AN ANALYSIS ON THE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH PROFICIENCY BASED ON THEIR GENDER AT THE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN SIDOMULYO II BANGSAL MOJOKERTO

AN ANALYSIS ON THE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH PROFICIENCY BASED ON THEIR GENDER AT THE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN

SIDOMULYO II BANGSAL MOJOKERTO

THESIS

By:

Catur Wahyu Febrianti 08360131

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

AN ANALYSIS ON THE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH PROFICIENCY BASED ON THEIR GENDER AT THE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN

SIDOMULYO II BANGSAL MOJOKERTO

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

THESIS

By:

Catur Wahyu Febrianti 08360131

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

MOTTO AND DEDICATION

MOTTO

“E veryone who does any efforts to get knowledge, Allah will make her

way easy toward heaven”

H R M uslim

DEDICATED TO:

ALLAH S.W.T always teaches me everything in my life My parents who always give me great prayer and spirit My brothers (Wawan, Antok, and Nugie) who always support me My boyfriend, Antoe Fadjran Al Husain who always give me love and spirit

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

First of all, praise to Allah S.W.T the mercifull and almighty for the guidance and blessing be on Muhammad S.A.W the last prophet in the world.

In this accassion, the writer also would like to express her faithfull gratitude to: Dr. Masduki, M.Pd as the first advisor and , Drs. Soeparto, M.Pd as the second advisor, who have given the patience guidance, encouragement, advice, correction, and suggestion for the completion of this thesis.

The head master of English Department and all of the lectures of English Department, who have given suply of knowledge during her study in this white campus.

Beloved parents Zainuddin Hasan and Mujiati, who have showed all of their care, complete understanding and their silent prayer. My brothers (Wawan, Antok,

and Nugie) who always support me. Beloved boyfriend, Antoe Fadjran Al Husain. Thank you for your support to

finish this thesis.

All beloved friends, Mb’ Silvy, Puji, Silvy, Aryanti, Lina, Ninuk, and Tya who have always stay beside me and support me.

Hopefully, may Allah S.W.T always bless them all and write their kindness as worship.

Malang, October 30, 2012 The Writer,

ABSTRACT

Students are likely to vary in terms of logical thinking skills, learning strategies, background knowledge and English proficiency. Some students may be very different with their classmates in their cognitive or language skills that they will need special instructional materials and practices. In this case, gender is assumed as one of factors which influence those differences. The writer also views gender as the interesting topic which needs to study because she sees the different performance between boys and girls in learning. The girls very often show better performance. They obey the teacher’s instructions in the class and do assignments which are given by the teacher. All those reasons attract the writer conducts an analysis on the students’ English proficiency based on their gender.

The objective of this study is to know whether there is significant difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto.

The research design of this study is ex post facto research design using non experimental quantitative research because the writer did not manipulate gender. She just compared groups which were different to determine its effect. This study is population research because the population is less than 100 subjects. In collecting the data, the writer used document analysis as an instrument by asking the document related to scores of students’ English achievement to the English teacher.

After analyzing the data, it can be seen that the girls’ students had higher scores than the boys. The girls’ score was 158.34 and the boys’ score was 157.07. However, the difference between them in English proficiency was very slight.

Thus, it can be concluded that the difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto was not significant because t-value is fewer than t-table. Thus, the alternative hypothesis which stated that there is significant difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto was unaccepted. It means that English proficiency among students of different gender in this school was almost similar.

Keywords: Gender, and English Proficiency.

The 1st Advisor, The Writer

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL ... i

LEGALIZATION ... ii

MOTTO & DEDICATION ... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iv

ABSTRACT ... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1 Background of the Study ... 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem ... 4

