MAKALAH PERKEMBANGAN PESERTA DIDIK “Pengertian dan kebutuhan peserta didik”

MAKALAH PERKEMBANGAN PESERTA DIDIK

“Pengertian dan kebutuhan peserta didik”

BAB I

PENDAHULUAN

A.      Latar Belakang

Salah satu komponen sistem pendidikan yang paling penting adalah adanya peserta didik, peserta didik merupakan komponen sangat penting dalam sistem pendidikan. Peserta didik adalah orang yang memiliki potensi dasar, yang perlu dikembangkan melalui pendidikan, secara fisik maupun psikis, baik pendidikan itu di lingkungan keluarga. Sebagai peserta didik juga harus memahamihak dan kewajibannya serta melaksanakanya.

Hak adalah sesuatu yang harus diterima oleh peserta didik, sedangkan kewajiban adalah sesuatu yang wajib dilakkukan ataupun harus dilaksanakan oleh peserta didik. Namun itu semua tidak terlepas dari keterlibatan pendidik, karena seorang pendidik harus memahami dan memberikan pemahaman tentang dimensi-dimensi yang terdapat didalam diri peserta didik  terhadap peserta didik itu sendiri. Dan peserta didikpun dapat mengenali potensi yang mereka miliki.

B.       Rumusan Masalah

     1.      Apa yang dimaksud dengan Peserta Didik ?

     2.      Apa saja yang dibutuhkan Peserta Didik ?

     3.      Sebutkan hak dan kewajiban Peserta Didik ?

     4.      Bagaimana karakteristik Peserta Didik yang sukses ?

C.      Tujuan

      1.      Untuk mengetahui apa yang dimaksud dengan Peserta.

      2.      Untuk mengetahui apa saja kebutuhan Peserta Didik.

      3.      Untuk mengetahui hak dan kewajiban Peserta Didik.

      4.      Untuk memahami karakteristik Peserta Didik.

BAB II

PEMBAHASAN

A. Definisi Peserta Didik

            Perkembangan adalah bertambahnya kemampuan (skill) dalam struktur dan fungsi tubuh yang lebih kompleks dari kemajuan yang sederhana ke keterampilan yang lebih kompleks melalui proses belajar. Dalam proses pendidikan, peserta didik merupakan salah satu komponen manusiawi yang menempati posisi sentral. Peserta didik menjadi pokok persoalan dan kemampuan perhatian dalam semua transformasi yang disebut pendidikan.

            Peserta didik merupakan sumber daya utama dan terpenting dalam proses pendidikan formal. Tidak ada peserta didik, tidak ada guru. Peserta didik bisa belajar tanpa guru. Sebaliknya, guru tidak bisa mengajar tanpa peserta didik. Karenanya, kehadiran peserta didik menjadi keniscayaan dalam proses pendidikan formal atau pendidikan yang di lembagakan dan menuntut interaksi antara pendidik dan peserta didik. Tentu saja, optimasi pertumbuhan dan perkembangan peserta didik diragukan perwujudannya, tanpa kehadiran guru yang professional.

            Didalam UU No.20 tahun 2003 tentang sistem pendidikan nasional (SISDIKNAS), peserta didik di definisikan sebagai setiap manusia yang berusaha mengembangkan potensi diri melalui proses pembelajaran pada jalur pendidikan baik pendidikan formal maupun pendidikan non formal, pada jenjang pendidikan dan jenis penddikan tertentu. Peserta didik juga dapat didefinisikan sebagai orang yang belum dewasa dan memiliki sejeumlah potensi dasar yang masih perlu dikembangkan. Potensi dimaksud umumnya terdiri dari tiga kategori, yaitu kognitif, afektif, dan psikomotorik.

