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Pengelola Jurnal
“English Empower: Journal of Linguistics and Literature”
Pelindung:
Drs. H. Joko Siswanto, M.Si.

Penanggungjawab:
Dr. H. Purwoko, M.Si.
Yuli Rohbiyanto, M.Pd.

Dewan Editor:
Kuntum Trilestari, M.Pd. (Universitas Tamansiswa)

Mitra Bestari:
Machdalena Vianty, M.Ed., M.Pd., Ed.D. (Universitas Sriwijaya)
Drs. Mulyadi, M.A. (Universitas PGRI)
Robi Soma, M.Pd. (Universitas Jambi)

Pemimpin Redaksi:
Joko Priyono Saputro, M.Pd. (Universitas Tamansiswa)

Sekretaris Redaksi:
Nurul Fitriyah A., M.Pd. (Universitas Tamansiswa)

Staff Redaksi:
Nurfisi Arriyani, M.Pd.

Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra: ENGLISH EMPOWER merupakan media publikasi hasil
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yang terbit dengan ISSN 2528-3898 terbit 2 (dua) kali pertahun

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English Empower, ISSN 2528-3898
Vol.02 No.01

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Reading Strategies Used by Students and Its Relation to Their 1


Reading Comprehension and English Achievement Score
Komala Dwi Syaputri

The Effects of Group Discussion on the Students' Speaking Achievement 10


and Self-efficacy
Aswadi Jaya

The Influence of Somatic Auditory Visual Intellectual Strategy in 20


Teaching Reading
Asti Veto

Teachers' Perspectives of Internet-Based Classroom Learning 26


Robi Soma

“Find Someone Who” for Classroom Activity 35


Tita Ratna Wulan Dari

Overview of English National Examination in Indonesia in Relation 42


to Standardized Test
Ridha Ilma

An Analysis of Educational Values in “Spiderman 2” Movie 48


Andriamella Elfarissyah
English Empower,
42 Vol.02 No.01

OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH NATIONAL EXAMINATION IN


INDONESIA IN RELATION TO STANDARDIZED TEST
Ridha Ilma
A lecturer of English Study Program, Tridinanti University Palembang
ridhailma@univ-tridinanti.com

Abstract: The implementation of national examination as standardized test in Indonesia


carries a lot of controversies. It has contradictory with the goal of education which enables
to increase the quality of education. The controversies can be seen from the various media
such as television, newspaper and internet arguing whether such exams are beneficial. The
policy makers believe that by establishing such examinations, teachers will be pushed to
teach better and students will be motivated to learn more. However, there is no guarantee
this examination will ensure high quality instruction and greater students learning.

Keywords: national examination, standardized test, education, controversy.

INTRODUCTION process of education, on the other hand,


The current trend of using standardized considers human beings as unique
test is motivated by desire to improve creatures with diverse and dynamic
public education. In Indonesia, the personalities. Their achievement, then,
government has a policy that every student cannot simply be measured by a test.
has to participate in a national exami- There are three main subjects which are
nation. Through this exam, it will be tested in national examination in Indone-
determined whether a student is ready to sia; Indonesian language, English, and
leave the school and receive the graduation Mathematics. It will be added with other
certificate. National examination is subjects based on the students' major so
becoming controversy as it has a lot of that there will be four subjects tested in
negative backwash in contrary with the national examination. English is one of
main goals of increasing education quality those subjects which plays an important
in Indonesia. role in affecting the students' score. Since
The government believes that a the passing grade of students is getting
standardized national examination can higher, all of English teachers compete to
improve the quality of education since the increase the students' skill of English to
students and the schools will try hard to pass the examination. This paper will
meet the demand of the examination. discuss the overview of English national
However, education deals with human examination of senior high school in
beings and the process of education are not Indonesia in relation to standardized test.
like the production process in factories.
The examination is based on the The History of Standardized Test in
accumulation of knowledge and skills Indonesia
mastered by the students during the process Standardized test has long been the
and the items of the test have been carefully dominant feature in the education system
framed on certain statistical considera- in Indonesia. Furqon (2004) explained that
tions. Consequently, the examination in the period of 1965-1971 the Ujian
measures not the whole achievement of the Negara (State exam) was done for almost
students, but a part: cognitive faculty. The all subjects for students at the end of each
Ilma
English national examination in relation to standardized test 43

