1 STUDENTS’ RESPONSE TOWARDS THE TEACHERS’ APPROACH AND METHOD OF TEACHING Rusydi Hanifi An Alumni of English Department at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training, IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin Puji Sri Rahayu A lecturer of English Department at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training, IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin ABSTRACT This research is aimed (1) to know how the teachers differentiate teaching method for the students based on their language learning abilities (2) it is intended to investigate the specific approaches that the teachers use to motivate the students to learn English and (3) to know the students’ response towards the teachers’ method of teaching. To collect the data, the researchers applies triangulation techniques. This means that he makes a collaboration of several techniques of collecting data. They are classroom observation, interview with the classroom teachers, and questionnaire for the students. The result showed that teachers apply different teaching method and have specific approaches to their students such as: letting their students have questions during or after class, helping their students individually, engaging their students in active participation during classroom activities either individually or in groups, etc. The students gave different response to different approach the teachers applied. Key words: approach, method, response To increase the English learning and teaching quality, teachers are encouraged to develop more innovative teaching methodologies and understand the learner’s characteristic and learning strategy. Therefore, the knowledge of three important components (approach, method, and technique) is very important for teachers. The uniformity of the three elements takes an effective part on the results of the teaching and learning process. APPROACH The term approach refers to ‘theories about the nature of language and language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching’ (Richard and Rogers, 1986 p. 16). An approach describes how language is used and how its constituent parts interlock – in other words it offers a model of language competence. An approach describes how people acquire their knowledge of the language and makes statements about the conditions which will promote successful language learning (Jeremy Harmer, 2001). The approaches in language learning are explained as follows: Behavioral Approach (Behaviorism) 2 Behaviorism in language learning is viewed as conditioning. Behaviorists perceived that we can train animals to anything. To do so, we have to follow the procedures which consist of three steps: stimulus, response, and reinforcement. A behavior will emerge if it is preceded by a stimulus. The behavior can be strengthened and formed by reinforcement. Behaviorism, which is actual a theory of psychology, has been adapted by methodologists of language teaching for a quite long time. It is particularly adapted in the United States of America, which created the so-called audio-lingual method. This method is signaled by giving a continual training to students and being followed by consolidation, either positive or negative, as a focus on classroom activities (Ahmad Izzan,2008). Cognitive Approach (Cognitivism) Another name of cognitivism is mentalism, which is developed by a linguist, Noam Chomsky. He argues the behaviorist by stating that if language is a behavior learned, so what about children who are able to say something they have never said before? How come could a new sentence be spoken by a four-years-old child as a conditioning? According to Chomsky, language is not a system based on the rules. Basically, language acquisition is learning about the system. In this case, he introduces the concepts of competence and performance. Competence refers to student’s mastery of grammatical rules, whereas performance refers to student’s ability of applying the rules. Noam Chomsky also stated that language learning never uses methodology. His argument, which says that language is not a conditioning, but the most important thing, is that the learners can internalize the grammatical rules so that it enables them to show a creative performance. This matter encloses arguments from many techniques and methods of teaching. To be short, this perception can be concluded as “show them the rules underlying and let them to apply them themselves”. Therefore, an effort of creating new sentences is an objective of language teaching (Ahmad Izzan, 2008) Humanistic Approach Humanistic approach considers students as a whole person, a unity. In other words, language teaching is not merely teaching language, but it is also helping students to develop themselves as a human. This view inspires the emergence of a number of teaching techniques and teaching methods, which develops the humanistic aspects of teaching. In this kind of methodology, student’s experience is the most important. The development of their personality and the growth of their positive thinking are considered crucial in language learning. The components included in this approach are community language learning, in which the students sit circuming a knower who will help them to say the language they want. After they decide the sentence they want to say, they express it in their own way and then it is translated by the knower. Thus, the students know how to utter their opinion in the target language (Ahmad Izzan, 2008). 