THE CHALLENGES OF TEACHING WRITING SHORT FUNCTIONAL TEXT FOR STUDENTS WITH AUTISM IN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (RETAIN, 2016)
THE CHALLENGES OF TEACHING WRITING SHORT FUNCTIONAL TEXT FOR STUDENTS WITH AUTISM IN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL Yunita Dwi Theisyane English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Surabaya yunitatheisyane@mhs.unesa.ac.id Abstrak Penelitian ini fokus pada tantangan pengajaran menulis untuk murid-murid autis di kelas inklusi tingkat Sekolah Menengah Pertama. Peneliti memilih dua orang guru Bahasa Inggris yang mengajar di dua kelas inklusi yang berbeda di mana setiap kelas tersebut terdapat siswa autis sebagai subjek penelitian ini. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menemukan (1) tantangan-tantangan dalam pengajaran ketrampilan menulis murid autis di kelas VII inklusi dan (2) hal-hal yang di lakukan para guru untuk mengatasi tantangan tersebut. Penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kualitatif dan instrumennya adalah wawancara dan observasi. Hasilnya ditemukan delapan tantangan dalam pengajaran ketrampilan menulis pada siswa autis, yaitu: menghadapi siswa autis yang suasana hatinya sedang buruk, membuat siswa autis fokus, menghadapi mereka yang sedang kantuk, menghadapi siswa autis yang penulisan katanya tidak lengkap, mengajarkan membuat dan menyusun kalimat, membuat mereka memahami perintah tugas, dan menghadapi siswa autis yang tidak menyukai topik yang telah ditentukan. Sehubungan dengan tantangan-tantangan tersebut, terdapat juga delapan usaha yang dilakukan guru untuk mengatasi hal tersebut, yaitu: menunjukkan kasih sayang kepada mereka dengan menatap mata dan mengusap kepalanya dengan lembut selama beberapa kali atau menempatkan mereka di ruangan khusus; melakukan sesuatu sesuai minatnya dengan selalu bersabar; memainkan permainan atau melakukan gerakan badan; memberitahukan secara langsung dan jelas tentang kesalahan penulisan dan bagaimana cara merevisinya; memberikan contoh berbagai macam kalimat; membimbingnya secara langsung dengan memberi beberapa petunjuk; menjelaskan perintah secara perlahan dan memberi kesempatan untuk memilih topiknya sendiri. Kata Kunci: Program Pengembangan Pembelajaran, kelas inklusi, autis, tantangan. Abstract This study focuses on the challenges of teaching writing for students with autism. The aim of this study is to describe teachers’ challenges in teaching writing short functional text for autistic students in inclusive classroom of Junior High School. The researcher chose two English teachers who teach in two different inclusive classes as the subject of this study. This study was conducted in order to find out (1) the challenges that come with teaching writing for autistic students in seven graders and (2) the things which the teachers have done to overcome these challenges. This study was a descriptive qualitative and the instruments were interviews and observations. The results found eight challanges faced by the teachers in teaching writing for autistic students, such as facing the autistic getting bad mood, making them focus, facing them sleepy, facing them who wrote incomplete words, teaching making and arranging sentences, making him fully understand the task instructions and facing him when he did not like the topic chosen. Related to those challenges, there were also eight efforts done by teachers to overcome it, i.e: showing affection to them by looking at their eyes while gently patting their head several times or placing them in a special room; doing something based on their interests while remaining patient; playing a game or doing body movements; informing them directly and clearly about their mistakes in their writing and how to revise them; providing many kinds of sentence examples; guiding directly by giving some clues; explaining the direction slowly and giving him a chance to choose the topic. Keywords: Internship Program, inclusive class, autism, challenge.