THE POWER OF THE TRANSLATED INDONESIAN LITERATURE IN EFL CLASSROOM

This paper highlights the power of using the English translation of the Indonesian literature in the Indonesian EFL settings. Various theories and studies underlying the advantages of using such literature in EFL classes are elaborated. First, such literature is very familiar and close to the students’ world of knowledge, therefore it improves their confidence in sharing it to others. Second, it is less psychologically threatening, and it makes them easier to cope with it. Third, this kind of literature can increases comprehension and retention of the foreign language. In addition, the cultural origin of such literature has a greater effect on the students’ comprehension.
Concurrently, the writer’s experience in dealing with the use of translated folktales in his class have shown that this practice contributes significantly to the Indonesian EFL classroom, especially in improving speaking and writing skills. In terms of speaking, by applying storytelling technique, he found that all students were able to present their own story very confidently, and enthusiastically answered any questions concerning on the story they presented. In terms of writing, all students were able to produce a narrative writing based on the story that have presented in the storytelling. They were able to write a more detail story with a better structure.


INTRODUCTION

Teaching English as a Foreign Language has always been a major challenge for teachers and lecturers of English in Indonesia. Finding teaching materials that are appropriate to certain level of students often create problems. Sometimes, we find the selected text to be too long and too complex for students, or it is too easy for them. The key point is that the material should not be too distant from the world knowledge of the students. In addition, it should generate the students’ interest.

Today, we have a lot of choices of textbooks or resources to be used in teaching. However, many of us still rely on using uninteresting materials, and the activities chosen are based on teacher-talk and students-listen routines as suggested by Cheung (2001). Such practices cannot guide the students to increase their interest in learning English. Hence, they will get demotivated in learning.
To avoid this situation, we have to find teaching materials that can foster students’ motivation. I argue that one kind of teaching materials which may encourage students to learn is the use of a certain type of literature: the translated Indonesian literature.

WHY LITERATURE

Many teachers think that literature is inappropriate to be used in language classroom. They refer to the historic separation of the study of literature and the study of language which has created a very limited function of literature in the language classroom. I argue that such kind of view is misleading. As a matter of fact, the use of literature can be a prevailing educational instrument, as suggested by Savvidou (2004) based on the premise that literature is language and language can indeed be literary.
There are a number of reasons why literature is appropriate to be used in the language classroom. One is that literature helps students understand and appreciate cultures and beliefs that are different from their own. In line with this, Kramsch (1992) , as cited in Gray (2005), stated that by constructing with the literary text a reality different from that of texts of information, students are given access to a world of attitudes and values, collective imaginings and historical frames of reference that constitute the memory of a people or speech community. This definitely means that literature and culture are inseparable.
Another reason is that literary texts can function as an example of certain types of language patterns and structures; such as vocabulary usage and syntax. Literature, as Collie and Slater (1987) argued, provides a rich context in which individual lexical or syntactical items are made more memorable. By reading a contextual body of text, students can get familiar to certain features of written language.
In addition, literature can provide personal enjoyment to students, establish an emotional and aesthetic connection between readers and the text, and contribute to personal growth (Mckay, 1986). This in turn will increase their motivation to read more and more literary text, and improve their language skills, especially their reading proficiency.
For most students, literature can provide a key to motivating them to read in English; and for all, literature is an ideal vehicle for illustrating language use and for introducing cultural assumptions.
EFL teachers and lecturers should note that although the students do not yet fluently express their English, they are still able to comprehend when they discuss a piece of literary work, since they come from a society which has its own literature. They have read and studied literature in their own language. Therefore, they are familiar with the elements and forms of literature written in their native language.

TRANSLATED INDONESIAN LITERATURE

What I mean “translated Indonesian literature” is any forms of Indonesian literature that are translated into English. It can be short stories, fables, folktales, novels, plays, or even poems. For the Indonesian EFL students, this grants certain advantages.
First, they are able to understand the cultural background of the materials used. Obviously, there should be an extra explanation given here that teachers should consider the cultural background of the students. Students from Java may not well acquaint with certain stories from Sulawesi like the Legend of Sawerigading, and in vice versa, the students from Sulawesi may not recognize the story of Lutung Kasarung. This happens almost in any parts of Indonesia. However, there are stories originated from certain part of the country, yet they are so popular throughout Indonesia, such as the Legend of Malinkundang from West Sumatra, and the Legend of Sangkuriang from West Java.
Since the stories are very familiar to the students, they know the characters, theme, plot, setting, and other elements of the stories. They know much of the vocabulary which makes them easier to cope with the stories. This generates a less psychologically threatening situation, as suggested by Day and Bamford (1998).
Moreover, second language acquisition research has shown that materials originating from students’ first language’s culture greatly increases comprehension and retention of a second language, as cited in Gray (2005). Studies have revealed that simply changing the name of places and characters into more familiar one increases comprehension, as suggested by Chihara, Sakurai, and Oller (1989) in their study on Japanese EFL students.
In another study, it was discovered that the cultural origin of folktales for Iranian EFL students had a greater effect on their comprehension than did the level of the syntactic and semantic complexity of the text (Floyd and Carroll, 1987), as cited in Gray (2005). That is, Iranians performed better on the texts adapted in English from their native culture than on a text from American culture. Similarly, when students from India and United States were instructed to read letters about an Indian and American wedding, they read letters from their own culture faster, and were able to recall them better than when they read foreign excerpts (Floyd and Carroll, 1987).
I believe that if such study is to be undertaken to the Indonesian EFL students, the result will likely to correspond with those findings. Simply, the Indonesian literature that has been translated into English can serve as a bridge between the two languages.
What EFL teachers and lecturers have to bear in mind is what materials to be used, and which English translation is the best. If they are not carefully chosen, and the students are not familiar with them, or the translation is not appropriate, using them could mean “lost of pedagogical opportunities”(Gray, 2005).

