BAB I
KENAPA MEMBACA TEKS
AKADEMIK BERBAHASA INGGRIS SULIT
1. Kompetensi
Setelah mempelajari dan mengerjakan latihan-latihan dalam BAB I ini diharapkan mahasiswa telah memiliki komptensi sebagai berikut:
a) Pengetahuan tentang kenapa teks akademik berbahasa Inggris sering sulit dibaca;
b) Pengetahuan dalam memberikan contoh frase dalam bahasa Inggris yang terbentuk dari banyak kata;
c) Pengetahuan dalam memberikan contoh kalimat majemuk dalam bahasa Inggris yang terbentuk dari beberapa anak kalimat; dan
d) Pengetahuan dalam memberikan contoh-contoh pertanyaan dalam bahasa Inggris yang sulit dijawab.
2. Pengantar
Teks akademik berbahasa Inggris umumnya dirasakan sulit dibaca oleh mahasiswa di Perguruan Tinggi terutama bagi mahasiswa dari program studi atau jurusan non-bahasa Inggris. Hal ini antara lain disebabkan karena beberapa sebab seperti: kata-kata sulit atau baru yang terlalu banyak, terlalu banyak kata dalam satu frase, terlalu banyak anak kalimat dalam satu kalimat majemuk, terlalu banyak anak kalimat yang berada diantara subjek dan predikat kalimat induk, dan lain-lain. Pada BAB I ini akan diperlihatkan contoh-contoh teks akademik dalam bahasa Inggris yang sulit dibaca karena penyebab-penyebab tadi.
3. Teks Yang Mempunyai Terlalu Banyak Kata Baru
Kata-kata sulit atau baru bagi mahasiswa adalah kata yang belum pernah mereka temui sebelumnya atau kata-kata yang tidak mereka ketahui artinya walaupun pernah dijumpai dalam bacaan. Untuk lebih jelasnya perhatikan contoh teks di bawah ini.
Ice ages, those periods when ice covered extensive areas of the Earth, are known to have occurred at least six times. Past ice ages can be recognized from rock strata that show evidence of foreign materials deposited by moving walls of ice or melting glaciers. Ice ages can also be recognized from land formation that have been reduced from moving walls of ice, such as U-shaped valleys, sculptured landscapes, and polished rock faces.
Pada Teks 1 di atas kemungkinan kata-kata sulit bagi mahasiswa telah ditandai dengan cetak tebal. Dalam teks yang cuma satu paragraf terdapat sedikitnya 16 kata sulit atau baru bagi mahasiswa dan inilah yang membuat teks ini akan dirasakan sulit bagi mahasiswa.
Petunjuk: Tandailah kata-kata sulit atau baru dalam teks berikut
ini dan tebaklah artinya tanpa melihat kamus terlebih
dahulu!
Distinguishing Educational Leadership
and Management
The concept of management overlaps with two similar terms, leadership and administration. “Management” is widely used in Britain, Europe, and Africa, for example, while “administration” is preferred in the United States, Canada, and Australia. “Leadership” is of great contemporary interest in most countries in the developed World. Dimmock (1999) differentiates these concepts whilst also acknowledging that there are competing definitions:
School leaders experience tensions between competing elements of leadership, management and administration. Irrespective of how these terms are defined, school leaders experience difficulty in deciding the balance between higher order tasks designed to improve staff, student and school performance (leadership), routine maintenance of present operations (management) and lower order duties (administration).
Administration is not associated with “lower order duties” in the U.S. but may be seen as the overarching term, which embraces both leadership and management. Cuban (1988) provides one of the clearest distinctions between leadership and management.
By leadership, I mean influencing others actions in achieving desirable ends. Managing is maintaining efficiently and effectively current organisational arrangements. I prize both managing and leading and attach no special value to either since different settings and times call for varied responses.
Leadership and management need to be given equal prominence if schools are to operate effectively and achieve their objectives. “Leading and managing are distinct, but both are important. The challenge of modern organisations requires the objective perspective of the manager as well as the flashes of vision and commitment wise leadership provides”.
