STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS IN LEARNING ENGLISH USING GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES
Introduction
Cooperative learning and student-centered approach have been very popular nowadays. However, there are still many teachers who do not apply them in class. Herman (2006) stated in his study that many teachers in Indonesia still use a ‘conventional’ teaching method, which is, ‘lecturing’ all the time during the teaching learning process. In other words, they use ‘teacher-centered’ system where teacher is the one who delivers the message or information all the time without any exchanged information from the students. This teaching technique is not totally poor, but the most important thing is, whether ‘lecturing’ all the time during the teaching learning process is good and very effective for the teaching learning process in class or not. Ideally, a teaching learning process should be based on a student-centered approach, where students become the active agents in the classroom discussion and the teaching learning process. According to Jones (2007, pg.2), In a student-centered class, students don’t depend on their teacher all the time, waiting for instructions, words of approval, correction, advice, or praise. They don’t ignore each other, but look at each other and communicate with each other.
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Based on Jones’ idea about student-centered learning, the teachers should create a classroom activity that can enhance the students’ active and communicative learning. One of the activities that can provide student-centered learning is a group work activity. In the group work activity, there will be a lot of chances for the students to actively use the language they learnt. Many experts in education field believe and prove that cooperative learning in the form of group work activities are very beneficial and give many good impacts to the students. This statement is supported by some studies. In the findings and discussion, the experts stated that cooperative learning approach has more positive effects on the students’ achievement rather than the teachercentered approach (Ebrahim, 2009; Ning, 2013). However, even though the result of the studies shows the significance of group work activities, there is a problem since the studies conducted do not show the students’ perception in learning English using group work activities. That is why, teachers might not know about the students’ perception when they conduct cooperative learning in the form of group work activity in class. So, the question on what the students’ perceptions are toward group work activities might be answered through this study. Thus, the study had a research question, that is, what are the perceptions of Satya Wacana Senior High School students in learning English using group work activities? The objective of the study was to describe the perceptions of Satya Wacana Senior High School students in learning English using group work activities, that later the result might give significance, both for teachers and students. 2
The study might provide information to the teachers about the students' perceptions and determine appropriate activities for the students. The students could also get a benefit from this study, that is, to promote motivation to learn. In other words, the benefits for the students can be seen through the motivation to learn English in the class as well as an improvement in their academic mark.
Literature Review
The following sections discuss the literature that is related to the topic. There are three main sub headings: Cooperative Learning and Student-Centered Approach, Studies on the Impacts of Cooperative Learning, and Students’ Perceptions in Language Learning.
Cooperative Learning and Student-Centered Approach In the teaching learning process, the teaching method should be one of the main focuses of the teachers’ attentions. According to Surya (as cited in Sihit, 2013), “There is no unintelligent student. There are only students who do not get any opportunity to learn from good inspiring teachers and the right teaching methods.” So, if many students are not good at their academic work, a question should be delivered to the teachers, not to the students or even blame the students that they are not capable enough. Moreover, Russell (as cited in McMahon, 2010) stated that “more important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given”. It means, teachers should 3
pay more attention to the way they teach students in class and the spirit of teaching. Thus, appropriate teaching approach is needed to create a good teaching learning process in the class. The cooperative learning approach has become popular in the last three decades since it helps to promote students’ interaction to maximize their learning and pursue the shared goals (Brown, 1994:81). Johnson (2005, as cited in Wichadee and Orawiwatnakul, 2012) adds an important point about cooperation. In cooperative learning, the students do not depend on one student and the others will just put their names on the paper. It also does not mean that the students sit together with other students in order to answer individual assignment cooperatively. However, in cooperative learning, “students work together to accomplish shared goals. Students seek outcomes that are beneficial to all. Students discuss material with each other, help one another understand it, and encourage each other to work hard.” (Johnson and Johnson, 1999:68). There are some characteristics of cooperative learning approach. One of the characteristics is stated by Jones (2007:28), that is: cooperative learning approach has some classroom activities, such as role plays and group work activities. They might be just effective and interesting for the students if they are conducted in pairs or in group. Thus, group work activities are one of the different kinds of activities that carry out the main characteristic of cooperative learning. The other characteristics of cooperative learning are stated by Wichadee and Orawiwatnakul (2012) as follows: Cooperative learning fosters a positive interdependence. It means, working in a team is necessary for the students to 4
succeed. Besides that, in a cooperative learning approach, the participants learn cooperatively in small groups (2-5 members). Moreover, each student is individually accountable or assessed for learning and participation. The instructor’s or teacher’s role is to ‘guide’. This approach is in line with student-centered approach. According to Jones (2007:40), in a student-centered classroom, students are involved in the learning process and use the language actively. Furthermore, students may have different learning styles and help each other to develop their skills. The most important thing about student-centered approach is that students have more chance to speak and share their ideas. Thus, this approach is actually interconnected to cooperative learning approach so that they can be combined together in integrated ways as they share quite similar objectives and characteristics. In the student-centered approach, the teachers have some roles in the teaching learning process. Pedersen and Liu (2003:58) stated that in teachercentered approach, the teacher is responsible for setting the learning objectives and planning sets of activities that enhance the learners to meet the learning objectives. Thus, teachers are the one who needs to guide the students step-bystep to make sure that students can overcome the problems rose. While in the student-centered approach, teachers present a problem needed to be analyzed (it can also be an issue or a case), then become a facilitator for the students. Instead of helping the students to resolve the problems or the difficulties, teachers should
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help the students to work through the difficulties “by helping them to identify alternative paths or resources” (Pedersen and Liu, 2003:58). In the student-centered approach, the teacher’s role is also to help and encourage students to develop their skills without omitting the teachers’ traditional role as source of information, advice, and knowledge, but the frequency of giving information and knowledge is not as much as in the traditional teaching method. This statement is also supported by Jones (2007:25) who stated that in a student-centered classroom, students should not be taught, otherwise they can only be helped to learn. The students also have a role in the teaching learning process in studentcentered approach. According to Wright (2011:94), student-centered approach gives students opportunity to control their learning since it requires students to take responsibility for their learning. The responsibility for learning is done by being actively involved in the learning process rather than simply passively receiving information from the teachers. Finally, in a student-centered classroom, the teacher and students should work cooperatively as a team and make sure that everyone gets the benefits from the lesson. Since there are some similarities in their learning objectives and characteristics, cooperative learning and student-centered approach can be combined together in a classroom activity. It is because in the group work activities, students may have opportunity to speak, share their ideas, interact with the other students, build and develop their skills as well.
