Cogito et Adoro Te: Maret 2013

Sabtu, 23 Maret 2013

S2 PROGRAM: TEFL METHODOLOGIES

Methods & Materials for TEFL

Credit : 3.0

S2 English Language Program

A. Course Title: TEFL METHODOLOGIES

B. Course Description: Knowledge derived from the linguistic sciences about the nature of language and how it is learned will serve as the basis for the exploration and evaluation of various methods, techniques, and approaches to the teaching of English as a second language.

C. Purpose: to develop students’ understanding of the various approaches, methods, techniques, activities, and materials available for teaching English as a second/foreign language and their underlying principles and characteristics

D. Course Objectives: By the end of this course, students will have the requisite knowledge and skills to:1) demonstrate basic knowledge of what an ESL/EFL teacher must know and do in order to be effective, 2) demonstrate understanding of the theoretical concepts necessary for choosing teaching methodologies and designing/selecting instructional materials, 3) discuss and analyze the major issues and controversies on second/foreign language pedagogy and their implications for classroom teaching, 4) prepare and execute effective second/foreign language lessons to different learners in various instructional settings, and 5) collaborate with colleagues in order to design, evaluate, and select teaching materials for second/foreign language teaching situations.

E. Content Outline: The course will begin with an overview of the underlying principles, characteristics, and applicability of various methods for teaching English as a second language. It will explore the historical and current trend of instructional approaches, methods, and techniques. Next, we will explore methods and techniques for teaching specific language skill areas, followed by an analysis and evaluation of currently marketed ESL textbooks. Finally the course will conclude with a look at current issues in language teaching, including language assessment, standards, and CALL (computer assisted language learning).

F. Instructional Activities: The majority of the material will be covered through class discussions. Students will present teaching demonstrations and will be responsible for leading class discussions as well. The reading will be moderate to substantial. Students will complete a midterm exam, a classroom observation, a critique of methods and a critique of a current EFL textbook. Finally, students will complete a collaborative curriculum/lesson project.

Field Experiences: Each student will observe one EFL class meeting.

G. Materials for TEFL Methodologies/S2 Program:

Meetings Topic

1-2 TEFL Methods over years (the lecturer)

3-4 Why learning L2 si more difficult than L1? ( the lecturer)

5-6 Development of psychological perspective in language

Teaching (group peresentation by students no: 1,2 and 3,4)

Midterm

7-8 Models of EFL Methodology and the Concept of

Achievement ( g. presentation by students no: 5,6 and 7,8)

9-10 Learners Factors (g. presentation by students no:9,10 and 11,12)

11-12 Conditions of Learning and Teaching process (g. presentation

by students no: 13,14 and 15,16)

13-14 Design, evaluation, selecting teaching materials, lesson

Plan (g. presentation by students no: 17,18 and 19.20)

15-16 Methodology Critique, current issues in language teaching,

including assessment, standards, and CALL ( g. presentation

by students no: 21,22 and 23,24 and volunteers as bonus)

Final Exam

References:

Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.). (2001). Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3^rd ed.). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2^nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McDonough, J., & Shaw, C. (1993/1994). Evaluating ELT materials. In Materials and methods in ELT (63-80). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

Richard-Amato, P. (1988). The affective domain. In Making it happen: Interaction in the second language classroom (pp. 54-68). White Plains, N.Y.: Longman.

Sheldon, L.E. (1988). Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials. ELT Journal, 42, 237-246.

Stern,H.H., (1986). Fundamental concept of language teaching.Oxford: Oxford University Press

PS: Inspired and adapted from Murray University with some relevant modification

Experiment

An experiment deliberately imposes a treatment on a group of objects or subjects in the interest of observing the response. This differs from an observational study, which involves collecting and analyzing data without changing existing conditions. Because the validity of a experiment is directly affected by its construction and execution, attention to experimental design is extremely important.

Treatment

In experiments, a treatment is something that researchers administer to experimental units. For example, a corn field is divided into four, each part is 'treated' with a different fertiliser to see which produces the most corn; a teacher practices different teaching methods on different groups in her class to see which yields the best results; a doctor treats a patient with a skin condition with different creams to see which is most effective. Treatments are administered to experimental units by 'level', where level implies amount or magnitude. For example, if the experimental units were given 5mg, 10mg, 15mg of a medication, those amounts would be three levels of the treatment.
(Definition taken from Valerie J. Easton and John H. McColl's Statistics Glossary v1.1)

