Psychological Structural Analysis to “A Child Called It” by Dave
Pelzer
Endang Susilowati
Ngudi Waluyo Nursing Academy
Jl. Gedong Songo Candi Rejo Ungaran
[email protected]
Abstract
This paper attempts to explore a child abuse, the reason and the effect of
the character‘s psychological development using the theory of
psychological development and structural analysis. Two approaches are
used in this paper. Those are structural approach and psychology,
especially developmental psychology approach. The first approach
focuses on literary intrinsic elements. The second approach focuses on the
character‘s psychological development based on the developmental stages
and tasks. Those are integrated into a psychological structural analysis.
The result shows that child abuse that experienced by David is physical
and psychological. He got the first stage of abuse commited by his
mother who didn‘t give him food and the last stage evidenced by some
physical abuses when he lived with his mother. The primary reasons of
David abuses are disciplinary patterns and he was regarded as a trouble
maker.
Keywords: Psychological structural analysis, child abuse and psychological
development.
Abstrak
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengungkapkan kekerasan pada anak,
alasan dan dampak dari kekerasan tersebut terhadap perkembangan
psikologis tokoh dengan menggunakan teori perkembangan psikologis
dan analisis struktural. Ada dua pendekatan yang digunakan dalam
penelitian ini. Pendekatan tersebut adalah pendekatan struktural dan
psikologi, khususnya psikologi perkembangan. Pendekatan pertama
berfokus pada unsur intrinsik sastra. Pendekatan kedua berfokus pada
perkembangan psikologis tokoh berdasarkan tahap
dan tugas
1
perkembangan. Kedua pendekatan tersebut diintegrasikan ke dalam
analisis struktur psikologis. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa kekerasan
terhadap anak yang dialami oleh David adalah kekerasan yang berupa
fisik dan psikologis. Dia mendapat tahap pertama kekerasan yang
dibuktikan dengan ibunya yang tidak memberinya makanan dan tahap
terakhir dari kekerasan yang dibuktikan dengan beberapa hukuman
secara fisik ketika ia tinggal dengan ibunya. Alasan utama David
mendapatkan penyiksaan adalah pola pendisiplinan dan ia dianggap
sebagai anak yang menjadi sumber masalah.
Kata kunci: Analisis struktur psikologis, Kekerasan pada anak dan
Perkembangan psikologis
Introduction
Novel as a genre of literary work has intrinsic elements such as
character and characterization, plot and plotting, setting and point of
view. Those transfer the writer‘s ideas to readers. Some novels are
personal, seeking to explore human relationships, conflicts, desires and
fears. This novel seems to appeal to readers in the way that described the
writer‘s idea. For example, Dave Plezer, the writer of novel trilogy A
Child Called it, The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave tells his idea about
child abuse in his novels. This paper only focuses on his first novel, A
Child Called It.
David Plezer through Dave—tells about a child who tried to
survive from his mother‘s cruelty.
His father only watched without
ability to help him. Even when he was legally taken by his country, his
effort to be freed from his mother‘s shadow couldn‘t be stopped. Until at
last he can prove that he can become a famous writer.
This paper tries to explore the kind of child abuse and its effect to
a child by analyzing its character and characterization, plot and the
writer‘s point of view. Because the problem is the psychological
2
development of a child so it needs developmental psychology. Those
theories will be integrated.
Wellek and Warren (1976:81) state ‗by psychology of literature‘,
we may mean the psychological study of the writer as type and as
individual, or the study of the creative process, or the study of
psychological types and laws present within works of literature, or ,
finally, the effect of literature upon its readers (audience psychology). It
is known that psychology can be used to analyze the writer‘s soul, his
creative process, psychological types and the concept of psychology in
literature and the effect of literature works upon its readers. It can be said
that there is a significant relationship between psychology and literature.
Psychology helps to clarify the problems in literature and literature
presents insight to psychology.
Developmental psychology
Monks, et.al (2004:1) say that the object of developmental
psychology is the human development as an individual. Development
refers to a process leading to bring out capabilities and cannot be
repeated. Some psychologists differ in their opinion about growth and
development. Growth refers to the adding of body weight and physical‘s
function,
whereas
development
refers
to
distinctive
nature
of
psychological condition.
Erikson approach in discussing the process of child development is
to outline the stages of psychosocial development. Those are trust versus
distrust (0-1 year), autonomy versus shyness and doubtful (1-3 years),
initiative versus guilty (3-6 years), ability feeling versus low self esteem
(6-12 years), identity and role disoriented (12-18 years), intimacy versus
isolation (21-40 years/early adult), generative versus stagnation (40-
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65/middle adult) and ego integrity versus desperate (65-die). Those
phases have their own developmental task.
Meanwhile Piaget in his theory about cognitive development
explains that cognitive development is discussed based on the phase of
sensoric-motoric, preoperational, concrete operational and formal
operational states (Piaget, 1952:18,42,153). At every process of
development there is a combination of self-encouragement to maintain
and develop the self-encouragement. This means that what have been
achieved will be maintained and used as a basic moral for further
development. As a result of the defense, one will store all the useful
experience. This experience will make the person more intelligent and
mature.
Kartono (1995:40) states that the combination of self-defense and
encouragement of self-development is a process of new synthesis
integration, namely the impulse of self realization and self-transcendence
efforts. The developmental psychology also mentions that the principle
of development, the main motive of life is to negate and break away
from all obstacles, sense of tension, and inner disequilibrium to reach
and satisfy state of inner equilibrium. This balance would be achieved if
all the requirements are met so all tension and mental disorders are lost.
Discussion
By using the first person point of view (I), the narrator seemed to
make the reader able to feel all feelings experienced by the character.
David as the main character and is a complex figure as can be seen from
the dynamics of his life. It can be seen from his efforts to survive in the
face of violence committed by his mother. The character in this novel is
figured in dramatic ways. The reader will know the character and his
4
attitude from several measures taken by him to survive. In the process of
reading the novel, the reader will soon be brought with the dynamism
of the character who never gave up in his quest to survive the abuse.
“I act timid, nodding to her threats. „Please, „I say to myself, „just let me
to eat. Hit me again, but I have to have food. „Another blow pushed my
head against the tile counter top. I let the tears of mock defeat stream
down my face as storms out the kitchen, seemingly satisfied with herself.
After I count her steps, making sure she‟s gone, I breathe a sigh of relief.
The act worked. Mother can beat me all she wants. I haven‟t let her take
away my will to somehow survive.
I finish the dishes, then my other chores. For my reward I receive
breakfast-leftover from one of my brother‟s cereal bowls.” (4)
In his very young age (6-12 years), David has known that he had
to get food if he wanted to live. His effort is not only having food but
also stealing, slacking off when his mother would torture him, being
very obedient and others. Based on the plot of time analysis, this novel
uses flash back. The first chapter of the novel is Rescue. It tells about
David‘s life at the end he got abuse from his mother, as cited in the first
chapter of this novel:‖ 5 March 1973, Daly City, California-I‟m late I‟ve got
to finish the dishes on time, otherwise no breakfast; since I didn‟t have dinner
last night, I have to make sure I get something to eat” (3).
From this note, it can be seen that at the first narration, the
narrator at this case is David who brings the reader to the situation
when he had to finish his task if he wanted to get a plate of rice. In this
chapter, David also tells about the rescue that was done by his school
teacher and ends the abuse from his mother. Then he was brought to
foster house by a police officer.
“I run to the administration office, and I‟m there in a flash. My throat is
raw and still burns from yesterday‟s „game‟ Mother played against me.
The secretary leads me into the teacher‟s lounge. After she opens the door,
it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust. In front of me, sitting around a
5
table, are my homeroom teacher Mr. Ziegler, my match teacher Miss
Woods, the school nurse, Mr. Hansen and a police officer… I have no idea
that they are about to risk their jobs to save me” (9)
Then, the story is back to the situation when he was happy with
his family and when his mother still loved him:
‖In the years before I was abused, my family was „Brady Bunch‟ of the
1960s. My two brothers and I were blessed with the perfect parents. Our
every whim was fulfilled with love and care‖ (17).
In this step through the chapter of Good Times, David tries to explore his
mother‘s closeness with her children and David‘s admiration of his
mother. ―My Mother, Catherine Roerva, was a woman of average size and
appearance. I never could remember the color of her hair or eyes, but Mom was a
woman who glared with love for her children…” (18). David also told that her
mother was a perfect woman for him.
―When it came to house keeping, Mom was an absolute clean
fiend. After feeding my two brohters, Ronald and Stand, and I
breakfast. She would dust disinfect, scour and vacuum everything. No
room in our house was left untouched. As we grew older, Mom made sure
we did our part by keeping our room neat. Outside, she meticulously
attended a small flower garden, which was the envy of the neighborhood,
with Mom, everything she touched turned into gold. She didn‟t believe in
doing anything halfway. Mom often told us that we must always do the
best could, in whatever we did” (18-19).
From David‘s story readers can know that David admired and
loved her mother so much. Her mother really cared of her sons and her
house. Even her neighbors were also jealous with the way she managed
her house. It is told by David when he was four (4) years. According to
Kohlberg moral developmental psychology (1968:12) a child in this age
is on the sensoric-motoric and preoperational phase by interpreting a
thing or an event. David also uses his sensoric-motoric by starting to
6
evaluate his house condition and his mother which makes him
comfortable. This comfortable state can be seen from his happiness when
he lived with his parents and his brothers. At Halloween and Christmas
celebrations his mother always gave the best things to him. Because his
father was a fire man who worked for 24 hours, he and his brothers spent
most of the time with his mother. Base on the Erikson psychosocial
development, David didn‘t get bias of development when he was in 0-11
months or in the phase of trust versus un trust and when he was in one
(1) until three (3) years old or in phase of autonomy versus shyness and
doubtful. Because of that, David had really trust on his mother. His
mother‘s love in giving his daily needs when he was hungry or thirsty
made him feels comfortable. He was never scared of his mother and it
also made his mother close to
her children. At that time, he was the
youngest children in his house. He could play with his brothers well.
The story develops with his mother changing and to ill treat David
as the conflict in this story emerges. In the chapter of Bad Boys, David
told that his mother‘s treatment to him changed dramatically because of
disciplinary reasons. His mother often gave punishment to him. It made
him afraid of his mother. His fear is the conflict source in this story and
makes the story more developed.
“About this time, Mom‟s behavior began to change radically. At times
while father was away, she would spend the entire day lying on the couch,
dressed only in her bathrobe, watching television. Mom got up only to go
to the bathroom, get another drink or heat leftover food. When she yelled
at us, her voice changed from nurturing mother to the wicked witch. Soon,
the sound of Mother‟s voice began to send tremors down on my spine. Even
when she barked at one of my brothers, I‟d run to hide in our room,
hoping she would soon return to the couch, her drink and her tv show”
(30).
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It can be seen from the quote that the abused happened when David‘s
father was not at home. His mother‘s attitude changed and this changing
made David‘s afraid. His mother who was initially described as an ideal
mother for her children, day by day her character changes. The problem
between David and his mother developed more as when his mother
often gave David punishment. The punishment started from standing at
the corner of the bed to smashing and pinching.
“SMACK!” Mother hits me in the face, and I topple to the floor. I know
better than to stand there and take hit, I learned hard way that she takes
that as an act of defiance, which means more hits, or worst of all, no
food”(37)
“Mother claimed that she had seen me that very day playing on the grass,
which was absolutely forbidden by her rules. I quickly answered that I never
played on the grass. I knew Mother had somehow made a mistake. My
reward for observing Mother‟s rules and telling the truth was a hard pinch
in the face” (40-41)
In the chapters The Fight for Food and While Father is Away, David
tells his mother abused to him. In exploring those abuses, the narrator
brings the reader to the phase of the end of the character‘s torturing. Plot
of the story presented the existing conflict between David and his mother
and makes it interesting. The worst punishment that David got from his
mother was when she didn‘t allow David going out with his father and
his brothers when they went out.
“….Once in the cabin, I was scolded for making too much noise. For my
punishment, I was not allowed to go with father and my brothers to the
super slide. I sat on a chair in a corner, shivering, hoping that something
would happen so three of them wouldn‟t leave. I know mother had
something hideous on her mind. As soon as they left, she brought out of
Russell‟s diapers. She smeared the Diaper on my face. I tried to sit
perfectly still. I knew if I moved, it would only be worse. I didn‟t look up. I
couldn‟t see Mother standing over me; but I could hear her heavy
beating.”(53)
8
David gets abused when he was four (4) years old. According to
Erikson (1963:19) a child in this age is on the initiative versus guilty
phase (3-6 years). In this phase the child started to develop his
independency by his effort to wear his own cloth, to take his own food
and to go to the toilet. David didn‘t get development problem in this
phase because at the beginning of his life, he felt comfortable living with
his family. He had been able to control himself. The abuses continuously
happened to David. David hoped that his father could help him but he
never got it. His father only saw what his mother had done to him. It
made David hates his father so much:
.‖...when I open them, I stared at Father who turned away to avoid my
pain. At that moment I hated Mother to the end, but I hated father even
more”. (64).
According to Kohlberg moral development (1968:15), David‘s
feeling to his father emerged because David was in pre-conventional
phase. He had learned about good and bad and he had known that what
his mother had done to him was not good but he didn‘t get support from
his father. He came to hate his father as the result of his disappointment.
After David was pushed to eat his own vomit, his punishment was
changed to the ammoniac. Because he couldn‘t eat, his mother forced
him to drink that liquid. As the child who didn‘t know the dangers of the
ammoniac, David thought that his punishment was too easy for him. He
only needed to open his mouth and his problem would be finished.
According to Piaget cognitive development (1952:42), the child 7 until
11 years old, his thinking is more rationale, imaginative, and can explore
more object or situation to solve his problem. But his thinking ability
isn‘t completed. It also happened to David. His knowledge about the
dangerous of the ammoniac wasn‘t sufficient.
9
“Without hesitation I opened my mouth, and mother rammed the cold
spoon deep into my throat. Again I told myself this was all too easy, but
moment later I couldn‟t breathe. My throat seized. I stood wobbling in front
of Mother, feeling as if my eyes were going to pop out of my skull…”
(75)
As a result of that punishment, David nearly died.. He couldn‘t
breathe, his throat was burned and his body seized. But it didn‘t make
his mother stop to punish him. His mother stabbed her knife into
David‘s stomach accidentally.
“She tried to regain her balance, snapping at Russell to let go of her leg,
while she continued to scream at me. By then, her upper body looked like
rocking chair that was out of control. Forgetting about her useless threats, I
imagined that the old drunk was going to fall flat on her face. I focused all
my attention on Mother‟s face. Out of the corner of my eye I saw blurred
object fly from her hand. A sharp pain erupted from just above my stomach.
I tried to remain standing, but my legs gave out, and my world turned
black” (87)
David thought with this accident his punishment would be over,
but he was wrong. His mother still asked him to finish his food and wash
all the dishes in thirty minutes. With his body still weak and in very
severe pain, David followed his mother‘s instructions. This condition is
like the climax of the story, but the tensions of the story still continued.
His mother dunks David‘s face in the bathroom sink. Those abuses
made David were very scared of his mother.
According to Hurlock psychological development (1991:131)
about the changing relationship between children and their parents, it
can happen because of the concept of a good child. If the child doesn‘t
fulfill what his parents needed, his parents often become critical and
punished. It also happened into David‘s mother who thought that David
isn‘t a good boy because he always breaks her rules and always be able
10
to have tactics to face
each of
her punishment and it makes her
annoyed and made her give more and even worse punishment. ―…This
will teach The Boy to quit stealing food!‖ (76). Her mother‘s reason giving
hard punishments to stop David‘s habit stealing food in his school.
As 4-6 years child or in initiative versus guilty phase in Piaget
(1952) cognitive development phase, David started his initiative by
planning and trying new things. In his development phase he thought
that it may not give a chance to him for fighting and he didn‘t have
another choice to be freed from his torturing. The climax of this story is
in chapter The Lord Prayer as the end of the chapter of A Child Called It.
This chapter told about David‘s abuse when he was a proud of his
writing was the best in his school and his teacher was very a proud of
him. He hoped his mother would do the same but his mother never
appreciated his works. His mother thought he was only it that had
meaningless. His mother amuck made him had no spirit to survive.
―….There is nothing you can do to impress me! Do you understand me?
You are nobody! An it! You are nonexistent! You are a bastard child! I hate
you and I wish you were dead! Dead! Do you hear me? Dead! (140).
Views of psychosocial development suggested by Erickson
(1963:42), when David got abused from his mother, he was at the phase
of feeling ability versus low self esteem (6-12 years). In this phase the
child will begin to learn to work together to compete through academic
activities. As well as David, he felt very happy when he succeeded in
writing and it made his teacher proud of him.. He hoped her mother
would also be nice to him when she knew that he was doing well in his
school, but he was wrong. His mother did not appreciate and reward for
11
all that was done by him. As a result David felt that he was useless and
he becomes low self-esteem. All his efforts to prove to his mother that he
doesn‘t like what his mother‘s thought was gone. David finally found
that he was only it just like what his mother said and his presence was
only making a problem in his family. He did not have a passion for life.
He resigned to that done by her mother until she eventually rescued by
the teachers at his school.
David was in 5th grade when he was rescued. He started to get
abused when he was in kindergarten, which was the age of 3-4 years.
Refers to Kohlberg's moral development (1968:20) at that time child is in
preconvention at the second phase. It can be seen from David's-oriented
attitude to punishment and obedience; he was very obedient to all that
was done by his mother. The obedience to his mother made him more
afraid of his mother. As a child he only felt fear when her mother
suddenly punished him when his brother also did the same thing.
“As a small child, I probably had a voice that carried farther than others. I
also had the unfortunate luck of getting caught at mischief, even though my
brothers and I were often committing the same „crime‟. In the beginning, I
was put in a corner of our bedroom. By this time, I had become more afraid
of Mom. Very afraid. I never asked her to let me come out. I would sit and
wait for one of my brothers to come into our bedroom, and have him ask if
David could come out now and play” (29).
According to Kohlberg moral development (1963:20) at the
preconvention phase, the child should get strong motivation from his
family. This motivation is to make the child able to differentiate between
good and bad in his attitude. But if the task of child‘s development isn‘t
fulfilled, the child will not understand about good and bad label and he
will be scared. Then it‘s happened to David. He doesn‘t understand what
12
his mistake was. He only knew that he got a lot of punishment from his
mother.
With these experiences David became more mature than his age.
He suffered early aspiration level; the level of struggle leads a higher
level. With his attitudes,
he was able to find a way to survive. He
realizes, crying is not a settlement. He must be able to think quickly and
act correctly when faced his mother. It is in line with the thinking of the
Monks who said that by the encouragement to survive, someone will
save all his useful experiences (2004:178).
Then, with those experiences, someone will be cleverer and mature
and have deeper appreciation of life. Every stage of life has just achieved
a form of temporary equilibrium point of departure for the effort and
new activities. David, with his experiences, began to look for ways to be
able to withstand his mother‘s abuse. ―Standing alone in that damp, dark
garage, I knew, for the first time, that I could survive. I decided that I would use
any tactic. I could think of defeat Mother or delay her from her grisly obsession”
(43).
In term of cognitive development, Piaget (1962), David‘s capabilities
in addressing the abuses because when he was in 6-11 years old he is in
concrete phase, he has been able to form his knowledge. David has been
able to analyze the events in his life. He thought if he wanted to survive
he had to have a tactics to face his mother.
Conclusion
Based on the analysis above, it can be seen that the writer uses
flash back of the plot in telling his story. The writer made the story
interesting and complex by revealing the tensions of the problem. The
13
writer wants the reader to feel what has been experienced by the
character with using ‗I ‗as the point of view of his narration.
By analyzing the structural point of the literature along with
psychological development approach, it can be seen that David gets from
the first to the last stages of the child abuse. The sign of the first stage is
that he didn‘t get food from his mother and the sign of the last stage is
physical abuse such as slap in his face, pinch etc.
The primary reason of the abuse that David received is
disciplinary. His mother thought that David wasn‘t a good son so he
should be disciplined by giving a lot of punishment that were very heavy
for David. His mother also was annoyed with David because he was
always able to face her punishment.
The effect of the abuse was that David became scared of his
mother. He also feels disappointed with his father because he couldn‘t
help him. David didn‘t understand why he got a lot of abuse from his
mother because he was still a kid when he got those abuses.
References
Erikson EH; 1963. Childhood and society. New York: Norton
Hurlock, Elizabeth B. 1991. Psikologi Perkembangan: Suatu Pendekatan
Sepanjang Rentang Kehidupan
(terjemahan
Istiwadayanti
dan
Soedjarwo). Jakarta Erlangga.
14
Kartono, Kartini. 1995. Psikologi Anak (Psikologi Perkembangan). Bandung:
Penerbit Mandar Maju.
Kolberg. L. 1968. The Child as Moral. Cambridge: MA Harvard University
Monks, et al. 2004. Psikologi Perkembangan. Yogjakarta: Gadjah Mada
University Press
Piaget, J. 1952. The Origin of Intelegence in Children. New York:
International University Press
Plezer, David. 2004. A Child Called It (thirty third impression). London:
Orion Books Ltd.
