Reflection on Background Knowledge Implementation Using Top-down Activities

Reflection on Background Knowledge Implementation Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics Vol. 3 No. 2, 2018 eISSN: 2503-4197, pISSN: 2527-5070 www. indonesian-efl-journal.org Reflection on Background Knowledge Implementation Using Top-down Activities Fitri Hidayati Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia e-mail: Basikin Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia e-mail: Abstract: This paper attempts to examine students’ reaction and potential challenges encountered in the implementation of activities which stimulate their background knowledge. The authors implemented lesson plan which used top-down activities to raise students’ awareness of the use of background knowledge. The analysis in this study used two evaluation questions taken from Cook’s ‘Discourse’ book. The result showed that there are several reactions from the students as well as problems arose during the implementation of the activities. The reactions and problems are varied determined by the type of the exercise. Additionally, more explanations and examples are needed to be supplied before and also during the activity in completing the exercises. Those are necessary because during completing the activities, some students appeared to be confused and in need of more explanation and encouragement. Finally, continue practice using these type of exercises might give positive result in improving students’ awareness of background knowledge in discourse. Keywords: Background knowledge, top-down activities, reading Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, 3(2), 2018 89 Reflection on Background Knowledge Implementation 1. INTRODUCTION One of the main important skills in the learning of English language is reading. It plays a significant role in foreign language teaching. Richards and Renanadya (2002) point out that reading is important in foreign language teaching because it is regarded as one of the most important goals by foreign language students as well as a crucial skill in numerous pedagogical purposes. In addition, it is also as a basic criterion in which to measure one’s English level proficiency (Alhaisoni, 2017). Based on this importance, numerous experts have attempted to conceptualize theory about reading models and thus how reading should be taught. One of reading models, the top-down, has received closer attention in language teaching for the past three decades (Alhaisoni, 2017). Top down approach is also known as top-down processing. Paran (1996) describes top-down processing as a concept-driven model stresses on the contextual factors such as socio-cultural knowledge which starts from whole to part. In other words, top-down processing happens when the reader activates his/her world knowledge to facilitate in comprehending the text. Implementing top-down activities in language classroom is very essential for the language learners to sharpen their sensitivity of background knowledge in discourse. Background knowledge, or commonly known as schemata, has a very significant part in reading. Schemata supplies language learners with prior knowledge, including explicit and tacit knowledge, metacognitive and conceptual knowledge (Dochy & Alexander, 1995) which would be useful to make sense of the text. In addition, a successful interaction between the reader and the text is needed to achieve reading comprehension (Alfaki & Siddiek, 2013). Accordingly, the use of text is undeniably significant. It provides the learners with comprehensible input of the target language. Bright and McGregor (1970) assert that there will be little language learning when there is little reading. Thus, the role of reading activity in language learning is very important. A number of studies have been conducted to investigate the implementation of topdown processing in learning different skills, including reading, and their application in EFL classroom. Some studies (Fatemi, Vahedi, & Seyyedrezaie, 2014; Murray, 1980) have explained the significant role of implementing top-down activities in reading comprehension. On the other hand, there is lack of studies that investigate students’ reaction and problems which probably take place in the implementation of top down activities. Based on this reason, this research is aimed to investigate students’ reaction and potential challenges encountered in the implementation of top-down activities in reading. This implementation of activities using top-down activities is also to raise students’ awareness of the role of background knowledge in reading comprehension. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. The Top-down Approach Top-down approach, which arose from psycholinguistics (Frehan, 1999), is one of the two types of reading processing. This approach refers to a reading model which Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, 3(2), 2018 90 Reflection on Background Knowledge Implementation stresses on the use of readers’ schemata in the process of reading (Goodman, 1967; Smith, 1982). The readers scan the text for information before comparing it with their knowledge of schemata to help them to make sense of the text. Therefore, the readers will actively interact with the text they are reading in top down processing. The top down approach is indeed dissimilar from bottom up approach. Goodman (as cited in Carrell & Eisterhold, 1983) claims that every piece of information in the text is not going to be used by the readers as the main difference between the top down and the bottom-up processing. In other words, the readers only pick some sections of text based on the purpose of their reading before using them to surmise the meaning and to check the predicted meanings by relating to the readers' knowledge of schemata (Carrell, 1988b). A number of researchers have claimed that "the concepts which a reader brings to a text are actually more important than the text itself for comprehension" (Mikulecky, 1990, p. 4). Rather than the knowledge of the language of the text, some of those concepts put emphasis on the knowledge about the content of the text that the readers use in the comprehension process. 2.1.1. The Top-down Activities in ELT Classroom Top-down activities can be implemented in different ways in ELT classroom. Škudiené (2002) observed which model of reading is underlined during pre-, while-, and post-reading activities for intermediate English language learners. The results of this research revealed that top down model mostly are done during pre-reading and while-reading activities. 2.12. Problems with the Top-down Approach Implementation The top-down approach does not escape some problems. The first problem is that top-down approach completely neglect the decoding skills, which is the main point of bottom-up approach, as it stresses on the significance of “the prediction of meaning by means of context cues or certain kinds of background knowledge (Eskey, 1988, p. 93). Carrell (1988a) supports this view, noting that "there has been a tendency to view the introduction of a strong top-down per (...truncated)