Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,

Malang, Indonesia.

Integrating Local Content into Material Development in Developing

Autonomous and Joyful EFL Instructional Materials

Konder Manurung, Joke Kawatu, Wahyudin

Tadulako University, Palu, Indonesia

Abstract: The study aims at motivating teachers of English to integrate local

content into material development in developing autonomous and joyful EFL
learning materials. The teaching materials were developed by integrating local
values into the topics stated in the school-based curriculum employed by the
junior high schools. The teaching materials were developed in the form of
modules that could be studied individually or in a group. The study employed a
developmental research design involving three junior high schools of different
districts in Central Sulawesi as the subject. The data were collected through
observation, interview, questionnaire, and test. The results revealed that the
English teachers at the three schools were motivated to create local content based
materials to supplement the core teaching materials from the textbook and to
provide their students with opportunities to study autonomously. The students
were motivated to study English autonomously by using the locally-based created
materials. The ability of the students to talk about their local environment in
English is improved.

Keywords: Local content, material development, autonomous and joyful EFL

Instructional materials, learning achievement

English achievement of students in the national examination (UN) has

become an issue in Indonesian educational system in the last five years. Quite a

few students failed the examination both at junior and senior high schools. Many

schools and English teachers have been blamed regarding the failure of their

students. English instructional atmosphere is questioned and the teacher creativity

in the instructional materials development is challenged.

There are some factors that might have influenced the failure of the

students at UN. A large number of the students in a classroom has limited

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

interaction during the instructional process. It is found that the class is so big that

there is not enough time to interact with students and teachers. The instructional

materials are mostly based on the created materials which, in general, do not

facilitate the implementation of student-centered teaching. More importantly, need

analysis is not conducted to look for the possibility to create and develop

authentic learning materials to meet needs of learners. Consequently, the

instructional process is not joyful, and motivation to learn English is discouraged.

In fact, it is believed that appropriate teaching materials can advantage both

teachers and learners (Crawford, 2002).

The school-based curriculum is now being implemented at schools but the

teaching materials have not been developed and applied according to the

curriculum. The instructional materials at schools, in general, are based on the

textbook. Most teachers use the commercially created materials as the only source

of teaching materials and these sort of teaching materials are not contextual. This

is contradictory to what was suggested by Crawford (2002) that the teaching

materials must contextualize the language they present. This viewpoint is in line

with the rationale for why school-based curriculum is implemented; curriculum

development is an integral part of teachers' professional identity; and the view that

school-based curriculum enables schools to be responsive to their students' and

communities’ educational needs and interests (Bolstad, 2009). Furthermore

(Richards, 2001) argues that authentic materials are preferred over created

materials because they contain authentic language and reflect real-world uses of

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

language. This viewpoint indicates that the authentic teaching materials can effect

on learner motivation because they are more interesting than the created materials.

The implementation of school-based curriculum requires EFL teacher to

develop effective and joyful teaching materials. Crawford suggests that effective

teaching materials reflect the following statement;

Language is functional and must be contextualized, Language

development requires learner engagement in purposeful use of language,
the language used should be realistic and authentic, classroom materials
will usually seek to include an audio visual component, in our modern,
technologically complex world, second language learners need to develop
the ability to deal with written as well as spoken genres, effective teaching
materials foster learner autonomy, materials need to be flexible enough to
cater to individual and contextual differences, and learning needs to
engage learners both affectively and cognitively (Crawford, 2002:84).

The naissance of Undang-Undang Guru dan Dosen (2003) emerges the

creation and the development of innovative, contextual, and joyful teaching.

Innovative teaching requires creative teachers to create and develop instructional

materials that suit needs of the learners. Contextual teaching challenges teachers

to bring the teaching materials closer to the real world where learners interact.

Teachers are expected to create authentic materials where local content is

integrated into the materials development. Joyful teaching obliges teachers to

develop attractive instructional materials and to conduct comfortable instructional

atmosphere both during the classroom interaction and the out of classroom

activities. Joyful teaching also requires teachers to develop instructional materials

that can be accessed autonomously since not all learners have the same learning

styles and learning strategies (Griffith and Par, 2001). More importantly, Murcia

(1995) suggested the importance of keeping a balance between the in-classroom

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

and out of classroom activities in the instructional process. However, not many

English teachers realize the differences, particularly in learning strategies, among

learners during the instructional process (Manurung, 2006), consequently, some

learners, those who are less successful, were left behind.