Wellek, Rene and Warren, Austin. 1976. Theory of Literature. Great
Britain: Cox and Wayman Ltd
15
Phonological Analysis of Indian Language
Adiprana Yogatama
Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang
Jl. Wonodri Sendang Raya No 2A Semarang 50242
[email protected]
Abstract
The aims of this research are to find out the language sounds produced by
India speakers, to enrich the scientific realm of language sounds and to
stimulate the students to deeply examine other foreign language sounds.
For the purpose of the study, the researcher collected data from several
sources. The data which were in the form of theoretical research literature
were obtained from books in general linguistics, especially on Phonology,
both English and Indonesian. For data or material which were in the
form of research material to be studied, the researcher presented a native
speaker of Indian language named Kour Herbinder. This research is a
qualitative research with recording and note technique. To analyze the
data, the researcher used phonetics chart, both for cconsonants and
vowels. From the analysis result, the researcher found that the sounds in
India language are dominated by alveolar sounds like usually pronounced
by speakers of Indonesian Balinese dialect. The researcher also found that
there are many variations of Indian language sound as allophones, such
as sound [k '] is an allophone of [k], and sound [dh] is an allophone of [d].
The pronunciation of sound [t], [d] and [k] dominantly resembles with [t],
[d] and [k] on Indonesian Balinese.
Keywords: phonetics, phonemics, alveolar, allophone
Abstrak
Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bunyi bahasa yang
dihasilkan oleh penutur bahasa India, memperkaya dunia ilmiah bunyi
bahasa dan untuk merangsang siswa untuk mempelajari bunyi dalam
16
bahasa asing lainnya. Untuk tujuan penelitian, peneliti mengumpulkan
data dari beberapa sumber. Data yang berupa literatur teoritis penelitian
diperoleh dari buku-buku dalam linguistik umum, terutama pada
Fonologi, bahasa Inggris dan Indonesia. Untuk data atau materi yang
berupa bahan penelitian kemudian dipelajari, peneliti menyajikan
penutur asli bahasa India bernama Kour Herbinder. Penelitian ini
merupakan penelitian kualitatif dengan rekaman dan teknik catatan.
Untuk menganalisis data, peneliti menggunakan grafik fonetik, baik
untuk konsonan dan vokal. Dari hasil analisis, peneliti menemukan
bahwa suara dalam bahasa India didominasi oleh suara alveolar seperti
biasanya diucapkan oleh penutur dialek Bali Indonesia. Peneliti juga
menemukan bahwa ada banyak variasi suara bahasa India sebagai
alofon, seperti suara [k] merupakan alofon dari [k] , dan suara [dh]
merupakan alofon dari [d] . Pengucapan suara [t] , [d] dan [k] dominan
mirip dengan [t] , [d] dan [k] di Bali Indonesia.
Kata Kunci : Fonetik, Fonemik, Alveolar, Alofon
Introduction
Language is said as the sound system that is intentionally released
by someone in order to convey an idea or ideas that exist in his mind.
The referred language is spoken language because language is basically an
uttered sound. The development of the written language is a sound
recording of the spoken language.
The studies of the sounds were investigated by the branch of
linguistic named phonology. By phonology, the sounds were studied with
two points of view, those are phonetic and phonemic.
17
Draw attention to the variety language, linguists can find the tools
to know the kinds of sounds, meanings and what is symbolized by the
sounds.
The study of language sounds is very useful for linguists to enrich
their knowledge, especially in language sounds. The sound of a single
language has a significant difference to other languages. This is the main
attraction to determine the language sounds produced by language that
researchers do not use in daily life. On this occasion, the researcher is
focusing the research in language sound study (phonetic and phonemic)
produced by speakers of India.
Phonetics
Phonetics refers to the articulation of language sounds. Phonetics
experts have managed to determine the articulation of the various sounds
of language and make the International Phonetic Alphabet that making it
easier for someone to learn and pronounce sounds that do not exist in
their mother tongue. For example, in English there is a marked difference
between the sound of tin and thin, and between they and day, but not in
Indonesian language. By studying phonetics, Indonesian will be able to
pronounce the two sounds correctly.
Learning phonetics is important not only for linguist and language
students but also for all country leaders. International phonetic alphabet,
which is supported by the phonetics laboratory, department of linguistics,
UCLA, is important to learn by all leaders, especially the country leaders.
With the ability to accurately read the phonetic alphabet, one can give a
speech in hundreds of languages.
18
Phonetics is a field of linguistics that studies the sounds of language
regardless of whether the sound has a function as a distinguishing
meaning or not. According to the sound of the language, phonetics can be
divided into:
a.
Articulatory
Phonetics/Organic
Phonetics/Physiological
Phonetics
It is the study of how human speech organs work in producing the
sounds of language, and how the sounds were classified.
b. Acoustic Phonetics
Learning the sounds of language as a physical event or a natural
phenomenon.
c. Auditory phonetics
Learning how the language sounds acceptance mechanism by our
ears. (David Crystal, 2003)
Phonetic Chart
Table 1
Consonants Phonetic Chart
Bilabi
al
Plosive
p
b
Labi
o
dent
al
Dent
al
Alveol
ar
t ť
dh
d
Post
Alveol
ar
Palat
al
Vela
r
k kh
g
Glott
al
?
19
Fricati
ve
s
Affrica
te
Nasal
F
c ch
v
j
m
N
h
ħ
ŋ
r ř
Lateral
Semi
Vowel
x
l
w
y
Table 2
Vowels Phonetic Chart
u
i
I
U
o
O
e
ə
ε
a
Minimal pairs (sounds that phonetically similar)
20
Sounds are said to have phonetic similarity when the sounds are
included on the same row, same column, or in the same row and column.
Here is the examples in India language.
Table 3
Minimal Pair in India language
[ met‘a ]
―forehead
‖
[ mot‘a ]
[ dandə ]
[ kola ]
‖bowl‖
[ lUna ] ‖salt‖
[ koli ]
‖cup‖
[ rOna ] ‖don‘t cry‖
―fat‖
―teeth‖
[ sOna ] ‖handsome‖ [ begja ]
‖sit‖
[ sOni ] ‖beautiful‖
[ ogja ]
‖stand‖
[ bet*a ] ‖boy‖
[ a?k*ə ]
―eye‖
[ bet*i ] ‖girl‖
[ na?k*ə ] ―nose‖
[ khandə ] ―sugar‖
[ hattə ]
―hand‖
[ sattə ]
―thigh‖
[ per ]
―leg‖
[ par ]
‖read‖
[ pař ]
‖read‖
[ he?k*ə ] ―chest‖
[ kanə ]
―ear‖
[ kamə ]
‖work‖
[ gallə ]
―cheek‖
[ galləh ] ―neck‖
[ khař ] ‖car‖
21
Phoneme
Phoneme is the smallest unit of sound of a language that serve to
distinguish meaning. Kennet L. Pike (1963: 63) says, "a phoneme is one of
the significant units of sounds, or a contrastive sound unit.". While L.
Bloomfield (in Muslich, 2008: 77) says, "A minimum unit of distinctive
sound feature is a phoneme."
From the above description, the most basic of phonemes is that
phonemes have "distinctive function" that is as meaning differentiator
(Muslich, 2008:77). The way in which to prove that a phoneme serves to
distinguish meaning is by proving empirically, by comparing the
linguistic forms of the language that is studied.
Phonemes identification (premisis)
Basic analysis of phonemes is the main ideas used to analyze the
phonemes of a language called premise. The premises used are as follows:
1. The sounds of a language tend to be influenced by the environment.
In Indian language, the sounds can be seen in the evidence of the
following premise:
Both [tk] in [patke] and [tt] in [hatte] are plossive
Both [?k] in [na?ke] and [?k] in [he?ke] are plossive
The row of sounds influence to each other for the ease of pronunciation.
2. The sound system of a language tend to be symmetrical
22
In Indian language there are sounds that are symmetrical: there is a
bilabial [p] and [b], also a bilabial nasal [m]. There are the sound of
inhibitory dental [t] and [d] and there is also dental nasal [n].
3. The sound of a language tends to fluctuate
4. Sounds that have a phonetic similarity is not classified as contrast if
complementary distributed and when varied independent.
5. Sounds that have same phonetic are classified into different phonemes
when contrasted in the same environment or similar (Muslich, 2008: 7983).
Research method
For the purpose of the study, the researcher collected data from
several sources. The data which were in the form of theoretical research
literature were obtained from books in general linguistics, especially on
Phonology, both English and Indonesian.
Meanwhile, for data or material which were in the form of research
material to be studied, the researcher presented a native speaker of
Indian. From these two sources, the researcher collected the sounds that
had been in the form of phonemes, words, or phrases.
The research method applied in this research was a qualitative
method by using recording and note technique. Recording technique was
used to record sound from Indian speaker directly to obtain sound
symbols and the transcription.
Furthermore, the transcription was obtained by writing down the
recorded sounds and used it as data. The data acquired was still in form
23
of written recorded sounds. Then it was transcripted into text using sound
symbols that was commonly used.
Discussion
Phoneme Analysis Procedures
Preliminary Prosedures
1. Phonetic Data
Table 4
―Dialect of Indian‖
[wãl]
‘hair‘
[gendhe]
‘onion‘
[sIře]
‘head‘
[chol]
‘rice‘
[meťa]
‘forehead‘
[kha]
'will‘
[broke]
‘eyebrow‘
[soja]
‘go to sleep‘
[a?khə]
‘eye‘
[karə]
‘house‘
[næ?kh ə]
‘nose‘
[khař]
‘car‘
[gallə]
‘cheek‘
[bε?]
‘bag‘
[bolə]
‘lip‘
[bε?ja]
‘sit down‘
[mU]
‘mouth‘
[bo?ja]
‘stand up‘
[dhandhə]
‘teeth‘
[pař]
‘read‘
24
[jəban]
‘tongue‘
[pIla]
‘drink‘
[galləħ]
‘neck‘
[nãlo]
‘take a bath‘
[kannə]
‘ear‘
[jao]
‘go‘
[modhe]
‘shoulder‘
[kamə]
‘work‘
[he?khə]
‘chest‘
[etae]
‘board‘
[edhə]
‘stomach‘
[cega]
‘gown‘
[hattə]
‘hand‘
[peťe]
‘grass‘
[uŋgəl]
‘fingers‘
[pokhə]
‘hungry‘
[no]
‘nail‘
[soni]
‘beautiful‘
[sattə]
‘thigh‘
[sona]
‘handsome‘
[pəř]
‘leg‘
[ocha]
‘tall‘
[gudhe]
‘knee‘
[medra]
‘short‘
[əddhi]
‘heel‘
[moťa]
‘fat‘
[ťali]
‗plate‘
[sukra]
‘thin‘
[chimcha]
‗spoon‘
[beťa]
‘boy‘
[kardhə]
‗knife‘
[bəťi]
‘girl‘
[kola]
‗bowl‘
[kitap]
‘book‘
[koli]
‗cup‘
[rona]
‘do not cry‘
25
[balťi]
‗pail‘
[cholkhala]
‘eat rice‘
[khandhə]
‗sugar‘
[khiyal hal cha]
‘how are you?‘
[lUna]
‗salt‘
[keterjana]
‘where are you going
to go?‘
[mercha]
‗chili‘
[kIlena]
[puce]
‘ask‘
[meche]
[phuce]
‘tail‘
[mece]
[dukhe]
‘suffer‘
[duke]
[nenghi]
‘bare, naked‘
[nengi]
[sou]
‘oath, promise‘
[shou]
[bar]
‘outside‘
[shona]
‘what do you want?‘
‘size‘
‘desk‘
‘sick‘
‘through‘
‘sleep‘
‘gold‘
Data Source: Kour Herbinder; Age: 26 years; Job: College student;
Language status: Native Speaker of Indian Language; Bilingual: Indian
Language and Bahasa Indonesia
2. Phonetic Chart
Table 5
Consonant Phonetic Chart
Bilab
ial
Labi De
o
nt
Alveol Post Pa
ar Alveola lat
Velar
Gl
ot
26
dent
al
Plosive
p ph
b bh
al
r
t
ť
h
d d
Fricativ
e
k kh g gh
?
h
ħ
c ch
j
M
N
ŋ
r ř
Lateral
Semi
Vowel
al
s sh
Affricat
e
Nasal
al
l
W
y
Table 5
Vowel Phonetic Chart
u
i
I
U
e
o
ə
ċ
ε
æ
a
27
3. Suspicious Pairs
Sounds which have the same phonetic similarity of the above data
are as follows:
a. Consonant
[p] – [b]
[t] – [d]
[k] – [g]
[k] – [?]
[g] – [?]
[c] – [j]
[n] – [ŋ]
b. Vowel
[i]
– [I]
[e]
– [æ]
[e]
– [ə]
[u]
– [U]
[o]
– [U]
[ə]
– [a]
[a]
– [ċ]
[p] – [ph]
[k] – [kh]
[g] – [gh]
[s] – [sh]
[l] – [r]
[c] – [ch]
4. Non Suspicious Pairs
28
[w] [y]
[m]
Separating Procedures
1. For [p] – [b]
Environment
Evidence
: Identical
: [par] ‗read‗
[bar] ‗outside‗
Phonemic Conclusion: [p] and [b] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in identical environments.
2. For [p] – [ph]
Environment
Evidence
: Identical
: [puce] ‗ask‗
[phuce] ‗tail‗
Phonemic Conclusion: [p] and [ph] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in identical environments.
3. For [k] – [kh]
Environment
Evidence
: Identical
: [duke]
‗suffer‗
29
[dukhe]
‗sick‗
Phonemic Conclusion: [k] and [kh] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in identical environments.
4. For [g] - [gh]
Environment
Evidence
: Identical
: [nengi]
[nenghi]
‗bare, naked‗
‗through‗
Phonemic Conclusion: [g] and [gh] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in identical environments.
5. For [s] – [sh]
Environment
Evidence
: Identical
: [sona]
[shona]
‗handsome‗
‗gold‗
Phonemic Conclusion: [s] and [sh] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in identical environments.
6. For [c] – [ch]
Environment
Evidence
: Identical
: [mece] ‗size‘
[mech e] ‗work‘
30
Phonemic Conclusion: [c] and [ch] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in identical environments.
7. For [ε] - [o]
Environment
Evidence
: Analogous
: [bε?ja] ‗sit down‘
[bo?ja]
‗stand up‘
Phonemic Conclusion: [ε] and [o] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in analogous environments.
8. For [ə] – [a]
Environment
Evidence
: Analogous
: [bəťi] ‗girl‘
[balťi] ‗pail‘
‗
Phonemic Conclusion: [ə] and [a] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in analogous environments.
9. For [t] – [d]
Environment
Evidence
: Analogous
: [meťa]
‗forehead‘
[medra] ‗short‘
‗
Phonemic Conclusion: [t] and [d] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in analogous environments.
31
10. For [e] – [æ]
Environment
Evidence
: Analogous
: [he?khə] ‗chest‘
[næ?kh ə] ‗nose‘
Phonemic Conclusion: [e] and [æ] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in analogous environments.
11. For [ə] – [e]
Environment
Evidence
: Analogous
: [əddhi] ‗heel‘
[edhə] ‗stomach‘
Phonemic Conclusion:[ə] and [e] are separated phonemics since
they contrast in analogous environments.
Uniting Procedures
1. For [d] – [ď]
The occurrence of [d] and [ď] in Word-Final Open Syllables before
[e], and [ə].
Table 6
The occurrence of [d] and [ď]
32
Submember
/d/
In Word-Final Open
Syllables before [e] and
[ə]
Elsewhere
[d] ……
5x
3x
[ď] ……
2x
never
Phonemic Conclusion: [d] – [ď] are submember of a single phonem
since they are phonetically similar and mutually exclusive in distribution.
Phonemic norm: [d]
Residue
Data that can not be analyzed by Separating Procedure and Uniting
Procedures are as follows:
a. Consonant
[k] – [g]
[k] – [?]
[g] – [?]
[c] – [j]
c.Vowel
[i] –[I]
[u] –[U]
[o] –[U]
[a] –[ċ]
[n] – [ŋ]
[l] – [r]
33
Conclusion
There are three characteristics of the phonology of India language,
namely:
1. The sounds in India language are dominated by alveolar sounds like
usually pronounced by speakers of Indonesian Balinese dialect.
2. Based on the above analysis, the phoneme is produced:
- Consonant
: 28 phonemes
- Vowel
: 11 phonemes
- Diphthongs
: 1 phonemes
- There are many variations of the language sound as allophones, such as
sound [k'] is an allophone of [k], and sound [dh] is an allophone of [d].
3. The pronunciation of sound [t], [d] and [k] dominantly resembles with
[t], [d] and [k] on Indonesian Balinese.
34
References
Crystal, David. 2003. The Cambridge Encylopedia of the English Language,
2nd ed. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Kushartanti, et al. 2005. Pesona Bahasa: Langkah Awal Memahami
Linguistik. Jakarta: PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
Muslich, Masnur. 2008. Fonologi Bahasa Indonesia – Tujuan Deskriptif
Sistem Bunyi Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara.
Pike, Kenneth L. 1978. Phonetics: A Technique for Reducing Language to
Writing. Canada: The University of Michigan Press.
Ramelan. 1999. English Phonetics. Semarang: IKIP Semarang Press.
Roach. P. 1990. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course. New
York: Cambridge University.
35
The Impact of Structural Competence towards Speaking Competence
of the Fourth Semester Students of English Department
Muhammad Nafi Annury
IAIN Walisongo Semarang
Jl. Walisongo 3-5 Semarang
[email protected]
Abstract
This paper tries to define any impact of structural competence
towards speaking competence. In this research, the writer used descriptive
co-relational method. It was used to describe whether there was an
impact between two variables, i.e. structural competence (X) as
independent variable and speaking competence (Y) as dependent
variable. The subject of study was the fourth semester students of English
department of Tarbiyah Faculty IAIN Walisongo Semarang. After the
data had been analyzed, it was found that there was significant impact of
structural competence especially in appropriateness. It helped students to
arrange words into sentences that they utter.
Keywords: Structural Competence, Speaking Competence
Abstrak
Makalah ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah ada dampak
kemampuan berbicara terhadap kemampuan struktur berbahasa. Pada
penelitian ini, penulis mengunakan metode deskriptif korelasi. Hal
tersebut digunakan untuk mengetahui apakah ada dampak antara kedua
varibel tersebut; kompetensi struktur bahasa (X) sebagai variabel yang
tidak berpengaruh dan kompetensi berbicara (Y) sebagai variabel yang
terpengaruh. Subyek penelitian adalah mahasiswa semester empat Progdi
Tadris Bahasa Inggris Fakultas Pendidikan IAIN Walisongo Semarang.
Setelah dianalisa, ditemukan bahwa ada dampak yang signifikan
terhadap kompetensi stuktur berbahasa terutama pada ketepatan pada
penyusunan tuturan. Hal tersebut membantu mahasiswa dalam
merangkai kata untuk menyusun kalimat yang mereka tuturkan.
36
Kata kunci: Kompetensi struktur berbahasa, Kompetensi berbicara
Introduction
English is an international language which used all over the world.
Many people learn to master it because many aspects in modern life
cannot be separated from English. Nowadays we can find everything is
written in English. As one of the aspects of globalization, English is now
considered more and more important.
English is spoken throughout the world and in most of
multilingual societies; it has been adopted as the official language of law,
administration, commerce, and education. In nearly every country in the
world, English is taught in school as the major second language
(Gathered, 1996: VI)
There are four skills in mastering English, they are speaking,
listening, reading and writing. Speaking is considered primary
(Finocchiaro, 1973:3) because people learn to speak their native language
several years before they learn to read and to write it. People judge one‘s
English competence through his speaking. If a student can speak English
well, it indicates that he masters English.
There are some elements of language such as vocabulary,
structure, pronunciation, spelling, etc. Structure, as one of the elements of
English is very important in language teaching. It is the system of
language (Byrne, 1979), how the language is organized and used in
communication. We can understand the language if we know its
structure.
37
Some other time, the writer finds some students who understand
structure, but in fact, they seem have difficulties in English especially in
their speaking class. For instances: students still making mistakes on
defining Present and Simple Past Tense. They often do this cause they are
not realized when they have to change some activities which done in the
past, therefore, they speak it in the Present Tense. It means that students
knowledge of structural competence which they have do not support
them much.
Since structure is a fundamental in mastering English, and
speaking is considered primary, the writer formulates a problem. The
writer tries to define any impact of structural competence towards
speaking competence of fourth semester students of English department
of Tarbiyah Faculty IAIN Walisongo Semarang in the academic year of
2010/2011.
Nature of structure
As one of the elements of language, structure is very important
learning, since it is the basic framework to master the production and
comprehension of the typical sentences of the language. When people
communicate with others, they may utter a word or some words to
convey their ideas, thought or feelings. The words, which are form then,
are called sentence. The sentence can be defined as a group of words
joined together by grammatical agreement (relating device) and which,
not grammatically dependent upon any other groups, are complete in
themselves (Fries, 1952:20). Quirk and Greenbaun (1976:12) stated that a
sentence may alternatively be seen as compromising five units called of
sentence; structure, i.e: subject, verb, complement, object, and adverbial
abbreviated as S, V, C, O, A.