3 METHOD A method is the practical realization of an approach. The originators of a method have arrived at decisions about types of activities, roles of teachers and learners, the kinds of materials which will be helpful, and some model of syllabus organization. Methods include various procedures and techniques as part of their standard fare (Jeremy Harmer, 1998) . Here are several common methods used in teaching English as a second or foreign language over the century: Grammar Translation Method (1890s-1930s) Around the turn-of-the-century, language students often translated cumbersome volumes from Classical Greek or Latin into English vía this approach. It consisted mainly of exhaustive use of dictionaries, explanations of grammatical rules (in English), some sample sentences, and exercise drills to practice the new structures. Little opportunity for real second-language acquisition existed then. Audio-lingual Method (1950s-1960s) With the advent and popularity of audio tapes, this approach ushered in the first recordings wherein the language learner could actually hear and mimic native speakers on reel-to-reel audio tapes, often used with earphones in a language lab setting. Lessons often began with a sample dialogue to be recited and memorized. This was followed up with substitution pattern and saturation drills in which the grammatical structure previously introduced was reinforced, with emphasis given to rapid fire student response. Repetition, substitution, transformation, and translation became the order of the day. This method was strongly influenced by B.F. Skinner's behaviorist view toward learning which favored habit-forming drill techniques. Unfortunately, most students couldn’t transfer these dialogues into their own real-life experiences. Direct Method (1970s) This method presented discussion in the target language as the major priority. Reference to English equivalents became discouraged. Grammar learning became inductive in nature without overt explanations given the pupil. Teacher/student interaction became fuller, guessing of context or content, completing fill-ins, and doing “cloze” exercises were the order of the day. Accuracy in pronunciation and oral expression became vital. Examples to be followed became the main intention. The Natural/Communicative Approach (1960s-2000s) Originally developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen, this acquisition-focused approach sees communicative competence progressing through three stages: (a) aural comprehension, (b) early speech production, and (c) speech activities, all fostering "natural" language acquisition, much as a child would learn his/her native tongue. Following an initial "silent period", comprehension should precede production in speech, as the latter should be allowed to emerge in natural stages or progressions. Lowering of the Affective Filter is of paramount importance. Only the target language is used in class now, introducing the "total 4 immersion" concept for the very first time, with auditory input for the student becoming paramount. Errors in speech are not corrected aloud. Now enters the era of glossy textbooks, replete with cultural vignettes, glossaries, vocabulary lists, and glazed photographs. A deliberate, conscious approach to the study of grammar is considered to have only modest value in the language learning process. Pairing off of students into small groups to practice newly acquired structures becomes the major focus. Visualization activities that often times make use of a picture file, slide presentations, word games, dialogues, contests, recreational activities, empirical utterances, and realia provide situations with problem-solving tasks which might include the use of charts, maps, graphs, and advertisements, all to be performed on the spot in class. Now the classroom becomes more student-centered with the teacher allowing for students to output the language more often on their own. Formal sequencing of grammatical concepts is kept to a minimum. Total Physical Response (1960s-2000s) This approach, also known as TPR, was founded by James Asher. In this method, both language and body movement are synchronized through action responses and use of the imperative (direct commands). TPR may be used in conjunction with some other methods involving psychoneuro kinetic techniques wherein the teacher gives a host of commands with the students then responding by “acting out” the command: “Stand up”, “Go to the door”, "Sit down", etc. Kinetic movement of the hands and arms is incorporated in lieu of rote memorization. Student speech is delayed until they feel comfortable enough to give other students commands too. TPR is very effective in teaching temporal states, personal pronouns, and other deep grammatical structures. Silent Way (1960s-2000s) Dr.Caleb Gattegno, originally out of Alexandria, Egypt, introduced this classroom technique wherein the teacher remains silent while pupils output the language on cue through perpetual prompting. This is the production before meaning school of thought and practice. A color- coded phonics (sound) chart called a fidel, with both vowel and consonant clusters on it, is projected onto a screen to be used simultaneously with a pointer, thus permitting the pupil to produce orally on a continuous basis in the target language, vía a sequence of phonemes or sound units. Brightly colored Cuisenaire rods, which are also used in Mathematics, are integrated into this method (used as manipulatives) for pupils to learn spatial relationships, prepositions, colors, gender and number concepts, and to create multiple artificial settings through their physical placement. Lines or blank spaces on a chalkboard represent syllables, devoid of letters in them, for a subliminal, collective memory experience in recall for the students. Students are encouraged to self-correct their pronunciation errors through manual gesticulation