44 From the data analysis above, it was clear that the use of group dicsussion
was an interesting and effective technique to increase student engagement. According to Flynn and Faso 1972, group discussion is a natural human activity,
an interesting, exciting, and creative experience which define a small group as not more than twenty-five people who recognize themselves and one another as
members and who meet in a face-to-face situation to accomplish some purposes they believe better fulfilled in this way p. 4-5.
2. Students’ Perceptions on Their Engagement in Group Discussion in the Speaking Sessions of CLS I.
Barkley 2010 states that student engagement is the product of motivation and active learning p. 6. The student engagement itself was closely related to
their motivation to participate in group discussion. In this category, the respondents were asked to perceive about their engagement when group
discussion was implemented. In order to answer the second research question about the students’ perceptions on their engagement in the speaking sessions of
CLS I, the researcher used data from the questionnaires in the second major discussion
which was about students’ perceptions on their engagement in group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I.
a. Students’ Perceptions on Their Effort in Group Discussion
Students’ perceptions on their effort in group discussion are important to be identified. It has a close relationship with their engagement that can increase
their achievement when the group discussion was implemented. Weiner 1972, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
45 1983 states that a belief in effort ultimately pays off in terms of enhanced
achievement. This means that the effort of the students might influence their engagement in order to enhance their achievement in group discussion of CLS I.
Table 4.2 Percentage Distribution of Students’ Perceptions Their Effort in Group Discussion
Statements Percentages Distribution
SD D
A SA
7 30.76
65.38 3.84
8 7.69
84.61 7.69
9 69.23
23.07 7.69
10 76.92
23.07
Table 4.2 presented the percentage distribution of students’ perceptions on their effort in group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I. There were four
statements related to the students’ perceptions on this category. The result of statement number seven shows that 30.76 8 people of the respondents strongly
disagreed and 65.38 17 people of the respondents disagreed that they worked individually in group discussion in CLS I subject because their friends could not
understand the topic. Meanwhile, only 3.84 1 people of the respondents agreed with the statement. Therefore, it can be concluded that most of the respondents
disagreed that they worked individually in group discussion. The respondents thought that they were not working by themselves. This meant that the other
group members would help each other in the group. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
46 The result of the statement number eight shows that none of the
respondents strongly disagreed and only 7.69 2 people disagreed that being engaged in a group discussion was useful for them as English Language
Education Study Program students. There were 84.61 22 people who agreed and only 7.69 2 people of the respondents who strongly agreed that being
engaged in group discussion was useful for them as English Language Education Study Program students. In fact, most of the respondents 84.61 agreed with
the statement. This shows that most of the respondents believed that being engaged in a group discussion was beneficial for them as English Language
Education Study Program students. Besides, the researcher also conducted interviews to the respondents who
chose “disagree” with the statement. The interviewee said “I rarely participate in group discussion. I think my engagement is useless for the group. So, I prefer to
not talk in group discussion”. The result of the interview indicated that being
engaged in group discussion was not beneficial for hisher as an English Language Education Study Program. In fact, the interviewee could not participate well in
group. Another interviewee thought “Ya it depends on the group members because if I join with a group which I know them begore and have same ideas, it
will be easy to unite our opinions. On the other hand, if I find a new group which I don’t know them yet, it will be difficult for me to accept their opinions. Therefore,
this is not easy to unite our opin ions. At the end, the goals are not achieved”. This
reason shows that the interviewee could not work with new people who heshe did not know yet. It was not easy to unite hisher ideas with those people. For that
47 reason, it was not useful for the interviewee to work in group because the goals of
the discussion could not be accepted at the end. Statement number nine resulted in the fact that none of the respondents
strongly disagreed and only 23.07 6 people of the respondents disagreed that before they joined the group discussion, they had already been interested in
engaging themselves in group discussion. Meanwhile, there were 69.23 18 people of the respondents who agreed and 7.69 2 people of the respondents
who strongly agreed that before they joined the group discussion, they had already been interested in engaging themselves in group discussion. The conclusions of
this statement were that 80 of the respondents agreed that before joined the group discussion; they had already been interested in engaging themselves in
group discussion and 20 of the respondents disagreed that before they joined the group discussion, they had already been interested in engaging themselves in
group discussion. In other words, most respondents believed that group discussion was an interesting technique used by the lecturer. Therefore, they could engage
themselves well in a group discussion. The researcher crosschecked the result from the questionnaire with the
data from the interview and also wrote the interview result as the supporting data. In the interview, the researcher asked about the reason why the interviewees
disagreed with statement number nine . The first interviewees stated “Actually, all
depends on the topic discussed in group discussion. If I am not interested in the topic, I usually give opportunity to my friends to discuss about that topic
”. This reason showed that the topic in group discussion was the main factor for the
48 interviewee to acquire hisher interest and engage himselfherself in group
discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I. The second interviewees stated “Sometimes I want to share my opinions
but if suddenly there is an opinion which is not supporting my ideas, it will make me uncomfortable to continue talking what I have in my mind. In fact, I still
cannot accept others people opinions”. The interviewee thought that heshe could not accept other opinions easily. As a result, hisher fr
iends’ opinions made himher become uncomfortable to be in the group discussion. Therefore, the
interviewee was not interested to engage himselfherself in group discussion in the speaking session in CLS I. The fourth interviewees said “I feel not interested to
participat e in group discussion because I do not like to work in group”. This
interview resulted that the interviewee was not interested to get engaged in group discussion because heshe did not like to work in group. The last interviewees told
“I am just not interested in comeing to group discussion because it is better to work individually than in group”. The interviewee was not interested in working
in group because heshe was better to work individually rather than working in group. Thus, heshe was not able to engage himselfherself in group discussion.
The last statement in this category, statement number ten shows that none of the respondents strongly disagreed and disagreed with the statement. However,
there were 76.92 20 people of the respondents who agreed and 23.07 6 people of the respondents who strongly agreed that they have followed all
activities in a group discussion in CLS I. Therefore, it can be concluded that most of the respondents agreed that they have followed all activities in a group
49 discussion in CLS I. The respondents believed that they have followed all
activities in a group discussion since it was implemented by the lecturer. This means that the respondents perceive that they have worked well to be an active
learner and given the best effort during the group discussion activity in the speaking sessions of CLS I.
From the data analysis, it wa s clear that students’ perceptions on their
effort in group discussion might influce their engagement. Kuh 2009 also defines student engagement as the time and effort students devote to activities that
are empirically linked to desired outcomes of college and what institutions do to induce students to participate in these activities p. 683.
b. Students’ Perceptions on the Purpose of Their Engagement
