JOSS: 

Journal of Social Science

 


AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSE (ESP) TEXTBOOK FOR MARITIME AND FISHERIES STUDENTS PUBLISHED BY INDONESIAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE

 

Vischa Mansyera Pratama1, Herdi2, Violintikha Harmawan3, Rahmi Fadilah4, Ramanda Rizky5

Universitas Negeri Padang

Email: [email protected]

KEYWORDS

ESP textbook, Textbook analysis, Language teaching materials

ABSTRACT

This research analyze and describe the quality of the English textbook in term of the activities provided by this book. The object of this research is the Bahasa Inggris Maritim dan Perikanan textbook for 10th grade students published by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. The current research was conducted to analyze the need of suitable and comprehensive learning materials for English for Specific Purpose (ESP) Class. This research used an analysis format as the instrument to guide the researcher in analyzing the English textbook. The analysis format contained of six categories which was made based on the principles of a good textbook proposed by the experts those are readiness activities, experiential activities, intake response activities, development activity 1, input response activity, and development activity 2. The result of this research showed that this English textbook for maritime students published by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture can be categorized as good textbook since all of the criteria was found in this book. Meanwhile, there are two categories that were rarely found and need to be revised in this textbook; development activity 1 and development activity 2. However, the other criteria had enough number as the activities provided by this book.

INTRODUCTION

Vocational skill is substantial aspect that helps people become proficient in a particular profession. Vocational high school become an appropriate option for students interested in practical education and job training (Pratama & Syafei, 2018). By acquiring the skill, it is important to support the students in learning English for Specific Purpose (ESP) based on their major (Lestari & Martiarini, 2021). It is needed in order to help them be able communicating in English at work. The complex concept of communication need to be understood to improve the development  of language learning. Teaching materials take an important role in language learning. Teaching materials can inform learners about the language, provide experience of the language in use, and help learners to make discoveries about the language for themselves (Gunantar, 2017). English Language Teaching (ELT) materials are anything that can be used to help students learning a subject. The materials are needed in the teaching learning process for teachers and students. For teachers, the materials guide them in teaching the subject. However, for students, the materials help them in learning the subject. They can be workbooks, course books, hand-outs of power points, newspapers, videos, etc (Richards, 2017). In other words, teaching materials facilitate the teaching and learning process of the language.

In Indonesia, textbook or course book is the common teaching materials used in the school. Textbooks are one type of text, a book for use in an educational curriculum (Brown, 2001). According to (Jusuf, 2018); (Ersoy & Sahin, 2012); (Tomlinson, 2011) textbook or course a book that contains the core materials for a language-learning and carrier curriculum. It aims to provide as much as possible in one book and is designed so that it could serve as the only book which the learners necessarily use during a course. In the other word, textbook is a book that contains the materials that is needed in teaching-learning in the classroom. In many non-English speaking countries, textbooks or coursebooks have become the only resource necessary for an effective language-teaching program in most schools (Kayaoğlu, 2011); Makundan et al, 2011). It is also in line with  (Sulistiyo et al., 2020) and Grant as cited in (Kayapinar, 2009) states that course book try to solve the problem by creating opportunities for learners to use the target language in the classroom, as a sort of “halfway house” before using it in real life. Thus, using textbook or course book in teaching-learning English has many advantages which help the students in acquiring the language.

However, not all English textbooks can be categorized as the good teaching materials. The study conducted by (Latif, 2015) showed that the task and activities of two textbooks that had been evaluated by him did not fulfil the criteria of good textbook and needed to be modified. In addition, the study conducted by (Nemati, 2009) also showed that the book had been evaluated by her and needed some modification in the sequence of presenting the texts in the book. Thus, realizing the importance of textbooks in the teaching-learning process presented earlier, and the fact that not all English textbooks can be categorized as the good teaching material, evaluating the English textbook is the crucial thing to do. The evaluation is needed in order to check whether the English textbooks have fulfilled the criteria of good teaching materials. Evaluating the textbook can also give information about the aspects that need to be improved so that the textbook can be more effective. The result of the evaluation can help the teachers to determine their action toward the textbook being evaluated e.g. adapting, adopting, or rejecting. So, the purpose of learning English will be achieved since the teachers know what to do to make the teaching-learning process be effective (Alibakhshi et al., 2021).