Factor

A factor of an experiment is a controlled independent variable; a variable whose levels are set by the experimenter.A factor is a general type or category of treatments. Different treatments constitute different levels of a factor. For example, three different groups of runners are subjected to different training methods. The runners are the experimental units, the training methods, the treatments, where the three types of training methods constitute three levels of the factor 'type of training'.
(Definition taken from Valerie J. Easton and John H. McColl's Statistics Glossary v1.1)

Experimental Design

We are concerned with the analysis of data generated from an experiment. It is wise to take time and effort to organize the experiment properly to ensure that the right type of data, and enough of it, is available to answer the questions of interest as clearly and efficiently as possible. This process is called experimental design.The specific questions that the experiment is intended to answer must be clearly identified before carrying out the experiment. We should also attempt to identify known or expected sources of variability in the experimental units since one of the main aims of a designed experiment is to reduce the effect of these sources of variability on the answers to questions of interest. That is, we design the experiment in order to improve the precision of our answers.
(Definition taken from Valerie J. Easton and John H. McColl's Statistics Glossary v1.1)

Control

Suppose a farmer wishes to evaluate a new fertilizer. She uses the new fertilizer on one field of crops (A), while using her current fertilizer on another field of crops (B). The irrigation system on field A has recently been repaired and provides adequate water to all of the crops, while the system on field B will not be repaired until next season. She concludes that the new fertilizer is far superior.The problem with this experiment is that the farmer has neglected to control for the effect of the differences in irrigation. This leads to experimental bias, the favoring of certain outcomes over others. To avoid this bias, the farmer should have tested the new fertilizer in identical conditions to the control group, which did not receive the treatment. Without controlling for outside variables, the farmer cannot conclude that it was the effect of the fertilizer, and not the irrigation system, that produced a better yield of crops.
Another type of bias that is most apparent in medical experiments is the placebo effect. Since many patients are confident that a treatment will positively affect them, they react to a control treatment which actually has no physical affect at all, such as a sugar pill. For this reason, it is important to include control, or placebo, groups in medical experiments to evaluate the difference between the placebo effect and the actual effect of the treatment.
The simple existence of placebo groups is sometimes not sufficient for avoiding bias in experiments. If members of the placebo group have any knowledge (or suspicion) that they are not being given an actual treatment, then the effect of the treatment cannot be accurately assessed. For this reason, double-blind experiments are generally preferable. In this case, neither the experimenters nor the subjects are aware of the subjects' group status. This eliminates the possibility that the experimenters will treat the placebo group differently from the treatment group, further reducing experimental bias.

Randomization

Because it is generally extremely difficult for experimenters to eliminate bias using only their expert judgment, the use of randomization in experiments is common practice. In a randomized experimental design, objects or individuals are randomly assigned (by chance) to an experimental group. Using randomization is the most reliable method of creating homogeneous treatment groups, without involving any potential biases or judgments. There are several variations of randomized experimental designs, two of which are briefly discussed below.

Completely Randomized Design

In a completely randomized design, objects or subjects are assigned to groups completely at random. One standard method for assigning subjects to treatment groups is to label each subject, then use a table of random numbers to select from the labelled subjects. This may also be accomplished using a computer. In MINITAB, the "SAMPLE" command will select a random sample of a specified size from a list of objects or numbers.

Randomized Block Design

If an experimenter is aware of specific differences among groups of subjects or objects within an experimental group, he or she may prefer a randomized block design to a completely randomized design. In a block design, experimental subjects are first divided into homogeneous blocks before they are randomly assigned to a treatment group. If, for instance, an experimenter had reason to believe that age might be a significant factor in the effect of a given medication, he might choose to first divide the experimental subjects into age groups, such as under 30 years old, 30-60 years old, and over 60 years old. Then, within each age level, individuals would be assigned to treatment groups using a completely randomized design. In a block design, both control and randomization are considered.Example
A researcher is carrying out a study of the effectiveness of four different skin creams for the treatment of a certain skin disease. He has eighty subjects and plans to divide them into 4 treatment groups of twenty subjects each. Using a randomized block design, the subjects are assessed and put in blocks of four according to how severe their skin condition is; the four most severe cases are the first block, the next four most severe cases are the second block, and so on to the twentieth block. The four members of each block are then randomly assigned, one to each of the four treatment groups.
(Example taken from Valerie J. Easton and John H. McColl's Statistics Glossary v1.1)

Replication

Although randomization helps to insure that treatment groups are as similar as possible, the results of a single experiment, applied to a small number of objects or subjects, should not be accepted without question. Randomly selecting two individuals from a group of four and applying a treatment with "great success" generally will not impress the public or convince anyone of the effectiveness of the treatment. To improve the significance of an experimental result, replication, the repetition of an experiment on a large group of subjects, is required. If a treatment is truly effective, the long-term averaging effect of replication will reflect its experimental worth. If it is not effective, then the few members of the experimental population who may have reacted to the treatment will be negated by the large numbers of subjects who were unaffected by it. Replication reduces variability in experimental results, increasing their significance and the confidence level with which a researcher can draw conclusions about an experimental factor.

