The Implementation of Communicative English Syllabus for Civil

Engineering Students and Its Effect on the Quality of Students’

Language Learning

(A Case Study at Yogyakarta University of Technology)

THESIS

ANANG WIDODO

NIM S891408003

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

GRADUATE PROGRAM

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY

SURAKARTA

2016

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

PRONOUNCEMENT

This is to certify that I myself write this thesis entitled “The Implementation of Communicative

English Syllabus for Civil Engineering Students and Its Effects on the Quality of Students’

Language Learning” (A Case Study at Yogyakarta University of Technology)

It is not plagiarism or made by others. Anything related to other’s work is written in quotation,

the source of which is listed on the bibliography. If then this pronouncement proves wrong, I am

ready to accept my academic punishment, including the withdrawal or cancelation of my

academic degree,

Surakarta, June 26, 2016

Anang Widodo

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

Dedication Page

Untuk Ibu dan Bapak yang selalu percaya pada saya

dan menitipkan mimpi – mimpi mereka

Untuk doa yang tiada pernah berhenti

Dan untuk setiap peluh kerja keras dan air mata harapan mereka,

Saya dedikasikan thesis ini

For my alma mater, Yogyakarta University of Technology

The place where I understand the meaning of dedication, hard work, and equality

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

Motto

Apapun yang terjadi adalah yang terbaik bagi saya

Karena saya percaya Allah maha adil dan Dia tidak pernah salah

Yang perlu saya lakukan hanyalah bersyukur, bekerja keras, dan yakin

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researcher wishes to express his greatest gratitude to Allah SWT for the blessing and

guidance to accomplish this thesis as well as the lesson of life that he never gets but through this

thesis. In addition, the researcher wishes to express his sincerest gratitude and deepest

appreciation to:

1. Prof. Dr. Joko Nurkamto, M.Pd as the Dean of teacher training and education faculty,

Sebelas Maret University Surakarta and the first consultant who has given many useful

advices, suggestions, and guidance.

2. Dr. Ngadiso M.Pd as the Head of English Education Department of Graduate School for

his support and great attention to complete this thesis.

3. Dr. Sri Marmanto M.Hum as the second consultant who has patiently read this thesis

carefully and given guidance, suggestions, and support.

4. Novia Russilawati M.Hum with her kind hearted who always welcomes, supports, and

helps the researcher during collecting the data.

5. Dr. Eko Setyo Humanika M.Hum for his permission to conduct the study as well as for

his support and help.

6. Ermi Rista Jayanti, MA and all lecturers at Yogyakarta University of Technology who

have already helped and supported the researcher.

7. All of my family for their endless love, trust, pray, and support.

8. Dita Anggi Purbasari and all of my friends in Team A UNS 2014 who have sincerely

help, motivate, and support.

9. The Communicative English class of Civil Engineering students at Yogyakarta

University of Technology for great welcome and cooperation.

Finally, the researcher believes that this thesis needs some improvements. All suggestions

and corrections will be welcome. The researcher hopes that this thesis will be useful for the

readers and other researcher as well as giving positive contributions to the development of

English education.

Surakarta, June 26, 2016

Anang Widodo

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

ABSTRACT

Anang Widodo. S891408003. The Implementation of Communicative English Syllabus for Civil

Engineering Students and Its Effect on the Quality of Students’ Language Learning(A Case Study

at Yogyakarta University of Technology) First consultant: Prof. Dr. Joko Nurkamto, M.Pd.

Second consultation: Dr. Sri Marmanto, M.Hum. English Education Department, Graduate

School, Sebelas Maret University Surakarta.

Yogyakarta University of Technology targets its students to be able to communicate in English.

To achieve this target, the passing grade for Communicate English course is ‘B’. However, it

causes several problems since many students lack of English competency; besides the number of

students in the class is about 40 – 55 students. Additionally, due to the absence of the module,

lecturers use the syllabus as their main references. Therefore, this study aims at exploring the

implementation of Communicative English syllabus as a main reference to teach speaking for

Civil Engineering students and investigating the effect of the implementing this syllabus on the

quality of students’ language learning. To be able to answer the research questions, a case study

is implemented. All data were collected through document analysis, interview, and observation.

