CONSIDERING INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCES IN DESIGNING TEACHING SYLLABUS

Written by ASWIR ASTAMAN Teachers trainer at The Institutional of Educational Quality Assurance for Riau Province Introduction Students as the learners vary on a number of dimension such as intelligence, talent, capability, aptitude, behavior, etc. These variation can be observed in the class. Some students are lazy and some of them are diligent. Several are slow and some are fast. In the process of teaching and learning English, most of students are passive; few of them are active. A lot of them are shy to use English in real communication. Only some are brave to use in real situation (Zainil, 2005).

These variations of students are not adapted for the interest of teaching and learning by most of the teachers. In selecting the material of teaching and designing the syllabus teachers do not put these variation as the input. Consequently, the burden of the students who ever they are, either slow or fast are the same. Teachers regard all students have the same ability or capacity, so the treatment is also the same. Because of this, the reward and praise only for the fast and intelligent students. On the other hand the slow students

receipt the unfair treatment from the teacher which can

decrease their motivation.

Teachers do not try to understand why these slow students gain the low achievement and how to give proper treatment to them in order they are able to achieve minimal standard. The difference and the variations among students are natural. In some cases the fast and the slow is a gift or talent. Some slow students are not lazy, they are diligent but the achievement are still unsatisfying. On the other hand the teachers do not help them with the proper treatment to arouse their inner competence. The fact, some slow students become frustration or even drop out because they can not afford the treatment of the teachers who hate them. This condition is contrary to the principles of Competence Based Curriculum which stated that one of the function of the teachers is to arouse the inner competence of the students. It means the teachers should adopt the individual difference of students as the consideration in the process of teaching and learning and selecting the material of teaching as well as designing the syllabus. This paper will discuss how to consider individual learners differences in designing the syllabus. Review of Related Literature The differences of individual learners in learning second language has been described deeply by Rod Ellis in the article Individual Learner differences and Second Language Acquisition. The digest of his description is as follow: There are two basic possibilities regarding which aspect of SLA is affected by individual learner factors. One is that differences in age, learning style, aptitude, motivation, and personality result in differences in the route along which learners pass in SLA. The other is that these factors influence only the rate and ultimate success of SLA. The identification and classification of the different individual factors has proved to be problematic. the main difficulty is that it is not possible to observe directly qualities such as aptitude, motivation, or anxiety. Personal and general factors have social, cognitive, and affective aspects. Social aspects are external to the learner and concern the relationship between the learner and native speakers of the L2 and also between the learner and other speakers of his own language. The followings are the explanation of the factors :

1. Personal factors Personal factors such as those identified by Schumann and Schumann are difficult to observe by a third person. 2. Group dynamics Group dynamics seem to be important in classroom SLA. As a result of her analysis of competitiveness in different language learners, Bailey (1983) proposes a model of how the learners self-image in comparisons with other L2 learners can either impair or enhance SLA. 3. Individual learning techniques a. Preparing and memorizing vocabulary lists b. c. Learning words in context Practicing vocabulary

4. General factors a. Age 1. Starting age does not affect the route of SLA 2. Starting age affects the rate of learning 3. Both number of years of exposure and starting age affect the level of success The critical period hypothesis the critical period hypothesis states that there is a period when language acquisition takes p;ace naturally and effortlessly. b. Cognitive explanations One obvious difference between the young child and the adolescent or adult is the ability of the latter to comprehend language as a formal system. Rosansky (1975) has argued that cognitive development accounts for the greater ease with which young children learn languages. The problem with Rosanskys arguments is the same as that with the eurological explanations.

c. Affective explanations Another possibility that has been explored is that differences in the affective states of young and older learners account for age differences in SLA. Brown (1980b)proposes that SLA is related to stages of acculturation (i.e. the ability of the learner to relate and respond easily to the foreign language culture). 5. Intelligence and aptitude a. Intelligence Intelligence is the term used to refer to a hypothesized general factor (often referred to as the g factor), which underlies our ability to master and use a whole range of academic skills. To conclude, intelligence may influence the acquisition of some skills associated with SLA, such as those utilized in the formal study of a L2, but it is much less likely to influence the acquisition of oral fluency skills. b. Aptitude It is not easy to define. Carroll and Sapon (1959) identify three major components of aptitude:

1. 2. 3.

phonetic coding ability grammatical sensitivity inductive ability

Problem and Discussing The differences among students in the class can be observed based on their achievement or the result of learning. Normally, wherever the schools are, there are three group of students in the class namely, fast students, average students and slow students. As the matter of fact, fast students or the intelligent students are the minority in the class. They are only about 10 % of students. If there is 40 students in the class the fast students only about 4 persons. Similarly, the slow students are also the minority in the

class. Normally their number is only about 20 % of students. It means if there are 40 students in the class there are about 8 persons are slow students. For this reason if the number of slow students in a class almost 50%, there must be something wrong in the class, because it is not normal anymore.