Experimental Design

Article: ‘Teaching of English to rural students through games’ by T. Bhaskar David by Tarun Patel

Vol. 5 Issue 11 – Article: ‘Teaching of English to rural students through games’ by T. Bhaskar David
by Tarun Patel

ELTWeekly Vol. 5 Issue#11 | March 25, 2013 | ISSN 0975-3036

Abstract

This paper focused on how one can help the the rural students to reinforce the language already learnt. Language games can improve their student’s fluency in speaking. With some well- planned language games the teacher can recapture the interest of the students rekindle their interest and recharge their imagination.

1. Introduction

Language is primarily a speech. All the ELT experts believe that speech is important for the practical use of English. Learning through speech is the natural way of learning a language. It is easier to handle for practicing the language learnt. Speech is a good introduction to the other language skills. Through speech the teacher can ensure more economical use of class time. This activity is also another individual or group type activity. The following speaking games would enable the students to understand more words.

2. Spelling game

Here the teacher would say a word, for example, “Book” and asks the class (divide into groups or individuals) to say a word beginning with “k”. If one group says “kite” the next group should say a word beginning with “e”. The next would “word” may be “elephant”. The group that gives a correct answer scores a point. One that gives wrong answer loses a point. At last wining group can be given any prize to give an encouragement and boost.

For example
Book
Kite
Elephant
Teacher
Rubber

3. Busy Bee

Here the teacher utters a say for example, “study” and asks class (divided into groups or individuals) to say words beginning with “s”. This busy bee games comes to end when a group fails to utter a word beginning with the word “s”. If one group says, “student” the next group should say a word beginning with “s”. The words should not be repeated. Each correct and answer brings credit to the group or individual.

For example
Study
Student
Sentence
Structure
Success

4. The ladder

In this third game the teacher utters the name of an institution or T.V, computer etc. For example, if the teacher says the word “hospital” and asks the class (divided into groups or individuals) to say words connected with a “hospital”. The group that says a word not relevant to a hospital loses a point.

For example: 1 Example: 2

“Hospital” “classroom”
Doctor 1. Teacher
Nurse 2. Students
Bed 3. Bench
Medicines 4. Desk
Tablets 5. Duster etc…

5. Pick and make

This fourth game is different from the above three games. Here the students are able to utter a full sentence after the instruction of the teacher. The teacher draw the picture glossary shop pointed out. For example, by using the blackboard containing the picture of glossary shop, the teacher can stimulate the speech. Firstly, the teacher utters the model sentence saying, “He wants to buy rice”. If the teacher points out to the coconut oil, students will have to say,” he wants to buy coconut oil and this continues …

For example :( model sentences)
He wants to buy some liril soaps.
She wants to buy some washing soaps.
They want to buy some Colgate paste.
I want to purchase some vegetables.
We want to purchase some fruits.

6. Ever and never

This activity will make students to involve actively in the dialogues. Allow them to speak actively with whatever English they have. Here the teacher should not ask them to read or memorize and recite such dialogues or conversations. The teacher would ask the following questions, one by one. They can answer without any hesitation in short sentences as indicated below. They can use the two words “often” or “never” in their answer.

For example

Teacher: Have you ever visited Kutralam falls?

Student: No, I’ve never visited kutralam falls.

Teacher: Have you ever been in Delhi?

Student: Yes, I’ve often been in Delhi.

Teacher: Have you ever played cricket?

Student: No, I’ve never played cricket.

Teacher: Have you ever eaten beef?

Student: Yes, I’ve often eaten beef.

In the beginning, the teacher may ask one or two sentences using the words, “ever” “often”. Now the teacher can make the students to come out with their own examples. The teacher should give all ample opportunities to speak.

For example :( model sentences)
Have you ever seen a mongoose?
Have you ever killed a snake?
Have you ever acted in drama?
Have you ever undergone an operation?
Have you ever danced?

7. Ask and answer

Pair work and group work is mainly based upon the organizing capacity of the teacher. It is a process in language teaching. Pair work can be used for practice oral practice, helping the students practice vocabulary and sentence structures. The teacher has to prepare for pair work by establishing what the questions and answers to be if it is a question and answer drill. The teacher has to demonstrate by asking questions round the class or by asking one pair to do the activity in front of the class. Dividing the class into a number of pairs, the teacher should be more active to begin the activity. She should also check whether all the pairs are working at the same time. When the full activity is over, the teacher can ask the pairs to repeat their dialogue in front of the class.