THE USE OF FOLKTALES

Literature covers a wide range of subjects and writing style. The subjects receiving great attention of students include animals, humour, courage, heroism, sports, mystery, adventure, biography, and fantasy. These could be presented in different genres, such as imaginative literature (poetry, prose, and drama), and non-imaginative (letter, diary, essay, memoir, biography, and history). Other forms of literary work are folktales, legends, myths, and fairy tales which continue to sought after for they represent imagination and dreams of men of bygone years and contribute to our understanding of the past.
If students were asked what they have in common among many forms of literature, it is likely that their answer would be folktales. This is due to the fact that folktales have existed in the students’ world of knowledge since their childhood. They have heard the tales from their parents, their teachers, their elders or their peers quite frequently and remain until they were grown up.
Folktales are general term for different varieties of traditional narrative; including fairy tales, fables, and legends. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to basic and complex societies alike. The forms folktales take are certainly similar from culture to culture. Initially, it is considered to be an oral tale to be told for everybody.
In Indonesia, folktales usually refer to the term “cerita rakyat”. Its origins are predominantly an oral culture, with a range of stories of heroes, transmitted outside of a written culture. Many other stories explain events or establish moral allegories from iconic or symbolic characters of the past. They also seek to explain the origins of names of people and places.

PRACTICAL PROPOSITION

For the last two years, I have assigned my students at English Department of Makassar State University who were undertaking “Integrated Language Skills” class to update folktales existing in Indonesia, especially in South Sulawesi Province. Since they are from various regencies, each student preferably updates the folktale from his / her own regency.
I applied two techniques, storytelling and narrative writing, consecutively, in dealing with this matter: Each student, with certain amount of time, will have to present his / her folktale in front of the class in English. After the telling, other students are allowed to give comments or have questions about the content of the folktale. I occasionally made some corrections; either in terms of spelling, grammar, and vocabulary use. By doing this technique, I found that the students, at most, have strong opinion about their folktales, and are very confident when they share them.
In terms of narrative writing, I assigned each student to write down the folktale that he / she has delivered in class. I encouraged them to write it in more detail, and allowed them to expand it. This assignment is to be handed in a week later. My experiences in this class for the last two years have revealed that a number of students were not able to submit their writing based on the due date, and asked for delay which usually took one week. Despite this delay, the promising outcome is that the students were able to write the folktales in more detail and advanced.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The use of the English translation of the Indonesian literature promotes some advantages to the Indonesian EFL settings. Since the students know the original, they are reasonably easier to expose it in English, either in terms of speaking or writing. Beside that, they have a strong opinion on such literature which makes them confident in sharing it to others.
Folktales as one form of literature have existed in every culture and society. Since childhood, students have acquired such literature from their parents, their elders, and their peers which enables them to retain it for longer time.

REFERENCES

Cheung, C. (2001). The Use Of Popular Culture As A Stimulus To Motivate Secondary Students’ English Learning In Hongkong. ELT Journal, 55 (1), 55-61.
Chihara, T., T. Sakuai, and J. Oller. (1989). Backround and Culture as Factors in EFL Reading Comprehension. Language Testing, 6, 143-151.
Collie, J And S. Slater (1987). Literature In The Language Classroom: A Resource Book of Ideas and Activities. Cambridge: CUP
Day, Richard and Julia Bamford (1998). Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Floyd, P and P.L.Carrol (1987).Effects on ESL Reading of Teaching Cultural Content Schemata. Language Learning, 37, 89-108.
Gray, Ronald (2005). Using Translated First Language Literature in the Second Language Classroom. Internet TESL Journal. 11 (12)
Iskandar (1993). The Students’ Ability to Appreciate Short Stories. Unpublished Thesis. IKIP Ujung Pandang.
Iskandar (2005). The Utilization of Storytelling as a Technique in Teaching Speaking. Performance. 4(1), 43-50.
Kilickaya, Ferit. (2004). Guidelines to Evaluate Cultural Content in Textbooks. Internet TESL Journal 10 (12).
Mckay, Sandra (1986). Literature In The ESL Classroom. In R. Carter And David Nunan (Eds). Literature and Language Teaching (pp.191-198). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rahman, Asfah. (2001). Literature: A Neglected Aspect In The Teaching of English as A Foreign Language. Performance 1 (1), 74-84.
Savvidou, Christine. (2004). An Integrated Approach to Teaching Literature in the EFL Classroom. Internet TESL Journal, 10 (12).

THE TEACHING OF EFL AT PRIMARY SCHOOLS: PROBLEMS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

This study is a literature study elaborating the actual condition of EFL teaching at primary schools in Indonesia. The fact shows that the culture of the students may hinder their confidence in speaking English. In terms of teachers, the core problem is that most of teachers teaching EFL at primary schools do not qualify as professional English teachers. To provide professional English teachers cannot be fulfilled in short time. Therefore, specific training on how to teach EFL well to teachers handling the subject at primary schools is badly needed.

Introduction

Today, the global development is marked by the extensive use of English amongst most people across the globe. This fact has promoted the significance of English as a means of communication in almost all countries, including Indonesia. English is then assumed as being an important subject that must be taught both at formal and non formal education. In the context of Indonesia, English as a foreign language is a compulsory subject to be taught in all schools from junior high to senior high schools. At university level, English is one of general courses offered to almost all course of studies. Even in a number of elementary schools, English is offered as an elective subject or local curricular content. We have seen, however, that the proficiency in English of secondary school graduates still creates disappointment among teachers themselves as well as parents.
Besides, it has become public knowledge that some measurements have been taken by the Indonesian government to improve the quality of English teaching in secondary schools, irrespective of their effectiveness in actuality. Take for example the appearance of prescribed curriculum for English. Unfortunately, those are not prevalent in the English teaching for elementary schools. One of the possible reasons is that English is an elective subject, not a compulsory one. That is why its handling is not as serious as that for secondary schools. Until presently, for instance, there has been no any prescribed curriculum for the conduct of English teaching in elementary schools. This, to some extent, signifies the fact that English teaching and learning for elementary school has been somewhat ignored.
In addition, the English teaching for elementary schools has encountered numerous problems. One of which is the issue of exposure to English use in everyday life, which has been serious concerns of many people. This is one of the challenges that children learning English at elementary schools may come across with. Here in Indonesia, as an implication of positioning English as a foreign language, English is just learned in classrooms, not widely used as a means of communication by people across the regions. This lack of exposure makes children difficult to see English learning as being functional and useful for them. A second challenge has to do with the English writing system. Words in English are written differently as opposed to the way they are pronounced. Unlike English, Indonesia has phonetic writing system wherein the writings clearly reflect consistently the sounds. Children learning English would find English writing system confusing considering the fact that there is no direct one-to-one correspondence between the pronunciation of a word and its spelling.
Additionally, there has been a misleading misconception about how children learn language. Children have been wrongly assumed as being “a miniature of adults”, in which the way they learn a foreign language (including English) exactly the same as the way adults do. It resulted in a far-reaching problem. That is, teachers tend to approach the teaching-learning process in the same way as they would teach adults. This will impact what methods and techniques they use in the classroom. In actuality, children have their own world, which is far different from that of adults. Specifically, children have their own culture and learning preferences. That is, they generally learn by way of physical activities (i.e. hands on experiences). Besides, they have a relatively short attention span and they learn with the motive of meeting immediate goals (i.e. here and now principle). This uniquely child-like ways of doing things call for a certain methodological style, which emphasizes concrete activities, social interactions and series of little bits of action-based learning sessions packaged in various modes of delivery.