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is the teaching and learning process of English for students who have English as their second or foreign language. An English for Specific Purpose (ESP) teaching and learning process need to be designed simply to gain the objective for the students. It is in line with (Utami, 2019) that said that evaluating an ESP course book is necessarily done to ensure that the content of the book is suitable for the learners and their needs. Students with vocational skill will hand-on the real world learning. Students take all standardized tests and classes that is required. For maritime, marine and fisheries students, they will learn about sea and the activities related to marine. Therefore, they must learn and able to use English actively. For that reason, Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia need to provide the proper book to ensure the students meet the need.

In Indonesia, there is a book for 10th grade students’ entitled Bahasa Inggris Maritim dan Perikanan that was published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia. This English textbook is the latest book published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia and written based on Curriculum 2013. Since this book was published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia – authorized body that decides the curriculum and syllabus used in the school – this book is distributed to Maritime Vocational High School. Due to this fact, the researcher is interested in analyzing this English textbook since this book is used in teaching ESP majoring in maritime. Since there is a little research focusing on ESP textbook for fisheries and maritime students, the researcher wants to know whether this book has fulfilled the criteria of good teaching materials proposed by the experts to bring the novelty in the field of ESP teaching and learning materials.

With attention to that, it is expected that the current research contributes in giving basis evaluation to the teaching materials especially maritime English. By providing the analysis result of textbook that also provide the criteria needed to be fulfilled in designing good book, it will help the designer of maritime English teaching materials to creating the appropriate ESP textbook related to the real workplace they will face. The current research support the necessary concern that need to be considered in designing applicable textbook.

 

METHOD RESEARCH

This research aims to analyze the quality of English textbook entitled Bahasa Inggris Maritim dan Perikanan for vocational high school students grade X based on the activities. According to (Ary et al., 2010) descriptive study is a research that asks questions about the nature, incidence, or distribution of variables; it involves describing but not manipulating variables.

In this research, the data were collected by using evaluation format that was constructed based on the principles of good textbook proposed by (Tomlinson, 2013). The evaluation format was constructed by following the guidelines in formulating the principles of good textbook into criteria that were used as the indicators for textbook evaluation. In evaluation format, there are six categories that are used in analyzing the activities of the textbook; readiness activities, experiential activities, intake response activities, development activity 1, input response activity, and development activity 2.

In determining the quality of the textbook, the data were analyzed by following steps. First, the activities were listed by the researcher. Second, the activities instruction written in Indonesian were translated into English. Afterward, they were classified into six categories. Then, the total numbers of the activities that are included into the six categories suggested were counted in tally. It is followed by counting the total percentage of it by following formula:

 

P =  × 100%

 

P = the percentage

n = the activities suggested found in the textbook

N = the total activities of the textbook

 

Subsequently, it is followed by the analysis of the activities utterances to draw the finding description.

 

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Finding

After counting and analysing the activities of the English textbook for 10th grade maritime high vocational high school students published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, there are 52 activities provided by this book that can be categorized as the six activities suggested by (Tomlinson, 2011). The number of activities for each category found in this textbook is presented in the table below:

 

Table 1

Evaluation Criteria

No.

Evaluation Category

Evaluation Criteria

Total

Percentage

1.

Activities

Readiness activities

6

10.90%

Experiential activities

8

14.54%

Intake response activities

15

27.27%

Development activity 1

3

5.45 %

Input response activity

20

36.36%

Development activity 2

3

5.45%

Total

55

99.97%

 

From 55 activities provided by this book and 99.97% of them can be categorized as the good activities suggested by (Tomlinson, 2013); this total number consists of 6 readiness activities, 8 experiential activities, 15 intake response activities, 3 development activity 1, 20 input response activity, and 3 development activity 2.

Readiness activities

This criterion was found 6 times (10.90%) in this English textbook. In these activities the students are asked to think about something personal which will help the learners to connect with the content of the core text. They will give information or their own opinion about something, related to the topics; the opinion of each students might be different each other so that sometimes the students also need to support their opinion with some reasonable arguments. The principles of this activities are personal connection, visual imaging and use of inner speech. The examples of information or opinion gap activities provided by this book are:

1.   Do you know these words? Match a word in the box to a picture in 1 – 16. (Page 8)

2.   Do you know number 1 – 20? Listen and Repeat. (Page 12)

3.   Do you know the English Alphabet? Listen and Repeat (Page 13)

 

These activities are classified as the readiness activities because they give a chance for the students to have discussion between teachers and students and between students and students. These activities can help the students to have the natural interaction in which the students can produce a meaningful language.