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Studies on the Impacts of Cooperative Learning The following section describes several studies on the impacts of cooperative learning. There are several studies from some researchers where the objective of the studies is to find out the impacts of cooperative learning based on the analysis of the students’ perceptions. There was a study conducted by Ning (2013). The major finding in this study was, the students realized that cooperative learning approach is more effective than traditional instruction in improving students’ overall social skills (Ning, 2013:564). It was proven by the study that in cooperative learning classroom, students can develop their social skills through classroom activities, like group work, which can give them opportunity to interact and communicate with other students. However, even though cooperative learning can give the students good impacts, research conducted by Hsiung (2012) shows the impacts of cooperative learning was moderately negative. A conflict might happen in cooperative learning, especially due to the factor of patience and persistence. For the students who experienced the conflict, the result of the study showed a slow performance improvement. The study conducted by Hsiung (2012) was about the relationship between cooperative work and learning achievement. In the study, 378 participants were involved. The study focused on comparing the achievements of individual and cooperative work, more than half of the studies favored working cooperatively,
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while less than 10% favored individual work. Amazingly, the result showed that the students admitted that cooperative work can enhance their academic achievement, attitudes, and retention. Somapee (2002) conducted a research to see the impacts on critical thinking skills of the students who studied Business English at Chiangrai Commercial School using the cooperative learning method, while the rest of the students were taught using traditional teaching method. The result of the study showed that the post-test scores of students who were taught through cooperative learning approach were higher than the post-test scores of students who were taught through traditional teaching method. Furthermore, the results of the questionnaire showed that the students’ opinion and perception toward cooperative learning were positive. It also could be seen that most of the students benefited from cooperative learning, through group work activities. However, still, there were some students who did not experience the benefits of group work activities.
Students’ Perceptions in Language Learning Many people believe that perception is an abstract thing is hard to define. Wesely (2012) stated that learners perceptions have been commonly associated with two targets: perceptions of themselves and perceptions of the learning situation. Perceptions of themselves have often been defined as how students understand and make sense of themselves and their own learning. While learner
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perceptions of the learning situation have included how students experience and understand aspects of the classroom, such as that in group work activities and the behavior of the teacher and students. In the perceptions of themselves, the aspects or the areas include students’ perceptions regarding the preferences and the advantages of group work activities. Students’ perceptions regarding the preferences are about whether the students like or dislike group work activities conducted in class. While the students’ perceptions regarding the advantages of group work activities are more on the students’ perceptions of the benefits they get when they do the activities in class. The second type of perceptions is the perceptions of the learning situation. The areas include limitations or problems of group work activities. As the students do the activities in class, they might observe and experience some problems that may happen in group work activities. Besides the limitations or the problems, the last and the most important thing is the students’ perceptions on the suggestion for improving group work activities in class (Zumor, et.al, 2013:102).
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The Study
Context of the Study This study was conducted in Satya Wacana Senior High School. It is located in a small town of Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. The school was chosen to be the context of the study because it was the place where a teaching practicum was conducted. Thus, the data for the study was gathered easily and conveniently. Importantly, group work activities are given regularly to the students in class. Method of Research This study used a descriptive method. It described the students’ perceptions in learning English using group work activities since the teachers apply cooperative learning and student-centered approach by using group work activities in class. It described the students’ perceptions which included students’ perceptions regarding the preferences, the advantages of group work activities, the limitations or problems of group work activities, and the suggestion for improving group work activities. Participants The participants of the study were 60 students of Satya Wacana Senior High School. They received many kinds of group work activities every time they learned English at school. In choosing the participants, stratified random sampling was used. There were 20 participants chosen from each grade. The number of the 10
participants was considered sufficient to represent all of the grades (grade 10, 11, and 12) in Satya Wacana Senior High School. Research Instruments The data was collected through a questionnaire with closed-ended questions. The questionnaire consisted of some questions related to the students’ perceptions in learning English using group work activities. It was distributed to 60 students of Satya Wacana Senior High School. That kind of questionnaire was used because the data needed can be collected quickly. Besides questionnaire, the data was also collected through interviews in order to gain more information. The interview was about 5-to-10-minute long for 2 students. Data Collection The data collection was carried out within two weeks. Before starting the study, 60 students of Satya Wacana Senior High School were invited to participate. Then, the participants were asked to fill the questionnaires honestly. After they filled the questionnaire, the data was classified and analyzed. Afterwards, an interview to 2 students from the eleventh grade was conducted. Each interview lasted 5 to 10 minutes, and was audio recorded with the permission of each participant. Data Analysis There were two types of data analyzed: questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively and the data was presented in the form
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of percentage and charts. Another type of data analyzed was interview data. Firstly, after conducting the interview, the data was transcribed and analyzed or coded for themes that emerged.
