Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 pp. 36- P- ISSN: 2614-5960 e-ISSN: 2615-4137 http://jurnal.ugj.ac.id/index.php/RILL Copyright 2021@ Sarfita Br Sitepu, Lemmuela Alvita Kurniawati 36 Article AN EXPLORATION ON THE USE OF REALIA-MEDIATED INSTRUCTION FOR TEACHING ENGLISH FOR YOUNG LEARNERS Sarfita Br Sitepu sitepusarfita@gmail.com English Language Education Department, Faculty of Education and Humanities, Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana, Yogyakarta-Indonesia Lemmuela Alvita Kurniawati pipitkh@staff.ukdw.ac.id English Language Education Department, Faculty of Education and Humanities, Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana, Yogyakarta-Indonesia Abstract This study investigates how teachers and young learners use realia-mediated instruction (henceforth, RMI) in a private English course in Indonesia. Therefore, it also explores the viewpoints of teachers on using RMI to teach English for young learners. To gather the data, this study employed a descriptive qualitative design with interpretivism paradigm. Three English teachers in a private English course involved in this study. To gain the data, the researchers conducted interviews with three English teachers and observations in Kids classes. Two themes emerged for research question 1 are RMI is used to teach vocabulary and RMI is used to assess students understanding. Three emerging themes for research question 2 were RMI helps students engaged in learning process, RMI help students maximize their multi-sensory English learning experience, and RMI increases student’s communication skill. The results of this study have a meaningful implication for pre- and in-service English teachers in the exploration of RMI for young learners. Moreover, this study enriches research about the use of RMI as teaching and learning media for young learners. Keywords: English course, realia-mediated instruction, learning media, young learners Sari Studi ini menyelidiki bagaimana guru dan pembelajar anak-anak menggunakan instruksi dimediasi realia (selanjutnya, RMI) pada lembaga kursus bahasa Inggris di Indonesia. Selain itu, penelitian ini juga mengeksplorasi sudut pandang para guru dalam menggunakan RMI untuk mengajar bahasa Inggris bagi pembelajar anak-anak. Dalam mengumpulkan data, penelitian menggunakan desain kualitatif deskriptif dengan paradigma interpretivisme. Tiga guru bahasa Inggris pada lembaga kursus bahasa Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 37 Inggris dilibatkan dalam penelitian ini. Untuk memperoleh data, peneliti melakukan wawancara dengan tiga guru bahasa Inggris dan observasi di kelas Kids. Dua tema yang muncul untuk pertanyaan penelitian 1 adalah RMI digunakan untuk mengajar kosakata dan RMI digunakan untuk menilai pemahaman siswa. Tiga tema yang muncul untuk pertanyaan penelitian 2 adalah RMI membantu siswa terlibat dalam proses pembelajaran, RMI membantu siswa memaksimalkan pengalaman belajar bahasa Inggris multi-inderanya, dan RMI meningkatkan keterampilan komunikasi siswa. Hasil penelitian ini memiliki implikasi yang berarti bagi guru bahasa Inggris pra dan dalam jabatan dalam eksplorasi RMI untuk pembelajar anak-anak. Selain itu, penelitian ini memperkaya penelitian tentang pemanfaatan RMI sebagai media belajar mengajar bagi anak didik. kata kunci: instruksi, kursus Bahasa Inggris, pembelajar anak-anak, realia Received 2020-10-03 accepted 2021-01-01 published 2021-01-31 APA Citation: Sitepu , S., & Kurniawati, LA. (2021). An exploration on the use of realia-mediated instruction for teaching English for young learners. Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1), pp. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.33603/rill.v4i1.4216 Introduction Teachers have to be more creative and active to build memorable learning experiences (Siswanto, 2017), as young learners are more excited, enthusiastic and lively than adult learners (Cameron, 2001). The activities and exercises of the language classroom for young learners cannot be limited by the textbooks only (Bably & Nusrat, 2017). There are many variations of teaching-learning activities for young learners, such as doing role-play, playing game, making projects, and telling stories. By creating various and fun activities, teachers can use teaching media to help them develop the materials creatively during the teaching-learning process. Indeed, teaching media can be used to deliver information through various activities in the classroom. Aini (2013), for instance, stated that all teaching media can be used for teaching-learning activities and support learners in reaching learning objectives. In other words, all teaching media are useful to teach the language based on purposes. One of teaching media is realia. It is a teaching media which consists of real and semi- concrete objects which are illustrated to teach vocabulary (Chiarantano, 2008). Therefore, it can be a bridge to build collaborative activities (Suharsih & Hamidiyah, 2012). In which, the use of RMI to do class activities can make an authentic learning http://dx.doi.org/10.33603/rill.v3i1 Sitepu , S., & Kurniawati, LA. 38 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 process for young learners. According to Rokhmawati (2011), realia is actual or semi- concrete objects which are used as media to facilitate language learning. In short, realia is teaching media that can be seen, touched, felt, and brought into the class to support the teaching-learning process. There are many previous studies discuss RMI in the English language learning (see Aini 2013; Amumpuni and Rahmasari 2019; Arbryan 2018; Argawati 2009; Bably and Nusrat 2017; Bala 2015; Diep 2019; Hadi 2018; Irawan 2018; Rokhmawati 2011; Suharsih and Hamidiyah 2012). Based on the results, they found out that students can be more creative and engaged in doing activities by using RMI. Argawati (2009), for example, found that using RMI makes learning experience more memorable for elementary students in Indonesia. Because most young children learn by having hands- on experience, so, realia can be a good teaching media to give them exposure of real-life learning situations. Furthermore, the methods used in the previous research were mostly quantitative method (e.g: Argawati, 2009; Bably & Nusrat, 2017; Bala, 2015; Diep, 2019; Hadi, 2018; Irawan, 2018; Rokhmawati, 2011). Since, a qualitative method was rarely used, thus, we conducted this study to fill the gap from the previous research. In this case, the qualitative method was used to investigate how young learners and teachers use RMI and explore the teachers’ views. Despite the fact that there have been many studies discuss RMI, studies investigating teachers’ perspective of using RMI for young learners remain limited. Most of the researchers researched about how RMI used for teaching vocabulary, writing, and speaking (see Aini, 2013; Amumpuni & Rahmasari, 2019; Argawati, 2009; Bably & Nusrat, 2017; Bala, 2015; Diep, 2019; Hadi, 2018; Irawan, 2018; Rokhmawati, 2011; Suharsih & Hamidiyah, 2012). However, many things can be explored more about how teachers and young learners use RMI and in the classroom. Additionally, the previous research (e.g: Aini, 2013; Amumpuni & Rahmasari, 2019; Argawati, 2009; Hadi, 2018) was conducted mostly in formal schools. However, research on the use of RMI for young learners in formal schools and non-formal settings are limited in numbers. Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 39 The existence of English private courses can be attributed to the characteristics of formal education (Alotaibi, 2014). Formal education is a structured and organized education model and administered by norms, laws, and subjects which strict to the curriculum, methodology, content, and objectives (Shala, 2016) Unfortunately, sometimes the high demand for education cannot be matched with students' need. English private course is a type of non-formal education which is more flexible to the needs and interests of the students (Shala, 2016). For example, some studies (e.g: Alotaibi, 2014; Kozar, 2013) found that students who are interested to join courses outside the school are high in Saudi Arabia and Russia. However, despite the potential of private course in English education, in Indonesia, the research which focused on a private English course is rarely investigated. Therefore, this study discusses how young learners and teachers use RMI and explores teachers’ views toward the use of RMI in a private English course in the Indonesian context. Lastly, the use of RMI for young learners in an English private course was conducted because young learners’ characteristic shows that they are lively learners who need interaction with real objects to engage their attention to do activities in learning English (Bably & Nusrat, 2017). The purposes of this study are to investigate how teachers and young learners use RMI in a private English course and to explore English teachers’ viewpoints about the use of RMI for young learners. Therefore, this study would investigate how young learners and teachers use RMI and explore teachers’ views toward the use of RMI in a private English course in the Indonesian context. Methods This study used a qualitative research method to gather data from the participants. This study, as characterized in the nature of qualitative method (Creswell, 2007; Ospina, 2004; Strauss & Corbin, 1998), aimed to gain deeper data from the participants' perspective toward certain phenomena. Additionally, Strauss' and Corbin's (1998) stated that “qualitative methods can be used to obtain the intricate details about phenomena like feelings, thought processes, and emotions that are difficult to extract or learn about through more conventional methods” (p.11). Specifically, this study employed descriptive qualitative to investigate detailed process on how RMI is used by the Sitepu , S., & Kurniawati, LA. 40 