students need a framework on which to build and textbooks definitely provide this. It is im- portant that instructor strike balance between being a slave to their texts and providing organized, objective-based instruction. In conducting an evaluation of texts, it is important to accept the reality that most language classrooms will be using coursebooks to meet many of the goals of the program...The textbook can be seen as the window through which students come to know, little by little, their chosen second language and the wider context this language is used in. Textbook alone can not provide students with all the knowledge they require, but they are a major tool in enabling learners to progress. From the explanations given before, it is obvious that textbook is one of important components within the teaching learning process. Through textbook the curriculum can be implemented. Moreover, it can allow teachers to present different style of teaching learning activities. Students can have opportunity to progress at their own rates of learning. Criteria of Effective Textbook The textbook can be called effective if the material in it can fulfil the in- tended objective of the course to be achieved. Moreover, to be called effective, a textbook should have some important criteria. They are likely to have the follow- ing statements: a. Language is functional and must be contextualized b. Language used should be realistic and authentic c. Seek to include an audio visual component d. Reading materials will normally need to cover a range of genres, possibly including computer literacy e. Materials foster learner autonomy f. Materials need to be flexible enough to cater to individual and contextual differences. (Richards & Renandya, 2005:84-87). THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 56 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 According to Steffen-Peter Ballstaedt (1994), a good textbook usually dis- plays a list of contents. It should have some criteria related to material substanc- es, easy to be understood, interesting, easy to be read, the cognitive structure is obvious, the coclusion and work sheet is available. Moreover, the text is structur- ally designed, and the font use is not really small but easy to be read (Depdiknas 2004:17, 29). Further explanation about criteria of a good textbook is given by Brady. He states that it is important to know the commonly cited criteria for selecting content. The criteria are those of validity, significance, interest, learnability, con- sistency with social realities, and utilities. a. Validity. Content is regarded as being valid when it is authentic. Moreover content is considered valid if it promotes the outcomes stat- ed as objective. b. Significance. Teachers have to consider whether the content is funda- mental to the subject or field in question; whether the content selected allows for breadth and depth of treatment, and whether its pursuit conveys the spirit and method of inquiry. c. Interest. The interest of students is a consideration in content selection. It has to be considered, whether the content is of interest to students. d. Learnability. Content selected should be learnable by students and must therefore be adapted to suit the ability of the students. It is im- portant that the content selected make some link with what students have already learned. For this reason, the content must be arranged in such a way as to be understandable learnable. e. Consistency with social realities. According Taba, content selected should provide the most useful orientation to the world around us-that it must be consistent with the social realities. So, consistency with so- cial realities must be considered. We consider whether the content represents the most useful orientation to social realities. f. Utility. This is the contentious criteria that may well eliminate a lot of worthwile content if rigorously applied. The criteria of utility suggests that content should be selected across our school subjects which is most useful to students in coping with their present and future (Brady, 1980:101-106). Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 57 Curriculum The term curriculum has a variety of definitions. One given by Richards & Renandya (2005) is as follows: curriculum mentions about the content, and pro- vides the material to be taught. In its narrowest sense curriculum is synonymous with the term syllabus; in the wider sense it consist of all aspects of teaching such as planning, implementation and evaluation. It describes the way of teaching and the reason why we teach. In Latin, curriculum was a racing chariot; currere was to run. Kerr defines curriculum as, all the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school. (Kelly, 1983: 10; see also, Kelly, 1999 in Smith, 2000). From the field of applied linguistics, the definition of curriculum is pro- posed as the following. Curriculum is an educational programme which states: a. The educational purpose of the programme (the ends) b. The content, teaching procedures and learning experiences which will be necessary to achieve this purpose (the means) c. Some means for assessing whether or not the educational ends have been achieved. (Richards et al, 1985:70). From another point of view here are multiple definitions of curriculum, which is: · That which is taught in schools · A set of subjects. · Content · A program of studies. · A