Individual PaperResearch MethodologyLecturers: Prof. H. Asfah Rahman, Ph.D.

Prof. Dr. H. Haryanto, M.Pd.

THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE AWARENESS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGEACQUISITION (A CASE STUDY OF THREE INDONESIAN CHILDREN

STUDIED IN AUSTRALIA)

BY:

Hj. A M I N A H

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POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMSTATE UNIVERSITY OF MAKASSAR

2013

THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE AWARENESS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGEACQUISITION (A CASE STUDY OF THREE INDONESIAN CHILDREN

STUDIED IN AUSTRALIA)

A. Background

This mini project was inspired from learning experience

of the writer’s children when she conducted her master

degree in Australia. This project will explore the

laguage awareness of the three children since they

studied in abroad and how they acquired the language as

their foreign language and how do they maintain their

english up to now.

This study will also describe the role of language

awareness both explicit and implicit and factors

influence in maintaining their english.

The focus of this study is the study experience of

three children in written story form and to find the

factors influencing their English keep well through

their daily activities either at home or in school.

B. Analytic Questions

Based on background above this project heads to two

analytic questions, they are:

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1. What are the roles of language awareness in

language acquisition?

2. What factors might influence their English keep

sustaining?

C. Methods and Procedures

This research is etnography of the writer’s daughter

who joined their mother when she studied in

Australia. The data was collected from the learning

experience that written by each of them. Besides,

the writer also observe the daily activities of the

children both home and school as well as interview

them in order to confirm and cross check between

observation result and the children activities.

Process of analytical data after collecting both

data; story of learning experiences in Australia and

observation and interview result.

D. Literature Review

Language Awareness according to Association of

Language Awareness (ALA) is “explicit knowledge

about language, and conscious perception and

sensitity in language learning, language teaching

and language use that covers a wide spectrum of

fields. From the the definition ould be inferred

that language awareness includes exploring the

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benefits that can be derived from developing a good

knowledge about language, a conscious understanding

of how language work, of how people learn them and

use them. More description of language awareness

stated by ALA that Language Awareness is relevant

for the learner, the teacher, and the teacher-

learner, the bilingual and layperson. Based on this

definition, the writer will correlate between the

three children language awareness and the pathway

they acquire the second language.

Another definition of Language Awareness proposed by

Donmall (1985) in Ellis (2012):

Language awareness is a person’s sensitivity to and consciousawareness of language and its rore in human life

A key element of Language Awareness has been the

development of the role of students in their own

learning (Stern, 1983 in Kiely, 2009). The student role

has developed to include a comprehensive and rigorously

theorised account of the student contribution.

There were three main ways in which Hawkins (1999) saw

foreign language learning contributing to language

awareness (p.134):

providing positive feedback on the mother tongue

and cultural stereotypes;

encouraging the learner to pay close attention to

words and their meanings;

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building confidence in what Halliday (1975) called

the mathetic’ function of language (i.e., using

language to learn about the world).

From those theoritical perspective would be helful

in relating the descriptive approach of Language

Awareness to possibilities of explanation from the

social and cultural dimension of learning.

E. Data

The goal in this study was the construction of

detailed of the learning experience, so that

particular strategies and issues could be explored

and explained. Data were collected in three wayas:

1. Experience story review: Analysis the experience

story of three international students how they

learnt and acquired English as their foreign

language, and analyze the role of LA during they

studied abroad

2. Researcher observation notes: observation of

students in daily activities either at home or

school.

