The components of Contextual Teaching and Learning are: constructivism, questioning, learning community, modeling, reflections, and authentic assessment. The components of each Contextual Teaching and Learning components will be explained bellow:
1. Constructivism
Constructivism is building of knowledge known by the student. Education is student-centered; students have to construct knowledge themselves. Explanations can use Meta cognition to explain via metaphor. Semiotics, or meanings of words, is important to keep in mind. Constructivism is a theory, a tool, a lens for examining educational practices.
Constructivism is the foundation of CTL. The basic premise is that an individual learner must actively build knowledge and skills. However, all advocates of constructivism agree that it is the individuals processing of stimuli from the environment and the resulting cognitive structure that produce adaptive behavior rather than the stimuli themselves.
The characteristic of constructivism learning is active students, they involve in learning process depend on their ability, knowledge and style of learning. They are guided by teachers as facilitator; teacher will help them if they get learning difficulty. In the classroom teaching learning process, the application of constructivism are applied in five step of learning that are activating knowledge, acquiring knowledge, understanding knowledge, applying knowledge and reflecting on knowledge. The constructivism paradigm has led us to understand how learning can be facilitated through certain types of engaging, constructive activities. This model of learning emphasizes meaning making through active participation in situated context socially, culturally, historically, and politically.
2. Inquiry
Basically, inquiry is a complex idea that means many things to many people in any contexts. Inquiry is asking, asking something valuable that related to the topic discussed. Inquiry is defined as a seeking for truth information or knowledge, seeking information by questioning. Learning based on inquiry, students are supported to use scientist strategy. They are supposed observing object matter, giving question, looking for information that needs to analyze data and taking conclusion.
The characteristics of inquiry learning are students demanded to Responsible with their own learning; teachers are able to know how far students’ concept or theory does. Inquiry learning gives, actives and concentrate experience to students, they will learn how to solve, make decision, study to observe and give them an opportunity to study forever (Michael Prince and Richard Felder 2007). In applying inquiry activity in the classroom teaching, there are several steps that should be followed, they are formulating problem, collecting data through observation, analyzing and presenting data (through written form, picture, report and table) and finally, communicating and presenting the result of data to the readers, classmates, and the other audience.
3. Questioning
Questioning is the mother of contextual teaching and learning, the beginning of knowledge, the heart of knowledge and the important aspect of learning. Sadker and Sadker, as quoted by Nurhadi, mentioned the important of questioning technique in classroom teaching. They said, To quest well is to teach well. In the skillful use of the question more than anything else lies fine art of teaching; for in it we have the guide to clear and vivid ideas, and the quick spur of imagination, the stimulus to thought, the incentive to action. What is in a question, you ask? Everything. It is the way of evoking stimulating response or stultifying
inquiry. The questioning is the essence ofteaching. The art of questioning is the art of guide learning. Sometimes, the teacher asks to the students before, during and after the lesson. At other time, they are posed effectively by the students to focus their own lesson, keep them engaged and help them monitor their understanding of what was learned. In a productive teaching learning, questioning activity are useful for checking students comprehension, solving problem faced by students, stimulating responses to the students, measuring student’s curiosity, focusing student attention, and refreshing students prior knowledge.
The importance of questioning technique in learning activity, such as: (1) Questioning is a general teaching, strategy and can be applied in any subjects, (2) Using and developing systematic questioning technique, will improve learning student’s ability, and (3) By questioning strategy student will be easier to know something and have critical thinking.
The application of questioning strategy can be applied almost in every activity, between student and student, teacher and student, student and teacher, students and other people who invited in the class. Questioning activity also can be found when student discussed, study in group, find difficulty, observation.
1. Learning Community
Learning community advocates a holistic approach to language learning, since “true” human learning is both cognitive and affective. This is termed whole-person learning. Such learning takes place in communicative situation where teachers and students are involved in“an interaction…in which both experience a sense of their own wholeness” (Curran 1977:90). Within this, the development of the student’s relationship with the teacher is central (Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers. P. 117)
In learning community, the result of learning can be gotten from gathering others and also can be taken from sharing with friends, other groups, and between make out person and not. Actually, learning community has the meaning as follows: 1)Group of learning which communicate to share the idea and experience, 2)Working together to solve the problem and 3)The responsibility of each member of learning group. The overall character or each language class is created, developed, and maintained by everyone in room. Each class member has a specific role to play, even those with ostensibly low profile such as .onlooker. or .observer. (noticing what is going on), know-er (being privy to shared class understanding) and follower (reacting in the same way as everyone else to certain teacher or student initiatives).
Cooperative skill is one of learning community purpose. The principles of learning community consist as follow: (1) Study club, communicate to share ideas and experience each other. (2) Cooperate to solve the problem. (3) Responsible to each group. (4) Construct learning student’s motivation; create situation and condition that enable to make students study each other. (5) Teacher is facilitator who guides learning process. (6) Accept and respect another opinion willingly.
Learning community has multidimensional meaning, in cooperative learning should be learning community, sharing ideas, discussion, service learning, study club, contextual teaching and learning sources, problem based learning, learning to be, learning to know, learning to do, learning how to live together, task based learning, school based management and collaborative learning.
