English in Preschool Curriculum: a Descriptive Study of the Teaching of English as an Intra-school Curriculum in a Preschool in Bandung

In this era, the importance of English leads people to introduce English education even in preschools. English education for preschoolers isbelieved to help fosterchildren's language and cognitive developments. However, to achieve this benefit, a sound curriculum is required.Since creating a sound English curriculum is not an easy thing to do, a careful examination on English in the preschool curriculum needs to be performed. This study therefore aims to find out the goals of integrating English as an intra-school curriculum in a preschool in Bandung and the teacher's attempts to achieve these goals in terms of four basic components of curriculum taken fromCayadong (2011) and Tyler (Posner,1992); the objectives, the materials, the methods and the assessments. A descriptive study using a document analysis, an interview and an observation as the data collection techniques was employed. The finding showed that English was integrated to help children to be able to communicate using English in school and family context in a simple language. Theme-based teaching and learning using drilling and total physical response (TPR) as methods were conducted to achieve the goals. Meanwhile, to make sure of the goals attainment, students wereassessed by using observations and tests.


INTRODUCTION
Many non-English speaking countries realize the importance of English in this globalization era. Mindari and Saukah (2012) believe that most countries in Asia, including Indonesia, feel that the role of English is more and more significant today so that they begin the English education much earlier in schools. Paul (Mindari and Saukah, 2012) confirms this by stating that millions of children in Asia are studying the language these days.
It is reasonable for introducing English in early childhood education because the benefits for these very young learners to learn English are remarkable. Pence et al. (2008) have confidence in the importance of language learning in early childhood education since children's language development is highly dependent on the quantity and the quality of the input they receive as well as their linguistic environment, such as at home and other children's caregiving milieus where children spend considerable amounts of time, including in the preschool classrooms (Hart andRisley, 1995,1999;Hoff, 2003as cited in Pence et al. 2008. Neuropsychological researchers, Brown and Jernigan (2012) found that the preschool years represent a time of expansive mental growth, where a set of milestone in this time period involves a rapid development of spoken language production and comprehension abilities. In this period, then, children need supports from education to develop their language abilities, so that they can refine these abilities for the language development in the next stages. In line with this, Vocis (2013) confirms that it has been scientifically proven that at this age, children have a strong potential to acquire almost an infinite number of new information, especially when second or foreign language learning is concerned.
Experts have similarities and differences in determining the basic components of curriculum, whether it is for early education or any level of education. Cayadong (2011) describes four basic components of curriculum; (1) curriculum aims, goals and objectives, (2) curriculum content or subject matter, (3) curriculum experience, and (4) curriculum evaluation. Likewise, these basic components are asked in Tyler's four questions; (1) what educational purposes should the school seek to attain? (2) what educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes? (3) how can these experiences be effectively organized? (4) how can we determine whether these purposes are being attained? (Posner, 1992: 13).
These components are interrelated each other. The first component to consider is the goals. Cayadong (2011) explains that curriculum aims, goals, and objectives explain what is to be done, what to be achieved, the vision, the philosophy, as well as the mission statement and objectives. In the meantime, Brown (1995: 71) defines goals as 'general statements concerning desirable and attainable program purposes and aims based on perceived language and situation needs.' Meanwhile he describes objectives as specific statements of certain skills, knowledge, or behaviors that the learners are supposed to learn in the end of a course.
After determining the goals, aims, and objectives of the lesson, the materials are selected. Curriculum content contains the materials to be taught, including the selection and sequence of the materials (Cayadong, 2011). Brown (1995) explains strategies in material development; adopting, developing, adapting, or the combination of the three. He elaborates that adopting materials involves deciding the types of necessary materials, locating as many different sets of these types as possible, evaluating them, using them and reviewing them. Meanwhile developing materials involves developing, teaching and evaluating materials. Adapting materials is similar to adopting materials, but it also includes adding, classifying and reorganizing the materials. In deciding the scope and sequence of the content in curriculum, Richards (2001) proposes that the scope of the content can be based on simple to complex, chronology, need, prerequisite learning, whole to part or part to whole, and spiral sequencing.