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 teachers and young learners in the classroom and to find out deeper perspectives about the use of RMI for young learners in a private English course. In fact, by using descriptive qualitative, the teachers' voices on the use of RMI can be described deeply. As qualitative method was used in this study, an interpretivism paradigm was applied. It was applied to gain in-depth perspectives of reality from the viewpoint of participants and find a deeper understanding of the phenomena of the human and social sciences (Creswell, 2007). Further, it was applied to find the uniqueness of context instead of trying to generalize the understanding of the whole participants (Creswell, 2007). Therefore, the findings of this study were not meant to generalize the participants' viewpoint. Otherwise, it would show in-depth individual perspectives about the use of RMI for young learners in a private English course. Many previous studies on RMI had been conducted using various kinds of methods. Some studies used qualitative method by conducting Classroom Action Research (CAR) and experimental research (Amumpuni & Rahmasari, 2019; Irawan, 2018). Whereas, some others used quantitative research (e.g: Bably & Nusrat, 2017; Bala, 2015; Diep, 2019; Hadi, 2018). In comparison to this study, we used a qualitative method by conducting interview and observation. In the observation, we identified young learners' and teachers’ actual behaviour on how they use RMI in the classroom (Creswell, 2012). Meanwhile, by doing interview, the teachers’ voices on using RMI could be explored more. Since the focus was to investigate how RMI is used by the teacher and young learners and find out teachers’ perceptions toward the use of RMI in a private English course, therefore, we did not use either experimental design or CAR because their focus is conducting research only in a certain group. Three English teachers were selected as research participants. The selection of the participants was based on voluntary participation as well as teaching experiences. Two teachers who voluntarily agreed to participate in this study had respectively 10 years and one year of teaching experience. Their perspectives would show new findings from two different sides of participants based on their experiences, particularly in teaching young learners and using RMI in the private course. Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 41 As the purposes of this study are to explore how RMI is used in a private English course and find out the participants’ viewpoint of using RMI for young learners, therefore observation and interview were chosen as the main instruments. Observations on two kid-classes to record the teachers' and students' actual behaviour on using RMI in the classroom (Creswell, 2012) and semi-structured interviews with three teachers to understand the participants' answers thoroughly and investigate the use of RMI deeply (Harrell & Bradley, 2009) were conducted sequentially. To collect the data, qualitative method was employed. Deeper data were collected by using interview and observation checklists as the main data collections (Creswell, 2007). Observations were done in kid-classes to record information on actual behaviour and individuals who have difficulty verbalizing their ideas (Creswell, 2012). The criterion of observation checklist is about how RMI was used in the classroom. Semi- structured interviews were done by using a set of interview questions as a guide for answering research questions about teachers’ viewpoint of using RMI and how they use RMI in the classroom (Creswell, 2007). Furthermore, as suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006), thematic analysis was used to analyse the observation and interview data. They stated that a theme represents meaning within the data set and it captures important points about the data with the research questions. As there were two instruments used in this study, observation results were used as the main data for RQ1 and interview results as supporting data. Meanwhile, for RQ2, interview results were used as the main data and supported by observation data. The complete details could be seen in the appendices. After obtaining permission from the institution to conduct the research setting, observation in two kid classes, and individual semi-structured interview in Indonesian language with three teachers were conducted. The observation in two kid classes was conducted to record the students' and teachers’ behaviours on how they used RMI in the classrooms. By conducting observation, the reports were written and analysed to generate initial codes. Likewise, thereafter conducting interview, the data was translated into English for further analysis. Afterward, the data was coded by referring to RQ2. Sitepu , S., & Kurniawati, LA. 42 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 Further, the codes of interview and observation were defined and