Representation of Communicative Competence in English Language Textbooks in Indonesia

Authors

  • Ezis Japar Sidik Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa (UNTIRTA)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24903/sj.v3i2.201

Keywords:

communicative competence, English, textbook dialogues, Indonesia

Abstract

English textbooks play a paramount role in teaching process, and are expected to contain appropriate contents that can support students to acquire required competences for effective communication. The expected contents should contain different aspects of language abilities or competences well-known as communicative competence. Thus, the present study is aimed to explicate the representation of communicative competence aspects in the spoken dialogue instances contained in Indonesian EFL textbooks.  Three English textbooks, prepared and designed under the auspices of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, are selected for the analysis. The findings suggest the textbooks have not provided sufficient dialogues that give useful models for students to use in communication. Amid the scarcity of the models, the available dialogues also do not much reflect how authentic spoken dialogues occur in real-life communication due to inadequacy to reflect real-life communication as insufficient representation of the communicative competence particularly in contained dialogue models.

Author Biography

Ezis Japar Sidik, Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa (UNTIRTA)

Ezis Japar is an English lecturer at the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, theUniversity of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa (UNTIRTA), Indonesia. Currently, he is doing a doctoral program in TESOL at Queen’s University of Belfast, United Kingdom. His research interests include English for young children, reading literacy at school, English curriculum and material development, and English-in-education policy.

References

Aliakbari, M. (2004). The place of culture in the Iranian ELT textbooks in high school level. Paper presented at the 9th Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics Conference, Cheonan – South Korea: Namseoul University.

Bagaric, V., & Djigunovic, J. (2007). Defining communicative competence. Metodika. 8(1), 94-103.

Baleghizadeh, S., & Shahri, M. (2014). EFL teachers’ conceptions of speaking competence in English. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. 20(6), 738-754.

Broughton, G., Brumfit, C., Flavell, L., Hill, P., & Pincas, A. (1980). Teaching English as a foreign language (2nd ed). London: Routledge.

Canale, G. (2016). (Re)searching culture in foreign language textbooks, or the politics of hide and seek. Language, Culture and Curriculum. 29(2), 225-243.

Canale, M., & Swain, M (1980a). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics. 1(1), 1–47.

Celce-Murcia, M. (2007). Rethinking the Role of Communicative Competence in Language Teaching. In E. Alcón Soler & M.P. Safont Jordà (Eds.), Intercultural Language Use and Language Learning (pp. 41– 57). Dordrecht: Springer.

Celce-Murcia, M., Dörnyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1995). Communicative competence: A pedagogically motivated model with content specifications. Issues in Applied linguistics. 6(2), 5-35.

Chan, J. (2013). The role of situational authenticity in English language textbooks. RELC Journal. 44(3), 303-317.

Collins, P. (2006). Grammar in TEFL: A critique of Indonesian high school textbooks. TEFLIN Journal. 17(1), 1-10.

Copland, F., & Garton, S. (2014). Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: Introduction to special issue. ELT Journal. 68(3), 223-230.

Ekawati, D., & Hamdani, F. (2012). Cultural mirrors: Materials and methods in English as a foreign language. International Journal of Basic and Applied Science. 01(01), 53-58.

Fairclough, N. (2003) Analyzing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. London: Routledge.

Gerald, R. (2015). The World beyond the Classroom: 21st Century Education, Technology and 4Cs. Retrieved May 9, 2017 from https://storify.com/RebeccaG27/4cs-in-education

Gilmore, A. (2004). A comparison of textbook and authentic interactions. ELT Journal. 58(4), 363-374.

Gilmore, A. (2011). "I prefer not text": developing Japanese learners' communicative competence with authentic materials. A Journal of Research in Language Studies. 61(3), 786-819.

Government regulation. (No. 32, 2013). National Education Standard. Jakarta: Indonesian Government.

Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom: A guide to current ideas about the theory and practice of English language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jones, M., Kitetu, C., & Sunderland, J. (1997). Discourse roles, gender and language textbook dialogues: who learns what from John and Sally?. Gender and Education. 9(4), 469-490.

Kataoka, K., Ikeda, K., & Besnier, N. (2013) Decentering and recentering communicative competence. Editorial of Language and Communication. 33, 345-350.