set of materials · A sequence of courses. · A set of performance objectives · A course of study · Is everything that goes on within the school, including extra-class activi- ties, guidance, and interpersonal relationships · Everything that is planned by school personnel · A series of experiences undergone by learners in a school · That which an individual learner experiences as a result of schooling (Oli- va, 1997 in Wilson, 2005). THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 58 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 From above mentioned definitions, curriculum can be defined as a guide- line to be followed by those who have connection with the education in order to succeed in teaching learning process as it includes the planning, the procedure of implementing and also the way to do evaluation. Competency Based Curriculum In order to know the definition of Competency Based Curriculum, the writer would explain the meaning of competence in advance. Competence is the combination of knowledge, skill, value and attitude which is reflected in the way of thinking and acting. According to McAhsan (1981:45), competency is a knowledge, skills, and abilities or capabilities that a person achieves, which be- come part of his or her being to the extent he or she can satisfactorily perform particular cognitive, affective, and psychomotoric behaviours (Mulyasa, 2006:76-77). In line with that, Finch and Crunkilton (1979:222) define compe- tence as mastering tasks, skills, attitudes, and appreciation needed to support successful (Mulyasa, 2006:77) From all the definitions provided, it can be concluded that the Competen- cy Based Curriculum can be understood as the concept of curriculum focuses on the final output of students. Ability and skill are the main goals of this curricu- lum. This curriculum is intended to develop the concept of ‘mastery learning’ in which the students have ability to perform and be able to understand the knowledge deeply. All Discourse Competence will only be reached by the students if they have supporting competence such as Linguistic Competence, Actional Compe- tence (oral and written competence), Sociocultural Competence, and Strategic Competence. Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 59 There are two kinds of contexts namely the context of culture and the con- text of situation. As we know every culture has its own texts’ arrangement and language which commonly used within that culture. Thus, from the context of culture, it creates various genres. The genre concept which is suggested by CBC lead to mastering a language by using and arranging the text like the owner of the language (English speakers). Meanwhile, there are three factors of context of situations which influence the users of the language in choosing the language being used, namely: the topic of conversation (field), interpersonal relation among language users (ten- or), the channel of communication used (oral or written) which is called mode. All of them taught to the students in order to teach them how to use the lan- guage appropriately based on the context they faced (Depdiknas, 2003). In every context, people use the language to do three main functions as follows: 1. Ideational Function, which is a language function to explain or construct the idea or information. 2. Interpersonal Function, which is a language function to interact with other people to explain the conversation, attitude, feeling and so on. 3. Textual function, which is a function to arrange how text and the language created have its coherence and cohesion, so that it will be easy to be understood by the interlocutor or the reader (Depdiknas, 2003). The Principles and components of CBC Competency Based curriculum design is based on nine principles. These principles are: 1. Belief, norm, and good aesthetic 2. Strengthen the National Integrity 3. The balance of norms, logic, and aesthetic 4. All learners have equal opportunity to succeed 5. The knowledge century and information technology 6. Developing life skills THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 60 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 7. Life long education 8. Children oriented with the continuing and comprehensive assessment 9. Partnerships approach (Depdiknas, 2003). The main frame of CBC has four components, they are: 1) curriculum and learning outcomes, 2) class-based assessment, 3) learning teaching activity, and 4) school-based curriculum management. All of these components are interrelated (Muslich, 2007:23). From the explanation above, it can be seen clearly that many aspects are considered in CBC. The curriculum sees education as a whole process. Thus, by holding to the above principles, the teaching learning process will go to the right direction. Context of CBC There are four contexts which influence Competency Based Curriculum. 1. Philosophical context, that is an analytical or logical atomistic. It fo- cuses more on science, observation, conclusion, purification and accu- racy 2. Psychological context, which focus on behavioural, stimulus-response of studying by repetition and using reinforcement 3. Economical context, which focus on the ability to compete 4. Educational context, that is an education which is implemented based on competency (Sukirno (2004) in Limbong, 2005). Standards of Competency There are three standards of competency for English subject in junior and senior high school, they are as the following. 