(KODE : PASCSARJ-0178) : TESIS YOUNG LEARNERS VOCABULARY IMPROVEMENT THROUGH AUDIOVISUAL BY USING YOUTUBE VIDEOS (PROGRAM STUDI : PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS)
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
Teaching a foreign language has been carried out for a long time at all levels of education. In some big cities in Indonesia, primary young learners have been taught English starting from elementary level of education. This has made educators both in formal and non formal schools try to facilitate the best way to teach and learn English. Moreover, English is one of the elective subjects in elementary school. Although it is not a compulsory subject, it is strongly recommended by the government that English be taught at the elementary level. The aims are to make the students familiar with English in their early age, and they can understand English, hopefully, in written and oral form.
Teaching English to young learners in Indonesia refers to teaching English for children especially those of elementary school ages. It has been now supported by an official policy from Depdikbud RI No. 00487/U/1992 and The Decree of the ministry of Education and Culture No. 060/U/1993 (Suyanto, 2001). In addition, it has been carried out in the curriculum of 1994 and developed in curriculum of 2004 and the current curriculum, the school-level curriculum (KTSP) which aims at encouraging students to be able to communicate in English.
According to Alwasilah (1997), there are two reasons why government allows the elementary school to teach English to their students : (1) many parents send their children to attend the English courses, especially English for children, and (2) it is assumed that teaching English in Elementary school will create a positive attitude toward English; thus English is no longer regarded a difficult subject. Similarly, Musthafa (2002) mentions that when young learners are introduced to English since their early stage of life, they will get sufficient exposure, with sufficient exposure they are expected to be successful language users in the future. Regarding this, Vygotsky in Cameron (2001) says that words do have significance for young learners to learn new language. It provides the children with new tool, opens up new information through the use of words as symbols.
Regarding this demand, educators both in formal schools and language institutions have been trying to formulate a concept of teaching which suits young learners' need in learning vocabulary. A thing that should be considered in teaching new words for young learners is that they are still building up their first language vocabulary and are still in process of acquiring and organizing concepts. The children relate the L2 with their L1 knowledge to develop and understand the meaning of a word. Therefore, when introducing vocabulary to young learners it should be presented in a context which is familiar to the children. Visual support is also very important to help convey meaning and to help children memorize new vocabulary. In relation to this, Harmer (2002) asserts one of the advantages of video is that learners do not just hear the language, they also see it too.
Based on the researcher's observation, the development of teaching and learning in elementary schools in Indonesia is not good enough; therefore the result of teaching in Indonesia is not yet satisfactory. This might have been probably influenced by the teacher's way and concept of teaching. In this case, the students are rarely given English words in the appropriate context. In accordance with it, Harris, Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek (2011) claim that real life context is suitable for word meaning because the child is actively engaged in a meaningful and pleasurable activity and the language used often has instrumental purposes the child wants to achieve.
Furthermore, there are some challenges encountered by Indonesian young learners in learning English. The first challenge is young learners have been assumed as being 'a miniature adults', in which the way they learn a foreign language is exactly the same as the way adults do. Musthafa (2008) asserts that this misleading conception can lead to failure because children and adults are not the same. The second is the teacher's instruction is not based on the principle of young learners teaching and learning. According to Paul (2003) and Pinter (2006), the eagerness of young learners can be bettered down if they are frequently overwhelmed by the developmentally inappropriate experiences. Therefore the responsibility is on the shoulders of young learners educators, which can be met through sensitive study and understanding of the principles and needs of young learners. The third is the lack of language use in the real situations. They receive less demonstration and exposure in learning English. For young learners, it is necessary the first learning experience has to fulfill the long term memory in their brain (Shankoff and Phillips, 2000).
Due to the challenges above, this study aims to give contribution and create a condition in which children have an opportunity to have different situations and fun learning to love English at early stage by providing them suitable, good and interesting materials. In fact, there are many ways that teacher can apply to achieve these. Furthermore, it is the teachers' responsibility to find the best way in teaching English at their students' early stage, so that the learning goals can be achieved. Specifically, this study tries to investigate the use of technology to teach vocabulary in the classroom.
Technology in language teaching is not new these days. It has been around in language teaching for decades. The use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) by language teachers such as multimedia technology, audiovisual, software and internet access materials have greatly improved and made the use of these resources in the classroom more practical. According to Agnew in Neo (2001) multimedia or audiovisual is defined as the combination of various digital media types such as text, images, sound and video, into an integrated multi-sensory interactive application or presentation to convey a message or information to an audience. In the researcher's point of view, the use of audiovisual in the classroom is important because of the flexibility in presenting the lessons. It adds the context to the language and the lesson. Furthermore, the use of audiovisual helps students and teacher to connect vocabulary meaning and make the lesson more interesting because of the motion, color and sound in ways that can dramatize the ideas better than any other medium.
In the area of teaching English as Second Language (ESL) or Foreign Language (EFL), recently the most effort to enhance the process of language learning has involved computer technology and the internet. Since the initial introduction of computers and internet are into the field of second/foreign language education, a large number of practitioners have concurred that this technology holds great potential for language learning and contribute to the global development of young learners (Seghayer , 2001).
Therefore, the use of media, particularly YouTube video, is to attract young learners' attention and heighten their curiosity while the teacher is delivering the message.
One of the alternative techniques that can be used in teaching English vocabulary to young learners is using YouTube videos. It is a popular video hosting service, similar to Google video that users can view, download and upload their own. In such a condition, the existence of supporting instructional materials in the form of YouTube taken into the classroom aim to contribute the reader and teacher's knowledge on young learners' learning principles are observed in YouTube videos, the effects of You Tube videos in teaching vocabulary to young learners, and their respond when they learn English by using YouTube video.
B. Statement of the Problem
The internet provides a huge number of web sites that provide audio and video that can be used as teaching materials (e.g. YouTube). There are a lot of video produced by YouTube; entertainment, science and technology, education, and etc. Relevant to the main points explained above, the questions in this research project are formulated as follows :
1. What young learners' learning principles are observed in YouTube videos ?
2. Can YouTube videos help young learners develop their vocabulary mastery ?
3. How do the children respond to the lesson in YouTube during the learning process ?
C. Purpose of the Study
On the basis of the above questions, the investigation is intended to meet the following purposes :
1) To find out what young learners' learning principles are observed in YouTube videos
2) To investigate the effect of video based on material-based on vocabulary mastery of young learners; and
3) To find out how young learners respond to YouTube videos
D. The Organization of the Thesis
This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is introduction which highlights the basic description of this study. The second chapter deals with the theoretical framework building up the theories and references for this study. The third chapter describes the methodology that is used to conduct this research. Furthermore, the fourth chapter elaborates research finding and discussion. Finally, the fifth summarizes the findings, presents the condition of the basis and offers some suggestion for further research.