using norms of behavior to regulate an english-only speaking class
DESCRIPTION
This is a mini action research that I did during my undergrad which investigated whether 'norms of behavior' might be effective in dealing with students' use of mother tongue in class.TRANSCRIPT
Reducing Students’ Use of Mother Tongue
by Creating Behavior Norms.
Ihsan Ibadurrahman
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Learning English as a second language can be facilitated through a lot of
exposure to the language in a relaxed setting (Krashen, 1984). This means that
the class should only be conducted in English and that the use of mother tongue
should be diminished. To ensure that students speak English at all times,
teacher can negotiate norms of behavior with the students. The power of
negotiation and shared responsibility that the norms of behavior have will
ensure that the students abide by the rules they themselves created (Harmer,
2007). This classroom action research aims at finding out if this strategy works
on reducing students’ use of mother tongue. 25 senior high students were
involved, and a video recorder and two tape recorders were used to collect the
data and validate the findings based on observations. This study concludes that
this strategy is indeed effective at minimizing mother tongue use.
Keywords: mother tongue, behavior norms, learning English as second
language.
1 Background
The mastery of English as a second language is a long, cumbersome process.
With 12 years of English language learning, Indonesian students would still
often find it difficult to express themselves even at the level of sentence-
formation. Most of these learners complain of the lack of vocabulary, or
grammatical knowledge. This is not a surprising fact at all since the amount of
language input that the students acquire during those 12 years of learning is less
than the input that an infant acquires in natural settings (Thornburry, 2002: 20).
Moreover, the language input that Indonesian students get is cut down by the
1
use of mother tongue in the classroom. To ensure that learning English is
facilitated, it is important that students are exposed to the language as much as
possible in a relaxed setting (Krashen, 1984). Armed with this knowledge, it is
then the teacher’s job to look for ways in which the class is conducted in
English and that no mother tongue is allowed while keeping that relaxed
classroom atmosphere intact.
In their attempts to expose students to the language in the classroom,
teachers may create an English environment where they should use English
most of the time to the extent of “anglicizing their students’ name too”
(Harmer, 1998: 130). However, even with this attempt, students might still use
their own language. To anticipate this problem, norms of behavior can be
conducted by a joint negotiation at the beginning of the course (Harmer 2007:
155). These norms of behavior should state what is acceptable and what is not,
which includes the use of mother tongue in the classroom and its consequences
of so-doing.
This research will investigate the problem that is formulated in the following
question:
a. How does the strategy help reduce the use of students’ mother tongue in the
classroom?
In the light of the above formulation of problem, this study aims at:
a. Finding out if the strategy helps reduce the use of students’ mother tongue in the
classroom.
This study was conducted at a senior high school in Bandung which involved second
grade 25 senior high students. Kemis and McTaggard’s action research procedure was
selected. To validate the findings, two audio recordings and one video recording were
used as the research instrument. Since classroom action research is, by its nature,
described as a qualitative study (Susilo, Chotimah, Dwita Sari 2008), a qualitative
research method was used to descriptively capture on the images of the class in two
lessons.
2
Since the researcher himself is the teacher who taught the class where the research
was conducted, self-reflection was used, teaching journals were investigated to explain
classroom phenomena related to the findings of this research.
2 Theoretical Issues
In their endeavor to language learning, students may experience potentially humiliating
moments when they make mistakes. This error is sometimes caused by the interference of
the native language. Despite the fact that the native may actually facilitate the target
language such as rules governing, the interference effect can cause more problems than
solutions – a case of the negative outweighs the positive, as stated by Brown that:
The native language of learners exerts a strong influence on the
acquisition of the target language system. While that native system will
exercise both facilitating and interfering effects on the production and
comprehension of the new language, the interfering effects are likely to
be the most salient (2001: 66).
In dealing with this undesirable effect, he suggests that students should think
directly in the target language instead of “resorting to translation”. This would help if the
students produce the target language too instead of using the native language.
In the light of the above principle, we can conclude that English should be used at
all times in the classroom, even at the level of language conception just before the
language production. In fact, successful language learners are those that can
communicate in English as the target language (Davies & Pearse, 2000). Thus to help
students become successful language learners, teachers will have to give opportunities for
students to communicate with each other in English in a meaningful way. Fortunately,
most English classrooms nowadays are equipped with sound communicative language
teaching methodology that will enable students to develop their communicative skills that
they will closely encounter outside the classroom when they speak with native speakers
of English. However, in real spontaneous conversations we retrieve a stored chunk of
language that is instantly available as we need it and this language will not be available
3
unless we acquire it (Krashen 1984). He further suggested that second language
acquisition may occur if learners are exposed to a large amount of comprehensible input.
This confirms the implication that learners have to get as much exposure to English as
possible so that they will be able to engage effectively in spontaneous conversations.
We can now arrive at the conclusions that the use of mother tongue should be
diminished due to its interfering effects and students should be exposed a lot to English
that they can understand, what would the teaching implications be then?
The most obvious answer is that English as the target language should be used at
all times so that students are exposed to it. To ensure that students use English all the
time, teachers may create class behavior norms where certain norms of behavior are
jointly negotiated with the students. Because the norms are discussed and shared by the
class, the students themselves will have the responsibility to maintain their self-made
policy and by so doing it will give enormous benefits to language learning (Harmer 2007,
155-156).