1. Communicate orally and in written using the appropriate language domain fluently in interactional discourse and monolog especially related to narrative discourse, spoof/recount, report and news item. (The theme customized with the kind of text and students’ linguistics ability) 2. Communicate orally and in written using the appropriate language domain fluently in interactional discourse and monolog Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 61 especially related to narrative discourse, descriptive, anecdote, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition aimed at interpersonal variation meaning. (The theme customized with the kind of texts and the students’ linguistics ability) 3. Communicate orally and in written using the appropriate language domain fluently in interactional discourse and monolog especially related to narrative discourse, explanation, commentary, and review intended to the complex interpersonal meaning and varieties textual meaning. (The theme customized with the kind of text and the students’ linguistics ability (Depdiknas, 2003). The target of this curriculum cannot be successfully reached if the teaching learning process cannot fulfil the standards provided. Therefore, all of the standards of competency mentioned above have to be achieved by the students of senior high school. Each number of standards of competency shows the level of the students. DISCUSSION The model of this study is a qualitative research. As stated by Bogdan & Biklen (1998) that a qualitative methodology allows researcher to focus on un- derstanding behaviours, experience, and explore the issues of interest in context. (Merriam as quoted by Lynch and Studdard, 2003:2). Regarding the writer’s study related to a textbook review, this study can be included into a case study. The case study according to Borg & Gall (1989:402) is “in its simplest form, in- volves an investigator who makes a detailed examination of a single subject or group or phenomenon.” They also add that “the case study approach are based on the premise that a case can be located that is typical of many other cases, that is, the case is viewed as an example of a class of events or a group of indi- viduals.” The technique used in this study is content analysis since the raw material for the research worker may be in the form of communication, usually written material such as textbook. In education, content analysis is intended to answer THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 62 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 question directly relating to the material analyzed. These analyses have generally been concerned with fairly simple classifications or tabulation of specific infor- mation (Borg & Gall, 1989:520). The subject of this research is an English textbook entitled English in Con- text for SMA/MA student year 1 which is published by the Department of Educa- tion of NAD in 2004. The reason for choosing this textbook as the research subject is for it is needed to be evaluated to find out whether or not its content covers the intended curriculum, CBC. The data sources of this research are the content of English in Context for SMA/MA student year 1, consisted of the objectives of the textbook, themes cho- sen, skills presented, task design, types of the text, language focus provided, vo- cabulary, and just for fun sections, as well as the physical condition of the textbook. The data were put based on their classifications in order to be identified, sorted, extracted, and organized the verbal instruction and grouped them ac- cording to the topic (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989:206). Then, they were analyzed qualitatively. The steps in analyzing process were firstly, the writer analyzed the textbook’s content to see whether its material can be learned by using teaching- learning approach which is suggested by CBC 2004. After that, she analyzed whether or not the material in the textbook can accommodate all the compe- tence suggested by CBC. The effectiveness of English in Context for SMU/MA student year 1 in helping students acquire the necessary skills was also examined by evaluating whether the skills presented in the textbook appropriate to CBC, and found out whether or not it actually teaches these skills or whether it only provided practice in the skills students already have. Furthermore, the writer also examined wheth- er the textbook provides learners with adequate guidelines as they are acquiring these skills. Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 63 She evaluated the types of the text or genre in order to know whether it is really relevant to the genre suggested by the curriculum. Regarding the types of the text, the writer examined its genre by looking at the schematic structure and its linguistic features. In addition, the writer analyzed tasks and activities designed by finding out whether the tasks and activities in the textbook contribute to learners lan- guage acquisition. The variety of the tasks and activities in the textbook were al- so evaluated. Besides, other parts such as vocabulary, Just for Fun section, and physical condition of the textbook were also analyzed. She evaluated all the data by following the standard of competency/basic competency mentioned in the CBC for English subject. The more the textbook’s content matches