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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter attempts to build up pre-understanding based on relevant literature. It consists of three major sections namely 1 theoretical review, 2
related research reports, and 3 framework of pre-understanding.
A. THEORETICAL REVIEW
In this chapter, some related stories which become the theoretical background of this study are presented. The theories are related to the variables involved in the
study.
1. Meaning
The concept of meaning is proposed by Ferdinand de Saussure through the explanation of a famous concept of the signifier and the signified. Saussure as
quoted in Hall 2003: p. 31 as written in Marleku n.d. states, “...a sign as being
composed by a signifier-the form which sign takes- and the signified- the idea or the concept it represents.” A sign always has an idea that it refers to. The meaning
of the sign is something which is constructed. Therefore, it is not suddenly there. Aspers declared that the central concept of meaning in the social sciences is
understanding. Understanding is intimately connected to meaning. He further states that the meanings come in structures and accomplish meaning in relation to
other meanings. Reszke 2011 confirms that the nature of understanding is the central concern in hermeneutic and entering to understand compels one to
11 consider the other person. Hermeneutics is the process of deciphering which goes
from manifest content and meaning to latent or hidden meaning Palmer, 1969. Meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a concept or a
phenomenon becomes the central of description of phenomenology. The basic purpose of phenomenology is to reduce individual experiences with a
phenomenon to a description of the universal essence Creswell, 2007. Manen 1990 explifates that phenomenological questions are meaning questions which
ask for the meaning and significance of certain phenomena. It can be more understood, so that, on the basis of this understanding one may be able to act more
thoughtfully and more tactfully in certain situations. As the study aims to interpret the meaning of learning English of the participants, it is clear here what meaning I
intend to see. Furthermore, he describes phenomenological research as caring, thoughtful act, because the researcher seeks to know the essential to being.
Moustakas 1994 additionally states that the meaning is created when the object as it appears in our consciousness mingles with the object in nature.
Husserl’s as cited by Lindseth that in describing the essence of experiences cannot be heard without narration. To come to the meaning of a
phenomenon we have to tell stories, which express our experiences of such positioning. These stories reveal the meaning of experiences in our lives. We have
to produce texts to be able to thoroughly examine the meaning structure of a phenomenon as a part of our life world- and thereby reveal the essential meaning
of that phenomenon. Thus, the essential meaning must be studied and revealed in the interpretation of text.
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