Harmer further suggested three important things to bear in mind when creating
these behavior norms:
1. Norms need to be explicitly discussed: It will be of vital
importance that students know the reasons why the norms are
there in the first place. In this case, students need to know why
speaking English at all the time in the class is beneficial.
2. Norms can be jointly negotiated: If these rules are negotiated,
the outcome would produce a much more considerable power
than if it comes only from the teacher.
3. Norms need to be reviewed and revisited: Students may forget
or slip outside of the norms they created; it will be the teachers’
job to review those rules.
4
Breen and Littlejohn confirmed Harmer’s view that this strategy helps student
become responsible for their own learning, they also stated that:
Any classroom, in its social composition, is a microcosm of the wider
society in which it is located. For it to function, a classroom community
realizes its own values and priorities through either implicitly or
explicitly accepted procedures or routines … The more explicitly ways
of working are agreed, the more likely a collaborative approach to
achieving shared goals can be fostered. (2000: 20)
From the view above it is clear that norms of behavior provide numerous benefits
to the class, one of which is functioning the classroom as a social composition known as
classroom community which otherwise would not exist.
3 Findings and Discussions
There were two meetings upon which this research was conducted. The first was when
the idea of behavior norms was not introduced. In other words, students were free to
speak in their own language. The second meeting was when the class had to create norms
of behavior that included speaking English all the time as part of a code of conduct.
Based on teacher’s self-reflection throughout the entire first meeting, students
kept using their mother tongue as if they hadn’t known they were in an English class.
This condition did not improve although the teacher attempted to reinforce students to
use English by teacher’s use of target language. Students were blissfully unaware of the
importance of speaking English, students had no idea that using mother tongue would
only hinder English learning, of all 25 students who attended the class, 16 of them used
Indonesian (64%) in long phrases.
In the second meeting, however, the researcher noticed some improvement on the
use of target language. Norms of behavior were explained and negotiated. It was at this
stage that students began to realize the importance of using English and stop using the
native language. With the norms being conducted, there would now be consequences to
those who step outside of those norms – that is they would have to tell their personal
5
story to everyone in the class which will also be recorded and published on facebook for
the whole world to see. Students tried their best to speak in full English although was
produced in broken English. Among 25 who were present that day, only 8 students used
Indonesian (32%). Even more fortunate was the fact that these 8 students produced very
short Indonesian phrases, some were only a word as compared to the first meeting.
To validate the findings based on my observation, video and audio recordings
were used and below are the data taken in the first and second meeting; it described the
use of mother tongue during those two meetings.
Table 1
First meeting.
Name L1 words Name L1 words
S1
Apa kikituan, pasti facebook rea,
tidak dapat kursi, ujung sana tuh,
tadi mah irwansyah.
S10 Ketauan, selamat
S2
Pulau, ya seriusan, why apa, ga
ama pilot ma pina aja
mengkhayal, tapi dibalikin ini
mah.
S11
Yu ah kita nonton aja nanti,
bukan a lot of money itu mah
nge-date, gak.
S3 Bau bau, sehati. S12Ngapain, harus aku yang
mulainya.
S4 Kenapa Iffa diam aja S13Nama orang, atuh da kalian ga
maju-maju, imajinasi, sama
S5 Perancis S14 Abis ini, pasti, udah.
S6
Siapa, orang terkenal siapa,
boleh ngomong, makan-makan
aduh, biasa aja, emang ngapain,
tiga
S15Mr. Ihsan udah, kalow udah
gmana?
S7
Satu, dua, tiga.
S16 Kirain teh mau beli Cigar.
S8
S9
6
Table 2
Second meeting.
Name L2 words
S2 Pindah ke sana
S17 Monyong, oh iya
S10 Oh jadi
S16 Kena muka
S18 Tadi
S20 Apa ya
S21 Bener tuh, tingali
S22 haram
Based on the findings described above, we can arrive at the conclusion that norms
of behavior did facilitate students to a lot of English exposure because they would keep
using English all the time and because this norms were negotiated, students have the
responsibility to maintain these norms as stated by Harmer (2007: 156).
From the observation, the class also began to function socially because everyone
had a share on the norms and they work co-operatively to maintain those norms. Again,
this is in line with the theory of classroom decision proposed by Breen and Littlejohn
(2000: 20).
4 Conclusion
It has been suggested that in order for students to become a successful language learners
they will need plenty of exposure to the language and that native language should be
diminished due to its interfering effects on the target language. This study seeks to find
out if establishing behavior norms help in reducing students’ use of mother tongue
thereby increasing potentials for English use. The study reveals that the strategy worked
not only to reduce the use of mother tongue but also help the class function as a social
composition.
7
References
Breen, P. Michael., and Littljohn Andrew. (2000). Classroom Deicision-Making.
Cambridge: Cambridge
Brown, H.Douglas. (2001). Teaching by Principles (Second Ed.).
New York: Pearson Education
Davies, P., and Pearse, E. (2000). Success in English Teaching. Oxford: Oxford
Herawati, S., Chotimah, H., and Sari, Y. Dwita. (2008). Penelitian Tindakan Kelas.
Malang: Bayumedia Publishing..
Harmer, J. (1998). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching (Fourth Ed.). Essex:
Pearson Education Limited.
Krashen, S. (1984). The Input Hypothesis. Longman.
Thornburry, S. (2002). How to Teach Vocabulary. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
8