38
a. Elements of Sentence
The elements are simply explained below:
1. Subject is a noun or pronoun that comes before the verb in an
ordinary affirmative sentence. It usually says (in an active sentence)
who or what does the action that verb refers to.
2. Verb is word, which is used with a subject to form the basics of a
clause. Most verbs refer to actions or states.
3. Object is a noun or pronoun that normally comes after the verb (in
active sentence). There are two kind of object:
a) Direct Object
It refers to a person or thing affected by the action of the verb.
b) Indirect Object
It usually refers to a person who receives the direct object.
1) Adverbial is a group of words that does the same job as an
adverb phrase or adverb clause.
2) Complement is a part of sentence that gives more
information about subject (after be, seem and the same after
verbs) or in some structures, about object (Swan: 1980).
b. The Sentence Classification
Sentence is divided according to their structure into class
simple, compound and complex sentence.
1. Simple sentence
A simple sentence is a group of words, which express a single
independent thought or contains one independent clause only.
39
Quirk and Greenbaun (1976: 191) divided simple sentence into four
major syntactic classes, whose use correlates with different
communicative functions:
a) Statements are sentences in which the subject is always presented
and generally precedes the verb, example: A student comes to the
class.
b) Questions are sentences marked one by one or more of these
criteria:
1) The placing of the operator immediately in front of the
subject, example: Does a student come to the class?
2) The initial positioning of an interrogative or wh- elements,
example: Who comes to the class?
3) Rising intonation, example: A student comes to the class?
c) Commands are sentences, which normally have no overt
grammatical subject and whose; verb is in the imperative,
example: Come on the class!
d) Exclamations are sentences which have an initial phrase
introduced by what or how, without inversion subject and
operator; example: What a diligent student!
2. Compound sentence
Compound sentence is a sentence that combined from two
or more simple sentences (main clause) joined coordinately by
punctuation alone, by coordinate conjunctions or by conjunctive
adverbs.
a) Joined by punctuation alone
40
John was sick; he did not come to school
Main clause
Main clause
Punctuation
b) Joined by coordinative conjunction; and, but, or.
John was sick, but he came to school
Main clause
Main clause
Coordinative conjunction
c) Joined by conjunctive adverb; moreover, in addition, otherwise,
however, nevertheless, therefore, etc.
John was sick, however he came to school
Main clause
Main Clause
Conjunctive adverb
3. Complex sentence
A complex sentence is a sentence that consisting of one main
clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
For example: They watch the television whenever they like
Main clause
subordinate clause
41
4. Compound complex sentence
Compound complex sentence is a sentence that consists of two
or more main clauses and one more subordinate clauses. For example:
since I had seen her the day before, I knew that he was unhappy, but I
did not guess that he would give up this plan.
Language skills
Anyone who uses languages well has a number of different
abilities. He/she may read books, write letters, speak on the telephone,
listen to the radio, and so on. Generally, we can identify four major skills
such as; listening, speaking, reading and writing (Hammer, 1978: 16).
Those skills are classified into productive and receptive skills. Speaking
and writing are productive skills and involve some kinds of production on
the part of the language user. Listening and reading understanding belong
to receptive skills and involve the language user is receiving written or
spoken language.
When two people carry out a conversation, they very often use a
combination of skills, for example speaking and listening skills. As we
know that speaking is a part of language skills which should be mastered
by students. As stated in the 2006 national curriculum states that students
should master the four language skills besides speaking, there are:
listening, writing and reading. Therefore, English still becomes one of the
compulsory subjects which have been afraid by students.
42
Nature of communication
When two people are in talking to each other, we can fairly be
sure that are so far a certain reason. The reasons they may have are as
follows:
a. They want to say something. ―Want‖ is used here in general way to
suggest that speakers make definite decisions to address other people.
Speaking may be forced upon them but we can call still say they feel
the need to speak, otherwise they would keep silent.
b. They have some comunicative purposes. Speakers say things because
they want something to happen as a result of what they say. They may
want to give information or express their ideas. They may decide to be
rude or flatter, to agree communicative purpose, or succeed in
conveying the message and the effect they want it to have.
c. They select from their language store. Speakers have an infinitive
capacity to create new sentences (especially if they are native
speakers). In order to achieve their communicative purpose, they will
select the language they think is appropriate for this purpose.
d. They want to listen to ―something‖. Once again ―want‖ is used in
general way. But the listeners in order to understand what they are
listening to they must have some desire to do so.
e. They are interested in the communicative purpose of what is being
said. In general people listen to because they want to find out what the
speaker is going to say – in other words what ideas they are conveying,
and what effect they wish the communication to have.
f. The process a variety of languages. Although the listener may have a
good idea of what the speaker is going to say next in general terms, he
43
has to be prepared to process a great variety of life grammar and
vocabulary to understand exactly what is being said.
As we see from the explanation above that oral communication is
a two-way process between speaker and listener, involving the productive
skill of speaking and receptive skill of understanding. Both speaker and
listener have a positive function to perform. The speaker has encode the
message to be conveyed in appropriate language, while the listener has to
decode (or interpret) the message. The message itself, in normal speech,
usually contains a great deal of ―information‖ which is redundant. At the
some other time, the listener is helped by prosodic feature, such as stress
and intonation, which accompany the spoken utterances and form part of
its meaning, hence, by facial and body movement.
Oral production
The main goal in teaching the productive skill of speaking is oral
fluency that is the ability to express oneself intelligibility, reasonably,
accurately and without undue hesitation. To attain this goal, the students
will be brought from the stage where they merely imitate a model or
respond to cues to the point where they can use the language to express
their own ideas. Two complementary levels of training will therefore be
required practice in the manipulation of the six elements of the language
(principally the use of grammatical patterns and lexical terms) and
practice in the expression of personal meaning. For the purpose the
teacher cannot depend on written texts as basic for oral practice. Audio –
visual aids, on the other hand, provide at all levels a powerful way of
stimulating and developing oral ability without resource to the written
language.
44
Interdependence of the oral skills in communication
Although in the class practice it is often necessary to concentrate
at certain times developing one of the oral skills more than others, we
should not lose sight of the fact that oral comunication is two-ways
process between speaker and listener. Thus, the speaker does not always
imitate: he also responds to what he has heard, while the listener does not
always remain silent: he is normally expected to make some sort of
response. In classroom, therefore, appropriate provision has to be made
to see that the two oral skills are integrated through situations, which
permit and encourage authentic comunication.
Intelligibility
Intelligibility is usually defined in phonological sound such as /i:/
and /i/. At a level of basic understanding this aspect of intelligibility is
unquestionably important but for the purpose of oral fluency, the terms
need to be able to communicate effectively, the leaners need an adequate
matery of grammar and vocabulary as well as phonology. In the arrea of
grammar, learners should not be expected to master grammatical items
simply because the exist in the language, but not only those essential for
communication.
Oral ability and motivation
The development of oral ability is a good source of motivation
for most learners who normally much concern to be able to speak and
uderstand a foreign language. Satisfaction at being able to say a small
number of sentences after a few lesson must be sustained by
demonstrating to the students that they can say progresively more and
45
more through the language as the course continues. Motivation can often
be improved in large classes by placing greater emphasis on the receptive
skill of listening. This has the additional advantage of getting the students
accustomed to understanding the language without reference to a written
text as well as providing opportunities the meaningful repetition of
known.
Communicative competence
From the baby onwards, everybody starts to learn how to
communicate effectively and how to respond to other people‘s
communications. Some people are better at communicating than others,
but common people learn to communicate through language.
One of the importance factors in context is the nature of the
participants. The age, sex, social status and educational level of the
speaker and listener, all affect that the mode of expression used.
The next two factors are closely connected with each other. They
are actual situation in which the language occurs and the kind of contact
between the participants. The importance of the situation itself has
always been recognized, and it is heavily emphasized in situational
language courses, as well as in travelers; phrase books, where it becomes
clear that the language varies according to whether one is shopping, or
asking direction, or booking at the hotel and restaurant. Depending on
the situation, the contact between the participants could either in speech
or in writing, and at any points on the range of proximity, i.e. face to
face, not face-to-face (two ways contact by telephone or correspondence),
or one way contact (radio, TV, advertisement, notice). Simply by
observing the choice of expression, one can postulate circumstances‘ in
46
which one or the other would be likely to be written rather than spoken,
used in one place rather than another.
Another parameter is the nature of the subject matter or topic or
field of discourse. Its influence has been recognized for extreme of
English Special Purposes such as technical usage, international aviation
English, legal terminology, etc.
Mod and purpose
The way people communicate, as well
as what they
communicate is a matter of choice. It is restricted by the conventions of
the speech community and the language itself. The external factors
governing usage play their part in decreeing what is appropriate to
different circumstances.
A speaker is free to choose the mood as he wishes to convey as
well as what he wants to say, he is constrained by the available resources
of the language to fulfill his aims. That‘s why he must select not only a
correct expression but one that is appropriate to his intentions.
Regarding the function of communication, there are five general
functions, which can usefully be isolated: personal. The speaker will be
open to interpret as polite, aggressive, in a hurry, angry, pleased, etc.,
according to how he speaks Directive. The speaker attempts to control of
influence the listener in some ways. Establishing relationship: the
speakers establish and maintain contact the listener, often by speaking in
ritualized way in which what is said is not as important as the fact that is
said is not as important as information to the listener. Enjoyment: the
47
speaker is using language for its own ‗sake‘ in poetry, rhymes, songs, etc
(Corder, 1973:42-9).
Basic assumption
Structure is the rule of language that enables speakers to express
and organized their ideas through sentences or utterances or in the other
words to carry out a communication with others. Therefore, students
must understand the English structure in order to speak English. Without
understanding its structure, it is very hard to get the meaning of the
message conveyed.
Research Method
In this study the writer used descriptive co-relational method. It
was used to describe whether there was impact between two variables, i.e.
structural competence (X) as independent variable and speaking
competence (Y) as dependent variable.
The population of this research was the fourth semester students of
English Department Tarbiyah Faculty IAIN Walisongo Semarang in the
academic year of 2011/2012. The number of the population was sixty
(60) students. The sample was taken from the all students of fourth
semester because the total number of population was less than 100
subjects.
In collecting the data of this research, the writer used test as the
instrument. There were two kinds of tests. The structure oral test was
used to measure students‘ competence in structure. The other test, oral
test was used to collect data of students‘ speaking competence. The tests
had been carried out at June 27th 2011 and June 29th 2011.
1. Structure test
48
Structure test of 40 items, and the test contains multiple choice
ones. The test is compiled from TOEFL. The consideration of
compiling it is that TOEFL, is a standardized test and admitted by
people to measure one‘s English competence.
Table 1
The content of structure test
Materials
No
Item
Numbers
1
Duration: since
1
2
Used to
2
3
Numerical order the
3, 4
4
Not only .............. but also
5
5
Causative have, make
6,7,8
6
Conditional type I
9, 10
7
Conditional type II
11
8
Had better
12
9
Paralel structure
13, 14
10
Anticipatory II
16
11
Uncountable noun
17
12
Countable noun
18
13
Degree comparison
19, 20
14
Adjective clause
22, 23
15
Would rather
24
16
Passive voice
25
17
Indirect question
26, 27
18
Infinitive to
28, 29
19
Verb + ing form
30, 31
49
20
Verbal modifier – ing form
32
21
Either; neither
33, 34
22
Clause
35, 36
23
Because
37
24
Reflexive pronoun
38
25
Because of
39
26
Adverb
40
2. Oral test
Underhill (1987: 44-81) states there are twenty techniques to
test speaking skill, i.e.: discussion oral report, learner-learner joint
discussion, role-play, interview, learner-learner description and
recreation, form filling, making appropriate responses, questions
answer, reading blank dialogue, using picture, giving description, i.e.:
tell
story
or
text
from
aural
stimuli,
reading
aloud,
translating/interpreting sentence completion from aural or written
stimulus, sentence correction, sentence transformation and sentence
repetition. From those techniques, the writer taught that using picture
was effective and the most efficient to conduct the test. The
components of language proficiency used are:
a. Fluency
It refers to one‘s ability to speak a language smoothly and
easily
b. Grammar
50
It concerns with one‘s ability to organize words into sentences
grammatically correct and to measure one‘s ability in applying
grammatical rule as well.
c. Vocabulary
This item is designed to measure one‘s skill to remember or
retake any words from his memory.
d. Pronunciation
It measures one‘s ability to pronounce English sounds
correctly, includes its aspects like stress, intonation, etc.
3. Scoring systems
a. Scoring of structure test
The structure test consists of 40 items and all are multiple
choice. The score of each number is one for the right one. So
we can get a maximum score around 40.
b. Scoring of oral test
As mentioned above that the test type used is using picure.
There are seven pictures that must be retold by the students for
about ten minutes. The components of language proficiency,
grammar, vocabulary and pronounciation. The maximum
score of each is 20, thus the total score is 80.
N
Table 2
The Speaking Score
Language aspects
Number of
o
1
Score
items
Fluency
5x4
20
51
2
Grammar
5x4
20
3
Vocabulary
5x4
20
4
Pronounciation
5x4
20
Tota
80
To make it easier, the writer gives criteria for each components
and it is applied by score 1 – 5. The criteria are mentioned below:
1. Fluency
5: speak smoothly and easily without any grooving
4 : speak with only accational hesitation
3: frequently have to think first before speak but enable to continue
to
speak
2: often stop speaking
1: say a word then stop speaking
2. Grammar
5: the sentences are all grammatically correct
4: making mistakes but not destroy the meaning
3: making mistakes and destroy the meaning
2: the utterances are difficult to be understood
1: the speech cannot be understood at all
3. Vocabulary
5: using appropriate vocabulary
4: using some innapropriate words
3: frequently using innapropriate
2: having very limited vocabulary
1: stop speaking at all
4. Pronounciation
52
5: Pronounce all words correctly
4: understandable although having certain accent
3: paying attention a lot of and making understanding
2: often making misprouncing
1: the speech is not understandable
Discussion
Students’ structural competence
1. Classical structural competence
In measuring the classical structural competence is 50.4%. Thus the
classical structural competence is 50.4%. It can be said that the
students structural competence is fair.
To know the precentage of students‘ competence, Arikunto
(1991: 67) suggested five categories the students‘ competence as
follows:
a. Very good: if 81-100% the answer are correct
b. Good: if 61-80% of the answer are correct
c. Fair: if 41-60% of the answer are correct
d. Bad: if 21-60% of the answer are correct
e. Very bad: if 0-20% of the answer are correct
2. Frequency distribution of structural competence
The computation of frequency distribution of students‘
structural competence is as follows:
Class interval
Table 3
The Length of Class Interval
Fi
Xi
Fixi
30 – 32
3
93
31
53
27 – 29
5
28
140
24 – 26
8
25
200
21 – 23
12
22
264
18 – 20
16
19
304
15 – 17
10
19
160
Des – 14
6
13
78
Total
50
157
1239
a. Determining the range of scores by substracting the highest score
by lowest score. The range of students‘ structure is the highest
score: 31, and the lowest score: 12. The range is 19.
b. The number of class interval by using the formula 1 + 3.3 log 50.
The result is 6.606. so the number of class internal is 7.
c. Length of class interval is 2.71
In this case the length of class interval used is 3
3. Measure of central tendency of structural competence
Mean
20.31
Table 4
The Structural Competence
Median
Mode
20.125
19.3
a. The mean of students‘ structural competence has been
compurized by frequency distribution is 20.31
b. Thus the median of structural competence is 20,125
c. Mode 19.3
Students’ speaking competence
54
Table 5
The Students‘ speaking Competence
Class interval
Fi
Yi
Fi . Yi
72 – 74
3
73
219
69 – 71
9
70
630
66 – 68
13
67
871
63 – 65
3
64
192
60 – 62
15
61
915
57 – 59
5
58
290
54 – 56
5
55
275
51 – 53
5
52
260
Total
58
62
3652
1. Classical speaking competence is 80. 125%
Thus the classical speaking competence is 80.125%.
We can
categorize that the classical speaking competence is good. It can be
seen in Arikunto (1991: 67) in the previous pages.
2. Frequency distribution
The computation of frequency distribution of students speaking
competence is as follows:
a. The range of students‘ speaking competence is, the highest score:
73, and the lowest score: 51. The range is 22.
b. The number of class interva by using the formula: 1 + 3.3 log 50,
the result is 6.606. So, the number of class interval is 7
c.
The length of class interval (P) is 3.14
55
In this case the length of class interval used is 3
3. Measure of central tendency of speaking competence
a. The mean is 59,868
Thus the main of speaking competence is 59.868
b. Median
Thus, the median of speaking competence is 66,4
c. Mode
The mode of speaking competence is 66.357
Product moment correlation
The computation of product moment correlation coefficient is
done after we find the values of N, ∑X, ∑Y, ∑X2, ∑Y2, and ∑ XY score.
The result of computation using Pearson‘s formula is 0.990
Table 6
The Respondents
Respondents
R
Y
X^2
Y^2
XY
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
R8
R9
R10
R11
R12
R13
20
16
19
23
19
17
17
18
18
18
22
20
24
60
56
59
63
59
57
57
58
58
58
62
60
64
400
256
361
529
361
289
289
324
324
324
484
400
576
3600
3136
3481
3969
3481
3249
3249
3364
3364
3364
3844
3600
4096
1200
896
1121
1449
1121
969
969
1044
1044
1044
1364
1200
1536
56
R14
R15
R16
R17
R18
R19
R20
R21
R22
R23
R24
R25
R26
R27
R28
R29
R30
R31
R32
R33
R34
R35
R36
R37
R38
R39
R40
R41
R42
R43
R44
R45
R46
R47
R48
R49
R50
R51
R52
R53
20
19
21
27
26
24
13
15
23
19
21
15
26
24
20
20
20
22
21
19
21
19
23
16
23
18
20
19
20
20
23
26
19
22
21
18
21
22
21
21
60
59
61
67
66
64
53
55
63
59
61
55
66
64
60
60
60
62
61
59
61
59
63
56
63
58
60
59
60
60
63
66
59
62
61
58
61
62
61
61
400
361
441
729
676
576
169
225
529
361
441
225
676
576
400
400
400
484
441
361
441
361
529
256
529
324
400
361
400
400
529
676
361
484
441
324
441
484
441
441
3600
3481
3721
4489
4356
4096
2809
3025
3969
3481
3721
3025
4356
4096
3600
3600
3600
3844
3721
3481
3721
3481
3969
3136
3969
3364
3600
3481
3600
3600
3969
4356
3481
3844
3721
3364
3721
3844
3721
3721
1200
1121
1281
1809
1716
1536
689
825
1449
1121
1281
825
1716
1536
1200
1200
1200
1364
1281
1121
1281
1121
1449
896
1449
1044
1200
1121
1200
1200
1449
1716
1121
1364
1281
1044
1281
1364
1281
1281
57
R54
R55
R56
R57
R58
R59
R60
R61
20
24
17
25
20
15
20
20
1240
60
64
57
65
60
55
60
60
3680
400
576
289
625
400
225
400
400
25726
3600
4096
3249
4225
3600
3025
3600
3600
222526
1200
1536
969
1625
1200
825
1200
1200
75326
From this table above we know that the computation of product
moment correlation coefficient is done after we find the values of N, ∑X,
∑Y, ∑X2, ∑Y2, and ∑ XY score. The result of computation using
Pearson‘s formula is 0.0990.
Conclusion
The classical structural competence of fourth semester students of
English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty IAIN Walisongo Semarang is
50.4%. It can be catgorized in fair level and the mean of structural
competence is 20.125. The classical speaking competence of fourth
semester students of
English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty IAIN
Walisongo Semarang is 59.868% and it is good category. The mean of
speaking competence is 63.76. It occurs because structure is a small
element in speaking besides vocabulary, pronounciation, and fluency that
work together. The result showed that there was significant impact of
structural competence especially in appropriateness because they are able
to arrange words into sentences when they utter.
58
References
Arikunto, Suharsimi. 2006. Prosedur Penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktik.
Jakarta: PT. Rineka Cipta.
Byrne, James. 1973. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New
York: Addison Wesley Longman
Corder, Dale. 1973. How To Develop Self-Confidence And Influence People by
Public Speaking. London: Vermilion.
Fries, CC. 1952. Speech Communication Made Simple. New York: Addison
Wesley Longman.
Guthered, Tim.1996. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Harmer, Jeremy. 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Great
Britain: Pearson Education Limited.
Underhill, M. 1987. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New
York: Addison Wesley Longman.
Swan. 1980. Writing English Language Tests. London: Longman.
59
The Influence of Digital Games Based Learning on Students’ Learning
Outcomes and Motivation
Rahmat Yusny
UIN Ar Raniry Aceh
Jl. Syech Abdurra‘uf Kopelma Darussalam Banda Aceh
[email protected]
Sarah Fitri
UIN Ar Raniry Aceh
Jl. Syech Abdurra‘uf Kopelma Darussalam Banda Aceh
[email protected]
Abstract
There is no doubt that the emergence of today's digital age greatly affects
the human life - including students in their educational life. In order to
simplify the process of studying languages, especially English, many
scientists and experts continue to find new and innovative methods. One
of them is the method of Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL).
However, the implementation effort of DGBL method to improve
English language skills of students is still a matter of controversy. It is
mainly caused by the use of game - which is assumed by the public just as
merely means of entertainment rather than as a medium of learning.