EFL at Primary Schools: A Bumpy Road

The teaching of EFL at primary schools takes a long history. During the New Order Government, the teaching of English was put aside due to premises on children’s psychological factors. It was suspected that if children are taught English earlier, they would become westernized. Beside that, it was assumed that their learning of national language, Bahasa Indonesia, would get distracted by English. In 1993, TEFLIN international seminar held in IKIP Padang displayed a controversy. Some supported the government’s argument. Others who supported the early teaching of English said that it would be better to teach the language at earlier age. This claim is based on a psycholinguistic theory stating that at the earlier age, children will much easier learn a foreign language compared to adults, especially prior to the process of lateralization in which the function of brain split into two: the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere.
The claim is seemingly supported by the natural approach (Krashen & Terrell, 1983) to the learning of oral language, which underlies the communicative method of teaching, implies acceptance of the traditional conception of the so called critical period (Lenneberg, 1967). This conception supposes that before puberty a learner can acquire the pronunciation of a language naturally by simple exposure to suitable models and by imitation.
However, this approach conflicts with the wide theoretical empirical base developed in the last 20 years in the field of speech perception. According to this the difficulties involved in learning the phonological component of a given L2 begin at one year of age, after which the phonological prototypes of the mother tongue act as perceptive magnets which “attract” the acoustically nearby sounds of the L2 (Khul & Iverson, 1985). The “equivalent classification” (Flege, 1987) of L2 sounds as L1 sounds blocks the formation of new L2 categories. The student develops inadequate perceptive objectives and pronunciation is adversely affected. The most difficult L2 sounds to discriminate and so produce are those with only slight differences from the L1 sounds, while the sounds furthest from the L1 with no real equivalent are the easiest to learn (Flege, 1995).
Regardless this controversy, there are several reasons why EFL teaching at primary schools get its importance. First, the need for English proficiency has touched every level of education. As an example, most learning resources are available in English, and we can only access them whenever we have an adequate proficiency in that language. Furthermore, English is the main language used in information technology which is badly needed today. Second, teaching EFL at primary schools will furnish students with a foundation to learn English at higher educational level. Other reasons why English should be taught earlier can be extracted as in the following:
· They find it easy to accept a new linguistic code because they are still learning their own.
· They find it easy to pronounce the new sounds for the same reason.
· They don’t feel self-conscious about sounding different.
· If they have a good experience of learning a language at this age, they will remember it with fondness, so will find it easier to learn languages later in life.

Concurrently, there are some emerging problems of EFL teaching in primary schools in our country. First, students often encounter problem in dealing with the way they speak the language which is very much influenced by their local languages. This makes them reluctant to use English in everyday life. When a student from Sunda tribe speaks English, he or she will produce Sundanese-accent English. A student from Batak tribe will produce Batak-accent English, and so on. Such phenomena lead to less confidence of students.
Besides, the quality standard set by schools is very high. Students are expected to achieve the level of near-native performance, otherwise they are regarded as bad English speakers. This perception is subject to change. Students do not need to be near-native. They may speak the language on their own convenience as long as it is communicative. An example of this can be seen from either Singaporeans, Malaysians, Indians, and the Philippines which are also multi cultured. They are not reluctant to speak English with their own dialects.
The other problem faced is the teachers teaching EFL at primary schools. Most EFL teachers at primary schools are not “real” English teachers. Real English teachers here mean the teachers who were majoring in English when they were at universities or colleges, and have been trained prior to their becoming professional teachers of English. Most teachers qualify only as class teachers or ‘guru kelas’ who are responsible for teaching all subjects at a certain grade students, including English. In teaching, they tend to rely on books provided by private publishers, since the government does not provide EFL syllabi yet for primary schools. As a result, the teaching of EFL cannot achieve satisfactory level.
To improve the EFL teaching, the government should provide professional English teachers at schools. This becomes prerequisite to the quality improvement of EFL teaching. However, due to financial challenge, the government is not able to recruit a large number of teachers equivalent to the number of primary schools. In addition, trained EFL teacher candidates for primary school are not adequately produced by universities. Most EFL teacher candidates are educated and trained to become Junior and Senior High School EFL teachers.
Teacher Training : A Proposed Key Action
Realizing the problems, particularly the problems on teachers, it is obviously that the class teachers teaching EFL have to be provided with specific training on EFL. They have to get a comprehensible understanding on English curriculum that best suit to their students. In addition, they need to have a reasonable level of English themselves to be able to teach the language. They need to be able to speak with some fluency in order to give the best example to their students. If the teachers themselves lack confidence, the students will not learn as well as they could.
No matter how the training will be formatted, however, as Cooper (2007) suggested that the teachers should be loaded with several key points. First, the emphasis should be on listening and speaking the language. Teachers should relate what they teach to what students already know in their own language; and never use the new language as the basis for teaching new concepts. They should use as much English as possible, talk to students all the time, so that they hear as much as possible. This gives them more opportunity to begin to understand the language and absorb its rhythm.
Another key point is that the lesson must be fun. The most important thing is that the students enjoy the lessons; they will not learn if they do not enjoy the lessons and the their motivation to learn is in order to participate in the lessons. Teachers may employ some techniques to make the teaching fun, such as using lots of visual aids; the more visual the better, so the students have a chance to understand even before they know the words. They may also use games to involve the students, or songs, because through these, the children learn vocabulary, grammar and the rhythm of the language without trying. Occasionally, they can use stories, because the students love them and it gives them a real experience of the language.
In terms of reading and writing, it is best if the students learn how to read and write in their own language before learning these skills in the foreign language. This minimizes the confusion of looking at the same letters and hearing different sounds. Yet, if the students are considered ready, some key points should be considered. First, the students need to be familiar with a wide range of vocabulary. Teachers should begin by reminding the students of the word, then show them the written word. Thus they learn to associate the shape of the word with the sound, rather than relying on the individual letter sounds to begin with. Once they have become familiar with a range of written words, they can be introduced to the sounds of certain letters, as they appear in the words they already know. Once they have learnt the sounds of certain letters and combinations of letters (th, ch, sh, etc), they can be introduced to more, and taught to work out how to read unfamiliar words, using the knowledge of how each letter or combination of letters sounds. Second, the fine motor skill of learning to write is best left to the first language. There is no point in teaching how to write each letter in two languages. Therefore, the students need to learn how to write in their own language before being asked to write in English.

