Tài liệu Teaching and learning english part 5 pdf

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Applying Contextual Instruction to Involve Students

With The Natural Way of Learning English Speaking

Muhammad Sukrianto

Applying methods of instruction in teaching and learning process is not a new

notion for a teacher. However, to meet the need of students in preparing them to face

their future or to take their places in the rapidly changing world of work should be

considered. The teachers should find a good way of teaching to meet student’s

competences (skills and knowledge) they get from school with the need for their future

career. In this short essay we are going to discuss the argumentations that the teachers

may apply contextual instruction in teaching English Speaking to involve students with

the natural way of learning.

Speaking skill is the single most important aspect of teaching and learning a

second or foreign language, and success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out

a conversation in the language (Nunan, 2001). It means that in teaching English

speaking the teachers should find a good way of teaching to meet the skills of speaking

that the students get from school with the need for their lives or for their future career.

The method of instruction that is believed can meet the skills of speaking the

students get from school with the need for their future career is Contextual Teaching

and Learning. Contextual instruction can help the teachers relate subject matter content

of speaking to real world situations and motivate students to make connections between

knowledge and its applications (skills) to their lives as family members, citizens, and

workers and engage in the hard work that learning requires. Johnson (2002:25) states

that the CTL system is an educational process that aims to help students see meaning in

the academic material they are studying by connecting academic subjects with the

context of their personal, social, and cultural circumstances. To achieve this aim, the

system encompasses the following eight components: making meaningful connections,

doing significant work, self-regulated learning, collaborating, critical and creative

thinking, nurturing the individual, reaching high standards, using authentic assessment.

Thus, by applying CTL in teaching speaking skills the teacher can involve the

students with the natural way of learning. They can not only guide the students to join

academic subjects with the context of their own circumstances but also engages them in

exploring the meaning of ‘context’ itself.

Based on the goal of teaching speaking skills, the learners should be able to

make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest. They should

try to avoid confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or

vocabulary, and to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each

communication situation.

To reach the goal, there are some reasons why the teachers may consider

applying CTL in teaching and learning English speaking. The first, authentic material

in teaching speaking skills is needed. The authentic material that the students get in the

class enables them to consolidate, develop, and apply skills of speaking in various levels

both in and outside schools. In addition, students learn to solve problems they encounter

by using the language actively, like forming a discussion or doing simulation.

Worthwhile problems that are relevant to students’ families, school experiences,

workplaces, and communities hold greater personal meaning for students.