Judging on this reason, researchers are interested highlighting them to be
their research. This research was conducted in order to view the
significance and influence of DGBL in improving English language skills
of students - particularly the ability to hear and read - as well as their
motivation to learn. The study was conducted over five sessions in March
2013 with a sample of 13 students were selected at random stratification
of 68 second -year student population PBI , Ar - Raniry UIN .Researchers
collected data by applying the experimental use of games in the classroom
, provide pre-test and post-test , as well as distributing questionnaires
dealing with motivation. From the analysis of quantitative data, it can be
concluded that the method of Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL)
can be used to improve student‘s achievement and learning motivation in
learning English.
60
Keywords: Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL), Learning outcome,
Motivation
Abstrak
Kemunculan era digital dewasa ini, tidak dapat dipungkiri, sangat
berpengaruh terhadap kehidupan manusia—termasuk siswa dalam
mengenyam pendidikan mereka. Guna mempermudah proses
mempelajari ilmu bahasa, terutama Bahasa Inggris, banyak ilmuwan dan
para ahli yang terus berupaya menemukan metode baru dan inovatif.
Salah satunya adalah metode Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL).
Akan tetapi, upaya pengimplementasian metode DGBL untuk
meningkatkan kemampuan berbahasa Inggris siswa masih menjadi
kontroversi. Hal ini tidak lain disebabkan oleh penggunaan game—yang
diasumsikan oleh publik sekedar alat hiburan semata—sebagai media
pembelajaran. Menilik pada alasan tersebut, peneliti tertarik mengangkat
permasalahan ini ke dalam penelitiannya. Penelitian ini dilakukan guna
melihat signifikansi serta pengaruh DGBL dalam meningkatkan
kemampuan berbahasa Inggris mahasiswa—terutama kemampuan
mendengar dan membaca—serta motivasi belajar mereka. Penelitian
dilakukan selama lima sesi pada bulan Maret 2013 dengan jumlah sampel
13 mahasiswa yang dipilih secara stratifikasi acak dari 68 jumlah
mahasiswa PBI tahun kedua, UIN Ar-Raniry. Peneliti mengumpulkan
data dengan mengaplikasikan penggunaan game di kelas eksperimen,
memberikan pretest dan posttest, serta mendistribusikan kuisioner
motivasi. Dari hasil analisis data secara kuantitatif, dapat disimpulkan
bahwa metode Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL) dapat
meningkatkan prestasi serta motivasi belajar mahasiswa dalam
mempelajari Bahasa Inggris.
Kata kunci: Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL), Prestasi, Motivasi
61
Introduction
The method in which student‘s speaking, listening, writing and
reading abilities can be improved are becoming critical issues in which
English is used as foreign language. Therefore, developing effective
method to increase students‘ performance as both language learner and
language user, and thus, enhancing students‘ English learning
achievements has become an important topic.
To assist students with developing foreign language proficiency,
second language teaching methods have begun to embrace the use of
technology, specifically Computers-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
tools (Alatis, 1983; Pusack, 1981; Soper, 1982; Stevens, 1983, as cited in
Levent, 2009: 45). One of methods that use Computer-Assisted Language
Learning tools is learning through digital games. Prensky (2001: 5) used
term ―Digital Games Based Learning‖ to denote the use of computer
game in educational content. Digital Games Based Learning is a
profoundly new learning method that integrates the use of digital game
on learning environment.
Although game is most often thought as a pure entertainment, it is
important to actually know that it can be enormously powerful tool used
to learn. Prensky (2006) stressed that digital game works as learning tool
since ―all games [basically] already cause player to learn‖. Findings from
many researchers strengthen such acclaim as they found that digital game
has enormously increased students‘ learning achievement, especially in
learning language (Liu and Chu, 2010; Muller, n.d.; Panoutsopoulos and
Sampson, 2012).
Prensky (2001:3) described ―the process of game playing [as]
engaging,‖ so much that it brings together a great deal of motivation.
62
Therefore, combining games with learning can add potential motivation,
massive enough to let the learners stick with their learning process.
Levent (2009: 46) further remarked that digital game helps the process of
learning to become more engaging as it adds fun and excitement to help
students feel more relaxed and comfortable. Purushotma (2005) has
suggested that games can be so highly motivating that they can even
cause addictive behavior as cited in Levent (2009: 46).
As cited in Prensky (2006: 1), Akerman (n.d.) affirmed that ―play
(game) is our brain‘s favorite way of learning things.‖ Thus, learning new
things by playing game can be one of the most engaging as well as
effective ways to perceive data to our brain. The fact that people feel
better, get less tired, and are highly motivated when they do things they
enjoy, such as playing games, is the main idea of creating Digital Games
Based Learning method.
Greatly interested with the use and development of Digital Games
Based Learning (DGBL) method in English language learning—
especially in enhancing students‘ reading and listening skills as well as
their learning motivation—the researchers decided to strive this research
to address the following two major aims:
1. To know if adventure game enhances students‘ English receptive
skills
2. To find out the influence of DGBL towards students‘ learning
motivation
Hypothesis
The hypothesis of this research is formulated as follow:
―Digital Games Based Learning does influence students‘ learning
outcomes and motivation‖
63
Digital games based learning
There were two essential premises explaining the existence of
digital games based learning (Prensky, 2006: 1). The first premise is that
today‘s learners have changed in some fundamental ways. The fact that
students nowadays living in digitally enhanced world, are somewhat have
different way of thinking than what former students had. The second
premise is that computer can provide new way to motivate today‘s
students to learn. If one could think what game is actually best at, it
would be based on the fact that it could provide motivation to its players.
As mentioned by Anyaegbu (2012) ―Games are often used for
motivational or fun purposes.‖
Therefore, keeping the students motivated enough (to stick with
their educational life) is a very critical matter faced nowadays. Learning
methods that were effective in motivating learners in the past might not
be able to motivate the learners of today. That is why the proponents of
digital games based learning believed (Prensky, 2001; Pivec&Dziabenko,
2003) that digital games based learning is the learning method that could
foster not only students‘ learning achievement but also their inner
motivation.
However, the use of game as a profoundly new learning method
has been thoroughly criticized. As per saying goes ―there are always two
sides of a coin.‖ While one side sees the emergence of digital games based
learning as a bright light and solution in improving both students‘
achievements and motivation, the rest sees it as a merely exaggerated
misled effort in combining two radically different things: serious, bookoriented, fixed purposed, rigid activity named learning, with carefree,
fun-oriented, time-wasting activity called game.
64
Positive effect of gaming in learning
Games are effective not because of what they are, but because of
what they embody and what learners are doing as they play a game
(Richard Van Eck, 2006). ―Games create an environment where
education is mostly learner-centered, with a good opportunity for
socialization when they are well-organized, and awakening the will to
win and competitive desire inside people‖(Squire, 2003: 5).Moreover,
game presents simulated situation that often extracted from real world.
Students think and understand better when they learn something they
have been familiar with. Gee (2003) as cited in McClarty et al. (2012)
pointed out ―games present a similar situation through simulation,
providing us the opportunity to think, understand, prepare, and execute
actions‖.
Another learning benefit one can get from game playing is derived
from the fact that game provides opportunities to continue practice
despite repeated failures. It also presents immediate feedback and clear
objectives. This allows players to change their game play in order to
improve their performance and reach their goals.
Game is said to be particularly effective when ―Designed to
address a specific problem or to teach a certain skill‖ (Mitchell and SavillSmith, 2004: 19), for example in encouraging learning in subjects areas
such as math, physics and language, where specific objectives can be
stated, or when chosen selectively to fulfill the objective intended
aforementioned of playing the game, for instance: playing game to
enhance spatial, problem-solving and strategic ability or to obtain new
knowledge.
65
Negative effect of gaming in learning
As highlighted by Clark (2003) as cited in Mitchell and SavillSmith (2004), there are a number of risk factors that can negatively give
impact on learning via computer games:
1) Game objectives may not be compatible with learning
objectives.
2) Games can distract from learning as players concentrate on
completing, scoring, and winning instead of focusing on
learning.
3) Games require suspension of belief; it may be difficult to retain
learning acquired in that state
4) Failure to reach male and female players to the same extent
5) Games risk the learners becoming non socialized people as
gaming world is then literally seen as their world instead of
their societies (pp. 22-23).
Aside from the bad effect of game is causing on learners, game in
general induces severe effects of frequent playing for gamers. This
includes health issues, psycho-social issues, and changes in behavior.
Hence, players definitely in need to have a control and a good selfmanagement in playing the game and also a good sense of selection in
choosing age and task appropriate game.
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes measure final result of intervention or program
given to the students. It should be measurable as it will identify or observe
what the students will achieve, should be able to do, and will know as the
effect of the intervention given beforehand. Thus, immediate evidence of
66
these collected knowledge, skills, and ability gathered after intervention is
what is called outcomes.
A learning outcome is a written statement of what the
successful student/learner is expected to be able to do at the
end of the module/course unit, or qualification. The key
aspect each of the definitions has in common is the desire for
more precision and consideration as to what exactly a learner
acquires in terms of knowledge and/or skills when they
successfully complete a period of learning (Adam, 2004, p. 6).
Game and reading comprehension
Aside from the importance of cognitive and metacognitive
strategies, a few studies have addressed the issues related to ―motivation‖
and ―engagement‖ when it comes to reading comprehension and the way
to enhances it. As Guthrie et al. (2006) put it:
Engaged reading is based on motivational and cognitive
characteristics of the reader…who is intrinsically motivated,
builds knowledge, uses cognitive strategies, and interacts
socially to learn from text. These engagement processes can be
observed in student‘s cognitive effort, perseverance, and selfdirection in reading (p. 404).
Encouraging learners to reading comprehension can be done by selecting
appropriate materials, especially for young readers in their early stages of
learning. This selection is very crucial considering the number of selected
readers in recent times. That is why—in motivating readers of today—
many educational practitioners have begun to embrace game as one of
the methods used in enhancing students‘ reading achievement.
Being labeled as one of solutions in motivating language learner,
games as Carlson (1952) as cited in Meizaliana (2009:53) described ―. . .
are activities used to provide a fun and more relax atmosphere especially .
67
. . for student to acquire a second or foreign language.‖ Thus, games are
believed to help enhancing students‘ motivation to learn to read and later
to read to learn by providing various contexts of learning materials in a
more fun and engaging way.
Game and listening comprehension
Listening as an active process requires conscious attention and
interests as well as physical involvement. Students who indicated high
levels of motivation appeared to engage in listening more. ―Motivation
and metacognition appear to be elements that are part of clusters of
variables contributing to variance in L2 listening‖ (Vandergrift, 1997:
196). Listening to what learners want to listen to and want to try to
comprehend might motivate them to listen and to keep on learning.
These want and interest might appear in when someone touches with
different, unusual way of learning, thus commended on using game in
learning language.
As Verdugo and Belmonte (2007: 87) pointed out: ―Digital
technology for students, if appropriately selected and organized, can offer
a range of opportunities to develop foreign language listening and
proficiency in a playful and enjoyable context.‖ Therefore, in order to
motivate and to enhance students‘ listening ability, one can afford to use
appropriate, task-oriented, listening-produced game.
Game enhances learning motivation
The first thing one might expect to see while playing game is an
increasing motivation. Common wisdom suggests that games are at least
motivating, if not educational. Game embodies aspects and characters
that engage learners to play.
68
Games contain the pieces necessary to engage students and help
them enter a state of flow where ―they are fully immersed in their
learning environment and energized and focused on the activity they are
involved in‖ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, as cited in McClarty et al., 2012:
14). When complete attention is devoted to the game, a player may lose
track of time and not notice other distractions. Purushotma (2005) as
cited in Levent (2009: 46) further added that ―games can be so highly
motivating that they can even cause addictive behavior.‖
On the other hand, game also creates fantasy, imaginary world
which has rich visuals and plenty aesthetics aspects. Such things might
attract awe and excitement from its players as it is considered as unique
and recognizable feature. Another aspect of game that attains interest is
its clear objectives. ―Games are played to win or achieve a goal … The
key to motivation is winning while remaining challenged‖ (Becta, 2001:
1). Eventually, all ―these components can increase student engagement,
and student engagement is strongly associated with student achievement‖
(McClarty et al., 2012).
Research Design
Participants
The population of the study was 68 English Department of IAIN
Ar-Raniry students year 2011. The researchers used stratified random
sampling technique to specify and determine the final samples of this
research. Stratified random sampling is sampling technique which was
based on diversities or stratified qualifications and characteristics that
targeted population has (Prasetyo & Jannah, 2009). The researchers
stratified population based on students‘ game playing frequency and
students‘ interest in game playing.
69
The researchers used preliminaries questionnaire as a basis to
determine their strata. The researchers distributed the questionnaire to all
English department students year 2011and there were 68 students
responded to the questionnaire. Final samples were 13 students whom the
researchers selected after careful consideration based on end result of
preliminaries questionnaire.
Data collection
This study was a quantitative research. It also applied preexperimental design with one group pretest-posttest design. According to
Sugiyono (2008), one-group pretest-posttest design is a design in which
the experimental group experiences both pretest and posttest during the
experiment. Further, the data was collected through experimental
treatment using digital game, pretest and posttest, and motivational
questionnaire. The process of collecting the data would be picturised as
follow:
Figure 1: Diagram Outlining the Procedure of The Case Study
Digital game
The game used in this research was ―Dream Sleuth‖. The game
was comprised as adventure, point-click, and hidden-object game. This
game used as an intervention for five-meeting research.
70
Figure 2: ―Dream Sleuth‖ Screenshot
The selection of Dream Sleuth as intervention in this study was for
the very reason of finding out appropriate game to foster English
language learners‘ ability. Looking at how the game had in plate, this
game offered mysterious storyline, unique mini games, exciting game
play, and the foremost reason of having quite plenty of language learning
benefits—especially reading and listening benefits.
Tests
The researchers handed out two tests for the experimental class:
pre-test and post-test. Pretest was given at the beginning of the meeting,
before the treatment conducted. Whereas post-test would be given at the
end of the meeting, immediately after giving class treatment.
Pre-test was distributed with the aim of measuring the students‘
initial learning achievements before given the treatment. On the other
71
hand, post-test had a purpose of measuring the improvement or
differences in students‘ learning outcomes after being treated with the
game. Both were necessary for the researchers to obtain the data as in to
analyze whether there would be influences of digital game based learning
on students‘ learning outcomes or not. The researchers intended to see
students‘ learning outcomes. In particular, they wanted to find out two
mainstream students‘ English learning outcomes, which were listening
and reading. Therefore, in designing the test, the researchers created two
parts of the test: listening comprehension and reading comprehension
test.
Listening part consisted of four sections: section I, II, III, and IV.
Each section of listening test comprised of five questions. In designing the
listening part, the researchers excerpted the audio materials originated
from Dream Sleuth game. They used Audacity, an audio editing software,
to record, select, part, and save listening part in one complete format of
listening material. Meanwhile, reading part consisted of two reading
texts: reading text I and II. Each reading text has ten comprehension
questions. In selecting reading texts, the researchers carefully examined
reading texts and their correlation with the treatment. Reading text I was
Aesop fables story, while reading text II was selected based on the theme
used in ―Dream Sleuth‖ game.
Table 1
Sample of Test
Listening Part
Grandma
Catherine
: Happy birthday grandma!
: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Catherine! Thank you.
It‘s going to be a crazy day today with so many _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ coming.
Reading Part
According to the writer, what is the true nature of the nurse?
(A)
She is caring
(B)
She is tricky and mean
(C)
She is evil and hateful
(D)
She is truthful
72
Questionnaire
The researchers applied questionnaire in order to perceive
students‘ learning motivation. Questionnaire was distributed in the
middle of treatment, right after the third session of game playing.
Questionnaire used in this research was Learning Motivation through
Game Playing Questionnaire (LMGP-Q). The questionnaire was adapted
from Keller‘s ARCS model used by Kebritchi (2008). The questionnaire
consisted of 20 questions with 14 non reversed questions and six reversed
questions. Each item of ARCS Model (Attention, Relevance, Confidence,
and Satisfaction) comprised of five questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Table 2
LMGP-Q‘s List of Questions
I think this game will be
The game is relevant to my
challenging, but neither too 11.
interests.
easy, nor too hard for me.
There is something interesting
It is clear to me how people
about this game that will 12. use the game to improve
capture my attention.
their English skills
This game seems more
I
will
really
enjoy
difficult than I would like for 13. completing the task in this
it to be
game
After working on this game
I believe that completing the
for awhile, I believe that I
task in the game will give me 14. will be confident in my
a feeling of satisfaction.
ability
to
successfully
improve my English skills
I think that the variety of
It is clear to me how this
materials, tasks, illustration,
game is related to things I 15.
etc., will help keep my
already know.
attention on this game.
The technology used to
I believe this game will gain
16. deliver this the game may be
and maintain my interest
frustrating/ irritating.
73
7.
8.
9.
10.
I believe that the tasks
contained in this game will be
important to improve my
English skills
As I learn more about this
game, I am confident that I
could learn English through
playing
I believe that I will enjoy this
game so much that I would
like to know more about the
learning I got while playing
the game
The game seems dry and
unattractive.
17.
It will feel good to
successfully complete this
game.
18.
The contents of this game do
not include information that
will be useful to me.
19.
I do NOT think that I will be
able to really understand
what I learn from the game
20.
I do not think that this game
will be worth my time and
effort.
This questionnaire used Likert Scale measurement. There were five
scales used in this Likert scale, namely: Not True = 1; Slightly True = 2;
Moderately True = 3; Mostly True = 4; and Very True = 5. There were
the items marked reversedwhich are stated in a negative manner. For the
reversed questions (item 3, item 10, item 16, item 18, item 19, and item
20), researcher would use reversed scoring. That is for these items, 5=1,
4=2, 3=3, 2=4, and 1=5. The range of score for this questionnaire is: 20 –
35 indicates very low learning motivation; 36 – 51 indicates low learning
motivation; 52 – 67 indicates moderate learning motivation; 68 – 83
indicates high learning motivation; and 84 – 100 indicates very high
learning motivation.
Table 3
Reversed and Non-Reversed Motivational Questionnaire‘s Questions
Items
Questions
Non Reversed
Reversed
Attention
2, 6, 15
10, 16
74
Relevance
Confidence
Satisfaction
5, 7, 11, 12
1, 8, 14
4, 9, 13, 17
18
3, 19
20
Research result
Students’ learning outcomes
Through the use of tests, the researchers found necessary data
needed to figure out the answer whether game method applied was
significantly influential to enhance students‘ learning outcomes. In
analyzing the data from the tests, the researchers would use statistical
computing program called SPSS (Statistical Product and Service
Solution).
Table 4
Frequencies Table of Pre-test and Post-test
Pretest Posttest
N
Valid
13
13
Missing
0
0
Mean
54.2308 71.3462
Median
57.5000 72.5000
Std. Deviation
9.48599 6.00481
Variance
89.984
36.058
Minimum
40.00
60.00
Maximum
70.00
80.00
Based on the analysis of pretest and posttest, the researchers found
that there was difference between mean of pretest (54.23) and posttest
(71.35). From these data alone, it can be inferred that there was difference
of students‘ learning outcomes before and after getting the treatment. To
further analyze the improvement of students‘ learning outcome, the
75
researchers used formula of paired samples t test, finding that t value was
significantly different from t table and p value was much more less than
standard sig. value of 0.05. With -t value< -t table (-6.683 < -2.179) and p
value< 0.05 (0.000 < 0.05), meaning that the alternative hypothesis stating
significant improvement in learning outcomes following the treatment
using digital game was statistically accepted.
Table 5
Paired Samples T Test
Paired Differences
95% Confidence
Std.
Std.
Interval of the
Mean Devia Error
Difference
tion
Mean
Lower
Upper
Pretest
Pai –
2.560
9.2334
-22.69510
r 1 Posttes 17.1154
9
t
As many proponents of DGBL claimed
T
Sig.
(2df
tail
ed)
11.5356
12 .000
6.683
7
that game is significantly
influential to students‘ achievements if it is appropriately selected. Thus,
in regard of such statement, the researchers used the formula of Effect Size
to confirm digital game‘s treatment significance.
In classifying the criteria of effect size number, the researchers used
classification designed by Glass (n.d., as cited in Sutrisno, 2010):
: classified as low
: classified as medium
76
: classified as high
With score 1.80, it can be concluded that game did have
significant influence on students‘ learning outcomes. Above all, according
to scale of effect size range from Glass, this number of effect size indicated
high effect.
Students’ learning motivation
The researcherss distributed motivational questionnaire to their
participants. The questionnaire was adapted from Keller‘s ARCS model
employed by Kebritchi (2008), indicating students‘ learning motivation
toward the use of digital game. To suit the purpose of their study, the
researcherss
adapted
questions
and
scales
in
their
designated
questionnaire.
Learning Motivation through Game Playing (LMGP-Q), as it was
named, was distributed during the treatment. The researcherss used both
numerical and descriptive analysis to explain the questionnaire. After
getting the result for questionnaire, the researcherss found that among 13
samples, one student was classified as moderate level of motivated
learner, eight as highly motivated learners, and four as very highly
motivated learners.
