The Acquisition of English by Bilingual Playgroup Students in Bali Kiddy School
on
ISSN: 2302-920X
Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud
Vol 21.1 Nopember 2017: 77-83
The Acquisition of English by Bilingual Playgroup Students in Bali Kiddy School
Ni Kadek Sintya Purnama Dewi
English Department Faculty of Arts – Udayana University [[email protected]]
Abstrak
Penelitian ini berfokus pada dua aspek, yaitu: (1)Akuisisi bahasa Inggris oleh siswa dua bahasa di Sekolah Bali Kiddy; dan (2)Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi perolehan bahasa Inggris oleh siswa bahasa di Sekolah Bali Kiddy. Data tersebut diambil dari tiga anak dua bahasa dengan kebangsaan yang berbeda, yaitu Catherine Yvone Ann Beeck yang merupakan orang Australia, Nino Angelo Donato yang merupakan orang Perancis dan Keiran Andreas Hughesyang merupakan orang Inggris. Semuanya berbahasa Inggris. Pengumpulan data dilakukan di Sekolah National Plus, Sekolah Bali Kiddy. Penelitian lapangan dilakukan dari tanggal 14 Februari 2017 sampai 16 Maret 2017. Data dikumpulkan dengan observasi langsung (mencatat) dan wawancara yang dilakukan di kelas selama kegiatan kelas berlangsung. Instrumen yang digunakan untuk mengumpulkan data adalah kuesioner '(lihat lampiran) dan jawabannya dijawab oleh para guru. Data penelitian ini dianalisis dengan metode kualitatif. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa (1)Pada usia tiga tahun, anak-anak mampu merangkai lebih dari tiga kata, kebanyakan adalah kata-kata tindakan dan kata-kata nominatif umum dan spesifik, menggunakan kata-kata fungsi kecil, kata penghubung, meniru kalimat yang sering didengar memiliki suku kata yang sederhana, dan memahami pesan kalimat; dan (2)Faktor yang paling dominan mempengaruhi perkembangan bahasa adalah lingkungan dan kemampuan dua bahasa mereka. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa setiap anak memiliki perkembangan bahasa yang berbeda dalam menghasilkan kata-kata. Dorongan dan peniruan digunakan sebagai perangkat dalam perolehan kata-kata dan membantu anak mengingat kata-
kata yang telah dilupakan.
Kata kunci: Bahasa, Bilingual, Playgroup.
Language is common to all humans; we seem to be programmed to know it. Language is the way to communicate to others. By using language, we can ask questions to others, introduce ourselves, greet people, express how we feel, our like and dislikes, agree with others, etc. We know at least one of language since we were born. When we know a language, we can speak and be understood by others who know the same language. “Wherever humans exist, language exists. Any normal children, born
anywhere in the world, of any racial, geographical, social, or economic heritage is cable of learning any language to which he or she is exposed.”
Children usually want to participate in a conversation with people that surrounds them, even they aren’t able to speak well yet; they try hard to express their desire by using their body language or by crying. Their parents didn’t teach children how to walk as well as how to speak. “We are designed to walk... That we are taught to walk is impossible, and pretty much
the same is true of language. Nobody is taught language. In fact, you can’t prevent the child from learning it.”
This study discuss about language acquisition as language development of 3 years old bilingual children, and the factors which affect their language development, while they study in Bali Kiddy School. It is interesting to observe the language acquisition of 3 years old children because of the process, starting from the babbling stage (children only said ba, ba, ba, in this stage), until they can say a word, some words, and make a sentence, finally can say some sentences to others. It makes me appreciate the process. It is enticing to find out the factors affecting the language acquisition, from knowing the factors; it really gives influence in acquiring a language.
From the background above, the problems can be formulated as follows:
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1. How is the development of language acquisition of English by bilingual playgroup students in Bali Kiddy School?
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2. What factors are affecting the acquisitions of English by bilingual playgroup students in Bali Kiddy School?
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3. Aims of the Study
The general aim of this study is to apply the theory of first language acquisition and language development proposed by foreign linguists.
The specific aims of this study can be formulated as:
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1. To identify the development of language acquisition of English by bilingual playgroup students in Bali Kiddy School.
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2. To find out the factors affecting the acquisitions of English by
bilingual playgroup students in Bali Kiddy School.
The academic aim of this study is to give a good influence to the readers in comprehending children language development and can be a guide to do another research in the future.
This study applied the method of field research in obtaining the required data.
The data of this study were taken from 3 students, they are: Catherine Yvone Ann Beeck, Nino Angelo Donato and Keiran Andreas Hughes. All of them are bilinguals who come from mixed marriage families and are around 3 years old. The students were chosen because they have good physiological condition and motor ability. The secondary data were taken from the teachers of the students.
Taking place in a National Plus School, Bali Kiddy, the field research was done for 3 times, starting from February 14th, 2017 as the first meeting, February 22nd, 2017 as the second meeting, and March 16th, 2017 as the last meeting. The data were collected through direct observation (note-taking) and interview done in the classroom during the class activities in order to collect the original data.
