Factors Influencing Perception Students’ Perception on Their Problem in Mastering Speaking Skill
45 and none of the student 0 strongly disagreed. From this data, it could be
concluded that more than 80 students was facing problem in memorizing vocabulary.
The tenth statement was about the students’ problem in learning grammar
and tenses in English subject. From the respondents’ answers, 21 students 72.41 agreed, 4 students 13.79 strongly agreed, 4 students 13.79
disagreed, and none of the student 0 strongly disagreed. It could be proven that the students were facing problems in learning grammar and tenses. When the
researcher asked a question during the FGD to the students to translate the simplest sentence “saya adalah seorang pelajar” in English, only 3 students tried
to answer it and they forgot to add the article “a” in the sentence, so their answer was “I am student” without “a”.
The eleventh statement was about the students’ problem in memorizing
tenses which caused the limitation of the students’ ability to speak spontaneously.
From the respo ndents’ answers, 20 students 68.96 agreed and 6 students
20.68 strongly agreed. The researcher did observation in class while PPL, the researcher found that the students still could not memorize the tenses very well.
Meanwhile, the results showed that there were 3 students 10.34 disagreed with the statement and none of the student 0 strongly disagreed.
The twelfth statement was about the students’ problem in pronouncing
some of the words in English which made the students could not speak spontaneously. From the respo
ndents’ answers, 21 students 72.41 agreed, 4 students 13.79 strongly agreed, 2 students 6.89 disagreed and none of the
46 student 0 strongly disagreed. From the result, the researcher concluded that
more than 80 students were facing problem to speak when the students did not know how to pronounce the words well.
From those explanations, the researcher related it with Altman and Valenzi
’s 1985 definition about selection of stimuli, because individual tends to focus only on small number of stimuli. This sorting process is known as
“selection” and becomes the reason why each person perceives things differently p. 86. In learning English, especially in mastering speaking skill, students sort-
out their problem in a very common problem that people face in learning English like vocabulary, pronunciation, and tenses. However, people have different
threshold levels Altman Valenzi, 1985, p. 87. Some students might not face any difficult problem in memorizing vocabulary and tenses, whereas others cannot
remember what vocabulary that heshe has learnt before. However, the same person may have different threshold at different times; this phenomenon is called
“sensory adaptation”, a diminished sensitivity to stimuli that evolves upon continued exposure Altman Valenzi, 1985, p. 87. When the students are not
distracted by their speaking problems again, it is because they tried to adapt the situation, in which can decrease their motivation in participating during the
teaching learning activities. Those problems can also be affected by their self- concept that will be explained in the next paragraph.
The thirteenth statement was about the students ’ belief in why the students
facing problem in speaking was because the less chance for them to directly use it when the teaching learning process happened. From the respo
ndents’ answers, 20
47 students 68.96 agreed, 3 students 10.34 strongly agreed, 5 students
17.24 disagreed and 1 student 3.44 strongly disagreed. It happened because the teacher were rarely explained the material in class. Based on the
students’ statement during FGD, they said that the teacher only gave them written assignments to be done without any chance to practice their speaking skill.
The fourteenth statement was about the students’ belief that writing and
reading were easier for the students rather than listening and speaking when the teaching learning process happens. From the respo
ndents’ answers, 16 students 55.17 agreed and 4 students 13.79 strongly agreed. However, 9 students
31.03 disagreed and none of the student 0 strongly disagreed. Altman and Valenzi 1985 see that self-concept is also the factor that can
influence perception p. 91. The problem in mastering speaking skill is not only the basic grammar and vocabulary but also the students belief in other aspect like
less chance to sharpen their ability in speaking skill and their belief that other skills is much easier that speaking spontaneously. The students believed that they
are facing difficulties in mastering speaking skill because their mental pictures of themselves determine much of what they perceive and do Altman Valenzi,
1985, p. 90. However, the researcher tried to dig deeper to find out their way to solve the problems in mastering speaking skill through their attitude that would be
explained further in the paragraphs below.