Table 6
The Description of Students‘ Questionnaire Results
No. Initials
Score
Level
1.
N.F
82
High
2.
I.P
79
High
3.
Y.A
94
Very High
4.
S.F.Y
88
Very High
5.
I.R
86
Very High
6.
N.U
80
High
7.
Aul.
71
High
8.
D.R.R
69
High
77
9.
R.A
60
Moderate
10. O.R.P
83
High
11. M.D.U
75
High
12. N.M
87
Very High
13. N.H
80
High
Mean
79.54
High
In accordance of each items in ARCS model, with Attention (M=
4.14), Relevance (M = 3.88), Confidence (M = 3.89), and Satisfaction (M
= 4.02) resulting in positive attitude and motivation from participants in
general. These result demonstrated participants‘ positive interest,
confidence, satisfaction, and attitude toward using game to enhance their
learning experience and motivation.
Items
Attention
Relevance
Confidence
Satisfaction
Table 7
Mean of ARCS Model Items
Score Average (Mean)
4.14
3.88
3.89
4.02
Hypothesis
Now that the result of the research had been found, the
researcherss could analyze the hypothesis. Statistically speaking,
hypothesis ―Digital Games Based Learning does influence students‘
learning outcomes and motivation‖ was accepted, as the result indicates
improvement on students‘ learning outcomes (-6.683 < -2.179) and
positive indicator for learning motivation (M = 79.54). Eventually, it can
be summarized that digital game based learning has significant influence
on students‘ learning outcomes and motivation. In the end, concluding
that formulated hypothesis is accepted.
Conclusions
78
Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of digital
games based learning on students‘ learning outcomes and motivation.
The population of the study was 68 English Department students year
2011. The total 13 samples were derived from the use of stratified random
sampling which divided the population into three, from which the
researchers selected her samples.
This study was a quantitative research. It also applied preexperimental design with one group pretest-posttest design. The data was
collected through experimental treatment using digital game, pretest and
posttest, and motivational questionnaire. The process of collecting the
data was held for five sessions in March, 2013.
In analyzing the data from the tests, the researchers used paired
sample t test to find out if there was difference of score following students‘
engagement in game-playing. Further use of effect size formula was also
considered in order to find out how big of effect was actually the digital
games based learning method had in enhancing students‘ learning
outcomes. Moreover, in analyzing the data of motivational questionnaire,
the researchers was setting out standard value for each item and reversed
item, accumulating them into final score and describing them into three
level group of students‘ learning motivation. Since the researchers used
Keller‘s ARCS model, the researchers then analyzed each ARCS item—
considering its dimensional difference within learning motivation. After
analyzing the data and discussing its result, provided below are the
conclusions of study:
1. There was significant improvement of students‘ learning outcomes, in
particular reading and listening skills, after indulging within the
treatment using digital game. The significance of digital game to
79
enhance students‘ English skills was shown through the result of data
analysis. The difference of pretest‘s mean (M = 54.23) to that of
posttest‘s (M = 71.35) signaling that there was difference of students‘
before and after treatment‘s score. Further use of paired samples t test
strengthened the difference, by resulting in -t value (-6.683) lower than
that of -t table‘s (-2.179). The significance of students‘ improvement
were statistically calculated using effect size which resulted in high
significance level of influence of digital games based learning on
students‘ learning outcomes. In summary, it can be concluded that
DGBL did enhance students‘ learning outcomes.
2. There was influence of digital games based learning toward students‘
learning motivation since the result of motivational questionnaire
showed that students mostly reacted positively toward the use of game
to learn English. Mean score (M = 79.54) was the proof that in
average, participants indulged in this research were indicated as highly
motivated learners. This indication of high learning motivation was
clearly shown during the researchers‘ research—having seen her
participants playing continuously with a lot of curiosity; breaking in
joy for finishing certain levels; or simply seen them focusing intensely
since the level was pretty difficult. In the end, it all proved that digital
games based learning indeed has effect on students‘ learning
motivation.
3. Through the analysis of Keller‘s ARCS items, the researchers could
deduce the following assumptions: (1) Majority of students believed
that digital games based learning could increase their interest and
attention toward English learning as it provided various tasks, rich
visuals, and challenging levels, all provided in English; (2) students
realized that the game, if appropriately selected, could enhance their
80
English learning, especially in reading and listening; and (3) students
would feel satisfaction, excitement, challenge, and accomplishment
once they finish the game. These resulting in students‘ feeling more
motivated and enthusiastic toward learning English through gameplaying.
Future works
For future researchers, the researcherss suggest to ensue further
exploration toward the effect of digital games in learning environment.
The following issues can be considered for future research: Firstly, it is
helpful to examine the effects of the same or similar game used in this
study with different participants. Secondly, various findings for the
influence of the games in this study, justify further investigation to better
identify the cause of the game effects on achievement and motivation.
Thirdly, as this study relied only on statistical calculation, further and
deeper investigation using qualitative instruments on effects of the games
on
motivation
should
be
conducted.
Finally,
the
researchers
recommended other researchers to work on the same background with a
more complete design and a greater number of participants.
References
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&McVay, A. 2012. A Literature Review of Gaming in Education.
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83
Autonomous Learning Writing Promoted by the Use of Facebook
Group
KhairilRazali
UIN ArRaniry Aceh
Jl. SyechAbdurra‘ufKopelma Darussalam Banda Aceh
[email protected]
HusnulKhatimah
UIN ArRaniry Aceh
Jl. SyechAbdurra‘ufKopelma Darussalam Banda Aceh
[email protected]
Abstract
In aglobalized world, internet facilities and social media are becoming
increasingly important and take a strategic role in most of human
activities. One of them is in the education and learning sector. This
qualitative research explored the role of a Facebook group to increase
students' autonomy in learning writing. The experiment was conducted
with qualitative methodology to 6 students as a sample. The process of
data collection is done through the media Facebook group which was
developed during the data collection through observation and interviews.
The research lasted for 30(thirty) days in which researchers became the
administrator and facilitator. From the process of collecting and
analyzing the data assumed that Facebook group influenced the
autonomy and promote independent of students learning in writing.
Keywords: Facebook group, Students autonomy, Learning writing
Abstrak
Dalam dunia yang global, sarana internet dan media social menjadi
semakin penting dan mengambil peran strategis dalam segala lini
kehidupan manusia. Salah satunya adalah di sector pendidikan dan
pembelajaran. Penelitian ini melakukan explorasi kualitatif tentang eran
Facebook Group terhadap peningkatan kemandirian siswa dalam belajar
writing. Penelitian dilaksanakan dengan pendekatan kualitatif terhadap 6
siswa sebagai sampel. Proses pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui media
84
facebook group yang di desain untuk proses penelitian ini, observasi dan
wawancara. Penelitian berlangsung selama 30 (tiga puluh) hari dimana
peneliti menjadi pengelola akun dan fasilitator. Dari proses pengumpulan
dan analisa disimpulkan bahwa media Facebook group mempromosikan
dan mempengaruhi kemandiriaan siswa dalam kemandirian belajar
writing.
Kata Kunci: Facebook group, Kemandirian belajar siswa, Belajar menulis
Introduction
Facebook is a global large social media that boosts more than 100
million followers, and it is one of the fastest-growing and best-known sites
on internet these days. Initiated and established by Zuckerberg in 2004,
Facebook as a network at first targeted high school and college students
but it goes globally and actively gains its popularity of all people ages.
(Blattner & Fiori, 2009).
Literally, Hayashi (2011) has studied about the use of Facebook
that contributed the increased students‘ motivation and language output.
She
explained
that
in
Facebook
students
can
enjoy
written
communication freely by sharing their ideas, via Facebook status or note.
They also can comment to other‘s posting, and or share link, and video as
well. However even so, she just tends to see the use of Facebook in
general and focusing on the general language learning.
Learning writing in the classroom is not adequate to foster
students‘ competence. Therefore, the demand of autonomous learning
methods and techniques by learning outside classroom is increased.
Autonomous learning as defined by Holec (cited in Hayashi, 2011) as
―The ability to take charge of one‘s learning,‖ had grown considerably in
the field of language education. Lee (2011) stated that autonomous
learning does not require learners to work in isolation; rather, they
85
socially construct knowledge by actively engaging in the process of
learning. Through social interaction, learners develop a capacity to
receive information, and then to create a new perspective. It means, to
lead students to get their autonomy in learning, the instructors must be
able to create such community that appropriate for this need.
Fortunately, besides enhancing students‘ motivation to love
writing, Facebook also provides an additional media to facilitate this
need. One of the examples is Facebook group. ‗Facebook group‘ is a
feature that is available on the social networking site Facebook, where
students are allowed to participate communicate and interact via post and
chat for a specific purpose with unlimited number of people, and of
course with unlimited usage of time.
This article mainly discusses the use of Facebook groups only.
Actually, Yunus et al (n.d) has studied about the connection of Facebook
group and learning writing. However, their focus is only on how
Facebook develop students‘ preparation process in writing, which is
brainstorming, before they are doing the real writing. Then, they looked
at the issues from teacher point of view with having the result ‗How to
teach writing to ELS students by using Facebook group?‘
Otherwise, this present study would explore more at how
‗Facebook Group Promoting Students Autonomy in Writing Learning?‘
with the focus more on students point of view. According to Yunus et al
(n.d) method, for this study, a Facebook group was created specifically
for the purpose of providing students with a space where they were in
control of the content and the direction of their learning, as well as
providing more opportunities for students to write. The researcher merely
acted as a facilitator for the group which apply scaffolding role, to give
temporary support to help student move from lower stage to higher stage
86
of development. Facebook group also allowed for almost immediate
feedback and fun interaction that the researcher hoped will motivate
students in improving their writing. The researcher hypothesized that
Facebook group will benefit the students in motivating them to learn
writing autonomously.
Facebook
Facebook has been a leading social media currently. Facebook has
been gaining market share since launched in February 2004. It obtains
over eight million users in the U.S. alone and expands worldwide to eight
other English-Speaking Countries with more to follow (Yani, 2011). It
started its corporation with high schools in the United States in
September 2005 and followed crossing the Atlantic to universities in the
UK (Yani, 2011). Now, the site becomes one of the biggest web sites in
the world visited by 400 million people in a month.
In Indonesia, currently stands at the second largest Facebook
market in the world. The fact, despite of its relatively slow internet
connection compared to other countries, its rates grown rate from year to
year that has been tremendously high. Bucher (as cited in Yani, 2011)
reported the top 30 countries by number of active Facebook users with
Facebook data from 1st April 2011 compared to April 2009 and April
2010, which is showed that Indonesia precisely the second stair after
USA and above the UK. It is surprise when we recall back to the
Facebook History development which showed that UK is the second
home of Facebook in the beginning.
However, Sukmana (2011) states there are reasons statistically
lead Indonesia at the second place of followers Facebook growth.
Culturally,Indonesian is mostly based on sharing, communicating, and
87
solidarity. Facebook facilitates Indonesian people to connect with their
families, friends and collegues in their lives easily. As more and more
people get connected through Facebook, people are not able to refuse to
join it since most of their friends had been there. In addition, the fact
mobile phone subscribers have reached more than 200 million in 2011 in
Indonesia. It shows an increasingly trend. Another important reason is
the demands and interests towards Facebook has led to innovative and
impressive development of Facebook website, therefore, it leads to
attracts users through its features and functions. Indeed, by the reason,
exclusive network, photo-tagging, news feed, and great application
including Facebook group resulted to a community-based cultural
country like Indonesia promotes of the existence of Facebook and its
group allowspeople to manage communication, moreover, it gives in
some way Facebook increases its development in Indonesian Market
rapidly.
Furthermore, Facebook has successfully won the heart of
Indonesian people, moreover the young adults. Communication on
Facebook group is mostly done in written type, therefore this study would
like to find out how this popular media involves in developing students‘
autonomy in learning writing. To somehow the students‘ autonomy in
learning is totally important in learning writing.
Learner autonomy
The origin theory and practice of autonomy in language learning
emerged from Knowel‘sresearch of self-directed learning (1975, cited in
Kocak, 2003) which defined as a leading figure in adult education, as a
process in which individuals accept responsibility for all the decisions
88
concerned with their learning. In the 1970s and 1980s the focuses on
adult self-directed learning was becoming popular.
Then, the term of autonomy firstly was introduced by Holec in
1981. It begins with the council of Europe‘s Modern Language project,
which led to the publication of Holec‘s seminar report, in which
autonomy is defined as ‗The ability to take charge of one‘s own learning‘
(cited in Benson, 2006). However, the practical application focuses on
self-directed learning and led the development of self-access centers and
learner training as focal point for experimentation.
Therefore, as the more recent literature has begun to use the term
‗self-directed learning‘ together with the concept of learning autonomy in
the context of institutional education context, it treats autonomous
learning as a synonym for self-directed learning. The only distinction
between autonomy and self-directed learning is clearly emphasized by
Dickinson (1987, cited in Kocak, 2003) who said that in selfdirectedlearning, learners accept responsibility for all decisions related to
their learning but not necessarily implement those decisions; on the other
hand, in autonomous learning the learners are entirely responsible for all
the decisions concerned with their learning and also the implementation
of these decisions.
Nevertheless, at that time, the issues of autonomous learning still
involved around adult learning which is held out of the classroom-based.
Then, in his book on learner training, Dickinson (1992, cited in Benson,
2003) argued that learner often acted ‗independently,‘ both cognitively
and behaviorally, in the classroom, while Dam (1995, cited in Benson
2003) demonstrated how principle of autonomy could be integrated into
secondary school classroom without self-access or formal learner training.
This then turn to the application of learner autonomy in the classroom
89
context, which was as the second wave of the interest in learner
autonomy in language learning and teaching.
Furthermore, Allwright (1988: 35, cited in Benson 2003) suggested
for the re-conceptualizing autonomy if it was to be used to the classroom
context. It is because, he defined autonomy as the long-life learning
which was not being adequate captured by the classroom environment.
This idea then was supported by the development of computer and
internet usage for the academic educational purposes. This is third wave
of the context for growing of the interest of autonomy in recent years.
Indeed, the ―tendency has been towards a blurring of the distinctions,
leading to new and often complex understandings of the role of
autonomy in language teaching and learning‖ (Benson, 2003).
Language skills can best be developed if the learner develops
awareness of his or her own learning, and of the strategies and styles that
are available. Strategic competence means being able to plan, implement,
monitor and evaluate one‘s learning, and making use of all available
opportunities both in and outside the classroom.
Autonomy is often taken, mistakenly we believe, to be a solitary
condition. However more and more writers are stressing the need for
interaction and negotiation. Dam (1995, cited in Nordlund, n.d.) stressed
the social dimension that ―learner autonomy is characterized by a
readiness to take charge of one‘s own learning in the service of one‘s
needs and purposes. This entails a capacity and willingness to act
independently and in co-operation with others, as a socially responsible
person.‖
Therefore, in this learning, every participant is encouraged to
response to each other writing, whether to appreciate it or to revise it.
Their participation in commenting others would be well-observed.
90
An important part of language-learning awareness is the
admission that a lot of learning goes on the outside the classroom. There
has been considerable debate over whether autonomy is just another
Western concept that is being forced on cultures that do not share the
same values. However, there have been autonomous systems successfully
applied and adopted in a wide range of cultures. This indicates that the
problem may be more a misunderstanding about the deep values of
different societies. Individual differences in learning styles, for instance,
may be more important than learning strategies that have been acquired
in a different classroom culture.
Furthermore, autonomous learning can be developed in almost
any context and with any type of learner, but the context and culture have
to be taken into account.
Autonomous learning of writing
Writing is a task, described by Levy and Olive as ―one of the most
complex activities that people can accomplish‖ (Dion, M. N., 2011). It is
undeniable that the hardest skill in English learning is writing which
require learner‘s competency to receipt the information, process it, and at
least, produce it. Seriously, learning writing is inadequate if only rely on
the ―two hours or four hours‖ learning in the classroom. Writing is about
the long processes, which require more time, more effort, as well as more
guidance.
Indeed, learners need to learn more outside the classroom in order
to be a good writer, especially English writer. It is undeniably that the
demand of autonomous learning in writing is such a crucial issue to be
focused on. Therefore, in this study I would like to explore on how
autonomous learning of writing could be developed by using Facebook
91
Group Media, which is provided more space for the learning outside the
classroom, but with the consideration that the learners still in touch with
their social environment, as well as friends, teachers, or even English
native speakers or writers.
As well as a complex subject, English writing has so large scope to
be covered to, and therefore would be impossible conducting research on
all aspect of it. Nevertheless, considering time limitation, participants‘
basic competence, I have to limit the writing scope into two authentic
basic writing, that are; writing comment, and writing a paragraph.
In order to help the participants learn successfully, I provided the
instructional process by using scaffolding approach, which was started
from the lower level to the next. In this situation, I would start the
learning process from the comment writing, and then paragraph writing.
To guide the participants to gain better achievement, along with those
writing instruction, I provided a slight explanation and basic links, and a
rubric, so that they could monitor their learning, as well as their peer
learning.
In recent years, interest in students‘ autonomy has grown
considerably in the field of language education (e.g., Benson, 2003).
Furthermore, along with the development of internet and its usage, there
are also many studies that figured out about how is the internet usage can
be adopted to the learning process, or facilitated the learning. Facebook
as the most popular Social Networking Site (SNS) in the world now day
also gained the attention of academic researchers, especially in the
language learning issues.
Albertson (2011) studied the influence of Facebook to students‘
grammatical and pragmatic awareness; he did this study among Japanese
learners of English that showed Facebook can lead students to be more
92
aware
about
the
grammatical
and
pragmatic
used
in
daily
communication. It is emphasized by Wu P. and Hsu L‘s study that deal
with the connection of Facebook and EFL Learning (n.d). In their action
research they got the result that Facebook improve students‘ language
competence, as well as improving their motivation. Their research is in a
line with Nowland‘s study which more focuses on students‘ motivation
and autonomous learning. His result suggests the teacher to not only
―teach a language, but to also inform and instruct how to study outside
the classroom,‖ and Facebook gladly provide it if the teacher understands
to lead the students use it wisely. In addition, Blattner and Fiori (2009)
conducted study more specific on Facebook usage in the classroom
activities which was also resulting good conclusion on Facebook usage.
Obviously, if that circumstance was happening, the English
learning process by using Facebook will become useless. As Wu P. and
Hsu L. (n.d) concluded that the external factors, such as; ―1) Audience, 2)
quantity and quality of feedback from peers, 3) Topic preference, 4)
Upcoming assignment and examination and 5) novelty effect,‖ will
become the disturbance of the learning process.
Research design
Participants
We conducted the research at the second grade students of
Madrasah AliyahNegeri (MAN) Model Banda Aceh. The population of
the research was 130 students. However, there was only 114 students
participated in answering questionnaires.
Nevertheless, to get the detail of qualitative data, we limited the
samples into six participants purposively; by giving them the
93
questionnaires to select the appropriateness. The researchers distributed
questionnaires to explore of how often they signed in Facebook,
Facebook group, their writing passion, and their writing interest which is
proved by how often they write a diary or anything a day.
Data collection
This study applied a descriptive qualitative approach. It explores
understanding of a central phenomenon. There were three major
procedures in collecting the data. They were observations, interviews and
documents analysis. The research was carried on the Facebook group that
the researchers created for this study purpose. Then research samples
were added through their Facebook account into the group developed. To
begin the conversation flow, the researchers started the conversation
through simple and free topics started from free writing to introduce
them. They research respondents were free to write anything they would
like to such as their activities, and so on. To support the collection of the
detail qualitative data, the learning activities were done merely in
Facebook Group environment for 30 days. The observation activities
were carried out on Facebook Group.
The learning process in the Facebook group was activated through
―posting‖ as the instructional learning, and ―comment‖ as the learning
response to one another. To attract students, topics posted in the group
were different from regular classroom learning process. It maintains more
approaching to the basic learning of writing; which is more authentic and
more needed as a base of their learning writing development, such as
writing a good comment on the internet, and writing a good paragraph.
Therefore, any of the participants‘ posting, both assignment and free
94
posting, and comment in the Facebook Group were the document that
would be analyzed for the research need.
Discussion
The result of observation and document analysis
The primary data for this research was the observation data from
the Facebook group environment, which was more detail and
comprehensive. Therefore, all of the participants‘ postings and comments
in Facebook group were data of the research.
Actually, according to Thanasaulas‘s (2000), autonomous learning
emphasized as the ―path‖ of the learning process in which the learners go
through, and it was not a product that can be produced, moreover in the
very short period of time. It means, it is adequate hard to measure the
autonomous learning. Therefore, in order to analyze and measure the
participants‘ autonomous learning of English writing development during
one month learning activities, we adopted Reinder‘s (2010) Eight-Stages
of autonomous learning process as the patron for this measurement. Each
of the stages highlights the learners in learning autonomously. The eightstages were as cycle that could not be torn up each other. Those stages
are; identifying needs, selecting goals, planning learning, selecting resources,
selecting learning strategies, practice, monitoring the progress, and the last was
assessment and revision.
Furthermore, in order to analyze those stages thoroughly, I will
explain them separately;
1. Identifying needs
In this stage, before the learning was starting, the learners were
asked to decide what they need to learn, and what condition they need in
95
order to learn better. Therefore, we asked them to decide the rules of this
group learning activities that need to be obeyed by all of the participants.
