Implications CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS
63 In the field of education, Toru can be seen as a representative of a student.
Each student has different character, whether it is positive or negative. Some examples of negative characteristic are loner, self-doubt, and low self-confidence.
Besides, loneliness as the theme of the study can also be found at school and experienced by the students. Loneliness is a psychological problem which can be
experienced in our daily life and it can happen among the students at school as well. Teachers’ roles are highly needed to overcome loneliness at school or
classroom. Thus, a teacher is expected to master not only about the learning material but also the various characteristic of the students as well. There will be
probabilities for teachers to have students with the same characteristic as Toru Watanabe who is loner, unconfident, and self-doubted.
Loneliness in the classroom which is experienced by the students can be a big problem and it will affect student
s’ learning process. According to Perlman and Peplau 1984, factors that can cause loneliness are moving to a new school or
neighborhood, losing of an important person through death or breaking up, and experiencing the divorce of parents. Students also will experience loneliness when
they have less social contact than they have expected before. They might also feel lonely because of being ignored or rejected by their friends in school or college.
Moreover, Perlman and Peplau 1984 also state that shyness, low self-esteem, introversion and lack of social skill are the characteristics which associated with
loneliness. Those characteristics lead to loneliness because it makes a person incapable of making and keeping friends.
64 Students who are lonely usually express low self-esteem and often believe
that they are unworthy of the attention. Those who are having low self-esteem usually will focus on their weaknesses rather than their positive qualities and they
are likely to be self-doubting. They are also unable to respect themselves and it makes them believe that they are not valuable. As a result, students will have low
self- confidence as well which can affect the students’ way of having interaction
with others. Besides, students with low self-confidence are incapable of interacting well and making friends. Therefore, they will have fewer friends,
distance themselves from others, and reluctant to take part in group activities. Students who are not confident will be reluctant to be active in the
classroom besides having difficulties in making and keeping friends. Their academic performance will also be unsatisfying because low self-confidence can
lessen students’ motivation to learn and willingness to take a risk. Thus, they might be afraid of making mistakes during the learning process and they will not
make progress in their study. Lonely students and unconfident students need teachers’ help and
guidance. Teachers can ask them to tell about their problems in order to know the reasons or causes why they tend to be
lonely. Listening to students’ problem and giving advices will ease the pain of loneliness. If the children lack of confidence
and social skills, teacher can make them to be involved more in peer activities in order to gain their confidence and social skill. Besides, teacher can also use some
creative activities such as drawing, writing, crafting, or others to help students in
65 expressing their feeling of sadness or loneliness. Students will ease the pain of
loneliness as well by expressing their unhappy feeling. Understanding about loneliness at school is important for teachers since it
gives some benefits. Teachers will get information about the causes of loneliness and the effects which later on can affect students’ academic performance. Besides
showing unsatisfying academic performance, lonely students will also have incapability to make friends and socialize well. By understanding about loneliness
and the characteristics which associated with loneliness, teachers are expected to be able to cope with it in order to create good academic performance and good
social skills among the students. In the context of English Language Education Study Program, students of
ELESP need to study about students characteristic and how to give the suitable guidance for students through psychological courses. The psychological courses
help the student to learn and explore about psychological condition, such as behavior, thought, personality, and motivation. As teacher candidates, the students
of ELESP are expected to take psychological courses offered, for instance: Psikologi Remaja, Psikologi Belajar dan Pembelajaran, and Dasar-Dasar
Bimbingan dan Konseling. Those psychological courses offer knowledge about adolescence as transition period where changes happen among adolescent,
teaching and learning concept, factors which affects teaching and learning process, effects of the various characteristic of students towards learning process
and the achievement in learning, and the concept of guidance and counseling at school. Therefore, studying those psychological courses help ELESP students as
66 teacher candidates to solve problems which might happen in the classroom by
giving the suitable guidance. Besides, as teacher candidates, ELESP students are expected to have awareness about the problems which might happen among the
students and other issues in education field.