CRITICAL READING 5

REVIEW OF JOURNAL entitled ‘THE ROLE OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL ENGLISH LITERACY ACTIVITIES IN PROMOTING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LITERACY’ written by Lilies Setiasih (2014), Universitas Islam Bandung.

The paper conducted by Lilies Setiasih reports on a case study of the role of out-of-school English literacy activities in promoting students’ English literacy at an elementary school in Bandung. The study is an attempt to respond to controversy among decision makers about the idea of offering English at elementary schools and the reality that at the school where the research was conducted, English is fully used as a means of instruction for English, Mathematics, and Science. Considering that literacy is shaped in socio-cultural contexts, the researcher assumed that the students acquired and developed their English literacy not only at school but also outside of school. Their out-of-school English literacy activities might contribute to their English literacy development. The research aims were to investigate the students’ English literacy level and to identify their out-of-school literacy activities. The theoretical framework covered the cognitive and socio-cultural theories of literacy. The research results were: 1) the majority of the fourth grade students were in early advanced and advanced levels for the aspects of reading and writing proficiency; and 2) their out-of-school English literacy activities played an important role in building their English literacy.  

The suggestion are teachers should widen their understanding of English literacy, both academic English literacy and other types of English literacy practice, acknowledge the value of these types of English literacy, and take advantage of knowledge that students bring from their out-of-school English literacy activities by integrating them into their school-based English literacy experiences in the classroom. By doing this, academic English literacy acquisition may well be enhanced if teachers can find and establish a connecting point between academic and non-academic English literacy activities that can support and supplement each other. Second, there is a need to consider educational, meaningful, pleasurable out-of-school English literacy activities for Indonesian students beyond school based tasks which can improve their English literacy experiences, especially for those at elementary schools because the two are mutually supportive of English literacy. Third, lack of availability of reading materials written in English for children is another reason for students not to engage in sufficient out-of-school reading. This study suggests that this constitute a challenge for teachers, authors, and researchers to create handbooks for elementary schools and pleasurable books for children adjusted to Indonesian cultures that can improve students’ English literacy naturally. 

In brief, the findings of the study are expected to contribute to the English teaching profession at elementary schools in particular and English literacy education in Indonesia in general.