ABSTRACT
This study investigates the implementation of Genre-Based Approach (GBA) in the teaching of English at SMA Negeri 1 Wonogiri in the 2011/2012 academic year. It is aimed at (1) describing how GBA is implemented in the teaching of English at SMA Negeri 1 Wonogiri, (2) pointing out challenges in implementing GBA and (3) identifying to what extent GBA contributes to the quality of teaching and learning process.
The study employed qualitative method in the form of naturalistic inquiry. Classroom observations, in-depth interviews, and documents analysis were deployed to collect the information related to the genre-based teaching and learning activities in the eleventh grade of SMA N 1 Wonogiri. The data were then analyzed using Miles and Huberman?s Interactive Model, which includes data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing or verifying.
The findings of this study suggest that the implementation of GBA in the teaching of English in the eleventh grade of SMA N 1 Wonogiri is relevant with the curriculum recommendation, albeit still partial in some respects. A number of challenges remained during the implementation, i.e., learners? vocabulary gap, learners? lack of grammatical competence, the „irrelevancy? between the final examination and the learning process, and the higher demand on teacher; all of which in some ways affected teacher?s adoption of GBA. The study further indicates that GBA could help developing learners? productive skills; nevertheless, insufficient scaffolding during the learning process resulted in learners? skills which are superficial rather than communicative in nature. Insufficient scaffolding was arguably related to the inappropriate activities employed in the joint construction stage, the partial application of the Curriculum Cycle, and the absence of integrated grammar teaching during the English lesson. Contextual factors such as the lack of planning in implementing GBA and inadequate trainings teacher received to implement this approach were of major contribution to such a phenomenon.
Finally, there is a call for supports from any related stakeholders, including the school, the MGMP, teacher training programs, and the curriculum designers and/or policy makers, so that the implementation of GBA would be at its best in the long run. Further research is recommended, particularly on how grammar could be taught integrated through GBA in Indonesian EFL context.
Keywords: genre-based approach, scaffolding, quality of teaching and learning, naturalistic inquiry