of each school level, elementary, middle based assessment. There was a strong
school and high school. Although, a non- consideration to abolish the nation-wide
standardized testing policy was endorsed standardized testing. As a result, Ebtanas
for the next seven years, where schools for the elementary school was eliminated
were given the authority to design and hold 2002, and for the secondary education, the
the final exam based on the guidelines from number of subjects for the national exams,
the central government. In 1980, compared to the previously five and seven
Indonesia went back to the centralized subjects respectively.
exam system. Evaluasi Belajar Tahap The new form of nation-wide standard-
Akhir Nasional (National Final Learning ized exam was called Ujian Akhir Nasional
Evaluation), commonly shortened as (National Final Examination), which was
Ebtanas, was implemented for twenty-one more popular with the acronym UAN. The
years. subjects tested were Indonesian Language,
Ebtanas was used for three main English, and Mathemathics. It was up to
purposes. Firstly, it was used to determine the schools and provinces to decide
students' path for their further education. If whether or not they required students to
they were able to obtain high scores, they take final tests on other subjects.
were eligible to choose favorite schools in Initially the passing grade was 3.01 out
their next education level. Failure to do so of 10.0. As everything was running as
would force them to attend schools of expected in 2004 the Ministry of Education
lower quality and most likely the private decided to raise the minimum threshold for
ones, which would cost more. If their the passing to 4.01. This decision faced
family was quite well off, then they could strong opposition from many parents and
attend good private schools, usually by teachers, because they feared it would be
paying some considerable amount of too difficult for a great number of students
donation to the school development. to obtain the minimum of 4.01 for all three
Secondly, it also served as the tool to filter subjects. This concern turned out to be the
students to the next educational level, truth. Shocked by the unexpectedly poor
because of the smaller number of available results, the Ministry of Education reacted
school as the students' progressed to the quickly by drawing a conversion table to
next education level. Thirdly, it was also equalize the students' achievements.
utilized as a mapping tool to inform quality Heavily criticized as introducing a great
improvement in Indonesian education. element of gross injustice in scoring, this
In Ebtanas scheme, the decision about system had students who answered more
student graduation was largely in the hands than half of the test questions correctly see
of the schools. Thus, students who their final scores lowered in order to
performed poorly in these tests were still subsidize the ones who did very poorly on
able to graduate as they could perform well the tests.
in school. Ebtanas scores were just part of Under the new cabinet in 2005, the new
total scoring component for students' Ministry of Education was still determined
graduation, besides the provincial exams, to conduct the similar form of tests, which
and school grades. was given a new name, Ujian Nasional
The fall of authoritarian government in (National Examination), shortened as UN.
1998 breathed some new air of reformation Despite heavy criticisms for the previous
in all sectors of development in Indonesia, UAN, UN still used the same format,
including education. The initial reforma- testing three subjects, Mathematics,
tion effort in education touched a number Indonesian language, and English to
of issues, such as decentralized education students at the end of their senior year in
system, school-based-management, com- middle school and high school. Moreover,
petence based curriculum and portfolio- UN raised the new minimum threshold,
English Empower,
44 Vol.02 No.01

