CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter is a general outlines of what this research deals with. It

describes the background, the problem statement, the objective of the

research, the significant of the research and the scope of the research.

A. Background

Learning English at the early age has become a trend in Indonesia, in

response to this matter, government enrolled the regulation No. 20 year 2003

about National Education System. In this regulation, English is included in

curriculum for elementary level as one of local content subject from grade

four up to six. But the fact shows that many schools which start teaching

English from grade one, moreover it is held in kindergarten, therefore related

to this contradictive reality it believes that according to School-based

curriculum, it will give more opportunity not only for teacher but also for

school to develop the potentials, therefore if English is a necessary for school

to develop, and it will grow student’s potential and teacher’s development

also it gives effective environment to grow then the school is able to conduct

the lesson.
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Formally, English is studied from Junior high school till university. In

Indonesia, English subject especially in junior high school has already

become as a compulsory subject and it is one of the requirements to pass to

national exam. Therefore, students are expected to master English. However

in reality most students are not able to master English. This can be proven by

the average of students’ grades are categorized low. Besides that through the

writer’s experience when teaching in the classroom, she still finds that the

students are still incapable to use English well whether in oral or in written.

For instance, the students’ reading ability still become a problem, their

understanding in comprehending the reading text is low. In listening, they

cannot understand what the speaker said; in writing they still have some

mistakes in using grammar and in organizing the idea. In speaking, they have

difficulty in pronouncing the words and they cannot express what they want to

utterance.

There are so many factors that can affect the low of level the students’

ability in English. Externally, the factors that can influence the English

students’ ability are environment, parent, teacher, method, media etc.

Internally, the factors that can affect English ability are interest, attitude,

intelligence, personality, and learning style including motivation. Motivation is

one of the factors that are regarded as factors that can cause the low level of

student ability.
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The term of motivation as used in school applies to learning situations

where the teacher is attempting to create in a students’ desire or drive for

attaining specific objectives. Two educational psychologists, Gilhotra and

Callender said that many factors the obvious importance in determining the

success of a second language learner, and one of the factor is motivation.

In teaching learning process, motivation is the important factor, because

motivation can make the students interest to the lesson. For students who

have a high motivation, they will have energy to learn. Therefore, the students

who have a high intelligence are not being granted to be successful in

learning process. Motivation can be function as a drive to achieve the goal.

Someone act something because she/he has a drive to achieve the actor’s

goal.

In the context of Indonesia, there are some issues related to motivation;

students are not motivated to do reading, it happened when the teacher

delivers the reading material with the same textbook or they don’t used to

read English passage. Students also feel bored with the text when they find

many unfamiliar words, thus he/she can’t comprehend the text well. These

problems happen because either the words are too difficult, lack of

vocabulary mastery, or the reading materials which are not appropriate with

the students. Without appropriate reading texts that suit them and lack of

vocabulary mastery, students will spend more hours in the classroom with

poor achievement.
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Choosing the material becomes the important elements because the

materials are the center of instruction for the teachers and students in

classroom besides syllabus and methodology. Since the development of

technology and information, English material can be developed by teachers

who have their own right to select different materials which they consider

appropriate for the students. Therefore, teacher is expected to be more

creative to make his/her students become enthusiastic in learning English.

In selecting learning materials for students, teacher can find different

materials to improve the students’ English skills, because there is a wide

variety of learning materials, one of them is using authentic materials that are

related to the students’ real life. Some examples of authentic materials are

newspapers, advertisements, magazines, journals, brochures, TV programs,

songs, movies, comics, catalogues, internet, menus, etc.

Authentic materials are those materials which are designed for native

speakers; they are real texts, and designed not for pedagogical purposes.

Authentic materials are intrinsically more interesting or stimulating than non

authentic materials. They are interesting because they present relevant,

current and varied information that are happening and most of them are

familiar with the students. According to Dumitrescu, when authentic materials

are selected and implemented, it can be used to develop language skills of

the students since the language covers the four language skills (listening,

speaking, reading and writing). In addition, Melvin and Stout stated that
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“students who work with authentic materials have an interest in the language

that is based on what they know it can do for them. Students who were

previously unwilling to master the forms of the language come to realize the

benefits of further language acquisition.

Regarding the explanation above, this study is intended to discuss about

”The Use an Authentic EFL Learning Material to Enhance Students

Motivation to Study English”.

B. The Problem Statement

Based on the background above, the writer formulates the research

questions as follow:

1. How is the use of an authentic EFL learning material to enhance

student’s motivation to study English?

2. How does an authentic EFL learning material enhance students’

motivation to study English?

C. The Objective of the Research

In the accordance with the problem statements above, the objectives of

research are:

1. To know the use of an authentic EFL learning material to enhance

student’s motivation to study English.

2. To find out an authentic EFL learning material enhance students’

motivation to study English.

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D. The Significance of the Research

The results of the research are generally expected to be:

1. The student

As an input for the students to increase motivation in study English.

2. The teacher:

This skripsi is used to improve the student motivation

3. Principal

To make a policy in order to increase a student motivation in learning

English.

4. The Scope of the Research

From the identifications of the problems above, the limitation of the

study is focused on the use authentic EFL learning material to enhance

student’s motivation to study English.