Experiential activities

This criterion was found 8 times (14.54%) in the English textbook. In this book, students were given a chance to link the images and thoughts from the readiness activities to the text when first experiencing it. The principles of this activity are personal connection, visual imaging, use of inner speech, affective and cognitive engagement, use of high-level skills and focus on meaning. Some instructions of the experiential activities in this book are in Bahasa Indonesia, then translated into English by the researcher. The examples of experiential activities provided by this book are:

1.   Now try to practice the pronunciation of numbers as shown in the table above. For example by saying/pronouncing your phone number or the month and year you were born, and so on (Page 12)

2.   Now try to practice the pronunciation of words in English. For example by spelling your name respectively (Page 13)

3.   Next, together practice the pronunciation of the instruction sentences that have been learned before. Each students should have the opportunity to do so. In a group, determine the role of each member when carrying out shipping/sailing activities when leaving the port. (Page 103)

These are activities which are designed to help the learners to represent the text in their minds as they read it or listen to it and to do so in multidimensional ways which facilitate personal engagement. They are things they are encouraged to do while reading or listening and should therefore be mental activities which contribute to the representation of the text and which do not interrupt the processing of it nor add difficulty or complexity to the task. (Tomlinson, 2013).

Intake response activities

This criterion was rarely found in the English textbook. There were 15 (27.27%) activities found in this book. These activities provide the students in developing and then articulating personal responses to the text. The principles of intake response activities are personal connection, visual imaging, affective and cognitive engagement, use of inner speech and interaction. The following is the example of making grammatical discoveries from a simple drill activity provided by this book:

1.   Mind the short text below and practice to read the particular numbers in a good way. (Page 12)

2.   Read the text below carefully and understand the sentences and vocabulary, then answer some of the questions provided (Page 47)

3.   Do exercises on the existing Functional skill of language groupings, namely greeting and parting (Page 121).

Development activity 1

This criterion was found 3 times (5.45%) in this textbook. As these activities functions to develop the text by continuing it, relocating it, changing the writer’s views, personalizing it, responding to it etc. The principles of development activity are personal connection, visual imaging, use of inner speech, affective and cognitive engagement, use of high-level skills, focus on meaning, interaction and purposeful communication. The followings are the examples of readiness activities provided by this book:

a.   Put the words into the correct order. (Page 17)

b.   Rearrange these jumble words into a good sentence. (Page 60)

c.   Write down the results of the exercises you did, and then present them in front of the class according to each group. (Page 121)

Input response activity

This criterion also has high number of activities provided by this book compare to others. This criterion was found 20 times (36.36%) in this book. This number is quite enough if it seen from the total number of six activities suggested by (Tomlinson, 2013). These kinds of activities are needed since these activities require the students to understand the material without feeling forced to learn. The followings are the example of activities that enable the students to recognize language input consciously and subconsciously provided by this book:

a.   Read the short story script below carefully. Underline or mark words that fall into the category of Pronouns or forms of to be. Work individually or in pairs (do it either individually or pairly!) (Page 16)

b.   Put the verbs in brackets into the simple present or the present continuous tense. (Page 60)

c.   Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb tenses, whether it is Present Simple Tense or Present Continuous Tense. Basic Verbs are given in the bracket. Change the verbs if necessary (Page 61).

The activities above can be categorized as the activities that enable the students to recognize language input consciously and subconsciously because those activities asked the students to write something in which the students have a chance to add their expression in which students can express what they want that can lead them to comprehend the language use both consciously and subconsciously.

Development activity 2

This criterion was found 3 times (5.45%) in this book. This activity ask the learners to revise the first draft from development activity 1 above making use of their discoveries in five previous activities. Development activities 2 have the same principles as development activities 1; personal connection, visual imaging, use of inner speech, affective and cognitive engagement, use of high-level skills, focus on meaning, interaction and purposeful communication. The examples of development activities 2 provided by this book is:

a.   Now is the time to record and draw conclusions from the results of observations, discussions and explorations that you have done, then present your observation report in class! (Page 58)

This instruction is provided three times in the chapter 3, chapter 4 and chapter 5 in the textbook. It is provided to make the students aware and recognize the lesson that has already learnt in the classroom and giving opinions related to the materials.

Discussion

         Based on the findings above, English textbook entitled Bahasa Inggris Maritim dan Perikanan published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia consist of 55 activities that can be classified into six activities provided by (Tomlinson, 2013). It means that most of the activities provided by this book can be categorized as the activities suggested.