on the part of the instructor. Modeling of correct pronunciation for students is discouraged. The greatest strength of this method lies in its ability to draw students out orally, while the teacher "takes a back seat". This method works most effectively with round tables being used to promote small group discussion and for ample student rotation. In general, reliance on and the use of a structured textbook or an outlined syllabus is much discouraged during the initial phases of learning. The Silent Way truly gives students a spoken facility. Suggestopedia (1960s-2000s) 5 This extremely esoteric, avant-garde method is subconsciously subliminal in texture. It is based on the pioneering efforts in 1967 of Bulgarian medical doctor, hypnotist, and psychology professor Georgi Lozanov and on his techniques into superlearning. Classes are small and intensive, with a low-stress focus. Material is presented in an especially melodic and artistic way. By activating the right "creative side" of the brain, a much larger portion of the intellectual potential can be tapped, thus drawing out long-term memory. This innovative approach to language pedagogy maximizes the learners' natural holistic talents. Background classical or baroque chamber music, oftentimes accompanied with soft lights, pillows or cushions on the floor for relaxation, accentuate active and passive meditations, séances, yoga, breathing exercises leading into the "alpha state", songs for memorization purposes, therapy sessions and stream-of-consciousness catharsis in the target language with little reliance on English. Little emphasis on grammar is given. Such non-verbal communication as kinesics, paralanguage, environmental proxemics, and oculesics can be incorporated into the method, along with Robert Rosenthal's Pygmalia used in the classroom. Soviet Hypnopedia (sleep-learning) which was developed by such researchers as A.M. Syvadoshch in Leningrad and by L.A. Bliznitchenko in Kiev, Sophrology (a memory training system), the Tomatis Approach, Schultz-Luthe's autogenic therapy, Suggestology, and the Suzuki Method of learning music are considered to be closely related to this Bulgarian approach. This method has sprung two offshoots or derivatives which include Donald Schuster's Suggestive-Accelerative Learning and Teaching (or SALT) and Lynn Dhority's Acquisition through Creative Teaching (or ACT). Like other "modern" approaches, language is perceived globally (in chunks or blocks), while attention to fine tuning or to detail comes later. Community Language Learning (1960s-2000s) This creative, dynamic, and non-directive approach to language learning was first elaborated by Charles Curran. It is designed to ease the learner into gradual independence and self- confidence in the target language. This is also known as the Counseling-Learning method. Curran's approach is beyond simply a methodical pedagogy, but is rather a veritable philosophy of learning which provides profound, even quasi-theological reflections on humankind! It encourages holistic learning, personal growth, and self-development. Learning a language is not viewed necessarily as an individual accomplishment, but rather as a collective experience, something to be disseminated out into the community at large at a later stage in the second-language acquisition process. Its basic premise can be found in the acronym SARD: S stands for security (to foster the student's self-confidence), A represents attention or aggression (the former an indication of the learner's involvement, the latter their frustration level), R equals retention and reflection (what is retained is internalized and ultimately reflected upon), and D denotes discrimination (the learner can now discriminate through classifying a body of material, seeing how one concept interrelates to another previously presented structure). Student "participants" are thus allowed to register abstracted grammar both peripherally and semi-consciously (William E. Bull, 1999). STUDENT’S RESPONSE TOWARDS TEACHING & LEARNING Response is usually defined as an imagination or an estimation that remains after we do an observation (Bigot and friends, 1950 p. 72 as cited in sumadi Suryabrata, 2004). The 6 impression becomes a consciousness that can be developed in the context of the current experience as well as in that of the future time. According to John Frederich Herbart (1776- 1841), response is a basic element of human. It is viewed as a psychological power that can help or create a balance, a hindrance, or a vandal of balance. Response is acquired through sensation and observation (Wasty Soemanto, 1998). Response Styles Mann, in his research at University of Chicago, promoted several response styles of university student that is divided into the categories below. Obedient Student This kind of student is a good student because they obey and follow whatever they are ordered to do – they obey rules, authorities, regulations, and perceive that a teacher is the one who gives praises and awards. They center themselves to the tasks given. They never oppose their teachers’ orders. These students are neither really innovative nor creative. They also do not have high intelligences, but they can show a satisfying result in learning. Dependent Student These students are very dependent to their teachers to help them in learning process. They are always in fear: fear of examination or grade, fear of getting turn in class activities. They are easily offended tend to make people like them with obeying rules. They just have little faith about their own intelligences. They are easily ruled by warn, critic, or punishment. They also have difficulties involving themselves in lesson. Independent Student