            Terdapat banyak sebutan yang berkaitan dengan “pesera didik” ini, sesuai dengan konteksnya. Misalnya, sebutan siswa, pelajar, atau murid popular untyk mereka yang belajar di sekolah menengah ke bawah. Sebutan “warga belajar” untuk mereka yang belajar pada lembaga PNF. Santri adalah istilah bagi siswa pada jalur pendidikan pesantren. Sebutan mahasiswa untuk mereka yang belajar di perguruan tinggi. Apa pun sebutannya, ada hal-hal yang esensial mengenai hakikat peserta didik.

1.      Peserta didik merupakan manusia yang memiliki diferensiasi potensi dasar kognitif atau intelektual, afektif, dan psikomotorik.

2.      Peserta didik merupakan manusia yang memiliki diferensiasi priodesasi perkembangan dan pertumbuhan, meski memiliki pola yang relatif sama.

3.      Peserta didik memiliki imajinasi, persepsi, dan dunianya sendiri, bukan sekadar miniature orang dewasa.

4.       Peserta didik merupakan manusia yang memiliki diferensiasi kebutuhan yang harus dipenuhi, baik jasmani maupun rohani, meski dalam hal-hal tertentu banyak kesamaannya.

5.       Peserta didik merupakan manusia bertanggungjawab bagi proses belajar pribadi dan menjadi pembelajar sejati, sesuai dengan wawasan pendidikan sepanjang hayat.

6.      Peserta didik memiliki daya adaptabilitas di dalam kelompok sekaligus mengembangkan dimensi individualitasnya sebagai insan yang baik.

7.       Peserta didik memerlukan pembinaan dan pengembangan secara individual dan kelompok, seta mengharapkan perlakuan yang manusiawi dari orang dewasa, termasuk gurunya.

8.      Peserta didik merupakan insanyang visioner dan proaktif dalam menghadapi lingkungannya.

9.      Peserta didik sejatinya berperilaku baik dan lingkunganlah yang paling dominan untuk membuatnya lebih baik lagi atau menjadi lebih buruk.

10.   Peserta didik merupakan makhluk Tuhan yang meski memiliki aneka keunggulan, namun tidak akan mungkin bisa berbuat atau dipaksa melakukan sesuatu melebihi kapasitasnya.

            Kajian mengenai hakikat peserta didik dapat dilihat dari aneka tilikan filosofis dan teoritis. Pandangan psikoanalitik melihat peserta didik sebagai insan digerakkan oleh dorongan-dorongan dari dalam dirinya yang bersifat instingtif.

B. Kebutuhan Peserta Didik                                         

            Peserta didik merupakan insan yang memiliki aneka kebutuhan. Asosiasi nasional sekolah menengah (national association of high school) amerika serikat (1995) mengidentifikasi kebutuhan-kebutuhan peserta didik dilihat dari dimensi pengembangannya, yaitu seperti berikut ini.

1.      Kebutuhan intelektual, di mana peserta didik memiliki rasa ingin tahu, termotivasi untuk mencapai prestasi saat di tantang dan mampu berpikir untuk memecahkan masalah-masalah yg kompleks.

2.      Kebutuhan sosial, dimana peserta didik mempunyai harapan yang kuat untuk memiliki dan dapat diterima oleh rekan-rekan mereka sambil mencari tempatnya sendiri didunia nya. mereka terlibat dalam membutuk dan menpertanyakan identitas meraka sendiri pada berbagai tingkatan.

3.      Kebutuhan fisik, dimana perserta didik “jatuh tempo” perkembangan pada tingkat yang berbeda dan mengalami pertumbuhan tingkat mengalami pertumbuhan yang cepat dan tidak beraturan. Pertumbuhan dan perubahan fisik atau tubuh menyebabkan gerakan mereka ada kalanya menjadi canggung dan tidak terkoordinasi.

4.       Kebutuhan emosional dan psikologis, dimana peserta didik rentan dan sadar diri, dan sering mengalami “mood swings” yang tidak terduga.

5.      Kebutuhan moral, diaman peserta didik idealis dan ingn memiliki kemauan kuat untuk membuat dunia dirinya dan dunia diluar dirinya menjadi tempat yang lebih baik.

