AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMPATIBILITY OF LOOK AHEAD: AN ENGLISH COURSE 1 TEXTBOOK WITH THE SCHOOL LEVEL-BASED CURRICULUM

AGUSARI , NDARI (2010)
SUMMARY
This research paper is mainly intended to find out whether or not the
English textbook used for the first year students of Senior High School entitled
Look Ahead: An English Course 1 is compatible with indicators of the language
skills suggested by School Level-based Curriculum.
This research applies descriptive qualitative research. In collecting the
data, the writer uses documentary analysis especially in content analysis as the
instrument. The data are analyzed by these steps; (1) presenting the materials, (2)
comparing the materials, (3) judging whether the English textbook is appropriate
with the School Level-based Curriculum, (4) drawing conclusion.
The result of the analysis shows that the percentage of the compatibility of
the language skills developed in the textbook is 60,2%. It means that the textbook
is good in developing language skills suggested by School Level-based
Curriculum. The language skills which are developed in the textbook involved:
the compatibility of listening material is 58,6% or good with the listening
indicators suggested by School Level-based Curriculum, the compatibility of
speaking material is 48,1% or fair with the speaking indicators suggested by
School Level-based Curriculum, the compatibility of reading material is 75% or
good with the speaking indicators suggested by School Level-based Curriculum,
the compatibility of writing material is 68,7% or good with the writing indicators
suggested by School Level-based Curriculum. This study implies that the textbook
entitled Look Ahead: An English Course 1 is good materials to support the
learning process especially in listening, reading, and writing. The materials of
speaking skill in this textbook are not adequate, so the speaking teaching-learning
process needs the other material to support the speaking lesson.

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
English has important role because it is particularly used in almost all
of the countries as native and international language. Because of previous
statement above English becomes a foreign language that has been mastered
by most of people in the world. That is the reason why English is taught in all
level of education in Indonesia.
English is the foreign language in Indonesia; because the background
of Indonesian society does not use English in their daily communication. In
Senior High School, it hopes that English can be used as second language in
teaching-learning process. To support the demand of good English ability,
education needs something to support the teaching-learning process.
Textbook is one of media to answer the needs above.
Textbooks are the important media of learning process and also as the
media of the curriculum material in the education system. In curriculum
standard, the meaning of the English textbook is the handbook for the learners
arranged based on national curriculum standard and it is appropriate with the
education system in Indonesia. Its purpose is to improve the knowledge and
skill for communication using English.
Textbooks are course textbook in a certain study as a standard book,
made by specialist and it has instructional purpose to make easy to be
understood by learner at school or university so it can support the education
programs (Tarigan and Djago, 1992: 13). As an English teacher, they cannot
avoid using textbook in giving instruction at school. Good textbooks are very
important for teacher, because textbook is the source of teaching learning
activities in the classroom. So the teacher and learner can build and develop
their language skills better if they use qualified textbook which provide and
support the material needed.
Nowadays there have been many English textbooks published to fulfill
the need of teaching-learning process and as an English teacher should choose
the textbook that is appropriate to the students. The textbook should hold all
instrument based on curriculum needed by the students. However, there is no
perfect book that can fulfill various kinds of students needs. Sometimes some
of them are not appropriate with the standard of curriculum yet.
In 2006, the curriculum used in Indonesia is School Level-based
Curriculum; it is the curriculum arranged and realized in each education
institution, it consists of purpose of (1) education; (2) organization of the
curriculum in each institution; (3) education calendar, and (4) syllabus.
Syllabus is the lesson plan of the certain lesson or certain topic/ theme which
consists of standard of competence, basic competence, main material,
teaching-learning activity, indicator, time allocation, source of material and
the media (Khaerudin, 2007: 80-81)
Look Ahead is a series of English course books for Senior High School.
The materials developed in this book have been adapted from the teaching3
learning cycle method which puts genres as the main tool in language
learning. The book is published in line with the 2006 curriculum or in
Indonesian it is called Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendididkan (KTSP). All
the activities in this book cover the of four language skills: listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. They encourage students to develop their
competence in phonological/graphologycal and lexicogramatical levels, as
well as their discourse and cultural levels.