Data Analysis and Discussion
This chapter presents the analysis and the interpretation of the data. It presents the analysis and the interpretation item by item descriptively. There are eight items discussed and the data is presented in the form of pie charts. The analysis starts with reports on the students’ responses towards each item and the discussion continues with the interpretation of the results.
The Students’ Perceptions Regarding the Preferences The questionnaire item for the students’ perceptions regarding the preferences was: I am very enthusiastic and glad when it comes to a group work activity in class. Below is the data from the questionnaire.
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Chart 1. The Students’ Response towards Statement Number 1 I am very enthusiastic and glad when it comes to a group work activity in class 3% 2% 30% 65%
strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree
From the participants’ responses, it could be seen that almost all of the students enjoyed doing group work activities given by the teachers in the class. There were 30% from the total participants who strongly agreed with the statement, while 65% students agreed with the statement. On the other hand, there were 3% of students who disagreed with the statement and the rest was strongly disagree (2%). From the result of the interview, it was known that there was a reason why the students liked or disliked group work activities. Students liked group work activities because of its cooperative work. One student commented, “Kerja kelompok ada yang lebih berbakat. Jadi, nilainya bisa lebih bagus.” (Tr: In a group work, there were classmates who were academically talented. So, our group’s mark might be good). Furthermore, by doing group work activities, students enjoyed learning English, compared for example, to learn English by listening to the teacher’s explanations. One student mentioned the reason why she liked group work activities: “Soalnya lebih free.” (Tr: Because the teaching
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learning process became more free). She added, it also meant that the teaching learning process were not boring. However, some students were discouraged in doing group work activities, as seen in this comments, “Karena saya tau teman-teman saya kan pinter bahasa Inggris, saya agak kurang bisa soal vocabulary” (Tr: Because I knew that my group mates were smart in English, while I lack vocabulary). As the result of feeling not confident and discouraged, students were not really enthusiastic when it came to a group work activity.
The Students’ Perceptions Regarding the Advantages of Group Work Activities Students’ perceptions regarding the advantages of group work activities were collected through the second part. In this part, there were several statements that had been responded by the students. Chart 2. The Students’ Response towards Statement Number 2 Group work activities help me to understand more about English lesson in the class 2% 2% 16% 80%
strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree
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It could be seen from the chart that almost all of the students (80%) agreed with the second statement, while 16% of students strongly agreed. On the other hand, only 2% for each negative response: disagree and strongly disagree. Most of the participants experienced the first benefit, group work activities help me to understand more about English lesson in class. Arends (as cited in Neo, 2004) explained that in cooperative learning, there were several basic phases which were supposed to be done in class. The first phase was presenting the goal. After that, teachers would present the information. In this phase, students were given lectures on learning theories. Then, group work activity was conducted by forming students’ teams first and doing the activity which was related to the learning theories explained. Therefore, group work activities should support and promote the lesson learned so that the students could experience one of the benefits of group work activity, which was, it helped the students to understand more about English lesson in the class.
Chart 3. The Students’ Response towards Statement Number 3 Group work activities help me to increase my English speaking skills 3% 2% strongly agree 35% 60%
agree disagree strongly disagree
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In responding the second advantage of group work activities, which was, helping to increase English speaking skills, there were 35% of students who strongly agreed and 60% of students agreed with the statement. Meanwhile, only 3% of students disagreed with the statement and the rest (2%) strongly disagreed. There was a fact gained from the interview: not all of the students saw group work activities as a chance to increase their speaking skills, even though there were many chances to speak in it. It was because some students who were not really good in English felt that they were intimidated by other students, as seen in the following comments: “Saya kalau mau mengemukakan pendapat menggunakan bahasa Inggris itu biasanya sering diketawain sama teman-teman karena bahasa Inggris saya wagu, ndeso.” (Tr: When I wanted to share my ideas (to speak) using English, my friends often laughed at me because they said that my pronunciation was weird). Unfortunately, not all of the students experienced the benefit of group work activities, which was, helping the students to increase their speaking skills. As stated above, the intimidations from classmates, for example, mocking other students who could not pronounce English well, could be one of the barriers in cooperative learning, especially in group work activities. Thus, teachers needed to apply the following strategies in the class. Gorham (as cited in Bonwell, 2000) mentioned some behaviors which promote students learning: appropriate use of humor, praising student performance, engaging students outside of the classroom, appropriate level of self-disclosure, encouraging students to talk, asking questions about student viewpoints or feelings, following up on topics raised by students
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even if not directly related to class material, and referring to “our” class and what “we” are doing. Those behaviors helped the teachers to engage the students in doing active participation in group work activities. As the result, the students might be encouraged by compliments given as well as the error correction or feedback from the teachers.