from 4.01 to 4.51, which spread more English National Examination in


terror to many of teachers, school Relation to Standardized Test
principals, and parents, who still had vivid According to Kubiszyin and Borich
images of what happened in the previous (1993), standardized tests are tests con-
year. To make it even more intimidating, structed by test construction specialists,
UN was used as one of the decisive criteria usually with the assistance of curriculum
to graduate high school. In short, failure to experts, teachers, and school administra-
achieve the minimum score in UN will tors, for the purpose of determining a
automatically result in failure to graduate student's level of performance related to
high school, regardless the student's the performance of other students of
overall performance during their school similar age and grade. Furthermore, Oakes
years. As a result, the stakes of the tests had and Lipton (2007) explained that
been raised very highly, growing deep standardized tests are claimed to be
concerns of many schools, teachers, and objective, valid and reliable. It is objective
students. because it is not open to bias and
interpretation, and the performance can be
English Examination in 2017 simplified by statistical figures. Also, all
The English National Examination test-takers are perceived to have an equal
based on school-based curriculum is also and fair opportunity to demonstrate their
similar to the earlier English National ability. It is valid because the information
Examination. The students have to reach collected and analyzed is perceived to be
the score at least 5.5 for minimum trustworthy. Finally, it is reliable because
threshold. For senior high school, there are the results are trusted to be consistent.
50 questions which consist of Listening However, there are critiques towards
Section and Reading Section. Listening standardized testing, which have been
Section only consists of 15 questions commonly ignored by policy makers.
which are divided into 2 parts. Part 1 tests Oakes and Lipton (2007) argued that there
the students' ability in understanding short are three major flaws of standardized test.
dialogues or questions, while Part 2 tests First, it still uses the assumptions of
the students' ability in understanding learning theories from the nineteenth-
monologues. In reading section, there are century behavioral psychology. For
only questions about the texts. No instance, it is assumed that learning
language function is included in the happens when teacher breaks down the
English National Examination based on knowledge into small bits of information,
that curriculum. The following is the table which is transmitted by the teachers to the
of the English National Examination learners. Second, it inherits the flaws of the
school year 2011/2012 based on school- logic and technology of IQ tests. For
based curriculum. instance, the presumption of “bell curve”,

Table 1. English National Examination Based on School-based Curriculum.

Question Sub Skill/ Language


No Skill
Number Function
1 Listening 1-9 Short dialogues and questions
10-15 monologues
2 Reading 16-50 Reading Text
Ilma
English national examination in relation to standardized test 45

where tests are designed to produce a wide rural areas must be so aggrieved, not only
range of scores, with most the test-takers because they have poorer access to
score in the average range and only few education facilities but they also have less
can reach the high scores. Third, it is chances of passing the exam. It seems that
culturally bias; different cultures have government does not consider the fairness
different areas of strengths that are of National Examination (Lubis, 2010).
emphasized. Some value memorization, Most of the exam candidates, simply feel
some value personal and social national examination is an unfair test. If the
responsibility. Also poverty and oppressive government wants to have a standardized
social conditions may influence the test- examination, they should also standardized
takers in the standardized tests. the school quality, teachers' competences
When a standardized test is used as the and the facilities needed in the learning and
tool to determine the students' academic teaching proves for each school in
future, it can be considered as high-stakes Indonesia.
testing. Janesick (2001) explained that the It also happens in English examination,
term 'high-stakes testing' refers to the test since all of the questions are made by the
“for which the consequences of a students' government, even they are based on the
score are extremely serious.” He argued standardized competence stated in the
that the high-stakes testing would harm curriculum, and it will be unfair to be tested
low income and minority students because in every single area in Indonesia. Since
funding would be taken away from the students' competences will be different in
poor-scoring schools. Moreover, listing every area. When the students who live in
schools as failing schools based on the the city which have good facilities,
high-stakes testing results would give an qualified teachers, relevant materials, and
impact to the students, who might consider much exposure from the teachers, it will be
themselves as failing students as well. easier for them to do the test as they have
Moreover, it has also been used as the got a lot of treatments and try out in their
criteria to decide students' graduation. school. Meanwhile, the students who are
Darling-Hammond (1994) suggested coming from the district area will have big
that the multiple-choice tests of probabilities to fail the test because they
contextualized bits of information cannot sometimes get difficulties in answering the
capture the “minimum skills needed for questions. In addition, reading compre-
employment and future education in order hension test which is full of text will
to graduate”. Furthermore, she probably frustrate them as they do not have
emphasized, “…the use of tests as a sole any prior knowledge of those materials.
determinant of graduation imposes heavy The school where they go to also has
personal and societal costs, without limited facility to support teaching and
obvious social benefits.” (p.14) learning activities in the classroom. They
Since the national examination is a are lack of qualified teachers to teach
standardized examination which is and train them to face the national
nationally carried out by the central examination.
government, the type of questions given to
urban and rural areas will be similar. The The Impact of National Examination
controversy here is whether or not the As national examination is a very high
government enables to fail or pass the stakes test, it is believed that such exam
students when the quality of education in could have a significant effect on the
rural and urban areas is so different. Urban education system. Many arguments that
areas might have better facilities and high the UN has had negative impacts on
qualified teachers compared to those in students' education, but there are actually
rural areas (Dienim, 2008). The students in some positive effects, they are:
English Empower,
46 Vol.02 No.01