The English textbooks for the learners of the Senior High School are
various and the writer wants to investigate to what extend Look Ahead
textbook design can develop the learners’ four language skills. The writer
chooses Look Ahead as English textbook to be analyzed because many
schools used this textbook.
Considering the problem above the writer wants to analyze material
development to improve students’ four language skills in Look Ahead
textbook. The writer wants to know whether the Look Ahead textbook is
designed to improve students’ language skills or not. So the writer decides to
conduct a study entitled “AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMPATIBILITY
OFLOOK AHEAD AN ENGLISH COURSE 1 TEXTBOOK WITH THE
SCHOOL LEVEL-BASED CURRICULUM”.
B. Problem Statement
The problem that the writer investigates is “Are the materials of
English textbook entitled Look Ahead: An English Course for Senior High
School Students Year X compatible with the guidelines of School Level-based
Curriculum?” The writer raises several subsidiary study questions as follows;
1. Are the listening materials of English textbook entitled Look Ahead
compatible with indicators of School Level-based Curriculum?
2. Are the speaking materials of English textbook entitled Look Ahead
compatible with indicators of School Level-based Curriculum?
3. Are the reading materials of English textbook entitled Look Ahead
compatible with indicators of School Level-based Curriculum?
4. Are the writing materials of English textbook entitled Look Ahead
compatible with indicators of School Level-based Curriculum?
C. Limitation of the Study
From the problems statement above, the writer limits the study about
how far the materials of English textbook of Senior High School develop with
indicators of the School Level-based Curriculum. The writer analyses on the
material content of textbook Look Ahead: An English Course 1 written by Th.
M. Sudarwati, Eudia Grace and published by Erlangga in 2007.
D. Objective of the Study
Based on the problems statement, the objectives of this study are:
1. To investigate whether or not the listening materials in Look Ahead
textbook is compatible with indicators in the School Level-based Curriculum.
2. To investigate whether or not the speaking materials in Look Ahead
textbook is compatible with indicators in the School Level-based Curriculum.
3. To investigate whether or not the reading materials in Look Ahead
textbook is compatible with indicators in the School Level-based Curriculum.
4. To investigate whether or not the writing materials in Look Ahead
textbook is compatible with indicators in the School Level-based Curriculum.
E. Benefit of the Study
The writer hopes that this study contributes two advantages:
1. Theoretical Benefit
The result can give some information to other writers who are
interested in analyzing English textbook based on the School Level-based
Curriculum. Based on the result of this study it also can give contribution
to material design and material development in teaching English
2. Practical Benefit
The writer and reader will get knowledge about good materials of the
English teaching. It gives information to the teacher about the appropriate
textbook that can be used to support the teaching-learning process, and
also to know how far the English textbook follows the School Level-based Curriculum.
F. Research Paper Organization
Research paper organization is given in order to the readers could easily
understand the research paper. In this case, the writer organizes her study into
five chapters.
Chapter I is Introduction.
It consists of Background of the Study,
Problem Statement of the Study, Limitation of Study, Objective of Study,
Benefit of Study, and Research Paper Organization.
Chapter II is Review of Related Literature. It consists of the Previous
Study, Underlying Theory; English Textbook (definition textbook, function
of textbook, criteria of good English textbook, the advantages and
disadvantages use textbook in teaching), the English textbook ”Look Ahead”,
the School Level- based Curriculum (definition of the School Level –based
Curriculum, characteristic of the School Level-based Curriculum), textbook
analysis (Brian Tomlinson’s evaluation), syllabus.
Chapter III is Research Method. This chapter consists of Type of the
Study, Object of the Study, Data and Data Source, Method of Collecting
Data, and Technique for Analyzing Data.
Chapter IV is Research Finding and Discussion. It consists of material
of listening skill, speaking skill, reading skill, and writing skill found in the
content Look Ahead; An English Course I textbook, analysis and
compatibility of skills indicators in textbook with the School Level-based
Curriculum indicators, and discussion.
Chapter V is Conclusion and Suggestion.