THE APPROACHE OF ‘CALL’ FOR ENGLISH TEACHING AT HOMESCHOOLING
SUBMITTED TO FULFILL THE FINAL EXAM OF ICT LECTUR
MUKHTARUDDIN, NPM: 0908.0660.32
2/6/2010
POSTGRADUATE ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM
UNIV. MUHAMMADIYAH PROF. DR. HAMKA. JAKARTA
THE ‘CALL’ APPROACHE FOR
ENGLISH TEACHING AT HOMESCHOOLING
ABSTRACT
Home schooling is one of informal education which guaranteed as our education style except formal and non formal education style as mentioned in UU SISDIKNAS no. 20, 2003 chapter 27, verse 1-2. There are three main approaches used as the basis of teaching English at home schooling as the first, second or foreign language to date. They’re School at home approach, Living books, and Natural learning approach. The school at home approach is home schooling that held in the home, it’s famous by textbook, traditional and school approach. By contrast natural learning approach is based on student feeling to learn more without text book or other, because their desire to learn is strong naturally. However, recent finding have revealed that English approach through Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is needed the conducive atmosphere, well enough time, facilities and flexible learning and fun. Some home scholars have advocated the living books approach to use in their English teaching approach. This article aims to review these issues and indicating which one is the most appropriate approach that can be used as the theoretical framework of English teaching approaches.
Key word: Teaching, CALL, Home schooling.
INTRODUCTION
Since the beginning of this century and based on the regulation of our national education system , we’ve realized that our government guaranteed the education system of formal, non formal and informal one. And home schooling is one of the informal schools that famous in our country nowadays, which involve the parents becomes the facilitator to create conducive learning atmosphere and develop their son’s talent maximally. There are three kind of home schooling :
1. Single home schooling.
It’s home schooling that held by parents in one family and do not join with other families. It’s usually took to raise something secret, there is one important desire that the parents should got their sons and don’t interact with other.
2. Plural home schooling.
It’s home schooling that held by two or more families for some equal activities, while the main activities must be done by each parents in their home.
3. Community home schooling.
It’s association of some plurals home schooling that arrange and decide the syllabus, learning materials, main and list activities. It has a good commitment between parents and home schooling community about 50:50. So, it’s quite management, full control, facilities big attention from each home schooling community and bench marking through internet and other technology facilities.
Of late researcher have come up with the great information about models of teaching approaches in home schooling, especially in English lesson in first, second and foreign language. They’re John Caldwell Holt (1964), Raymond & Dorothy Moore (1997), Maria Montessori (1998), Charlotte Masson (2001), Everett Reimur (2004), and Murray Room (2004). All models are designed the conceptualize various approaches to English teaching at home schooling, these approaches very fundamental but they have more or less the same objectives. They describe how children learn, how they learn to speak, to read, to write and to listen. Although computers and educational packages are generally in use today, Computer Aided Learning (CAL) in the future will be even more essential and important. Today computers are ued a big, fast encyclopedia or data book, a tape recorder, type writer or video, but in the future CAL system will contain smart adaptive trainers that will adapt themselves to learners’ features and proposes the best method of teaching.
It goes without saying that these approaches have continued to involve in the filed of English teaching at home schooling to date, i.e. from school at home approach, natural learning and living books approach . The school at home approach was adopted by many researchers, home scholars and practitioners since 1960s. One the other decade later, the other researchers criticized the proponents of the school at home approach and advocated the new approaches, known as natural learning approach. At the beginning of the millennium century, many researchers believe that both the former and the letter approaches have their own malice and virtue and put forward the interactive approach. This paper reviews this approaches (school at home, natural learning and living books approaches) and pins point which one of this approaches might be the most appropriate to teach English at home schooling.
THE SCHOOL AT HOME APPROACH
This approach is just like a formal school, but the place is in the home. It’s famous by textbook approach, traditional approach or school approach. The researcher who endorse this approach is John Caldwell Holt (1964), Raymond & Dorothy Moore (1997).