Chart 4. The Students’ Response towards Statement Number 4 Group work activities help me in increasing my social skills 3%
2% 35%
60%
strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree
There were 35% of students who strongly agreed with the statement 4, which is, group work activities help me in increasing my social skills. 60% of students agreed with the statement. On the other hand, 3% of students disagreed and again, 2% of students strongly disagreed with the statement. Group work activities might help students in increasing their social skills. Helping each other was one of the social skills trained. As stated in the previous part, students who were academically talented could help others through discussion in the group work activities. Without group work activities, there might not be much chance to speak, share, discuss, and listen to each other, as one student commented, “Banyak yang lebih mampu terus nanti bisa membantu temen 17
yang lain” (Tr: There are students who were academically talented, so they helped the others). Chart 5. The Students’ Response towards Statement Number 5 Group work activities help me in increasing my problem solving skills 2%
2% 30%
strongly agree agree
66%
disagree strongly disagree
It could be seen from the chart that most of the students agreed with the fifth statement. It resulted 66%. There were 30% of students who agreed, while there were only 2% of students who responded it with both disagreement and strongly disagreement. Most of the students experienced that group work activities which helped them in increasing their problem solving skills from the activities they did in class, but there were few students who did not think that it helped. Students who did not think that group work activities helped them in increasing their problem solving skills argued that they did a small piece in each activity so that they did not feel the benefits. A student who disagreed with the statement commented “Dalam kelompok, sering cepet-cepetan (games). Akunya yang disuruh buat cepat-cepat, buat memberikan jawaban gitu” (Tr: In a group work, there were some kinds of games or activities that required the students to do something as fast as they could in the turn taking. I was the one who was asked to run, so that
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my group had a chance to answer the questions given by the teacher). She explained further: “Tapi kalau seringnya aku pasif sih, soalnya mereka kan lebih pandai daripada saya. Jadi saya diem aja.” (Tr: But I often became passive because they (other students) were smarter than me. That was why, I was quiet). From the participant’s response, it could be seen that there were some students who did not experience the benefit of group work activities, which is, helping students in increasing the problem solving skills. It was because they were not asked to participate in answering the teachers’ question that was related to the lesson. They were asked to only participate in the games by their group mates, instead. That was why, some students did not experience the benefits of group work activities in increasing the problem solving skills.
Chart 6. The Students’ Response towards Statement Number 6 In group work activities, I think my friends help me in increasing my understanding towards the lesson 7%
0%
15%
strongly agree agree
78%
disagree strongly disagree
The result of the students’ response towards statement number 6 was quite different from the previous results. There were only 15% of students who strongly agreed and 78% of students who agreed with the statement. On the other hand, 7%
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of students disagreed with the statement and there was no response for ‘strongly disagree’. Many students realized that their classmates could help them to increase their understanding about English lesson in class, as in the comments like, “Banyak yang lebih mampu terus nanti bisa membantu temen yang lain” (Tr: There were students who were academically talented, so they helped the others). It indicated that classmates could help students in increasing the understanding towards the lesson. Helping each other was one of cooperative learning’s characteristics. Cooperative learning allows students to support each other in order to improve their own learning and that of others (Johnson & Johnson, 2001; Jolliffe, 2007:3). Thus, in cooperative learning using group work activities, students might learn and help each other for the purpose of gaining more understanding in English lesson.
Chart 7. The Students’ Response towards Statement Number 7 By doing group work activities in class, the teaching learning process becomes very fun 6%
0% strongly agree 47%
47%
agree disagree strongly disagree
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The result of the last statement from the second part was slightly different from the sixth result. Here, almost all of the students said that by doing group work activities, the teaching learning process became very fun. There were 47% of students who strongly agreed and 47% of students who agreed with the statement, while only 7% of students disagreed with the statement and there was no response for ‘strongly disagree’. From this chapter, it could be seen that most of the students felt and experienced the benefits of group work activities in class. Most of them said that group work activities helped them to understand more about English lesson in the class, to increase their English speaking skills, social skills, and problem solving skills. Through group work activities, they also found out that their classmates helped them in increasing their understanding towards the lesson and the teaching learning process became very fun.
The Students’ Perceptions Regarding the Limitations or Problems of Group Work Activities Although most of the students’ perceptions towards group work activities were positive, this study also tried to examine the students’ perceptions regarding the limitations or problems of group work activities. In finding out the problems that the students felt during group work activities, several problem statements were written in the questionnaire and the students must choose the problems they encountered.
