Functional English Design for Domestic Migrant Workers

This paper aimed at: (1) describing the content of Functional English Design (FED) materials and (2) describing the appropriateness of the FEDas the English training materials for the migrant workers' candidates (MWC). This study used ADDIE (Analysing, Designing, Developing, Implementing and Evaluating) model involving totally 200 MWC in the 4 PPTKIS (namely authorized private boards in which duties serves the Indonesian workers' placement and protection abroad).The data were taken from the documentation, the trainees‟ English training achievements using the FED and peer-debriefing. The gathered data was analyzed using: Content Analysis and Mean-difference computation of the trainees' test results descriptively. This study found: (1) the content of the FEDthat developed“Imparting and seeking factual information” with “Minimum–adequate language Functions” was matched with the trainees needs and (2) the FED was appropriate to use as an alternative English materials since it was designed based on the result of needs analysis beside the test result in significant improvement i.e. the Mean Difference of the oral pre and post-test was 2.25 within the scoring standard scale of 0-10, while the Md of the written pre-post-test was 13.35 within the scoring standard scale of 0-100. Besides, the peers debriefing stated that the FED was recommended for use in the 4 investigated PPTKIS.


INTRODUCTION
This study was aroused by the phenomenon of the Indonesian domestic migrant issues who suffered from violence and violation in their workplaces abroad, even some of them were sentenced to death without knowing their faults clearly. Early data showed that the problems were among others because of their unskilled in their jobs and their lack of ability in communication using the target language (Depnakertrans RI, 2000;Wadiono, 2002), including in using English as one of the needed languages that must be mastered. The fact showed, even though they have got training before working abroad but many problems kept being appeared. To avoid such issues, communication problems including cultural adaptation should be taught in the authorized institution that handled both the recruitment and placement of the workers.
Language training including English must be held professionally by using standardized materials by remembering that teaching materials are key components in the process learning at all levels of learning (Richards, 2001, p.257). Teaching materials are also a vehicle to achieve the objectives of the learning program. Therefore, the preparation should be tailored to the target needs analysis. Selection or preparation of teaching materials, of course, cannot be separated from the quality of teachers as the learning program designers. In fact, various research results indicate that teachers as the training program designers are often less professional in selecting and/or preparing teaching materials for their learners. In other words, the content of teaching materials used by teachers is often not matched with the needs of learners that incidentally equal to the needs of graduate users. As a result, learning or training results are less acceptable in the job field needs because they are less suited to the targeted demands.
On the basis of the above issues, this study examined five types of English teaching materials, which had been previously used in PPTKIS (Penempatan dan Perlindungan Tenaga Kerja Indonesia Swasta) Jakarta. PPTKIS is an authorized manpower placement and protection agencies which serves migrant workers. The specific target of this research was, developing a model of English learning materials using a functional approach, which was considered appropriate to the needs of the candidates" migrant workers who were joining training in the four biggest manpower agencies. To achieve the defined target, the writer conducted a taxonomic procedural activities using ADDIE model which was simplified into three stages as follows: (1) analyzing the quality of the current learning materials content whether or not they were appropriate with the learners" needs; (2) designing materials prototype, then (3) implementing and evaluating the decided materials to analyze its appropriateness with the learners" needs.