For example: What happens if …
You take too much honey?
You stand on the bus step?
You speak over the cell while driving?
You drive your car fast?
You study well?
Your drive your car fast?

When the teacher asks these kind of simple questions to the students, from their own day today experiences, they will naturally give one answer or more than answers like.

I have to go to hospital.

I will fall sick. I have to go to hospital.

I will fall down. I will get injury.

I may lose concentration. I may hit someone.

I cannot apply sudden break… I may collide with … other vehicle. I have to face accident.

I will get good marks. I don’t need any recommendation. I may get seat by merit.

8. Cross –word puzzles

In this activity, students must use their imaginative power to fit words across and down words into spaces in a square diagram. This exercise will stimulate the students to have more word power and creative thinking. It will also give them an aesthetic sense to form a diagram of the English letter “E”.

Downwords: 1. it is a wild animal that has long nose

Cross words: 1. this fruit is more famous in Kasmir.

2. It is a small electronic device the removes darkness.

3. It is a principle of beliefs.E L P P A
L
E
P
H C R O T
A
N
T E N E T

9. Conversation game

One of the accepted ways of teaching speaking skill is to hold a conversation activity. Activities that can be carried out interestingly in a class allowing the students get into conversation. To begin with, it could be a dialogue between first pairs. The teacher can give a specimen and afterwards ask them to follow the method.

For example: (Grammar class)

Teacher: Bhaskar, stand up, what am I teaching now?

Bhaskar: sir, you are teaching grammar.

Teacher: Bhaskar, look at the blackboard, watch “grammar”, Is the spelling correct?

Sundar: yes, sir, the spelling is correct.

Teacher: I am now going to teach you about nouns. What is a noun?

David: A noun is the name of a person place of thing.

Teacher: Good. (Write on the blackboard)

“calutta is a big city” can anyone of you read this?

Bhaskar: yes, I can sir, “Calcutta is a big city”.

Teacher: How many nouns are there in this sentence?

David: only one I think sir.

Teacher: No, There is more than one noun in that sentence.

Sundar: I think there are two nouns there.

Teacher: you are correct my dear. What are they?

Sundar: “Calcutta” and “city” sir.

Teacher: very good.

Bhaskar: what kind of nouns are they sir?

Teacher: ‘Calcutta is a proper noun and ‘city” is a common noun.

The teacher then encourages the class students to get into pairs and try out similar dialogue. This conversation activity is communicative. Here one person trying to ask the other for some information, or both need to exchange some information. Thus, a conversation activity improves the speaking skills of students and boosts up their confidence. The teacher can give some more examples like.
A dialogue between a doctor and patient.
A dialogue between a husband and wife.
A dialogue between a boy and love.
A dialogue between a shopkeeper and customer.

10 .Drama

Dramatization is also like role play which can be used in larger classes where there are many students. It could be used choosing the topics based on social evils like air pollution, noise pollution, child labor, drug addiction etc. when the teacher selects topics such like this students will be more interested to enact. It gives them chance to speak in English fluently. The teacher can give the interesting topic like Deepawali- Festival of light can be dramatized to bring out not only social awareness like no child labour, no pollution, no plastic etc but it can also improve vocabulary and structures of sentences.

For example

A man goes to Sivakasi to purchase crackers for Deepavali, the festival of light in Tamil Nadu. He sees his own eyes an explosion in the crackers factory in which a child labour gets killed. On seeing this a grand finale he was totally upset. In order to satisfy his children and not disappoint them, he purchases a few crackers with double mind and returns home. On his way back, his wife and children welcome him with more cheerfulness. But looking at his sad face they ask what happened and the experienced father started narrating the pathetic story to the family. The children at once made up their mind not to buy or burst any crackers. They realize how much of air and noise pollution contaminate the whole atmosphere because of crackers. They took a vow to carry the message to the society campaigning, “ no child labour” , “ no pollution”, “ no plastic”

The teacher now can ask for volunteers to opt for role to dramatize the above narration. The teacher need not select any students for others may be disappointed. Five characters and two groups are needed.

Scene: 1 (at the factory)

The student who has taken the role of a child labour acts unconscious in front of the students in the class. The older labourers are seen carrying the injured child on their shoulders. But the child dies and the child labourers are panic –stricken.

Father asks one worker) what happened to that child)

Worker in the factory) A boy is killed in the cracker explosion.

Scene: 2 (at home)

Children are longing to welcome their father who went to Sivakasi to purchase crackers for Deepawali. Father looks sad and pale.