Concluding Remarks

Seeing the fact that most teachers teaching EFL at primary schools do not qualify as English teachers, it is not surprising that the students’ proficiency in English is not satisfactory. Phenomenon like students entering universities, who have been studying English at least six years, are not able yet to speak English, shows that there is something wrong with the teaching of EFL in our country. Training primary school teachers to teach EFL is one way to eliminate such problems.



References
Cooper, Fiona L. (2007). Fun English for Kids. At http://www.scribd.com. Downloaded on May 2nd, 2008.
Flege, J.E. (1995). Second language speech learning : Theory, findings, and problems. In W. Strange (Ed). Speech Perception and Linguistic Experience: Issues in Cross- Language Research. York Press. Baltimore.
Krashen, S. & Terrell, T. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. Pergamon. Oxford.
Khul, P.K. & Iverson, P. (1995). Linguistic Experience and the "Perceptual Magnet Effect". In W. Strange (Ed). Speech Perception and Linguistic Experience: Issues in Cross- Language Research. York Press. Baltimore.
Lenneberg, E. (1967). Biological Foundations of Language. Wiley, New York.
Musthafa, Bachrudin, M.A., Ph.D. 2003. EFL for Young Learners: Course Materials.Unpublished textbook. Bandung: Indonesia University of Education.
Reilly, V. and S. M. Ward (1997). Very Young Learners. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

THE UTILIZATION OF STORYTELLING AS A TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING SPEAKING

This paper is developed on the utilization of storytelling as a technique in teaching speaking in English as a Foreign Language. The idea lies on the assumption that storytelling will provide students with opportunity to improve their speaking skill, in particular, to present their ideas and knowledge in the spoken language. The writer has engaged this technique a few times in his teaching and found it interesting to his students as they always enthusiastically attended the class whenever they were doing storytelling.

Introduction

Storytelling is an old-age tradition that has existed since the dawn of time in every culture. It exists in many forms: the traditional tale around a campfire, fable, anecdote, legend, in the classroom, on the radio, television, movies, in the pages of books, end even now in hypertext form on the web.
Storytelling means many things to many people. It can be entertainment, a way of passing on a culture’s history, or a way of teaching to both the young and the old. It is something that must be experienced and tried before we can fully understand it. More than anything else, storytelling is actually an art that anyone can participate in. Realizing or not, we are all storytellers (Shepperd, 1996)
Originally, stories are to share and to tell. Sharing and telling stories require people to speak. It is common to us that we know some stories since they are easy to grasp and remain relatively longer in our mind. When we tell stories, we show our willingness to be vulnerable, to expose our deepest feelings, and our values (Baker and Greene, 1987). Enjoying a story together creates a common experience and if the storytelling is properly done, it will create relaxed and restful feelings.
Regardless of where we are from, we all grew up learning timeless stories. We heard them from our parents, our elders and our peers. They were told to us as part of our culture. We will probably forget the details of the stories that we have ever heard, but not the images. The images of the stories may hint us in retelling them and visualize them in our mind.

Strategies of Telling Stories

To tell a story, we have to consider several aspects, such as atmosphere, voice, expression, and timing (Chan, 1987).
Atmosphere can make or break a storytelling period. In classroom context, teachers have to make sure that it is quiet, secluded, and that there will be no interruptions during the telling. Besides, teachers should make students seated comfortably. For example, they may arrange the seat in semi-circle, so that the student who tells the story will take position at the center. In addition, it is also possible to bring students outside classroom; having a circle seat under a tree, or in the school yard. The important thing is that teachers should create a relaxed atmosphere.
In terms of voice, students might need to consider some points, such as speaking simply, quietly, and directly. They should use sufficient volume to be heard easily and they should be careful with enunciation. Another thing is that they should use low and pleasing tone quality.
Facial expression interprets the mood of the story. It means that the students should know what they want to say, express what they feel, and think what they mean. In addition, students should be as natural as possible in doing the telling. Timing is no less important. In this stage, students have to be aware of pausing, changing the speed and the pitch, vary the emphasis, and building up to climax.
Besides the four aspects, another important thing is how to end the story. To end the story, students are expected not to distract from climax. They should not suggest another story and point up a moral. What they need to do is ending the story with assurance.

Storytelling as a Technique in Teaching Speaking

There are several ways or techniques that we may use to make students actively speak in class, namely: conversing, explaining, interviewing, problem-solving, telephoning, explaining, demonstrating, describing, and telling stories. Storytelling itself is regarded as a new way in teaching speaking (Bailey and Savage, 1994)
Pellowski (1990) defined storytelling as the entire context of a moment when oral narration of stories in verse or in prose, is performed or led by one person before a live audience. The narration may be spoken, chanted, or sung, with or without musical, pictorial, or other accompaniment. It may be learned from oral, printed or recorded sources. From this definition, we may specify the storytelling in the context of language teaching as the narration of any kind of stories performed by students in front of the class by means of training them to speak in the language they are learning.
It may invite a question on how storytelling can be used by teachers as a technique of teaching speaking, since it is usually done in natural way outside the classroom. At this concern, the writer proposes some techniques or procedures of using storytelling in classroom environment, namely: supplied-content story, clued story, endless story, and collaborative story