1.3 Hypothesis ………. 4

1.3.1 Alternative Hypothesis (Ha) ……….. 4

1.3.2 Null Hypothesis (Ho) ………. 4

1.4 Purpose of the Study ... 5

1.5 Significance of the Study ... 5

1.6 Scope and Limitation ... 5

1.7 Definition of the Key Terms ... 6

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 7

2.1 Learning ... 7

2.2 Learning a Second Language ... 8

2.3 Gender ... 9

2.3.1 Biological Views ……….. 9

2.3.2 Socialization Views ………. 10

2.3.3 Cognitive Views ……… 10

2.4 Gender Stereotypes ………. 11

2.5.1 Similarities ……… 11

2.5.2 Differences ……… 12

2.6 English Proficiency ………. 14

2.6.1 English Proficiency Level ……….. 15

2.7 English Proficiency Related to Gender ………... 19

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 21

3.1 Research Design ... 21

3.2 Population. ... 22

3.3 Research Instrument ... 23

3.3.1 Document Analysis……… 23

3.4 Data ... 24

3.4.1 Data Source ………... 24

3.5 Data Collection ... 24

3.6 Data Analysis ………. 24

CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION... 27

4.1 Finding ... 27

4.2 Discussion ... 28

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 31

5.1 Conclusion ... 31

5.2 Suggestions ... 29

REFERENCES APPENDIX I APPENDIX II APPENDIX III

REFERENCES

Anggraini, Indah, K. 2009. A Study on Differences Between Boys and Girls Achievement in Learning English in SMAN 9 Malang. Unpublished Thesis. Malang. University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

Arikunto, Suharsimi. 2006. Prosedur Penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktik. Edisi Revisi. Jakarta: PT. Rineka Cipta.

Ary, D., Jacobs, and Razavieh, A. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education Sixth Edition. US: Thomson Wadsworth Inc.

Ary, D., Jacobs, and Razavieh, A. 2010. Introduction to Research in Education Sixth Edition. US: Thomson Wadsworth Inc.

Lin & Wu. 2003. Differential Performance by Gender in Foreign Language Testing. The Centre for Research in Applied Measurement and Evaluation. The University of Alberta. Chicago.

Ormrod, Ellis. J. 2000. Educational Psychology: Developing Learners. New Jersey. Prentice Hall Inc.

Santrock, John, 2001. Educational Psychology. International Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Santrock, John, 2001. Child Development. International Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Wu, et., al. January 2002. Advanced Level Research Report. Journal. The Language Training and Testing Center.

_______. 2009. Equally Prepared for Life?How 15-Years-Old Boys. www.oecd.org/publishing & www.pisa.oecd.org

_______. 2009. What is English Proficiency. http://www.eduqna.com/Primary-Secondary-Education/1264-3-pse.html

_______. 2009. English Proficiency Level.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_English_Proficiency#ixzz16wiws96o _______. 2012. English Proficiency Index 2012. www.ef.com/epi.

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This introductory chapter provides the basic ideas related to the study being carried out. This chapter presents the background of this study, statement of the problems, purposes of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation and definition of the key terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

Language is very important for communication. By using language people can express the ideas and interact with other people. One of the languages for international communication is English. English is used as a means of communication and plays important role in people’s life either in written or spoken forms such as in books, newspapers, magazines, radios, televisions and internet. There are many books especially textbook for university students, which are written in English. Therefore, in order to be able to read the books and other written materials, people should master English.

English as the first foreign language is taught at school all over the countries. It is taught since in the elementary school level. Nowadays, it is given as a compulsory subject. The aim of giving English for elementary students is to develop the students’ proficiency to have communication in English. The objective is stated in the principle of English curriculum 2006. The aim of teaching English is to develop

2

communicative proficiency in English covering reading, listening, speaking and writing. This objective is in line with the need of mastering English in globalization and information era. The four skills are very important to support the proficiency to communicate both written and orally.

Students are likely to vary in terms of logical thinking skills, learning strategies, background knowledge and English proficiency. Some students may be very different with their classmates in their cognitive or language skills that they will need special instructional materials and practices. In this case, gender is assumed as one of factors which influence those differences.