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Chart 8. The Students’ Response towards the Problems in Group Work Activities
Some problems that I encounter in doing group work activities 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 there were some being tired of passive students always reminding others to work cooperatively
lack of time efficiency
hardly sharing "I don't really own ideas experience the because there benefits of are some group work dominant activities." students
From the chart, it could be seen that the first problem was the problem that the students most frequently encountered. Some students did not actively participate in the group work activities in class, as much as 49%. It meant, almost half of the participants found some classmates who did not actively participate in group work activities and they saw it as a problem. This result was also supported by the result of the interviews, as the following: “Yang mengerjakan itu temannya. Jadi banyak yang lebih mampu terus nanti bisa membantu temen yang lain.” (Tr: They (students who were academically talented) were the one who finished the activities. So, they might help others). It meant, the students who were
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academically talented did almost all of the activities given by the teachers and it was thought as helping the other friends who did not really master English and the lessons. It was a problem because working cooperatively was not the same as working together with others. Cooperative learning method should share the idea that students need to work together to learn and are responsible for each other’s learning as well as their own (Garrett 1998; Killen 2000; Siegel 2005). Thus, cooperative learning should involve both individual accountability and group effort (Garrett 1998). In the second problem, which was still related to the first problem, there were 19% of students who were always trying to ask the other students to get actively involved in the group work activities and they saw it as a problem. Another problem that was most frequently encountered after the active and passive involvement of the students was problem number three: Group work activities were not effective to be done in class because they required a lot of time. Besides, there was another problem encountered by the students when doing group work activities. Some students could not freely share their ideas because there were some classmates who were more dominant in the group work, as in the following comment: “Karena saya tau teman-teman saya kan pinter bahasa Inggris, saya agak kurang bisa soal vocabulary. Terus habis itu, kadang kalau misalnya kelompok, mereka sering tidak memberikan kesempatan kepada saya untuk mengemukakan pendapat atau jawaban kepada guru. Saya kuranglah untuk meningkatkan
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kempampuan berbahasa Inggris saya kalau di kelompok. Ya itu, teman-teman sering individualisme.” (Tr: Because I knew that my group mates were smart in English, while I was lack of vocabulary. Furthermore, in a group work, they also often did not give me a chance to share my ideas or answers for the teachers. I hardly experienced the benefit of group work. My friends were individualism). This problem was often encountered by the students, especially for those who were very passive in the group work activities due to lack of English speaking skills. Jones (2007:3) stated that when students are working together in English, they talk more, share their ideas, learn from each other, feel more secure and less anxious, use English in a meaningful way, and enjoy using English to communicate. However, he also stated some problems that may appear in group work; some of the students may feel nervous, embarrassed, or tongue-tied, speak English and make a lot of mistakes, speak in their native language, not in English, and not enjoy working together. The last problem that students often encountered in group work was that some students did not really think that group work activities were very beneficial for them. In the interview, one of the participants said that she experienced one of the benefits of group work activities, which was, the students could be more creative through the activities given in group work. However, she also mentioned the reason why she did not really think that group work activities were not very beneficial for her. It was because she thought that there was a gap between the students who could and who could not speak English well, as in comments like:
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“Sebenarnya bagus group work activities itu karena lebih meningkatkan kreatifitas murid, tapi kalau misalnya lebih menunjukkan dominan dari muridmurid yang lebih 'wow', dari murid-murid yang lebih bisa, gitu kan membuat murid-murid yang tidak bisa bahasa Inggris jadi minder.” (Tr: Actually, group work activities was good because it could increase students’ creativity, but if it promoted smart students to be dominant students in class, it could make other students feel not confident). It meant, the students who could not speak English well felt insecure and did not feel confident to share the ideas in the group work in the class. As the result, they would be more passive in group work activities and could not experience the benefits of group work activities.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion As it is stated at the beginning, this research question of this study was ‘what are the perceptions of Satya Wacana Senior High School students in learning English using group work activities?’ To find the answer for this research question, a questionnaire that consists of twelve statements has been distributed, an interview has been conducted, and the data gained has also been analyzed. Cooperative and student-centered learning, which is in the form of group work activities in class, has been very popular in the educational field nowadays. It is because group work activities offer many advantages for the students, like
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increasing the communication, social, and problem solving skills. In this study, it could also be seen that most of the students’ perspectives regarding the preferences were positive. It meant, they liked and enjoyed doing group work activities in class. Most of the students also experienced the following advantages of group work activities: Group work activities help me to understand more about the English lesson in the class and to increase my English speaking, social, and problem solving skills. Furthermore, in group work activities, the students thought that their friends helped them increasing their understanding towards the lesson; and the last advantage discussed was that, by doing group work activities in class, the teaching learning process becomes very fun. However, there were also some problems that students often encountered in doing group work activities where the most problematic problem was the presence of passive students. Many participants said that there were some classmates who did not actively participate in the group work activities. And based on the interview, one of the participants stated that she was passive because she was lack of vocabulary and speaking skills in English. As the result, some students who were academically talented dominated in the group work activities.
Recommendations The conclusions bring about several recommendations in order to improve the group work activities in class. The recommendations here were taken from the students’ perception on the suggestion for improving group work activities in
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class. First, the students suggested that the use of code switching in giving the activity instruction for the teacher and in sharing ideas for the students, as in the following comment: “Guru mewajibkan muridnya ngomong pakai bahasa Inggris, tanpa ada bahasa Indonesianya. Kalau ngomong pakai bahasa Indonesia nanti dikasih 'untrophy'. Nah iya kalau murid-muridnya lebih bisa bahasa Inggris daripada bahasa Indonesia. Kalau nggak tau kayak aku, aku cuma bisa diam, sambil mikir, ‘Ini ngomong apa sih?’ Harusnya ada bahasa Indonesianya sedikit, ada bahasa Inggrisnya.” (Tr: Teachers made the students always speak in English. If the students speak in Bahasa, the teacher would give them a cap that should be used in class as a reminder that they could not speak in Bahasa. What if the students did not understand it, just like me? If I did not understand, I would just remain silent and think what the teacher was saying about. There should be a code switching).
Students did not see code switching negatively; rather they saw it as a means to relay information more effectively. Pollard (2002:4) also added that code switching is used to elaborate, to emphasize, to specify an addressee and to clarify. In short, it is used for effective communication. Besides the use of code switching, the students also suggested a distributive turn taking. So, the students can have equal opportunity to answer and participate in the group work in class. It might encourage the students who were not academically talented to learn and practice English more. Still related to the
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teachers’ behavior, Gorham (as cited in Bonwell, 2000) mentioned some behaviors which might promote students learning: appropriate use of humor, praising student performance, engaging students outside of the classroom, appropriate level of self-disclosure, encouraging students to talk, asking questions about student viewpoints or feelings, following up on topics raised by students even if not directly related to class material, and referring to “our” class and what “we” are doing. Those behaviors helped the teachers to engage the students in doing active participation in group work activities. As the result, the students might be encouraged by compliments given as well as the error correction or feedback from the teachers. This study has one thing that needs to be improved for the further research since this study covers the perception from students’ point of view only. For further research, the teachers’ perception toward teaching English using group work activities may also be examined. Finally, this study is hoped to be beneficial for the teachers to create appropriate activities in the class.