These students are very intelligent. They have strong faith in themselves so that they can feel comfortable. They are able to see the activities and materials in the class objectively. They do not tend to have a strong personal bond with their teachers, because they can think critically themselves – they have their own perception. Pretentious Student These students are social students. They often make fun, make people laugh, speak a lot, have boast, and so on. They like to socialize as well as to gather with people. They really appreciate other people’s opinion and underlie their opinion with others’ view. Therefore, such attitudes hinder their intellectual progress. Stolid Student Most of students may be included in this category. Such students feel that themselves not having capability. They are easily shocked, sensitive, and defensive – they tend to view their teacher as a menacing to their personal identity. At the meantime, they also need their teacher’s attention and award. They are afraid of failures so that their self esteem is very much depends on achievements in the class. Due to the big fear of failures, they tend to always keep stolid (S. Nasution, 2005). 7 Acknowledging the importance of approach, method as well as the students’ response, the researchers formulate these research questions: 1. How do the teachers differentiate their teaching method for the students based on their language learning abilities? 2. What specific approaches do the teachers use to motivate the students to learn English? 3. How do the students respond to the teachers’ method of teaching? METHOD OF RESEARCH Participants This research took place at Language Service Center , IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin. There are 40 classes and the reserachers took three classes to be investigated. The participants of this research are teachers from class 34, 35, and 36 and students from the same classes. In total there are three teachers and 66 students. The teachers were chosen to be investigated based on their background of study which were graduated from overseas universities. It was based on the curiosity whether or not those teachers offer more various approaches and methods in teaching English to the students. The students were from the classes that those teachers taught. Technique of Data Collection The researchers use triangulation data collection techniques. The combination of various techniques of collecting data such as observation, interview and questionairre is used to examine the credibility of the data. Thus, during the research, the researcher collects the data through classroom observations, interviews with the classroom teachers, and questionnaire for the students. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Teacher A (English Class 34) Teacher’s overall behavior Based on all the observations and the statements of the classroom teacher in the interview, the researcher formulates the teacher’s overall behavior such as below: First of all, the teacher sees that her students’ level of English proficiency is all the same, more or less, although they come from different majors. However, she believes that the stronger ones and the weaker ones are always there. Therefore, she typically overcomes such distance between the students by asking them to work with partner – either in pair or group. It is one of her techniques on the students to foster their proficiency, especially for the weaker students as well. 8 Next, in her lesson plan, the teacher focuses on speaking skill (communication skill, pronunciation practice; drilling) but she also puts in some grammar lesson because, in this case, she supposes that grammar is still important. She wants her students to know first about basic grammar before they use it in a simple conversation because she thinks her students are still very weak in English. In other words, she wants her students not to only learn the theories, but also apply them in real practice. So, she still includes grammar lesson in her explanation in the class. However, she does not focus on the grammar too much. After that, in beginning a lesson, the teacher sometimes stimulates the students’ background knowledge when introducing the lesson, reviews the previous lesson for the students, and conducts a warming up activity on the students before going on to focus the lesson. Then, during the lesson classroom activity, the teacher equally uses English and Indonesian in her explanation, direction, and instruction. She uses Indonesian because she sees that her students do not understand if she speaks in English. Then, she sometimes uses English because, however, she thinks that her students still need to get exposed to know English. Furthermore, she invites the students to speak up individually by pointing in random any of the students she wants by asking them several questions related to the lesson – her own questions, not only from the book – so that the students are interested and stay alert to the lesson. That is her effort of encouraging the students to learn English. For the rest, in managing the class, she involves the students. For example, she sometimes lets the more talkative students to ask her as well as answer her questions, or lets the more proficient students to answer their classmates’ questions. Then, the teacher just takes advantages of whiteboard and applies several kinds of activity such as role-play activity in pair work or group work, pronunciation practice, and classroom discussion. Those kinds of activity are applied by the teacher as her techniques to increase student’s active participation in the class. Furthermore, those all are also based on the teacher’s consideration that she