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STUDENT’S PERCEPTION OF CHARACTER BUILDING IN THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK

“THINK GLOBALLY ACT LOCALLY”

Paula Margarina

(English Language Education Department Student, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universitas
PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya)

paulamargarina@gmail.com

Rahmad Hidayat

(English Language Education Department Lecturer, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universitas
PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya)

rahmadhidayat@unipasby.ac.id

ABSTRACT

The textbook is one of the media or tools that the character’s education can be integrated. So, this research
aims to find out character-building values entitled “Think Globally Act Locally” for Grade IX of Junior High
School published by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The objective of the research was to identify the
character education values based on the 2013 curriculum that appears in texts or sentences of an English
textbook entitled “Think Globally Act Locally” for the Ninth Grade Junior High School, to describe how the
student’s perceptions of characters building implemented in the texts or sentences. The study used qualitative
research. The character building in the textbook was used as the focus of this study. The data was taken from
the students of SMP PGRI 1 Buduran Sidoarjo. The data were collected by questionnaire, interview, and
documentation. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The results of the study revealed that
regarding the students’ perception of character-building in English textbooks, the students agreed that
character-building is important and needed. Appreciative, Social character, and responsible are the highest
rate. This result showed that the author seemed to want to make it easy for students to comprehend the
character-building values in the texts or sentences.
Keywords: Character Building, Students’ Perceptions, English Text Book
INTRODUCTION and develop good values for the child based on the
prevailing moral.
Education is one of the solutions to strengthen
Moreover, building a learner’s character is the
the character of a nation as the goal of education
responsibility of all elements in our circumstances.
itself is not only to make smart people but also to
However, character education in Indonesia focuses
have good character Lickona (2013). Similarly,
more on improving the quality within and between
Sharma and Prasad (2009) state that the goal of
individuals and seems to neglect the characters,
education is to form character building. As the
which shows a relationship with the environment.
second education center, the school has an important
The textbook is one of the elements used by
role in building the character process.
teachers in learning resources that greatly supports
Character building is an important part of the
the success of teaching and learning activities, also it
education field which has to be integrated into all
is very useful as a main source to guide the teacher
subjects and skills. As cited in Ramly (2010) virtues
in building students’ character. The influences of
of character building are developed in three ways,
character education programs can have profound
those are integration with the subject, self-
effects on numerous problems that schools are
development, and school culture. Therefore, all of
facing today including increased drug or alcohol use,
the subject materials in English classes had to
aggression, low school attendance, fights and
convey the qualities of character building based on
suspensions, vandalism, and low academic
the Indonesian Ministry of Education. Character
achievement.
building is the effort to help the soul development of
Character-building values that can be found in
children in the matter of inner self and outer world.
texts and dialogs of the English textbook “Bahasa
Character-building education is the effort to sprout
Inggris” for Grade IX Junior High School are
described in this part by providing examples and
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explanations from the data. Those are the character- qualitative research. Collecting data for this study
building values religion, honesty, tolerance, came from questionnaires and interviews with
discipline, hard work, creativity, autonomy, participants about their perceptions of character
democratic, curious, nationalist, patriotic, respect for building in the textbook to make the analysis easier,
achievement, communication, peaceful, love to read, the researcher needed to use data and data sources.
environmental care, social care, and responsible that For the data collection, the researcher used open-
is described by Kemendiknas, while the other ended questions and semi-structured interviews. The
characters are gratitude, humble, confidence, interviews are conducted face to face while
cooperative, respect, healthy, courage and optimist questionnaires and shared through Google Forms.
that aren’t described by Kemendiknas. The data that has been obtained is processed using
The importance of students to help good collected using thematic analysis to pinpoint key
Character education and building to helps students to themes in the data. To validate the data taken in the
develop important human qualities such as justice, research, triangulation is used to drive it all right.
diligence, compassion, respect, and courage, and to
understand why it is important to live by them. It RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
develops a positive and moral climate by engaging Result
the participation of students, teachers and staff, Character Building Social Care
parents, and communities.
In reference to the above explanation, the
Character Building Social Care
researcher is motivated to conduct research to
observe character values integrated into the content
Sangat Setuju Setuju
of English textbooks for grade IX of Junior high
Netral Tidak Setuju
school, particularly in the form of texts. English Se- Sangat Tidak Se-
textbooks for grade IX Junior high school are chosen San- tuju tuju
because of the students in Junior high school who gat 14%
are in the transitional process. Se-
tuju
Furthermore, as has been explained earlier, the 86%
data show that most of the misbehavior acts are
performed by students who are in senior high school. The following are answers from participants
Therefore, the students need to get a good regarding Pie chart 4.1character building about
foundation of character values as early as possible to social care which shows that there are 86% said the
prevent them from doing such misbehavior acts. scale “strongly agrees”, and 14 % said, “agrees”.
Meanwhile, the textbook to be evaluated is entitled That way, the researcher concludes that the strong
Pathway to English for Nine Grades of junior high agree scale is an outline response from students.
school. The researcher used eighteen character People are social creatures that can’t live
values as the substance to apply national character individually. They need others to help their life. As a
education based on the Ministry of National social creature, they have to help each other which
Education., the title of this research is An Analysis are an embodiment of social care. Mcelmeel (2002)
of Character Values in the Texts of English states that social care is feeling or acting with
Textbook Entitled Pathway to English for Grade IX compassion, concern, or empathy.
of Junior High School. From the student’s responses above
Based on the explanations above, the researcher regarding the students’ perceptions of character
is interested in this study intended to identify how building in the English textbook. The students
the eighteen character-building values represented in thought that character building very was a process
the English textbook “Bahasa Inggris” for Nine mental to make character building very important.
Grade IX Junior High School, and the research The first is about appreciative they give perceptions.
question is What are the character-building values Student 1 stated "The picture shows a conversation
that can be found in talking well to a friend who win the competition.
Students’ Perceptions Character Building in The student stated “Activities that show concern for
English textbook Bahasa Inggris for Grade IX Junior one's every effort, which will make them imitate to
High School. The objective of this study is to also care for their friends and of course to be more
analyze character-building values that can be found sensitive to the environment around them”,
in English textbooks for Grade IX Junior High moreover student 3 stated, “I agree that this attitude
School. really fosters the character of a sensitive attitude
METHOD towards others”.
The researcher wants to analyze character
building in the textbook. This research used
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Character building Responsible English textbook entitled “Think Globally Act

