THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 2013 CURRICULUM IN ENGLISH TEACHING FOR VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL (A Descriptive Qualitative Research at SMK Negeri 2 Surakarta in Academic Year of 2015/2016)

This research was aimed to describe: 1) teachers’ perceptions towards 2013 Curriculum (C13), 2) teaching-learning process’ procedure, 3) teachers’ difficulties in implementing C13, and 4) teachers’ efforts to overcome the difficulties. The data were collected through observations, teachers and students’ interviews, also documents’ analysis of C13 syllabus, lesson plans, and books. Milles and Huberman model was used to analyse data. The finding shows: 1) teachers’ perceptions of C13 include their positive view of students’ activeness, the unmatchable learning materials for Vocational High School (VHS), the need of continuous teacher training for curriculum comprehension and evaluation, and teachers’ adjustment of using C13 as fulfilled by School Based Curriculum (SBC) in terms of material, approach, students’ role, 2) the teaching-learning procedures includes: a) preparation step comprising: C13 syllabus, lesson plans that are developed, learning models based on materials’ need, Buku Bahasa Inggris Kurikulum 2013 (C13 book) as main source and worksheet as its additional; b) the implementation of: C13 book, Scientific Approach (SA), three assessment aspects included social and spiritual, role of teachers and students that depends on the teachers respectively; c) the evaluation: unmatchables C13 syllabus and books, less objective of attitude assessment, 3) teachers’ difficulties in implementing C13: a) unmatchables of: basic competences’ sequence of C13 book and syllabus, C13 books for VHS, b) difficulties of: SA’s time allocation, students’ focus during SA, attitude assessment, 4) teachers’ efforts to overcome: a) basic competences’ sequence correction, b) teachers’ reminders to improve students’ focus. To conclude, C13 implementation in this VHS is based on its policies despite of the unmatchable learning materials, other efforts are written through the suggestions for the government. Keywords: 2013 Curriculum, English teaching, English learning, vocational high school, descriptive research