This document proposes an excursion program to facilitate learning Indonesian language and culture for foreign students in a fun and less stressful way. Excursions involve taking students outside the classroom to learn through real-life situations. Students would complete tasks like interviews that require them to use new vocabulary and expressions without realizing they are learning. This implicit learning through meaningful activities helps students better understand how the language is used in context. The document argues excursions can effectively improve students' language skills and cultural understanding while providing an enjoyable learning experience.

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EXCURSION PROGRAM: THE IMPLICIT AND CULTURE-BASED
LEARNING IT TRIGGERS
I Made Rai Jaya Widanta*
rai_widanta@yahoo.com
Luh Nyoman Chandra Handayani*
Chandra_Handayani@yahoo.com
POLITEKNIK NEGERI BALI
Abstract
This paper tries to propose a concept which facilitates Darmasiswa, foreigners
learning Indonesian language and culture, with a fun, creative, and less stressing
method in learning the subjects. Pursuant to some hindrances the learners face
during their learning activities in Indonesia, particularly in Politeknik Negeri
Bali, and based on the writer observation, excursion program is then introduced
and designed to meet the learners’ needs. Excursion is the out side-class room
learning activity where learners are able to learn the subjects implicitly. The
learning is undertaken in the real life situation in accordance with the topic of
discussion. The language (grammar, expression, vocabulary, structure) the
learners focus to learn is implicitly designed that they will not be aware of what
being learned. By interviewing and making report upon their interview session,
learners are stimulated to explore new, accurate, natural vocabularies,
expressions, sentence structures used by Indonesian native speakers. In addition
the activities are very meaningful since they facilitate the learners with situation
where they can explore the language and practice the skills on their own.
1. Background
It is undeniable that learning a language merely without paying attention
to the culture standing behind it causes a misleading concept among the learners
since language and culture are inseparable things. According to Sapir and Whorf
language influences culture, or in other word, language influences the way
members of a speech community behave (Sapir and Whorf in Abdul Chaer,
2007:70). What people do is usually influenced by characteristic of their
language. However, this hypothesis is not in line with what most people recently
think that culture, on the contrary, simply influences language. Westerners only
have the word “rice” to explain many objects in Indonesia, like padi, gabah,
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beras, and nasi. It is merely the impact of being not having such culture as what
Indonesia do.
Foreigners who learn Indonesian language, for example, will find it
difficult to learn the language without their involvement in any activity native
people are doing as a part of culture. They will feel to be separated from the norm,
habit, rule, aspects based on which the language can be mastered easily.
Vocabulary, for instance, is obvious evidence about how culture plays an
important role for it existence. Most words of Indonesian language, like that
exemplified above, are premised from local culture. To minimize the case, they
have to be always aware of doing adjustment to save their time to reach the goal
effectively.
In term of action as the response to an expression, linguistic and cultural
barriers may sour relations. They both can cause worse understanding or even
misunderstanding between individuals whose cultures are different (Bochner,
1985:100). In Indonesian culture, saying “thanks” to respond to expression
“Would you like some coffee?” may or normally mean if the interlocutor would
not like to have coffee. However, it means something opposite in western country.
Hence, speaker and interlocutor of different culture have to understand mutually
their both cultures.
Cultural adjustment non natives speakers do is of much importance to
avoid culture shock, feelings of powerless, self-restrictedness, paranoia,
annoyance, or homesick (Koester in Tubbs and Moss,1998:236). Many foreign
students learning Indonesian language leave Indonesia by force for these reasons.
However, many of them can survive and even start to like to learn the language
since they are culturally tolerant. To achieve this, they have to sacrifice extra time
to involve in what native people do as their habit, such as selling, farming, making
friends, doing social work, and other activities that involve other people to
communicate with.
Foreign students who learn Indonesian or Darmasiswa in Bali, particularly
in Politeknik Negeri Bali (PNB) find it hard to learn the language since they can
hardly learn Balinese or Indonesian culture. They are some reasons why they find
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it hard to get used to these cultures: (1) they are hardly tolerant of the new ideas,
(2) they tend to live together with their partners that they do not have enough time
to be sociable with local people, (3) the learning of Indonesian language in class is
still explicitly done that does not enable them to learn the real life culture to
support their Indonesian language mastery.
Pursuant to the cases above, there is a solution proposed to respond to
what learning method shall be implemented in order for the students to learn
culture for the sake of their Indonesian language ability improvement that is by
implementing excursion program. Excursion program is an outside-class learning
activity functioning to enable students to learn Indonesian language by involving
themselves in real life environment. This program shall certainly be supported
with learning model called task-based language learning where students are
assigned to do task while doing their activities, and report accomplishment where
at the end of their task students are required to make report on what they have
done at sites.
