Students’ comments as a tool for teaching reflection

1. Ahmad Faiz 130221810453
STUDENTS’ COMMENTS AS A TOOL FOR TEACHING REFLECTION
Ahmad Faiz
Universitas Negeri Malang (State University of Malang)
Indonesia
vaiz_daviqi@live.com
English in Indonesia
Language is an important aspect for human being as a tool of
communication. By using a language, someone can express his or her thoughts,
ideas, wishes, desires and emotions and communicate with other people. In
language learning, language is a key to succeed in learning other knowledge.
Nowadays, English has been considered to be an international language
because it is widely spoken over the world. As an international language, English
has important role for non-native English countries such as Indonesia to establish
relationship with other people from different countries. Harmer (2001:1) states
that although English is not the language with the largest number of native or
‘first’ language speakers, it has been considered to be a lingua franca, namely a
language broadly used for communication between two speakers whose native
languages are different
The importance of mastering English is not without a reason. English
speaking countries influence the growth of country’s economy. It means
mastering English is an advantage for some countries to improve their economy.
Realizing the importance of English, the government of Indonesia places
English as crucial subject at Indonesian educational system. English is taught as
one of the compulsory subjects for junior high school and senior high school.
English in Indonesian Education
English is a subject that is taught in Indonesia. It is taught from, perhaps,
pre-school level, elementary level or Sekolah Dasar, up to university level.
Furthermore, it is a compulsory subject for junior and senior high school level.
Thus, every student must learn this language. Students in junior high school level

2. or Sekolah Menengah Pertama learn English for at least three years and students
in senior high school level or Sekolah Menengah Atas also learn this language for
at least three years of their studies. In addition, this also happens not only to
schools under the authority of the Ministry of National Education, i.e. Sekolah
Dasar, Sekolah Menengah Pertama and Sekolah Menengah Atas but also this
happens to schools under the authority of the Ministry of Religion or Kementrian
Agama i.e. Madrasah Ibtidaiyah, Madrasah Tsanawiyah, and Madrasah Aliyah.
They also learn this language along with Arabic in their madrasah or schools. In
sum, English has a critical position in Indonesian education.
For students, English has a particular position among other subjects. For
instance, for students in junior high school level, English is a “special” subject
besides Mathematics and Bahasa Indonesia. Those three subjects are subjects that
determine the graduation of the students. National examination or Ujian Nasional
requires students to pass English along with Mathematics and Bahasa Indonesia.
As we all know and perhaps feel, national examination is a supreme examination
that determines students whether they graduate from certain level of education or
not. Therefore, they have to be well-prepared in those subjects. Particularly for
English, students have to learn it whether they like it or not. It is obviously clear,
if a student likes English, he or she will have an intrinsic motivation that enables
him or her to gain success in that subject (Brown, 2007:68). However, a problem
will happen if a student does not like English. He or she will not have any
intrinsic motivation in learning English. Hence, his or her chance of gaining
success in English is low. Schools have to deal with this kind of problem in order
to equip their students with, at least, adequate English skill to face the national
examination.
Some schools have been conducting several English programs. The
mushrooming programs, commonly, in the form of English study clubs. The
English study club tends to be a part of extra lessons or kegiatan ekstra kulikuler
which supports the English subject that is taught regularly. The intention is to
improve the students’ capabilities in using English. One of the schools that
conduct the English study club is Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP) Negeri 4