Supplied-Content Story

The writer names this technique as ‘supplied-content’ story, since the content of the story that students will tell is provided by teachers. It is the task of teachers to provide stories appropriate to the students. The students’ part may be one or two sentences, or even one or two paragraphs. It may vary; depending on the students’ ability.
Teachers may provide stories by writing their own stories, or modifying the existing ones. It is suggested that in providing the story, teachers take into account the age of the students. Generally, younger children enjoy stories with plot and action. Teenagers like stories with more humor and interplay with characters (Chan, p.5).
The teaching procedure of this technique is as shown in the following:

Preparation
Two or three days
(Provide stories for students to read and learn at home. Explain that they are about to retell the stories in the next meeting)
Time
10-15 minutes
Resources
Short story, fable, legend, or folktale
Medium
None
Procedures
1. Let students have a last look at the stories (Approx. 5 minutes)
2. Point a student to begin the story. If possible, ask who will be the pioneer to do the telling.
3. Have the other students to pay attention to their friend telling the story. (This is to ensure that they attend and know exactly in what part their friend ends his turn).
4. Have the others to continue the story. (Remember not to spend most of the time. So, if the students get stuck, let him / her finish his / her turn).
5. When the story is finished (Approx. 10 minutes), have a five-minute discussion on the story as reinforcement.

Clued Story

This technique provides some clues for students to tell a story. The clues may be some words, phrases, pictures, or charts. In other words, we have to set the scene of the story. If possible, teachers may include the characters involved in the story when they are providing the clues. The students, then follow the frame to do the telling.
Another way of doing clued story is by giving students two or three archetypal characters and having them tell the story by using the characters provided. It is also possible to have students prepare cards with various characters, setting, and plot. The cards, then, are placed in boxes that are labeled “character”, “setting”, and “plot”. After that, we may have students choose a card from each box and make up a story incorporating various ideas (Hamilton and Weiss, 1990).
Details of the teaching procedure is as shown in the following:


Preparation
Approx. 5 minutes
Time
10-15 minutes
Resources
None
Medium
Clues: Story map, charts (cue cards), pictorial outline
Procedures
1. Provide students with clues; either cards, charts, or pictures.
2. Have the students learn the clues.
3. After 5 minutes, they successively tell stories based on the given clues.
4. Help them to pattern the true plot of the story if they go along with wrong direction.
5. Have a brief discussion. Let them debate the plot of the story.
6. Conclude the story.

Endless Story

In endless story, the students are free to tell the stories to whatever direction they prefer. The procedure is simple. First, point one of the students to begin his / her story. After that, the student may point out another student to continue the story. At this stage, the student who is pointed out, has to begin his story by continuing the previous story told by the first student. After certain extent, he or she may direct the story to whatever he or she wants. Then, it is the turn of another student.
Details of the teaching procedure is as shown in the following:

Preparation
None
Time
10-15 minutes
Resources
None
Medium
None
Procedures
1. Have a student to tell his or her own story.
2. The next student should continue the story. (This is in terms of picking up some ideas of the previous story. After that, he or she may lead the story on his or her own).
3. Have the rest of them do the same procedure.

Collaborative story

In writing, we can make students collaborate to produce a “piece” of writing (Battersby, 1995). At this concern, this idea is adapted to the speaking class, particularly in storytelling activities. Students are expected to work together in group or in pair to make up their own story. They may successively present it to the class. Each student within a group, for example, has his or her own part to tell to the class. If this is not possible, they may point a student in their group to tell the stories.
Details of the procedure are as follows:

Preparation
Two or three days
Time
10-15 minutes
Resources
Student’s story
Medium
None
Procedures
1. Form students in group of four or five. (This is to be done two or three days prior to the time of presentation).
2. Instruct each group to create a story of their own.
3. At the presentation, each group presents their story. (Each member of the group will be taking part).
4. Have the class discuss the presented stories. (If possible, each group has the copy of other’s story).



Reflections

The nature of storytelling is that it mainly takes place in the public or in the society, either in the form of festival, sharing stories, or family stories. This idea is brought into classroom environment. The implication is that we do not merely adopt this technique and implement it, but we have to adapt certain characteristics in order to meet the needs of classroom. For example, from theories we find that storytelling is mainly for children. The writer, then, needs to adjust this idea in order that it is also applicable to students of high school, or even college students.
Despite the students’ enthusiasm in doing the telling and the promising response to the activities, we need a more comprehensible study on this subject.

References

Bailey, Kathleen & Savage, Lance. (1994) . New Ways in Teaching Speaking. California: TESOL, Inc.
Baker, Augusta & Greene, Ellin., (1987) Storytelling: Art and Technique (second edition), New York & London: R.R. Browker Company.
Battersby, Alan (1995). Collaborative Writing for Intermediate and Upper-intermediate Learners. Modern English Teacher, 4 (20), 29-52.
Chan, Aline G., (1987). The Art of Storyteller. (http://www.skypoint.com/members/srtobin/document/storytel.html).
Dougall, Carolyn B., (1996). Helping Students Create Their Own Stories. TESOL Journal, 5, (4), p.28.
Hamilton, M & Weiss M. (1990).Children Tell Stories: A Teaching Guide. New York: R.C.Owen Publishers Inc,.
Pellowski, Anne. (1990). The World of Storytelling (Expanded and Revised Edition). New York: Wilson Company.
Shepperd, Tim. (1996). Storytelling: Frequently Asked Questions. (http://www.lilliput.co.uk/faq.html).

INTERNET-BASED WRITING: THE STATE-OF-THE-ART APPROACH TO THE TEACHING OF ESL/EFL WRITING

This essay deals with exploration on the pedagogical approaches to the teaching of writing in English as Second / Foreign Language (hereafter ESL / EFL) based on time settings. It reviews historically some main approaches appearing in journals or books in the field of linguistics and language teaching. Four prominent approaches are discussed; namely: form-dominated approach, writer-focused approach, content-based approach and reader-oriented approach. State of the art of this essay explores the most widely-used among current approaches and the last part predicts what trend might emerge as direction to the future after the state of the art.

