An Experimental Study of Teaching English to Year One Elementary School Students through

 Actions and Functions in the Elementary School Number 20

 

Rusdi

This article presents the results of a study experimenting the teaching of English to Year one Elementary School students through actions and functions. The aims of the study are to identify the effectiveness of the method in enabling the students communicating in English. The basic principle of the method has adopted the way children acquire their first language. The experiment was conducted at the Elementary School Number 20, Sukarami, Solok regency, West Sumatra. The sample of the study was the first year Elementary school students. The experiment lasted one year. The students learned English everyday for one class-contact hour. The number of students in the class was limited to 20. The materials were self-­developed. The teaching only ends until 90 % of the students are able to use the new materials. The teacher was asked to use English all the time. The results of the study showed that nearly all students were able to communicate in English and acquired around 300 English vocabularies. Positive responses of the study come from teachers and the Bupati (Head of Regency). Satisfied with the results of the experiment, the Bupati has decided to encourage the teaching of English using the method in some 20 new elementary schools spreading in the regency commencing in January 2004. 

 

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Rusdi. (2004, February). An experimental study of teaching English to year one elementary school students through actions and functions in the elementary school number 20. Paper presented at the national conference on Teaching English to Young Learners: Why and How, Bandung, Indonesia.

 
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