6.      Kebutuhan komodivinous, dimana peserta didik mengakui dirinya sebagai mahluk yang berketuhanan atau mahluk homoreligius/ insan yang beragama.

            Karakteristik peserta didik adalah totalitas kemampuan dan perilaku yang ada pada pribadi sebagai hasil dari interaksi antara pembawaan dan lingkungan sosialnya, sehingga menentukan pola aktivitasnya dalam mewujudnlkan harapan dan meraih cita-cita. Ada 4 hal dominan dari karakteristik siswa yaitu :

1. kemampuan dasar, misalnya, kemampuan kognitif atau intelektual, efektif, dan psikomotor.

2. latar belakang kultural lokal, status sosial, status ekonomi, agama, dsb.

3. Perbedaan-perbedaan kepribadian seperti sikap, perasaan, minat, dan lain lain.

4. cita-cita, pandangan kedepan, kenyakinan diri, daya tahan, dan lain lain.  

C. Hak dan Kewajiban Peserta Didik

Pererta didik memiliki hak dan kewajiban tertentu. Hak dan kewajiban diatur dalam UU No.20 Tahun 2003 tentang Sisdiknas. Didalam UU ini disebutkan bahwa setiap peserta didik saruan pendidikan berhak :

1.      mendapatkan pendidikan agama sesuai dengan agama yang dianutnya dan diajarkan oleh peserta didik yang seagama.

2.      mendapatkan pelayanan pendidikan sesuai dengan bakat, minat, dan kemampuannya.

3.      mendapatkan beasiswa bagi yang berprestasi yang orang tuanya tidak mampu membiayai pendidikannya.

4.      mendapatkan biaya pendidikan bagi mereka yang orang tuanya tidak mampu membiayainya.

5.      pindah ke program pendidikan pada jalur dan satuan pendidikan lain yang setara.

6.      menyelesaikan program pendidikan sesuai dengan kecepatan belajar masing masing dan tidak menyimpang dari ketentuan batas waktu yang ditetepkan.

            Dilihat dari dimensi etis, peserta didik pun memiliki beberapa kewajiban :

1.      Mematuhi dan menjunjung tinggi semua aturan dan peraturan-peraturan berkenaan dengan operasi yang aman dan tertib di sekolah.

2.      Menghormati dan mematuhi semua anjuran yang bersifat edukatif dari kepala sekolah, staf sekolah, guru, dan para pihak yang terhubung dengan sekolah.

3.      Menghormati sesama peserta didik.

4.      Menggunakan bahasa yang baik dan benar.

5.      Ikut bekerja sama dalam menjaga gedung, fasilitas, dan barang-barang milik sekolah.

6.      Menjaga kebersihan ruang kelas, sekolah, dan lingkungannya.

7.      Menunjukkan kejujuran, kesopanan, dan kebaikan dalam hubungan dengan sesama siswa, anggota staf, dan orang dewasa.

8.      Hadir dan pulang sekolah tepat waktu, kecuali dalam keadaan khusus, seperti sakit dan keadaan darurat lainnya

D. Karakteristik Peserta Didik yang Sukses

            Pendidik tidak hanya dituntut memahami perkembangan peserta didiknya. Mereka juga harus mengetahui apa yang diperlukan oleh peserta didiknya untuk sukses dalam menempuh proses belajar di sekolah. Dengan memahami perkembangan peserta didik pendidik tahu apa yang baik dan apa yang tidak baik dari mereka. Pendidik juga harus memahami karakteristik dari peserta didik, adapun karakterisrik yang harus dipahmi oleh pendidik agar menghasilkan peserta didik yang sukses yaitu:

1. menghadiri semua sesi kelas dan acara di dalam maupun di luar kelas secara teratur dan tepat waktu.

2. menjadi pendengar yang baik dan melatih diri untuk memusatkan perhatian.

3. memanfaatkan peluang pembelajran ekstra yang di tawarkan.

4. melakukan hal yang bersifat obesional dan sering menantang tugas baru ketika banyak siswa lain justru menghindarinya.