The Nature of Language and Language Learning
In the world of communication, language is seen as a tool for the creation and maintenance of social relations through interaction analysis, conversation analysis, and ethnomethodology. According to this theory, speeches are specified and organized on the interaction patterns of 'interaction' that evolve according to the interactor's desires. Among the three types of language theories above, which are considered most relevant to the problems of this research are the functional theory. Therefore, as a reference, the writer needs to put forward various concepts concerning the functional view of language according to the experts, in more detail. The following is its outlined theories. Hymes (1987) & Halliday (1973, for example, argue that 'language' is used for communication purposes or language practice. For example, convey greetings, ask and provide information, and give orders. In accordance with the functional view of language, the two experts argue that a language is a tool for socializing with the speaker's environment. In its development, in addition to being seen as a means of communication, 'language' is also seen as a hereditary heritage, a mathematical system, social fact, the expression of one's identity, the expression of cultural identity, the performance of dialogical interaction, social semiotics, the intuition of native speakers, which has been tested, a series of memories, a combination system (of sound) that is different but in accordance with applicable rules, or any kind of electrical activity in a distribution network.
In addition, language is likened to Panda's claws, which are a complex system, yet adaptive because they have radii that are partially functioned in a simple, partially non-functional, and partly functioning in an unexpected way. That is, 'language' in general cannot be analyzed precisely only by developing aspects that are studied separately and then combine these parts in an effort to form a complete picture (Cook & Seidlhofer, 1997, p.3). Agreeing with the communicative view of language, Kramsch (1998, p.3) asserts that language is the primary means used in social life and when used in the context of communication, it is tied to culture in diverse and complex ways. For example talking by phone or face-to-face, writing letters or sending messages by e-mail, reading newspapers or interpreting charts or maps.
The way a person uses speech, writing and picture media creates a meaning that their group can understand, for example through tone of voice, accent, conversation style, body, and facial expressions. It implies that: there is a connection between the language and culture of the community, and cultures grow and are well preserved by means of dissemination by their social communities through interaction between their language users and their social communities. According to Brown (2000, p.5) language is a natural sound system and not based on common sense that can be either written symbols or gestures, which benefit the community of speakers to communicate intelligently. 'Language' is a very complex special skill and can develop spontaneously without realizing it and without being formally studied by the speaker. In addition, language is also used and (unwittingly) disseminated by every individual who has language differences to process information or to behave intelligently. In connection with the above concept, Feez & Joyce (2002, pp.5-7) argue that language arises in the life of each individual through the ongoing exchange of meaning with others. Language occurs instantly in the 'context'.
As it is mentioned above that the various issues appeared because of the inability of the language users to communicate using the target language proportionally. So far, the views of experts on the nature of language can be categorized into three stages: traditional or behaviorist views, structuralism views or transformational-generative grammar (TGG), and communicative language views also known as functional views (Saeed, 2000, pp.300-301). Each of these types of views is described as follows. First, the traditional view of language. The emergence of this theory is influenced by the views of the behaviorists, especially B.F. Skinner, who believes that a person's behavior is a set of habits. This view affects linguists who believe that language can be mastered through verbal habituation, through repetitive speech imitation activities with reinforcement. The behavior is repeated until it becomes a habit (Littlewood, 1992, p.39). This theory began to be contrasted since the emergence of a cognitive approach originally led by Chomsky in 1965.
The second is the transformational-generative grammar (TGG) view which is also called the 'mentalist approach' or structuralism view. It has actually been published since 1957, but it has only begun to be confronted with traditional theory in 1965. The debates between these two adherents are fueled by Chomsky's disapproval and his followers who believe that language is so complex that it is impossible to master only by habituating behavior or habituation of speech (operant conditioning). The verbal behavior observed according to this understanding is actually only touches the tip of the iceberg, which means no effect at all on the mastery of the language. According to this understanding, in the human brain, there is a grammar system called Universal Grammar (UG) and is stored in one of the nervous systems in which Chomsky calls the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). On the basis of this system, a person is able to generate and understand sentences that may have not been encountered or heard at the time of communication. The main creative aspect of language according to this understanding is the development of internal cognitive systems, namely the internal grammar of the target language. Language represents the world logically through logical and experiential meaning.
This meaning is a reflection of field.
Interpersonal Language builds relationships through interpersonal meaning.
This meaning is a reflection of meaning (tenor). Textual Language organizes meaning into oral and written text through textual meaning.
This meaning is a reflection of style/variety (mode).
The third is the theory functional view or functional theory. The functional view is one of three types of existing language theory. The functional theory is a view that language is a means of expressing functional meaning. This theory further emphasizes the semantic or speech-meaning and communicative (language function) dimensions rather than the grammatical characteristics of its language (Richards, 2001, pp.20-22). The emergence of the functional theory was triggered by a debate between traditional adherents and the TGG. In the context of language, culture occurs simultaneously within the broader cultural context. The structural and linguistic patterns observed in a text develop to achieve the same goal. Such patterns are called genres. In the functional model, language is expressed in three layers that occur simultaneously when used. Table 1 shows the three-layer language relationship.
The existence of language cannot be separated from the term language learning that is a system involving components of program design, needs analysis, objectives, syllabus, teaching materials, methodology, and assessment. The learning design should be based on the results of the target needs analysis, which is the result of collecting information about the students' learning needs (Richards, 2001, p.5). This information is used as a basis for formulating the objectives listed in the syllabus, which are the outlines of charge planning that lead to coveted learning performance (Feez & Joyce, 2002: pp.2-3). Teaching material which is an important tool in learning is taught through methodology, which is all activities undertaken by developers, teachers, and learners. The implementation of the methodology involves the principles of learner needs, direction, instructional and teaching procedures, learners" roles, and learning skills (Cunningsworth, 1995, p.97).