with the curriculum, the more relevant the textbook is. The analysis of the data was discussed in Chapter four. In presenting the data analysis, the writer’s content, the writer put a checklist table of textbook analysis to sum up the discussion. The relevance element of textbook to CBC was explained descriptively by dividing skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) including vocabulary, language use, and just for fun sections, to be matched with the basic of compe- tency mentioned in CBC. The physical condition of the textbook was also report- ed descriptively. Findings The Analysis of the Textbook’s Content To give clear analysis, the data were put into several classifications. The classification starts from observations on textbook’s content, the relevant element of the textbook to CBC by analyzing skills, task and activities. After that, it con- tinues with the deficiency of the textbook. THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 64 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 Prior to the discussion of the textbook’s content, the writer would like to describe its cover. The cover of English in Context for SMA/MA student year 1 textbook is colourful. It displays some pictures of Acehnese great mosque, the globe and the plane. It shows that the textbook is the gate to know the world as the contents provide cultural and international substances. In the second front page the authors quote one of the verses in the Holy Qur’an that is Ibrahim verse/14:4 related to language. The verse is also pre- sented in the back cover of the textbook. The writer assumed that the authors want to show the Islamic side of the textbook. The authors, then, continue the next page by providing forewords of the national education leader of NAD Prov- ince. The other foreword is from the authors of the textbook. On this page, the authors do not state a direct goal of the textbook, but they only mention that the textbook is fully designed based on Curriculum 2004, CBC. In addition, cultural and Islamic substances were included in the texts and conversation or dialog of the textbook. Actually, a good textbook provides significance goals that the au- thor wants to achieve. As noted by Martono that a good textbook contained vi- sion, mission, content, and the process of the information presented. A good presentation will motivate students to master the information (Martono, 2005). Without clear objectives and good presentation, a textbook will be only a compi- lation of boring material. The students who use it do not know what they are ex- pected to achieve at the end of studying the textbook. English in Context for SMA/MA student year 1 textbook begins with a thorough table of contents which divides up the unit into 14 units by mentioning themes and sub themes. The themes chosen by the authors are “education”, “environment”, “family life”, “health”, “sport”, “tourism”, and “communication”. Meanwhile, the sub themes presented are “at school”, “scholarship”, “sanitation at home”, “industrial waste”, “wedding”, “marriage”, “good health”, “food”, “Indonesian’s first gold in Sydney”, “kinds of sport”, “Jakarta”, “Weh Island”, “newspaper”, and “television” Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 65 The textbook consists of 156 pages including bibliography, glossary, ap- pendix, and tape scripts. In addition, grammar is focused upon in specific sec- tions called Language Use. Every unit is divided into seven sections they are: Lis- Listening, Speaking, Reading, Vocabulary, Language Use, Writing, and Just for Fun. In every section, the authors provide tasks. The tasks provided by authors consist of various activities. Meanwhile, patterns of classroom interaction provid- ed by the task in the book are: pair work, group work, individual work, full-class interaction and collaboration Every five units, the authors provide review as an evaluation which con- sists of fourty questions in the form of multiple-choice items. There are two re- views available. In every beginning page of new unit, the title of the theme and sub theme are written in the page along with a colourful picture related to the theme discussed which covers full of one page The Relevant Element of the Textbook to CBC In order to ease the reader to see the relevance of the English in Context textbook, the writer divided the report by presenting the data based on its classi- fication. The following checklist was made to sum up the result of data analysis. Table 4.17 Checklist of Textbook’s Analysis Checklist For Textbook Analysis A. Program and course YES NO Are there sufficient numbers of the course objectives ad- dressed by the textbook? X B. Skills Are the skills presented in the textbook appropriate to the course? X Does the textbook provide learners with adequate guid- ance as they are acquiring these skills? X Do the skills that are presented in the textbook include a wide range of cognitive skills that will be challenging to X THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 66 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 leaners? Does the textbook integrate the skill well? X Does it offer a good balance of each skill? X C. Task and Exercises/Activities Do the exercises and activities in the textbook promote learners’ language development? X Is there a balance between controlled and free exercises? X Do the exercises and activities reinforce what students