Mother, son and daughter: father, what happened? Why are you looking so sad or anything happened to you?

Father: oh, there was a little boy who was killed in cracker explosion in factory. I saw him dying with my own eyes. He was a child labour there. Whose child is he?

Mother: poor boy,

Son: Father how old is he?

Father: must be your sister’s age?

Daughters: I feel so sad, Father I don’t want to burst crackers anymore.

Son: yes, father, I too don’t want. Moreover, there is a lot of air and noise pollution because of crackers.

Daughter: father, we will teach our friends and classmates in the school not to burst crackers and there should be “no child labour” and “ no more pollution”.

Mother: A good decision.

Father:I am very proud of you both.

This dramatization not only brings out the message of awareness but also the structures learnt like the question- answer patterns, the use of sentence connectors, adverbs like because of vocabulary items and a narration. Any committed English teacher can give more examples like child dying of dengue, child dying of road accident mis-use of mobile phone, why students commit suicide etc. when these lessons are enacted and dramatized in this way it will make the classes more interesting. Activities of this sort provide a lot of opportunity to develop speaking skills. It breaks the monotony of teachers talk all the time and makes the teaching student –centred approach.

11. Conclusion

According to Thomson and Wyatt (1935) “Speaking, like walking and running, is not learnt entirely by rule. It is learnt more by situations so that students feel the necessity of speaking English. The class must be made as interesting and playful as possible and the students must find it a pleasure to speak English”. The primary and preliminary functions of a language are for interaction and communication. Language is created to communicate with others. Man is born to speak the language without which he or she can survive but cannot express his or her feelings and needs.

Reference

Ellis, R. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP, 1994.

Oxford, R. 1990.Language learning strategies: what every teacher should know. New York: Newbury House.

Nuan, D. 1989. Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridg, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Thomson and Wyatt, 1935. The essentials of English Grammar: London: Allen and Unwin.

Harbord, 1992. The use of The Mother Tongue in the classroom. ELT Journal (October) pp.350-355.

Article: ‘Teaching of English to rural students through games’ by T. Bhaskar David by Tarun Patel

Jumat, 08 Maret 2013

Kurikulum 2013 Oleh Mohammad Nuh

Kurikulum 2013

Oleh Mohammad Nuh

KOMPAS.com - Dalam beberapa bulan terakhir, harian Kompas memuat tulisan dari mereka yang pro ataupun kontra terhadap rencana implementasi Kurikulum 2013. Saya menyampaikan ucapan terima kasih dan penghargaan yang tinggi atas berbagai pandangan tersebut.

Saya berkesimpulan, mereka yang mempertanyakan Kurikulum 2013 adalah karena ada perbedaan cara pandang atau belum memahami secara utuh konsep kurikulum berbasis kompetensi yang menjadi dasar Kurikulum 2013. Secara falsafati, pendidikan adalah proses panjang dan berkelanjutan untuk mentransformasikan peserta didik menjadi manusia yang sesuai dengan tujuan penciptaannya, yaitu bermanfaat bagi dirinya, bagi sesama, bagi alam semesta, beserta segenap isi dan peradabannya.

Dalam UU Sisdiknas, menjadi bermanfaat itu dirumuskan dalam indikator strategis, seperti beriman-bertakwa, berakhlak mulia, sehat, berilmu, cakap, kreatif, mandiri, dan menjadi warga negara yang demokratis serta bertanggung jawab. Dalam memenuhi kebutuhan kompetensi abad ke-21, UU Sisdiknas juga memberikan arahan yang jelas bahwa tujuan pendidikan harus dicapai salah satunya melalui penerapan kurikulum berbasis kompetensi. Kompetensi lulusan program pendidikan harus mencakup tiga kompetensi, yakni sikap, pengetahuan, dan keterampilan, sehingga yang dihasilkan adalah manusia seutuhnya. Dengan demikian, tujuan pendidikan nasional perlu dijabarkan menjadi himpunan kompetensi dalam tiga ranah kompetensi (sikap, pengetahuan, dan keterampilan). Di dalamnya terdapat sejumlah kompetensi yang harus dimiliki seseorang agar dapat menjadi orang beriman dan bertakwa, berilmu, dan seterusnya.

Mengingat pendidikan idealnya proses sepanjang hayat, maka lulusan atau keluaran dari suatu proses pendidikan tertentu harus dipastikan memiliki kompetensi yang diperlukan untuk melanjutkan pendidikannya secara mandiri sehingga esensi tujuan pendidikan tercapai.