3. Individual interviews

The Narratives of Nabila, Nadila and Widya

All about my experience in kangaroos city

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By: Nabila Triana

Well, I don’t really remember what date, year, andday when I went to Australia. All I know is I wentthere when I was a child with my lovely family.My stock to go there are only counting numbers 1until 10 and how to introduce name. Only that. butat the end, I can keep my English until now on.Alhamndulillah… wanna hear my story, check it out..When we arrived in my mum’s apartment, we directlytook a rest, and get ready for the school fortomorrow. Mum has prepared very well for me and mybrother and sisters for the school. From theclothes, bag, and also bicycle. So all we have todo is do the activity and try to adapt with theirculture.My mum has chosen a school which is very near withour apartment. It’s called WESTBOURN PARK PRIMARYSCHOOL. I was in first grade with Mrs. Anne. Fromthere I start the new life with the new sheet. At the first day, I got really nervous because thisis the first experience ever went to people’scountry. I still remember when I feel wanted to cryand wrote “I don’t understand what are you talkingabout?” In a small paper. My sister, widya told meto, so I can stop crying. I kept memorizing what Iwrote. So, if anyone ask or speak to me, I cananswer with that. Hahaha. I don’t really care, whatthey are thinking about this new student (me). The new thing that I got there is we start theclass at 8. 30. If in Indonesia, that is the timefor the officer like my dad do. How weird isn’t?And go back at 4. 30. Also have twice recess.

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Every thing change when I was in second grader, myexperience and skill increased. I do more like it.I have a friendly teacher, and many best friends.We don’t have any schedule, or duty for cleaningand so on. So, even thought we’re late, we don’tget any punishment. Also, the systems in my schoolare, we have to have the name of our class. Minewas the 1K dragon. We go to school only from Mondayuntil Friday with lots of types of uniform. Thereis the one with dress, jacket, t-shirt, skirt andso on but all of this uniform has the same colorthat is dark blue. We can choose what we will wearbecause they never determine the day with thisuniform in this day and so on… they also providethe same bag and hat. So, all the students looknice and compact.Everyday, in our bag are only lunchbox and hat. Sohow about books and others???? All of them arestayed in schools. We have our own place to keepall of them. So, no homes work to do. Hahaha. Wedon’t have any regular schedule. It depends on thestudent and the teacher wants. For the secondgrader, our schedules are only music class, Italianlanguage, math, sports, art, English, machine andtechnology and so on, because I don’t remember therest. Music class in here means learning about somethingthat has relation to the music thing like singing,dancing, and instruments. Well, because I’m stillthe second grade, so we learn about how to thinkand imagination. We lie down on the floor and tryto make an imagination about 5-10 minutes. Afterthat the teacher will ask with nicely to the

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students what did we feel. So, in hear we can getcloser to the teacher.Every class has their own schedule to go to thefield. But we use to call it with oval, because itsshape is oval. It’s not too far from our schoolonly a cross the road. In that place we can play asmuch as we like but still in limited time. Afterthat, the teacher brought us back to school.

On Friday there is a subject that we used to callwith “free day”. Because what we do is only learn abit about math and after that we can do what everwe like such as playing computer, games, doing someexercise, reading, drawing, painting, doinghandcraft and many more. When the bell has rang,some students will go to the library to play bingothat has provides by the school. I ever won thisgame and I have to choose one of the gifts. Thereare dolls, book, ballpoint and so many more. But myfeeling goes to the question book about horses.It’s very good book. Day by day has past. Now, my intonation is almostsame as them. I adapted ± 3 month. And honestly Iwas happy that time. So many friends have so muchparty and so on. I really like the teacher. Becausethey are friendly, nice and also if our birthday iscoming, the school will gave us a kind of abirthday card. It’s so good isn’t??? The system forborrowing books in library is very modern than inmy school now in Indonesia. We use a kind of laserthing to borrow some books. The limited time isonly 4 days. But sometimes I just need 2 days forreading and retuned it back. :D

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When the summer comes, that’s the time for me andmy friends have schedule to swim in our own pool.The school has provided for the students. So, allwe need to do is bring our swimming suit andglasses. It’s just so easy. Every day still the same until the next years come.I’ve grown up already. After 1 year and a half, myfamily and I go back to our hometown in Indonesia.Lot’s of friend call me to play, sleepover in theirhouse before living Australia. I was very sad thattime. But, it’s getting better since I’m inIndonesia and keep contact with my best friend,Jessica white. My parents told me that always speakEnglish even thought only at home. So, ourpronunciation will not be lost. At the end, I keptmy English until now because of ALLAH SWT and myparents. Lots of thanks to them. THANK U FOR READING MY BRIEF EXPERIENCE

My Experience In Australia By: Nadila Fortuna

In Australia…

First day at school, Everything was totally new fora small girl like me. New situation, new face, newenvironment and all new things that I’ve never met.