From 55 of the total number of the activities that are categorized as the activities that are suggested, there were two criterions that did not even reach the one sixth of this total number of activities suggested; it was the fourth and sixth criterion that is development activity 1 and development activity 2. These criterions were found three times for each criterion; it is really small number compared to the total number of the activities suggested which is 55. Whereas, development activities are needed to make the students develop their knowledge about the lesson that has already learnt that can help students build their self-confidence since the students are presented challenging and encouraged to think a little bit higher than their proficiency level. However, in this book, this kind of activity are rarely found. In this textbook, the students are provided other kind of activity to communicate their ability in learning process.

Besides the lack of the fourth and sixth criterion of this book, the others criterion was found a lot in this book. For the first criterion, this book provided 6 activities that can be categorized as readiness activities. This activity can be said sufficient enough for this textbook if they are given in the early learning process of each chapter. Although there are some activities that need to be improved, this finding indicates that this book give a few chance to the students to communicate each other and/or with the teacher to close the gap. According to Tomlinson (2013), textbook should provide the students with opportunities to use the target language in the classroom; so, the students can have natural interaction and achieve the communication purpose (Hadar, 2017). Readiness activities are activities where the students can have time to try to get their comfort zone before starting to lesson. These activities are intended to avoid the students to feel anxious and scared to involve in the classroom activities so that in these activities are put in the beginning of the chapters. Hence, by providing the activities that require the students to interact to others can lead the students to have communicative language. This finding indicates that this book consider the importance of readiness activities in learning process.

For the second criterion, this book provided 8 activities that can be categorized as the experiential activities; it is the adequate number compared to the total number of the activities suggested. This number indicates that this book provided activities that asked the students to link the images and thoughts from the readiness activities to the text when first experiencing it. It can stimulate students’ confidence and motivation because this activity is not only meant to test their academic proficiency, but also to give the students a belief that they can think higher beyond their proficiency level. Hence, having opportunities to experience and link their knowledge is needed by the students.

For the fifth criterion, this book provided 20 activities that can be categorized as the input development activities. It is the highest number as the activities suggested found in this textbook. This activity is used to make the students recognizing language input consciously and subconsciously. According to (Tomlinson, 2013), learners’ activities are focusing on a specific linguistic, pragmatic, discourse, genre or cultural feature of the text in order to make discoveries about its use. Thus, this finding indicates that this book provided enough activities that can help students to acquiring the input of the language.

In short, from 55 activities that can be categorized as the activities that are suggested, this book provided less of activities for development activity 1 and development activity 2. However, this book has enough number of activities for readiness activity, experiential activity, intake response activity, and input response activity. So, it can be concluded that the quality of this English textbook is good related to the criteria fulfilled by this book. Since from six categories being evaluated, there are two criterions that need to be improved and developed.

 

 

CONCLUSION

         The quality of English textbook entitled Bahasa Inggris Maritim dan Perikanan in term of the activities is good. This conclusion was gotten by evaluating the activities of the textbook based on the criteria of activities needed by a good textbook. The results show on the findings of the research, some suggestions are proposed for getting the better quality of the textbook. In order to improve the quality of the textbook, the researcher of this research proposes several suggestions as follows: This book needs to improve some of development activity 1 and development activity 2 provided this book. These activities would be better if that almost all of the activities of this book fulfil the criteria for the activities of good textbook. By developing the materials, students will have a chance to tell their information or opinion to support their answers (Mukundan et al., 2011). Thus, the purpose of sixth activities will be more achieved. This book needs to provide more readiness activities because these activities needed by the student to avoid the students to feel anxious and scared to involve in the classroom activities. This book also needs to provide drills that help students to have the chance to link the images and thoughts from the readiness activities to the text when first experiencing it as experiential activities.

         After presenting the conclusion, the author propose some suggestions to be considered in conducting the future research related to ESP textbook analysis. First, it is important to take extra miles in evaluating maritime English textbooks that have been published, distributed and implemented by Vocational High School nowadays. Second, there is needed more research and evaluation according to the good textbook classification by experts about ESP workbook in all majors due to it is essential to be learned by students to practice their English skill related to their specific job field.

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Copyright holders:

Vischa Mansyera Pratama1, Herdi2, Violintikha Harmawan3, Rahmi Fadilah4, Ramanda Rizky5 (2023)

 

First publication right:

JoSS - Journal of Social Science

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