Many aspects of students’ lives can be examined to determine how similar or different girls and boys are (Crawford & Unger in Santrock, 2001: 183). However, the similarities and differences are still be a consideration to take a conclusion because a major review of gender similarities and differences conducted in 1970s concluded that girls have better verbal skill than boys do. But, more recent analysis suggests that there are no differences in girls’ and boys’ verbal skills. Today, males score as high as females on the verbal portion of the test. Boys and girls show similar vocabulary, reading skill, and writing achievement. It is stated that many research continues to show gender differences, and the differences in physical abilities, aggression, self-regulation, and relationship skill still become gender controversy (Santrock, 2001:185). It shows that this matter is still interesting to study by many researchers, including the writer of this thesis. Another fact that makes the writer interested in studying gender is that women often excel at school, however men often

3

earn more and are more likely to hold positions of power in political and economic life. Looking at these inequalities, the writer is curious what happened in the educational area related to gender. As stated in Equally Prepared for Life?How

15-Years-Old Boys, NN, 2009: 8), there are at least three reasons for studying gender

differences, which include identifying the source of inequalities, fostering average performance and improving our understanding of how students learn.

Besides the facts above, the writer also views gender as the interesting topic which needs to study because she sees the different performance between boys and girls in learning. The girls very often show better performance. They obey the teacher’s instructions in the class and do assignments which are given by the teacher. All those reasons attract the writer conducts an analysis on the students’ English proficiency based on their gender.

Related to this study, there was a previous study conducted by Anggraini (2009) entitled A Study on Differences Between Boys and Girls Achievement in Learning English in SMAN 9 Malang. She focused on how boys and girls achievement are in learning English in first grade. She found that there was a significance difference between the achievement of boys and girls in learning English. From this study, the writer can conclude that gender is one of factors which may influence the students’ ability in learning English. This is due to the fact that there was difference in performance in learning English between boys and girls.

Since the previous study was conducted in SMAN, which means the senior high school, the writer is curious to conduct it in elementary school whether the result

4

of the study will be the same as previous study or not. In this case, elementary school chosen is SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto because the students of this school have been accepted in this school through the tight competition, so this school is supposed to have the high proficiency students.

From the background above, an analysis on the students’ English proficiency based on their gender at students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto needs to be conducted.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In order to make clear on the course of the study based on the research background stated above, the researcher formulates the research problems. To be more explicit, the research problem is “Is there any significant difference on the English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto?”

1.3 Hypothesis

1.3.1 Alternative Hypothesis (Ha)

There is significant difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto. 1.3.2 Null Hypothesis (Ho)

There is no significant difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto.

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1.4 Purpose of the Study

Based on the formulation of the statement problem above, the purpose of the study is to know whether there is significant difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto.”

1.5 Significance of the Study

The finding of this study is expected to provide information about the students’ English proficiency based on their gender. This study will give contribution for several parties. The first is for English Department students. It is to know how to motivate English learners in learning English process as a foreign language. The second is for teachers. This research can help them develop their way of teaching English and to know how gender affects the students’ proficiency in English subject.

1.6 Scope and Limitation

The scope of this study is the students’ proficiency in English subject based on gender at SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto. The subjects of this study are limited to the students for the fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto.

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1.7Definition of the Key Terms

Gender is the term refers to sociocultural dimensions of being female or male and distinguish from sex which involves the biological dimensions of being female or male (Santrock, 2001).

English proficiency is the ability of someone to use their English as written and spoken language in standard form of its accuracy and fluency, which also includes listening, speaking, reading and writing. http://www.eduqna.com/Primary-Secondary-Education/1264-3-pse.html

1

This introductory chapter provides the basic ideas related to the study being carried out. This chapter presents the background of this study, statement of the problems, purposes of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation and definition of the key terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

Language is very important for communication. By using language people can express the ideas and interact with other people. One of the languages for international communication is English. English is used as a means of communication and plays important role in people’s life either in written or spoken forms such as in books, newspapers, magazines, radios, televisions and internet. There are many books especially textbook for university students, which are written in English. Therefore, in order to be able to read the books and other written materials, people should master English.

English as the first foreign language is taught at school all over the countries. It is taught since in the elementary school level. Nowadays, it is given as a compulsory subject. The aim of giving English for elementary students is to develop the students’ proficiency to have communication in English. The objective is stated in the principle of English curriculum 2006. The aim of teaching English is to develop

communicative proficiency in English covering reading, listening, speaking and writing. This objective is in line with the need of mastering English in globalization and information era. The four skills are very important to support the proficiency to communicate both written and orally.