I really remembered, when me, my brother andsisters entered “Westbourne Park Primary School” whichis the school where we would like to enter and to beeducated, the first thing that our mother did is thatshe took us to one of the place at school to buy the

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school uniform, then after that we entered our ownclassroom.

Start to study, with the modal of memorizingnumbers from 1-20 and the way to introduce myself, Ithink it’s not enough. But that’s all what I know.

I’m still feeling afraid, confused, with this newsituation, but I tried to fill happy with it. The nextfollowing day, I tried to speak actively with myfriends. Well, my friends really help me to speakEnglish. My teacher also really understand me, theytalk slowly to me, to make me understand on what theyare saying. Then, it will be easer for me to know whatare they talking about.

Everyday was the same, and i finally can speakEnglish fluently just like my friends. I moved tosecond grader. I was so happy, I got new friends, andnew class. The class was clean, colorful, gives a newspirit for me. My supervisor’s name is Mr. Sue Keally.She is very kind and funny teacher. She helps me tofind out some words that I don’t understand.

Many activities that we do in the class, such asstudying math, about robotic, computer, creativity,sport, and many more. Every week, we also have a testabout spelling. So, we should spell the wordscorrectly. We have the daily routine to perform everymorning. So, we are divided into some groups. Theteacher will give the topics and each group willperform in the day which had been scheduled before.

In my school, we are also thought about otherlanguages, like Chinese and italic language. It’s quitehard, but we enjoyed it. Studying in Australia, was

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really great. I felt so free, studying with nopressure. But unfortunately, my mum had finished hercollage, which means we should go home already. I wasso sad hearing that news, even my friends cry. They allwere feeling so sad, that I should go. So do I.

In Indonesia…

In Indonesia, I continued my education startingfrom grade three in one of the elementary school inPalu, that is SDN Inpres 6 Lolu Palu. At the first dayI studied there, I was so famous, because of myEnglish. I was even called as “bule” in that school.Well, that time i was really like the person who wasborn there, my skin was so white, my face like theforeign people.

But, it wasn’t all a good news, because myIndonesian language was still too bad, I couldn’tunderstand what are they talking about, what did theteacher explain about, I don’t get it. The result isthat my score is too low.

In Indonesia, the subject was so hard and too manyhome works, it’s different in Australia. No home works,and no pressure when studying. Sometimes I got stresswhen I study, because I don’t understand about thesubject. But luckily my family is always in my side,helping me when I can’t do it. Well, my English is souseful for me. Since I came back from Australia, I amoften to be choosen as the representative for my schoolfor the speech or story telling competition. Even whenI don’t always got the first winner, but I take it asmy experience for later on.

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The surroundings in my environment always speaksIndonesia. Slowly I can and I am speaking Indonesia. Myparents were worried, they are scared if I lost myEnglish. So, my parents always ask me to write anarticle in English or something like that in order notto lose my English.

My Junior high school life…

Entering the high education, I entered SMP Al-Azharpalu. The school which is known as the English school.Well, I choose that school because first, I trust thequality of that school. My elder sister has studiedthere, and she got many achievement. Second, because Iwould like to keep my English. Al-azhar is the schoolwhose the students have the rules to speak English,even it’s not always, but the fact that most of thestudents who studied there, have a very good English.That’s why I believe, when I entered that school, theenvironment is about English, then automatically I cankeep using my English.

Some of the subject are also using English, even ifits not an English subject, just like social studied.We studied about social using English language, eventhought we also have the Indonesian packet book. Othersubjects just combine between English and Indonesianlanguage.