After the goals, aims, and objectives of the lessons as well as the materials are determined, the teaching methods should be specified. The curriculum experience, as Cayadong (2011) states, covers instructional strategies and methods which are used to teach the language. The methods that are used by the teachers describe their philosophical view on language as well as on teaching and learning.
The last part is the evaluation. Cayadong (2011) claims the curriculum evaluation identifies the quality, effectiveness, process and product of the curriculum. In evaluating the teaching and learning, Richards (2001) explains three types of evaluation based on the purposes. The first, formative evaluation is to find out what is working well, what is not working well, and what problems are being encountered. The second is illuminative evaluation which is to find out how different aspects of certain program works and to understand deeply the process of teaching and learning. Meanwhile summative evaluation is to make decisions about the value of the aspects in the curriculum.
English as a foreign language to be taught to children in preschools play an important role, particularly in developing children's intellectual capacity. Taylor, Exon and Holley (1972) as cited in Curtis (1998) found that one of the purposes of nursery education is focused on the intellectual development of the children, in which teachers need to encourage their language use, help them to learn how to learn, and stimulate their curiosity.
Children in preschool level have not yet mastered written form of language; therefore oral-based competencies are more emphasized. Wortham (2006) states that the curriculum for oral language development can be organized into activities that promote children's expressive and receptive language. Expressive language is a combination of phonetic, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic elements that the children use when speaking, while receptive language covers elements that they hear and understood, but cannot yet use in their expressive language. In the meantime, she further suggests that written form of language development that involves reading and writing are introduced to the children by inserting a language development program that provides that basis for literacy. Wortham (2006) argues that children's expressive language can be triggered by using activities that motivate them to use the language, such as play and work activities that require them to communicate to their teacher and other children. She also adds that children expressive language can be stimulated by teacher-directed or teacher-facilitated activities such as classroom discussion, conversations, and story-retelling. Meanwhile receptive language is started from the beginning of the class when teachers communicate to their children until the end of the class. Lessons might be selected and sequenced differently among preschools. Moon (2000) argues that the way teachers select and organize their lessons reflects their beliefs about teaching and learning. For instance, in deciding vocabulary selection, Richards (2001) proposes five ways; the degree of teachability, similarity, availability, coverage, and defining power.
Young learners learn a foreign language differently from adults do. Their characteristics affect the way of how the teaching and learning should be done in the classroom. Mindari and Saukah (2012) believe that introducing a new language to young children while they are acquiring their first one will not cause problems to these learners as long as it is done properly. This also applies to very young children like preschoolers. Hence as long as teaching English to young learners is done properly by paying attention to their characteristics and how they should learn it, teaching English will bring benefits for them in the future. Children in preschool (age 4-5 years old) have been able to learn a foreign language. In line with this, Moon (2000) states that children learning English as a foreign language also make errors which can be seen as a sign of active learning. These children, then, are not like parrots but more on an individual that learn how a language works.
Young learners bring what they have already known to the classroom. Moon (2000) points out that children bring with them a great deal of language and life experiences as well as other natural abilities. Therefore, in teaching, teachers need to take these aspects into consideration. In addition, children are active and curious in their nature (Moon, 2000). They have a great desire to interact and learn new things from their environment. Consequently, it is important for the teachers to let these learners learn through physical activity and meaningful experiences.
Providing social interaction and experiences is essential in children's language learning. Vygotsky (1978) as cited in Linse (2005) states that children's language learning is advanced through social interaction and experiences based on the context or situation. Besides, in teaching English to young learners, teachers should concern the children as an individual learner. Linse (2005) believes that a child's social/emotional, physical, cognitive and moral developments are different among others. Teachers should pay attention to these different aspects and provide them with enjoyable learning with secured atmospheres (see Moon, 2000). Linse (2005) points out that mainly children's language is related to their cognitive ability. Other aspects supporting this ability is important to consider, for instance Cameron (2005) believes that children need the feel of success in their language learning, thus their emotional ability also plays an important role in language learning. These developments affect children's success in learning.