Since the dawn of the teaching of ESL/EFL writing, experts have established and developed pedagogical approaches by means of meeting the needs of students. Each approach tries to eliminate factors which may hinder students in their writing process. Commonly, two core circumstances will hinder students when they are dealing with writing. First, students tend to think in two different languages at the same time, so it is understandable when students use inappropriate translations from the first language. Second, they are aware of their weaknesses in the mechanics of writing, so they do the writing more slowly to avoid making mistakes.
Historically, there are four prominent approaches that have existed and have been used simultanously by teachers and researchers. Each has its own advantages and weaknesses. Today, attempts to improve and extend those approaches have vastly taken place.
Form-Dominated Approach
This approach has its roots in Charles Fries’ oral approach, the herald of audio-lingual method of second language teaching (Silva, 1990). It is believed that language is speech and that learning is habit formation, so that writing is viewed as a subordinate interest and merely functions as reinforcement for oral habit. Pincas developed this view by explaining that “the reverence for original dies hard. People find it difficult to accept the fact that the use of language is manipulation of fixed patterns; that these patterns are learned by imitation; and that not until they have been learned can originality occur in the manipulation or patterns or in the choice of variables within patterns” (p.12). Pincas seemed to reject what Erazmus (1960) believed that written exercises should take the form of free composition.
In the context of teaching, writing then takes the form of sentence drills; such as fill-ins, substitutions, transformations and completions. Teachers should provide the content of writing and the purpose of the exercises themselves are to strengthen the accurate application or grammatical rules.
Beside grammatical rules, form-dominated approach also emphasizes on rhetorical form as in Kaplan’s concept of contrastive rhetoric (1966). He presented exercises in recognizing and using topic sentences, examples, and illustrations. These exercises emphasize imitation of essay form, using writing from outline, paragraph completion, identification of topic sentence and supporting ideas, and reordering scrambled paragraphs. Kaplan’s contrastive rhetoric assumed that “each culture has a manner of presenting ideas particular to itself, so that writing teachers should determine paragraph patterns typical of English and teach those patterns to their ESL / EFL students” (p.4). Students, subsequently, imitate the patterns and would be able to transfer these skills to the acceptable academic writing.
Writer-Focused Approach
In the mid-70s, teachers and researchers began to react against form-dominated approach. They tried to see the students on what actually they do when they are writing. This attention led to a “process approach” (Zamel, 1976), the popular name of writer-focused approach. Various methods which characterize this approach were found. In place of “accuracy” and “pattern” occurred “process”, “making meaning”, and “invention”. It is recommended that teachers should not present instruction in the use of thesis sentences and outline before students have begun to explore their own ideas (Zamel, 1983) at this concern, linguistics accuracy seems to be downplayed. Teachers begin to provide students with time and opportunity to draft and revise their ideas. In line with this argument, McDonough (1985) suggested that writing teachers should allow students to set their own writing tasks as to encourage their confidence in order that they can use their English sufficiently to adjust what they know about their chosen subject.
In the classroom environment, process approach is expected to provide a positive and collaborative workshop environment within which students, with sufficient time and minimal intervention, can work through their writing processes. The role of the teachers, then, is to help students develop viable strategies for starting, drafting, revising, and editing their writing (Spack, 1984, Mangelsdorf, 1992).
Spack characterized “starting” as finding or exploring ideas, focusing and planning the structure of writing. In “drafting”, students are allowed to employ multiple drafts instead of single one. “Revising” is anything to do with adding, deleting, or modifying certain parts of the writing, whereas “editing” is mainly concerned with word choice, sentence structure and grammatical accuracy.
Horowitz (1986a) criticized this approach; that the emphasis on writing about personal experience creates particular problems for some ESL / EFL students who are not accustomed to focusing on themselves in their writing. Due to cultural influence, they sometimes feel restless using personal experience or examples to support general statements. When they are forced to do that, they would rather fabricate the experience than talk about themselves. In addition, with its emphasis on multiple drafts, process approach can not help students prepare themselves for the demands of academic essay exam with its restrictive draft.
Tomlinson (1983) suggested an approach that is aimed at increasing learners’ exposure to the authentic writing, dealing with problems which learner s may have with the written discourse they required to participate in outside the English lesson, and getting learners to write effectively. It combines, as he termed it, the concept of “writing to learn” and “learning to write”. This approach tried to reduce the limitations of form-dominated approach and process approach. Tomlinson saw that the combination of exposure to real language and opportunity to use it facilitate essential process of generalization. The teaching procedures provided seem to combine the teaching procedures of the two approaches with some modifications. This enables the learners to communicate in writing from the very beginning of the course despite waiting until they have learned to write.
Although it is disputable, the nature of process approach itself is that the students are the center of attention. They are engaged in the discovery and expression of meaning. There is no particular context for writing implicit in this approach. It is the students’ responsibility to identify and address particular task, situation, and sociocultural setting in which they are involved.
Content-Based Approach
The process approach was then included as “traditional” when Shih (1986) established a content-based approach. Shih claimed that this approach has more effects on the form of curriculum than the two approaches previously described, because the independent ESL / EFL class is often substituted by team-teaching, linked courses, topic-centered modules, sheltered instruction, and composition of English for academic purposes.
Johnston (1985) in her focus of research paper writing skills argued that by giving students an area of knowledge, they will get involved and motivated. They are experts in that area. They then focus on content rather than practicing language structures. They learn necessary vocabulary and structures as they go along. Since they have an instant context for their use of English, language learning takes place at a faster rate. In addition, Johnston offered a proposition that teachers should encourage students to narrow their subject progressively to smaller and smaller aspect of the topic. Teachers should also remind students of what she termed the “mushroom effect”, that is the tendency of subjects to get bigger and bigger while we are studying them.
Reader-Oriented Approach
Not long after content-based approach came English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Science and Technology or English for Special Purposes (ESP). The interest of this approach is that it focuses on the expectation of academic readers (Horowitz, 1986b). It reflects certain realities for ESL /EFL learners where Horowitz gave two reasons at this stage. First, unlike native learners who will need to write for various purposes, many ESL / EFL learners will find very little need to write in English, hence little need to write self-reflective, or self-exploratory essay typical of process approach. Second, the self reflection taught in the process approach functions to socialize the native learners into their own society which nothing to do with ESL /EFL students.
To some cases, EAP or ESP is a result of reactions and criticisms toward the process approach. One of the criticisms is that the process approach does not adequately address some prominent issues in ESL / EFL writing. For example, Reid (1984) claimed that the process approach does not consider variations in writing process due to differences in individuals, writing tasks, and situations. Critics also inquest whether the process approach prepares students for academic works.
According to Horowitz (1986a), the process approach overemphasizes the individual’s existence and fails to consider the sociocultural context. Then, EAP or ESP is proposed to involve a primary focus on academic discourse genres and the range of academic writing tasks, and is aimed at helping students socialize themselves into academic context.
Simply, from the orientation of EAP or ESP, writing is the production of prose that will be acceptable to academic situation. Learning to write is a part of socializing to the academic community. Referring to Silva, “the writer is pragmatic and oriented toward academic success and the reader is a seasoned member of the hosting academic community who has well-developed schemata for academic discourse and has stable views of what is appropriate” (1990:22).
New Modes of Teaching Writing
Nowadays, the four approaches above are still widely used by ESL / EFL teachers, yet it does not mean that they are distinct and reciprocal. Each has its own characteristics. In form-dominated approach, the topic is allocated by teachers. Process approach lets students determine their own topic of writing. In content-based approach topic will be expanded from the subject matter of either particular discipline or particular course, whereas in EAP or ESP, the topic will refer to what other disciplines assign for students.
In recent years, teachers and researchers began to rethink the strengths and weaknesses of those approaches. The central issue of the study is not only around the topics students write about but also around the dichotomy of process and product of writing.