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Acknowledgement
Most of all, I would like to give my biggest gratitude to my gracious Lord, my Jesus Christ, and my magnificent Holy Spirit for all of the blessings and the unconditional love during my hardest time. Praise the Lord if I can finish my thesis in a short time. At first, I was not sure whether I could finish it on time or not because I only had about two months to finish it before I go to work. However, my Lord is the Lord who never breaks His Promise. He strengthens me. Finally, I could finish it. My Lord also shows His Generosity by giving me many people surround me who always support and help me so much during I wrote my thesis. Thus, in here, I also would like to give my gratitude to: 1. Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika, M.A., my supervisor, who had spent his time in helping me to finish my thesis by kindly giving me support, advice, suggestion, correction, and feedback. I am very thankful for having Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika as my supervisor. 2. Dra. Martha Nandari, M.A., my examiner, who also kindly gave me many advice and suggestions for the improvement. I do really appreciate her kindness and willingness to read and give advice for my thesis. 3. My father, my mother, and my family. Thank you for supporting me and giving me strength to finish my thesis.
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4. All of teachers in Faculty of Language and Literature. Thank you for sharing me with all your knowledge and wonderful years for teaching me. 5. Abednego Donny Setiawan for letting your shoulder for me to cry on. Thank you for always listening to me, giving me supports, and never saying that I cannot do this even though at first, it seemed very impossible. 6. All of my best friends in Faculty of Language and Literature. Thank you for these wonderful years and thank you for giving me supports in completing my thesis. 7. At last, I would like to say ‘thank you’ to all friends and relatives that I cannot mention in here one by one. Thank you for everything. God Bless You all.
Salatiga, February 20, 2013
Ivana Arlene Wellington
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References
Bonwell, C. (2000). Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. Retrieved
from
www.ydae.purdue.edu/lct/hbcu/documents/Active_
Learning_Creating_Excitement_in_the_Classroom.pdf Brown, H. (2004). Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Ebrahim, A. (2009). The Effect of Cooperative Learning Strategies on Elementary Student’s Science Achievement and Social Skills in Kuwait. Kuwait University. Garrett, K. J. 1998. Cooperative learning in social work research courses: Helping students help each other. Journal of Social Work Education, 34 (2): 237– 246. Herman, T. (2006). Pembelajaran Berbasis Masalah untuk Meningkatkan Kemampuan Berpikir Matematis Tingkat Tinggi Siswa Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP). PPS UPI: not published. Hsiung, C. (2012). The Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning. National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. Johnson, D. and Johnson, R. (1999). Making Cooperative Learning Work. Theory into Practice, 38 : 2. US: The Ohio State University. Johnson, R. T., & Johnson, D. W. (2001). Introduction to Cooperative Learning. Minneapolis, MN: Cooperative Learning Center, University of Minnesota. Retrieved from http://www.co-operation.org/home/ introduction-to-cooperative-learning/ Jolliffe, W. (2007). Cooperative learning in the classroom: Putting it into practice. Thousand Oaks: Paul Chapman Publishing. 2007). The Student-Centered Approach. Retrieved from www.cambridge.org /other_files/.../esl/.../Jones-Student-Centered.pdf Killen, R. (2000). Teaching strategies for outcomes-based education. Lansdowne: Juta and Co.
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McMahon, M. (2010). Reflections on Teaching in a Research-intensive University. University of Warwick. Retrieved from http://www. economicsnetwork.ac.uk/showcase/mcmahon_reflections Neo, M. (2004). Cooperative learning on the web: A group based, student centered learning experience in the Malaysian classroom. Multimedia University, Malaysia. Ning, H. (2013). The Impact of Cooperative Learning on English as a Foreign Language Tertiary Learners’ Social Skills. Shanxi University of Finance and Economics. Pedersen, S. and Liu, M. (2003). Teachers’ beliefs about issues in the implementation of a student-centered learning environment. Educational Technology Research and Development. Pollard, S. (2002). The Benefit of Code Switching within a Bilingual Education Program. Illinois Wesleyan University. Siegel, C. 2005. Implementing a research-based model of cooperative learning. The Journal of Educational Research, 98 (6): 339– 348. Sihit, J. (2013). Prof. Yohanes Surya PhD – Carikan Saya Anak Yang Paling Bodoh. Retrieved from http://www.maxmanroe.com/prof-yohanes-suryaphd-carikan -saya-anak-yang-paling-bodoh.html Somapee, S. (2002). The effectiveness of using cooperative learning to enhance students’ critical thinking skills in Business English I at Chiangrai Commercial School in Chiangrai. Master’s thesis, Payap University. Wesely, P. (2012). Learner Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs in Language Learning. Foreign Language Annals, 45 : S98–S117. Wichadee and Orawiwatnakul. (2012). Cooperative Language Learning: Increasing Opportunities for Learning in Teams. Thailand: Bangkok University. Wright, G. (2011). Student-Centered Learning in Higher Education. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Zumor, et.al. (2013). EFL Students’ Perceptions of a Blended Learning Environment: Advantages, Limitations and Suggestions for Improvement. King Khalid University.