In order to stimulate their opinion involvement; we suggested 3 rules to be
applied; 1) be active and participate enthusiastically, 2) be respectful to each other
by using well or polite language, and 3) be brave to talk and do not afraid of
making mistake. However, those rules were opened to be eliminated or
accepted, as well as the full opportunity for them to add other rules that
theyneed. In this identifying needs stage, only two participants (C and
No) who decided what they need by adding other rules through their
comments, but other participants (V, Na, I, and R) gave no responses.

C: ―I should add? no. 4. do not neglect the task given by admin.
no.5 not active at night always, but when the sun is not setting too
n often comment on and make suggestions. and that's all I can say.
participation please!‖

No: ―I agree with chohaekyungevilmagnae but, sorry maybe I
can't active at night without the participation of its members will
be difficult to realize that learning to our liking with‖
2. Selecting goals
In this stage, the learners were asked to decide what the goals of
our learning in this group are. They need to know and elaborate what
they want to learn, in short, what kind of writing they want to master in
through this learning media. Therefore, to help them think, we suggested
them to learn about descriptive and/or narrative paragraph, but also with
the same consideration that they might choose and decide their own.
However, they had to elaborate why they need to learn and how.
3. Planning of learning
96
At this stage, there were no other participants were responding,
the conclusion that other participants also agreed with those needs and
goals that had been settled by C and No. Therefore, the learning process
was started. It began with the writing comment learning. We posted a
brief basic knowledge about how to write a good comment on the
internet. Then, they explored their writing comment competency by
commenting on other people‘s English posting, and reported them to the
group, as well as their analysis of other comments in that posting. Then,
every of them had to comment and revise each other report about writing
comment.
Trying to understand the postings and the link given about
comment, all of the participants have their own way in learning, as well
as their strategy to plan their own learning. The participants wrote a
reflection on the problem, the feeling toward the learning, etc. one of the
participant reflected as follows;
―I like study about write comment, because I can know new
vocabulary from other, but sometimes I can't understand all‖
Nevertheless, in the next learning topic, learning about writing
paragraph, almost all of the participants wrote their reflection about
learning of writing paragraph.
In this reflection writing section, a participant, V reflected based
on the reflection guideline, but she misunderstood the ―planning
learning‖ meaning in this context which was talking about the planning
about how to learn the materials, but she talked about ―the future plan.‖
She explained about her future plans as ―2. My plan after this I can learn
to practice in daily life and I plan one more I want to learn to speak like a
tourist, they understand my language and I can understand their language
as well.‖
97
Fortunately, in this turn C understood the instruction well, but she
wrote shorter reflection than the previous one. There are only several
questions were covered in No‘s reflection, but it was very confusing
answer about planning learning question; “lesson planning is done well, but
to realize in need of sacrifice and hard work of both the recipient and the giver. Not
all of the planning we can do well or according to plan lots of obstacles in this
regard occurred.”
4. Selecting resources
The learners selected their own learning sources. The participants
were free to check and search any others as many as they wanted to.
According to the explanation in stage 3, at this stage, there were only
three participants (C, V, and No) explained their selecting resource
process, while two others (Na and I) were only talking about their feeling
and one participant was giving no response. In this stage, C elaborated
that she did not visit any other link because she felt that the link given
was adequate for her learning as follows;
98
Otherwise, V said that she visit other link to help her understand
what she read in the given link, as she said ―I've also seen other people's
links, if I am unsure of my mind, I saw it aims to correct my mistakes.‖
however, unluckily, she did not mention the links she had visited to. This
is in accordance with No‘s thought, which was visiting other links
because she thought that learning something was not enough by visiting
one link, as she said “of course because we can understand the learning of a
variety of things not just one link only goal that we get more banyak
pengetahuan.”
5. Selecting learning strategies.
The detail of those three participants‘ learning strategies were C
elaborated in her first reflection that her learning strategies were by
speaking, reading, writing, and listening, but in the second reflection she
wrote that arranging time is her strategy in learning, as she said “to
arrange a time to learn.” Otherwise, V explained that her learning strategies
was by trying to understand the materials giving by guessing and if she
failed to guest, she would ask me directly, and she really did it, as she said
“I am attempting guessing yourself what tasks the teacher, if I do not understand
also recently asked directly at the teacher.” The last is No, which was writing
her learning strategies by trying to find the meaning of the material, and
therefore she tried to look at the digital dictionary, AlFA link, and asking
her friends, and very rare she asked me.
6. Practice
In this stage, the learners are asked to practice their learning by
writing based on the task given.The task that was given had been
99
designed based on the autonomous learning development consideration.
Therefore, their participation in fulfilling the task by writing showed how
their autonomous learning in writing developed.
To help them practice writing, in the beginning of the learning, I
asked the participants to do free writing about themselves as the
introduction. For this activity, all of the participants (C, V, Na, No, I, and
R) were participating very well. Indeed, before the learning was started,
three participants (C, No, and V) had been starting writing by asking
other participants‘ condition and/or just saying hello and good night, and
Na also participated commenting on those posting.
Furthermore, in
the activity of ―how to write a good comment‖ material posted the
participants practiced writing comment by exploring comments of other
people outside the group and posted its report in the group, even though
those posting did not meet the deadline that had been settled together
before. However, there are two participants (C and R) who were merely
analyzing other people‘s comment, but they did not providing any
comment in that posting.
7. Monitoring progress
The ―monitoring progress‖ not only can be explored through the
―seen check,‖ it also can be seen from their opinion about the learning.
Therewas one participant (C) who showed her opinion about the writing
comment learning, as she said “oh come on guys .... please, further comments..
do not be quiet like this.. I'm bored -_-“
Interestingly 100% students participated at this stages, but with the
detail that 69% of participant were highly participated observing others‘
posting, and only 15% who were critically giving opinion about the
learning progress and 52% were participating well, because they missed
100
the last 5 posting and they did not give any opinion through the learning
progress.
8. Assessment and revision.
In this last stage, the learners were asked to assess their peers
learning as well as theirs. Therefore, their feedbacks for other participants
were observed through their comments, but the feedbacks that assess
others‘ posting will only be counted.
In this stage, the participants‘ participation decreased than
previous stages. There were only three participants (C, V and R) who
provided feedback to assess other participants‘ posting, but others were
giving none. However, each of them only wrote one feedback in each
learning step; C only wrote one feedback for writing comment learning in
No‘s posting, but she did not provide any feedback for the writing
paragraph learning. Otherwise, V and R did not provide any assessment
feedback in writing comment learning, but they gave a feedback for their
pair in the writing paragraph learning.
Furthermore, after assessment process (assessing others‘ posting
and their own posting) the participants were asked to revise their posting
according to the assessment. Nevertheless, for the revision process, only
one participant (V) who did; she revised her paragraph, and others did
none; even I and No whose paragraph was revised by the participants
above.
Data interpretation
The result of Facebook group observation and document analysis
shows that Facebook group media promotes students autonomous
learning. The ―practice‖ stages are considered as the main stages in
writing learning, where all of the participants (100%) fully engaged
101
participating. All of the participants actively practice writing. In addition,
all of the participants also showed full involvement in monitoring the
progress. In addition, the interviews data exposed participants enjoy the
learning process and the practice through media (Facebook Group).
Of six other stages, the participants showed different level of
participation.
Where
for
―selecting
resources,
selecting learning
strategies‖, and assessment, there were only three participants showed the
engagement, and for ―planning learning, setting goals, and identifying
needs‖ there were only two participants showed the involvement.
Nevertheless, from the Facebook observation and document
analysis, there is one participant (C) who was actively participated in the
group, and fulfilled all of the eight stages of autonomous learning, but she
did not realized that the Facebook group had promote her to learn
writing autonomously. It can be seen from her interview answer that “the
learning activity we had done in the group was not motivated me to love English
writing.” Otherwise, other participants‘ participation level is; V fulfilled 6
stages, No fulfilled 5 stages, R fulfilled 3, and the last Na and I fulfilled 2
stages.
In fact, the interviews data reflected the only factor of their
problem in participating the learning in the group is the timing which
students had timing conflict between participating in the research and
completing the school assignments. Since ―selecting goals, selecting
learning, and assessment‖ had to be written in their reflection and it was
done in the last time of the learning, it was approaching to their final
examination timing and therefore they could not participate actively.
The participants stated that they love this type of learning which is
more fun and relax. Even R and ―I‖ that was fulfilling only two stages,
they answered that they loved this kind of learning which was providing a
102
lot advantages, especially for developing their English vocabulary, writing
comment, and writing a paragraph. Indeed, ―I‖ showed high enthusiasm
of this learning and said that she wanted to be a member in other
Facebook groups that provides English learning. Actually her answer and
the participation in the group were contradictory, but then she explained
that she got problem in accessing the internet connection. Therefore, it
can be concluded that the Facebook group promote students‘ autonomy
in learning writing, even though it was not significant.
Conclusion
This study concludes that the Facebook group promoted students‘
autonomy in learning English writing. It promotes students to practice
writing more often, and also promotes students monitor the learning
process. One of the reasons that the learners felt learning writing in the
Facebook group as more fun and relax compared to routine classroom
situation. However, for the selecting learning resources, selecting learning
strategies, assessment, identifying needs, and setting goals the learners
suffered from difficulty due to final examination and school assignments
of students. Therefore, it is urgent to consider Facebook Group as a
media in learning language mainly. The fact that it could promote
autonomy; moreover, teacher should take consideration in a way to
motivate students.
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106
Grammatical Interference from English into Indonesian Language
Made by English Native Speakers in Salatiga
Ratih Asti Supriyanto
English Department of Educational Faculty
State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga
Jl. Tentara Pelajar No. 02 Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia
[email protected]
Abstract
This research was carried out the syntactic interference from English to
Indonesian language made by English native speakers in Salatiga. This
study was also intended to find out morphological interference from
English to Indonesian language made by English native speakers in
Salatiga. The research method used was interviewing, recording and
transcribing. This method was applied by interviewing English native
speakers, then the writer recorded and transcribed to find out the
interference that they made. After the data had been collected and
analyzed, the writer finds several sub-classifications in syntactic
interference as the following: (1) sentence; (2) phrase; (3) diction; and
syntactic interference are dominated by phrase, because the phrase
construction of English and Indonesian language is different. The
construction phrase of Indonesian language is head word + modifier, but
in English head word is put after the modifier. Meanwhile for
morphological interference is dominated by applying the base form in
using the verbs in sentence. The construction of verb in English does not
need the inflectional morphology to make the sentence clear as the
Indonesian language. The speakers have a tendency to use the base form
to show the verb in Indonesian sentence.
Keywords:
Interference, Syntactic interference, Morphological interference.
Abstrak
Penelitian ini menyajikan interferensi sintaksis dari bahasa Inggris ke
bahasa Indonesia yang dibuat oleh penutur asli bahasa Inggris di Salatiga.
Penelitian ini juga dimaksudkan untuk menemukan interferensi
107
morfologi dari bahasa Inggris ke bahasa Indonesia yang dibuat oleh
penutur asli bahasa Inggris di Salatiga. Metode yang digunakan adalah
wawancara, rekaman dan transkrip. Metode ini diterapkan dengan
mewawancarai penutur asli bahasa Inggris, kemudian penulis merekam
dan mentranskrip hasil wawancara untuk mengetahui interferensi yang
mereka buat. Setelah data dikumpulkan dan dianalisis, penulis
menemukan beberapa sub - klasifikasi interferensi sintaksis sebagai
berikut : (1) kalimat, (2) frase, (3) diksi, dan gangguan sintaksis
didominasi oleh frase, karena konstruksi frase bahasa Inggris dan bahasa
Indonesia berbeda. Susunan frase dalam bahasa Indonesia adalah kata +
modifikator , tapi dalam bahasa Inggris kata diletakkan setelah
modifikator. Sementara itu interferensi morfologi didominasi dengan
menerapkan bentuk dasar dalam menggunakan kata kerja pada kalimat.
Dalam bahasa Inggris konstruksi kata kerja tidak memerlukan infleksi
morfologi untuk membuat kalimatnya jelas sebagaimana yang berlaku
dalam bahasa Indonesia. Para pembicara memiliki kecenderungan untuk
menggunakan bentuk dasar pada kata kerja yang mereka gunakan dalam
kalimat bahasa Indonesia.
Kata Kunci : Interferensi, Interferensi sintaksis, Interferensi morfologi
Introduction
Communication is the requirement of life. As social creatures,
people need it, and language is perfect tool to communicate. Recently
learning language, especially more than one language is important for
people in the world, because it can be the bridge to communicate with
others in different places, even different countries. In fact, there are some
constraints to do it, people who learn different language will find
difficulties to learn the grammar, vocabularies, even phonetic aspect in
that language. As the result, they will mix the same aspects from their
mother tongue to language that they learn. In linguistics, this
phenomenon is called interference.
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The first scholar who introduces interference is Weinreich in 1953.
He used interference to clarify the systemic change in language because of
contiguity between that language and the other language that made by
bilingual speaker (Chaer and Agustina, 2004:120).
Meanwhile according to Robert Lado, bilingualism is individual
capability to use two languages equally well or almost equal technically
referred to the knowledge of two languages whatever its degree (Chaer
and Agustina, 2004:86). Almost bilingual people make interference in the
beginning when they speak in their target language. For example,
Indonesian who learns English, they will make interference in their
writing or their speaking skill in the target language, in this case English.
According to Pudiyono‘s research (2012:6), the structural of
Indonesian language can be influenced in practice by Indonesian
students; it‘s like the following sentence: Dia sangat mencintai adiknya.
With such grammatical pattern as the example, an Indonesian learning
English could capably express the idea just like in Indonesian pattern as
the following: She very loves her brother. Definitely, this utterance is not
grammatically acceptable in English. The correct grammatical rule is the
word very cannot be used to explain adverb such very loves. Very in
English is used to modify an adjective. Therefore, the morpheme very is
linked directly before an adjective, for instance: very busy, very beautiful,
very angry, very important, very much, very little, very handsome, etc. In
short, the word very cannot stand alone. On the contrary, the word, which
can be used to modify an English verb, is very much.
On the other hand, English native speakers who learn Indonesian
language could also experience language interference, not only
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Indonesian who learns English. When the writer met English native
speakers, the writer heard that consonant ―t‖ will be ―c‖ when they spoke
in Indonesian language. For example, the word tahu/tempe will be
cahu/cempe, it is called phonic interference. Besides, language interference
could also appear in morphological and syntactical areas which could be
included in grammatical interference. Considering the situation above,
the writer curious to find and identify kinds of syntactical and
morphological interference from English to Indonesian language made by
English native speakers in Salatiga.
Interference
The first scholar who used interference is Weinreich in 1953, he
formulated interference to clarify the systemic change in language
because of contiguity between that language and the other language that
are made by bilingual speaker (Chaer and Agustina, 2004:120). Then,
more than a decade ago, Fishman in 1971 decried the extensive and
arbitrary employment of the term ‖interference‖ by many linguists in
reference to any number of bilingual phenomena. (Poplack, 1983:11)
Instead of making the usual field work assumption that the
underlying structures of the varieties encountered in bilingual
speech communities were unknown, linguists have usually
assumed that they were known, but basically nothing more
than X ―Interfering‖ with Y and vice versa. As a result they
frequently failed to familiarize themselves with the
communities and speakers from which they obtained their
corpuses of speech.
Alwasilah (1985:131) explored the notion of interference based on
Hartman and Stonk that interference is a mistake caused by the
propensity of habitually used pronunciation (speech) of a language to
another language pronunciation unit includes sounds, grammar, and
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vocabulary. Meanwhile, Valdman‘s opinion in 1966 as cited by Hayi,
et.al (1985) mentions that interference is an obstacle because of speaker
habits on mother language (first language) in the study of language
acquisition (second language). Consequently, there will be transfer of
negative elements from the mother language into the target language.
Suhendra Yusuf (1994:67) stated that the main factors of
interference are the differences between the source language and the
target language. The differences are not only in structure but also the
variety of vocabularies. Another notion advanced by Jendra (1991:187),
he declared that the interference is the infiltration system of a language
into another language. Interference arises from implementing unit system
of sounds (phonemes) by bilingual in a first language into a second
language sound system, which causes chaos or irregularities at the
phonemic system of the recipient language. Interference is a common
symptom in sociolinguistic that occurs as a result of language contact, the
use of two or more languages in the speech multilingual community. This
case is an issue that attracted attention for linguists.
Syntactic interference
Interference occurs when the syntactic structure of a language is
absorbed by the other language (Suwito, 1983:56). Interference can be
seen in the use of syntactic fragments of words, phrases and clauses in
sentences (Chaer and Agustina, 2004:124). For example, English and
Indonesian phrases.
English
Santika Hotel
Salatiga Kota
Indonesian
Hotel Santika
Kota Salatiga
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The other example can be seen in the sentences, Dina reads the
poetry with beautiful. In English this sentence is not exist, because the right
form is Dina reads the poetry beautifully. From this case, the interference can
be proved, cause the sentence “Dina reads the poetry with beautiful” is the
translation from the sentence “Dina membaca puisi dengan indah”
Morphological interference
According to Suwito (1983:55) morphological interference occur if
the formation of word in a language absorbs the affixes from other
languages. The affix of a language used to spell a word in another
language, while affixes consist of prefix, suffix, inserts, as well as
combinations of affixes. For examples, morphological interference from
Javanese into Indonesian language. In words ketrabak/ kebawa and
kebagusan/ keasinan
Javanese
Ke-tabrak
Ke-bawa
Ke-asin-an
Ke-bagus-an
Indonesian
Tertabrak
Terbawa
Terlalu asin
Terlalu bagus
English
accidentally crashed into
taken along (accidentally)
saltiness
too good
Research method
The type of this research was qualitative research. The specific
thing that observed and analyzed was the utterances comprise of words,
phrases, clauses, and sentences made by English native speakers in
Salatiga.
The writer took the subjects of research to get the data through
purposive sampling technique. According to Arikunto (2006: 183)
Purposive sampling is a technique of sampling based on some
consideration. There are ten subjects in this research. They are nine
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Americans and one Dutchman who speak English since they were child.
Their names are Peter Greenwald as a pilot; Ashley Greenwald as
housewife; Peter Anderson Neal as a Pilot; Joy Marcie Neal as
housewife; Melissa Jean Kroneman as housewife; Klaash Christian
Kroneman as a pilot; Karren Fosdahl and Tabitha Julia Kidwell as a
lecturer; Shad Chris Deal as a constructor; and Sarah Christine Shad as a
housewife. The writer did the interview, then recording and transcribing
to get the data. After data had been collected, the writer analyzed the data
based on the syntactical and morphological interference in order to find
out their classification.
Discussion
Syntactic interference
Sentence
Suhendra Yusuf (1994:67) states that the main factors of
interference are the differences between the source language and the
target language. The differences are not only in structure but also in the
variety of vocabularies. Thus, the structure of the target language always
influences the interference made by bilinguals. Meanwhile, structure of
English and Indonesian language in the sentence has similarities:
1) Kemudian saya bekerja sebagai instruktur pilot untuk pilot, baru
murid ya.
S
P
O
(Then, I worked as a pilot instructor for a pilot, the new student)
It is S + P + O which make foreigners easier to learn Indonesian
language. Hence, there is limited interference in structure of
sentence.
Kemudian saya bekerja sebagai insruktur pilot untuk pilot, baru murid ya
from the sentence, then, I worked as a pilot instructor for a pilot, the
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new student. The structure is right. There are; I / saya as a subject,
worked / bekerja as a predicate, as a pilot instructor / sebagai instruktur
pilot as an object, and complement is for a pilot, the new student /
untuk pilot,baru murid. The sentence structure is complete, subject,
predicate, object, and the complement existed in the sentence
above,but for the level of phrase, interference exists in the phrase
baru murid. The phrase interference will be discussed in the next
sub topic.
Phrase
There is a tendency, English native speakers made syntactic
interference in the phrase construction and the diction in the sentence.
Phrase interference occured due to the construction of the phrase in the
English language interference into Indonesian used by English native
speakers in Salatiga. There is the difference between English phrase and
Indonesian phrase, in English construction, phrase consist of modifier +
head word for example the new + student, while the Indonesian structure is
head word + modifier for example murid + baru (student + new). It seems that
the difference cause phrase interference from English to Indonesian
language. As data below;
2) Kemudian Saya bekerja sebagai insruktur pilot untuk pilot, baru murid
ya. (Then, I worked as a pilot instructor for a pilot, the new
student.)
The pattern of baru murid is modifier + head word. It is clear that the
speaker used English phrase construction. When he spoke in
Indonesian, the correct pattern is head word + modifier or murid
baru. It should be, Kemudian saya bekerja sebagai instruktur untuk
pilot, murid baru ya. (Then, I worked as a pilot instructor for a
pilot, the new student.)
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3) Menjelaskan bagaimana kami rencana membantu orang yang hidup
disini.(Explain how our plan to help the people who live here)
There is interference from English pattern in Kami rencana (our
plan). The pattern of the noun phrase is modifier (possessive pronoun)
+ head word (noun). It is English pattern compare to Indonesian
phrase head word + modifier. The phrase should be rencana kami.