When I entered this junior high school, I was inthe C class. It is an extension class. Which means allstudents who are entering that class should speakEnglish.

Well, I think this is very great way from thisschool. This is one of the ways for me to keep and

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always use my English. I’m really proud of having thislanguage stand still. Because of my English, I joinlots and lots of competition, and I also got money fromit. One of the competition that I join just now is theEnglish Olympiad, all of Al-Azhar students got the 1st

until 7th rank in the final round or the last round,which contains 10 students. Before there were abouthundreds students join it, but only ten which enteredthe final. And I got the 2th rank, I got money in quitebig number for my jajan. I really can feel the benefit.

Well, I hope all people outside there, always tryto learn and speak English, especially for the younggeneration like me. My mum told me, when you know howto speak English then you can go and visit all thecountries in all over the world.

So, lets study English, and try to apply in our dailylife. That’s all about my English short experience.Hopefully this experience can be a big motivation forall of us. Byee

Australia.

By: Widya Puspitasari

The first time I came to Australia, it can be said thatI was very confused. Most people get the same feelingbecause they came to a place where they have totallydifferent environment and culture surround them. Otherthan confused, I was also scared. Who wouldn’t be? Imean, I have absolutely no skill at English whereAustralia’s national language is English. I knew thateverything wasn’t going to be easy at the first place.But I learned that Australia especially Adelaide, where

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I stayed, was a very friendly place which guided me tosuch a big improvement with many efforts too.

I still remember the day I arrived at Adelaide, SouthAustralia, it was Sunday. Without any preparation on mypoor English skill, my mother sent me to school. It waskind of a shock. Most people would say, culture shock,but my opinion was, I got a different language shock.Just imagine, having to go to school with people youobviously do not know and they speak things you can’teven get the meaning. It was devastating for me,surely.

The first time I met my classmates was in the library.They were listening to their teacher about a book. Notonly it was hard to understand the meaning of what theyconfessed or said, they also speak very fast. So itmade me to a brief conclusion that it would be and itmust be hard to get along with friends if I don’t evenunderstand what came out of their mouth. That was whatI reckoned would came up to reality. It did, for sometime. But when I see it now, I realized that teachersthere, people there, students there, are the reason whyI had a rapid progress.

Let see, It was hard to get along with some friends atfirst, but you won’t believe how nice and friendly theyare! When I got there, and studied there, if there werewords from teachers that I didn’t caught well, theywould try to explain it any way that I couldunderstand. They started explaining by body languages.But then it leveled up to explaining the words withexplanation I could understand as my English skill grewup.

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The teachers have great contribution towards the growthof my English skill either it was writing, speaking orvocabularies. In Australia, primary schools have until7 grades. When I came to Aussie, I was in 5th grade andwhen I finally came to 6th grade, I started having anextra lesson taught by voluntary teachers. It wasreally fun and helpful! The school, Westbourne ParkPrimary was so kind to have given me the extra lessonbecause it really influenced on my progress. In 6th

grade, we have so many tasks too. But unlike inIndonesia, I find the tasks very helpful and you know,so real. What do I mean by real? It had a clear purposeand had the context to future life. Imagine, sinceprimary school we are already taught to bring up apresentation on things. You know, we had this famoustask called ‘integrated studies’. It was a task onpresenting things. The task is for individual andgroup. For the individual task, we have to look for atopic and bring it up as a presentation. We were judgedand scored not only by the quality of our work and howwe do the presentation but also our attitude andbehavior while doing the task itself. So they seek forquality and character. And I think that is the mostimportant thing if we want a success. Good deeds andcharacters are poured into us since the basic learning.Anyway, I chose to bring up about Steve Irwin. He was afamous man in Australia who loved and was loved byanimals. He died on the cause of animal too. What Imeant by teachers seek for characters, is that from ourpresentation or what we present, we have to seecharacters that we can get. I took a ‘Persisting’attitude out of Steve Irwin, because he was a veryconsistent man. Teachers guided me throughout myintegrated study so that I can learn step by step. The

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way they teach is very different with most Indonesianteachers. Aussie teachers, they taught very slowly butalso effective because they know that I have to figureout meanings of their words or sentences, they also donot force me to directly understand. If I didn’t getit, they will try to find an effective way to make meunderstand. Just like giving me descriptions bycolorful videos or pictures that are understandable.They are very compassionate and patient too. Not onlythat, they also give very big attention to my progressin school. It was very helpful as they always askwhether students understood their materials or not.

