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perceptions by Champbell 2001. Those are 1 how the teacher teaches the students, 2 what the teacher wants the students to learn, 3 how the students
learn in class, 4 what the students learn, and 5 what the purposes of learning the language are.
d. Factors that Affect Someone’s Perception
According to Gibson et al. 1985, in organizations theory there are six factors influencing someone’s perception. They are stereotyping, selectivity, self-
concept, situation, needs, and emotions.
1 Stereotype
The first factor is stereotyping. Stereotype is a set of beliefs about the characteristics of people in a particular group that is generalized to all members of
the group Gibson et al., 1985. It indicates that the judgment for someone or something is related to hisher ethnic group membership. For example, women
stereotype as meek, gentle whereas men stereotype as strong, powerful. Most of the stereotypes are the wrong perceptions because it is formed not because of the
fact that happens in our environment. It is supported by Gibson 1985, who says that stereotyping can result in implementing improper programs.
2 Selectivity
The second factor is selectivity. It is impossible that we can receive all the data or information. Only information which makes someone comfortable they
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will perceive. It is caused by our interest of those stimuli. We make a perception based on something that we want to choose. It is supported by Gibson 1985 that
people tend to ignore information that might make them feel uncomfortable. People will take the stimuli that they want, but most of the stimuli that they take
are positive for them. In English teaching-learning activity, people will regard it important and give good perception on it if those people select the stimuli
teaching-learning activities in literature study because they have any interest on it. Everyone selects certain stimuli and the stimuli can be different from everyone.
There are six factors which influence people select the stimuli Warga, 1983: a. Size
The first factor is size. According to Warga 1983, size is a factor influencing stimuli and it will grab someone‘s attention. For example, if we get an opportunity
to read some literary works, we will choose to read the written work printed in big size first then the small letters.
b. Change Changes always grab our attention. For example, if there is something new in the
way we usually pass, we tend to give our attention on it. c. Repetition
By repeating the same stimulus, someone will be forced to pay attention. For example, a person calls his friend who is sleeping. Because of tight sleep, he
ignores his friend’s voice. After such repeated call for many times, he will awake.
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d. Intensity Saying something with loud voice will make people pay more attention on it
because it is more clearly. It is also stated by Warga 1983 that the intensity of the stimulus – your voice – makes it stand out above other stimuli, so that the
listeners are forced to pay attention to you. e. Movement
Moving things are more interesting than unmoving things. For example, people will notice or pay attention to a bird which is moving when other birds do not
move. This is clear that movement will suddenly attract our attention. f. Set
It is defined as an emotional disposition that influences perception. The set causes someone to interpret sensation into meaning which is based on what he she
expects to perceive.
3 Self-Concept
The third factor is self-concept. The way we see ourselves in the form of self-concept will affect our perception about something in our environment. We
only perceive those things which are consistent with our motives and goals, and interpret our experiences to make them compatible with our present self-concept.
For example, someone who always sees something optimistically will also see everything around her optimistically.
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4 Situation
The press of time will literally force the manager to overlook some details, to rush certain activities and to ignore certain stimuli such as request from other
managers or from superiors Gibson et al., 1985. People tend to work quickly when they do not have much time. Because of the limitation of time, people pay
less attention to the factors, which might affect the work outcomes. People become careless in doing their activities. They make certain decision about certain
thing without further understanding or their perceptions toward the problem. In teaching-learning activities of the study of literature, the students will make
perception on it with further understanding about the meaning of this activity because they observe and do this activity deeply in a certain situation.
5 Needs
Perceptions are significantly influenced by needs and desires Gibson et al., 1985. People will eat what they want to eat, they will see what they want to see,
and they will do everything they want to do. Students also have certain needs in learning literature. Needs here refers to the students’ wants, desires, demands,
expectation, motivation, and requirements.
6 Emotion
Emotion can influence someone in forming perception. Gibson 1985 supports this through his statement that strong emotions often distort perceptions.
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Perception formed through experiencing a particular thing can influence the perception, which will be formed in the future.
2. Attitude