Menjelaskan bagaimana rencana kami membantu orang yang hidup
disini. (Explain how our plan to help the people who live here)
4) Oh food, kesukaan makan, banyak kata panjang ya ?(Oh food, favorite
food, a lot of long words huh? )
Actually in the phrase kesukaan makan (favorite food), the
interference is not only in the structure, but also in the
morphological aspect that will be discussed in the sub chapter two
number 23. As the previous data, there is English interference in
kesukaan makan (favorite food). Using English pattern modifier + head
word. Conversely, Indonesian phrase construction is head word +
modifier, so the sentence should be, Oh food, (makanan) kesukaan,
banyak kata panjang ya ? (Oh food, favorite food, a lot of long
words huh? )
5) Em..Lincoln kota.(Em.. Lincoln city)
Lincoln kota is the English phrase modifier + head word, so it is
phrase interference. It will be correct if the speaker use Indonesian
pattern head word + modifier. So the phrase should be, Em..kota
Lincoln.(Em.. Lincoln city)
6) Saya hanya anak di orang tua. (I am the only child of parents)
As the previous data, the phrase hanya anak (the only child) has been
interfered by English pattern, modifier + head word. The correct
pattern is head word + modifier or anak hanya (the only child). In
addition, hanya anak (the only child) has also interference in
diction that will be discussed in the sub chapter 1b, so the right
sentence should be, saya anak (tunggal) di orang tua. (I am the only
child of parents)
The other interference in phrase is dating, while there are some
ways to inform the date for English native speakers depend on the
orientation, British or American,
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British: Day-Month-Year
American: Month-Day-Year
the twenty sixth of July, 2013
July the twenty sixth, 2013
26th July 2013
July 26th, 2013
26 July 2013
July 26, 2013
26/7/2013
7/26/2013
26/7/13
7/26/13
26/07/13
07/26/2015
Because the subjects of this research are American, so they
commonly used the second type in dating. Meanwhile, it is
common in Indonesian language to use the first type / British
type. The interferences are caused by American speakers who use
the second type in Indonesian language. As the data below;
7) Sekarang baru tiba sama dengan istri Saya, Januari 1 2013.
(Recently arrived, same with my wife, January 1st 2013)
It should be, Sekarang baru tiba sama dengan istri saya, 1 Januari
2013.(Recently arrived, same with my wife, January 1st 2013)
Mostly, except phrase construction and dating, the interference
was also happened in the preposition. Most of data stated that speakers
had incorrect translation for English preposition to Indonesian
preposition. They considered that it has same meaning. For examples are
di- and ke-, di- is the preposition of place relation (at), but ke- is refers to
direction of the place (that will go). (Moeliono, 1997:230).
In the sentences below, the words came here is translated by datang
di sini. It is incorrect translation, because came / datang explains the place
that will be, as the data below;
8) Waktu kami datang di sini. (When we came here)
It should be,Waktu kami datang ke sini. .(When we came here)
9) Saya sebelum datang di sini Saya murid univesitas. (Before I came
here, I am a university student)
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It should be, Saya sebelum datang ke sini, saya murid universitas.
(Before I came here, I am a university student)
10) Di tempat jauh sekali, jadi saya bisa pergi ke sana dengan rencana
kedutaan. (In the far place, so I can go there with the embassy
schedule)
As like the previous data, di tempat jauh sekali .(In the far place)
is followed by go, and go explains the place that will be. So the
correct translation is ke tempat jauh sekali .(in the far place)
The sentence should be, Ke tempat (yang) jauh sekali,jadi saya bisa
pergi ke sana dengan rencana kedutaan. (In the far place, so I can go
there with the embassy schedule)
11) Tetapi saya naik pesawat, eh untuk organisasi dan em di satu tahun.
(But I get on the plane for organization in one year )
Different from the previous data, in this sentence, the speaker
explains how long he will work in his organization. In Indonesian
language, the preposition used selama as a sign of the relation of
time era. And it should be,Tetapi saya naik pesawat, eh untuk
organisasi dan em selama satu tahun. (But I get on the plane for
organization in one year )
The next preposition is kepada to replace for in English language.
In Indonesian language, kepada is the preposition that indicates the
relation of direction, conversely in sentences below the speaker has
tendency to indicate the relation of allocation. So the appropriate word is
untuk, bagi, guna, or buat to replace for in English.
12) Saya membaca admission application kepada orang-orang. (I read
admission application for people.)
It should be, Saya membaca admission application untuk orang-orang.
(I read admission application for people.)
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13) Ya Ramayana atau Ada Baru untuk popok diaper popok ya kepada anak
saya ya. (Yes Ramayana or Adabaru for diapers, diapers for my
child)
In this context, it should be, Ya Ramayana atau Ada baru untuk
popok diaper popok ya buat anak Saya ya . (Yes Ramayana or
Adabaru for diapers, diapers for my child)
14) Saya pergi ke Kalimantan sudahsaya belajar Indonesian Indonesia untuk
satu tahun. (I go to Kalimantan after I studied Indonesian
language for a year )
The interference in sentence above is for that was translated by
untuk, but has a meaning selama as a sign of the relation of time
era.
Actually, in the sentence above has interference in morphological
aspect too that will be discussed in the sub chapter two. In this
context, for has a meaning selama and it should be, Saya pergi ke
Kalimantan (sesudah)saya belajar Indonesian Indonesia selama satu
tahun. (I go to Kalimantan after I studied Indonesian language for
a year )
The interference in the sentence below is incorrect translation for
the word by. Whereas, by or oleh is preposition that indicates the object
relation, while the speaker explained the preposition of manner and the
appropriate word is dengan.
15) Saya belajar oleh internet aja. (I learned by internet)
In the context of sentence above, oleh internet is the preposition of
manner. It should be, Saya belajar dengan (menggunakan) internet aja. (I
learned by internet)
Diction
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In the level of sentence, the writer found the interference in the
relative clause as the data below;
16) Saya punya teman, teman di pasar siapa punya warung atau toko. (I
have a friend, a friend in the market who has a stall or store)
In English sentence, relative pronoun used who to explain the
object a friend in the sentence. The relative pronoun who cannot be
interpreted directly in Indonesian language siapa. who or siapa in
Indonesian language that used in the interrogative sentence, and
the speaker supposed to use yangto translate the relative pronoun
who, Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (2007), the word yang used to
clarify the previous word in the sentence as the function of relative
pronoun above. Hence, it should be, saya punya teman, teman di
pasar yang punya warung atau toko. (I have a friend, a friend in the
market who has a stall or store)
Another interference in sentence is diction which was influenced
by English language as a native language of the subjects, As the
data;
17) Saya mohon maaf suami saya tidak bisa dipanggil. (I am sorry, my
husband cannot be called )
Dipanggil in Indonesian language means ask for coming, but in the
context of sentence above is contact via phone. And call itself in the
dictionary has some meanings, there are memanggil, menyebut,
mengadakan, menelepon and etc. The appropriate diction for the
sentence should be ditelepon or dihubungi. So the sentence should
be, saya mohon maaf suami saya tidak bisa dihubungi. (I am sorry, my
husband cannot be called )
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18) Waktu kami selesai di IMLAC kami pergi ke Banda Aceh untuk suami
Saya.(When we finished in IMLAC we will go to Banda Aceh for
my husband)
In this context, when is time of chronological. Meanwhile in the
dictionary when has some meaning, there are kapan, ketika, waktu,
and etc. The appropriate diction for the sentence is sesudah/ setelah
because the context is chronological time. It should be, Setelah
kami selesai di IMLAC kami pergi ke Banda Aceh untuk suami saya.
(When we finished in IMLAC we will goto Banda Aceh for my
husband)
19) Tidak makan orang Indonesia.(It is not Indonesian food)
Tidak in the sentence above means abjuration. The sentence will
mean, if the speaker use the appropriate diction bukan in this
context, because bukan in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (2007)
means abjuration. In addition, the sentence above has other
interference in morphological aspect that will clarify in the next
discussion. So the sentence should be, Bukan (makanan) orang
Indonesia. (It is not Indonesian food)
Morphological interference
Actually, morphological process between Indonesian and English
language is absolutely different. Morphological aspect is divided into two
kinds, there are inflection and derivation. Verhaar (1983:66) explains that
inflectional morphology is the alteration of morpheme which defends the
lexical identity. In English, inflectional morphology altered by suffixes,
examples cat + s = cats (would be plural form of nouns), play + ed = played
(would be the past form of regular verbs). Meanwhile, in Indonesian language,
inflectional morphology is often in the verb by adding prefixes and
konfixes (the combination of prefixes and suffixes). As the example, by
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adding prefix me + tulis(verb) = menulis(verb) / di + tulis = ditulis, by adding
konfix me + tulis + kan = menuliskan(verb).
Later, derivational morphology according to (Verhaar, 1983:65)
the alteration of morpheme that produces the word with the different
lexical identity. English and Indonesian language have the same way to
derivate the word, adding the prefix, suffix, and the combination of them.
In English as examples, bi + cycle(verb) = bicycle (noun), play (verb) + er =
player (noun), and dis + grace (noun) + ful = disgraceful (adjective). Meanwhile,
examples in Indonesian language are pe + main (verb) = pemain (noun),
makan (verb) + an = makanan (noun), and per + main + an = permainan
(noun).
The morphological interference in the data below is the using of
base form. Speakers used the base form / basic word more regular than
the word with affixes.
20) Saya terbang pasien untuk rumah sakit. (I flew the patient for
hospital)
There is no morphological process in the verb flew, just the
alteration from fly – flew, without affixes. Whereas, in Indonesian
language those sentences above need the morphological process to
build the verb as a context. And the speakers translated the word
fly directly. Terbang is flying to himself, but in the context of the
sentences above mean bring something to fly, so the speakers must
add the prefix Me- and suffix –kan (menerbangkan) to make it
appropriate
with
the
context
above.The
morphological
interference in this sentence existed because the speaker used
English principle to translate the sentence above by using the base
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form. So the sentences should be; Saya menerbangkan pasien untuk
rumah sakit.(I flew the patient for hospital)
21) Kami membawa apa makan dan obat.(We bring food and medicine)
22) Tidak makan orang Indonesia. (It is not Indonesian food)
23) Oh food, kesukaan makan, banyak kata panjang ya ?(Oh food, favorite
food, a lot of long words huh? )
In sentences above food is the noun without morphological
process, but in Indonesian context makanan/ food is the derivative
word from the word makan. And the speakers used the base form
makan to show makanan. The morphological interference in this
sentence existed because the speaker used English principle to
translate the sentence above by using the base form. So it should
be; Kami membawa, apa makanan dan obat; (Bukan) makanan orang
Indonesia; Of food, makanan kesukaan, banyak kata panjang ya?. (We
bring food and medicine; It is not Indonesian food; Oh food,
favorite food, a lot of long words huh?)
24) Waktu saya lahir anak saya. (When I gave birth to my child.)
In sentence above, gave birth is the verb without morphological
process.
Meanwhile,
according
to
Indonesian
language
morphological process of building the verb happens in the word
lahir. Lahir is out of uterus, but in the sentence above, it means put
outside the baby from uterus, so the speaker need affixation Mekan (melahirkan). The morphological interference in this sentence
existed because the speaker used English principle to translate the
sentence above by using the base form and it should be; Waktu
saya melahirkan anak saya. (When I gave birth to my child.)
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25) Saya mundur diri karena gak ada visa. (I back off because I do not
have a visa)
In the sentence above, the speaker used the base form mundur to
show back off. Mundur diri in Indonesian language is meaningless,
the right form is mengundurkan diri, mengundurkan is derivative
word from mundur by adding me + kan. It means Retire or back off.
The morphological interference in this sentence existed because
the speaker used English principle to translate the sentence above
by using the base form so it should be; Saya mengundurkan diri
karena gak ada visa. (I cancel because I do not have a visa)
26) Saya tidak ucapan betul ya? (I did not say right ya?)
In the sentence above say is the verb, but in Indonesian language
ucapan is noun from the base form ucap, there is derivational
morphology to alter the word ucapan become mengucapkan (verb). So
the speaker must add meng-kan to make it become a verb, so it
should be; Saya tidak mengucapkan betul ya? (I did not say right ya?)
27) Saya pergi ke Kalimantan sudah saya belajar Indonesia untuk satu
tahun. (I go to Kalimantan after I studied Indonesian language for
one year)
After in the sentence above is not the result of morphological
process. In Indonesian language Sudah is finished, but in this
context sudah means after, so prefix se- is needed to make the
sentence clearly become sesudah (after).
The morphological interference in this sentence existed because
the speaker used English principle to translate the sentence above
by using the base form. The sentence should be; Saya pergi ke
Kalimantan sesudah saya belajar Indonesia untuk satu tahun. (I go to
Kalimantan after I studied Indonesian language for one year)
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28) Sangat sulit menjelaskan hidup di negara lain kalau orang belum pernah
ke sana. (It is hard to describe the life in the other country if
someone has not gone there.)
The life in the sentence above means condition and there is no
morphological process in that word. Meanwhile, hidup in
Indonesian context is the verb, there is derivational process to built
the word hidup (verb) become kehidupan (noun) by adding prefix keand suffix –an. The morphological interference in this sentence
existed because the speaker used English principle to translate the
sentence above by using the base form. So it should be; Sangat sulit
menjelaskan kehidupan di negara lain kalau orang belum pernah ke
sana. (It is hard to describe the life in the other country if someone
has not gone there.)
Conclusion
In the research findings, the writer found some categories of
syntactical interference. It consists of three classes, there are in sentence,
phrase, and diction. The dominant interference was in the phrase class.
Interference was found in phrase construction (modifier and head word).
The construction phrase of Indonesian language is head word + modifier,
but in English head word is put after the modifier. Except the phrase
construction, interference was found in the application of preposition in
the sentences. Especially when the speakers interpreted here and for.
In addition, the writer also found the morphological interference
in application of base form for invention the verb and some nouns. Most
of them, the interference in this case happened because the morphological
process in English language, especially in the verb construction. In
English, verb does not need the inflectional morphology to make the
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sentence clear as the Indonesian language that needs inflectional
morphology in the sentence. As a result, the speakers inclined to use the
base form to show the verb in Indonesian sentence.
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Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. 2007. Kamus Besar Bahasa
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Chaer, Abdul & Leonie Agustina. 2004. Sosiolingistik: Perkenalan
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THE EFFECT OF SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION TO IMPROVE
STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS
Dewanti Mulki Rahma
English Department of Educational Faculty
State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga
Jl. Tentara Pelajar No. 2 Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia
[email protected]
Abstract
This study deals with The Experimental Study of Small Group Discussion to
improve the students‘ speaking skill in third semester students of the English
department of State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga in the academic
year of 2013/2014. This research was done to answer the objectives of study,
namely (1) to identify and to describe that small group discussion can improve
students‘ speaking skill (2) To identify the effectiveness of using small group
discussion in teaching learning process. (3) To identify the strengths and
weakness of using small group discussion in the class. This research applied
descriptive quantitative method. The objects were third semester students of the
English department, State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga, and the
analyzing data were students‘ speaking skill that was taught by Small Group
Discussion. The numbers of sample were 66 students that were divided into 2
groups. The first group was experimental group and the second group was
control group. The data tested using t-test formula by comparing the mean score
of pre-test and post-test from both classes. The level of significance was set equal
or less than 5%. The result of this study showed that t-value 5, 11 were higher
than t-table 1, 67 with the degree of freedom (df) of 32. Therefore, it could be
concluded that there was significant difference of T-test between students taught
by lecturing and students taught by Small Group Discussion. Since t-value was
higher than t-table, it meant that null hypothesis was rejected and alternative
hypothesis was accepted.
Key words: Small group discussion, speaking skill
126
Abstrak
Penelitian berkaitan dengan Eksperimental terhadap Kelompok Diskusi Kecil
untuk meningkatkan keterampilan berbicara (Speaking) mahasiswa semester
Tiga Jurusan Bahasa Inggris di STAIN Salatiga pada tahun akademik
2013/2014. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan untuk menjawab tujuan penelitian yaitu
: (1) Mengidentifikasi dan menjelaskan bahwa Kelompok diskusi kecil dapat
meningkatkan keterampilan berbicara siswa (2) Mengidentifikasi efektifitas
penggunaan diskusi kelompok kecil dalam proses belajar mengajar. (3)
Mengidentifikasi kekuatan dan kelemahan penggunaan Kelompok diskusi kecil
di dalam kelas. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kuantitatif. Obyek
penelitiannya ialah mahasiswa semester tiga Jurusan Bahasa Inggris, STAIN
Salatiga, dan data yang dianalisis ialah keterampilan berbicara (Speaking)
mahasiswa yang diajar dengan Kelompok Diskusi Kecil. Jumlah sampelnya 66
siswa yang dibagi menjadi 2 kelompok. Kelompok pertama adalah kelompok
eksperimen dan kelompok kedua adalah kelompok kontrol. Data diuji dengan
menggunakan rumus t-test dengan membandingkan nilai rata-rata pre-test dan
post-test dari kedua kelas tersebut. Tingkat signifikansi ditetapkan sama atau
kurang dari 5%. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa t-value i 5, 11 poin
lebih tinggi dari t-tabel 1, 67 dengan derajat kebebasan (df) 32. Oleh karena itu,
dapat disimpulkan bahwa ada perbedaan yang signifikan dari T-test antara
mahasiswa yang diajar dengan teknik Diskusi Kelompok Kecil. Karena t-nilai
lebih tinggi dari t-tabel, hal ini berarti bahwa hipotesis nol ditolak dan hipotesis
alternatif diterima.
Kata Kunci: Kelompok diskusi kecil, ketrampilan berbicara (Speaking).
Introduction
A large percentage of the world‘s language learners study English in
order to be able to communicate fluently. Many people use English to
communicate. Some people often think that the ability to speak a language is the
product of language learning. They assumed that speaking is a crucial part of
language learning process. There are four skills required in English teaching
learning program. They are reading, speaking, listening and writing. Based on
those skills, speaking is one of the most important skills in language learning.
Many language learners regard speaking skill as the measurement of knowing a
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language. That is why the main purpose of language learning is to develop
proficiency in speaking and communicative efficiency.
They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire and
assess their progress in
terms of their
accomplishments in
spoken
communication. By speaking, we can convey information and ideas, and
maintain social relationship by communicating with others. Tarigan (1990:3-4)
defines that speaking is a language skill that is developed in child life, which is
produced by listening skill, and at that period speaking skill is learned. As
described by Heaton (1998: 75), speaking skill is the ability to speak the target
language to communicate with other that consists of accuracy, fluency and
comprehensibility. The writer concludes that speaking is the skill to use the
language in ordinary way by speech. It is not only matter of transferring some
messages to other person but it is also communication, which needs more than
one person to communicate with.
In order to be able to speak English well, students have to feel comfort
and confident in practicing their English. By feeling comfort and confident,
students will not fear of making mistakes when speaking English. But on the
other hand, many students always feel uncomfortable, unconfident, and fear of
making mistakes when speaking English. This fear and uncomfortable feeling
can be caused by the inappropriate method that used by the teacher. In fact,
there are many teachers use inappropriate method in teaching speaking skill.
They use teaching method that makes their students fell unsecure, under
pressure, and fear of making mistakes. Therefore, English teacher should be able
to encourage and motivate the students to learn the target language by using the
appropriate method. They should use an appropriate method that makes their
students feel comfortable, independent, autonomous, and responsible.
The use of appropriate method can influence the students‘ achievement
in learning language, especially speaking skill in English. Method is an overall
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plan for the orderly presentation of language material, no part of which
contradict, and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. Discussion is
one of method that can help students when students are talking with other
students and also practice to delivering ideas. Discussion begun with talking
about topic then produces an understanding. This method hopes students can be
able to work in a team, improving their interpersonal skills and independence.
They are also going to be encouraged, innovated, have creativity, trough deep
learning and require.
In the classroom, the teacher must create the situations that can
encourage real communication, many activities can be designed to make majors‘
element lively. Small Group Discussion is one of the methods that can be
applied in teaching speaking. It is caused Small Group Discussion is one of
potential activities which the students can make conclusion, share ideas about
an event, or find solution in this activity. According to the benefits of Small
Group Discussion Method in improving the students‘ speaking skill, this
research attempts to analyze the implementation of Small Group Discussion in
teaching learning process of the third semester students in STAIN Salatiga.
Definition of Small Group Discussion
Small group discussion is one of the methods that can be applied in
teaching speaking. It is caused small group discussion as one of potential
activities which the students that can make conclusion, share ideas about an
event, or find solution. Suryosubroto
(2002: 179)
also
highlights
that
discussion is a strategy in teaching in which the teacher gives great
opportunity to the students for having scientific dialogue in gathering
opinions, making conclusion, or giving an alternative solution to a certain
issue. Larson (1997:50) recommended that discussion is a good technique to
the college students engage in a lesson to learn academic content by
encouraging verbal interaction to promoted students‘ speaking achievement
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more effectively. Brown (2001:178) affirms essential
advantages
of group
discussion in EFL teaching: (1) students are able to generate interactive
language; (2) students are embraced by an effective climate; (3) students are
to promote learner responsibility and autonomy; and (4) students are able
to understand
toward
individualizing instruction. Therefore, small group
discussion is a way to make students be more confident in speaking English.