2. Related Studies
a. Excursion
Excursion is an outside-class learning activity. This is a situation-based
language learning where the lesson is designed based on what situation would be
focused in each topic. There are a lot of situations or settings teacher can choose
for excursion program, such as market, neighbor, friendship, family, religion,
government, education, and many others. This division is pursuant to linguistic
domain as a cultural concept abstracted from topics of communication, relation
between communicator and communicant, and setting (the site where a
communication takes place) in accordance with symbols existing in the society
(Adi Jaya Putra, 2008:72). Based on its concept, Language domain is a
constellation between participant (speaker and interlocutor), location, and topic
(Somarsono, 1990:197). The concept of language domain had been used by
researchers on language shift in Germany to know the use of German being
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compared to other languages in contact situation. Schmidt Rohr is the first person
who undertook the research to know entire status of language choice. The
proposed domain included family, recreational places, street, school, church,
literature, press, military, court, and governmental administration (Adi Jaya Putra,
2008). Fishman (1968) stated that the number of domain used in sociolinguistic
research can not absolutely be determined. He used simple domain including
family, neighbor, work, and religion. Sumarsono (2009) used some domains
including family, intimacy, education, religion, transaction, and government.
The different speech situation triggered different use of language
functions, such as offering things, asking things, bargaining, thanking, asking
permission, saying sorry, getting one to do things, interrupting, requesting,
commanding, and many others. As one domain or situation may require use of
some language functions, one task will also involve some different language
functions.
b. Some Purposes of Excursion
As this program has some uniqueness, it is considered very effective to
undertake for a number of purposes, they are as follows.
a. To facilitate learners with a real life learning situation.
Being involved at site where the communication actually takes place
encourages learners to explore more deeply how language is used by native
speakers. Learners felt to benefit from learning in such situation since they
gain better training experience that will always cross in their mind on how
words, expression, pronunciation, sentences, structures are used correctly.
b. To provide more opportunity to practice their language.
Doing the task assigned by teacher give learners more opportunity to practice
the language on their own without any frontier. They felt more confident since
correction and feedback done by native speakers of the language are natural,
helpful, less demanding. Learners realized that this is an academic
atmosphere-free activity which demands students’ obedience. In addition,
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native speakers also find it interesting to have foreign learners to practice their
language.
c. Learners can learn the language (grammar) implicitly.
Learning language and skill consciously is very demanding and stressing.
Conversely, this activity is so much fun to do since learners learned it
implicitly. In other word, they are not psychologically bound with in-class
learning situation which is normally ended in quiz.
d. It is more interesting and meaningful.
Learners acquire much feedback which is very corrective so that they found it
very meaningful to their language and skill improvement.
c. Implicit Learning
Implicit learning is a learning type where the activity of instruction is done
out side class room. The idea is that learners are conditioned in such a way that
they learn things unconsciously instead of doing it explicitly. Therefore, it is
designed in a form of task (tasked-based learning) where they are required to
interview people or observe things and fill forms prepared by teachers. They do
not see teachers, join lesson as it is in the class room.
According to Ellis (2009) implicit learning proceeds without making
demand on central intentional resources. Its generalizations arise from
conspiracies of memorized utterances collaborating in productive schematic
linguistic production (N. Ellis in R. Ellis, 2009:3). Learner in this case remains
unaware of the learning that has taken place, although it is evident in the
behavioral responses they make. There are some criteria of implicit instruction:
1. Attracts attention to target form
2. Is delivered spontaneously (in communicative orientated activities)
3. Is unobtrusive (minimal interruption of communication of meaning)
4. Makes no use of meta language
5. Encourages free use of the target form.
Furthermore, implicit knowledge is determined by examining the learners’
use of these features in oral or written language. In addition, implicit knowledge
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tacit and intuitive, procedural, available through automatic processing, an only
evident in learners’ verbal behavior. Explicit instruction, on the other hand, is
determined by a number of criteria; they are:
1. Directs attention to target form
2. Is predetermined and planned (as the main focus and goal of the teaching
activity)
3. Is obtrusive (interruption of communicative language)
4. Present target forms in isolation
5. Uses meta linguistic terminology (e.g. role of explanation)
6. Involves controlled practice of the target form.
Although there is tendency in Politeknik Negeri Bali that the out side-class
room learning is considered strategic for learners’ language mastery, this type of
learning strategy has not been much focused yet. The Immersion program for
Darmasiswa students, for example, has been regularly undertaken. This program
is designed by activating students to participate in regular class where they can
involve in and conduct interaction with regular students in their class while
joining any lesson in stead of Indonesian language (Widanta, 2009). This implicit
type of learning was successfully carried out. However, they have to be dependent
on the schedule when then class are conducted. There were some silent periods
where classes are postponed, such as on holiday, school examination, campus
anniversary, or other accidental activities.
d. Task-Based Learning
A task is intended to result in a language use that bears a resemblance,
direct or indirect, to the way language is used in the real world (Ellis, 2003:16).