5. berdiskusi dengan guru lainnya untuk mendapatkan pengalaman yang bermakna.

BAB III

PENUTUP

A. Kesimpulan

Peserta didik merupakan sumber daya utama dan terpenting dalam proses pendidikan formal. Tidak ada peserta didik, tidak ada guru. Peserta didik bisa belajar tanpa guru. Sebaliknya, guru tidak bisa mengajar tanpa peserta didik. Karenanya, kehadiran peserta didik menjadi keniscayaan dalam proses pendidikan formal atau pendidikan yang di lembagakan dan menuntut interaksi antara pendidik dan peserta didik. Tentu saja, optimasi pertumbuhan dan perkembangan peserta didik diragukan perwujudannya, tanpa kehadiran guru yang professional.

Terdapat beberapa kebutuhan peserta didik yakni, kebutuhan intelektual, kebutuhan sosial, kebutuhan fisik, kebutuhan emosional dan psikologis, kebutuhan moral dan kebutuhan homodivinous. Serta ada empat karakteristik peserta didik yakni, kemampuan dasar, latar belakang kultural lokal, perbedaan-perbedaan kepribadian dan cita-cita.

B. Saran

Meskipun penulis menginginkan kesempurnaan dalam penyusunan makalah ini tetapi kenyataannya masih banyak kekurangan yang perlu penulis perbaiki. Hal ini dikarenakan masih minimnya pengetahuan yang penulis miliki. Oleh karena itu kritik dan saran yang membangun dari para pembaca sangat penulis harapkan untuk perbaikan kedepannya.

DAFTAR PUSTAKA

Endang, Rosita. dkk. 2007. Perkembangan Peserta Didik. (Yogyakarta: Universitar Negeri Yogyakarta).

Suparmin, Mamin. 2010. Jurnal Ilmiah SPIRIT: Makna Perkembangan Peserta Didik. Vol. 10. No.2.

Danim, Sudarman. 2013. Perkembangan Peserta Didik. (Bandung:Alfabeta).

Rita Eka Izzaty. 2008. Modul Perkembangan Peserta Didik. (Yogyakarta: UNY Press).

Prastowo, Andi. 2014. JPSD: Pemenuhan Kebutuhan Peserta Didik. UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta Vol. 1. No. 1.

SUMMARY      A “Methodical” History of Language Teaching

Methodology: Pedagogical practices in general (including theoretical underpinnings and related research). Whatever considerations are involved in “how to teach” are methodological.

A. Approaches

An approach is a theory about language learning or even a philosophy of how people learn in general. They can be psychologically focused such as behaviorism or cognitivism. They can also be based on older philosophies such as idealism or realism.

Approaches are fuzzy and hard to define because they are broad in nature. An example of an approach that leads to a method would be the philosophies of scholasticism, faculty of psychology, or even perennialism. Each of these philosophies encouraged the development of the mind in the way of a muscle. Train the brain and a person would be able to do many different things. These philosophies have impacted some methods of language teaching as we will see below. 10 Tried, Tested and Trusted Language Teaching Approaches:

B. Method

A method is an application of an approach in the context of language teaching. An example of a method is the grammar-translation method. This method employs the memorization of various grammar rules and the translation of second language material to the student’s native language. Students were able to develop the intellectual capacity to understand the new language through a deductive process of acquiring the rules of the language.The purpose is not to critique this method but to show how it was derived from the approach that the mind needs to be trained through intellectual exercises to be able to accomplish something. Types of mhetod:

1)      The Direct Method

These natural language learning principles provided the foundation for what came to be known as the Direct Method, which refers to the most widely known of the natural methods. Enthusiastic supporters of the Direct Method introduced it in France and Germany (it was officially approved in both countries at the turn of the century), and it became widely known in the United States through its use by Sauveur and Maximilian Berlitz in successful commercial language schools. (Berlitz, in fact, never used the term; he referred to the method used in his schools as the Berlitz Method.) In practice it stood for the following principles and procedures:

a)      Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language.

b)      Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.

c)      Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.

d)     Grammar was taught inductively.

e)      New teaching points were introduced orally.

f)       Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.

g)      Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.

h)      Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.