4. Teks Dengan Terlalu Banyak Kata Dalam Satu Frase
Frase yang dimaksud di sini adalah gabungan kata yang membentuk satu kesatuan pengertian atau makna dengan satu kepala kata (head word). Apabila dalam sebuah frase terdapat terlalu banyak kata maka frase tersebut akan sulit dipahami karena pembaca akan kesulitan mencari kepala kata atau kata inti (core word) dari frase tersebut. Untuk lebih jelasnya lihatlah contoh frase dalam teks di bawah ini:
For 150 years after colonization, Australia's population grew with the arrival of predominantly British settlers. Agriculture and trade developed along European lines. Political reforms leading to universal suffrage and the establishment of trade unions were implemented early on, founding a strong political tradition of equal rights and opportunities.
Dalam contoh di atas terdapat tiga frase nomina (noun phrase) yang terdiri atas enam kata atau lebih sehingga membuat frase tersebut menjadi begitu panjang dan sulit dibaca. Walaupun kata-kata dalam sebuah teks tidak terlalu banyak yang baru atau sulit tetapi apabila terlalu banyak frase yang terbentuk dari banyak kata, maka frase tersebut juga akan sulit dibaca karena pembaca akan kesulitan untuk menentukan mana yang menjadi kepala kata atau inti kata dari frase tersebut.
Petunjuk: Garisbawahilah setiap frase nominal yang terdapat dalam teks di bawah ini dan lingkari kepala katanya (head-word)!
The English National College for School Leadership.
The contemporary emphasis on leadership rather than management is illustrated starkly by the opening of the English National College for School Leadership (NCSL) in November 2000. NCSL”s stress on leadership has led to a neglect of management. Visionary and inspirational leadership are advocated but much less attention is given to the structures and processes required to implement these ideas successfully. A fuller discussion of the NCSL may be found in Bush (2006).
The Significance of the Educational Context
Educational management as a field of study and practice was derived from management principles first applied to industry and commerce, mainly in the United States. Theory development largely involved the application of industrial models to educational settings. As the subject became established as an academic field in its own right, its theorists and practitioners began to develop alternative models based on their observation of, and experience in, schools and colleges. By the 21st century the main theories, featured in this chapter, have either been developed in the educational context or have been adapted from industrial models to meet the specific requirements of schools and colleges. Educational management has progressed from being a new field dependent upon ideas developed in other settings to become an established field with its own theories and research.
Conceptualizing Educational Management
Leadership and management are often regarded as essentially practical activities. Practitioners and policy-makers tend to be dismissive of theories and concepts for their alleged remoteness from the “real” school situation. Willower (1980, p. 2), for example, asserts that “the application of theories by practicing administrators is a difficult and problematic undertaking. Indeed, it is clear that theories are simply not used very much in the realm of practice.” This comment suggests that theory and practice are regarded as separate aspects of educational leadership and management. Academics develop and refine theory while managers engage in practice. In short, there is a theory/ practice divide, or “gap” (English, 2002):
The theory-practice gap stands as the Gordian Knot of educational administration. Rather than be cut, it has become a permanent fixture of the landscape because it is embedded in the way we construct theories for use. The theory-practice gap will be removed when we construct different and better theories that predict the effects of practice.
5. Teks Dengan Beberapa Klausa Dalam Satu Kalimat Majemuk.
Kalimat majemuk yang dimaksud di sini adalah kalimat yang terdiri dari minimal dua kalimat, yaitu satu kalimat induk dan satu anak kalimat. Untuk lebih jelas mari perhatikan contoh di bawah ini.
While computer and managerial jobs have increased by over thirty per cent since the mid-1980s, the full-time factory jobs that were numerous in the years following World War II are more difficult to find. Furthermore much of the growth in employment in recent years has been in part-time rather than full-time, and casual, rather than permanent, work. This makes it much harder for today's workers to borrow the money needed to share in the Australian dream of buying the family home. Kevin O'Connor, a geographer from the University of Melbourne, says the current growth in jobs is very uneven.
Dalam contoh di atas kalimat yang dicetak tebal adalah kalimat majemuk yang terdiri dari tiga kalimat, yaitu satu kalimat induk (main clause) dan dua anak kalimat (subordinate clauses). Karena satu kalimat majemuk terbentuk dari tiga kalimat maka kalimat majemuk ini akan lebih sulit dibaca dibandingkan dengan kalimat yang terdiri dari hanya satu kalimat (single clause sentence).