The majority group in the class is the average students. Their number is about 70 % of the students. In designing the material of teaching the teachers should focus to the average students as the standard. The principle in designing the material of teaching is slightly beyond the ability of students. In the other words, rather difficult for students. The material for today is rather difficult, the material for tomorrow is rather difficult, the day after tomorrow is rather difficult and so on. Rather difficult for which students? Rather difficult for average students. Based on the School Based Curriculum (KTSP) teachers should designing the syllabus and the material of teaching for their own classes. This is the opportunity for

teachers to consider the individual differences of students. The target of achievement should be proportional. The achievement of slow students naturally different with the average or the fast students. Similarly the burden of fast students should be more than average students. The burden of slow students only to achieve or to pass minimal achievement (Kriteria ketuntasan Minimal ). For example, if minimal achievement of English subject at a school is 6, the burden of slow students only to get mark 6 or more. If they get 7, it means their achievement is excellent. On the other hand, the achievement of average students are between 7 and 9. The fast students should achieve between 9 and 10. These differences should be the input for teachers in designing syllabus, especially in formulating the achievement indicators. The example of designing the syllabus for one basic competence is as follow: Subject Class Level : English :X : Senior High School

Semester : I 1. Competence Standard (Standar Kompetensi): Membaca, Memahami makna teks tulis fungsional pendek dan esei sederhana berbentuk recount, narrative dan procedure dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari dan untuk mengakses ilmu pengetahuan

2. Basic Competence (Kompetensi Dasar ) : Merespon makna dan langkah retorika teks tulis esei secara akurat, lancar dan berterima dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari dan untuk mengakses ilmu pengetahuan dalam teks berbentuk: recount, narrative, dan procedure

3. Indicator : 1. Menemukan informasi yang tertera jelas (To find specific Information) 2. Menemukan informasi Rinci ( To find Detail information)

3. Mendeskripsikan tokoh dalam cerita (To describ the charachters of the story) 4. Menjelaskan pesan moral yang terkandung dalam cerita( Decribe the moral message of the story)

Materi : Text Narrative

The Princess and the Pea

Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He traveled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess. One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it. It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess. Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses. On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was

asked how she had slept. "Oh, very badly!" said she. "I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!" Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eiderdown beds. Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that. So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it. There, that is a true story. The evaluation for Indicator 1: 1. Where did the Prince travel? 2. When did the storm come? 3. Who was standing out in the front gate ? 4. How many mattresses did the queen put on the pea? 5. What did the old queen said when he saw the real princes ? The evaluation for indicator 2 : 1. What made the prince come home again from his travel? 2. How was the condition of real princess when she knocked the door? The evaluation for indicator 3 : 1. What do you think about the prince? 2. What is your opinion to the real princess? The evaluation for indicator 4 :

What are the moral message of the story? Indicator 1 is expected can be answered by all students slow, average and fast students. Indicator 2 can not be expected 100 % can be answered by slow students only half of them predicted to be able to do evaluation indicator 2. But 100 % of average students should be able to do it. Indicator 3 should be achieved by 50 % of average students 100 % by fast students. Indicator 4 especially for fast students, at least 75% of them are able to do it. The Percentage of Achievement of Each Indicator Group of Students Slow students Average students Fast students Conclusion The individual differences among students should be realized by teachers so that the teachers can give the proper treatment to the students. By giving the proper treatments which are suitable with the capacity of students, the students competency can be developed maximally. Based on the theory, there are many aspect of the individual differences. In the class, for the sake of teaching and learning it can be simplified into three category, they are slow, average and fast students. For each group of these categories should be given the different treatment. These different treatment should be started in the period of planning, that is in designing the syllabus. The formulation of indicator in syllabus of each basic competence should adopt the individual differences. By implementing these difference it is expected all of students will be successful in achieve the goal of learning suitable with their proportion. In short, considering the individual learners will make the success for all students. Indicator 1 100 100 100 Indicator 2 50 100 100 Indicator 3 50 100 Indicator 4 25 75

REFERENCES 1. Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan, 2005. Standar Kompetensi Dasar Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA 2. Depertemen Pendidikan Nasional Direktorat Jenderal Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, 2004. Materi Pelatihan terintegrasi Bahasa Inggris. 3. Ellis, Rod. 1985. Understanding Second Language Acquisition, Individual Learner difference and Second Language Acquisition, Oxford: Oxford University Press 4. Zainil; 2005. Good Language Learner Strategies and Communicative Language Teaching. Padang: UNP Press.

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