thematized using thematic analysis. Additionally, after gaining some themes that answered both research questions, the data from observation and interview will be used to support each other. The data collection was illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1. An illustration of data collection and analysis In conducting interview and observation, some ethical considerations were taken into account by distributing consent forms, such as confidentiality and anonymity. Firstly, an informed consent form was distributed to the manager of the course to grant permission to conduct a study in its private English course (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007). Once the management grants permission, this study could be initiated. After getting access and acceptance, the teacher participants were given a consent form to ask their willingness to participate (Cohen et al., 2007). As the principle of informed consent is self-determination and freedom, the teachers were given some time to read and sign (Cohen et al., 2007). The second ethical consideration is anonymity. Throughout this study, pseudonyms are used to keep the participants’ confidentiality (Israel & Hay, 2006). The name of the institution where the research was conducted and the participants’ names are disclosed (Cohen et al., 2007). The anonymity is done to protect the participants’ identity throughout this study (Cohen et al., 2007). Results and Discussion The results of this study were gathered from the observation and interview data. The two classes that were being observed were Kids 1 (K1) and Kids 2 (K2). Both classes were using RMI. Furthermore, the pseudonyms of the three participants were as follow: Eva (Female/F), Alka (Female/F), and Lisa (Female/F). In this section, the results and Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 43 discussion of the observation in two classes and interview with three teachers are presented. Research question 1: To what extent do the teachers use RMI in a private English course? Based on the results of the observation and also supported by interview results, there were two themes on the extent of the use of RMI for young learners in a private English course. As shown in Table 1, the illustration of the two themes generated for the first research question is presented. Table1. Emerging themes for research question 1 Theme 1 RMI for teaching vocabulary Theme 2 RMI for assessing students understanding Theme 1: RMI for teaching vocabulary While doing observation, RMI was used in both classes to teach vocabulary. It could be seen in these observation reports: The report of K1 observation: The teacher showed some photos of animals and fruits and said, “what is this?” Some students seemed enthusiastic and mentioned the name of the photos loudly. But, some were just silent because some fruits and animals were new for them. But, the teacher did not stop there, she also did “repeat after” to teach the students to pronounce the words correctly, for example, she showed a picture and asked “what is this?” some of the students who knew it, answered “it’s a lion” or “Lion!” then to clarify the answer, she said” it’s a lion”, “repeat after me, Lion”. [OBV/EVA1] The report of K3 observation: By using photos of persons as realia, the teacher was only presenting about new verbs of daily activities for the students. The teacher used photos of persons who were doing something on the photos. At the beginning of the class, the teacher was showing some photos, and the students were asked what activities that were done by the person in the photos, she said “what does she do?”, and the students said “sleep! Sleep!” they spoke the words loudly. [OBV/ALKA2] Based on the observation on how RMI was used by the teacher to teach about vocabulary, in K1, the teacher used photos of fruits and animals to teach about nouns, meanwhile in K3, the teacher used photos of persons to teach about verbs. Therefore, it showed that students could learn vocabulary by using RMI. In which, by using RMI, students can learn nouns (e.g., K1 observation) and verb (e.g., K3 observation). Regarding to these findings, there are some studies which also reported consistent results (e.g. Suharsih and Hamidiyah (2012), for instance, conducted a study on how English teachers used RMI to teach students with some nouns. Furthermore, Bably and Sitepu , S., & Kurniawati, LA. 44 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 Nusrat (2017) reported that learners can recognize an object immediately by using RMI. In other words, students can easily mention the words based on the objects they see. Furthermore, those findings were also supported by the data of three teachers who were in agreement that students could recognize vocabulary by using RMI. They shared that vocabulary is the frequent topic that they taught to young learners in this private course. Eva, in excerpt 1, highlighted that she used RMI for introducing new vocabulary for the students. She stated that: 1.