Petunjuk: Garisbawahilah semua kalimat majemuk (complex sentence) dalam teks di bawah ini dan lingkari induk kalimatnya (main clause)!
The Relevance of Theory to Good Practice
If practitioners shun theory then they must rely on experience as a guide to action. In deciding on their response to a problem they draw on a range of options (which is) suggested by previous experience with that type of issue. However, “it is wishful thinking to assume that experience alone will teach leaders everything (that) they need to know” (Copland et al, 2002, p. 75).
Teachers sometimes explain their decisions as just “common sense.” However, such apparently pragmatic decisions are often based on implicit theories. When a teacher or a manager takes a decision it reflects in part that person’s view of the organization. Such views or preconceptions are colored by experience and by the attitudes engendered by that experience. These attitudes take on the character of frames of reference or theories, which inevitably influence the decision-making process.
Theory serves to provide a rationale for decision-making. Managerial activity is enhanced by an explicit awareness of the theoretical framework underpinning practice in educational institutions.
There are three main arguments to support the view that managers have much to learn from an appreciation of theory, providing that it is grounded firmly (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) in the realities of practice:
1). Reliance on facts as the sole guide to action is unsatisfactory because all evidence requires interpretation. Theory provides “mental models” (Leithwood et al, 1999, p. 75) to help in understanding the nature and effects of practice.
2). Dependence on personal experience in interpreting facts and making decisions is narrow because it discards the knowledge of others. Familiarity with the arguments and insights of theorists enables the practitioner to deploy a wide range of experience and understanding in resolving the problems of today. An understanding of theory also helps reduces the likelihood of mistakes occurring while experience is being acquired.
3). Experience may be particularly unhelpful as the sole guide to action when the practitioner begins to operate in a different context. Organizational variables may mean that practice in one school or college has little relevance in the new environment. A broader awareness of theory and practice may be valuable as the manager attempts to interpret behavior in the fresh situation.
6. Teks Dengan Klausa Pada Posisi Sulit Dalam Kalimat Induk
Kalimat majemuk dalam bahasa Ingris terdiri dari satu kalimat induk (main clause) dan satu atau lebih anak kalimat (subordinate clauses). Anak kalimat ini juga berbagai macam bentuknya seperti klausa nomina (noun clause), klausa ajektifa (adjective clause) atau klausa keterangan (adverb clause). Kalau posisi anak kalimat ini berada di antara subjek dan kata kerja atau predikat kalimat induk maka kalimat majemuk ini akan sulit dibaca karena pembaca akan kesulitan menemukan kata kerja atau predikat dari kalimat induk tersebut karena terpisah. Begitu juga dengan kalimat majemuk yang diawali dengan anak kalimat; pembaca akan kesulitan menentukan mana subjek dari induk kalimat tersebut karena letaknya bukan di awal kalimat majemuk tersebut. Untuk lebih jelasnya perhatikan contoh berikut in
While computer and managerial jobs have increased by over thirty per cent since the mid-1980s, the full-time factory jobs that were numerous in the years following World War II are more difficult to find.
Pada contoh di atas, kalimat majemuk tidak diawali oleh subjek kalimat, tetapi oleh sebuah anak kalimat keterangan (kalimat yang dicetak miring). Begitu juga setelah subjek kalimat induk terdapat sebuah anak kalimat (adjective clause) yang menambah keterangan tentang subjek kalimat (kalimat yang digarisbawahi) dan baru setelah itu diikuti oleh predikat dari kalimat induk tersebut. Kalimat induk (main clause) dalam kalimat di atas ditandai dengan cetak tebal. Jadi karena subjek kalimat induk tidak terletak di awal kalimat seperti dalam kalimat tunggal dan antara subjek kalimat dan predikatnya terpisah maka kalimat majemuk seperti ini akan sulit dibaca terutama bagi yang belum terbiasa membaca kalimat seperti ini.
Petunjuk: Garisbawahilah semua kalimat majemuk dalam teks di bawah ini, lingkari semua anak kalimat-anak kalimatnya, serta tandailah subjek dan predikat kalimat induknya!
The Limitations of Formal Models
The various formal models pervade much of the literature on educational management. They are normative approaches in that they present ideas about how people in organizations ought to behave. Levacic et al (1999) argue that these assumptions underpin the educational reforms of the 1990s, notably in England:
A major development in educational management in the last decade has been much greater emphasis on defining effective leadership by individuals in management posts in terms of the effectiveness of their organization, which is increasingly judged in relation to measurable outcomes for students. This is argued to require a rational-technicist approach to the structuring of decision-making.
