The Effects of Doing Group Presentation to Foster Independent Learning

48 All of the statements in Table 4.2 investigated the effects of doing group presentation to foster students’ independent learning. According to Richards and Rodgers 2001, group project in language teaching provides opportunities for the students to learn naturally by having group activities. Therefore, the first statement was about whether the students could learn better by working together with their friends in group or not. There were 62.3 out of all students agreed and 26.2 of the students strongly agreed with this statement. Besides, the 11.5 of the students disagreed that they could learn better by doing group project. However, none of the students strongly disagreed with the first statement. It was described that most of the students felt that they could learn better by doing group presentation project. Next, the second statement showed that 70.5 out of all students agreed that they could reach their learning goal through doing group presentation project. Group presentation project was done by the lecturer as a methodology to make the students able to achieve their goal Richard Rogers, 2001. There were 13.1 of the students who supported this statement because they strongly agreed. Nevertheless, the 16.4 of the students disagreed and there was no one who strongly disagreed with the second statement. Afterward, the third statement in number three asked whether or not the students became more communicative by learning through group presentation project. In language teaching, Richards and Rodgers 2001 stated that group work has a communicative function for students because they have to be interactive in doing the 49 task. It exposed that the students also learn independently in order to practice their communicative speaking skill. The result was that 32.8 of the students strongly agreed and 60.7 of all of the students agreed that they could be more communicative. On the other hand, 6.6 of the students disagreed and none of the students strongly disagreed with the third statement. The f orth statement was about learning in group opened each student’s opportunity to learn about new material. More than half respondents agreed with the forth statement. There were 70.5 out of all students agreed and 27.9 of the students strongly disagreed. A few students about 1.6 of the students disagreed and none of them strongly disagreed with statement number three. According to Richards and Rodgers 2001, group work provides opportunities for learners to be success in their learning. Thus, group presentation project as a part of group work was also aimed to let the students succeed in understanding their lesson and to get new knowledge. Richards and Rogers 2001 also said that the implementation of group work in language teaching can enhance students’ motivation and reduce their stress. Motivation is also related to students’ independent learning. However, the result showed that 42.6 of all of the students disagreed and 14.8 of the students strongly disagreed with the fifth statement. There were only 34.4 out of all students who agreed and 8.2 of the students strongly agreed that they could reduce their stress through doing group presentation project. 50 On the other hand, if the students had more independent learning through doing group presentation project so they would improve their academic performance Meyer, et al., 2008. The sixth statement asked whether or not the students got good scores by learning through group presentation project. It was shown that 63.9 out of all students agreed and 4.9 of the students also strongly agreed with it. Some 29.5 of the students disagreed and 1.6 of the students strongly disagreed with it. It explained that most of the students got good scores in their study by learning through group presentation project. Otherwise, some of them could not get it. The seventh statement asked whether or not the students felt much more motivated in learning by doing group presentation project. According to Meyer, et al. 2008, if the students become more independent in learning by doing the project, their motivation and confidence as well as the ability to engage in lifelong learning will be increased. It was proven that there were more than half students who felt that they were much more motivated in learning through group presentation project. There were 44.3 out of all students who agreed and 13.1 of the students strongly agreed with the seventh statement. The 42.6 of the students disagreed and none of the students strongly disagreed with it. Moreover, the eighth statement wanted to find out whether the students felt much more confident or not. There were 57.4 out of all students who agreed and 13.1 of the students strongly agreed that they felt much more confident. Otherwise, the other 29.5 of the students disagreed that they felt much more confident. There 51 were no students who strongly disagreed that they did not feel much more confident by doing group presentation project. To sum up, more than half students felt that they were much more motivated and confident. The 57.4 out of all students agreed that they were much more motivated and 70.1 out of all students agreed that they were also much more confident. The ninth statement wanted to discover whether the students could find ways to improve their weakness through doing group presentation project. It was found that there were 77.0 out of all students agreed with the ninth statement. There were 4.9 of the students answered strongly agree with that statement, while 18.0 of the students disagreed and none of the students who strongly disagreed with it. It was stated that one of the benefits of having independent learning, students became more aware of and better at managing their limitations Meyer, et al., 2008. It was meant that by doing group presentation project the students were able to improve their weaknesses independently and learned better. To sum up, the result of perceptions in the ninth statement showed that 81.9 of the students agreed that by doing group presentation project they could find ways to improve their weaknesses. Furthermore, the last statement dealt with whether the students improved their independent learning by doing group presentation project or not. The result showed that 45.9 of the total students agreed that by doing group presentation project they improved their independent learning, there were 26.2 of the students who strongly disagreed, 23.0 of the students disagreed, and 4.9 of the students strongly 52 disagreed with the statement. Therefore, the result of statement number ten showed that there were 72.1 of the students who agreed and 27.9 of the students who disagreed that they improved their independent learning by doing group presentation project. The tenth statement was also supported by the answers from the interview. Some students agreed that doing group presentation improve their independent learning. The reason was explained by one of the interviewees. “Ehm… first is because we have a responsible to master the topic. So like it or not like I’ve said before, we need to dig and get a lot of information to the topic that we have. From that process we can do it independently.” Interviewee 3 Another interviewee said that heshe also agreed with the statement because of the responsibility. By having responsibility, heshe was accustomed to preparing the presentation project really well and became more independent in learning Interviewee 2. Those who agreed with the statements of improving independent learning through group presentation project might agree because of considering that they could find out a lot of information for their topic of discussion and presentation in their group. They found information by themselves first, and then they shared it with their friends, after that they learned it again Pozzi Persico, 2010, p. 197. Interviewee 3 and Interviewee 4 decided to agree with fostering independent learning by doing group presentation project because the process of doing it made 53 them find as much as information about the materials and prepare the presentation well, thus it fostered their independent learning. On the other hand, there were few students who did not agree that group presentation project helped them improve their independent learning. There must be a reason for that and one of the students who were interviewed explained the reason. Heshe said: “Because I feel that I am more independent, I become more independent if I do it myself because I work it alone so I am independent right. But if I do it, do the task or the assignment with my groups mostly all of the package of the assignments are done by my friends. So, I am dependent to my friends, I am not independent. ” Interviewee 1 The answer of Interviewee 1 showed that heshe did not feel independent because of the project was done in group. Otherwise, if the project was done independently, then heshe would feel much more independent because the project was all done on hisher own. However, whether or not doing group presentation project makes the students more independent depends on each student’s awareness. Interviewee 4 said that: “I do not totally disagree actually why because whether it has effects to my independence it depends on myself and other members. If all of the members can do our own part by ourselves and responsible to our part then we can be more independence, we will not dependent to other members. ” 54 Interviewee 4 believed that independent learning improvement depended on each person. If all of the group members can participate really well like doing their own part to looking for information so they could be more independent. It was shown that participation from all of the group members was needed in doing group presentation project so that the students learned to be more independent. As a result, the researcher concluded that the respondents or the students had positive perceptions on the effects of doing group presentation project to foster their independent learning. It was shown that all of the students responded agree to most of the statements provided in the questionnaire.

