AR’s Learning Style, English Speaking Ability, and Academic
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I11032014P83AR-LA :
“80 so I can complete the passing grade and step up to the next level
”
Geiser and Santelices 2007 state that academic performance can be used to
predict the competence level of the students. AR ’s target score in academic
performance only focused on the passing grade in order to step to the next level. Then his academic competence was not clearly defined as high competence. Then
he was not able to get a lot of learning outcome since he only focused on the score of academic performance and he did not know the essence of English learning as
part of his future culture in which he might face various English applications for international communication.
From
AR’s statements based on the found themes in Table 4.11, AR’s past
experience telling that he was not able to understand English lesson in the past relate to how he regards the importance of English afterward. His preliminary
motivation to study in the Vocational High School brings further judgment on the process of his learning and the result of academic performance. The tendency of
following any school activities is just to fulfill the formal regulation determined by his teachers. Then, the viewpoint of English learning is interrelated with his
learning styles since he prefers to emphasize his psychomotor process rather than the combination of affective and cognitive processes. That is why he likes active
English learning activities such as quizzes to fulfill his learning style. His speaking ability and academic performance results, which are not high, then can
be predicted by his less motivation to study in Vocational High School and also learning style.
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b. BA ’s Learning Style, English Speaking Ability, and Academic
Performance
The findings of themes related to students’ learning style, English speaking
ability, and academic performance from BA is shown in Table 4.12. Table 4.12
Themes and Qualitative Result of BA’
Themes Coding
Statements translated
Viewpoint of Vocational
High School I11032014P3BA-LA
Honestly, my father asked me to study in state high
school . I registered there,
but the response of the teacher there was not
good… I came here then, and met Bu Siska
. …. She gave good response…so I
decided to study here.
Viewpoint of English as a
subject I11032014P6BA-LA
I11032014P7BA-LA From the first time I learnt
English, I did not really understand. I was not able
to catch the material yet
Maybe, I was not able to understand…giving up or
something like that.
Feeling of learning
English in class
I11032014P11BA-LA I11032014P12BA-LA
I11032014P13BA-LA
…based on the mood If I feel not in good mood
in the morning, I will be lazy. If I am happy, I will
have fun.
What I like from English lesson is that when I can
do the assignments. If I
cannot do it and then the teacher is in tension, I
mumble by myself
Learning styles
I11032014P15BA-LA
… watching movie and singing
… by singing, I know the meaning … by
watching movie, I know
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I11032014P26BA-LA I11032014P31BA-LA
how to pronounce
… studying the formulas
I don’t understand if I
read. Explain first then translate into Indonesian
English Speaking
Ability I11032014P47BA-LA
I11032014P59BA-LA
… because I was not capable in English from
long time ago
and for the English exam, I always got
the worst marks .
What I like if I can pronoun English
vocabularies although it is
not perfect yet, but in studying English, I enjoy
more with a little bit musical instrument
sounds.
The barrier is the difficulty to pronoun the
language because my
tongue is not in habit to accept the words.
Expectation of Academic
Performance Scores
I11032014P61BA-LA The score is up to you, Sir
From Table 4.12, BA stated that actually she was asked by her father to
study in State high School. Nevertheless, she got good response from the teacher in the Vocational High School compared to state high school when she registered.
Hence, she decided to study in Vocational High School since she was impressed with the service of the teacher. It indicated that she had interest in Vocational
High School for the first time she registered as a study. She said ; I11032014P3BA-LA
: “Honestly, my father asked me to study in state high school
. I registered there, but the response of the teacher there was not
good……I came here then, and met Bu Siska. ……. She gave good response……so I
decided to study here. ”
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Her good impression of the Vocational High School supported her interest to study English subject. The way she dealt with English was affected by her
emotion meaning that her learning was reflected by the internal process I11032014P11P12BA-LA. She realized that she was not able to understand
the English lesson since she felt that she could not understand English from the first time she know English in formal study and then she gave up studying English
when she was stuck of understanding, as she said ; I11032014P6BA-LA
: “From the first time I learnt English, I did not really understand.
I was not able to catch the material yet
…” “Maybe, I was not able to understand…giving up or
something like that.” In addition, she was very happy when she could do English assignment as
the reflection of how she started to like English lesson, as she stated ;
I11032014P13BA-LA : “What I like from English lesson is that when I can do
the assignments
…” As Kraus et al. 2001 states that different learning situation may change the
individual’s learning style. The recent English learning activities which consisted of various speaking activities such as singing and movies discussion enhance
BA’s interest to study English because she also liked to sing and to watch movies,
as she stated : I11032014P15BA-
LA : “… watching movie and singing … by singing, I know the meaning … by watching movie, I know how to
pronounce
” Then, BA started to study English deeper related to the English formula of
sentences and then she would like to translate some English sentences I11032014P26P31BA-LA.
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For the English speaking ability, BA felt that she was not capable enough to
understand English because of her past learning experience that she could not understand English. She said ;
I11032014P47BA-LA
: “… because I was not capable in English from long time ago
and for the English exam, I always got the worst marks
. ”
Then, since she started to like some English speaking activities, she also started to like English lesson and studied English vocabularies. She emphasized
that she could enjoy the English lesson if there was musical instrument meaning that she liked music and also singing as mentioned before. She noted ;
I11032014P59BA-LA
: “What I like if I can pronoun English vocabularies even it is not perfect yet, but in studying English, I
enjoy more with a little bit musical instrument sounds.
The barrier is the difficulty to pronoun the language
because my tongue is not in habit to accept the words.”
Nunan 2003 states that speaking is the production of verbal utterances to
convey meaning. BA was able to produce her verbal utterances if the learning
activities supported her to do so. When she heard musical instrument of English songs she might know, she could express the pronunciation of the song lyrics and
as a stretch, she could fulfill her interest in singing.
For the academic performance, BA had no idea her target score since she
just started to like English lesson I11032014P61BA-LA. Carter 1959 states that academic performance is the combination of knowledge acquisition and skills
development. Since BA just realized that she could improve her English
knowledge and skill with certain learning activities, than she could not predict the score of her academic performance. Although she knew the passing grade of
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academic performance score, she still considered her bad English learning experience as the point to pass the grade.
BA’s statements, as in Table 4.12, emphasize her satisfaction of Vocational
High School management services and also her fulfillment of having English learning activities that she liked. Then,
BA’s lived-experience of her learning,
English speaking, and academic performance were clearly found since she could feel some changes of her competency in English such as she feels comfortable
with the school activities although her first option was not to study in the Vocational High School. She also feels to clarify the essence of English subject
since she is able to find the fun of English lessons. Her biggest barrier to study English comes from her less exploration of how to overcome the English learning
difficulty. In addition, her personal emotion also supports the way she faces English learning activities. Then, if she has good mood in studying English and
she deals with English learning activities she likes, she will produce good comprehension of English speaking ability and academic performance.