Few studies have been conducted on the focus of English curriculum in preschools. Studies have been conducted in a foreign language teaching in nursery schools. It was found that the children were benefitted mostly in terms of listening comprehension and pronunciation (Harley and Swain, 1994;Lightbown and Spada, 1994;Harley et al. 1995as cited in Cameron, 2005. Another study was conducted by Rahmat (2010). He investigated the implementation of foreign language curriculum, including English, in kindergartens in Jakarta. Employing a descriptive method, he collected the data to foreign language teachers in kindergartens in Jakarta, using questionnaire, in depth interview, and documentation. Rahmat (2010) emphasized his study on the learning process, in which he found that in general the teaching and learning processes run relatively well, particularly on the learning atmosphere, concepts, materials, instructions and strategies, supporting activities, teaching methods, test and evaluation. In terms of the materials taught, it was found that listening skills (34,14%) and speaking skills (34,14%) were dominantly taught compared to reading skills (17,07%) and writing skills (14,63%). While in the terms of language components, vocabularies (26,82%) and pronunciation (26,82%) were mostly taught. In terms of teaching methods, the teachers investigated used methods that can develop the children's cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects. It was also found that contextual teaching and learning (CTL) was applied in the classroom. The dominant methods used were singing (30,76%) and playing (19,23%). While in terms of evaluation, it was found that multiple choice test (26,82%) and matching test (24,39%) were mostly used. Very few studies have been conducted about English lessons in preschool curriculum, though many experts found that English learning in preschools bring benefits for young learners. Four basic components of English curriculum are essential in creating successful curriculum and they are interrelated each other. Each of these components should consider children's characteristics and how children learn language. This part has discussed preschool curriculum, English curriculum in preschools, teaching English to young learners, previous related research and synthesis.
One of the requirements to achieve the benefits of English for children is by creating a sound curriculum. The quest for a sound English curriculum in early childhood education is a long journey. Preschools in Indonesia have used various kinds of curriculum such as national curriculum, international curriculum such as Singapore curriculum, mixed-national-international curriculum, creative curriculum, etc. When a preschool curriculum fails to take essential things into account such as learners' needs, principles of teaching English to young learners and children's characteristics, the curriculum might fail to bring the students into successful learning results. Therefore the curriculum and how it works need careful investigation. In relation to this, Pence et al. (2008) suggest that the field of early childhood education has become increasingly invested at identifying sound curricular approaches which might be employed to promote the language achievements of young children within the preschool classroom.
To create a sound curriculum, it is essential to consider learners' needs, principles of teaching English to young learners Besides learners' needs, principles in TEYL and children characteristics, the components of the curriculum and how they relate each other and influence the learning are also crucial factors in a sound curriculum. One of the essential components in curriculum that highly influences other curriculum components is goals. Learning goals are very essential in bringing what kinds of outcome the language learning give to the learners. Richards (2002: 112) states that goals are formulated from a "judgment call" in which the curriculum planners choose among many available alternatives based on the assumptions about the role of teaching and curriculum. The specification of goals is the reflection of presumed learners' needs by the curriculum developers (see Brown, 1995). These goals become the teachers' guidance in determining the teachers' selection of materials, methods, and assessment.
One of the trends of the study of curriculum tends to be emphasized on the curriculum comparison (Galam, 1997;Gibson, 2005;Ruddock and Sainsbury, 2008;Halpin, 2010;James, 2012). Despite its importance as has been explored previously, very few studies focusing on preschool curriculum, particularly on English in the preschool curriculum has been done so far. Rahmat (2010), however, examined the implementation of foreign language curricula, including English curriculum, in preschools in Jakarta and found that contextual teaching and learning was dominant in the classroom teaching and learning context. The teachers in his study tried to develop the students' cognitive, affective, and psychomotor that emphasized the development of language comprehension and how it was used in daily basis.
Taking the issues explained above as the point of the departure, the present study tries to explore the goals of integrating English in the curriculum in a preschool in Bandung as well as the teacher's attempts to achieve these goals. In this study the teacher's attempts are discussed more specifically in terms offour basic components of curriculum by Cayadong (2011) referring to Tyler's four questions (Posner, 1992): learning objectives, materials, methods, and assessments (See Literature Review).Therefore the present study investigates: (1) What are the goals of integrating English as an intra-school curriculum in a preschool in Bandung?,(2) How does the teacher achieve these goals?