The discussion method is an alternative method for teaching English
speaking to help the teacher to reach the goal of teaching, especially to improve
the students‘ speaking ability. Student-centered learning is a way of thinking
about student learning. It requires that the planning, teaching, and assessment
focused on the needs and abilities of the students (how they learn, what they
experience, and how they engage with their learning). It is a shared knowledge
and shared authority between the students and teacher where the teacher shares
control of the classroom and students are allowed to experiment their own
learning. Teacher becomes facilitator, helping students access the information,
interpret, organize and use knowledge to solve problems and also as the
motivator, helping the students to arouse their willing to study actively.
Advantages of Small Group Discussion
According to Jacques (2004:65) there are some advantages of small
group discussion. They are; (a) allowing students to discover and engage with a
range of perspectives, ideas, and backgrounds, (b) providing students the
opportunity for more active involvement, (c) assisting students to clarify their
attitudes to and ideas about the subject matter, as they test their own ideas and
attitudes against those of others, (d) helping students develop a sense of
academic rigor and a willingness tao share ideas, (e) providing opportunities for
students to receive more immediate feedback on their learning, (f) encouraging
students towards self‐directed and independent learning, (g) providing more
opportunities for peer learning and sharing responsibility for learning, (h)
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providing opportunities for students to more easily gain awareness of their
emotional reactions, (i) providing opportunities for students to learn and
develop cooperative behavior including critical thinking and the process of
group problem solving, (j) more easily establishing rapport between teacher and
student, (k) Providing more opportunity to develop skills in communication
(listening, responding, interacting) and interpersonal relations.
Based on above explanation, it can be concluded that small group
discussion has many advantages that can help in teaching learning process. The
teacher can use Small Group Discussion as the method in teaching process. The
students can use Small Group Discussion as the method in learning process.
The Disadvantages of Small Group Discussion
Based on Gess and Markley‘s book (2005:77), there are some
disadvantages of small group discussion. They are:
1) Students speak only in their first language
The students come up with several reasons why this may occur.
These included; the activity may be too difficult, it may be too easy or it
may be just plain boring for the students, so the solution the students
offered are to choose activities that are relevant, interesting and fun for the
students. Another occasion when students may use too much first language
is when they do not understand the instructions. The instructions must be
very clear to the students, so they know exactly how to complete the task
successfully. Some students feel that giving instructions in the first language
is appropriate, especially for their lower level students.
2) Teachers are often concerned that students pick up incorrect English from
other students
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One point raised by the students is that in small group discussion the
teacher is not always on hand to correct errors and mistakes. Therefore
students use incorrect or pick up unusual English from other students.
Brown (1994:89) supports the use of small group discussion stating that
students often carry out peer correction in these activities and this is more
productive than teachers always correcting students.
3) Domination by the few
Small group discussion can be dominated by one or a few students.
If this dominant coalition is composed of low and medium ability students
the group‘s overall effectiveness will after.
4) Pressures to conform
There are social pressures in group. The desire by group members to
be accepted and considered as an asset to the group can result in squashing
any overt disagreement, thus encouraging conformity some view point.
5) Ambiguous responsibility:
Group students‘ share responsibility but who is actually accountable
for the final outcome? In an individual decision, it is clear who is
responsible. In a group the responsibility of any single members is watered
down.
6) Time-consuming:
It takes time to assemble a group. The interaction that takes place
once the group is in place is frequently inefficient. The result is that groups
take more time to reach a solution then would be the case if an individual
were making the decision. This can limit management‘s ability to act
quickly and decisively when necessary.
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7) The teacher may feel like they are losing control of the class.
Brown (1994:99) notes for students and teacher, who have not had a
lot of experience with small group discussion, that it can be a bit frightening
at first. However, by introducing small group discussion in small doses both
teacher and students will soon see the benefits of these activities. The most
important aspect to remember is the activities must be set up carefully and
the learners must have very clear instructions on how to accomplish the
activity. After the activity starts, the teacher‘s role is to monitor the
students, offering assistance when necessary. However, it can be a bit
daunting at first to try and keep an eye on several groups at once. The
participants of this workshop came up with a wonderful metaphor to
describe the process of teacher becoming accustomed to using small group
discussion. They likened it to being a ringmaster in a multi-ring circus, but
stressed with practice it is not difficult to watch out that the lions don‘t eat
the dogs and the humans don‘t fall off the high wire.
Based on above explanation, it can be concluded that small group
discussion has some disadvantages like; students speak only in their first
language, teachers are often concerned that students pick up incorrect English
from other students, domination by the few, pressures to conform, ambiguous
responsibility, time-consuming and the teacher may feel like they are losing
control of the class.
Teaching Speaking By Using Small Group Discussion
One method in teaching speaking English is Small Group Discussion.
The effort of the linguist has strong basic because the students entertained with
their everyday life, give chances to the student to more creatively because Small
Group Discussion as method in teaching speaking English is very effective and
more interested because the students will be memorized the vocabulary and, the
enjoying the material when they discuss it with their friends, so that using Small
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Group Discussion in teaching speaking will give achievement acquiring English.
Small Group discussion can increase motivation to learn the English for the
students. They can improve their English and enjoy the conversation with their
group. They also can improve their critical thinking when they want to share
their opinion.
Factors Influencing the Success of Small Group Learning
Based on D. Jacques‘s book (2004), there are some factors influencing
the success of small group learning. They are:
a) Group Climate
Group climate is the general psychological or emotional state of the
group. Some groups have a set of formal rules governing such things as
attendance (e.g. Scenario groups‘ sessions require 80% attendance) and
preparation (e.g. Students must do the required reading before each class).
Even more powerful though is the set of informal rules, which are
established over time as the group members learn to work with each other.
Jacque‘s explained some rules which are often proposed include:
1) Students can initiate or redirect discussion
2) Speakers will be allowed to finish what they have to say
3) Speak whenever you wish but after you have spoken try waiting until
two or three others have contributed before speaking again, to avoid
having a few people dominate
4) Treat other people and their contributions with respect
5) Everyone takes responsibility for the working of the group process
b) Group Structure
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Group members need to understand what is expected of them. In
learning groups, this means that the instructions for any activities are
clearly spelled out. Roles such as leader, recorder or reporter are allocated
or negotiated and clearly agreed. Everyone understands exactly what has to
be achieved and what the time frame is.
Definition of Speaking
Speaking is one of the four basic competences in studying English. It is
very important for all of people that study English. We can study reading,
writing and listening alone, in our own, without anyone else. We can listen to
the radio, read a book and write a letter alone but we can't really speak alone!
Speaking to ourselves can be "dangerous" because men in white coats may come
and take us away. Speaking is the productive skill. It could not be separated
from listening. When we speak, we produce the text and it should be
meaningful. In the nature of communication, we can find the speaker, the
listener, the message and the feedback. Speaking could not be separated from
pronunciation as it encourages learners to learn the English sounds. There are
many definitions of speaking that have been proposed by some experts in
language learning.
Tarigan (1990:3-4) defines that speaking is a language skill that is
developed in child life, which is produced by listening skill, and at that period
speaking skill is learned. Brown (2001: 267) cites that when someone can speak
a language it means that he can carry on a conversation reasonably competently.
In addition, he states that the benchmark of successful acquisition of language is
almost always the demonstration of an ability to accomplish pragmatic goals
through an interactive discourse with other language speakers. Brown (2001:
267) cites that when someone can speak a language it means that he can carry
on a conversation reasonably competently. In addition, he states that the
benchmark of successful acquisition of language is almost always the
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demonstration of an ability to accomplish pragmatic goals through an
interactive discourse with other language speakers.
From the explanation above, it can be conclude that speaking is what we
say to what we see, feel and think. When we feel something, we want someone
can hear us, so in this process we can call it is an interaction between two sides.
Speaking as Oral Communication
Speaking can be called as oral communication and speaking is one of
skills in learning English. This becomes an important subject that teachers
should give. That is why the teachers have big challenge to enable their students
to master English well, especially speaking English in class or out of the class.
Richards and Rogers (2001: 204) state that effective oral communication
requires the ability to use the language appropriately in social interactions that
involves not only verbal communication but also paralinguistic elements of
speech such as pitch, stress, and intonation. Moreover, nonlinguistic elements
such as gestures, body language, and expressions are needed in conveying
messages directly without any accompanying speech. Brown (2007: 237) states
that social contact in interactive language functions is an important key. It is not
what you say and count but how you say what you want to convey with body
language, gestures, eye contact, physical distance and other nonverbal messages.
Principles for Designing Speaking Techniques
Brown (2001: 275-276) states that there are seven principles for
designing speaking techniques. They are: (1) Use techniques that cover the
spectrum of learner needs, from language based focus on accuracy to messagebased on interaction, meaning, and fluency, (2) Provide intrinsically motivating
techniques, (3) Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts,
(4) Provide appropriate feedback and correction, (5) Capitalize on the natural
136
link between speaking and listening, (6) Give students opportunities to initiate
oral communication, (7) Encourage the development of speaking strategies.
Based on above explanation, it can be seen that teaching speaking has
some principles that has to be concern to help the teacher. When the teacher
knows about these principles, the teacher is not getting difficult in designing
speaking techniques. The teacher has to know what techniques are appropriate
in the class, so teaching and learning process are going to run well.
Types of Classroom Speaking Performance
Brown (2004:141) states as with all effective tests, designing appropriate
assessment tasks in speaking begins with the specification of objective or criteria.
Those objectives may be classified in term of several types of speaking
performance:
a. Imitative
At one end of a continuum of types of speaking performance is the
ability to simply parrot back (imitate) a word or phrase or possibly a
sentence. While this is purely phonetic level of oral production, a number
of prosodic, lexical and grammatical properties of language may be
conclude in the criterion performance.
b. Intensive
A second type of speaking frequently employed in assessment
contexts is the production of short stretches of oral language designed to
demonstrate competence in a narrow band of grammatical, phrasal, lexical
of phonological relationship (such as prosodic element-intonation, stress,
rhythm, juncture). Examples of extensive assessment tasks include
directed response tasks, reading aloud, sentence and dialogue completion
137
limited picture-cued task including simple sequences and relationship up
to the simple sentence level.
c. Responsive
Responsive
assessment
tasks
included
interaction
and
test
comprehension but at the somewhat limited level of very short
conversations, standard greetings and a small talk, simple request and
comments and the like.
d. Transactional (Dialogue)
Transactional dialogue carried out for the purpose of conveying or
exchanging specific information is an extended form of responsive
language.
e. Interpersonal (Dialogue)
Interpersonal dialogue carried out more for the purpose of
maintaining social relationships than for the transmission of facts and
information. Learners would need to learn how such features as the
relationship between interlocutors, casual, and sarcasm are coded
linguistically.
f.
Extensive (Monologue)
Finally, students at intermediate to advanced levels are called on to
give extended monologues in the form of oral reports, summaries, or
perhaps short speeches. Here the register is more formal and deliberative.
These monologues can be planned or impromptu.
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Classroom Speaking Activities
Teaching speaking should be taught in attractive and communicative
activities. There are many types of classroom speaking activities. Harmer (2001:
348-352) states six classroom speaking activities. They are acting from script,
communication games, discussion, prepared talks, questionnaires, simulation,
and role play.
a. Acting from Script
Playing scripts and acting out the dialogues are two kinds of acting
scripts that should be considered by the teachers in the teaching and
learning process. In the playing scripts, it is important for the students to
teach it as real acting. The role of a teacher in this activity is as theatre
directors, drawing attention to appropriate stress, intonation, and speed.
This means that the lines they speak will have real meaning. By giving
students practice in these things before they give their final performances,
the teachers ensures that acting out is both a learning and language
producing activity. In acting the dialogue, the students will be very helped
if they are given time to rehearse their dialogues before the performance.
The students will gain much more from the whole experience in the
process.
b. Communication Games
Games are designed to provoke communication between students.
The games are made based on the principle of the information gap so that
one student has to talk to a partner in order to solve a puzzle, draw a
picture, put a thing in the right order, or find similarities and differences
between pictures. Television and radio games, imported into the
classroom, often provide good fluency activities.
139
c. Discussion
Discussion is probably the most commonly used activity in the oral
skills class. Here, the students are allowed to express their real opinions.
According to Harmer (2001:272) discussion range is divided into several
stages from highly formal, whole-group staged events to informal smallgroup interactions.
The first is the buzz groups that can be used for a whole range of
discussion. For example, students are expected to predict the content of a
reading text, or talk about their reactions after reading the text.
The second is instant comments which can train students to respond
fluently and immediately is to insert ‗instant comment‘ mini activities into
lessons. This involves showing them photographs or introducing topics at
any stage of a lesson and nominating students to say the first thing that
comes into their head.
The last is formal debates. Students prepare arguments in favor or
against various propositions. The debate is be started when those who are
appointed as ‗panel speaker‘ produce well-rehearsed ‗writing like‘
arguments whereas others, the audience, pitch in as the debate progresses
with their own thoughts on the subject.
1) Prepared talks
Students make a presentation on a topic of their own choice.
Such talks are not designed for informal spontaneous conversations
because they are prepared and more ‗writing like‘. However, if
possible students should speak from notes rather than from a script.
2) Questionnaires
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Questionnaires are very useful because they ensure that both
questioner and respondent have something to say to each other.
Students can design questionnaires on any topic that is appropriate.
As they do so the teacher can act as a resource, helping them in the
design process. The results obtained from questionnaires can then
form the basis for written work, discussions, or prepared talks.
3) Simulation and Role play
Simulation and role play can be used to encourage general
oral fluency, or to train students for specific situations. Students can
act out simulation as them or take on the role of completely different
character and express thoughts and feelings as they doing in the real
world.
Those activities can be used by teacher to teach speaking. Teacher can
choose an activity that related to the topic and objective of the lesson. Besides,
they must consider the situation, condition of the students and materials that
will be taught. For example, they use simulation and role play activities when
they teach expressions. Teacher can ask them to write some dialogues and after
that they have to act them out in front of the class. It may be used by the teacher
in using acting from script. In discussion, teacher can use some pictures or
maybe videos in a certain situation. These activities can be used as the way to
measure how far students can speak, say and express their feeling in English.
Teaching Speaking at University
The subject of this research is the third semester students at STAIN
Salatiga. Knowing the students‘ characteristics is the first step that will help the
teachers to help them. It will also help the teachers to prepare the students to
help themselves. Students should learn the best strategies to improve their own
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learning. Meanwhile, Harmer (2001: 40) states that adult learners are notable for
a number of special characteristics:
a. They can engage with abstract thought.
b. They have a whole range of life experiences to draw on.
c. They have expectations about the learning process and may already have
their own set patterns of learning.
d. Adults tend to be more discipline than some teenagers and crucially, they
are often prepared to struggle on despite boredom.
e. They come into classroom with a rich range of experiences which allow
teachers to use a wide range of activities with them.
f.
Unlike young children and teenagers, they often have a clear
understanding of why they want to get out of it.
The important thing is teachers have to involve the students in more
indirect learning through communicative speaking activities. They also allow
them to use their intellects to learn consciously where this is appropriate. They
encourage their students to use their own life experience in the learning process
too.
This research has three research questions. They are; (1) Does Small
Group Discussion improve the students‘ speaking ability? (2) How is the
effectiveness if using Small Group Discussion in teaching learning process? (3)
What are the strength and the weakness of using Small Group Discussion in
class?
The aims of this research are (1) to identify and to describe that small
group discussion can improve students‘ speaking skill (2) To identify the
142
effectiveness of using small group discussion in teaching learning process. (3) To
identify the strengths and weakness of using small group discussion in the class.
Research Methodology
The research carried out at State Institute of Islamic Studies Salatiga
(STAIN). The address is in Jl. Tentara Pelajar No. 2 Salatiga 50721. This
research carried in the even semester of the 2013/2014 academic year. There
were some steps in this research: preparation, implementation, analyses of the
data, and report writing.
The research method used in this study was experimental study.
Experimental study was defined as the technique, which attempts to ferret out
cause and effect relationships. Through experimentations, cause and effect
relationship can be isolated. Because of its ability to identify caution, the
experimental approach has come to represent the prototype of the scientific
method for solving problems (Christensen, 2000: 35). The E class in third
semester of speaking class was used for the experimental group. The D class in
third semester of speaking class was used for the control group. The total
number of population was five classes, which all together consisted of 140
students. A sample of 66 students was used, which was selected by using
Random Sampling Technique. The writer used test in collecting the data. There
were two kinds of test. They were pre-test and post-test.
To evaluate the small group discussion in improving students‘ speaking
skill in third semester students of the English department of State Islamic
Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga in the academic year of 2013/2014, the data
were analyzed by Heaton (1998:98). The criteria as follow:
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Rating
Skill to communicate orally
6
Excellent: on a par with an educated native speaker. Completely at ease in
his use of English on all topics discussed.
5
Very good: although he cannot be mistaken for a native speaker, he
expresses himself quite clearly. He experiences little difficulty in
understanding English, and there is no strain at all in communicating with
him.
4
Satisfactory verbal communication causing little difficulty for native
speaker. He makes a limited numbers of errors of grammars, lexis and
pronunciation but he is at ease in communication on everyday subjects. He
has to correct himself and pattern his utterances on occasions. But there is a
little difficulty in understanding him.
3
Although verbal communication is fairly satisfactory. The native speaker
May occasionally experience difficulty in communicating with him.
Repetition, re-phrasing and re-patterning are sometimes necessary; ordinary
native speaker might find it difficult to communicate.
2
Much difficulty experienced by native speaker unaccustomed to ‗foreign
language‘ his understanding himself is severely limited, but communication
in everyday topics is possible. Large number of errors of phonology,
grammar, and lexis.
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1
Extreme difficulty in communication on any subjects. Failure to understand
adequately and make him understood.
The data from the oral test was arranged from the highest until the
lowest one. The data from the pre-test and post-test was analyzed to find out
whether the result of the tests are similar or different. To compare the result of
the data from pre-test and post-test with the same subject, the writer used the
Repeated Measures T-Test.
Discussion
It had been stated previously that this research tried to answer three
research questions. The following description explained the finding that answers
each research question. The first research question was concerned with to
identify and to describe that small group discussion can improve students‘
speaking skill. Small group discussion can improve students‘ speaking skill. It
can be seen because the students were not afraid of speaking because they
thought not like in control class. They thought that they can show what they can
in small group discussion. They also felt just like speaking with other friends in
daily activity.
The second research was concerned with to identify the effectiveness of
using small group discussion in teaching learning process. The calculation
showed that tt of the research of experimental class was 1, 35 and to was 5, 11.
The significant percentage of this research was 3, 76. It meant that to was greater
than tt. The writer can conclude that using small group discussion was effective
in improving speaking skill from significant level 5% to tt. Then, the research in
control class showed that tt was 1, 35 and to was 1, 67. The significant
percentage of this research was 0, 32. It meant that tt was greater than to, and it
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was not too effective in improving students speaking skill from significant level
5% to tt.
The third research was concerned with to identify the strengths and
weakness of using small group discussion in the class. Some of respondents in
this research discovered and engaged with a range of perspectives, ideas, and
backgrounds when they discussed in small group discussion because they tried
to speak English and shared their ideas well. They felt like talking with their
friends in their daily conversation. This research also showed that small group
discussion had some strength. The strength were encourage ownership,
encourage sharing of ideas and opinions, provide opportunity for honest
conversation, facilitate sharing of resources and skills and it can foster rapport
and an environment of trust among small groups who met over a period of time.
In other hand, small group discussion also had weaknesses like some of students
spoke only in their first language, it can be time-consuming, it can lead to
individuals being side-tracked and losing focus and domination by the few.
Conclusion
Based on the descriptions of the data analysis, the writer can come to the
conclusion that small group discussion can improve the students‘ speaking skill.
Small group discussion was very effective than control class for teaching
speaking. The students were not afraid of speaking because they thought not like
in control class. They also felt just like speaking with other friends in daily
activity. We also can see the data analysis. It showed us that small group
discussion more effective than control class. It also showed the calculation of
control class was not significant. The result was just from 1, 35 to 1.37. The
difference of result in the control class was 0, 32. In other hand, experimental
class was significant because the result was from 1, 35 to 5, and 11. The
difference of the result in the experimental class was 3, 76.
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Some respondents in this research discovered and engaged with a range
of perspectives, ideas, and backgrounds when they discussed in small group
discussion because they tried to speak English and shared their ideas well. They
felt like talking with their friends in their daily conversation. This research also
showed that small group discussion had some strength. They were; encourage
ownership, encourage sharing of ideas and opinions, provide opportunity for
honest conversation, facilitate sharing of resources and skills. It can foster
rapport and an environment of trust among small groups who meet over a
period of time. In other hand, small group discussion also had weaknesses. They
were; some of students spoke only in their first language, it can be timeconsuming, it can lead to individuals being side-tracked and losing focus and
domination by the few.
Teacher is suggested to apply discussion technique in their speaking
classes to engage students to be high responsible students, critical thinkers,
individualizing learner in acquiring their foreign language. Teacher is also
suggested to realize the major role of knowing students‘ English learning
motivation which significantly influences their speaking skill. Then, for next
researchers, they are able to use this research as an insight to conduct
other researches in connection with variables studied.
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