THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING (CTL) IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH ( A Qualitative Study at SMK Negeri 6 Surakarta in 2009/2010 Academic Year)

Oleh :
Muharomah Dewi Fatmawati - K2205015 - Fak. KIP

The objectives of the study are: (1) describing the teachers’ perception of CTL as a method in teaching and learning English as a foreign language; (2) describing the implementation of CTL in the process of teaching and learning English at SMK Negeri 6 Surakarta; (3) describing the difficulties faced by the teachers in implementing CTL in the process of teaching and learning English at SMK Negeri 6 Surakarta; and (4) describing how the teachers of SMK Negeri 6 Surakarta overcome the difficulties in implementing CTL in the process of teaching English. The research uses descriptive qualitative method. The research was conducted in SMK Negeri 6 Surakarta. The sources of the data cover events, informants, and written documents. The data are collected through naturalistic observation, interview, and document analysis. In analyzing the data, the researcher uses interactive model analysis including data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification. The results of the research are: (1) English teachers of SMK Negeri 6 Surakarta perceive that CTL is a teaching and learning approach in which the materials are closely related to the students’ real life and the students are the subject of learning; (2) CTL has been implemented well in the teaching and learning process of English at SMK Negeri 6 Surakarta. It is viewed from the six dimensions: the objectives, the model of syllabus, the teaching strategies and procedures, the teaching materials, and the teachers’ roles are relevant to those which are recommended by CTL, but the students’ roles do not represent those suggested by the approach; (3) the difficulties faced in implementing CTL are the teachers’ difficulties in managing the time, the students’ lack of competence in language skills, and the students’ differences in following the teaching and learning process; (4) to overcome the difficulties faced, the teachers constantly try to adjust the teaching pattern and enrich the knowledge and teaching competence. In conclusion, CTL has been implemented well in the teaching and learning process of English at SMK Negeri 6 Surakarta. The researcher has some suggestions, namely: (1) the teachers should manage the teaching and learning time well, maximize the use of teaching and learning media, and hold the teaching and learning activities outside the class; (2) the students should be more active in fulfilling their roles to be self-regulated learners; (3) the institution should try harder to socialize CTL, facilitate various teaching and learning media, and hold regular meeting with the English teachers, so that the teaching and learning process run more effectively and efficiently.