a. Positive impact of National since it was first implemented, especially


Examination in achieving the minimum average score
There are a number of important which is used to make pass or fail decision.
advantages of applying the high-stakes As already mentioned, national exami-
testing. National examination “engenders a nation could motivate students to learn
degree of national homogeneity in more and teachers to teach better, but
educational standards and practice” somehow this situation is misleading.
(Madaus, 1991). Madaus also claimed that Teachers have begun to “teach to the test”
this kind of testing influences curriculum, (Darling-Hammond, 1994, p. 221). Most
teaching and learning in desirable ways. of the class work is oriented toward basic
Hence, high-stakes testing can lead to a cognitive skills, preparation for the
focus instruction and will also give national examination often overem-
students and teachers a specific aim to phasizes on content memorization by
achieve. This is highly relevant to the students and the kind of “drill and practice”
Indonesian situation with its large area to instruction is used as a teaching method
control. National Examination can assure rather than enhancing the learning quality,
that every student would have the same teachers seem to use an instant way of
education. It could also trigger a improving students' learning by giving a
motivational force for students and shallow knowledge (lower-level-cog-
teachers. A fear of achieving a low score nitive) that is usually asked in the exam.
which could lead to failure would motivate Thus it is not surprising that students do not
the learners to study harder and teachers to have a higher-level cognitive thinking
teach better (Shepard, 1991). However at a skill, such as problem solving, critical
certain point, this situation will be thinking and analysis which are needed in
misleading which will be discussed in the this 21st century era.
next section. Since there is a pressure to achieve high
Another obvious advantage of national test scores for specific subjects, it could
examination is it could uncover the “narrow down the curriculum” (Madaus,
standard of education in all districts. The 1991). Both the teachers and students give
assessment which is done in one school high attention exclusively to the material
will be different from another and there is covered in the exam, thus the untested
also possibility that the relationship subjects are not as important as the tested
between learners and teachers could affect subject (Afrianto, 2008). Furthermore,
the evaluation (Madaus, 1991). Since the teaching a narrow curriculum could limit
national examination is done nationally some students who might have different
and held by the external institution, the academic strengths that are not tested in
results will be more reliable because it national examination (Volante, 2004). For
applies the same evaluation system for all instance, students who have potential
schools across all provinces. Later, the ability in sports or art will not have much
result of national examination could be opportunity to improve their skills or
used as a mapping tool to evaluate the demonstrate their talents as they are busy
competency and quality of Indonesian preparing their self for national
education and could also be used as an examination.
achievement comparison tool between one Another subsequent effect of the
school and another. national examination is the fear of failure
which has encouraged some students to
b. Negative Impact of National cheat. The effect or failure not only affects
Examination students' school life, as they are required to
The controversies of having national sit in the big school for another year and
examination have become a major focus repeat the exam, but also leads to the
Ilma
English national examination in relation to standardized test 47

embarrassment in the society as students REFERENCES


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