Wong-Kam at al (1995), for example, questioned the process approach to writing. They stated that we need to look back at where we have been to consider why we teach writing, then reflect on the effectiveness of our practices in accomplishing our goals. They attempt to extend the process approach by leading us to writing on more personal level. They want to put the power of the pen back into the hands of the students by “seeing how ‘real’ writers write and try to live ‘writerly’ lives” (p.226). They argued that beside focusing on what the students write about, we have also to consider whether the piece of writing the students produce is worthy for readers.
Similarly, Fennick et al (1993) stated that teachers should teach writing for the real world, or in other words to meet the needs of the workplace writer. The aspects emphasized here are that the writers need to be able to adapt both text products and text-production processes for specific audiences and purposes, and understand their roles in shaping communication and social relationship.
Attempt to extend process approach also came from Koda (1993), in his study on American college students composing in Japanese, suggesting that vocabulary exercises should be incorporated in composition instruction to provide a “linguistic scaffolding for a given task” (p.343).
Downing (1995) proposed a so-called demand writing. Generally, demand writing is any required writing on an assigned topic completed in a fixed time period. Downing exemplifies that students engage in demand writing when answering essay test questions, writing persuasive letters, reporting on field trips, presenting finding from inquiry-based studies, and composing on personal narratives. In a demand writing situation, the writing topic is provided, yet students are required to develop the “piece” themselves. By teaching demand writing, Downing has found that this method “fosters active learning, forces students to take direct responsibility for their academic performance and growth, and allow them to demonstrate what they know” (p.200).
Meanwhile, other researchers like Hillebrand (1994), and Battersby (1995) have experimented collaborative writing as an alternative in teaching writing. Both see collaborative method helps students creatively produce informative, thoughtful and analytical essay. The students work together as a team to produce writing within an organized framework that encourages them to use a wider range of time linkers, attitude words, contrast clauses, set phrases and discourse markers. Types of writing which can be practiced with this method are storytelling or narratives, letter writing, and discursive composition.
Greaney (1997) used summary writing as an in-class activity involves the students in a collaborative exercise in which the teacher plays along with the students. The element of competition, if introduced as a game rather than as a test, stimulates the students to attempt to use their linguistic and analytical abilities to communicate their thoughts and to aim at a clear and precise goal: the one-sentence summary. If a student fails to achieve the goal, it is only a game. Moreover, the process of rewriting can take place many times because each draft is only one sentence long, and two or three revisions can be done in one class period. In this process the study of the paragraph as a discourse unit is approached by focusing on the sentence, the building block of the paragraph, and it is easier to see what is wrong with one sentence than to see what is wrong with a group of sentences. Students must focus on the idea of completeness in the small unit, and this thought process can then be applied to the development and shaping of a good paragraph. Moreover, the sentence is the form which is best suited to writing an outline of an essay. Exercises in outlining can follow this exercise in summarization, and students can move back and forth between these units, as they write a paragraph, then summarize it, and vice versa.
Meanwhile, Jarvis (2002) was still entrapped in process writing. Process writing, as he argued, will assist ESL students, whatever their ability level, improve their writing. Once an ESL student understands the process and trust that the teacher will accept and approve of their invented symbols and spelling, the ability to write improves dramatically. The key to learning to write is feeling confident in our abilities. Many students do not enjoy writing because they feel that if they cannot do it correctly the first time then they will never get it. Learning to write like learning to do many things requires practice and time. All students are capable to becoming excellent writers given enough practice and time. The Process writing method values the talents and growth of individual writers and makes them want to continue writing because they feel good about their abilities.
Internet-Based Writing: The State of the Art
Current advances in computer technology and the rapid pace of change in the communications revolution are affecting the way English Language (EL) teachers treat their students. A new insight is the use of information technology (IT) to develop students' language skills, including writing skill.
In support to the insight, Fox (1998) argued that the internet and its use in ESL classes shows great potential. If we consider carefully the students' needs and tailor an interactive and supportive environment that integrates internet activities such as e-mail and web browsing into the curriculum, students will as a result find English a more important part of their lives and will be more likely to use it in a self motivating life long way.
Belisle (1998) attempted to utilize E-mail to help students in their writing class. She argued that Writing teachers have a lot of work to do to help students improve their writing. Sometimes other time-consuming things like organizing, filing, retrieving and replying to a student's writing can take away important time from teaching. If we are using e-mail in our writing class, the use of a so-called Filtering and Stationary can be a big help and save a lot of time for more important things, like the actual teaching of writing.
In Filtering, messages can be automatically sorted, organized, and replied to depending on certain teacher-defined criteria. For example, suppose a teacher wants to track which students have e-mailed the first draft of the first assignment and which have not. By setting up certain filtering criteria, the software will automatically organize and sort all the incoming (and outgoing) mail related to that assignment into a teacher-defined mailbox. The criteria can be anything. For example, by telling students the e-mail subject of the first assignment should be "Assignment 1, Draft 1", the software will automatically filter all the messages which contain (or is) this subject into the mailbox that the teacher sets up beforehand. The teacher can then scroll up and down this mailbox which lists the names of all the students who have completed that assignment. The list will include no other subject or topic, only that assignment. In addition, a filter will not only put the assignment into an assignment mailbox, but also it can put a copy into a student mailbox. By doing so, a teacher has a mailbox of both the assignment (which is useful for knowing who has finished and who has not) and a mailbox for each student (which is useful for knowing which assignments a particular student has completed).
In Stationary, the teacher is allowed to create predesigned, teacher- authored messages which can be used again and again without having to recreate them. These messages can work with a filter and be automatically sent back to the student as automated replies. A message can be automatically sent, for example, when a particular assignment is received from a student. This response lets the student know that the teacher has successfully received the assignment and will get back to him or her later.
Ho (2000), initiated the use of E-mail exchange to develop students’ writing in an international information technology-based collaborative project, initiated by the British Council, between primary level pupils from two schools in Singapore and Birmingham (UK). She argued that through the electronic exchange of information, the pupils explored different writing tasks for various purposes and types of audience. The pupils' confidence, awareness and understanding of their own and their correspondents' cultures were enhanced in this intercultural and cross-curricular project. The study offered insights into how information technology can be used as a tool not only to develop pupils' confidence, language skills and creativity, but also to develop their sense of awareness of intercultural concerns, and of their being part of a dynamic, international, global community. The project also yielded discernible shifts in teachers' traditional roles and responsibilities, and the part they played in their students' participation as the project developed.
Both Belisle and Ho free their students to choose the topic or the content of writing. This means that they still employ process approach since, as previously mentioned, this approach lets students determine their own topic of writing. Hence, since they use internet in a particular basis for their writing process, Internet-Based Writing is likely to be the suitable name for their state-of-the-art approach.
Future Trend
It is quite difficult to presume what the future trend in writing might be. Few researchers, like Rubin and Bruce (1993), imply that simultaneously with development in technology, presumably teachers and researchers will seek to exploit the technology in improving students’ writing. Example of this is computer for writing in classroom. This idea has been earlier suggested by McLeod (1986) in her study on the utilization of word processing in facilitating the writing process.
Moreover, Belisle (1998) and Ho (2000) used E-mail in developing students’ writing. Both seem to stand on the idea that E-Mail will be a great help for both teachers and students in dealing with writing class. There is no doubt that the challenge provided by the availability of modern information technology provides not only students but also teachers exciting possibilities for innovative classroom challenges in the teaching and learning of writing.
Despite all the predictions of what approach will occur to be the answer for the future direction, there appears a recognition that the heterogeneity of the writing process and the writing context suggests that when we teach writing, we have to balance the four elements: the form, the writer, the content, and the reader. Preferably, approach to the teaching of writing should cover all these.
References
Battersby, Alan. (1995). Collaborative writing for intermediate and upper-intermediate learners. Modern English Teacher, 4 (2), 29-52.