There are five specific weaknesses associated with formal models:
1). It may be unrealistic to characterize schools and colleges as goal-oriented organizations. It is often difficult to ascertain the goals of educational institutions. Formal objectives may have little operational relevance because they are often vague and general, because there may be many different goals competing for resources, and because goals may emanate from individuals and groups as well as from the leaders of the organization. Even where the purposes of schools and colleges have been clarified, there are further problems in judging whether objectives have been achieved. Policy-makers and practitioners often rely on examination performance to assess schools but this is only one dimension of the educational process.
2). The portrayal of decision-making as a rational process is fraught with difficulties. The belief that managerial action is preceded by a process of evaluation of alternatives and a considered choice of the most appropriate option is rarely substantiated. Much human behaviour is irrational and this inevitably influences the nature of decision-making in education. Weick (1976, p. 1), for example, asserts that rational practice is the exception rather than the norm.
3). Formal models focus on the organization as an entity and ignore or underestimate the contribution of individuals. They assume that people occupy preordained positions in the structure and that their behaviour reflects their organizational positions rather than their individual qualities and experience. Greenfield (1973)has been particularly critical of this view (see the discussion of subjective models, below). Samier (2002, p. 40) adopts a similar approach, expressing concern “about the role technical rationality plays in crippling the personality of the bureaucrat, reducing him [sic] to a cog in machine.”
4). A central assumption of formal models is that power resides at the apex of the pyramid. Principals possess authority by virtue of their positions as the appointed leaders of their institutions. This focus on official authority leads to a view of institutional management which is essentially top down. Policy is laid down by senior managers and implemented by staff lower down the hierarchy. Their acceptance of managerial decisions is regarded as unproblematic.
5). Formal approaches are based on the implicit assumption that organizations are relatively stable. Individuals may come and go but they slot into predetermined positions in a static structure. “Organisations operating in simpler and more stable environments are likely to employ less complex and more centralised structures, with authority, rules and policies as the primary vehicles for co-ordinating the work” (Bolman & Deal, 1997, p. 77).
7. Teks Yang Diikuti Oleh Pertanyaan Sulit
Adakalanya kita harus membaca sebuah teks berbahasa Inggris yang cukup mudah tetapi setelah itu kita harus menjawab pertanyaan yang sulit seperti pertanyaan tentang informasi yang tersirat (between the line) dalam teks tersebut, pertanyaan tentang prediksi terhadap kelanjutan teks tersebut, pertanyaan tentang penafsiran (inference) dari apa yang tertulis dalam teks. Untuk lebih jelasnya perhatikan contoh teks dan pertanyaan berikut ini.
Blood plasma is a clear, almost colorless liquid. It consists of blood from which the red and white blood cells have been removed. It is often used in transfusions because a patient generally needs the plasma portion of the blood more than the other components.
Plasma differs in several important ways from whole blood. First of all, plasma can be mixed for all donors and does not have to be from the right blood group, as whole blood does. In addition, plasma can be dried and stored, while whole blood cannot.
Which of the following is NOT stated about whole blood?
Pada contoh di atas walaupun bacaannya tidak terlalu sulit tapi petanyaan yang harus dijawab oleh pembaca cukup sulit karena yang ditanya adalah informasi yang tidak terdapat dalam teks. Pembaca hanya dapat menjawab pertanyaan tersebut kalau dia betul-betul paham dengan isi bacaan dan dapat membuat kesimpulan atau penanfsiran dari informasi yang terdapat dalam teks tersebut.
Pertanyaan yang biasa sulit dijawab adalah pertanyaan tentang organisasi teks, pertanyaan tentang informasi yang tersirat dalam teks, pertanyaan tentang prediksi apa yang ditulis dalam paragraf sebelum atau sesudah teks yang dibaca, atau pertanyaan tentang bagaimana sikap, sifat dan keadaan emosi penulis ketika menulis teks tersebut. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan-petanyaan seperti ini dibutuhkan kemampuan membaca pada tingkat tinggi seperti kemampuan menganalisis, sintesis dan evaluasi.
8. Ringkasan
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