English Teaching Materials and Functional Approach
According to Tomlinson (1998, p.2) teaching materials are "all things deliberately used to improve knowledge and/or language experience" -while functional theory according to Richards & Rodgers (2001, p.21) is one of the views on the nature of language and language learning which emphasizes semantic and communicative dimensions and leads to the specification and organization of the content of language teaching which emphasizes the meaning of words and functions rather than the elements of sentence patterns and grammar. The philosophical foundation of a functional approach is the contextual learning theory of John Dewey (Mey, 1994, p.4) which asserts that learning will work effectively if the material concerns real life. Thus, it can be concluded that language learning should be associated with a natural language (language use), and not just the introduction of language patterns (language usage).
The foundation of functional approach is the method of communicative language teaching with communicative approach. This is used on the basis of the needs of language learners on the language ISSN: 2477-2879 ADJES Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2018: 35-43 competencies that emphasize speech functions that began to be developed in the early 1970s (Cunningsworth, 1995, p.56) because of the demands of the times. The recent linguistic view is not measured and does not focus on grammatical mastery but is measured by the speaker's ability to use language in various communication contexts (Richards, 2001, p.44).The functional view of the language is part of the communicative approach within the CLT (Communicative Language Teaching). Therefore the characteristics are also the same as CLT, namely as follows: (a) language is a system to express meaning; (b) the main function of language is to interact and communicate; (c) the structure of language reflects its communicative and functional usage; (d) the major parts of the language are not only the grammatical forms and the sentence, but also the categories of communicative and functional meanings that contextually exist in the discourse (Richards, 2001, p.162).
Among the various types of language functional groups proposed by Van Ek (1979, p.113) and Richards (2001, p.159) were the category of language functions of "imparting and seeking factual information" that are considered the simplest and fits the needs of the target learners. The categories of language functions above include the use of language functions: "identifying", "reporting" (including "describing" and "narrating"), "correcting (including" agreeing "and" denying ")", and "asking (including asking for help, "questions", and "inviting"). Therefore, such categories of the aforementioned language function were used as the basic expressions in developing the target learning materials in this study.

English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
ESP (English for Specific Purposes) is a branch of language learning concept which is learnt for specific needs of communication, such as: English for law, medical, engineering, pharmacy, business, agriculture, veterinarian, and animal husbandry. Those terms need specific terminologies that are sometimes different in use and meaning. Hutchinson & Waters (1997) categorized ESP into several needs, such as: EBE (English for Business and Economic), EAP (English for Academic Purposes), and EOP (English for Occupational Purposes). This means that ESP is used to communicate functionally, according to the fields and the needs of the targeted communication.
As it has been mentioned above that learning material is the key component of a learning process (Richards, 2001). But it should be noted that the material must be standardized, so that it may affect the learners learning achievement improvement. Hutchinson and Waters (1997) suggested standardized ESP materials as follows: (a) showing the learners level of study category; (b) performing learning objectives; (c) developing clearly language skills; (d) providing language learning evaluation; and (e) affordable and available. Those criteria of a standardized ESP material was used as the consideration in developing the target understudied material for migrant worker candidates.
All of the aforementioned theories were used as the basic of designing the content of the Functional English Design which was specifically addressed to the candidate migrant workers who joined English training in the PPTKIS to be investigated. In this case, Functional Approach, particularly the category of language functions of "imparting and seeking factual information" was used as the language target of learning, while the language content was developed by considering the real life experiences and situations or conditions related to the migrant workers jobs, such as: "Greeting", "Answering a Call", "Accepting a Guest", "Organizing the House", "Caring for Children", "Giving Direction", "Going to the Market", "Writing a Memo", completed with "Phonetic Spelling". The 8 (eight) topics were included in the Chapters and each was suited both with the language target and its content sequentially in the form of communicative discourses that arouse the trainees to use the target language.