In this method the teaching is done entirely in the target language. The learner is not allowed to use his or her mother tongue. Grammar rules are avoided and there is emphasis on good pronunciation.

2)      Grammar-translation

The principal characteristics of the GrammarTranslation Method were these:

a)      The goal of foreign language study is to learn a language in order to read its literature or in order to benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that result from foreign language study. Grammar Translation is a way of studying a language that approaches the language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language. It hence views language learning as consisting of little more than memorizing rules and facts in order to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of the foreign language.

b)      Reading and writing are the major focus; little or no systematic attention is paid to speaking or listening.

c)      Vocabulary selection is based solely on the reading texts used, and words are taught through bilingual word lists, dictionary study, and memorization. In a typical Grammar-Translation text, the grammar rules are presented and illustrated, a list of vocabulary items is presented with their translation equivalents, and translation exercises are prescribed.

d)     The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice. Much of the lesson is devoted to translating sentences into and out of the target language, and it is this focus on the sentence that is a distinctive feature of the method. Earlier approaches to foreign language study used grammar as an aid to the study of texts in a foreign language. But this was thought to be too difficult for students in secondary schools, and the focus on the sentence was an attempt to make language learning easier (see Howatt 1984: 131).

e)      Accuracy is emphasized. Students are expected to attain high standards in translation, because of “the high priority attached to meticulous standards of accuracy which, as well as having an intrinsic moral value, was a prerequisite for passing the increasing number of formal written examinations that grew up during the century” (Howatt 1984: 132).

f)       Grammar is taught deductively – that is, by presentation and study of grammar rules, which are then practiced through translation exercises. In most Grammar-Translation texts, a syllabus was followed for the sequencing of grammar points throughout a text, and there was an attempt to teach grammar in an organized and systematic way.

g)      The student’s native language is the medium of instruction. It is used to explain new items and to enable comparisons to be made between the foreign language and the student’s native language.

Learning is largely by translation to and from the target language. Grammar rules are to be memorized and long lists of vocabulary learned by heart. There is little or no emphasis placed on developing oral ability.

3)      Audio-lingual

The theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits. There is much practice of dialogues of every situations. New language is first heard and extensively drilled before being seen in its written form. In a typical audiolingual lesson, the following procedures would be observed:

a)      Students first hear a model dialogue (either read by the teacher or on tape) containing the key structures that are the focus of the lesson. They repeat each line of the dialogue, individually and in chorus. The teacher pays attention to pronunciation, intonation, and fluency. Correction of mistakes of pronunciation or grammar is direct and immediate. The dialogue is memorized gradually, line by line. A line may be broken down into several phrases if necessary. The dialogue is read aloud in chorus, one half saying one speaker’s part and the other half responding. The students do not consult their book throughout this phase.

b)      The dialogue is adapted to the students’ interest or situation, through changing certain key words or phrases. This is acted out by the students.

c)      Certain key structures from the dialogue are selected and used as the basis for pattern drills of different kinds. These are first practiced in chorus and then individually. Some grammatical explanation may be offered at this point, but this is kept to an absolute minimum.

d)     The students may refer to their textbook, and follow-up reading, writing, or vocabulary activities based on the dialogue may be introduced. At the beginning level, writing is purely imitative and consists of little more than copying out sentences that have been practiced. As proficiency increases, students may write out variations of structural items they have practiced or write short compositions on given topics with the help of framing questions, which will guide their use of the language.

e)      Follow-up activities may take place in the language laboratory, where further dialogue and drill work is carried out.

4)      The structural approach

This method sees language as a complex of grammatical rules which are to be learned one at a time in a set order. So for example the verb "to be" is introduced and practised before the present continuous tense which uses "to be" as an auxiliary.

5)      Suggestopedia

The theory underlying this method is that a language can be acquired only when the learner is receptive and has no mental blocks. By various methods it is suggested to the student that the language is easy - and in this way the mental blocks to learning are removed.