This study involved 159 Civil Engineering students from three different classes, 1 curriculum

developer, and 2 Communicative English lecturers. Thus, based on findings, it reveals that to

help students to achieve the passing grade, the scoring system was changed in which the highest

score would be given for assignments and class participation. To maximize students’ speaking

activities, face to face discussion, information gap activity, group discussion, and individual

(recording) assignment were implemented. Since the syllabus did not provide detail information,

lecturers had to combine between SAP (lesson plan) and the syllabus. Furthermore, the

implementation of this syllabus brought positive effects for students’ motivation, confidence, and

courage to speak English.

Key words: Passing grade, module, scoring system, individual assignment, confidence

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

ABSTRAK

Anang Widodo. S891408003. The Implementation of Communicative English Syllabus for Civil

Engineering Students and Its Effect on the Quality of Students’ Language Learning(A Case Study

at Yogyakarta University of Technology) Konsulan pertama: Prof. Dr. Joko Nurkamto, M.Pd.

Konsultan kedua: Dr. Sri Marmanto, M.Hum. Program Pascasarjana Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris,

Universitas Sebelas Maret Surakarta.

Universitas Teknologi Yogyakarta mentargetkan seluruh mahasiswanya untuk bisa

berkomunikasi menggunakan bahasa Inggris. Untuk mencapai target tersebut, standard kelulusan

mata kuliah Communicative English adalah ‘B’. Hal ini menyebabkan munculnya beberapa

masalah karena banyak mahasiswa mempunyai kemampuan bahasa Inggris yang tidak bagus,

disamping itu, jumlah mahasiswa dikelas juga sangat banyak yaitu sekitar 40 – 55 mahasiswa.

Dikarenakan tidak adanya buku panduan dalam mata kuliah ini, dosen menggunakan silabus

Communicative English sebagai acuan utama. Oleh karena itulah, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk

mengetahui penerapan silabus tersebut untuk mengajarkan speaking kepada mahasiswa teknik

sipil dan mencari tahu dampak dari penggunaan silabus tersebut terhadap kwalitas pembelajaran

bahasa Inggris mahasiswa. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut, penelitian ini menggunakan

metode study kasus. Semua data diperoleh melalui analisis dokumen, interview dan observasi

dengan melibatkan 159 mahasiswa dari tiga kelas yang berbeda, 1 curriculum developer, dan 2

dosen mata kuliah Communicative English. Berdasarkan data yang diperoleh, ditemukan bahwa

untuk membantu mahasiswa lulus dari mata kuliah ini, curriculum developer merubah sistem

penilaian yang mana bobot tertinggi diberikan untuk tugas dan partispasi didalam kelas. Untuk

memaksimalkan aktivitas speaking, dosen menerapkan metode face to face discussion,

information gap activity, diskusi kelompok, dan tugas individu (rekaman). Karena informasi

yang terdapat didalam silabus tidak rinci, dosen diharuskan mengkombinasikan antara silabus

dan SAP (Satan Acara Perkuliahan). Penerapan silabus ini membawa dampak positif terhadap

motivasi, percaya diri, dan keberanian mahasiswa untuk berbicara mengunakan bahasa Inggris.

Kata kunci: standard kelulusan, modul, sistem penilaian, tugas individu, percaya diri

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE ..........................................................................................................................i

APPROVAL PAGE ..................................................................................................................ii

PRONOUNCEMENT ...............................................................................................................iii

DEDICATION PAGE ..............................................................................................................iv

MOTTO .....................................................................................................................................v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................vi

ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................vii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1

A. Background of the Study ................................................................................................ 1

B. Problems Statement ........................................................................................................ 7

C. Objectives of the study .................................................................................................... 8

D. Significances of the study ............................................................................................... 8

CHAPTER II THEORITICAL DESCRIPTION .................................................................. 9

A. Communicative Syllabus ................................................................................................. 9

1. The Notion of Communicative Syllabus ................................................................... 9

2. Element of Communicative Syllabus ....................................................................... 10

3. Communicative Activities ...................................................................................... 11

B. English for Specific Purposes ........................................................................................ 13

1. The Notion of ESP ................................................................................................... 13

2. The Characteristics of ESP ...................................................................................... 14

3. The Differences between ESP and General English ................................................. 16

C. Speaking .......................................................................................................................... 17

1. The definition of Speaking ........................................................................................ 17

2. Aspect of Speaking .................................................................................................. 18

3. Function of Speaking ............................................................................................... 19

4. Types of Classroom Speaking Performances .......................................................... 23

D. Effective Learning .......................................................................................................... 25

1. The Notion of Effective Learning ............................................................................. 25

2. Activities for Effective Learning .............................................................................. 27

a. Promoting Active Learning ................................................................................. 27

b. Promoting Collaborative Learning ..................................................................... 27

c. Promoting Responsibility in Learning ................................................................ 28

d. Promoting Learning about Learning ................................................................... 29