thinks her students may be unconfident if they work alone. After that, she usually changes the order of student’s seats based on the need of the activity like in rows or big circle formation for usual activities, and small circle for group work. Next, the teacher always gets around the classroom and sometimes comes to the students to control and help them solving their problem about the lesson, like giving directions and more explanations for a task, an exercise, and a group work. This is the teacher’s particular treatment on the students – that she helps the students individually if they have a trouble understanding the lesson during the class activity. In pair work (role-play), the teacher has the students to make a short dialogue and then practice it with their partners. For example, it is about ‘introducing self’. In group work (role-play), the teacher usually applies a group of three people. She assigns the students to make a conversation and lets them freely make it with their own idea – based on their creativity – and then practice it in front of the class, surely that the students have a chance to do a small practice with their group mates before going to front of the class. Next, she usually offers a chance to any group which wants to go first for the practice. 9 Furthermore, the teacher sometimes guides the students’ pronunciation when practicing the conversation. However, she does not strictly emphasize a correct pronunciation but rather let the students speak up. Additionally, at another chance of group work, the teacher suggests the students to open their English dictionary and share each other the vocabularies they find. In classroom discussion – a discussion about a task or exercise – the teacher applies a small discussion among the students with their classmates and then followed by a big discussion lead by the teacher herself. Then, she sometimes lets the more proficient students correct any mistake on the task or exercise and then show it to the class. Above all, during those all classroom activities, if the students make mistakes, the teacher applies two ways in correcting the students’ mistakes – direct correction and peer correction. She corrects the students’ mistakes directly in the case of individual treatment; she approaches them and then gives some explanation. Then, she applies peer correction in the case of whole class because she thinks it is more effective than that if she does it by herself – which may make the students feel inconvenient. The students respond to the teacher’s behaviors Based on all the observations and the students’ statements about the teacher’s behaviors, the researcher formulates the students’ overall response such as below: Firstly, most of the students fairly like English but they are generally passive students – they mostly tend to be silent during the lesson and the whole classroom activity. They do not speak up unless their teacher asks them to do so. Mostly they are not confident enough to speak English individually like answering the teacher’s questions and so forth. Anyway, there are still few students who fairly like to have a chance to speak English individually and occasionally ask their teacher for more understanding – they have their teacher explain them more about the lesson or ask about ‘how to say it in English?’ of an Indonesian word. However, the students are stimulated to speak up – they are motivated to gain active participation – if they work in pairs, groups, classroom discussions, and the kinds of, which involves togetherness. They verily like and enjoy these kinds of activities because they can move to another formation of their seats so that they do not get bored. For instance, in drilling activity, the students enthusiastically repeat the teacher’s pronunciation and all of them speak up loud. That is when they have pronunciation practice of several English vocabularies. Next, in group work, most of the students are active practicing conversation with their group mates. Furthermore, there are several groups which volunteer to go practicing the dialogue in front of the class. In the meantime, the other groups pay attention to them. Anyway for some reason, some of the groups appear to have a little shame once they get to practice the conversation in front of the class. This is natural though and the atmosphere of speaking in front of their fellow students possibly has a typical effect to their level of confidence. Moreover, it may also be linked with the fact that they indeed have a trouble with pronunciation. Then, mostly the students just keep silent or few sometimes talk with their classmates while the teacher was explaining the lesson in English. Few of them may fairly understand what 10 the teacher says but most of them probably do not so that they are not wholly attracted to listen to the teacher. For instance, in a chance in grouping activity, most groups tend to be silent because the teacher gives them directions in English. Besides, they also get confused when the teacher gives them English directions before doing a task. However, at the next meetings, they start to be in order and pay attention to the teacher’s explanation because the teacher equally uses English and Indonesian in her explanation. For an evidence, they do the exercise given quietly and sometimes give response to the teacher’s simple English questions by a little answer in several opportunities; one of them is in the warming up activity (lesson about ‘to be’) applied by the teacher. They are probably still shy to be asked individually but they have effort to answer the teacher’s questions related to the lesson. Anyway, the Indonesian explanation is definitely more effective and interactive