Perencanaan pembelajaran

Dalam usaha menciptakan sistem perencanaan, pelaksanaan, dan pengendalian yang baik, proses panjang tersebut dibagi beberapa jenjang, berdasarkan perkembangan dan kebutuhan peserta didik. Setiap jenjang dirancang memiliki proses sesuai perkembangan dan kebutuhan peserta didik sehingga ketidakseimbangan antara input yang diberikan dan kapasitas pemrosesan dapat diminimalkan. Sebagai konsekuensi dari penjenjangan ini, tujuan pendidikan harus dibagi-bagi menjadi tujuan antara. Pada dasarnya, kurikulum merupakan perencanaan pembelajaran yang dirancang berdasarkan tujuan antara di atas. Proses perancangannya diawali dengan menentukan kompetensi lulusan (standar kompetensi lulusan). Hasilnya, kurikulum jenjang satuan pendidikan.

Dalam teori manajemen, sebagai sistem perencanaan pembelajaran yang baik, kurikulum harus mencakup empat hal. Pertama, hasil akhir pendidikan yang harus dicapai peserta didik (keluaran), dan dirumuskan sebagai kompetensi lulusan. Kedua, kandungan materi yang harus diajarkan kepada, dan dipelajari oleh peserta didik (masukan/standar isi), dalam usaha membentuk kompetensi lulusan yang diinginkan. Ketiga, pelaksanaan pembelajaran (proses, termasuk metodologi pembelajaran sebagai bagian dari standar proses) supaya ketiga kompetensi yang diinginkan terbentuk pada diri peserta didik. Keempat, penilaian kesesuaian proses dan ketercapaian tujuan pembelajaran sedini mungkin untuk memastikan bahwa masukan, proses, dan keluaran tersebut sesuai dengan rencana.

Dengan konsep kurikulum berbasis kompetensi, tak tepat jika ada yang menyampaikan bahwa pemerintah salah sasaran saat merencanakan perubahan kurikulum karena yang perlu diperbaiki sebenarnya metodologi pembelajaran, bukan kurikulum (Mohammad Abduhzen, ”Urgensi Kurikulum 2013”, Kompas 21/2 dan ”Implementasi Pendidikan”, Kompas 6/3). Hal ini menunjukkan belum dipahaminya secara utuh bahwa kurikulum berbasis kompetensi mencakup metodologi pembelajaran. Tanpa metodologi pembelajaran yang sesuai, tak akan terbentuk kompetensi yang diharapkan. Sebagai contoh, dalam Kurikulum 2013, kompetensi lulusan dalam ranah keterampilan untuk SD dirumuskan sebagai ”memiliki (melalui mengamati, menanya, mencoba, mengolah, menyaji, menalar, mencipta) kemampuan pikir dan tindak yang produktif dan kreatif, dalam ranah konkret dan abstrak, sesuai yang ditugaskan kepadanya.”

Kompetensi semacam ini tak akan tercapai bila pengertian kurikulum diartikan sempit, tak termasuk metodologi pembelajaran. Proses pembentukan kompetensi itu sudah dirumuskan dengan baik melalui kajian para peneliti, dan akhirnya diterima luas sebagai suatu taksonomi. Pemikiran pengembangan Kurikulum 2013 seperti diuraikan di atas dikembangkan atas dasar taksonomi-taksonomi yang diterima secara luas, kajian KBK 2004 dan KTSP 2006, dan tantangan abad ke-21 serta penyiapan Generasi 2045. Dengan demikian, tidaklah tepat apa yang disampaikan Elin Driana, ”Gawat Darurat Pendidikan” (Kompas, 14/12/2012) yang mengharapkan sebelum Kurikulum 2013 disahkan, baiknya dilakukan evaluasi terhadap kurikulum sebelumnya.

Mengatakan tak ada masalah dengan kurikulum saat ini adalah kurang tepat. Sebagai contoh, hasil pembandingan antara materi TIMSS 2011 dan materi kurikulum saat ini, untuk mata pelajaran Matematika dan IPA, menunjukkan, kurang dari 70 persen materi TIMSS yang telah diajarkan sampai dengan kelas VIII SMP. Belum lagi rumusan kompetensi yang belum sesuai tuntutan UU dan praktik terbaik di dunia, ketidaksesuaian materi mata pelajaran dan tumpang tindih yang tak diperlukan pada beberapa materi mata pelajaran, kecepatan pembelajaran yang tak selaras antarmata pelajaran, dangkalnya materi, proses, dan penilaian pembelajaran, sehingga peserta didik kurang dilatih bernalar dan berpikir.