John Caldwell Holt (1964), state that “the human being is the learner person and they love to learn, we don’t addict them to learn something, whoever addicted, controlled and under pressured, it’s effect to kill their learning interest.” To confirm his argument, John (1964) further argue that there is ineffectiveness of early childhood education if the parents school their child at 8-12 years old in the school, his famous statement is “all children will be better to study without any instructions like in the school.” And he provides some books such as: How children fail (1964), Ways to help people to thing better (1976), and in the end of 1977s, he published the magazine entitle Growing without school, at 1960-1970s he was also the first pioneer, aspirator and consultant of home schooling in USA .
Raymond and Dorothy Moore (1997), spent years to investigate the result of early education, they examine their own students and another around ages 8 up to 10 years old, and found that “in the early years, up to somewhere around age 8 up to 10, it is the best for children to be at home in a loving supportive environment.” They found also that “the children can’t effectively learn until they’re developmentally ready to learn, and in some situations, like a working single parent, a child may need to be put in preschool, but the optimal environment is a home where they feels secure and develop their own pace. They’re free to mistakes without 25 other student making funs to student.” One child has a certain level, and than their ability and unconscious to learn is amazing, they learn after they ready to learn. When their parents become facilitator and flexible learning, the home schooling is depends on parent’s education, background study and what’s their destiny, what their children want to be? (Sumardiono, Home Schooling, Sebuah Pendidikan Alternatif. 2007, 04)
THE NATURAL LEARNING APPROACH
Unlike the school at home approach, the natural learning approach assume that the process of learning is based on the student feeling to learn more without text book or other because their unconscious to learn is strong naturally. Everett Reimur (2004) state in his book entitled School is dead that “learning could done wherever and whenever the children want to do, it might be in living room, bathroom, kitchen field, etc. it doesn’t depend on place, time and someone.” Then Murray Room, a teacher from Canberra Primary school produced the following chart to show that original seven intelligences might mean for his students:
TYPE LIKE TO DO
Linguistics Learner Read, Write and tell the stories
Logical/Math learner Do experiments, figure thing out work thing out, work with number, asking the question, asking the pattern and relationship.
Spatial learner Drawing, building, designing and creating something, watching the movie and playing machines
Musical learner Singing and listening the music, playing the instrument and response to music
Bodily/Kinesthetic Moving around, touching and talking, using the body language
Intrapersonal Having a lot friends, talking to people and joining the groups
Interpersonal Working alone, purse own interest
Table 1: seven intelligences by Murray Room (2004)
Teaching English through this approach in home schooling is depend on the children’s natural unconscious, because they are learners naturally.
LIVING BOOKS APPROACH
The living books approach emerge because of incomplete conceptualization of the school at home and natural learning approach which polarize a description of how the learner learn well. In general, the living books approach assume that learning is fun, teaching is transferring a good habit, base English skill for receptive skill (listening and reading competence) and productive skill (speaking and writing competence) , math and expose them in the reality life such as joining a trip, visiting a museum, shopping, going to library, exhibition, etc.
This approach was improved by Charlotte Masson and Maria Montessori since 1998s, who taught by mean of living books, appreciation of music and art, making field notes using narration instead of testing, teaching reading, listening (receptive competence) and speaking and listening (productive competence), bringing order back to children education to their home but it’s not quick read manual, took more care and time to be established, until called by ‘the gentle art of learning’ . The backbone here is teaching the children respect, values and virtues. Charlotte Masson foundation has a good habit to introduce the living books approach.
The children have an inherent desire to know; teachers and parents can either encourage this natural inquisitiveness or squelch it. There is a joy when children learn-not to take a test, not to take a grade, not to compete with each other, and not please their parents and teachers- but because they want to know about the world around them.
Both educator and parents will find the proven help in creating a positive learning atmosphere through living books approach that show how to develop a child’s natural love of learning. All of them can contribute to this volume; give useful application that work in a variety in educational settings, from formal education to informal one like home schooling. When children love to learn is one of the best seller books about the Charlotte Masson approach..