RESEARCH METHOD
This study performed ADDIE (Analyzing, Designing, Developing, Implementing and Evaluating) model. In this case, this model was taxonomically held into three stages (inspired by Sukmadinata, 2007). In this case, the first stage was analyzing learners" needs through: (a) analyzing data, including the target discourse, linguistic aspects, and semantic aspects; (b) data revision which included interconnecting between linguistic aspects or networks, structured summaries, and materials manuscript; and (c) data verification using peer-debriefing technique. Peer-debriefing was intended to test the credibility of the findings of the previous obtained research data by asking questions more detail to the research subject that has not been investigated (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2000, p.108). For more details, Figure 1 presents the analysis steps. The second stage was designing and developing teaching materials. In this case, the second stage involved materials design and development. The materials content was designed and developed by considering that the current used material available in the authorized training agencies for it did not fulfill the standardized material criteria. The materials content was designed, then developed by accessing the minimum target language functions and the migrant worker candidates real-life jobs. In this stage, materials prototypes were designed then developed all at once by involving 40 research participants, namely the migrant worker candidates who joined English training in one of the investigated PPTKIS. Activity started by selecting a certain focus of language training target Unit that was then taught, observed, analyzed and interpreted, reflected to modify, and so forth until the FED was really considered appropriate to use for the bigger number of participants. As an illustration, Figure 2 shows the procedure in conducting the second stage.
The third stage was implementation and evaluation. This study involved 160 research participants (migrant worker candidates from the three other PPTKIS). This stage was conducted through the following procedure: (a) giving English pre-test using the FED content; (b) giving cyclical English training using FED; (c) giving post-test; (d) numerical data collecting; (e) data analysis using Meandifference computation to find the "Gain scores" between the average number of pre-and post-tests; (f) judging the FED appropriateness to use in the PPTKIS as an alternative English training materials. The following was the Mdformula which was used to find the gain score of the pre-posttest results.
M d = ∑X 1 /n -∑X 2 /n (Sukmadinata, 2007) The test was carried out through the following procedures: (a) preparing research instruments in the form of written tests and oral spoken tests using the "imparting language functions" and "seeking factual information" (Van Ek, 1979, p.113); (b) testing the efficacy of the teaching materials model that has been assessed its feasibility; (c) testing the appropriateness of the developed teaching material toward the learners" needs; and (d) analyzing the test results using mean difference (M d ) between the average scores of pre-posttest or gain score computation.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
As it is written above that this study was intended to describe: (1) the content of the Functional English Design (FED) and (2) the appropriateness of the FED towards the needs of the migrant worker candidates particularly in their coming duties abroad. Referring to the result of data analysis as written above, this research found as follows.