have already learned? X Does it represent a progression from simple to more complex exercise? X Are the exercises and activities varied in format so that they Will continually motivate and challenge learners? X Are there exact descriptions of what the students should be able to once they have completed the texts? X Are there periodic reviews and test sections? X Are there good pronunciation explanations and practic- es? X Are there good vocabulary explanations and practices? X Are there good grammar explanations and practices? X D. Practical Concerns Is the textbook available locally? *(not enough) * Does it provide a clear and attractive lay out and print easy to read? X Does it include audio cassette? X Is there plenty of authentic language? *(not really) * Is there adequate guidance for teacher? X (Source: Garinger, 2002 and Ur, 1996) Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 67 English Skills and Tasks 1. Listening In listening tasks, the authors do provides pre-listening activity from which the students have in advance some idea about what they are going to hear. It will activate their relevant schemata and enables them to use this previous knowledge to build anticipatory ‘scaffolding’ that will help them understand (Ur, 1997:108). Providing students with a clear instruction on what they are asked to do will help them to succeed in the task, as well as increase their motivation and interest. Harmer (1991:213) states that listening task should be designed to as- sist students to be an effective listener. It should make the students be able to guest the content of what they are going to hear simply by looking at the tasks given before listening to a tape. Regarding the types of listening activity in the textbook, they are mostly followed by short response question such as true/false questions (unit 2/Task 2, Unit3/Task 2, Unit 5/Task 2, Unit 6/Task 2, Unit 9/Task 2), and ticking off items (Unit 8/Task 2, Unit 11/Task 2, Unit 14/Task 2), and Cloze (Unit10/ Task 2). Meanwhile, longer response activities provided are answering question based on the listening text (Unit 1/Task 2, Unit 4/Task 2, Unit 7/Task 2, Unit 12/Task 2, and Unit13/Task 2), and note-taking (Unit14/Task2). From the standard of competency mentioned in CBC for listening skill is “understand simple transactional and interpersonal theme (e.g introduction, trading, teacher instruction, and spontaneous reaction) and/ or oral monolog, especially related to the context of narrative, procedure, spoof, recount, report, and news item.” The listening text which is available in the textbook is descriptive, analyti- cal exposition, dialogue, report, and recount. From this finding, it is shown that the listening text types which are relevance to CBC are only recount and report. The textbook doesn’t provide enough material to fulfil the standard of compe- tency. THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 68 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 The indicator mentioned in CBC is “student can give correct response for speech act in transactional and interpersonal context such as: receiving things, introduction, meeting, farewell, receiving invitation/offer, receiving promise and the cancellation of promise, replying thank, replying praise and congratulation, expressing attention, surprise, sympathy, happiness, unbelievable.” Understand oral instruction by giving command to draw some shapes, follow maps, fold, complete the table, plant something etc. Give response to monolog theme: Narrative, procedure, spoof/recount, report, news items, song. Answering comprehension question, choosing food based on menu heard, tell- ing telephone’s message, retelling etc. The transactional and interpersonal context which is provided in listening sections are introducing, farewell, and replying thanks. From that finding, we can conclude that the content of listening material in this textbook is not relevant enough to CBC. 2. Speaking The speaking task types provided in the textbook are dialogue, talks/speeches, plays/role play, discussion, report. The types of speaking activi- ties provided by the authors are topic-based which can be found in Unit 2/Task 4, Unit 6/Task 4, Unit 8/Task 5, Unit 9/Task 4, Unit11/Task 5, Unit 12/ Task 5. The second activity is task-based which can be found in Unit3/ Task4-7, Unit 4/Task 4-5, Unit 5/Task 4, Unit 7/Task 4, Unit 10/Task 4-5, Unit 13/Task 4, Unit 14/Task 5-6. From the analysis made toward the activities in each type, the writer found that task-based activity is more challenging. It makes students learn English in a fun way. Many people get involved in the activity provided. The task- based activities designed by the authors are find the missing information, rear- range sentences according to the pictures, role playing, set priority, summary of interview, interview. In line with the above mentioned characteristic of activities in speaking, Ur (1997:123-124) states that topic-based simply asks participants to talk about Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 69 a (controversial) subject, the main objective is the discussion process itself. Meanwhile, task-based actually asks students to perform something. It is essen- tially goal-oriented; it requires the group, or pair, to achieve an objective that is usually expressed by an observable result, such as brief notes or list, a rear- rangement of jumbled items, a drawing, a