B. Students’ Suggestions on the Use of Group Presentation Project as a

Strategy to Enhance their Independent Learning This part discussed the results of the open-ended questionnaire. The findings answered the second research problem of the research. It talked about students’ suggestions on the implementation of group presentation project. The suggestions were collected from 61 students of English Language Education Study Program in Sanata Dharma University. Based on the data obtained, most of the students showed positive perceptions on group presentation project to improve their independent learning. Nevertheless, the suggestions from the respondents or the students were needed to make the ways of doing group presentation project better. They were some 55 positive suggestions on the implementation of group presentation project so it could be better to improve students’ independent learning. In order to present clear description, suggestions from the students were categorized into three points. They were as follows.

1. Suggestions for Each Student to Take Part

Most of the students suggested that each member in group must take part in doing the project. One of the students wrote, “I suggest all of the group to take their parts. The real discussion will be more beneficial for independent learning …” Respondent 1. Another student said, “Involvement of every meeting in finishing the assignment. Involvement is a must ” Respondent 10. The participation of the entire member in each group was important to foster their own independent learning. These ideas were supported by other students who said that every student in groups should be cooperative. By showing their cooperation, the entire members felt motivated to do the project too. Respondent 12 suggested, “If someone can cooperate and motivate each other, I believe that the others will have the same expectation to reach the same score. So it means that the person will study hard individually.” A student also explained hisher opinion that the students could be more independent if they were cooperative too. “I think it will be better if all of the members of the group are cooperative. Therefore, each of the members can get the same portion of independent learning ” Respondent 24. 56 As a result, there were many ways to participate in group presentation project. Finding information about the presentation topic to be discussed, sharing the information in groups, learning the topic to understand better, and preparing for the presentation. Most of the students recommended all of the following ways. One of the students said, “I think all of the members should find the materials first and then they c an find their own understanding…” Respondent 10. It was better if each student in group presentation project found the information about the topic being discussed in group. Looking for as much as information would make them learn and understand. After that, all of the students could share the information about the materials in group before presenting it. By sharing the information, the students also had a chance to practice speaking for their presentation. Therefore, in order to have more independent learning, each student must participate. Although the project of group presentation was done in group, each student’s participation in group became the consideration. In doing group project, all of the students must be cooperative Bleakley Carrigan, 1994. However, each student’s responsibility was also needed in the process. As Knowles 1975 in O’ Doherty 2006 described, the process of self-directed learning was a process in which the students take initiative to learn with or without the help of others and it was part of interdependence process. It was meant that the process of improving independent learning was not only an autonomous process but also related to the interaction process with others.