to the students. This is proved by that the students are stimulated to have more questions for the teacher once the teacher explains the lesson in Indonesian. They also can confidently answer questions if they are followed by Indonesian translation. They find this way very interesting to them. Teacher B (English Class 35) The teacher’s overall behavior Based on all the observations and the statements of the classroom teacher in the interview, the researcher formulates the teacher’s overall behavior such as below: Initially, the teacher sees that her students’ English ability is about the same although they come from different faculties. However, she does believe that their level of understanding is indeed different. So, she gives more treatment to the weaker students. Next, in her lesson plan, the teacher focuses on speaking skill (communication skill, pronunciation practice; drilling). In the case of pronunciation practice, the teacher strictly emphasizes correct pronunciation to the students – it is known when the teacher has the students practice pronunciation repeatedly. Then, the teacher typically treats the student once the students have trouble or difficulties understanding the lesson. It is that she lets the students ask her a question during the class, if there is still enough time. But, if there is no time for that, the students are let come talk to the teacher after the class. After that, in beginning a lesson, the teacher sometimes applies a warming up activity before going on to focus the lesson. It is like when she has the students read a conversation in silence and try to figure it out first. Next, during the lesson and classroom activity, the teacher almost uses English all the time in her explanation, direction, and instruction about the lesson. Her reason is that English is her priority in this case. However, at the first meeting, she negotiates with the students about how much she may use English and the students just agree with it at the time. Therefore, from the time on, the teacher keeps speaking in English. Then, if the students cannot figure out what she says, she tries to simplify her language – that she still uses English. Again, if the students still get confused, she uses Indonesian but it is very rare to happen – that the 11 teacher prefer to use English followed by her body language or gesture, and anything that may work as the clues for the students. Furthermore, in managing the class, the teacher makes the best use of whiteboard and applies role-play activity in group work and classroom discussion. In the role-play activity, the teacher divides the students in two big groups – boys and girls. They practice a conversation. In the meantime, the teacher firstly becomes their guidance in pronouncing it before they practice it by themselves. After that, the teacher has some volunteers from the students practice the conversation in front of the class. In classroom discussion, for example; a discussion on an exercise, she lets the more proficient students give an example to the less proficient students sometimes – that she involves the students in managing the class. Then, she always sets the student’s seats in U form – that she can always keep an eye on the students; she gets around helping the students on their problem like answering their questions and so forth, and also sometimes she can easily comes to the students to invite them speaking up individually – she asks several questions related to the lesson, asks for a pronunciation practice to the students, etc. In addition, the teacher makes sure that her explanation, direction, and instruction are clear to the students by always giving them examples and confirming them repeatedly by the more simple language if it is necessary – It is like when the students do a task, exercise, etc. Therefore, the teacher believes that the students can always be engaged in active participation in the class if they understand what they have to do. After all, she applies many activities as her effort of motivating the students to learn English and also so that they are interested and help each other by working with partners. Above all, during those all classroom activities, if the students make mistakes, the teacher does not correct them directly but she applies peer correction. She invites the students to a classroom discussion and tries to find out the most acceptable correction from them and then show it to the class. It is because she thinks that this way is more effective than that if she does it by herself – she does not want to make the students feel hurt because she believes her students’ feeling is very sensitive. The students respond to the teacher’s behaviors Based on all the observations and the students’ statements about the teacher’s behaviors, the researcher formulates the students’ overall response such as below: First of all, the students fairly like English language but mostly they are naturally passive as most of them just tend to be silent. For instance, when the teacher gives or asks them instructions or questions in English, they are just silent and verily rare to answer. Furthermore, few of the students sometimes talk with their fellows while the teacher is explaining the lesson. They are possibly hard to be engaged by the situation because they cannot really figure it out. Anyway for the whole classroom activity, mostly the students fairly pay attention to and like their teacher’s explanation as there are several students who respond to the teacher’s English questions because the questions are just simple though – that they will answer if they do get the point of what the teacher tells. Additionally once in a while, they ask for a confirmation 12 and