spoken summary. The instructions which often found are such as ‘reach a consensus’, or ‘find out everyone’s opin- ion’. To foster students’ ability in speaking English, teacher should create a sit- uation which provides them with accesses to the target language and great op- portunity to practice it. When they have enough input, they will produce good output. How can students’ ability to speak English improved, when the percent- age of teachers dominate the conversation in total time speaking in the class- room is between 80 and 95 percent (Dunkin and Biddle 1974: 221 in Bernhardt, 1993: 196). The basic competency for speaking in CBC is “student can explain various meaning in transactional theme and/or oral monolog especially in the form of narrative, procedure, spoof/recount, report, news item, dan simple song.” The indicator of CBC is “do many speech acts in oral transactional theme such as: giving things/help, self introduction, meeting, farewell, ordering/asking, inviting/order, refusing invitation/order, make an appointment, thanking, prais- ing and congratulating.” Furthermore, “expressing various feelings: attention, surprise, sympathy, happiness, unbelievable, disappointed, deliver a messege, ask/ attention, give instruction in activity. Do monolog in the form of: narrative, procedure, spoof/recount, report, news items, song. Develop short transactional theme be- comes a conversation or a long interactional.” The expression taught in speaking skill is sympathy. Meanwhile the trans- actional taught are introducing, thanking, congratulating, and asking. Many THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 70 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 other compenents in CBC are not included in this textbook. Another activity which is relevant to CBC is doing monolog. The approach used in CBC is Communicative Approach. Thus, to design activities fitted to this approach, three significance elements have to be taken into account. McArthurt 1984:102) explains the three elements as follows: 1. an anthusiasm for language in use rather than language as structure; 2. a consequent preference for ‘semantics’ (meaning in real-life contexts) over ‘grammar’ (rules and paradigms in isolation from authentic lan- guage use) in the formulation of tasks for learners to perform; 3. an interest in analysisng, and planning for, the genuine needs of the learner (an activity technically described as ‘need analysis’ and taken to be an essential first step in preparing ‘communicative’ curricula or syl- labuses). 3. Reading Most exercise materials to improve reading skill of students are still limited to short reading extracts on which are based on comprehension questions. The types of reading activities provided in English in Context mostly are answering comprehension texts. Almost all units start their activity by giving some pre- questions before reading the text. There are two units; Unit 7/Task 5 and Unit 8/Task 7 which begin their activity by providing reading text in the beginning after that followed by question related to the text. Providing a pre- question be- fore reading is effective to motivate the readers. They will be challenged to find out whether their answer is correct or not. Besides, it will build their prior knowledge toward the reading. Coder (1990) in Ramachandran (2004) noted that the reliance on the L1 knowledge is basically relying on prior knowledge to facilitate new learning. This seems to fit the aims of communicative approach or the communicational sylla- Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 71 bus which states that new learning can be linked to prior knowledge in order for meaningful learning to take place. The texts chosen seem do not use authentic material. Actually, the using of authentic material is essential to provide the real language for student. Ac- cording to Ur as quoted below. “in order to make our learners are able to cope with the same kinds of read- ing that are encountered by native speakers of the target language, it seems sensible to start basing their reading practice on a wide variety of authentic (or near-authentic) text, and on tasks that represent the kinds of things a reader would do with them in real life rather than on conventional compre- hension exercise (Ur, 1997:150)”. It is teacher’s role to facilitate students with lots of opportunity to expose to target language. One of efforts is by providing them with some selected litera- ture rich in input and culture. The types of test in this textbook has various forms they are: question and answers, true /false, matching, monologue, sequencing, classifying Word, Rewriting/retelling, Translation, gap filling/cloze and completion, transfor- mation, essay, multiple-choice, rearrange words, and dictation. It shows that the author has tried to provide with variety of types of the test in order to prepare and train the students to be used to face different test in the future. The basic competence in CBC is “Understand various meaning and steps of developing interpersonal meaning in a written text of narrative, proce- dure, spoof/recount, report, and news item.” The indicator given in CBC is “Response to various texts of: narrative, Procedure, spoof/recount reposrt, news items. Identify ideational meaning in the theme, identify textual meaning. Identify interpersonal meaning from the themes. Read loudly of various genres of the text with a correct pronunciation and into- nation.” THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 72 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 After analyzing the types of the text by looking at its schematic structure and language features, the writer found ten genre presents in the textbook. They are discussion, analytical exposition, anecdote, explanation, recount, argument, news item, report, and descriptive text. The genre which is relevance to CBC is recount, report, and news items. 