Other than the teachers, my school has a very light andfun system to students. Most people would do thingswhen it’s fun and useful right? That’s probably aprecise description of my school. Learning and havingfun at the same time. So it was never boring and Imight say, I have the addiction to go to schooleveryday because I didn’t want to miss the fun. Myschool has this monthly assembly. Not only it was forceremonies or presenting performance or announcements,they also give awards every month for students inclass. Isn’t fun? They gave you certificate on yourachievement. Example of the achievement is like “Verypersistence and brave to show some act in class”. It isa small thing that can influence people’s life, youknow. Because even it’s only school award, it givesgreat motivation to anyone, including me.

The above things that I told you was just a briefdescription of how my English developed well inAustralia. Within 3 months, I could hardly speakIndonesia or know understand Indonesian language. Ikept speaking English fluently to my family or to other

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Indonesian families in Aussie. Thanks to my school,teachers and friends, I could develop rapidly toabsolutely nothing to at least something. Well, talkingabout family, my family also helped me through myprocess of learning. My dad banned us for being crowdedat home but, it would be okay to be crowded as long aswe speak English. My mum also ban the use of Indonesianlanguage at home and always speak English even thoughall of us realized that we could’ve speak Indonesia tomake it easier. I also have adoring brother and sisterwho also became the people I practiced my English withat home. So in the end, I came to speak Englisheveryday and made it as my language in Australia.

Now, I am currently studying at SMA Al-azhar Palu,Central Sulawesi. You might be wondering how my storyend up when I first came to Indonesia after my 1 yearand 8 months stay in Aussie. Well, when I came, I alsohad the language shock, but it wasn’t as big as when Icame to Aussie. But can you imagine, culture moreoverlanguage shock in your own homeland? Trust me, it didhappen. Believe it or not, I didn’t really understandwhat my Indonesian friends were saying. But of course,I learned Indonesian language faster than English! Mymum and dad chose the right place for me to study whichis Al-azhar Junior high. My English continued todevelop even though it wasn’t as rapid as it was inAussie. My school is known for their English skill, somy dad chose the school. I joined so many Englishcompetitions and win some national achievement. Unlikestudying in Australia, my English do not rapidlydevelop in Speaking skill but more to understandinggrammar and rules in sentences. It was also devastatingat the first time because I never had the lesson

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before. I mean, English is used to speak. That is themain function, and that was all I knew.

My school junior high or senior high kept my Englishwell and developed it. As I said, I joined manycompetitions related to the use of English like speech,storytelling, and others. Not to mention that I alsobecame one of Indonesia’s delegation to Japan, thanksto my English skill.

My family also made me use English quite a time athome. When I frst came to Indonesia, my mother andfather always speak English to me, mys sisters andbrother. It was really cool to chat with your parentson phone usng English. What’s fun are that peoplearound you can have a hard time understanding myconversations and it also gave me more confidence, itfelt like being a very smart student!

I think, what I earned and got from Aussie are preciousthings that I should keep forever because I knew thatit will be useful in the future of mine or Indonesia.People in Aussie taught me so much to remember! Now, myfriends speak English well too, in my class. Theysometimes ask me how to pronounce words and ask formeanings of words. It is also a way for me to developmy skill in English.

I am very thankful that I was given the chance to studyin Aussie even if it was a short period learning. I amlooking forward to be better and improve this skill.

F. Discussion

1. What are the roles of language awareness inlanguage acquisition?

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Language awareness exists as the result of many

factors which triggers the learners or foreigners

to study and practice more on the language used

surrounding. Language awareness plays a very

significant role when it comes to adjusting new

environment.