Autonomous language learning mode has been widely accepted in the

EFL/ESL teaching. The autonomous learning mode and the development and

creation of learning materials which can be accessed individually are believed to

be able to cater for the problems of the less successful language learners

(Manurung, 2007). In order to be able to cope with the problems of the less

successful language learners and to foster learning autonomy, the developed

materials should at least have the following criteria; the module is easy to learn,

the presentation of the content of the module is attractive, the module attracts

active learning motivation, the content of the module is not too long, and the

module provides answer keys to the exercises (Haryono, 2004).

In addition, Horsono (2007) suggests that materials should require and

facilitate learner self-investment. Materials that enable the learners to be interested

in them, that can draw their attention, and that can attract them to learn the

materials will facilitate them to learn the materials by themselves. It implies that

the provision of this autonomous learning material allows those who are less

successful in the face-to-face learning activities to study individually the taught

materials at their own pace. This learning mode provides opportunities for

learners to repeat the complex materials in their available time both at school or at

home.

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

METHOD

As the main objective of the research is to develop autonomous and joyful

EFL learning materials in a module form, the research employed developmental

research design. The module development procedure was based on Carey and

Dick (1990), while the module content writing was based on the criteria proposed

by Haryono (2004). The steps of the module development procedure include; 1)

Identifying and analyzing the objective of the teaching of English stated in the

KTSP employed at the junior high school. In this step, the standard and basic

competencies stated in the curriculum were identified and analyzed to guide the

researcher to collect authentic local materials; 2) developing and selecting

instructional materials. The collected instructional local materials were developed

and sequenced based on the basic competencies; 3) writing module draft; 4)

reviewing and proofreading. Two experts in EFL were invited to proofread and

review the draft. English teachers from the sample schools and lecturers from

English department of Tadulako University were also invited to review the

module, and 5) try out. The revised modules were implemented in grade-eight.

The implementation of the modules is meant to try out the developed modules; 6)

revising the module.

The subject of the study was the year-eight of junior high school in Central

Sulawesi. Three junior high schools in different districts in Central Sulawesi were

chosen to try out the developed module. The instruments used were observation

sheet, questionnaire, interview, and test.

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

FINDINGS

This section reports the findings of the research. The findings are divided

into; 1) The module; 2) the response of the teachers to the development of EFL

autonomous and joyful teaching materials; 3) the contribution of the EFL

autonomous and joyful teaching materials to the textbook used as the main

teaching materials, and 4) response of the students on the contribution of the EFL

autonomous and joyful teaching materials to their ability in telling about their

local related topics.

The Module. The application of the school-based curriculum requires the

teacher to be creative. One of the creativities can be actualized in their willingness

and their ability to develop autonomous and joyful teaching materials to

supplement the employed textbook. The autonomous and joyful learning materials

can be developed in form of a module. The developed modules in this study are

classified as autonomous and joyful because of the following; the language used,

the form, the materials, the study method, learning activities, and the provision of

answer keys.

The language used in the writing of the module is simple and clear. Each

topic and instruction were written in two languages; English and Indonesian. The

form of the module is attractive and it is easy to follow. The module was divided

into three main parts; introduction, learning activities, and answer key.

Introduction contained greetings and introduction to the topics, a brief description

of the topics, competence, and a possible study mode. The learning activities

contained the locally developed based materials and exercises. The materials were

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

contextualized by attaching pictures related to the developed materials. The study

method was not decided. The learners are free to apply their own learning method

and the time available to study the module. The learning activities introduce the

learners to the situation about where and when the topics occur. Each topic was

followed by exercises that could deepen the learners understanding of the topics.

The exercises were written in languages; English and Indonesian. Finally, at the

end of each module, answer keys to the exercises are provided.

The response of the EFL teachers. Created materials are the only

teaching material sources used in the junior high schools. The introduction of the

module which was developed based on the local content and which can be used

autonomously motivate teachers to contextualize their teaching materials. English

teachers at the three schools were motivated to create local content based

materials to supplement the core teaching materials from the textbook and to

provide their students with opportunities to study autonomously.

The module and the textbook. The students were enthusiastic and

motivated to read the module. The module could supplement the textbook which

was used by the English teacher. The textbook could be used in the face to face

teaching activities, and the module can be used individually to deepen their

understanding of the topics discussed in textbook at their own pace.

The response of the EFL learners. The module could motivate the

students to study autonomously. The use of the two languages, English and

Indonesian, particularly in the instruction, allowed the low achiever learner to do

the exercises individually. The module could be used at any of the learners’

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

available time. The ability of the learners to talk about local objects in English

was developed.

