AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMPATIBILITY OF TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH ON SKY 2” WITH SCHOOL LEVEL - BASED CURRICULUM

ATIKAH, ATIKAH (2009)
Abstract
This study is aimed at judging whether or not the speaking materials in the textbook entitled “English on Sky 2”, used for the second year students of Junior High School are compatible with speaking materials in the School Level - based Curriculum. The data are speaking materials in the textbook “English on Sky 2” written by Mukarto and published by Erlangga. The data were collected by observing the document of speaking materials in the textbook, and analyzed by comparing with speaking materials in the School Level - based Curriculum. The result of data analysis shows that the quality of speaking materials in the textbook is very good because the score of schema of quality qualification of the speaking materials is 81,25%. There are eight units presenting speaking materials in the textbook. The eight units present speaking materials as suggested by School Level - based Curriculum, however not all of the speaking elements are presented. The materials of grammar are not presented in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth units and the materials of vocabulary are not presented in the sixth and eighth units

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
In Indonesia, English as a foreign language is not only used as a means of communication and maintaining relationship with other nations but also as a subject learned at school. By studying English it is hopped that Indonesian people can keep communication with other people in the world. Today, the study of English continues to occupy an important place in our educational curriculum. It is regarded as the first foreign language to be taught at elementary school as an extra subject. For most Indonesian, studying the language is a difficult thing. In order to learn English language students are required not only to know the vocabulary and the grammar but also have to use or apply their knowledge for the sake of communication (Depdiknas, 2004: 2).
In order that the student can communicate successfully, they need a good curriculum and our government always develops curriculum to make it real. Curriculum itself is a plan of education that gives the guidance about kinds, range, content order and the process of education. So, curriculum is aimed to direct the activities of the educational system for achieving the goal that is to make students master English language as the international language and practice it for communication in the global era.
English teacher cannot avoid using a textbook that is important in giving instruction at school. It is not only the teacher but also the students who use a textbook. Brown (1994: 145) argues “the most obvious and most common form of material support for language instruction comes through textbooks to support the success of teaching - learning process”.
Teachers can teach the material well if there are appropriate textbooks in guiding the teaching – learning process, not only inside but also outside (extra curricular) the classroom. Teachers and students can build and develop their communicative competence better if they use qualify textbook which provide and support the material needed.
In the global era, everything is demanded to make a change including curriculum. Curriculum is always changed to keep it grade equal to that of the other country. The curriculum developed by the government nowadays in 2006 is called School Level – based Curriculum.
School Level - based Curriculum is an operational curriculum that was arranged and held in each educational unity. It consists of the direction of education, structure of the curriculum, academic calendar and syllabus. Syllabus is a plan of learning in a specific subject. It consists of standard of competency, basic competency, learning activity, indicator of evaluation, evaluation, time, and source of learning.
There are many publishers that published English textbook for the second year students of Junior High School. The textbook should hold a main instrument to do the curriculum that has been arranged before. However,sometimes some of them are not appropriate with the standard of curriculum yet.
“English on Sky 2” is an English textbook that used for second year student of Junior High School in Sukoharjo published by Erlangga. The writer choose the English textbook entitled “English on Sky 2” because this book is not appropriate with the School Level - based Curriculum.
Considering the problem, the writer wants to analyze the textbook used by the second year students of Junior High School on the basis School Level – based Curriculum. The writer decides to conduct a study entitled “AN ANALYSIS OF THE COMPATIBILITY OF TEXTBOOK ‘ENGLISH ON SKY 2’ WITH SCHOOL LEVEL - BASED CURRICULUM”.
B. Limitation of the Study
From the discussion in the background of study, the writer needs to limit study areas in order to have a clear focus. In the study, the writer wants to analyze the compatibility of speaking skills of the English textbook entitled “English on Sky 2” with School Level – based Curriculum.
C. Problems of the Study
Are the materials of speaking skills of the textbook entitled “ENGLISH ON SKY 2” suitable with the School Level – based Curriculum?
D. Objective of the Study
Based on the formulation of the study mentioned above, this study has two objectives, namely:
1. Describing the materials of speaking skills of the textbook entitled “ENGLISH ON SKY 2”.
2. Describing whether the materials of speaking skills in the textbook entitled “ENGLISH ON SKY 2” are suitable with the School Level – based Curriculum or not.
E. Benefits of the Study
The writer hopes that this research will have some benefits in teaching learning English. This study has two benefits, namely:
1. Theoretical Benefits
The writer hopes that the result of the study can be used as the reference for those who want to evaluate the other textbooks.
2. Practical Benefits
a. The writer hopes that the teachers will know the appropriate textbook that can be used in teaching – learning process.
b. The writer hopes that the teachers will know how to evaluate a textbook.
c. The writer hopes that the government will know how to make a textbook that is compatible with the curriculum that used.
F. Research Paper Organization
The organization of this research paper is arranged as follow:
Chapter I is introduction that covers the background of the study, limitation of the study, problem of the study, objective of the study, benefit of the study, and research paper organization.
Chapter II is review of related literature that covers the previous study, English textbook, the curriculum, the School level - based Curriculum, and speaking.
Chapter III research method, discusses the type of the research, object of the data, data and data source, method of collecting data, technique for analyzing data.
Chapter IV is research finding. It covers the analysis of English textbook with the School level - based Curriculum and the result of data analysis.
Chapter V is presents conclusion and suggestion. The writer draws the conclusion and purpose suggestions taken from the results of the research.