“…... realia is only used for showing [new vocabulary] for example. “This is a book”, [I set] a picture of book or real book. But, I only say the word or write it on the board and the realia is just showed…” [INTV/EVA6] In line with Eva’s viewpoint, specifically, Alka, in excerpt 2, reported that she prepared RMI to teach singular and plural nouns, and countable and uncountable nouns. She reported that: 2.“…. if in kid classes, [students] might focus on [materials of] singular and plural. So what realia should be prepared? [the objects] can be mixed, fruit, vegetables, toys, therefore, we had to prepare mix realia that can be used for singular and plural, also count/uncountable]” [INTV/ALKA26] In relation to both teachers, Lisa also used RMI to teach vocabulary. Even she found out that RMI could be used variously for teaching parts of speech such as nouns and prepositions, and adjectives. In excerpt 3, she explained: 3.“My Elementary Class (EC), firstly, in that class is about introducing vocabulary using realia. Usually, [I] use realia for [vocabulary]. For example, [I] showed something, “what is this?” [Students answered] “This is star fruit” Secondly, [I] can use realia for prepositions. Okay, for example, this is a toy and I put it here [putting a car on the table], “where is a car?” “It is on the table” ….. So [realia] can be used for prepositions. Also for …“which”, okay, for example, you‟re holding two mangos, “Which one do you prefer?” for example, you prefer a yellow mango or green mango?” something like that. Because, if you want to teach „which‟, realia is needed. If [realia was not used], it would be too difficult [for teaching „which‟]. Okay for instance, this is an ambulance, [we ask the students], the right one or the one on the left. Thus, we have two objects for them to choose.” [INTV/LISA3] With regard to the excerpts above, RMI could be used to teach various vocabularies based on its purpose. In this case, Lisa used RMI for teaching some parts of speech such as nouns, prepositions, and adjectives. Recent studies also reported similar results (e.g: Diep, 2019; Suharsih & Hamidiyah, 2012). In his previous study, Diep (2019), for example, reported that various RMI could be used to teach simple structure for young learners like, preposition. He added that teaching simple vocabulary for young learners Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 45 would be more effective by using RMI because they could imagine the objects and also situations (Diep, 2019). Theme 2: RMI for assessing students understanding Based on the observation data in K1 class, RMI was not only used for teaching vocabulary but it was also used to check students’ understanding of the lesson that they just learnt. The report of K1 observation: After presenting new vocabulary lesson for about 15 minutes, the teacher used previous realia to check the memory of the students. The game was “give me a picture of____”. She explained the instruction with intonations and gestures. Also, she made her example, so the students could see what they had to do. In this case, the teacher was putting some photos on the floor and she would call one by one by saying “Give me a picture of a mango” then, a student had to run and took the photo of mango. By doing this game, the students should listen carefully to their teacher to get the right picture. [OBV/EVA2] As it could be seen in K1 class observation, the teacher was using RMI to check and review the previous lesson. Furthermore, by using RMI, the teachers can drill students to practice and measure the students’ progress in understanding the lesson (Argawati, 2009). In other words, by practicing or even playing game using RMI, it might help the teacher to find out whether the students understood the material or not, as illustrated in K3 class. To support the observation results, Eva, the teacher of the K1 class, during the interview admitted that RMI was used to check the students' understanding. In excerpt 4, she commented: 4.“[Playing game using realia] is practice, but more like concept checking. It is for checking whether [the students] remember [the vocabulary] or not. But, the real [speaking] practice, they do it with their friends.” [INTV/EVA21] Based on the interview, Eva clarified that she used RMI to check the students’ understanding before they practice the language with their friends. It is also in line with Juhana (2014) who stated that young learners need repetition of language items that they learnt. Therefore, it is necessary for the teachers to assess the students by doing game or do several activities to give them familiarity and confidence (Juhana, 2014). Research question 2: What are teachers’ views on the use of RMI in English learning for young learners? The results of interview with three teachers who were as follows: Eva (Female/F), Alka (Female/F), and Lisa (Female/F). Three themes about the participants’ views on the use of RMI in English learning for young learners are emerged (see Table 2). Sitepu , S., & Kurniawati, LA. 46 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 Table2. Emerging themes for research question 2 Theme 3 Engaging students in learning process Theme 4 Maximizing students’ multi-sensory English learning experience Theme 5 Increasing student’s communication skill Theme 3: Engaging students in learning process Letting the students to sit and just explaining the lesson are not the right choices, especially for teaching young learners. By the evidence, the teachers agreed that using RMI was their choice to build students' motivation in learning English. Eva, in excerpt 5, reported: 5.