The Content of the FED (Functional English Design)
As it has been previously mentioned above that this study was intended to design Functional English materials as the alternative English training material used in the research settings. This was done by considering that the available material did not fulfill the criteria of standardized normative materials. Whereas materials are considered as a "key component" in a language learning (Richards, 2001). Based on such kind of reason, this study designed the more normative materials that were matched with the trainees' needs by considering their needs on the language skills, language aspects, and language content mastery. As an illustration, Table 2 performs the different characteristics of the conventional English training materials and the FED. Difference Aspects

Conventional Materials
The FED Materials

Form of Discourse
Unavailable. There was not any discourse content in it. It did not perform any text.
The learning materials perform a various authentic dialogues, monologues which were intentionally designed appropriately to the target learners" need analysis.
2. Linguistic Aspect Unclear. It performed isolated words completed with incontextual words/phrases.
The linguistic aspect was purposively designed by focusing on the main target of the learners language learning need for oral communication (speaking skill) which involving speaking components such as, vocabulary, structure/grammar pronunciation, accuracy, and listening comprehension.

Semantic Aspect
Unclear. It did not contain contextual meaning; Words/phrases were provided isolatedly with each translation in bahasa Indonesia.
The isolated vocabulary listed in the conventional materialswere used to develop in language use for the needs of oral and written communication in the form of contextual and actual dialogues and monologues by considering conceptual language learning category of minimum-adequate vocabulary and grammar (minimum adequate language for survival life).

Pragmatic
Aspect/ Culture Unavailable. Materials were only in the form of list of words/phrases related to domestic worker jobs.
The pragmatic aspect related to the culture of the target language user wasprovided integrated and embedded within the given discourses.

Language Skill
Unclear. It did not perform any language expressions contextually, but isolated.
Since the main target learners need were language learning for communication, the materials content were developed mainly on speaking skill which involved language aspects of vocabulary, structure/grammar, pronunciation, accuracy, pronunciation and listening comprehension appropriately with the learners learning characteristics and level of study.
6. Networking Unclear. It neither developed any language use, language target nor content., so that the learner could not get any language acquisition contextually.
Materials were developed in well-sequent order id estfrom the easiest to the more relatively complicated such as "Imparting and seeking factual information"which were provided textually and contextually available in the chapters of the learning subjects, flexibly and in balance.

Structured Summaries
Not in good order. It neither performed any language structure nor grammar focus. It did not perform sentence patterns.
The language structures were performed embedded in the texts completed with language focusand sentence patterns that can be used as the basic understanding for language practice. 8. Script Display Uninteresting in general. It did not perform any authentic and actual language use beside, without illustration.
Materials was intentionally designed to draw the learners" interest by completing the texts with illustration in the forms of pictures to clarify the target expression meaning.
Compared with the current available materials, the FED was quite different either from the side of the discourse forms, the aspects of linguistic, semantic, pragmatic/cultural, language skills, networking,  Table 2, it can be seen that the conventional English training materials (CETM) did not fulfill the standardized materials criteria as suggested either by Hutchinson & Waters (1997) or McDonough & McDonough (1997) since it only contained a list of words and their meanings, even, without pictures. The migrant worker candidates (MWC) was commonly asked to memorize the words list and their meanings. The materials of the FED consisted of two aspects, namely language target and language content. Language target which was taught within the FED was previously mentioned, id est"imparting and seeking factual information". While the language content to be developed was any aspects related to the real-life experiences and situations or conditions of the migrant workers jobs, namely: "Greeting", "Answering a Call","Accepting a Guest", "Organizing the House", "Caring for Children", "Giving Direction", "Going to the Market", and "Writing a Memo". All of the topics were completed with "Phonetic Spelling and transcriptions" which aims at helping the learners or trainees in pronouncing every new word correctly. All of those topics were distributed in 8 (eight) chapters. The FED content was taught contextually, within the situation and condition of joyful learning by improving the trainees' language skills integratedly, such as listening and speaking, reading and writing while the language aspects like structure, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation were embeddedly taught together within the given topics. For a certain consideration, the FED focused more on integrated listening and speaking skills improvement rather than the two other skills of reading and writing. This because of the needs of the MWC to use oral communication more than the written one. Brown (2007) stated that integrated skills can be taught integratedly by considering that communication cannot use every language skill isolatedly. For instance, to response one"s speech, a person needs listening comprehension competence. It means that speaking activity cannot be separated from listening to the communicant"s speeches.