3. Jember. This chapter reviews my own teaching practices in the first semester of
the 2011/2012 academic year in that school.
English Communication Activities in SMPN 4 Jember
SMP Negeri 4 Jember have been conducting English study club for three
years. It is first started in the 2010/2011 academic year. Then, this English study
clubs renamed ECA SMPN 4 Jember which stands for English Communication
Activity in the 2011/2012 academic year. ECA invites university students whom
has taken practice teaching or micro teaching course to teach the students.
Perhaps, the intent was to bring teachers that is “fresh from the oven” with latest
methods and techniques to teach English for students. I applied for the position for
“part-time” teachers in ECA. I think that this is a good chance for me to apply
what I have got from micro teaching course and practice teaching that I have
taken in the previous semester. After taking certain tests, I was qualified to
participate in that program.
ECA is conducted every Saturday on third up to fourth period i.e. it was
from 7.40 a.m. to 8.20 a.m. One teacher was responsible for one classroom. One
classroom approximately consisted of 30-35 students. So, a teacher had to handle
at least 30 students. Before we came to the class, the principal always gathered the
ECA’s teachers and gave certain instructions. She said that students needed to be
motivated so they could learn English easily. She emphasized to teach students in
a fun way. So, the students would have meaningful learning. This is in line with
Brown (2007:104). After that, the teacher came to the class. In the class, the
teachers delivered the same topic. After dismissing the class, all the ECA’s
teachers would have a meeting to discuss the problems or difficulties they had
found during teaching. The problems would be an issue for teachers’ discussion to
make the next meeting better later on.
Usually, before Saturday, the ECA’s teachers assemble to hold a meeting
to decide and discuss what topic which will be delivered to students. The topic is
chosen based on the curriculum. The topic should be relevant with the curriculum
since ECA itself is intended to support the English subject that is learned by the
students. Then, the teachers discuss the techniques or strategies that will be used

4. in delivering the topic. Techniques and strategies are vital in teaching (Orlich et
al., 2010:4-5). I preferred to use games in teaching the students. My
considerations were the students in junior high school level loved games. Lewis
(in Mei and Jung, 2010) says that through games the students are attracted to learn
English, because it is fun and makes them want to have experiment, discover, and
interact with their environment. Moreover, they would be more motivated if they
taught by using games. As Wright et al. (1996:1) say that games not only can
encourage and help students to sustain their interest and work but also they can
help the teacher to create context in which language can be meaningful and useful.
I was assigned to teach students in class VII D. Class VII D had 32
students. According to the homeroom teacher, the students were varied in level of
English proficiency. The students, as I felt that time, were very talkative. During
my teaching in ECA, I experienced, or if I can say, I underwent many things. I felt
that teaching young learners needed a special strategies. We need special
approach to conquer them. I realized that teaching junior high school level was
different from teaching senior high school level which I had in the preceding
semester of my PPL or practice teaching. Teaching children, particularly for grade
seven, I had to win their attention, so I could teach them easily. Thus, as I
presumed earlier, involving games in learning was a good thing to do. By
involving games in teaching, students felt more motivated. Wright et al. (2006:2)
says that games help encourage students sustain their work. Furthermore, I, the
teacher, could have their attention. Therefore, I could deliver the materials in a fun
way.
Before the first semester of 2011/2012 was over, I asked my students in
VII D to give me feedback to my teaching. I asked them to write anything dealing
with my teaching for one semester in that class. It could be in the forms of critics,
suggestions, or hopes. I told them that I welcomed to any opinions about the way I
taught them. However, students’ comments would be different in terms of
reliability and validity from lecturers’ comments. I could not really rely on those
comments from students because the students are not the experts who can give
accurate and reliable as well as valid comments but I could not ignore them as
well. Furthermore, their values were worth to consider. In fact, students constitute

5. one element in the wholesale teaching-learning processes in the class with and
from whom teachers also concurrently learn (Basthomi, 2012:141). To my
teaching practices at SMPN 4 Jember two years ago, I received 32 comments
from my 32 students. I grouped the comments into three categories. They are
positive comments, negative comments, and no comments. I used the term
positive comments for the comments saying that my way of teaching was fine and
the way I presented materials was good. In short, the positive comments showed
the affirmative ones. While, vice versa, the term negative comments saying that
my may of teaching was poor and the way I presented the materials was inferior.
The no comments were comments that had nothing to do with the way I taught
students or the way I presented the materials. I created the third categories
because I found some, if I can say, irrelevant comments. For instance, one
comment asked me whether I got married or not.
More than half of the comments were positive ones. Here are the instances
of the positive comments received from the students of VII D SMPN 4 Jember;
(1) Pak, permainannya seru. Saya lebih senang belajar Inggris sambil
bermain. …. [Sir, the games were interesting. I prefer learning English
through playing games. ….]
(2) Sir, dramanya lucu. Kami jarang bermain drama seperti ini. …. [Sir, the
drama (material) was humorous. We hardly had the drama like this. ….]
(3) …. Ternyata bahasa Inggris tuh gag njelimet ya Pak. […. In fact, English
was not complicated Sir.]
Those comments indicated that students were satisfied with my way of teaching
and/or the way I presented the materials. The first and second comments above
imply that the students liked learning English through playing games. In line with
this, Celce-Murcia and Macintosh (in Alemi, 2010) state that game is a fun
activity and everyone will agree if teaching learning process can be fun, the
students will learn more. Therefore, by applying games that provide fun and
enjoyment, students can be more interested in learning and they can feel relax and
learn a lot during teaching learning process without realizing that they are
studying at the same time while they are playing. Thus, the third comment
emerges saying that English was not completed anymore. It is due to the students