The instrument used to collect the data was questionarie (see appendix 1) and it was answered by the teachers. First, the data were collected by observing the children and teachers in order to know the ability of the children to produce certain words. The children were observed while they were doing same activities in the same situation.
Then, the teachers were teaching like usual, speaking with the children and their conversations were observed.
The data of this research were analyzed using the descriptive
qualitative method. The analysis started by classifying the language development of children, and then analyzing the factors which affected them. The data were analyzed using the theory of language development proposed by Victoria Fromkin et al. (2003), kinds of vocabulary proposed by Katherine Nelson (1973) and the factors affecting vocabularies
development of children proposed by M. F. Berry and Eisenson J (1973).
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4.4 Method and Technique of Presenting the Result of Data Analysis
The descriptive qualitative method was used to present data analysis. The results of data analysis were presented based on two problems. 1. The results of data analysis of the first problem were shown through Grammar, Semantic and Vocabulary Development based on the theory of Victoria Fromkin et al. in her book entitled An Introduction to Language in 2003, supported with the types of vocabulary spoken by the children in Bali Kiddy School; they were categorized based on the theory proposed by Katherine Nelson in 1973 in her book entitled Structure and Strategy in Learning to Talk.
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2. The analysis of the second problem was presented descriptively to show the factors affecting the children’s vocabulary development in Bali Kiddy School based on Berry, M. F.
and Eisenson J. (1973) on their book entitled Speech Disorder Principles and Practice of Therapy.
According to Nelson in Structure and Strategy in Learning to Talk (1973), the category of how a child acquires language can be classified into 5 categories; they are:
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1. Nouns
Definition: Words used to refer to the ‘world’. They may be used to label or demand, in ostensive reference or relations involving agent or object. Nouns can be divided into two; they are:
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• Specific Nouns
Definition: words used to refer to only one exemple of a category, whether a proper name, (i.e., a class with only one member), such as:
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1. People: miss, mommy, daddy
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2. Animals, valentine cat
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3. Objects: moving eyes, pink heart, white glue, pocket, present, flashcard, igloo, Lego
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• General Nouns
Definition: words used to refer to all members of this category whether child or adult defined, such as:
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1. Objects: bottle, bag, glue, tissue, class, star, sticker, present, tree, flower, trunk, root, glue, box, present, doll, ball, shoes, socks, car, piano, brush, table, board, meal, beans, sausage, egg, nugget, yellow rice
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2. Substances: milk, water
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3. Animals and people: rabbit, dog, cat, iguana, insect, butterfly, student
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4. Letters and Numbers: i, 1, 2, 3, 4
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5. Abstractions: God,
birthday
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6. Pronouns: we, you, that, this
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2. Action Words
Definition: words that describe,
demand, or accompany action that express attention or demand for attention. They may be used for notice, locative, or action relations, such as:
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1. Descriptive: go, bye-bye, eating
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2. Demand: put, open, drink,
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3. Notice: look, bring, tap, tidy up, fly, jumping, running, sit, finish, falling
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3. Modifiers
Definition: words that refer to
properties or qualities of things or events. They express recurrence, disappearance, attribution, location and possession, such as:
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1. Attributes: big, red, green, black, blue, white, yellow, pink, brown, 2. States: hot, dirty, good
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3. Locatives: there, outside, here
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4. Possessive: mine
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4. Personal Social Words
Definition: words that express affective states and social relationships; these range from highly idiosyncratic to highly conventional (e.g., thank you). They do not express basic operations or relation, such as:
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1. Assertions: no, yes, yeah want, know, thank you, good morning
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2. Social expressive: please, ouch, help
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5. Function Words
Definition: words that fulfill a solely grammatical function, words relating to other words.
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1. Question words: what, where
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2. Miscellaneous functions: is, to for
At this age, Keiran is able to string more than three words and use a small function, such as:
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1. “Don’t do that!”
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2. “We put it here, here.”
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3. “You have to put this to here. Wheel, it is like a body.”
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4. “Tap hand.”
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5. “My pocket can’t open.”
Besides , he is also able to use a connecting word, for example:
Keiran : “This is my new
shoes.”
Me : “Ah, ya. Who
buy it for you?”
Keiran : “Mommy buy it
with Kakung.”
Me : “Why not with
your father?”
Keiran : “Because my
father is were working.”
He also imitates the sentences which are often heard and have simple syllables. For examples:
Miss Lita : “Let’s stop
playing, it’s time to tidy up!”
Keiran : “Tidy up!”
By repeating the words, he will recall and learn the new words; therefore, they can answer the question correctly. For instance:
Miss Lita : (showing a
doll), “keiran, what do you call this?”
Keiran : “a duck.”
Miss Lita : “Right, it’s a
duck. A duck doll. It is a doll. So, what is it called?”
Keiran : “a doll.”
Keiran has a good stimulus from his teachers. He learns some new words by:
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1. The use of an object as can be seen from the following dialog:
Miss Lita : (showing a
picture of Igloo), “Keiran, do you know what is this?”
Keiran : “Hmm... a house?”
Miss Lita : “Yes, it is. It is a
house called Igloo. Do you know what is the color of Igloo?”
Keiran : “White…”
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2. By singing and showing a picture.
