Students of non-English Department Study English because they have to, because it is part of the Faculty curriculum. It means that their reasons for studying English is different with those who are studying in English Department. They learn English because they like it.
People who involve in language teaching experience that student who really wants to learn will succeed what ever the sircumstances are under which he studies, no matter what the unfavourable situation might be. In other words this kind of students do significantly better then the student from non-English Department, because they have strong motivation. As we know motivation is some kind of internal drive that encourages somebody to pursue acourse of action. In our case the students are clearly included in the less motivated learners. Their goals is a short-term goals that is only to pass an end-of –term or end-of-semester exam or just complete a unit succesfully. For this type of student short-term goals will be the only motivation he has.
Another classical condition of English teaching is the fact the status of English it self. We all know too well that English in non-English Department is only one of the MKDU with time-allotment one semester and the class is always over crowded (very large). Up to now that situation is changeless even become worse. Therefore, the outcome of the teaching is obvious still, very unsatisfactory. In general this is also the quality of education in Indonesia. One of the undeniable fact now Indonesia is in running-number of 12th among the 12 countries in Asia. One of the reasons according to Mendiknas Malik Fajar (Ki Supriyoko, Kompas 2002): “PT akhir-akhir ini mirip toko klontomg. PT kita kian mengecil dan berkeping-keping dengan telah membuka sekaligus menawarkan aneka program studi jangka pendek dan program ekstensi”. Lebih lanjut Ki Supriyoko mengatakan bahwa penyelenggaraan program “klontong” itu sah-sah saja, namun hal itu dapat dan telah menurunkan krdeibilitas lembaga PT itu sendiri, apalagi bila dilaksanakan secara tidak profesional. As the members of this academic society what is our attitude towards this problem ?.
Logical Paradigma : TQM (Total Quality Management)
Through countries language education has experienced a great number of approaches and methods, like Eclectic Method, Communicative Approach, Direct Method, Natural Approach and so on. So it is useless to talk about them because to day English teachers have known a lot more than before. Besides various text books are also available in the book stores and libraries. But, how is it all of us are still doubful of the students success in learning English ? There are a number of factors that success of failure in language instruction. One of them is most of us tend to neglect (or forget) to inserting the word quality in our memory. The cause is fatal because very few of us implement it in our week.
What is TQM ? (TQM) – Total Quality Control.
Quality improvement (Total Quality Management) is a customer-focused, quality centered, fact based team driven, senior management-led process to achieve an organization’s strategic imperative through continous process improvement (Elaine Blech, 1994)
To day the issue of quality particularly in the world of education is crucial to be discusses. The reason as already mentioned earlier the output of education in Indonesia is very bad. Most of them have low quality, very uncompetitive both in skills and expertise. In accordance with the idea of TQM we should then focus our attention on several strategies to help our customer :
a) The quality of physical condition
What happens in the classroom will have an important effect on students. Classroom that is badly lit and over crowded can be excessively de-motivating. Also the condition of the blackboard is it easely visible ? Is the surface in good condition ? In short, teachers should try to make their classroom as pleasant as possible conversely, try to improve the quality of the classroom.
b) The quality of method.
I said earlier that a really motivated student will probably succeed what ever method is used. But for students who do not have this motivation can be strongly affected by the method used. If they find it deadly boring they will become de-motivated. Unfortunately most of us have this kind of students. Students who only wish to pass an end-of term or end-of semester exam. Therefore, the method should be carefully considered. Not about the method itself but on how the teacher uses it, because all methods are good. It depends on how the teacher brings it into lively, unboring technique. This is an attempt to help the students having confidence in the method, because if they don’t have then they will probably become demotivated. So, the student’s confidence in the method is largely in the hands of the most important factor affecting intrinsic motivation, the teacher.
c) The teacher (lecturer)
As it is mentioned earlier that the students we have are the types of students with non long-term goals. This state of art is very crucial to be recognized by the teacher. The teacher has a responsibility to point this fact out and to show students what they will achieve by giving them realistic short-term goals within the learning process, including the ESP material. If the teacher believe in the quality control this kind of process must be done, besides the following classical idea teacher :
- Teacher has to make his/her classes interesting.
- Teacher must be fair, treat his/her students equality and as far as possible understand and act on the worries and aspirations of his/ hers students.
- Teacher must offer a good model as the target language user.
- Teacher must set a good example of conduct, appearance and discipline (=irregular attendance), etc.
All of these suggestion are in accordance with the philosophy of TQC (TQM) that is customer focused (learners), quality-centered, fact based team driven and led process to achieve an organization strategic imperative through continous process improvement (success).
d). Success
It is the job of the teacher (and the institution) to set goals and tasks at which most of her/his students can be successful-or at least he/she realistically expect what the students to be able to achieve. To give students enrealistic activities (material) where this is not appropriate with the state of art may have negative effect on motivation. So, to achieve success if you teach Faculty of law for example, it will be very unrealistic to give material about technique. What teacher must do is to select ESP about law and adjust it with the time-allotment, this involves the types of tasks set, the speed expected from the students, etc.
Conclusion :
Those obviously will never work without direct involment from the man behind the gun-the teacher. Teachers are the main actors to lead his/her class succefull. Thefore they are required to have high commitment for quality oriented and work hard (We also expect the same commitment from the institution). If not the output of PTN/PTS will never improve. Dr. Ali Nina Liche Seniati from UI also said the same thing : “Manajemen UI harus bekerja keras untuk mempertahankan dosen-dosennya agar tetap di kampus dan memiliki kepedualian pada kemajuan UI. Ini penting karena saat ini komitmen dosen-dosen UI pada universitasnya tidak dapat diandalkan” (Kompas, 22 Agustus 2002). This is the situatin of PTN in general. Most of us are only “trait-kindness lecturer” lecturers who are lecture-oriented, behave nicely but “cuek-bebek”. It needs more than that if quality become the philosophy in our work. Let us consider what Dr. Ali Ninan had said for the sake of our younger generation.
Purwokerto, 10 Maret 2003
Hj. Noenik Supatrini
PS. S-1 Bahasa dan Sastra
Universitas Jendral Soedirman
Purwokerto