Chapter
Language Content and Media Language Target

"Greeting" Media: Video
This Unit performs several communicative discourses between the domestic worker and her employer/s shown from the video. It aimed at familiarizing the trainees to behave culturally polite toward others in English. The language learning target was the mastery on how to greet and how to introduce to somebody else politely by considering the current situation and condition occured in the workplace. The expressions to be taught were Greeting and Self/Personal Introduction. The 4 language skills were developed proportionally such as writing and mentioning personal ID. 2.
"Answering a Call" Media: Video In this Unit, the learners are taught on how to answer a call in English politely using several mixed expressions such as greeting, self Introduction on call, asking for the caller"s ID, asking and/or conveying the employer"s message and ending a call. The learners were also introduced to mention numbers that may be used to inform the phone or mobile phone number. 3.
"Accepting a Guest" Media: Video In this Unit learners are taught on how to use expressions of accepting guest/s politely such as asking for the guest"s ID, inviting the guest/s to have seat/s, offering what kinds of drink the guest/s want to, asking for the guest/s to wait for the employer"s coming, et cetera.

4.
"Organizing the House" Media: Pictures In this Unit learners are introduced various kinds of rooms and goods in household to memorize. They are also taught the procedure on how to tidy up the rooms and the items existed in the house professionally. The target language to be mastered in this case is vocabulary mastery improvement related to their jobs. 5.
"Caring for Children" Media: Pictures In this Unit, learners are introduced to the children"s characteristics aiming to addapt to them. The language target to master are vocabulary mastery particularly focused on the adjective and adverb and Imperative, Suggestions and Giving Advices. 6.
"Giving and Asking for Direction" Media: Chart/Pictures This Unit teaches learners the language target on how to give and ask for direction. The language expressions are performed to memorize and use contextually whenever needed such as: "Could you tell me how to get to the nearest market?"-My pleasure, you may turn left after this T-junction; or "Oh my God, you"re going the wrong way...et cetera. 7.
"Going to the Market" Media: Video This Unit introduces various kinds of new vocabulary related to the name of the market parts, such as stalls, foods corner, butchery corner and name of market commodities such as foods, vegetables, fruits, spice seasoning, clothing, glassware, kitchen utensils, et cetera. The language skills to be developed in this Unit is speaking focuses on how to ask permission, the things to be bought and the use of the expressions of "leave taking", "Bargaining" and so on. 8.
"Writing a Memo" Media: Chart In this Unit the learners are taught on how to write a "Memo". A "Memo" is needed when the worker wants to ask permission not to work or will leave home for some certain intention as a polite relationship. Even though the materials development focuses more on the listening-speaking mastery, the two other skills such as reading and writing must be, of course, also developed proportionally. But practically, the learners are motivated more to use oral language. All language skills and its components are developed in each Unit contextually performed in the selected discourses that are relevant to the MWC jobs.

The Appropriateness of the FED towards the Migrant Worker Candidate Needs
The appropriateness of the FED toward the MWC (migrant worker candidates) needs was judged through both quantitative and qualitative data analyses. The quantitative data was in the form of the participants" pretest and post-test results. The test results were, then simply analyzed using Mean Difference (Md) or gain score formula. The computation result showed that the FED was able to improve the MWC English skills. The appropriateness of the design was proved by the fact that the Md (Mean Difference) of the oral pre and post-test was 2.25 (between 6.00 and 8.25) within the scoring standard scale of 0-10, while the Md of the written pre-post-test was 13.35 (between 69.70 and 83.05) within the scoring standard scale of 0-100. Besides the quantitative data as written above, the qualitative data which was in the form of the result of peer-debriefing descriptive analysis also showed that the FED was considered appropriate to use as alternative English training materials that will be used in the understudied PPTKIS. The peerdebriefing is an instrument that is used to explore added information that may be gathered from the persons outside of the research participants (McDonough & McDonough, 1997). In this case, the 4 PPTKIS directors were involved to give judgements toward the appropriateness of the FED. They recommended the FED to be used as an alternative English training materials on their boards.