The objectives of Suggestopedia are to deliver advanced conversational proficiency quickly. It bases its learning claims on student mastery of prodigious lists of vocabulary pairs and, indeed, suggests to the students that it is appropriate that they set such goals for themselves. Lozanov emphasizes, however, that increased memory power is not an isolated skill but is a result of “positive, comprehensive stimulation of personality” (Lozanov 1978: 253). A Suggestopedia course lasts 30 days and consists of ten units of study. Classes are held 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. The central focus of each unit is a dialogue consisting of 1,200 words or so, with an accompanying vocabulary list and grammatical commentary. The dialogues are graded by lexis and grammar.

6)      Total Physical Response (TPR)

TPR works by having the learner respond to simple commands such as "Stand up", "Close your book", "Go to the window and open it." The method stresses the importance of aural comprehension.

7)      Communicative language teaching (CLT)

The focus of this method is to enable the learner to communicate effectively and appropriately in the various situations she would be likely to find herself in. The content of CLT courses are functions such as inviting, suggesting, complaining or notions such as the expression of time, quantity, location. At the level of language theory, Communicative Language Teaching has a rich, if somewhat eclectic, theoretical base. Some of the characteristics of this communicative view of language follow:

a)      Language is a system for the expression of meaning.

b)      The primary function of language is to allow interaction and communication.

c)      The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses.

d)     The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse.

8)      The Silent Way

The Silent Way is the name of a method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno. It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom but the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible. Elements of the Silent Way, particularly the use of color charts and the colored Cuisenaire rods, grew out of Gattegno’s previous experience as an educational designer of reading and mathematics programs. The Silent Way shares a great deal with other learning theories and educational philosophies. Very broadly put, the learning hypotheses underlying Gattegno’s work could be stated as follows:

a)      Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned.

b)      Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects.

c)      Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.

This is so called because the aim of the teacher is to say as little as possible in order that the learner can be in control of what he wants to say. No use is made of the mother tongue.

9)      Community Language Learning

Since linguistic or communicative competence is specified only in social terms, explicit linguistic or communicative objectives are not defined in CLL. Most of what has been written about it describes its use in introductory conversation courses in a foreign language. CLL does not use a conventional language syllabus, which sets out in advance the grammar, vocabulary, and other language items to be taught and the order in which they will be covered. The progression is topic-based, with learners nominating things they wish to talk about and messages they wish to communicate to other learners. The teacher’s responsibility is to provide a conveyance for these meanings in a way appropriate to the learners’ proficiency level. In this sense, then, a CLL syllabus emerges from the interaction between the learner’s expressed communicative intentions and the teacher’s reformulations of these into suitable target-language utterances. Specific grammatical points, lexical patterns, and generalizations will sometimes be isolated by the teacher for more detailed study and analysis, and subsequent specification of these as a retrospective account of what the course covered could be a way of deriving a CLL language syllabus. As with most methods, CLL combines innovative learning tasks and activities with conventional ones. They include:

a)      Translation. Learners form a small circle. A learner whispers a message or meaning he or she wants to express, the teacher translates it into (and may interpret it in) the target language, and the learner repeats the teacher’s translation.

b)      Group work. Learners may engage in various group tasks, such as small-group discussion of a topic, preparing a conversation, preparing a summary of a topic for presentation to another group, preparing a story that will be presented to the teacher and the rest of the class.

c)      Recording. Students record conversations in the target language.

d)     Transcription. Students transcribe utterances and conversations they have recorded for practice and analysis of linguistic forms.

e)      Analysis. Students analyze and study transcriptions of target-language sentences in order to focus on particular lexical usage or on the application of particular grammar rules.

f)       Reflection and observation. Learners reflect and report on their experience of the class, as a class or in groups. This usually consists of expressions of feelings – sense of one another, reactions to silence, concern for something to say, and so on.

g)      Listening. Students listen to a monologue by the teacher involving elements they might have elicited or overheard in class interactions.

h)      Free conversation. Students engage in free conversation with the teacher or with other learners. This might include discussion of what they learned as well as feelings they had about how they learned.