“[Using realia or not] their understanding is the same. But, [using realia] is more fun, and [the students] are not sleepy.” [INTV/EVA13] In excerpt 6, she continued: 6.“[The students] seem curious toward realia that I brought. For example, I brought small wooden houses to learn about places. [The students] would ask “what will you do with the houses? And so on.” [INTV/EVA15] The excitement of the students was also seen by Alka, as in excerpt 7: 7.“[The students] were excited. If they saw toys in the class they would be so excited, like “what is this, miss? Like that.” [INTV/ALKA16] Lisa, participant 3 also shared that the students enjoyed learning using RMI. In excerpt 8, she reported: 8.“…If [I] used plastic fruits, or miniatures of real objects that we couldn‟t bring to the class, the students would be happy because [plastic fruits] are playthings….” [INTV/LISA5] Students were engaged in the learning process because they were curious and excited about the objects brought into the classroom. For example, from Eva’s case, the students were curious about how RMI would be used. In regards to this finding, Amumpuni and Rahmasari (2019) reported that the students were being active, motivated, and enthusiastic during the learning process and they give more attention more. Those findings were also supported by the results of the observation conducted in K1 and K3 Class. During the observation, the teacher asked the students to play the game of “give me a picture of___” the atmosphere of the class was lively. Playing the game brought so much fun for them, as it was seen that the students were excited to catch the target by running from their chair and proudly giving it to their teacher. It seemed that the students enjoyed the activities [OBV/EVA1] While introducing verbs to the students, the teacher was showing some pictures, and the students said “Sleep! Sleep!” they spoke the words loudly. Yet, some students looked curious about what is in the photos and they focused on each photo that was showed. [OBV/ALKA2] Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 47 In the light of these findings, in his study, Wachob (2006) stated that one factor that shows how students are motivated in the class is using interesting RMI and what teachers can do with the given material. From the evidence, Eva and Alka, the teachers of the two classes, were using RMI for playing game and showing pictures. In K1 class, the atmosphere was also lively because the students were actively catching the pictures. By doing such a game, the students were engaged in the learning process because the teacher gave exposure to the lesson in a fun way. Further, in K3 class, the students were curious toward RMI as they paid attention to the objects that were showed by the teacher, and they said the word loudly. Furthermore, by using RMI, the lessons became more interactive and students became more independent while doing activities. Theme 4: Maximizing students’ multi-sensory English learning experience All the teachers were in agreement that elementary students learn new things through seeing, feeling, touching, and experiencing RMI. Hence, they agreed that RMI is more effective to experience objects and real-life situations compare to other teaching aids. Alka, in excerpt 9, explained that: 9.“Hm … [realia] cannot be replaced [by other teaching media]… if we use realia, it can be touched, we can feel it, like fruit. The shape is like this if we just show the PowerPoint, the picture [of fruit] would be bigger. Is that the real size? Okay, the picture is okay, the color is okay, but is the size is like that? That‟s not the real size. Even though several realia not really close to the real size of the real object, at least texture is the same. Kids have sensors, right? They can feel it.” [INTV/ALKA28] Lisa, participant 3, also reported the same point on how RMI give different learning experience for young learners. In excerpt 10, she reported with some examples: 10.