E. Review of Related Studies .............................................................................................. 29

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 34

A. Setting of the Study ......................................................................................................... 34

B. Research Design .............................................................................................................. 35

C. Subjects of the Study ...................................................................................................... 36

D. Techniques of Data Collection ........................................................................................ 37

1. Observations ............................................................................................................. 37

2. Interviews .................................................................................................................. 38

3. Documents ................................................................................................................ 38

E. Techniques of Analyzing Data ........................................................................................ 39

1. Data Reduction ......................................................................................................... 39

2. Data Display ............................................................................................................. 39

3. Conclusion Drawing/ Verification ........................................................................... 40

F. Trustworthiness ............................................................................................................... 40

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................... 42

A. Findings ........................................................................................................................... 42

1. The Implementation of Communicative English Syllabus in Teaching and Learning

Process ...................................................................................................................... 42

a. Objectives of the Syllabus ................................................................................... 42

b. Types of Syllabus ................................................................................................ 44

c. The Types of Teaching and Learning Activities ................................................. 46

1) Teaching and Learning Activities ................................................................. 48

1) Discussion ............................................................................................... 48

(1) Face to Face ...................................................................................... 48

(2) Group Discussion .............................................................................. 49

2) Role Play ................................................................................................. 51

3) Writing .................................................................................................... 52

2) Teaching Methods ......................................................................................... 53

1) Tutoring ................................................................................................... 53

(1) Teaching Grammar ........................................................................... 54

(2) Teaching Vocabularies ...................................................................... 56

2) Discovery Learning ............................................................................... 57

d. Learner Roles .................................................................................................... 58

1) Planning their own learning program and taking responsibility for what

they do in the classroom ............................................................................... 59

2) Monitoring and evaluating their own progress ............................................. 59

3) Interacting with others .................................................................................. 60

4) Tutoring other learners .................................................................................. 60

5) Learning from the teacher, other students, and other teaching resources ..... 61

6) Practicing ...................................................................................................... 62

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

e. Teacher Roles .................................................................................................... 63

1) Assisting ........................................................................................................ 63

2) Giving feedbacks .......................................................................................... 64

3) Responding ................................................................................................... 65

4) Motivating ..................................................................................................... 66

5) Giving advices .............................................................................................. 67

6) Making jokes ................................................................................................. 69

7) Involving students ......................................................................................... 70

8) Translating English to Indonesia .................................................................. 71

f. Materials ............................................................................................................ 72

1) Grammar ...................................................................................................... 74

2) Vocabularies ................................................................................................ 75

3) Module ......................................................................................................... 76

g. Assessment ....................................................................................................... 78

2. Problems in the Implementation of Communicative English Syllabus in Teaching

and Learning Process ................................................................................................ 81

a. Low-Standard Entry Behaviors ........................................................................... 82

b. The Big Number of Students in the Class ........................................................... 82

c. Different-Abilities Students ................................................................................ 83

d. Authentic Materials ............................................................................................. 84

e. Lack of Interesting Teaching Media ................................................................... 85

3.The Effect of Implementing Communicative Syllabus on the Quality of Students’

Language Learning ................................................................................................... 86

a. Being More Active .............................................................................................. 86

b. Being Able to Connect What Has Been Learnt in Different Contexts ............... 87

c. Exploring How the Learning Contexts Have Played A Part In Making the

Learning Effective for Them .............................................................................. 90

d. Having Deep Knowledge, Higher Order Skills, Strategies and Approaches ...... 92

e. Doing Action Towards Greater Complexity and More Learning ........................ 93

f. Having Positive Emotions ................................................................................... 95

g. Feeling Excitement and Enthusiasm ................................................................... 97

h. Having More Sense of Connection with Others ................................................. 98

4.Influencing Problems to the Quality of Students’ Language Learning .......................100

a. Lack of Vocabularies ..........................................................................................100

b. Limited Knowledge about Grammar ..................................................................101

c. Lack of Fluency and accuracy When Speaking ..................................................104

d. Lack of Time to Learn English and Practice Using English ...............................105

e. Less-Effective Activities during Teaching and Learning Process ......................106

B. Discussion .......................................................................................................................106

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS ..........................119

1. Conclusion ................................................................................................................119

2. Implications ...............................................................................................................122

3. Suggestions ...............................................................................................................123

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id

commit to user