50 interest in the language might contribute to his English proficiency and mastery.
The internal factor also drives him to keep self-improving his English by watching Western movies and TV series, listening to English songs, as well as practicing
English with his brother.
2. The Results of the Interview
The interview was done in seclusion after class on March 15, 2008. The setting was under a tree not far from P-Man’s class. The researcher prepared 22
questions to ask. However, she only managed to get answers to 21 of them. Some of the questions were about English skills in general because the researcher
conducted the study in collaboration with three other fellow researchers. They consisted of four questions related to writing skill and eight questions about
English grammar. Some other questions were posed to find out if P-Man thought being in the international class of SMAN 3 Yogyakarta had any influences on his
English. The first question was if P-Man had attended any English course outside
school. He stated that he once did when he was in elementary school. However, it was not planned, for he merely got the chance as a prize for he was entitled the
best student of his class. Furthermore, he claimed that it was his first and last time joining an English course because he did not continue it after the program was
over. The researcher then tried to get additional information by asking about how long he had been studying English to the day. P-Man’s answer was eight years.
He started when he was in the fourth grade of elementary school.
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51 The second question was if he worried about making mistakes and
sounding silly while speaking the language. He said that he did not worry much if he made mistakes because he did not have any knowledge of the rules. In his
opinion, making mistakes is part of learning. However, if the mistakes were due to his inability to remember the rules he had already known, he would try his best to
not repeat them. Then, the researcher asked P-Man what the biggest difference between
learning English in a regular class and international class was. He explained that it was completely different, for the international class did not only focus on English
but also on Mathematics and Sciences. He thought it was more challenging because he could get new terminologies while doing exercises in class.
The fourth question was if he thought it was interesting to study in the international class. His gave a confirmation by saying that they did not only get
Indonesian teachers but also American ones. Then, the fifth was about the difficulties he had in the international class. He revealed that he had difficulties in
vocabulary. Due to his lack of vocabulary items, he sometimes found it challenging to understand the teachers’ speech in English. However, he said that
he could still handle it. The sixth question was posed to find out if P-Man thought there was
enough exposure to English in the international class. According to him, there was enough exposure to English even though some teachers had not made use of
English in class. Afterwards, the researcher asked if he received corrective feedback. He answered that the teachers did not point out the students’ mistakes,
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52 so he often got confused. He thought his work was correct, but it turned out to be
incorrect. He also added that he often relied on the auto-correction feature in his computer.
The eighth question was about his opinion on whether or not he considered his English improving more rapidly during the international class. He verified it
by saying that being in the international class had been helping hip enrich his vocabulary. He got new knowledge and words mostly from his Mathematics,
Physics, Chemistry, and Biology lessons. Afterwards, the researcher asked about his impression of the international class. P-Man claimed it had made him a better
student, for it gave him a lot of new knowledge and theories of Sciences and Mathematics. His suggestion was for the school to improve its international class’
quality by inviting the lecturers from Universitas Gadjah Mada to teach using English more frequently.
The tenth question was if it was easy for P-Man to express his ideas in written form using English. He admitted that he was still a beginner, so he had
some difficulties in using English to write. Nonetheless, he kept trying to develop his skills. The eleventh question was about his difficulties in writing. P-Man said
he had some problems with vocabulary and grammar. Afterwards, the researcher asked if being in the international class helped
P-Man in writing. He confidently revealed that it did in the way that the students were exposed to English not only in English class but also in Mathematics,
Physics, Chemistry, and Biology lessons. In addition to intensive English exposure in classes, they got some modules. As a result, English was relatively
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53 familiar for him. The researcher continued by asking if he thought that there had
been any progress in his writing after joining the international class. P-Man’s answer was affirmative. According to him, the teachers focused more on writing
than speaking. The fourteenth question was about P-Man’s perception towards grammar
in general. He did not confirm if he thought it was easy or difficult for him. He only stated that if he knew the rules it would be easy. Otherwise, it would be a
challenge for him. Then, the researcher tried to find out if P-Man thought it was important to learn grammar. In his opinion, grammar was important in writing,
but less significant in spoken contexts. The sixteenth question was asked in order to reveal if P-Man had any
problems with his grammar in writing and speaking. He said he did not have any serious problems with grammar in writing so long as he knew the rules. On the
other hand, he admitted that using appropriate grammar constructions while speaking was not easy because he was not used to it. The seventeenth question
was about P-Man’s biggest difficulty in grammar. He mentioned prepositions as his main problem, especially when combined with adjectives.
The researcher then continued the interview by asking if P-Man thought if the program he was in with English as the means of delivering materials helped
him understand the structures of the sentences. He answered briefly that it did. Subsequently, the researcher asked if the teachers taught grammar in classes. He
said they taught them grammar in English lessons.
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54 The twentieth question was to unveil if there were any differences in P-
Man’s grammar before and after joining the international class. He said that there had been some progress, but he still had some problems. Finally, the researcher
asked for some suggestions to make it easier for students to learn grammar. He suggested that teachers bore in mind that though grammar is an important part of
language learning, it could be boring. Accordingly, teachers should make their grammar lessons fun and put the rules into practice to avoid boredom.
3. Research Subject’s Grammar Accuracy in Writing