According to the teachers, by singing he can produce more than one words at once time and string it into a unity of meaning.
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3. By giving some clued, when he finds some difficulty in saying a word, for example:
Miss Lita : “Do you know what is ink?”
Keiran : “I don’t know.” Miss Lita : “It is to fill the marker so we can use it to write on board. Can you say Iŋk?”
Keiran : “Iŋk.”
Miss Lita : “Iŋk.”
Keiran : “Iŋk.”
By giving a clue to Keiran, especially by giving a half part of the word and say it one by one to be followed it will help him remember the word which has been forgotten.
Nino is a talkative student in the class since the first meeting. He is able to speak English, French, and Indonesian. He is able to string words and use the small function words. For example:
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1. “Ah! Look! Coconut tree!”
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2. “Where should I sit down?”
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3. “Not coming.”
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4. “Sleeping at home.”
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5. “Fly.”
He is also able to use a connecting word and he often says the sentences which he often hears, for example:
Miss Lita : “Who feel sad
today?”
Nino : (raised his
finger) “me…”
Miss Lita : “What happened
to you, Nino?”
Nino : “Want slide
there.”
He always imitates the sentences which are often heard and have simple syllables. For example:
Nino : “Take a bit.”
Miss Lita : “Nino, say help
miss.”
Nino : “Help, miss.”
Miss Lita : “Please take a
bit.”
Nino : “Please take a
bit.”
Miss Lita : “Good, Nino.”
When he makes a sentence which is grammatically incomplete, the teachers will repeat the wrong sentence until it is correct. By repeating the word he will recall and learn it. For example:
Nino : “I don’t talk
much.”
Miss Lita : “You don’t talk
too much?”
Nino : “Yes, don’t talk
too much.”
From the example above, it can be seen when Nino said he doesn’t talk much, but actually he does, and he didn’t use any article to describe his feelings completely.
Catherine is shy. She is able to speak English and Indonesian. She is able to string words and use small function words, but sometimes her words are not equal with her age, and impolite. For example:
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1. “Jumping! Jumping!”
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2. “That’s mine.”
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3. “I am running!”
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4. “Arra, I am coming!”
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5. “This is disgusting!”
In adding vocabulary, the teachers used an object or picture to teach them. It can be seen from example:
Miss Lita : (Carry and show
a duck doll), “What is this Catherine?”
Catherine : “a doll.”
Miss Lita : “Ok, a doll.
What kind of doll?”
Catherine : “Don’t know.”
Miss Lita : “It is a duck.”
Catherine : “a duck?”
Miss Lita : “Yes, a duck.”
Besides, they also tell Catherine to pronoun the names of things on the picture that she has not probably seen yet. For example:
Miss Lita : “Catherine,
please see this picture. It is an agloo.”
Catherine : “An agloo? It is
a house.”
Miss Lita : “Yes, it is. An
agloo is like a house, but it made from ice.”
From that dialog, it can be seen that the teachers always give good stimuli for the students, one by one, and the environments are very influencing in the language development to the children.
The children’s ability in acquiring the language is also affected by some external factors; they are:
All of the children are in good health, there are not mentally retarded recorded. Hence, they are able to produce words or sentences without any difficulties. For example, the children with Poliomyelitis, will have
development delayed. Poliomyelitis is a part of motor disorders resulting from
the damage to the brain that occurs after birth because of virus.The damage of the child’s brain affects the motor system and physiological condition, and consequently the child has poor coordination, poor balance, or abnormal movement pattern – or a combination of these characteristics.
Catherine, Nino and Keiran are normal children and have a good mental development. More intelligent children have richer vocabulary and in general a control of language which is superior over those who are normal.
The children whose parents who are in the professional and managerial classes are exposed to a better language influence at home and in their general environment than the children whose parents in the semiskilled and unskilled (Berry and Eisenson, 1973). Catherine, Nino and Keiran come from
professional and managerial classes.
According to Berry and Eisenson (1973), girls begin talking at an earlier age than boys, and the extent of the vocabulary of girls is greater than that of boys. The girl can more closely approximate the vocal tone of the mother than the boy can . The abilities of all the subjects are equal.
This is the one of the most important factors because the children spend most of their time with their families and friends. For example, Nino has been in Miss Lita’s class for the second year, that is, why he is able to speak louder and is more confident than other students when answering questions or giving his opinion, can speak more fluently than others, and sing more song lyrics.
Bilingualism affects the children language’s ability and all of the subjects are bilinguals. For example, Keiran said, “Mommy buy for me with kakung”, it proved that he is able to master more than one language.
It can be concluded that the development of language acquisition in acquiring English is equal enough for children. In this age, the students are able to string more than three words; use small function words; use connecting words; follow the sentences which are often heard and have simple syllables; understand the message of the sentences. The type of vocabulary that the students mostly first acquire is nouns, both general and specific nouns, followed by action words. Imitation and reinforcement are used as devices for acquiring words and helping them remember the vocabulary that have been forgotten. They are able to make good sentences, although sometimes they forget to put auxiliary verbs or an articles. The most dominant factors that affect the development of the acquisition of English vocabulary are their environment and bilingualism.
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