2. Modeling
Modeling is one of the components of in CTL approach, in learning skill or specific knowledge. Modeling is offering behavior for imitation. Modeling assists by giving the students information and a remembered image that can serve as a performance standard (Harry Daniels, P. 1667). Basically, modeling is verbalization of ideas, teacher demonstrates to students to study and acting what the teacher need implemented by students. Modeling activity can be summarized into demonstrating the teacher’s opinion and demonstrating how does the teacher wants the student to learn.Model can be imitated by student such as how to pronounce or spell some words, operate and do something.
3. Reflections
Reflection is one of the important parts of contextual approach. It is the way of thinking of everything that has been learned in the past. Reflection evaluates effective program which has been done. The teacher helps the students in connecting the previous and new knowledge. So, the students felt getting new knowledge from what they learned.
Teacher needs to do the reflections at the end of teaching learning process. At the end of teaching learning process, teacher spends a little time and asks student to do the reflection. The realization of reflection can be done by giving direct statement about the information that acquired in the lesson, some notes or journal on student book, some impression and suggestion from students about the learning process and discussion.
4. Authentic Assessment
Authentic assessments show (among other things) that learning has occurred; are blended into the teaching or learning process; and provide students with opportunities and direction for improvement. Authentic assessment is used to monitor student progress and inform teaching practices.
Assessment is the ongoing process of gathering and analyzing evidence of what a student can do. The term “Authentic Assessment” is used to describe the multiple forms of assessment that reflect students learning achievement, motivation, and attitudes on instructionally – relevant classroom activities. (Malley and Pierce: 2003).
Authentic Assessment challenges students to apply new academic information and skills to a real situation for a significant purpose. It is the tool of mindful school....clear about what it expects of the students and about how he/ she can exhibit these qualities. The antithesis of standardized testing, authentic assessment gives young people to chance to exhibit the full range of their abilities while showing what they have learned (Johnson: 2002 p.165)
Authentic assessment is a procedure of achievement in the CTL. Assessments of students’s performance can come from the teacher and the students. Authentic assessment is the process of collecting the data that can give the description of student learning development. In the process of learning, not only the teacher that can be placed to provide accurate assessments of students. performance, but also students can be extremely effective at monitoring and judging their own language production. They frequently have a very clear idea of how well they are doing or have done, and if we help them develop this awareness, we can greatly enhance learning.
Meanwhile, according to Johnson (2002) states that authentic assessment has some characteristics that are : (1) Evaluate all of student’s learning process. (2) involves real-word experience (3) Accessing information (4) Use opened- ended format (5) Encourage the use of calculator, computer and human resource (6) Engages the student by relevance (7) Include self-assessment and reflection (8) Warrant effort and practice (9) Identify strengths to enable student to show what they can do (10) Make assessment criteria clearer to the student. Essentially, the question that needs to answer by authentic assessment is‘Does the students learn something?’ not ‘What have they already known?’ So,the students are assessed through many ways, not only assessed their examination test.
In designing an authentic assessment task, there is some procedure that a teacher should do: (1) Describe exactly what the students should know and be able to demonstrate. Let them know the standards to be met. (2) Call for connecting academic study in a meaningful way with a real world context, or call for simulating a real-world context that carries meaning. (3) Require students to show what they can do with what they know, to display deep knowledge and skills, by producing a result. For example: a tangible product, presentation, and collection of work. (4) Decide on the levels of proficiency to be met. (5) Express these levels of proficiency in a rubric, that, a scoring guide that provides criteria for judging the task (Lewin & Shoemaker, 1998, cited in Johnson, 2002). (6) Familiarize students with the rubric. Engage students in ongoing self-evaluation as they appraise the quality of their own work on this assessment. (7) Involve an audience beyond the teacher to respond to the assessment (Lewin & Shoemaker, 1998, cited in Johnson, 2002). There are some forms of authentic assessment, such as:
a. Portfolio
An intrinsic part of ongoing class work, the portfolio arises from the context of daily life. As they do various tasks, students appraise them and collect them, and in the process see themselves as creative and capable. Children gain confidence and a sense of purpose from collecting and appraising their own work. They own what they make (Brook & Brook, 1993, cited in Johnson, 2002).
b. Project
The CTL system relies heavily on project as a way to attain academic objectives while accommodating the diverse learning styles, interest, and talents of individual students. Because projects link academic content to a real-world context, they evoke enthusiastic student participation.
c. Performance
In a performance task, students demonstrate for an audience that they have mastered specific learning objectives. Members of the audience for a performance task often help follows.
d. Extended Written Response
It enables students to display their command of learning objectives while cultivating higher order thinking skills. Written responses may occur in a wide range of formats including, for instance, the persuasive letter, technical training manual, brochure, feasibility study, research essay, and short essay.
Based on the components of contextual teaching and learning above, the writer can conclude the student to be best by learning actively constructing their own understanding. The contextual teaching and learning component making connection is time honored. Contextual teaching and learning is component assure that integrated classes are student centered experiences, accommodate from separate development cultural and background and appeal to variety of interest talents and learning style.