METHODS
The present study employed a qualitative descriptive study. A descriptive study was used to describe situations as completely and carefully as possible (Fraenkel and Walen, 2006).As stated in the previous part, this study tried to understand how elements of the curriculum in a preschool worked and related each other by investigating the goals of integrating English in the curriculum in a preschool in Bandung as well as the teacher's attempts to achieve these goals. Hence a qualitative descriptive study was considered to be the most suitable research design to be used.
This study was conducted in a preschool in Bandung. In this preschool, English is taught to the children as an intraschool curriculum. It means that the English lessons are designed by the English teacher following the preschool curriculum in general. Instead of being administrated in the preschool curriculum directly, the English lessons are planned and conducted by the English teacher. One English teacher in a preschool in Bandung was taken to be the participant in this study.
The data were collected by using three different data collection instruments: document analysis, observation and interview. The data from each instrument were also used as to check and elaborate the collected data from other instruments. The first was document analysis. The documents which were taken to be analyzed were one program document and three lesson plans. The analysis of the documents was done to examine the goals, the objectives, the materials, the methods, and the assessment that the teacher used in her teaching. Hence this instrument answered the first as well as the second research question. The second data collection instrument was observation. This observation enriched the data from the document analysis. Non-participant observation to three classroom sessions was done to answer the second research question regarding the objectives, the materials, the methods, and the assessment. Non-participant observation is an observation where the researchers do not participate in the activity being observed (Hatch, 2002;Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006). During the observation, field note was taken. The third data collection instrument was interview which was done to the teacher. This interview was done to collect in-depth information about the goals, objectives, materials, methods and assessment which she planned in her teaching. Therefore this instrument was to enrich the collected data in answering the first and the second research question. A semi-structured interview was used since its characteristics offer the researchers to expand, develop and clarify the informants' responses' (Scott and Morrison, 2006). The interview was then transcribed to be analyzed.
The analysis of the data in the present study was done qualitatively. Basically the nature of the present study suggests the analysis uses typological analysis. The collected data from the document, observation and transcribed interview were analyzed using typological analysis. LeCompte&Preissle (1993: 257) as cited in Hatch (2002: 152) explain that this particular analysis was done by "dividing everything observed into groups or categories on the basis of some canon for disaggregating the whole phenomenon under study." The categories were based on the predetermined typologies. In the present study, the typology was based on the research questions. Therefore the transcribed data were categorized based on the teaching and learning goals, objectives, materials, methods, and assessment.

The Goals of Integrating English as an Intra-School Curriculum
The analyzed data found that the main goal of integrating English as an intraschool curriculum for children in the preschool is for the children to be able to communicate using English with their teachers, friends and family in a simple language. Cameron (2005) states that learning goals are the intended learning which are broken down into manageable step which are then realized into learning objectives to be taught in each meeting. In this case, English teaching is to help the students to communicate using English. For children, learning how to communicate is vital since Vygotsky (Cameron, 2005) believes that children are active learners in the world full of other people.
The data found that one of the targets of teaching English in preschool level is also to foster children's language development. The following interview excerpt reveals the concept of teaching English in the preschool where the study was conducted, Teacher : …the target is to develop children's language skills, it is important, because it is easy for children to learn many kinds of languages, but in Indonesia, I believe that English is taught only in some preschools… In line with this, Curtis (1998) believed that educators concern more on the process of education where the children are actively engaged in activities that encourage children's intellectual growth through discovery and inquiry. By learning English, children are supported by activities that can foster their intellectual and language developments.
The interview result showed that the teacher further explained that English in preschool level wasfor the students to be able to give verbal responses, use the vocabularies when playing, associate vocabularies in Bahasa Indonesia to English and know what is around them. In line with this, Piaget (Cameron, 2005) believes that children are active learners where they continually interact with the world around them. Therefore English lesson can be used as a way for children to interact with the world.