clarification about the lesson if they do not truly get it. Those few students are supposed to fairly like if the teacher gives them an opportunity to speak English individually. But, that does not seem to also work on most of them – that mostly they are not confident enough to speak English individually. This can be caused by the fact that the teacher mostly uses English during the class as the students probably do not have sufficient vocabulary to this status of the class – the teacher very rarely uses Indonesian. Therefore, they cannot figure out well what their teacher says. They take much time to understand once they do as well. This way, actually they fairly like Indonesian instructions from their teacher and are more attracted and better understand once the teacher’s instructions are followed by sign language rather than only her spoken English – they are stimulated by the clues given. Above all in general, they appear to be obedient as they do a task from their teacher quietly and most of them listen to the teacher’s explanation. Then, the students are very interested in working in pairs, groups, classroom discussions, or the kinds of, which involves cooperation. They also verily like with the formation of their seats during the whole class activities – they may exchange their position with their classmates so that they do not get bored to stay at the same place during those activities. For example, they are enthusiasm with drilling activities; they like speaking practice in role -play activity which makes them all speak up loud. After that, most of them take active participation in a classroom discussion on an exercise. They fairly like to go to front of the class to practice a conversation as there are some of them who volunteer to be active in such activity. However, they appear to be a little bit shy. This thing may deliver them to a particular atmosphere, they may be afraid of making mistakes so that their classmates may make fun of their faults. Above all and for general, they become fairly active in the classroom activities as well as fairly motivated to learn English. Teacher C (English Class 36) The teacher’s overall behavior Based on all the observations and the statements of the classroom teacher in the interview, the researcher formulates the teacher’s overall behavior such as below: First of all, the teacher considers that in such general and very basic English course, he just gives the students a lot the topics contained in student’s guidance book. Anyway, he definitely makes some improvement like encouraging the students to modify a certain circumstance in the topics to be the things the students experience in their everyday life. Then, in his lesson plan, the teacher puts an emphasizing on speaking skill (a lot of pronunciation; drilling and communicative skill; a lot of conversation) and a little bit of grammar. The emphasizing is to construct the students’ skill on how to ask questions and know how to answer them. In the meantime, the he also gives an attention to the quality of the students’ grammar sometimes. Then, the teacher typically lets the students make mistakes to simply awake the students’ self-confidence to speak English. Next, if his students have difficulties understanding the lesson, he gives them particular treatments; giving more explanation, showing more examples, and having the students have a direct practice with him, he thinks that works. 13 After that, during lesson and classroom activity, the teacher just uses Indonesian and a little bit Banjarese. He decides to use Indonesian and Banjarese because he knows that his students do not understand if he speaks in English. Therefore, he believes that the best strategy to overcome this matter is to use the language the students know best – Indonesian and Banjarese; their mother tongue. However, he sometimes uses English in a very simple question for the students. After that, he always makes sure about the students’ understanding by letting them ask him before moving from one activity to another activity. This way, he can always identify which students get his point and which students do not. Next, the teacher is a little bit humorists – that he sometimes makes a joke with the students. Additionally, he always appreciates his students’ effort to speak English. Furthermore, in managing the class, he gradually gives tasks to the students from the easy ones to the harder ones. Then, he also involves the students – like letting the more proficient students help the less proficient, or inviting some volunteers of the students to practice pronunciation and the others repeated after them – leading their classmates in drilling activity. Besides, at another time, he translates an English conversation into Indonesian for the students and sometimes invites them to translate it together. Next, the teacher always gets around while explaining the lesson as well as for controlling and helping the students on their problem with the lesson, and occasionally invites the students to speak up individually – like asking the students some questions in Indonesian but they should answer them in English. Another example; like when the students tell a history of their names. In the meantime, the other students are asked by the teacher about what the teller has told (they may retell it in Indonesian). Then, he sometimes takes advantages of whiteboard and sets the student’s seats in rows, U form, and sometimes changes them like in a small circle – for a group work. Besides, he applies several activities such as role-play activity in pair work and group work. In the pair work and group work, the teacher gives the students a freedom to creatively modify a conversation in the guidance book according to their own ways. These kinds of activities are one of the teacher’s ways of encouraging or motivating the students to learn English. After that, he also gives another motivation by advising his students that ‘What is the value of learning English?’, ‘Why English is worth’, and ‘Work hard in studying valued thing!’