Fostering English Literacy Development In Writing Class Through Mind Mapping Integrated With Character Building and Local Wisdom

Abstract

The need of English Literacy today increases sharply particularly in the time when Indonesia is preparing to face AEC 2018 (ASEAN Economic Community) or MEA (Masyarakat Ekonomi ASEAN). For English teachers, introducing English literacy in writing class is not always easy as they need to find interesting methods. It is commonly believed that English language teaching is often accompanied by introducing foreign cultural values that are not always appropiate with that of Indonesian . In line with the national education goals, it seems that the possible way of promoting character building is by integrating local wisdom in Foreign language teaching. The aim of character building is to build the students character which can be supported by the local wisdom. An example of local wisdom that is discussed in this paper is ‘Nyadran’ ceremony. Nowadays, most students are not interested in local wisdom. To atttract their interest in learning character through local wisdom is probably by applying mind mapping as the media. Mind Mapping can be an attractive method for writing class. In this case, the teacher can start discussing the example of local wisdom in a reading text then assigns the students to work in small group to prepare mind mapping. The second step is assigning them to present their mind mapping. Next, they write a descriptive essay based on their mind mapping. The result show that they can write the points which are related to character building in their essay and develop their English literacy ability using local wisdom.