“I think, for kids, realia is more interesting than technological tools. Why? [Because] they can see, touch, and feel [realia], so there are some aspects that they feel right at the time. If only pictures, how is the texture? For example like durian, it has thorns. So they can play with [realia] and they are not passive, for example, they know this is durian, when they play, they can close their eyes and feel it. “Oh this is durian”, by feeling the texture.” [INTV/LISA13] Both teachers’ reports may reflect what (Gobert, 2018) referred to as multisensory reinforcement in which students do not only hear or write the word but they use their senses to see, feel, and touch the object to remember the information better in long term. Also, the participants admitted that RMI could give different learning experiences for the students because, in their age, they experience things by playing with RMI directly (Bably & Nusrat, 2017). Furthermore, using RMI is a strategy to help students to comprehend the better concept of lesson they learnt by maximizing the use of their Sitepu , S., & Kurniawati, LA. 48 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 sensory and help them to bridge the gap between classroom activities and real-life experiences. Theme 5: Increasing student’s communication skill By using RMI, participant 2 agreed that students were active to speak in the classroom. Excerpt 11 shows: 11.“For example, [the material is] possessive pronoun. [By holding realia] a student said “it is my doll, it is mine”. And then, [the object] can be used for practicing too. For example, one student took their friend‟ belonging and said, “Whose car is this?”, “it is my friend‟ car”. [The student] can also practice like that.” [INTV/ALKA22] Based on the excerpt, the students might actively involve in the activities, since they had something to do with the object and they had the topic to discuss. The students can easily communicate since they are provided with the object and they can imagine the situations (Diep, 2019). In this case, Alka stated that the object could be used to make conversation with their friends based on the object that they hold. Therefore, using RMI would help students to imagine the situations. In this way, the students could share their imagination through communication. In the light of these findings, there were three themes generated to answer the second research question, i.e., teachers’ views on the use of realia in English teaching and learning. Based on the interview transcripts and observation notes, RMI is used to engage students in learning process, maximize students’ multi-sensory English learning experiences, and increase students’ communication skills. These findings were aligned with previous studies conducted by Amumpuni and Rahmasari (2019), Hadi (2018), Suharsih and Hamidiyah (2012), and Wachob (2006) confirming how RMI gives effects learners in English class. Conclusion & recommendation To conclude, RMI can be used for introducing and teaching vocabulary lessons such as nouns, verbs, prepositions, and adjectives. The use of RMI in the classroom brings a powerful way to connect students with vocabulary through seeing and feeling the objects directly. Apart from that, RMI can be used to check students’ understanding by involving them to do certain activities, such as playing game. Furthermore, RMI brings some advantages to English young learners’ learning. Firstly, the teachers clarified that Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 49 RMI makes students more active and excited during the teaching-learning process, Further, RMI helps young learners to maximize their multi-sensory to get them to do hands-on experiences and they can remember the lessons in the long-term by using their sensors. Lastly, RMI helps students to increase their communication skill because by using RMI students can easily express their idea orally. Furthermore, the result of this study has some significant implication for pre- and in- service teachers. This study can provide the teachers insight of using RMI, especially for facilitating English learning for young learners. Additionally, this study will enrich research in English language education related to the use of RMI as supporting teaching media in English language teaching for young learners. This study still has some limitations that can be seen as considerations in the future. Firstly, the observations data of this study may not explore more on other realia because both classes that had been observed used one kind of realia. The data would be richer if the observation was done in another class that used different kinds of realia. Secondly, this study was done within a limited time frame due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, this study could not be conducted with many participants. If it was conducted with more than three participants, the data would be richer. The last is the lack of exploration of the small findings which can be considered to be explored more in the future. Finally, there are some recommendations for future studies. They might investigate more perceptions from different perspectives, such as senior high students who can share the perspective from students’ side. Next, they