Locally” There are three character values that appear
in the textbook. The researcher found only 3
character-building education appreciation, social
care, and responsible. Based on the regulation of the
Ministry of National Education number 20/2003
about the National Education System, the function
of Indonesia education is to develop the capability,
character, and civilization of the nation for
enhancing its intellectual capacity, and is aimed at
developing learners‟ potentials so that they become
persons imbued with human values who are faithful
The following is one of the items on the and pious to one and only God; who possess morals
questionnaire that shows the responses of students and noble character; who are healthy,
with the results of the answers based on the pie chart knowledgeable, competent, creative, independent;
4.2 student’s perceptions that 71 % of students chose and as citizens, are democratic and responsible.
to “agree”, and 29 % of students chose a “Agree” Related to that, the main programs of the Ministry of
scale. Thus, the researcher concludes that judging Education are to develop students„ character
from pie chart 4.2, the “strongly agree” scale education for the sake of improving national
remains the most preferred of students which education quality. In short, the author of the book
illustrates that students show good participation in should include all character values to help students
the process of learning English through blended to learn not only knowledge but also the educational
learning Lickona (2013) mentions that responsible is character for them.
morality active sides that fulfill the obligations and Students’ Perception of Character Building in the
contributes in society. Textbooks
Students claimed that character education is
Character Building Appreciative related to an attitude and character education is
essential in strengthening their characters. They
believe that through character education they will be
able to choose what is good and right for
themselves. In essence, students could learn
character values everywhere, but learning in school
will be possible since students spent more than half a
day in school. All students realized the existence of
character values inside the textbooks that they were
using. It can be concluded that students understood
The following is one of the items on the and could give examples about the character values
questionnaire that shows the responses of students on it. It can be seen from their opinion which
with the results of the answers based on the pie chart claimed that they could find values Related to Self,
4.2 student’s perceptions, that 64% of students chose Others, and Environment. Even though it confirmed
to “agree”, and 36% of students chose a “strongly that students knew about character values in the
agree” scale. Thus, the researcher concludes that textbooks but it still needs to guide students to forge
judging from pie chart 4.2, the “agree” scale remains characters that they have now become a habit. The
the most preferred of students which illustrates that main goal of character education is not enough just
Suyadi (2013) describes, respect for achievement as knowing. As Lickona (2012a) said that character
the open attitude toward the achievement of others education is about knowing, feeling, and acting.
and acknowledgment of lack of self without Again, in this case, it should be underlined that
reducing the spirit of achievement. character education really depends on how teachers
guide students in attaching character values in the
Discussion teaching and learning process.
The character education values that appear in the
English textbook entitled “Think Globally Act CONCLUSION
Locally” This study was descriptive research
From the result analysis, an English conducted at Junior High School PGRI 1 Buduran
textbook found character education values. The data Sidoarjo. This study aimed to examine the students’
shows character education values appear in the perception of character building in English
textbooks. According to the research results that
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have been discussed before it can be concluded that Studies, 6(1), 111.
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