The implementation of teaching vocabulary to a student with high-functioning autism at an inclusive school (A Case Study of the First Grade at Al – Firdaus Elementary School of Surakarta in the Academic Year of 2012/2013)

Oleh :
Fitriatul Masitoh - S891202019 - Sekolah Pascasarjana

The objectives of this research are: (1) to explore the implementation of teaching vocabulary to a student with high-functioning autism, student A, in the first grade at Al – Firdaus elementary school of Surakarta in the academic year of 2012/2013; (2) to find out difficulties faced by the English teacher in teaching vocabulary to the student A; and (3) to find out solutions for difficulties faced by the English teacher in teaching vocabulary to the student A. The research was conducted at Al – Firdaus elementary school of Surakarta located at Jl. Yosodipuro 56 Banjarsari in April-June, 2013. The method used for the research was case study as one of qualitative researches. The subject of the research was the English teacher of 1B where the student A joins the class as the key person who taught vocabulary as part of English class to this autistic student and also her peers. The data of this research were collected through non-participant observation, semi-structured interview, and documents analysis. The data of this research were analyzed through data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The findings of the research revealed three major points consisting of (1) the description of the implementation of teaching vocabulary to the student A in the first grade at Al – Firdaus elementary school of Surakarta in the academic year of 2012/2013 involving: (a) teaching documents; (b) five components in the process of teaching vocabulary to the student A; and (c) the supporting components of teaching vocabulary to the student A; (2) the difficulties faced by the English teacher in teaching vocabulary to the student A related to: (a) the general characteristics of autism; (b) inclusive environment itself; and (c) phonological problems and cognitive impairment of the student A; and (3) the solutions accomplished by the English teacher to overcome the difficulties are through: (a) appealing teaching strategies (b) fair attention between the student A and her peers; (c) cooperation with special guidance teacher; (d) drilling ;(e) pictures; and (f) utilizing white board. To sum up, the English teachers who teach the students with autism are supposed to: (1) employ more pictures because they are effective to teach meaning of words to the autistic students; (2) apply read-aloud event since it can improve the autistic students‘ pronunciation; (3) utilize a white board to facilitate teaching spelling of words to the autistic students; and (4) provide more examples of words uses in sentences to teach words uses. Key Words: vocabulary, a student with high-functioning autism, inclusive school