In this method attempts are made to build strong personal links between the teacher and student so that there are no blocks to learning. There is much talk in the mother tongue which is translated by the teacher for repetition by the student.

10)  Immersion

This corresponds to a great extent to the situation we have at our school. ESL students are immersed in the English language for the whole of the school day and expected to learn math, science, humanities etc. through the medium of the target language, English.

Immigrant students who attend local schools find themselves in an immersion situation; for example refugee children from Bosnia attending German schools, or Puerto Ricans in American schools.

11)  Task-based language learning

The focus of the teaching is on the completion of a task which in itself is interesting to the learners. Learners use the language they already have to complete the task and there is little correction of errors.

This is the predominant method in middle school ESL teaching at Frankfurt International School. The tasks are subsumed in a major topic that is studied for a number of weeks. In the topic of ecology, for example, students are engaged in a number of tasks culminating in a poster presentation to the rest of the class. The tasks include reading, searching the internet, listening to taped material, selecting important vocabulary to teach other students etc.

12)  The Natural Approach

This approach, propounded by Professor S. Krashen, stresses the similarities between learning the first and second languages. There is no correction of mistakes. Learning takes place by the students being exposed to language that is comprehensible or made comprehensible to them.

13)  The Lexical Syllabus

This approach is based on a computer analysis of language which identifies the most common (and hence most useful) words in the language and their various uses. The syllabus teaches these words in broadly the order of their frequency, and great emphasis is placed on the use of authentic materials.

Lewis (2000) acknowledges that the lexical approach has lacked a coherent learning theory and attempts to rectify this with the following assumptions about learning theory in the lexical approach (Lewis 2000: 184):

a)      Encountering new learning items on several occasions is a necessary but sufficient condition for learning to occur.

b)      Noticing lexical chunks or collocations is a necessary but not sufficient condition for “input” to become “intake.”

c)      Noticing similarities, differences, restrictions, and examples contributes to turning input into intake, although formal description of rules probably does not help.

d)     Acquisition is based not on the application of formal rules but on an accumulation of examples from which learners make provisional generalizations. Language production is the product of previously met examples, not formal rules.

e)      No linear syllabus can adequately reflect the nonlinear nature of acquisition.

Procedures

Procedures are the step-by-step measures to execute a method. These step-by-step measures are called techniques and will be discussed next. Common procedures for the grammar-translation method includes the following:

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1. The class reads a text written in the second language.
2. Student translates the passage from the second language to their mother tongue.
3. Student translates new words from the second language to their mother tongue.
4. Student is given a grammar rule and derived from the example they apply the rule by using the new words.
5. Student memorizes the vocabulary of the second language.
6. Student memorizes grammar rules.
7. Errors made by the student are corrected by providing the right answers.

This is the process (with variation) that is used when employing the grammar-translation method.

Techniques (also commonly referred to by other term): “Any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or tasks used in the language classroom for realizing lesson objectives.

REFERENCES

Arnold, F. 1981. College English: “A Silent-Way Approach.” Nara, Japan: Dawn Press.

Samimy, K., and J. Rardin. 1994. “Adult language learners’ affective reactions to community language learning”: A descriptive study. Foreign Language Annals 27(3):379–90.

Brown, H Douglas. 2007. “Teaching By Principles An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, Third Edition. America :Pearson Education.

Darian, K. C. 1971. “Generative Grammar, Structural Linguistics, and Language Teaching”. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.

Richards, Jack C. 1985. “The secret life of methods”. In Jack C. Richards, The Context of Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Carroll, J. B. 1953. “The Study of Language”: “A Surveyor of Linguistics and Related Disciplines in America”. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Lozanov, G. 1978. “Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy”. New York. Gordon and Breach.

Lewis, M. 1993. “The Lexical Approach”. London: Language Teaching Publications.