Basically, when people are in a very different

place or out of their comfort zone, people tend to

be very aware on what the place demands. This

matters become very urgent when it comes to

children. Childhood is the stage of time where

people are eager to play along and finds out

everything. Children obviously needs friends to

survive in the society. The needs will result on

the existance of awareness of the children to

fulfilll the society’s demands. One of the most

important thing they had to fulfill is to know

better of the language for communication.

As the experiences of three children above who had

been studying in Australia for 2 years, it can be

identified that they had been through some phase

of adjusting and adapting. From the three stories

of the children, they had the same expressions of

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coming to a new different place which were

shocked, confused and mild panick. These kinds of

expressions are ordinary especially when almost

all the things in the new place was totally

different. Though so, the feelings felt by the

children are what triggers them to be aware of

what they needed to do to adust.

The main case here is that at first, those

children did not know or use English as their

language where their new environment forces them

to know English. Indirectly, the new environment

has created new mindsets for the children to start

learning the language. This is the prime stage

where they earned the language awareness.

Adapting to a new environment is not easy

especially when the children had to go to school

to meet many people who speaks with words they

don’t usually hear or understand. Furthermore, in

this case, studying when not knowing what are

taught was indeed harder. The children had been

through difficult times where they not only had to

reduce their own culture shock in order to manage

to make friends but they also had to understand

what are taught in school.

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Having many friends in a new area is also one of

the factor to earn the language awareness. Widya’s

case represented on how her school mates triggers

her to try to practice more about English.

Widya: It was hard to get along with some friends at first, but youwon’t believe how nice and friendly they are! When I got there, andstudied there, if there were words from teachers that I didn’t caughtwell, they would try to explain it any way that I could understand.They started explaining by body languages.

From her statement it can be understood that she

was amazed by her friends attitude which was

friendly. Her friends, in her story, had been

giving her understandings by body language of what

she didn’t get on school subects. We can see that,

phsycologically the attitude her friends gave her

was as a matter of fact; a burden to her which

later on made her want to learn English faster so

that she wouldn’t bother her friends. From her

friends, what Widya accepted was awareness to

learn more.

The case of the other child was a little bit

different, Nabila had a different point of view at

first but then she started to earn language

awareness from her friends.

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Nabila: [........] I don’t really care, what they are thinking about thisnew student (me). [............] Every thing change when I was in secondgrader, my experience and skill increased. I do more like it. I have afriendly teacher, and many best friends.

It can be seen that Nabila had not yet earned the

language awareness in her. She implied that she

didn’t care about her language progress as well as

what her friends see in her. But her mindset and

behaviours toward the language changed when she had

friendly teachers and best friends. She stated that

she liked it better then and her experiences as

well as skills developed. This indirectly meant

that her friends and other factors grew her

interests in the language.

The school system is also one of the factor in

earning the language awareness. To make this

understandable, Nadila’s statement will help to

explain on how school system supports the growth of

language awareness in order obtain the laguage

Nadila: Many activities that we do in the class, such as studyingmath, about robotic, computer, creativity, sport, and many more.Every week, we also have a test about spelling. So, we should spell thewords correctly. We have the daily routine to perform every morning.So, we are divided into some groups. The teacher will give the topics

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and each group will perform in the day which had been scheduledbefore.

From her statement above, we can identify that her

school have many activites provided to support their

learning process. One of the activity is spelling

test. It would be impossible for a child to do a

spelling test of the langage they don’t even master.

So how should Nadila react to this situation? Of

course, the only way to make it work is to try to

adjust by learning the language in order to be

involved in the school activities. The other

activity is group performing. This kind of program

created by the school is also improving the language

skills of Nadila and also the three children who are

in the same school. The group performing program not

only will motivate Nadila to understand the language

more to be able to perform in front of the class by

using English but also to be able to interact with

her friends by using English when making the

presentation. From the activities regulated by the

school, Nadila and of course, her sisters are

demanded to know the language more. This kind of

demand is one of the way to attain the language

faster too.