Kompetensi inti

Kompetensi lulusan jenjang satuan pendidikan pun masih memerlukan rencana pendidikan yang panjang untuk pencapaiannya. Sekali lagi, teori manajemen mengajarkan, untuk memudahkan proses perencanaan dan pengendaliannya, pencapaian jangka panjang perlu dibagi-bagi jadi beberapa tahap sesuai jenjang kelas di mana kurikulum tersebut diterapkan.

Sejalan dengan UU, kompetensi inti ibarat anak tangga yang harus ditapak peserta didik untuk sampai pada kompetensi lulusan jenjang satuan pendidikan. Kompetensi inti meningkat seiring meningkatnya usia peserta didik yang dinyatakan dengan meningkatnya kelas.

Melalui kompetensi inti, sebagai anak tangga menuju ke kompetensi lulusan, integrasi vertikal antarkompetensi dasar dapat dijamin, dan peningkatan kemampuan peserta dari kelas ke kelas dapat direncanakan. Sebagai anak tangga menuju ke kompetensi lulusan multidimensi, kompetensi inti juga multidimensi. Untuk kemudahan operasionalnya, kompetensi lulusan pada ranah sikap dipecah menjadi dua, yaitu sikap spiritual terkait tujuan membentuk peserta didik yang beriman dan bertakwa, dan kompetensi sikap sosial terkait tujuan membentuk peserta didik yang berakhlak mulia, mandiri, demokratis, dan bertanggung jawab.

Kompetensi inti bukan untuk diajarkan, melainkan untuk dibentuk melalui pembelajaran mata pelajaran-mata pelajaran yang relevan. Setiap mata pelajaran harus tunduk pada kompetensi inti yang telah dirumuskan. Dengan kata lain, semua mata pelajaran yang diajarkan dan dipelajari pada kelas tersebut harus berkontribusi terhadap pembentukan kompetensi inti.

Ibaratnya, kompetensi inti merupakan pengikat kompetensi-kompetensi yang harus dihasilkan dengan mempelajari setiap mata pelajaran. Di sini kompetensi inti berperan sebagai integrator horizontal antarmata pelajaran. Dengan pengertian ini, kompetensi inti adalah bebas dari mata pelajaran karena tidak mewakili mata pelajaran tertentu. Kompetensi inti merupakan kebutuhan kompetensi peserta didik, sedangkan mata pelajaran adalah pasokan kompetensi dasar yang akan diserap peserta didik melalui proses pembelajaran yang tepat menjadi kompetensi inti. Bila pengertian kompetensi inti telah dipahami dengan baik, tentunya tidak akan ada kritikan bahwa Kurikulum 2013 adalah salah dengan alasan pada ”Kompetensi Inti Bahasa Indonesia” tidak terdapat kompetensi yang mencerminkan kompetensi Bahasa Indonesia karena memang tak ada yang namanya kompetensi inti Bahasa Indonesia, sebagaimana dipertanyakan Acep Iwan Saidi, ”Petisi untuk Wapres” (Kompas, 2/3).

Dalam mendukung kompetensi inti, capaian pembelajaran mata pelajaran diuraikan menjadi kompetensi dasar-kompetensi dasar yang dikelompokkan menjadi empat. Ini sesuai dengan rumusan kompetensi inti yang didukungnya, yaitu dalam kelompok kompetensi sikap spiritual, kompetensi sikap sosial, kompetensi pengetahuan, dan kompetensi keterampilan.

Uraian kompetensi dasar sedetail ini adalah untuk memastikan capaian pembelajaran tidak berhenti sampai pengetahuan saja, melainkan harus berlanjut ke keterampilan, dan bermuara pada sikap. Kompetensi dasar dalam kelompok kompetensi inti sikap bukanlah untuk peserta didik karena kompetensi ini tidak diajarkan, tidak dihapalkan, tidak diujikan, tapi sebagai pegangan bagi pendidik, bahwa dalam mengajarkan mata pelajaran tersebut ada pesan-pesan sosial dan spiritual yang terkandung dalam materinya.

Apabila konsep pembentukan kompetensi ini dipahami dapat mengurangi, bahkan menghilangkan, kegelisahan yang disampaikan L Wilardjo dalam ”Yang Indah dan yang Absurd” (Kompas, 22/2).

Kedudukan bahasa

Uraian rumusan kompetensi seperti itu masih belum cukup untuk dapat digunakan, terutama saat merancang kurikulum SD (jenjang sekolah paling rendah), tempat peserta didik mulai diperkenalkan banyak kompetensi untuk dikuasai. Pada saat memulainya pun, peserta didik SD masih belum terlatih berpikir abstrak. Dalam kondisi seperti inilah, maka terlebih dulu perlu dibentuk suatu saluran yang menghubungkan sumber-sumber kompetensi, yang sebagian besarnya abstrak, kepada peserta didik yang masih mulai belajar berpikir abstrak. Di sini peran bahasa menjadi dominan, yaitu sebagai saluran mengantarkan kandungan materi dari semua sumber kompetensi kepada peserta didik.

