Background of the problem

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This study intends to explore students’ perception on the use of mind- mapping technique in Extensive Reading II class of English Language Education Study Program. This chapter presents the background of study, problem limitation, problem formulation, objective of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms.

A. Background of the problem

Traditionally, teaching-learning process is teacher-centered English Teaching Forum, 1991: 31. The teacher only explains the materials and the student only becomes the passive listeners. There is a gap between the teacher and the student, and, therefore both of them lack for mutual information. Besides, the objectives of learning English are not merely limited to grammatical mastery, but it must be aimed at facilitating the student to develop their high-order of thinking and to acquire knowledge. However, many teachers have started to be more creative in preparing materials and techniques for their teaching process. They develop their materials and use some techniques in order to make the learners feel easy and relaxed in their learning process and be more self-reliant in acquiring the knowledge. Nowadays, most lecturers apply teaching-learning techniques which put emphasize on increasing student’s autonomy. One of the techniques is mind- mapping. A mind-mapping is similar to a road map to help the learners on their journey Busan, 1991. It provides an overview or overall picture of a particular subject and helps to plan the route or choices. Buzan adds that the mind-mapping stores a large amount of information efficiently, but the exciting part was to discover that the final mind-map is not only readable, but also potential to exercise the brain in a very exciting way. It helps develop critical thinking, which is often overlooked by traditional teaching methods. In addition, one of the powerful things about mind-mapping is that it becomes a tool to encourage creative thinking and often creative solutions to problems. Furthermore, Mind- mapping can help the learner understand and remember important points on their readings. In the teaching learning at English Language Education Study Program, some lecturers have also started to use some techniques in order to make their students feel at ease in their learning and help them to achieve their goal of the learning. One of the lecturers in English Language Education Study Program has been developing a mind-mapping technique in Extensive Reading II KPE 315 class. Extensive Reading II course is one of the compulsory courses taught in English Language Education Study Program . This class is aimed at improving students’ reading skills through literary works and scientific or journalism writings Panduan Akademik, 2004. By using the mind-mapping technique in ER II class, it is expected that students will have the pleasure while expressing some ideas from reading passages. After reading some passages, students can focus on key ideas written down in their own words, and then they look for branches out and connections between the ideas. Therefore, the student is mapping knowledge in a manner which will help them understand and remember new information. Extensive reading is a reading activity that is done for pleasure Mikulecky, 1990. The students are given freedom to choose what they want to read. They are free to choose the reading passages. Meanwhile, the lecturer has to monitor the progress of the learners. Then, the lecturer starts to implement the mind-mapping technique in order to help students reach the goal of their study. Students’ opinions and attitudes toward specific classroom activities or teacher-student interactions can affect the decision related to the best way to modify and employ various techniques and methods in the classroom Young, 1991. In addition, students’ perception also covers wide variety of factors related to their language experiences, including opinion about their teachers, views of instructional activities and approaches, and expressions of satisfaction with their progress in their classroom. Therefore, students’ perception on what they learn also plays a key role in the success or failure of the learning. This study is then aimed at finding out the implementation of mind- mapping technique in ER II class and discovering the students’ perception on the implementation of mind-mapping technique in ER II class.

B. Problem Limitation