4. Bahasa Indonesia Class 4
4.1. Introduction
Traditional Bahasa Indonesia tests assess knowledge of the Indonesian language rather than children's functional language skills although the new curriculum emphasizes the development of all four language skills. This particular test focused on skills and was divided into two parts. The first part, reading comprehension, tested children's ability to read an extended piece of writing with understanding. The second part, story writing, tested children's ability to extract ideas from a picture and, using their imagination, to produce a story based on that picture. The final score for writing was a composite of five scores for the different skills of handwriting, spelling, punctuation, length of the written piece and the quality of language used.
994 pupils were tested. Table 7 shows the average scores obtained in the two tests. Girls scored slightly higher in both tests. As in the class 1 reading test children who had attended TK scored higher than those who had not. Children from SD Inti scored slightly higher than in Imbas schools and those in SD slightly higher than in MI.
Table 7: Average Scores in Class 4 Reading and Writing Tests
|
Percent of
Pupils |
Reading Comprehension
Test (Maximum Score 28) |
Writing Test
(Maximum Score 20) |
Boys |
47.7% |
14.62 |
10.57 |
Girls |
52.3% |
15.71 |
12.34 |
TK |
90.4% |
15.35 |
11.66 |
Non-TK |
9.6% |
13.66 |
9.96 |
SD Inti |
36.7% |
15.61 |
12.22
|
SD Imbas |
63.3% |
14.95 |
11.05 |
SD (Conventional Schools) |
83.9% |
15.25 |
11.58 |
MI (Religious Schools) |
16.1% |
14.91 |
10.93 |
All |
100.0% |
15.19 |
11.46 |
4.2. Reading
Chart 2 shows the data analysed by school. Considerable differences were evident between the best school (average score of 21 out of 28) and the poorest (average score of about 8).
Chart 2: Average Score by School in Reading Comprehension Test
Chart 3 shows the percentage of children whose scores were graded from 'very good' to 'poor'. 57% of children were graded good or very good.
Chart 3: Percentages of Children by Score in Reading Comprehension Test
Children found it easier to answer multiple choice questions, in particular, where there was a direct answer to be found in the text (average 77% score). They found question where they had to infer meaning much more difficult to answer (average 34% score).
4.3. Writing
Chart 4 shows the data analysed by school. Considerable differences were evident between the best school (average score of 17 out of 20) and the poorest (average score of less than 6). In the high scoring schools most of the children have mastered a range of skills which enable them to write correctly, legibly and coherently, while many children in the lower scoring schools have not mastered these skills.
Chart 4: Average Score by School in Writing Test
Chart 5 shows the percentage of children whose scores were graded from 'very good' to 'poor'. 61% were classed overall as good or very good.
Chart 5: Percentage of Children achieving Scores in Writing Test
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The writing test was assessed according to five elements: handwriting, spelling, punctuation, length and the quality of the writing. The weighting in the overall score was:
- Handwriting (15%);
- Spelling (15%);
- Punctuation (15%);
- Length (20%);
- Quality of the writing (35%).
The results are summarised in table 8 (next page).
Only 19% of children could write neat, joined up writing, while another 64% write neatly but without joining their writing. 16% of the children's writing was classified as very poor and often illegible. Differences between schools were marked. In some schools most of the children wrote neatly, while others few or none did. This is almost certainly because teachers in the former schools regularly taught handwriting, while those is the latter did not.
16% of children wrote without spelling mistakes, while in 52% more cases the spelling was good (largely correct. In 30% of cases the children's spelling was considered poor or very poor.
58% of children punctuated their work well (classified as perfect or good), while in 35% of cases children's punctuation was classified as poor.
58% of children wrote more than half a page, while only 5% wrote less than two sentences (including 1% who wrote nothing.
In 44% of cases the quality of the content of the children's writing was classified as good, i.e. their ideas were clear and well expressed and in logical order. In general children were weak in organising their thoughts in a systematic way.
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Table 8: Percentage Scores for Elements of Written Work in Writing Test
| Handwriting |
Good joined |
Good printed |
Poor |
|
No Score |
Total |
| 19% |
64% |
16% |
|
1% |
100% |
| Spelling |
Perfect |
Good |
Poor |
|
No Score |
Total |
| 16% |
52% |
30% |
|
2% |
100% |
| Punctuation |
Perfect |
Good |
Poor |
|
No Score |
Total |
| 15% |
43% |
35% |
|
7% |
100% |
| Length |
Pages |
No. of Sentences |
|
| > One Page |
> Half Page |
>2 Sentences |
<2 Sentences |
No Writing |
Total |
| 14% |
44% |
38% |
4% |
1% |
100% |
| Quality |
Very Good |
Good |
Poor |
Very Poor |
No Writing |
Total |
| 7% |
37% |
47% |
8% |
1% |
100% |
4.4. Comparison of Reading and Writing Scores
A comparison of the scores does not show a high correlation between reading and writing ability. Chart 6 (next page) shows that several of those schools with high marks had relatively low writing marks while the reverse applied in some cases - schools with lower reading marks had significantly higher writing marks. This almost certainly reflects the fact that students in some schools are much more accustomed to writing in their own words than in others.
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4.5. Comments and Recommendations
Many reservations remain about the development of children's reading habits and abilities. From the tests it is clear that the children are able to read text but find higher order skills of finding and inferring meaning much more difficult. From their observations in schools around Indonesia, our consultants concur with many other experts that pupils in most schools do not read enough. It is rare to enter and Indonesian classroom and find children reading books. In many countries a specific time is set aside each day for reading, often 20 - 30 minutes. When Indonesian pupils read it is often done in rote around the class. The book read is generally a text book and little reading is done for understanding, it consists mainly of 'barking at print'.
Teachers need to give children more opportunities to read. Reading should be not confined to text books, but should include other kinds of materials including library books, newspapers and magazines. Regular time should be scheduled in the class timetable for reading (at least 20 minutes per day). These reading times should include opportunities for children to talk about and discuss what they have read, both with the teacher and with other children.
While many children were able to write a short coherent passage of writing, a large proportion still find this difficult, as they are more accustomed to copying from the blackboard or the text book. Teachers need to understand that the main purpose of writing is as a means by which children can convey their own ideas. They need to give children the opportunity to express those ideas through a variety of activities that challenge children to express themselves through the written word. A number of examples include writing reports of real events which they have experienced, writing fictional stories, retelling in their own words stories or factual writing which they have read, writing instructions for other to follow and writing poetry. They also need to help children in the higher classes organise their writing in a more systematic manner.
Teachers should teach handwriting regularly and insist that their pupils adopt a high standard of handwriting (i.e. not accept anything other the children's best handwriting). Punctuation and spelling should be taught regularly with much of the teaching-learning process being based on the children's own writing (asking them to examine their own writing and correct the punctuation and spelling).
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