Usaha membentuk saluran sempurna (perfect channels dalam teknologi komunikasi) dapat dilakukan dengan menempatkan bahasa sebagai penghela mata pelajaran-mata pelajaran lain. Dengan kata lain, kandungan materi mata pelajaran lain dijadikan sebagai konteks dalam penggunaan jenis teks yang sesuai dalam pelajaran Bahasa Indonesia. Melalui pembelajaran tematik integratif dan perumusan kompetensi inti, sebagai pengikat semua kompetensi dasar, pemaduan ini akan dapat dengan mudah direalisasikan.

Dengan cara ini pula, pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia dapat dibuat menjadi kontekstual, sesuatu yang hilang pada model pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia saat ini, sehingga pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia kurang diminati pendidik dan peserta didik. Melalui pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia yang kontekstual, peserta didik sekaligus dilatih menyajikan bermacam kompetensi dasar secara logis dan sistematis. Mengatakan kompetensi dasar Bahasa Indonesia SD, yang memuat penyusunan teks untuk menjelaskan pemahaman peserta didik, terhadap ilmu pengetahuan alam sebagai mengada-ada (Acep Iwan Saidi, ”Petisi untuk Wapres”), sama saja dengan melupakan fungsi bahasa sebagai pembawa kandungan ilmu pengetahuan.

Kurikulum 2013 adalah kurikulum berbasis kompetensi yang pernah digagas dalam Rintisan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi (KBK) 2004, tetapi belum terselesaikan karena desakan untuk segera mengimplementasikan Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan 2006. Rumusannya berdasarkan sudut pandang yang berbeda dengan kurikulum berbasis materi sehingga sangat dimungkinkan terjadi perbedaan persepsi tentang bagaimana kurikulum seharusnya dirancang. Perbedaan ini menyebabkan munculnya berbagai kritik dari yang terbiasa menggunakan kurikulum berbasis materi. Untuk itu, ada baiknya memahami lebih dahulu konstruksi kompetensi dalam kurikulum sesuai koridor yang telah digariskan UU Sisdiknas sebelum mengkritik.

Mohammad Nuh Mendikbud RI

Kamis, 07 Maret 2013

Bloom Taxonomy

In the digital age this is how Bloom's Taxonomy can look:

Bloom's and Revised Bloom's give us a learning process.

Before you can understand a concept or fact you must remember it,
To apply a concept you must understand it first,
To evaluate a process you must have analyzed it etc.Each layer builds on the previous The creative process naturally incorporates these elements. You must remember (even if you are learning as you go), understand and apply these principles and concepts, analyze and evaluate the success of your design, the process and concept.

However, we don't need to start at lower order skills and then build piecemeal through the taxonomy towards higher order thinking like creativity. By providing a suitably scaffolded task, the lower order skills of remembering and understanding become inherent in the learning process. By challenging our students to be analytical, evaluative or creative, they will within these processes develop understanding.

Bloom Taxonomy

So what is Blooms Taxonomy?

Benjamin Bloom, in the 1956 while working at the University of Chicago, developed his theory on Educational Objectives.
He proposed 3 domains or areas:

Cognitive - person's ability to process and utilize information (thinking), this is on what Bloom's Digital Taxonomy is based
Affective - This is the role of feeling and attitudes in the learning/education process
Psychomotor - This is manipulative or physical skills

Bloom's Taxonomy is a taxonomy of activities and behaviours that exemplify Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS). Bloom's allows use to rank and structure different classroom activities and plan the learning process.

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

In the 1990's, a former student of Bloom, Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl, revised Bloom's Taxonomy and published this- Bloom's Revised Taxonomy in 2001. Key to this is the use of verbs rather than nouns for each of the categories and a rearrangement of the sequence within the taxonomy. They are arranged below in increasing order, from Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) to Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy Sub Categories

Each of the categories or taxonomic elements has a number of key verbs associated with it
Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS)

Remembering - Recognizing, listing, describing, identifying, retrieving, naming, locating, finding
Understanding - Interpreting, Summarizing, inferring, paraphrasing, classifying, comparing, explaining, exemplifying
Applying - Implementing, carrying out, using, executing
Analysing - Comparing, organising, deconstructing, Attributing, outlining, finding, structuring, integrating
Evaluating - Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, Experimenting, judging, testing, Detecting, Monitoring
Creating - designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing, devising, making