The data revealed that the learning goals in the present study are formulated based on the belief that children can easily learn many languages. Cameron (2005) emphasizes the children's language learning in a foreign language context on the amount and type of exposure to the language. Different from other languages as a foreign language, English has greater chances to be exposed not only in the classroom, but also in the media such as television, computers, and film. This exposure helps children learn the language.
The English lessons are developed in the preschool on the basis of what parents see that English is important even in preschool level, the teacher's perceived learning needs and the available literature, such as books, journal, reports and surveys (Richards, 2001). Therefore in the present study the goals formulated are based on a procedure in need analysis.
Hence the goal of integrating English lessons in the preschool where the study is conducted is for the children to be able to communicate using English in simple language, whether in the classroom context or family context. This goal is derived from the beliefs of English learning needs as well as the teaching and learning English in preschool level. This goal is then broken down into learning objectives that guide the teaching and learning activities.

The Objectives of the English Lessons
The objectives of the English lesson are the steps to achieve the goal. The analyzed data found that the objectives of the English lessons are basically formulated in four kinds of objectives; understand what someone says, memorize vocabularies, use functional languages, and answer questions which are based on the certain themes.
Basically, the English learning in preschool is conducted for mainly developing children' oral communication skills. Hence the objectives are not yet essentially designed for learning reading and writing. Besides, memorizing vocabularies is also essential to be achieved since as Moon (2001: 121-122) states that 'language consists of words' and 'vocabulary development is an important aspect of language development…' In the meantime, understanding instruction is a part of students' listening skills and comprehension skills. Students' ability to answer questions does not only involve students' listening skills and comprehension skills, it also needs students' speaking skills. While functional language much involves students' speaking skills.
All in all, objectives guide what specific actions should be taken in the classroom. In line with this, Cayadong (2011) explains that curriculum aims, goals, and objectives explain what is to be done and what to be achieved. These objectives are related to other curriculum components; the materials, the methods, and the assessments.

The Materials of the English Lessons
It is found that basically the English lesson is carried out in the theme-based teaching, in which, in the present study, the materials are selected and sequenced based on the school themes. The English topics to be taught are determined referring to the big themes in the school. These big themes are then broken down into smaller themes or topics which are then developed by the teacher to be taught in each meeting. For instance, it is identified that for the theme 'how the world works', three sub-themes are designed; 'shapes', 'at the park' and 'vehicles'. Each of these sub-themes is to be taught in four meetings. It was found that in a year, 6 themes are provided by the school curriculum. Cameron (2005) argues that the theme-based teaching suits the way young learners naturally learn since it is wrapped in integrated teaching. She explains that themebased teaching helps children learn the target language through its usage to carry the thematic content. She believes the benefits of theme-based teaching to be motivating, realistic, meaningful, and purposeful.
The analyzed data found that the materials of the English lessons are developed around the topics that are close with the students' life, such as fruits, vegetables, transportation, and things at the playground. These materials are selected and sequenced based on the gradation from basic to general (Richards, 2001) and from something that is familiar to the one that requires new information (Penn, 2008).
The data showed that the students are accommodated by the integrated learning for four skills, listening skills, speaking skills, reading skills and writing skills. The main foci are the listening skills and the speaking skills since in preschool level the learning target is to develop the students' oral communication skills. This finding supports Rahmat (2010) who showed that in terms of the materials taught, it was found that listening skills and speaking skills were dominantly taught compared to reading skills and writing skills. The reading and writing skills in the present study are limitedly taught through storytelling and copying. Supporting this, Cameron (2005) believes that the children's nature triggers the desire to communicate with other people as well as connect emotionally that then leads to speaking. Therefore it is important to facilitate children's desire to communicate, in this matter, using English.
Apart from the four skills, the teaching and learning involve English functional languages which are particularly used in the classroom context in the form of routine, language chunks, simple expressions and simple speaking practices. Faq (2004) states that Functional languages are related to the students' needs to build communication in authentic in and outside the classroom. He also states that functional language is a "ready-to-go" for particular situations that are frequent and predictable as well as provides an efficient way to interact autonomously.