Review of Literature
Studies on teaching and researching listening have been explored, especially the instructional methods and design of listening activities (Rost, 2002). In the area of multimedia application in listening instruction, studies have consistently demonstrated the benefits of interacting with computer-based activities to support aural language learning and teaching (Jones, 2006; 2003). There is a great deal of listening software for learners. According to Rost’s study in 2005, listening comprehension encompasses the following phases: attention, perception, word recognition, syntactic parsing, comprehension and interpretation. Guided, meaningful practice with items that will help learners reach goals in each phase and become more automatic in their processing of listening material should be provided (Fang, 2006; Buck, 1995). One of the most essential aspects of applying technology in teaching listening is to understand how to use multimedia tools. The current design of the program emphasizes the connection between instructional principles and multimedia application with the purpose of conducting an efficient CALL listening class. Studies show that multimedia-delivered listening comprehension tasks can cause better performance, as well as increase language recall abilities (Brett, 1995, 1997; Jones, 2006).
Analysis
1. Using interesting listening materials is helpful for keeping attention.
2. Pictures help to understand materials.
3. Listening to clips from real life situations keeps attention and interest.
4. Vocabulary and grammar review prepare to process listening tasks.
5. Pre-listening activities, such as learning new vocabulary and understanding background, are helpful for comprehending related listening materials.
6. The program can provide the activities which integrate listening with speaking and reading.
7. The program can help learners to learn step by step.
8. The visual and verbal annotations are necessary for an effective multimedia program.
9. The video and audio materials are clear and the input reflects use in the real world.
10. Feedback is informative and meaningful.
Recommendation
Using technology in class does not quarantine the effectiveness and the quality of the learning and teaching of listening. In the current study, effective multimedia application in the teaching of listening is expected to design instructional tools in order to help learners reach learning goals, to provide comprehension aids in the process of decoding utterances, to enhance learner involvement along with the interaction between the teacher and students, as well as incorporate various listening materials in a sequence to guide students through the process of listening. The current study suggests that, while designing a CALL listening class, both teaching and learning perspectives should be taken into consideration to construct appropriate instructional design so as to bring out the best in the integration of class teaching and multimedia application.
THE CONCLUSION
To conclude, the concept of teaching English approach in home schooling, which may be assumed as the current development of living books approach is crucial to the view of teaching English approach. And this approach can be adopted by teachers today in informal or formal education and teaching English.
There are several reasons why the living books approach is considered to be more suitable approach for teaching English. First, living books approach was an approach trough the reality life, it’s transform a good habit, basic skill and took more care and time to improve the natural learning unconscious of students. Second, adopting this way, the facilitator or parents can easily design and plan an exciting material to add the learning student’s interest in every meeting, for building English students talent. Third, the facilitator should make the children ready to learn and don’t left them when they study everything.
Summary
The instructional design is another emphasis in the study. Based on the findings and on other studies, we can induce pedagogical considerations for integrating the multimedia program into the beginning level of listening classroom. First of all, instructional design needs to take learners’ learning styles into consideration. Second, the listening materials should include those which are interesting, authentic, simplified or comprehensive ones based on the goal of the skill training. Third, maintaining cognitive flexibility is an important consideration. Fourth, developing listening strategies is essential in the instructional design. Sixth, the progressive structure helps learners to better focus on specific learning skills. Seventh, integrating listening with other areas of learning enhances the opportunities to practice real life situations. The last one considers cross-cultural communication as one of the important elements if applicable.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BNSP Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, Model Silabus dan Rencana Pelaksanaan Pembelajaran, Jakarta:DIKDASMEN, 2007.
Sumardiono, Home Schooling, Lompatan Cara Belajar, Jakarta: Elex Media Computindo, 2007.
_________, Home Schooling, Sebuah Pendidikan Alternatif, Jakrta: Elex Computindo, 2007.
UU Sistem Pendidikan Nasional, no. 20 tahun 2003, Bandung:PT Citra Umbra, 2003.
Mulyadi, Seto, Home Schooling, Mudah,Murah dan Direstui Pemerintah, Bandung: Mizan Media Utama, 2007.
ON LINE JOURNAL
Andreolla, Karen. “Living Books for the Mind and Heart, Charlotte Masson Research Journal.” No. 1 (May 2008). http://www.charlotte_masson.com. Html. (accessed May 24th 2004).
Ransom, Marsha. “The Idiot’s Guide to Home Schooling, Journal Home schooling, no.2 (May 2001), http://www.sumardiono.com. Html.(accessed May 24th 2004).