Kramsch, C. (2006). From communicative competence to symbolic competence. The modern Language Journal. 90(2), 249-252.

Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Landrum, R., Gurung, R., & Spann, N. (2012). Assessment of textbook usage and the relationship to student course performance. Cllege Teaching. 60, 17-24.

Lee, J. (2014). A hidden curriculum in Japanese EFL textbooks: Gender representation. Linguistics and Education. 27, 39–53.

Leung, C. (2005). Convival communication: recontextualizing communicative competence. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 15(2), 119-142.

Lie, A. (2007). Education policy and EFL curriculum in Indonesia: between the commitment to competence and the quest for higher test scores. TEFLIN Journal. 18(1), 1-14.

Liu, Y. (2005). The construction of cultural values and beliefs in Chinese language textbooks: a critical discourse analysis. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. 26(1), 15-30.

Mahboudi, H., & Javdani, F. (2012). The teaching of English in Iran: The place of culture. Journal of Language and Culture. 3(5), 87-95.

Matic, L., & Gracin, D. (2016). The use of the textbook as an artefact in the classroom: A case study in the light of a socio-didactical tetrahedron. J Math Didakt. 37, 349–374.

Ministry of Education and Culture. (2012). Dokumen Kurikulum 2013 [Document of Curriculum 2013]. Jakarta: Ministry of Education and Culture.

Ministerial decree of education. (2016, No. 26). Buku yang digunakan oleh satuan pendidikan [Textbooks to be used by schools]. Jakarta: Ministry of Education and Culture.

Ministerial decree of education. (2016, No. 24, Appendix 47). Kompetensi inti dan kompetensi dasar pelajaran pada Kurikulum 2013 [Main competence and basic competence of subjects based on Curriculum 2013]. Jakarta: Ministry of Education and Culture.

Ndura, E. (2004). ESL and cultural bias: An analysis of elementary through high school textbooks in the western United States of America. Language, Culture and Curriculum. 17(2), 143-153.

Nguyen, L., Hamid, O., & Renshaw, P. (2014). Contribution of Qualitative Research on ELT Reform English in the primary classroom in Vietnam: students’ lived experiences and their social and policy implications. Current Issues in Language Planning. 17(2), 191–214.

Ozverir, I., Herrington, J., & Osam, U. (2016). Design principles for authentic learning of English as a foreign language. British Journal of Educational Technology. 47(3), 484-493.

Ramirez, A., & Hall, J. (1990). Language and culture in secondary level Spanish textbooks. The Modern Language Journal. 74(i), 48-65.

Richards, J. (1993). Beyond the Text Book: the Role of Commercial Materials in Language Teaching. RELC Journal. 24(1), 1 – 14.

Savignon, J. (2002). Communicative Language Teaching: Linguistic Theory and Classroom Practice. In Savignon, J. (Ed.) Interpreting Communicative Language Teaching: Contexts and Concerns in Teacher Education. Yale: Yale University Press.

Savignon, J. (2002). Evaluation of communicative competence: The ACTFL provisional proficiency guidelines. The Modern Language Journal. 69(2), 129-134.

Shrestha, R. (1982). English as a second language/ English as a foreign language distinction: Its pedagogy and the Nepalese context. CNAS Journal. 11(01), 45-59.

Taha, W., & Reishaan, A. (2008). The Relationship between Competence and Performance: Towards a Comprehensive TG Grammar. Adab Al – Kufa Journal. 1(2), 35-59. Retrieved on April 24, 2017 from http://www.iasj.net/iasj?func=fulltext&aId=42292

Wiemann, J., & Backlund, P. (1980). Current theory and research in communicative competence. Review of Educational Research. 50(1), 185-199.

Zein, S. (2016a). Pre-service education for primary school English teachers in Indonesia: policy implications. Asia Pacific Journal of Education. 36(Sup. 1), 119-134.

Zein, S. (2016b). Elementary English education in Indonesia: Policy developments, current practices, and future prospects. English Today. pp1-7. Retrieved from http://www.cambridge.org/core.

Downloads

Additional Files

Published

2018-10-13

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2018): October

Section

Articles

License

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.