Students are likely to vary in terms of logical thinking skills, learning strategies, background knowledge and English proficiency. Some students may be very different with their classmates in their cognitive or language skills that they will need special instructional materials and practices. In this case, gender is assumed as one of factors which influence those differences.

Many aspects of students’ lives can be examined to determine how similar or different girls and boys are (Crawford & Unger in Santrock, 2001: 183). However, the similarities and differences are still be a consideration to take a conclusion because a major review of gender similarities and differences conducted in 1970s concluded that girls have better verbal skill than boys do. But, more recent analysis suggests that there are no differences in girls’ and boys’ verbal skills. Today, males score as high as females on the verbal portion of the test. Boys and girls show similar vocabulary, reading skill, and writing achievement. It is stated that many research continues to show gender differences, and the differences in physical abilities, aggression, self-regulation, and relationship skill still become gender controversy (Santrock, 2001:185). It shows that this matter is still interesting to study by many researchers, including the writer of this thesis. Another fact that makes the writer interested in studying gender is that women often excel at school, however men often

earn more and are more likely to hold positions of power in political and economic life. Looking at these inequalities, the writer is curious what happened in the educational area related to gender. As stated in Equally Prepared for Life?How 15-Years-Old Boys, NN, 2009: 8), there are at least three reasons for studying gender differences, which include identifying the source of inequalities, fostering average performance and improving our understanding of how students learn.

Besides the facts above, the writer also views gender as the interesting topic which needs to study because she sees the different performance between boys and girls in learning. The girls very often show better performance. They obey the teacher’s instructions in the class and do assignments which are given by the teacher. All those reasons attract the writer conducts an analysis on the students’ English proficiency based on their gender.

Related to this study, there was a previous study conducted by Anggraini (2009) entitled A Study on Differences Between Boys and Girls Achievement in Learning English in SMAN 9 Malang. She focused on how boys and girls achievement are in learning English in first grade. She found that there was a significance difference between the achievement of boys and girls in learning English. From this study, the writer can conclude that gender is one of factors which may influence the students’ ability in learning English. This is due to the fact that there was difference in performance in learning English between boys and girls.

Since the previous study was conducted in SMAN, which means the senior high school, the writer is curious to conduct it in elementary school whether the result

of the study will be the same as previous study or not. In this case, elementary school chosen is SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto because the students of this school have been accepted in this school through the tight competition, so this school is supposed to have the high proficiency students.

From the background above, an analysis on the students’ English proficiency based on their gender at students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto needs to be conducted.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In order to make clear on the course of the study based on the research background stated above, the researcher formulates the research problems. To be more explicit, the research problem is “Is there any significant difference on the English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto?”

1.3 Hypothesis

1.3.1 Alternative Hypothesis (Ha)

There is significant difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto. 1.3.2 Null Hypothesis (Ho)

There is no significant difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto.

1.4 Purpose of the Study

Based on the formulation of the statement problem above, the purpose of the study is to know whether there is significant difference on English proficiency among students of different gender in fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto.”

1.5 Significance of the Study

The finding of this study is expected to provide information about the students’ English proficiency based on their gender. This study will give contribution for several parties. The first is for English Department students. It is to know how to motivate English learners in learning English process as a foreign language. The second is for teachers. This research can help them develop their way of teaching English and to know how gender affects the students’ proficiency in English subject.

1.6 Scope and Limitation

The scope of this study is the students’ proficiency in English subject based on gender at SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto. The subjects of this study are limited to the students for the fifth grade students of SDN Sidomulyo II Bangsal Mojokerto.

1.7 Definition of the Key Terms

Gender is the term refers to sociocultural dimensions of being female or male and distinguish from sex which involves the biological dimensions of being female or male (Santrock, 2001).

English proficiency is the ability of someone to use their English as written and spoken language in standard form of its accuracy and fluency, which also includes listening, speaking, reading and writing. http://www.eduqna.com/Primary-Secondary-Education/1264-3-pse.html