Not only the school society which grows the

language awareness on the kids, the closest

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relations of the children are also very important.

For people, especially children, families are the

ones which courages them most to change and to be

better. Families are the people who support them

fully to pass through the bitter moments.

In the writings of the three children, they

mentioned how their families helped them a lot

through ups and downs.

Widya: my family also helped me through my process of learning.My dad banned us for being crowded at home but, it would be okayto be crowded as long as we speak English. My mum also ban theuse of Indonesian language at home and always speak English eventhough all of us realized that we could’ve speak Indonesia to make iteasier. I also have adoring brother and sister who also became thepeople I practiced my English with at home. So in the end, I came tospeak English everyday and made it as my language in Australia.

From her brief statement, we can conclude how all

the part of her family helped her by giving both

action and physcological supports. Her father and

mother intentionally banned the use of Indonesian

language to make her accustumed with the use of

English as her daily language. It showed how her

parents loved her and wanted her to be better at

school by giving her regular practice of English

not only at school but also at home. Widya’s

brother and sisters also played an important role

in her language progress. Her brother and sisters

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always become the people she practiced speaking

with.

The supports from Widya’s family courages her to

show more of her best to not let down her family.

From her statement we can also identify an indirect

factor which triggers her to obtain the English

language more. As her statement above, her brother

and sisters are the ones which she practice English

with. A little bit of an ‘invisible’ competition

can occur because of this. A competition will

strongly stimulates her eagerness to obtain the

language faster and better than her brother or

sisters. This factor does not only happen to Widya,

but the same to her brother and sisters. The 3 of

them will be motivated to compete against eachother

indirectly, which will ease their way to master

the language.

From the explanation above, we can cnclude that;

the factors which created the language awareness

which are friends, families, and school systems had

become the ladders for the children to attain the

language easily. By having the demands from society

will create the children’s awareness to master the

language faster and better to be able to interact

with the society, to be involved in school programs

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and also to fit in among all the classmates and

school mates.

2. What factors might influence their English keep

sustaining?

The three children’s stories recited about how

they still use the language they obtained from a

different country, which is English. From their

stories we can see that the three of them

understand well on how important it is to sustain

and keep using the language. They knew how hard

they mastered it and they also knew that it would

be harder to keep it from loosing.

There are many ways they’ve done conciously on

sustaining the language and there are other

variabels which also influence on keeping their

language as well as the language originality that

they caught.

From their real stories, there are some factors

which strongly support them on sustaining the

language:

a. Family

Close relations don’t only help in attaining

the language, they also helped on sustaining

the language for the three children. There are

many actions their families had done. The

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reason why family is the main factor is that

these three children went to Australia with

their parents, sisters and brother. Both father

and mother keep asking, moreover regulate them

to speak English at home. In Indonesia,

children fluent in speaking other language

especially International language, English are

considered smart. Parents would be really proud

to see the success of their children.

Therefore, the three children’s parents want

them to keep their English. The parents have

great contribution by making right decision for

their children, one of it was choosing their

school. In Widya’s statement, it can be proved

that parent’s choice also influence on the

children’s process of keeping the language.

Widya: My mum and dad chose the right place for me to study

which is Al-azhar Junior high.[.........] My school is known for their

English skill, so my dad chose the school.

The three children’s family has done a lot by

becoming the people the children can talk with

English to at home or any other place.

Motivations and demands from parents have a

significant effects to children especially for

the three children in this case. In Nadila’s

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story, she mentioned about her mother couraging

her to speak English which proved that her

parents is one of the factor which keeps her

sustaining the language.

Nadila: Well, I hope all people outside there, always try tolearn and speak English, especially for the young generation likeme. My mum told me, when you know how to speak English thenyou can go and visit all the countries in all over the world.

From her statement above we can understand that

she is couraged by her mother’s advice on how

important English is. She even encourage other

people to always speak and learn English. In the

other child’s statement, she can briefly

convince us that her parents plays a big role in

keepng her English.

