The teaching of English at Pondok Pesantren Attarbiyyah Al-Islamiyyah at Paiton Probolinggo

English is the main foreign language taught in secondary schools and universities in Indonesia. However, due to the importance of English, it is not only taught in formal schools but also at pesantrens.

This study investigated the teaching of English at Pondok Pesantren Attarbiyyah Al-Islamiyyah (PPAA) in Paiton Probolinggo, whose students, mostly coming from out of Paiton. The research questions of this study were about the objective of teaching English, the kind of syllabus used, the materials used, the teaching techniques used, the kinds of media, and the evaluation system accomplished at PPAA. The study also aims at describing the English teachers’ qualifications, and the teacher’s problem in teaching English.

This present study used descriptive quantitative research design since it seeks facts and causes of human behavior through the collection of objective and quantifiable data. The instrument used was questionnaire. The target population was all English teachers and students at PPAA. For the teachers and the students, the researcher applied total sampling. So the accessible population was all English teachers amounting to 6 and all students at Elementary Class (EC) and the students at Intermediate Class (IC), which was amounted to 85. To interpret the data, the researcher used the percentage technique. At first, he classified the data into table. Then the highest percentage was used as a conclusion.

It was found out that there was an integration of the teaching of English and Islamic mission at PPAA. The main teaching objective was to help the students to be able to communicate with foreigners in the circumstance of daily conversation. The language skill focused was on speaking, whereas the components were grammar and pronunciation. The other objectives were to spread the Islamic teaching and friendship, to educate the students to have good attitude, and better self-confidence.

There was no written syllabus, but they used time schedule instead. The language skills taught were speaking, listening, reading, and writing; while the components were grammar and structure, pronunciation, vocabulary, and spelling. The reading material was taken from Practice and Progress, one of the "New Concept English" series by L.G. Alexander.

The techniques used by the teachers were story retelling, memorizing vocabulary, reading aloud, dictation and translation, discussion, debate, dialog (question and answer), listening to cassettes, doing grammar exercises and drill, game and role-play, speech activity. The media available at PPAA were still picture, audio recorder, and realia. There was no library and laboratory.

The rule "PPAA is English Speaking Area" required the students to speak English all the time inside and outside classroom, and the researcher found that the students obeyed the rule faithfully. The teachers and students did not face very serious problems during the teaching and learning process. Although the media available were very limited, the teachers were still able to conduct a proper teaching and learning process that made the students always actively participate when they were in class.