might explore more of teachers’ perceptions of using RMI in more than one private English course to gain more data from participants in different settings. Lastly, they can investigate the use of RMI for English achievements such as writing, listening skill, or even integrated skills. References Aini, W. N. (2013). Instructional media in teaching English to young learners. Journal of English and Education, 1, 196–205. Alotaibi, G. N. (2014). Causes of private tutoring in English : Perspectives of Saudi Sitepu , S., & Kurniawati, LA. 50 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 secondary school students and their parents. The Second International Conference on Education and Language (2nd ICEL) 2014, 8, 79–83. Amumpuni, R., & Rahmasari, B. (2019). Enhancing students’ English ability by using realia. JPE (Jurnal Pendidikan Edutama), 6(1), 59–64. Arbryan, A. (2018). Flash media implementation in teaching reading. Research and Innovation in Language Learning, 1(2), 111–118. Argawati, N. O. (2009). The effectiveness of using realia in teaching English vocabulary to the 3rd grade of elementary school student in SD Bentarakan I Baki Sukoharjo. Sebelas Maret University. Bably, T., & Nusrat, D. (2017). Using realia as an effective pedagogical tool. Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 22(11), 1–7. Bala, E. (2015). The positive effect of realia in EFL classes. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 2(1), 43–48. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in pschology. Qualitative Research in Pschology, 3(2), 77–101. Chiarantano. (2008). Games and activities for primary modern foreign language. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (6th ed.). New York: Routledge. Creswell, J. (2007). Reseach design. London: SAGE Publications. Creswell, J. (2012). Educational research (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education Ltd. Diep, L. (2019). Exploring realia usage in teaching English grammar to young learners. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 10(6), 1238–1252. Gobert, M. (2018). Flash cards, realia, and objects. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0188 Hadi, A. (2018). Effectiveness of using realia in teaching English vocabulary for ESL learners. International Journal of Engineering Science Invention (IJESI), 7(10), 65–72. Harrell, M., & Bradley, M. (2009). Data collection methods semi-structured interviews and focus group. Arrlington: RAND Corporation. Irawan, D. (2018). Teaching vocabulary by using realia (real-object) media. English Community Journal, 1(1), 41. Israel, M., & Hay, L. (2006). Research ethic for social scientists. London: SAGE Publications. Juhana. (2014). Teaching English to young learners : Some points to be considered. Asian Journal of Education and E-Learning, 2(1), 43–46. Kozar, O. (2013). The face of private tutoring in Russia: Evidence from online marketing by private tutors. Research in Comparative and International Education, 8(1), 74–86. Ospina, S. (2004). Qualitative research. In J. M. G. Goethals, G. Sorenson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of leadership. London: SAGE Publication. Rokhmawati, E. (2011). The use of realia to improve speaking ability in procedure text. Walisongo State Institute for Islamic Studies, Semarang. Shala, A. (2016). Formal and non-formal education in the new era. Action Researcher in Education, (7), 119–130. Siswanto, A. (2017). Teaching English to young leaners: A reflection form Englaoshi community. The 2nd TEYLIN International Conference April 2017, 31–34. Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publication, Inc. Research and Innovation in Language Learning 4(1) January 2021 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 51 Suharsih, S., & Hamidiyah, A. (2012). Realia: The effective media for teaching English for EYL. TEYLIN 2: From Policy to Classroom, 6–14. Wachob, P. (2006). Methods and materials for motivation and learner autonomy. Reflection on English Language Teaching, 5(1), 93–122. Conflict of Interest No potential conflict of interest is reported Author Biography Sarfita Br. Sitepu, S.Pd. graduated from English Education Department of Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana. Currently, residing in Karo, North Sumatera, she teaches in a private English course in Yogyakarta and some private courses in Karo. Her research interests include teaching English for young learners and ESP. Lemmuela Alvita Kurniawati, M.Hum. is a faculty member at English Education Department of Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana. She teaches Curriculum and Material Development, Web Technology for English Language Learning, Task and Media Design, Basic Grammar, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and Technology for language learning. Her research interests include ESP, technology-enhanced English language instruction, and pre- and in-service teacher professional development.