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Appendix
Transcription of the Interview with Participant 1
I: Good morning. Thank you for the time. I am Arlene. I am doing my research, so I would like to interview you because of the questionnaire that you have been answered before. First, please introduce yourself. P1: Nama Osintiani, kelas 11 IPA, sekolah SMA Lab. I: OK. The interview will be in Indonesian. So don't worry. You can just feel free to answer. Yang pertama, dari hasil kuesioner terlihat bahwa kamu sangat senang terhadap group work activities karena dari beberapa kolom kamu mengisi setuju, dan lebih ke arah senang terhadap group work activities. Jadi bisakah dijelaskan apa yang membuat kamu senang terhadap group work activities. P1: Kerja kelompok ada yang lebih berbakat. Jadi, nilainya bisa lebih bagus. I: Mungkin bisa dijelaskan lebih lanjut maksudnya ada yang lebih berbakat disini bagaimana? P1: Lebih membantu, lebih berbakat. I: Oo.. jadi ada teman-teman yang... P1: Lebih bisa bahasa Inggrisnya lebih mampu. I: Oo.. terus ada lagi nggak yang membuat kamu senang terhadap group work activities? P1: Yang mengerjakan itu temennya, jadi banyak yang lebih mampu terus nanti bisa membantu temen yang lain. I: Jadi disini, teman yang lebih mampu bisa membantu mengerjakan atau mengerjakannya (tugas kelompok)? P1: Dua-duanya. I: Lalu apakah ada hal-hal lain yang membuat kamu senang terhadap group work activities.
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P1: Cuma itu. I: Oo.. Cuma itu saja. Terus mungkin dilihat dari sisi menyenangkannya, apakah menurutmu group work activities itu menyenangkan di lakukan di kelas atau kamu lebih suka pembelajaran di kelas yang hanya mendengarkan guru ceramah di kelas? P1: Ehm.. Kelompok. I: Kenapa? P1: Soalnya lebih free. I: Maksudnya lebih free, lebih merasa tidak bosan juga? P1: Iya. I: Lalu, kan pasti dalam kerja kelompok ada masalah yang muncul. Dalam kuesioner juga sudah ditulis beberapa masalah yang kamu bisa jumpai pada saat kerja kelompok. Nah masalah apa yang muncul ketika kamu mengerjakan kerja kelompok? P1: Ada yang berpartisipasi secara aktif, ada yang cuma mendengarkan. I: Oo.. Nah menurut kamu, kamu ada di posisi yang mana? Yang aktif, maksudnya yang lebih dominan, atau yang ngikut atau cuma mendengarkan saja. P1: Ya kalau nggak bisa ya (temannya) dibantu. I: Berarti kamu ada di posisi yang mana? aktif atau pasif? P1: Semi-aktif. I: Berarti kadang ikut membantu yang tidak bisa? P1: Ya kalau bisa dibantu, kalau nggak bisa ya diem. I: Nah waktu kamu nggak bisa, jadi kan dalam kerja kelompok permasalahan (tugas) nya beda-beda atau topiknya bermacam-macam, jadi kalau topik yang kamu tidak bisa, terus apa yang kamu lakukan. P1: Kan pasti ada temannya yang bisa. I: Jadi kamu lebih diem mendengarkan teman yang lebih bisa. Lalu apakah ada masalah lain yang kamu jumpai dalam kegiatan kelompok. Mungkin bisa diceritakan.
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P1: Belum ada. I: Hmm.. Kalau ada kerja kelompok, apa yang kamu rasakan di kelas? Seperti misalnya apakah kerja kelompok itu bermanfaat, kamu benar-benar merasakan manfaatnya, atau kamu malah bingung, kerja kelompok ini tujuannya apa? P1: Lebih bermanfaat soalnya ada temen yang membantu terus lebih banyak pendapatnya. I: Tapi apakah kamu hanya rely on atau bergantung pada teman-teman itu atau malah kamu belajar dari mereka? P1: Ya belajar terus nanti kalau nggak bisa ya diajarin. I: Adakah yang ingin disampaikan lagi berkaitan dengan masalah yang dijumpai? P1: Tidak ada. I: Berkaitan dengan guru, apakah guru tersebut mampu memberikan instruksi yang jelas dalam setiap group work activities? P1: Sangat jelas. I: Oke, terima kasih, itu saja yang saya tanyakan dulu. Apabila nanti ada data-data yang masih saya butuhkan, mungkin saya akan menghubungi lagi. Terima kasih. P1: Ya.
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Transcription of the Interview with Participant 2
I: Good afternoon. Thank you for the time given to me. In here, I would like to interview you because of the questionnaire that you have answered before. Don't worry; the interview will be in Indonesian. So, you can feel free to answer the questions. But first, maybe you can introduce yourself. You can tell me your name, class, and then school. P2: Namaku Priska ..... . Sering dipanggil Priska. Sekolah di SMA Lab. I: Jadi di sini, kemarin kan sudah mengisi kuesioner, nah saya tertarik dengan jawaban kuesioner Priska karena ada beberapa jawaban yang beda dari jawabanjawaban murid lain pada umumnya. Untuk yang pertama, dalam kuesioner kan ada pernyataan bahwa group work activities membantu saya dalam meningkatkan kemampuan berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris. Nah itu mungkin bisa dijelaskan, diceritakan saja alasannya kenapa. P2: Karena saya tau teman-teman saya kan pinter bahasa Inggris, saya agak kurang bisa soal vocabulary. Terus habis itu, kadang kalau misalnya kelompok, mereka sering tidak memberikan kesempatan kepada saya untuk mengemukakan pendapat atau jawaban kepada guru. Saya kuranglah untuk meningkatkan kempampuan berbahasa Inggris saya kalau di kelompok. Ya itu, teman-teman sering individualisme. I: Berarti di sini kenapa kamu tidak setuju karena kamu lebih merasa menjadi anggota kelompok yang pasif karena teman-teman tidak memberikan kamu kesempatan untuk mengemukakan pendapat, baik di dalam kelompok maupun saat menge-share jawaban ke guru. Lalu, statement selanjutnya, kamu mengatakan bahwa kamu tidak setuju kalau group work activities membantu kamu dalam meningkatkan kemampuan berpikir kritis untuk tantangan yang diberikan para guru (problem solving skills). Nah alasan tidak setuju itu kenapa? P2: Group work activities itu misalnya kan kayak Ma'am Nunuk dalam kelompok sering cepet-cepetan (games). Akunya yang disuruh buat cepet-cepat, buat memberikan jawaban gitu. Tapi kalau seringnya aku pasif sih, soalnya mereka kan lebih pandai daripada saya. Jadi saya diem aja. I: Jadi ceritanya kalau ada kerja kelompok yang membutuhkan psikomotorik, bisa dikasih contoh tidak? Maksudnya, contoh kegiatannya apa?
