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c. Factors Influencing Perception
As described at Altman et al. 1985, there are a number of factors influencing a person’s perception. Four of the most important factors influence a
person’s perceptions are as followed.
1 Selection of Stimuli
A person focuses on only a small number of all stimuli which he or she is surrounded. This process is known as selection. That is why people perceive
things differently. Each person selects specific cues and filters, or screens, out the others Altman et al., 1985.
2 Organization of Stimuli
After information has been selected, it must be arranged in order to become meaningful. The mind tries to bring order out the unarranged sensory data
by selecting certain items and putting them together in a meaningful way based on experience Altman et al., 1985.
3 The Situation
A person’s familiarity and expectations about situation affect what a person perceive. Perceiving accurately is related to how well a person adjusts his
or her behavior to a situation Altman et al., 1985.
4 Self-Concept
Self-concept is the way people feel about and perceive themselves. Peoples’ perceptions of the world around them are affected by the way they see
themselves. The self-concept is important since the mental picture of people determine much of what they perceive and do Altman et al., 1985.
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Based on the explanation of the factors influencing perception, it can be concluded that everyone has his or her own point of view on something. The same
project or event can be perceived differently by different person then leads to different behavioral responses or attitudes. Related to this research, perception is
the way how the students feel or think about and consider something. In this case is the implementation of cooperative learning in English class of of Junior High
School 2 Mlati.
2. Cooperative Learning
In this section, the resaercher provides three elaborations of cooperative learning. The first section discusses the definition of cooperative learning. The
second section discusses the nature of cooperative learning. The third section discusses the key elements of cooperative learning.
a. Definition of Cooperative Learning
According to Richards and Rodgers 2001, Cooperative Learning CL is part of a more general instructional approach also known as Collaborative
Learning CL. Cooperative Learning is an approach to teaching that makes maximum use of cooperative activities involving pairs and small groups of
learners in the classroom. Moreover, Olsen and Kagan 1992 say that cooperative learning is group learning activity organized so that learning is dependent on the
socially structured exchange of information between learners in group. They also say that each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and motivated
to increase others ’ learning.
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Johnson, Johnson and Holubec 1990 define cooperative learning as the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their
learning. Slavin 1995 adds that cooperative learning refers to variety of teaching methods in which students work in small groups to help one another learning
academic content. In cooperative learning activities, students are expected to help, discuss and agree with each other, assess each other’s current knowledge and fill
gaps in each other’s understanding. Therefore, in this study, cooperative learning is an approach that makes the students work together to achieve learning goals. It
involves students learning from each other in groups. The students are responsible for one another’s learning as well as their own. In the classroom, the students are
expected to help each other, to cooperate with their peers, to discuss and argue each other, and to access each other’s current knowledge in the learning process.
Group work does not merely that students sitting side-by-side at the same table to talk with each other. It does not merely assigning a report to a group of students
where one student does all the work and the others just put their names on it. It is more than being physically near other students.
In order to be successful, Johnson et al. 1994 explain that cooperative learning tasks are designed by teachers so that students are required to depend on
one another to complete the assigned tasks and to master content and skills. There are five cooperative learning methods that are designed to achieve different
objectives Johnson et al., 1994.