Task is also both a means of clinically eliciting samples of learner language for
purposes of research (Corder, 1981) and a device for organizing the content and
methodology of language teaching (Prabhu, 1987). However, Bygate, Skehan and
Swain (2000b) in Ellis (2000) pointed out that task is viewed differently
depending on whether the perspective is that of the research or pedagogy.
Researcher may view a task in term of a set of variables impact of performance
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and language acquisition whereas teachers see it as a unit of work in an overall
scheme of work. Furthermore, they clarified that this work plan typically
involves: (1) some input (i.e) information that learners are required to process and
use); and (2) some instructions relating to what outcome the learners are supposed
to achieved. According to Lantolf and Apple, (194); Lantolf, (2000a) a task is
work plans that reenacted in accordance with the personal disposition and goals of
individual learners in particular setting, making it difficult to predict the nature of
the activity that arises out of a task.
There are, in general, two major parts of task, target task and pedagogical
task. A target task is a piece of work undertaken to oneself or for others, freely or
for some reward, such as painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form. On
the other hand, a pedagogical task is an activity or action which is carried out as
the result of processing and understanding language, such as drawing a map while
listening to tape or listening to an instruction and performing a command (Long in
Nunan, 2003), a range of work plans which have the overall purposes of
facilitating language learning from simple and brief to more complex and lengthy
activities (Breen in Nunan, 2003), a work plan that requires learners to process
language pragmatically in order to achieve an outcome that can be evaluated in
term of whether the correct or appropriate propositional content has been
conveyed (Ellis in Nunan, 2003). So the task-based approach aims at providing
opportunities for learners to experiment with and explore both spoken and written
language through learning activities that are designed to engage in the authentic,
practical and functional use of language for meaningful purposes.
Task is differentiated with exercise as follows. Skehan (1998a)
distinguishes a task and an exercise as follows. A task shall have characteristics:
1. meaning is primary;
2. there is a goal which needs to be worked toward;
3. the activity is outcome-evaluated;
4. there is a real-world relationship (in Ellis:2000).
In a task, learners are primarily engaged in trying to communicate content
(meaning is primary), they work towards the goal of determining whether the
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picture they hold is the same as or different to the picture held by their partner, the
outcome is evaluated in terms of whether they are successful in this goal, and
there is a relationship with the real world in the sense that the kind of discourse
that arise from this task is intended to resemble that which occurs naturally
(Skehan, 1998a).
Exercise as in a fill-in-blank grammar, engage learners primarily in
producing correct linguistic forms, there is no obvious communicative goal to be
achieved, the outcome is evaluated in terms of whether the learner’s answer are
grammatically correct or not, and no direct relationship between the type of
language activity involved and naturally occurring discourse is intended (Skehan,
1998a). Further more, Widdowson (1998a) explains, a task and an exercise differ
with regard to the kind of meaning, goal, and outcome they are directed toward.
An exercise is premised on the need to develop linguistic skill as a prerequisite for
the learning of communication ability, while a task is based on the assumption
that linguistic ability are developed through communicative activity.
Ellis claims that Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) contributes to
major goals; they are “communicative activities” and “second language
acquisition (SLA)” (Ellis in Jaya Widanta, 2011:109). However, there are basic
purposes of TBLT:
1. To give learners confidence in trying out what ever language they know
2. To give learners experience of spontaneous interaction
3. To give learners the chance to benefit from noticing how others express
similar meanings
4. To give learners chance for negotiating turn to speak
5. To engage learners in using language purposefully and cooperatively
6. To make learners participate in a complete interaction, not just one-off
sentence
7. To give learners chance to try out communication strategy, and
8. To develop learners’ confidence that they can achieve communicative
goals.