DISCUSSION

The implementation of the school-based curriculum in the educational system in

Indonesia requires EFL teachers to create and develop authentic and

contextualized materials. The development of authentic materials enables the

contextualization of the EFL materials to meet needs of learners and other

stakeholders where the teaching-learning process takes place.

The presence of some related local objects in the development of the

teaching materials makes them different from commercially created materials.

Autonomous and joyful EFL teaching materials are motivating due to their ability

to simplify the language used in the development of the materials. The writing of

the instruction into two languages enables students to clearly understand what to

do in each topic or unit. The choice of the related local objects or places and the

insertion of pictures of those objects or places can directly show the students the

reality. The possibility to directly see the objects motivate learners to use English

in their real life and enable them to memorize the words, the term, and the

sentences. The provision of answer key in the module also permits the learner to

measure their own achievement. The possibility to measure the students own

achievement without the presence of their EFL teacher or their other friends

release them from the feeling of being shy if particular exercise has not been done

correctly. The materials covered in the module attract the EFL learners to use

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

them. Since each module covers simple and short unit, the boredom to study can

be avoided.

Junior and Senior high schools EFL teachers find it difficult to develop

contextual EFL teaching materials. However, the provision of example in the

development of module motivates them to create their own authentic materials.

By involving the junior high school teachers in the development and the

implementation of modules, they are motivated to create their own materials to

supplement the used textbooks. The provision of time to study independently,

particularly in the completion of exercises, highlights the possibility to develop

and to assign the students to study autonomously. This is in line with Manurung

(2002; 2005) argued that learning strategies can be trained to less successful

learners to be used during the face-to-face teaching or during independent or

autonomous learning. The ability of the students to do exercises individually in

the module ensures the EFL teachers that autonomous learning can be built up in

the early stages of learning-junior high school level.

The presence of the local related materials, pictures, and the ability to

choose suitable context in authentic materials differentiate the appearance of the

module from the textbook. In order to enable the created module, the authentic

materials, to supplement the textbooks, the created materials, the objective or the

competence stated in the curriculum must be taken into account as the guide to the

materials selection. The textbook then can be used in the face to face teaching and

the module can be assigned to learn autonomously, particularly to those who are

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

less successful in the real teaching in the classroom. In this mode of learning, the

EFL teacher holds the role of a facilitator.

Students centered teaching opens up widely the possibility to fulfill needs

of learners. This teaching mode also facilitates autonomy in language learning

where learners’ needs are investigated as the starting point to generate objectives

of the learning. It is also believed that the success of language teaching is also

influenced by the ability of the language teacher to contextualize the language

they teach. The ability to develop authentic materials is a kind of way to allow the

contextualization of the language teaching. The absence of context in the language

teaching will minimize the interest in the learning process and the teaching

process will be bored. On the contrary, the ability of the authentic materials to

bring the learners to a real environment, facilitate them to talk about any objects in

their daily encounter. By frequently seeing the objects, the memory about the

related expression in English is deepened. The possibility to have contact

frequently with the objects helps learners to memorize the words, and finally, the

words can be automatically uttered when they are needed. This has been

considered useful to enable the learner to express local, national, and international

objects in English. Therefore, the use of both the target and the native language of

the learners in the development of a teaching module is encouraged for they can

motivate autonomy in language learning.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

The results indicate that one of the possible ways to encourage Indonesian

students to be able to talk about their environment, local culture, or even their
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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

country in English is to introduce and to bring them into their real life as early as

possible. Local values, local culture, and nationally related matters and culture can

be integrated into the English teaching materials as it is suggested by the

application of the school-based curriculum. The integration of local content into

the teaching materials enables Indonesian students to cope with their difficulty to

tell or express their local and national values in English (As has been frequently

faced by the junior high school students when they join storytelling contest

proposed annually by the National Education Department). More importantly, the

creation of module based learning materials allows students to build up

autonomous language learning habit. This mode of learning has been regarded as

effective in the study of second and foreign languages.

It can be concluded that locally developed learning materials in the form

of a module are effective to supplement the core teaching-learning materials at

school. Consequently, EFL teachers at junior high schools should devote more

time to create and develop contextual teaching-learning materials as it has been

stated nationally in the implementation of the school-based curriculum in

Indonesia.

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 Paper presented at the 56th TEFLIN International Conference, 8-10 December 2009,
Malang, Indonesia.

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