Belisle, Ron. (1998). Let the E-mail Software Do the Work: Time Saving Features for the Writing Teacher. In The Internet TESL Journal. 4(4).

Downing, S. O’Hearn. (1995). Teaching writing for today’s demands. Language Arts, 72, 200-205.

Erazmus, E. (1960). Second language composition teaching at the intermediate level. Language Learning, 10, 25-31.

Fennick, Ruth., et al (1993). Solving problems in twenty-first century academic and workplace writing. English Journal, 82 (3), 46-53.

Fox, Gerald (1998). The Internet: Making it Work in the ESL Classroom. In The Internet TESL Journal. 6(9).

Greaney, George L. (1997). Less Is More: Summary Writing and Sentence Structure in the Advanced ESL Classroom. In The Internet TESL Journal. 3(9).

Hillebrand, Romana P. (1994). Control and Cohesion: Collaborative learning and writing. English Journal, 83 (1), 71-77.

Ho, Caroline Mei Lin. (2000). Developing Intercultural Awareness and Writing Skills through Email Exchange. In The Internet TESL Journal. 6(12).

Horowitz, D. (1986a). Process not product: Less than meet the eye. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 141-144.

___________. (1986b). What professor actually requires: Academic tasks for the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 445-462.
Jarvis, Daniel J. (2002). The Process Writing Method. In The Internet TESL Journal. 3(7).
Johnston, Sue A. (1985). An approach to the teaching of academic writing. ELT Journal, 39 (4), 248-252.

Koda, Keiko. (1993). Task-Induced variability in Foreign Language Composition: Language-specific perspectives. Foreign Language Annals, 26 (3), 332-344.

Kaplan, R. (1996). Cultural thought patterns in intercultural education. Language Learning, 16, 1-20.

McDonough, Steven. (1985). Academic Writing Practice. ELT Journal, 39 (4), 244-247.

Mangelsdorf, Kate. (1992). Peer reviews in the composition classroom. ELT Journal, 46 (3), 274-283.

McLeod, Margaret. (1986). Word Processing and Writing Skills. Teaching English, 20 (1), 16-21.

Reid, J. (1984). The radical outliner and the radical brainstormer: A perspective of composing processes. TESOL Quarterly, 18, 529-533.

Rubin, Andee & Bruce, B.C. (1993). Electronic Quills: A situated evaluation of using computers for writing in classrooms. New Jersey: LEA, Inc.

Shih, M. (1986). Content-based approaches to the teaching of academic writing. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 617-648.

Silva, Tony. (1990). Second language composition instruction: Developments, issues, and directions in ESL. In Kroll, Barbara (ed). Second Language Writing: Research insights for the classroom (pp.11-23). California: CUP.

Spack, R. (1984). Invention strategies and the ESL college composition student. TESOL Quarterly, 18 (4), 649-670.

Tomlinson, Brian. (1983). An approach to the teaching of continuous writing in ESL classes. ELT Journal, 37 (1), 7-15.

Watson, C. (1982). The use and abuse of models in the ESL writing class. TESOL Quarterly, 17, 165-187.

Wong-Kam, J.A., et al. (1995). Extending and Questioning the Process Approach to Writing. Language Arts, 72, 226-232.

Zamel, Vivian. (1976). Teaching composition in the ESL classroom: What we can learn from research in the teaching of English. TESOL Quarterly, 10 (1), 67-76.

_____________. (1983). The composing processes of advanced ESL students: Six case studies. TESOL Quarterly, 17, 165-187.