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P2: Contohnya gini. Kan misalnya tangannya suruh di meja, nanti terus jongkok berdiri muter-muter, nanti siapa yang cepat boleh jawab, harus pakai bahasa Inggris. I: Nah itu berarti yang suruh jongkok muter-muter itu kamu terus yang menjawab orang lain? P2: Iya. I: Owh, makanya disitu kenapa kamu tidak setuju kalau problem solving skills itu bisa terlatih dari sini karena kamu yang disuruh melakukan gerak ini itu tapi tidak disuruh menjawab pertanyaan. P2: Iya. I: Lalu, dalam kegiatan kelompok kan ada masalah yang dijumpai, kamu mencentang beberapa masalah dan ini cukup banyak. Yang pertama, ada teman yang tidak berpartisipasi secara aktif dalam kegiatan kelompok. Nah menurut kamu, kamu ada di posisi mana? Ada di posisi yang aktif atau yang pasif? P2: Kalau menurut saya, dari diri saya sendiri, saya murid yang pasif dalam kelompok di kelas. I: Mungkin bisa diceritakan, kalau pasif kan biasanya ada penyebabnya. P2: Karena saya agak ngiri kalau liat teman-teman gitu. Saya kalau mau mengemukakan pendapat menggunakan bahasa Inggris itu biasanya sering diketawain sama teman-teman karena bahasa Inggris saya wagu, ndeso. Jadi ya lebih baik saya pasif di dalam kerja kelompok daripada ditertawakan oleh temanteman. I: Tapi kamu pernah kan ya aktif di kelas? Atau sangat pasif atau bagaimana? P2: Aktif kalau saya memahami materinya. I: Nah, berarti kamu sudah secara tidak langsung menjelaskan masalah yang keempat, yaitu, saya tidak dapat secara bebas mengemukakan pendapat saya karena ada teman yang lebih dominan dan juga kamu ditertawakan saat mengemukakan pendapat karena bahasa Inggrisnya dinilai kurang bagus. Untuk permasalahan yang terakhir, saya kurang merasakan manfaat dari group work activities di kelas. Bisakah diceritakan kenapa sampai kurang merasakan manfaatnya? P2: Sebenarnya bagus group work activities itu karena lebih meningkatkan kreatifitas murid, tapi kalau misalnya lebih menunjukkan dominan dari murid37
murid yang lebih 'wow', dari murid-murid yang lebih bisa gitu kan membuat murid-murid yang tidak bisa bahasa Inggris jadi minder. I: Apakah ada masalah lainnya yang dijumpai dalam kegiatan kelompok? P2: Instruksi dari gurunya kurang jelas. Terus kalau misalnya saat menjawab pertanyaan, kan tau mana yang pintar dan mana yang bodoh, jadi kalau misalnya kalau ada orang yang bodoh menjawab gitu tidak diutamain. Jadi lebih mengutamakan yang pintar. I: Jadi dalam 'turn taking' atau pemilihan siapa yang menjawab itu malah diambil yang pintar, mereka lebih diapresiasi? P2: Iya lebih diutamain aja daripada temen-temen yang kurang. Harusnya kan temen-temen yang kurang itu yang lebih ditingkatkan lagi bukan makin lebih di 'press', lebih tidak diperhatikan. I: Ada masalah lain tidak? P2: Ada sih. Dari kelas 10, guru mewajibkan muridnya ngomong pakai bahasa Inggris, tanpa ada bahasa Indonesianya. Kalau ngomong pakai bahasa Indonesia nanti dikasih 'untrophy'. Nah iya kalau murid-muridnya lebih bisa bahasa Inggris daripada bahasa Indonesia. Kalau nggak tau kayak aku, aku cuma bisa diam, sambil mikir, "Ini ngomong apa sih?" Harusnya ada bahasa Indonesianya sedikit ada bahasa Inggrisnya. I: Berarti itu masalah yang berkaitan dengan bahasanya. P2: Iya. I: Itu juga sebabnya kamu jadi lebih pasif di dalam group work activities ya? P2: Iya. I: Karena kadang ada yang mungkin kurang jelas tetapi pakai bahasa Inggris terus. P2: Iya. Jadi harusnya pakai bahasa Inggris juga pakai bahasa Indonesia. I: Sudah? Masih ada yang ingin disampaikan lagi? P2: Enggak, itu aja. I: Terima kasih atas waktunya. Have a nice day.
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