Nabila: My parents told me that always speak English eventhought only at home. So, our pronunciation will not be lost. Atthe end, I kept my English until now because of ALLAH SWT andmy parents. Lots of thanks to them.

Nabila’s statement refers to how much her

parents contribute as well as guide her to not

lost the language she earned.

By giving the reasons and evidences above, it

can be proved that parents contributions are are

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one of the factor which supports on sustaining

language.

b. School

From the stories, we know that the school

entered by these children are one of the

favorite school in their town which has English

background. The school also became one of th

factor because the school’s system and learning

process is very important. School with English

background and great emphasis on the use of

English will sustain and even develop the

children’s English skills. These three children

went to these kind of school which improved and

keep their English.

A school with English background and emphasis

on the use of Englsh would have a very skilled

English teacher and also students who

understand English more than students from

diferent school. Therefore, these three

children don’t only interact with their family

with using English, but they can also talk

normally by using English with their teachers

and friends at school.

In the English speaking country, Australia, the

children learned a lot about speaking English.

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They had never learned about linguistic. But

when they came to Indonesia, the curriculum

indirectly forces them to learn linguistic

which also became a major contribution in

developing their English skills. Not only they

know how to speak it, but they also know how to

make a grammatically correct and structured

sentence or paragraphs.

In school, there are many organizations, and in

a school with English background, there must be

an English community. The English organization

in a school influenced and triggers the

students to speak English. The three children

wouldn’t want to stay and not speaking English.

So it is very clear that school helps the

children to sustain their language and also

develop their English skills.

c. Environment influences. It is well known that in Indonesia, that people

with other language skills especially English

are considered very smart and are very

appreciated. This is also the condition of the

three children’s town where English is higly

appreciated.

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There are many regional, provincial, national

and even international prestigious competitions

which involves the use of English skills. These

kinds of competitions are prestigious and lets

students to be known as smart students. Knowing

they own the modal which are great speaking

with great pronunciation, these children can

have tons of achievements from competitions.

Having many achievements will help the children

in their future study or carriers. High

schools, universities and even institutions

really exalt students with English speaking

skills knowing that English is a global

language.

The small town where the children lived only

have some students who can speak English as

fluent as them. The students who can speak

English fluently and have great English skills

are very respected and appreciated by the

government.

This kind of responses from the environment

triggers the children to explore more and to

use more of their English. By joining many

English competitions and use English as the

teriser need to own appreciation and earn

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prestigious achievements, these there children

can protect their English from loosing.

Widya: As I said, I joined many competitions related to the useof English like speech contest, storytelling, and others. Not tomention that I also became one of Indonesia’s delegation toJapan, thanks to my English skill.

In Widya’s statement, we can see that she joined

many English competitions and also got many

outstanding achievements. What Widya experienced

also happened to the other two children. We can

understand English became one of the matters in

many prestigious competitions which proved that

English is very appreciated in Indonesia.

All the reasons and proves above show how

environment demand the three children to keep

using their English so that the originality of

their English speaking skill can still stay the

same and they can also explore on their English

skills.

G. Conclusion

The narratives of Nadila, Nabila and Widya

described above illustrate learning experiences on

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Primary School in Australia. The three of them

started acquire English as their second language in

Australia and after five years came back from

there, their English still keep maintaining and

they frequently join many kinds of English

competitions. From their narratives, it may

conclude that language awareness has brought great

contribution regarding foreign language

acquisition. Their strongly interpersonal and

engaging approach both supports and benefits from a

developed of Language Awareness. The great support

from their parents, school, and environment are

factors that keep their English fluent.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ellis. E.M. 2012. Language Awareness and its relevance to TESOL. University of Sidney Papers in Tesol, 7, 1-23.

Kiely. R. 2009. Observing, Noticing, and Understanding:Two case studies in language awareness in the development of academic literacy. Language Awareness Vol. 18, No. 3-4, August-November 2009,329-344.

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