. Meanwhile, the teacher also uses the above activities as his techniques to increase the students’ active participation – by engaging them in many classroom activities besides only giving explanations. Above all, during those all classroom activities, if the students make mistakes, the teacher does not correct them right away because he does not want to break their self-confidence. Instead, he does it later after the students finish their activity, either by him or by peer correction. For instance, the students make mistakes when practicing a conversation, and in the meantime, the teacher listens to their pronunciation and pick up the mistakenly pronounced words. After that, he shows the students how the correct pronunciations are by writing them on the whiteboard. Then, he asks his students to pronounce them. If most of them do those correctly, that works. But, if most of them do not get the point, he gives some explanation, very detail and very basic; like how to pronounce ‘NEW. This way, the correction is more effective. 14 The students respond to the teacher’s behaviors Based on all the observations and the students’ statements about the teacher’s behaviors, the researcher formulates the students’ overall response such as below: Firstly, in general, the students indeed like English. Several of them possibly like it very much. But, most of them are basically passive students who do not speak until they are asked to do so. However, during all the observations, the researcher finds out that the students mostly seem to enjoy the class as they are quiet and fairly pay attention to their teacher’s explanation. It is because the teacher uses Indonesian in his instructions and directions. The students fairly like this way. Then, this way also leads several of them to be verily interactive and responsive to their teacher’s instructions and questions. For instance, some students confidently answer their teacher’s questions with English sometimes because the teacher mostly asks them in Indonesian and occasionally asks in English – for some simple English question – and just few students who can fairly understand such question. Additionally, they look interested if their teacher asks them about the meaning of vocabularies. Anyway, there are still few of the students who sometimes do not understand well their teacher’s English questions but they still have enough self-confidence and effort to answer the questions. After that, some of the students compatibly ask the teacher if they want more explanation about the lesson. They probably relax and feel confident in this way as they do not worry about making mistakes speaking English. This can be known as most of them easily speak English individually although they mostly have a trouble with pronunciation, like above, some of them have a confidence on themselves to answer questions from their teacher. Another example, in a classroom activity, every student tells the history of their names. Then, their mates will give response to them by asking some question related. In the meantime, they are actually given a freedom by the teacher to use Indonesian too if they cannot use English. This thing is also one of some factors that keep the students’ self- confidence stay on, possibly. Then, the students are mostly like pair work and group work. They do those activities orderly as well as enjoy them because they are given a freedom, with which they are able to creatively make a positive behavior during this activity. For instance, they are let to freely modify the conversation according to their own way. Besides, they easily go to front of the class practicing a conversation in role-play activity or leading their fellows in drilling activity if their teacher asks them to be a volunteer– this is not a big deal for them. Anyway, few of them appear to be a little bit shy sometimes to have a conversation practice. But, that does not seem a big matter because they are generally interested a lot in speaking practice as all of them always speak up loud. Additionally, they fairly like the formation of their seats that sometimes change according to the kind of classroom activity. Above all, they seem to be verily motivated to learn English in this class. REFERENCES 15 Biggs, John B & Phillip J Moore (1993). The Process of Learning. Australia, Prentice Hall of Australia. Harmer, Jeremy. (1998). How to Teach English: an Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching. England, Longman. Harmer, Jeremy. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. England, Longman, 2001. Hess, Natalie. (2006). Teaching Large Multilevel Classes. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Izzan, Ahmad. (2008). Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris. Bandung, Humaniora.. Nasution, S. (2005). Berbagai Pendekatan dalam Proses Belajar & Mengajar. Jakarta, PT Bumi Aksara,. Nunan, David. (2003). Practical English Language Teaching. New York, McGraw-Hill, 2003. Schütz, Ricardo. (2007). Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved March 21st, 2011, from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html .Sumadi. (2004).Psikologi Pendidikan. Jakarta, PT RajaGrafindo Persada,. Soemanto, Wasty. (1998). Psikologi Pendidikan, Landasan Kerja Pemimpin Pendidikan. Jakarta, PT Rineka Cipta, 1998 http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html 16