4. Vocabulary There are many interesting activities in vocabulary section, they are: rear- ranging, classifying, reordering, doing puzzle, matching, completing, filling-in, finding the hidden words, and gap filling. Yet, those activities are only trained them to use the language in a narrow scale. It resulted to difficulties to use the language in daily context. The writer thinks that those activities is good but they are more appropriate to be taught in elementary level in which that in the last secondary level they supposed to be prepared to be in functional and informa- tional literacy level which is suggestd by the CBC. 5. Language Use Expressing greetings; introducing oneself, someone to another person; and saying goodbye are taught in language use sections, pricisely in Unit 1. The way the authors teach those expressions is along with the suggestion of CBC in which the material that is intended to be taught should be contextualized. For some students, grammar is the most difficult part of language learn- ing. It is also usually considered as a boring part of learning English. To avoid that impression, teacher should choose creative activities that engage students, and relate content to students’ own interest, and current event. By doing so, learning will be more fun, and also more memorable. 6. Writing The basic competence for writing skill in CBC is “Expressing various meaning with the steps of correct interpersonal meaning development in written texts of narrative, procedure, spoof/recount, report, and news item.” Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 73 Furthermore, “demonstrate basic competence: use grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, correct sentence arrangement,write main idea, elaborate main idea, use correct italic, make draft, revise, edit. Produce various texts espe- cially in the form of: narrative, procedure, recount, report, and news items” From the analysis made toward activities designed in writing sections, it is found that Unit 1 provides a letter to be learned by students. Thus, this activity is relevance with the suggested topic to be taught in CBC. Unfortunately, the au- thors do not explain the basic competence that students should master. The oth- er text provide in writing section are procedure. There are a lot of activities asking students to write, but it is only a free writing. The authenticity issue in classroom writing can be found by distinguishing between real-writing and dis- play writing. As stated by Brown (2001:34) below. “Real writing, as explained by Ann Raimes (1991), is writing when the reader/school contexts, however, if the instructor is the sole reader, writ- ing is primarily for the display of a students’ knowledge. Written exercises, short answer essays, and other writing in test situations are instances of display writing….If ESL courses, strive to be more content-based, theme- based, or task-based, students are more likely to be given the opportunity to convey genuine information on topics of intrinsic interest. But display writing is not totally unjustified. Writing to display one’s knowledge is a fact of life in the classroom, and by getting your students to perform well in a display writing exercises, they can learn skills that will help them to succeed in further academic pursuits.” From the above statement, we can conclude that it is essential for teacher to give many tasks in practicing writing for students. The activity should be rich in variety. In addition, practice writing should be followed by guidelines given by teacher. The Deficiencies of the Textbook In the listening sections, the types of listening texts provided are in the form of dialogue and short passage. From the observation toward the content of THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 74 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 the dialogue, it seems that it is designed by the authors themselves. The infor- mation given is not really interesting since it doesn’t provide a simulated real-life situation. As stated by Ur, “Most listening text should be based on discourse that is ei- ther genuine improvised, spontaneous speech, or at least a fair imitation of it. A typical written text that is read aloud as a basis for classroom listening activity is unlikely to incorporate the characteristics of informal speech as de- scribe above, and will thus provide the learners with no practice in under- standing the most common form of spoken discourse Ur (1997).” It seems unhelpful to base listening exercises mainly on checking com- prehension question, and also writing. It is due to the fact that in real life we normally do not respond other speakers by answering comprehension question except in academic level. Most people receive information from listening. As stated by Hunsaker (1990) in Brent & Anderson (1993) “80 % of what people know is acquired through listening, most adults operate