6. could feel relax during teaching and learning activities. If the student were under
pressure, they would feel everything is hard and complex. As a result, they will
learn nothing.
The instances of negative comments are shown below. There are eight
negative comments, but I only present three of them.
(1) Pak, tolong lebih perhatiin murid yang bandel. Mereka suka mengganggu
konsentrasi kami yang mendengarkan Bapak. [Sir, please give attention
more to the mischievous students. They like to disturb us in listening your
explanation.]
(2) Mister, kalo memberi penjelasan, dalam bahasa Indonesia dong, jangan
bahasa daerah. …. [Sir, if you want to explain something, please do it in
Bahasa Indonesia. Don’t do it in the local language (Javanese or
Madurese). ….]
(3) Sir, kalo mau nunjuk siswa, jangan yg kenal-kenal aja. Semua mesti
ditunjuk. …. [Sir, if you want to appoint someone (for a task or game)
please don’t do it to the students you are familiar with. Every student has
to be involved. ….]
The comments above indicate that the students, at least eight of thirty two students
felt that I my teaching was not satisfied for them. The first comment shows that I
have to deal with mischievous students. Perhaps, the student of the first comment
felt that I ignored the “bad” students. Actually, I gave more focus to active
students which were dominant in the class. The second comment shows that I
occasionally used Javanese and Madurese in explaining something. Maybe, this is
my problem. I prefer to explain something in a language that I perfectly mastered.
Unfortunately, the language is not Bahasa Indonesia. The third comment also
points one of my weaknesses. As a teacher, I feel more comfortable with the
students I familiar with. I feel uneasy if I have to ask the students that I do not
know very well.
I think it is not necessary to list the neutral comments. Even though the
neutral comments are eight comments just as same as the negative ones. The
neutral comments contain comments that have nothing to do with the way I teach
or the way I present the material. The comments were, for instances, asking

7. whether I got married or not. I just simply categorized the neutral comments as
neutral students. I assumed that they are in “grey area”, the area between positive
and negative.
As a teacher, we have to do reflection to our teaching. One of the
methods that can be used is asking the students to give feedback of the way we
teach them. Teachers should not be trapped in feeling the uneasiness or become
too big headed upon reading students’ negative or positive comments respectively.
But, what we need to do as teachers is to critically see and how the comments
come (Basthomi, 2012:141). Students’ comments can be a way to do reflection to
our teaching for thorough evaluation of the overall success or failure of the
administration of the class.
Conclusion
Nowadays, English has been considered to be an international language
because it is widely spoken over the earth. As an international language, English
has important role for non-native English countries such as Indonesia. Realizing
the importance of English, the government of Indonesia places English as crucial
subject at Indonesian educational system. English is taught as one of the
compulsory subjects for junior high school and senior high school. Furthermore,
English is one of the subjects that has to be taken in national examination. As
teachers of this language, we have to be professional. We have to bring the
students to success, if I can say, success to conquer English. As the consumers of
our teaching practices, students are vital aspects. They are the object of our
teaching. We have to know what they feel, what they experience, what they want,
and what they need. Asking students to give feedback to our teaching practices is
a good way to know what they feel, what they experience, what they want, and
what they need.

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untuk Transformasi. Malang: Bintang Sejahtera
Brown, H. D. 2007. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman
Harmer, J. 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman
Mei, Y. Y. and Jung Y. J. 2003. Using Games in EFL Classes for Children.
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[October, 23rd 2013].
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