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In this study, task given to learners is in purpose to facilitate them with
optimal opportunity to practice the language with certain outcome the task
outlines. Students are considered successful in doing the task if they outcome
thing as what then task requires. By doing the task appropriately they are
considered to have practice communication a lot. As their focus is to do task
correctly, they do not realize that they lean the language optimally (study
grammar, memorizing ad produce functions of language, memorize and learn new
vocabulary from their interlocutors). That is the main idea of implicit language
learning.
e. Project
As task-based learning is outcome focused, there shall be an outcome the
learners have to finally achieve. In this study, Darmasiswa students produce a
project in the form of report undertaken upon their activities completion in the
site. This is merely to sum up what they have done and how well they can report
what they have done. This is a written report they can design freely so that they
can imply their idea as much as possible. Beside the main topic they deal with in
the site, such as shopping, some aspect can be included in the writing; such as
setting, the time of the event, people involved in it, why they do so, the specialty
about the event if being compared to others.
3. Solution
a. How is Learning Model Designed?
There are a number of stages to carry out in designing this learning model
as follows.
First, we have to determine the language. Language in this case means
level of language in term of grammar, structure, expression, language functions,
or vocabulary a part from the skills we have to focus. More importantly, we have
to detail what language function we will bring into the discussion. This will be
easier to consider if we know what level the students are in. Knowing the
students’ level will ease us to determine what topic we have to adequately rise.
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Second, we have to design the task. If the topic of discussion which has
been determined is shopping for instance, then we will design a task about
shopping. The task may contain things concerning a dialogue between a foreigner
and a local seller traditional shop which includes some activities like bargaining,
greeting, asking price, asking size, color, thanking, requesting, and commanding.
Third, we have to determine how learners will perform the activity. Since
it is a task-based language teaching, the learner will be performing a task related
to shopping. The activity will include interviewing the seller about things,
interviewing while observing how people perform dialogs, or any other form of
interaction which involves the learners’ active participation to practice the
language. This activity is called excursion program. In this stage, learners will
implicitly learn a lot about the nature of language used commonly by native
speakers and also be introduced with culture based on what the conversation takes
place. This activity will particularly train learner to comprehend questions and
give respond to the questions appropriately. By doing so, they will be able to train
their speaking ability without being directed and monitored by teachers. This
experience will contribute to a meaningful learning to the learners.
SHOPPING
1. Sapa penjualnya (greet the seller)
2. Berterima kasih karena dipersilakan masuk (thank the seller for the
permission)
3. Tanyakan jika dia menyediakan sepatu (ask if shoes are available)
4. Tanyakan jenis merek yang tersedia (ask the what brands are available)
5. Tanyakan ukuran-ukuran yang tersedia (ask what sizes are available)
6. Tanyakan jika bisa dicoba (ask if we can try them on)
7. Tanyakan harganya (ask price of the shoes)
8. Tanyakan jika bisa ditawar (ask if the price can be lowered)
9. Tanyakan harga pasnya (ask the best price)
10. Berterimakasih atas harga yang diberikan (thank the seller for the best
price)
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11. Tanyakan jika ada barang lain (ask if other items you want are available)
12. Begitu seterusnya (and so on )
13. Berterimakasih dan permisi (thank the seller and ask permission to leave)
This is the suggested task learners should use since it can trigger them to
practice the language without being aware of their learning the language.
However, there can be other possibility of task design as far as it still focuses on
the learners’ learning the language implicitly.
b. Project Accomplishment
Upon the interview session, learners are requested to make a report on the
whole interview. This project will train their ability to synthesize what they have
written in the task and what they have seen in the field to make a full and detail
narration. In this written report learners may paraphrase the responds of seller(s)
to make it more natural and smooth. In addition, this writing will train them how
to write properly, use vocabulary and expression, to structure sentences
appropriately and grammatically.
4. Conclusion and Suggestion
a. Conclusion
Excursion is a strategic method by which learners will be able to learn
Indonesian language in a meaningful and fun possible way. By this method,
learners will find the learning triggering and stimulating since they are involve in
such a situation and activity where language and culture aspects are learned
implicitly. In addition, this method will overcome learners’ being reluctant to
study in a-class-explicit program.
The two learning activities, interviewing and reporting the interview
result, will be meaningful for learners since they are stimulated to explore the
language (natural expressions, sentence structures, vocabularies in the real life
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situation) and to practice the four major skills (listening, writing, speaking, and
reading).
b. Suggestion
This empirical study is an observation-based conceptual study. This
concept should be implemented to see how much it is applicable in the field, what
obstacles the learners face in the field. More deeply, implementing the model will
enable us to identify what factors results in hindrances that we are going to be
able to overcome them with some constructive ways out.
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