at no better than a 25 % listening efficien- cy level.” In class, many teachers invest lots of effort to give listening practice to their students in order to create better listeners. Actually, the students need to have listening skill so that they are ready in every situation. Therefore, the teach- ers should provide a wide variety of listening situation in order to improve stu- dents’ listening ability. In the field of speaking skills, an English textbook actually should provide samples of spoken English. From the tapescript available in the textbook, it does not provide a real-life conversation. Students are asked to make a dialogue by themselves sometimes without any guidance. For language use sections, the grammatical items presented in this sec- tion have not any connection to the text provided. It is taught separately. Actual- ly, to introduce the rule of a language is better by teaching them in context. Since the language is functional, thus in teaching grammar it also has to be taught in contextualized. It means teaching grammatical points within the context Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 75 of the lesson. For example, if there is a reading about some part of Aceh history written in the past tense, and so design speaking and writing activities in which students must use the past tense. Although the authors provide a good guidance for students desiring to use English in Acehnese contexts, they fail to provide adequate training for stu- dents desiring to live and work in English-speaking countries. Then what is the goal of learning English in such detailed fashion, if the learners would not be able to contextualize their learning also to the native language contexts and en- virons? Furthermore, the goal of the textbook is not clearly mentioned. The authors only state the goal of education in general. Thus, the students do not know ex- actly what they are going to achieve by using the textbook as the source. In addi- tion, it does not really provide up-to-date contemporary material. Moreover the text provides are not really authentic. It can be seen from the text that seems are coming from a translation process from Indonesian language. In addition, the author did not put the source of the text presented in the textbook when they quote from other sources. The authors seem do not really know the difference between task and exer- cise. There are many tasks contained the exercise. Actually, they should be care- ful in selecting the task and making a clear instruction. D. CONCLUSION From the result of the study, the writer draws several conclusions as fol- lows: The English in context for SMA/MA student year 1 textbook already taught the four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in an integrated as suggested in the CBC. Moreover, the textbook does provide a vari- ety of materials and activities for each of the four basic language skills. THE RELEVANCY OF ENGLISH IN CONTEXT FOR SMA/MA STUDENT YEAR ONE TEXTBOOK TO THE CURRICULUM USED 76 | Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 The materials provided within the textbook accept the current method of teaching. Activities presented in it are various lead the students to being creative and active. Yet, they are not really succesful to provide students with adequate guidelines on how to improve their skill. The activities designed only train stu- dents to practice in the skills students already have. Among the transactional and interpersonal expression suggested by CBC, there are only greeting, introducing, saying goodbye/farewell, congratulating, thanking, expressing sympathy, inviting, expressing like and dislike which are in- cluded in the textbook material. The listening texts which are provided in the textbook are descriptive, ana- lytical exposition, dialogue, report, and recount. The types of the listening text which are relevant to CBC are only recount and report. Furthermore, the writing acivity provided in the textbook are only free writing, and writing a letter. Genres of the reading text in the textbook are discussion, analytical expo- sition, anecdote, explanation, recount, argument, news item, report, and de- scriptive text. The genre which is relevant to CBC is recount, report, and news items. For speaking task types which are provided in the textbook are dialogue, talks/speeches, plays/role play, discussion, and report. The authors’ goal to design the textbook to include the local culture and Islamic teaching is not successfully reached as the material about Acehnese cul- ture is only available in Unit 5 in reading section entitled “an acehnese wedding ceremony”. Meanwhile, the Islamic substance is only found in Unit 6 in reading text entitled “arranged married”, yet the information is only a few. All in all, English in context for SMA/MA student year 1content does not really cover all the suggested material in standard of competency/ basic of com- petency in CBC. Yet, it is a helpful resource for advancing the aptitude of stu- dents who are in the process of learning English. Qudwatin Nisak M.Isa Englisia Vol. I No. 1 Nov 2013 | 77 REFERENCES AB, Mustafa. 2004. Kurikulum dan Penerapan Kemahiran dalam Penulisan Bahan Ajar. A paper presented in workshop on writing teaching material, teacher guided book, students’ worked book in Banda Aceh on July 11. (Unpublished). Bernhardt, S. A. 1993. 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