Materials are based on the goals and the objectives stated. These materials are then selected and sequenced to help the learners to achieve the goals. These goals, objectives, and materials help to determine teacher's selection of the teaching methods as well as the assessment.

The English Teaching Methods
The analyzed data showed that the teacher used various methods to achieve the goals such as drilling and total physical response (TPR). These methods are done in several techniques, many of which involve physical activities, consisting of singing songs, telling stories, making gesture, making movements, playing games, showing pictures, or the combination of these techniques. Moon (2000) suggests that physical activities provide excellent contexts for language learning since it develops the association of what children experience to the meaning of the learning and draws the children's attention to clear purposes of using the language.
Relative to those various techniques, Linse (2005) believes that variety of inputs, whether visual, auditory, or tactile inputs can create comprehensible inputs for children. These inputs are meaningful and understandable since they are provided with the context and other supports.
In employing the methods, it is important to pay attention to children's characteristics since learning should be designed to be developmentally appropriate with the students' level. Linse (2005) states that experienced early childhood professionals encourage teachers of young learners to provide children with developmentally appropriate instruction.
Moon (2000) proposes that the way teachers plan and organize their lessons reflects their beliefs about teaching and learning. The teacher in the present study believes that learning English for preschool children should be contextual, meaningful, fun, and relevant. This learning is expected to be easily remembered by the children. Supporting this, Curtis (1998) believes that when designing curricula based on activities and experience, activities and fields of knowledge which are 'worthwhile' should be highly considered. Peters (1966), as cited in Curtis (1998) The methods used in teaching English are an important aspect to bring success in the learners' learning. These methods are to deliver the materials to the learners to achieve the learning goals. In the present study drilling and TPR have been mainly used by the teacher using various techniques based on teaching principles to young learners. The goals, the materials, as well as the teaching methods determine the kind of assessment used.

The English Learning Assessments
The data showed that the teacher does two kinds of assessment; observations and tests. In every meeting, the teacher does an observation to see whether the students are active or not, understand or not, and respond or not. The observation found that the teacher gives rewards to the students who participate well in the learning activities and encourage those who have less learning motivation. Cameron (2005) believes that observation is one of the most helpful assessment techniques for children since it lets them to be assessed in the process of classroom activities on daily basis as well as does not distract them.
On the other hand, the test is conducted every four meetings by calling the children one by one to mention the vocabularies based on the pictures. The test is also done by asking the students questions about the topic discussed.
In the present study, two kinds of assessment are used; formative assessment and summative assessment. Observation is the formative assessment since Richards (2001) and Brindley (2003) as cited in Linse (2005) explain that formative assessment is to find out what is working well, what is not working well, and what problems are being encountered. On the basis of the observation, the teacher finds out what works and what should be done to improve the teaching. Meanwhile the test is the summative assessment because as Richards (2001) Brindley (2003) as cited in Linse (2005) state that summative evaluation is to make decisions.
The assessment is done based on the teaching goals to see whether these goals have been met or not (Cameron, 2001 as cited in Linse, 2005). Though the goals of the teaching and learning English are to help children communicate using English, it is essential asLinse (2005) states that teachers have reasonable expectation. When children are able to express themselves only in fourand five word sentences, they are no expected to do it longer in English.
It is also conducted in accordance with the materials as well as the teaching methods. Hence assessment can be a way to evaluate the students for their achievement of the goals, as well as a source to evaluate the materials and the teaching methods.

CONCLUSION
Creating a sound curriculum to achieve maximum benefits for the children is not an easy thing to do. Each basic component should be carefully considered as to how the goals of the teaching and learning English can be best achieved. In the preschool where the study was conducted, English is integrated as an intra-school curriculum and the teacher is completely responsible to the implementation of each basic components of the curriculum.
The inclusion of English in the present study is to help children to be able to communicate using English in simple language to their teacher in the classroom context, to their family members in their home, and to their friends when they play. The materials are selected and sequenced using theme-based materials. While the teaching methods were drilling and total physical response (TPR). The students are evaluated using observation and test.