o'The Influence of Students' Educational Background to Their Achievement in Learning English

A Comparative Study at the Second and Fifth Semester Students of English Education Department

UIN Jakarta

By: Sopiah

NIM. 108014000059

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

JAKARTA

2014

Department UIN Jakarta

A*Skripsi"

Presented _{to the Faculty of Tarbiyah and reacher's Training in a}

Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata I (Bachelor of Art) in English Language Education

By: Sopiah 1080140000s9

Approved by

The Advisor

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Drs. Svaifki. M.Pd

NrP. 1964iP 1219s1031002

DEPARTMENT

_OF

_{ENGLISH EDUCATION}

FACULTY

OF

TARBIYAH

AND

TEACHERS' TRAINING

SYARIF

HIDAYATULLAH

STATE ISLAMIC

UNIVERSITY

JAKARTA

20t4

The Advisor

II

STUDENTS'

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

TO

THEIR

ACHIEVEMENT

IN

LEARNTNG ENGLISH (A comparative study

at

the Second and

Fifth

Semester Students

of

English Education Department UIN

Jakarta) written

by sopiah, student's registered

number 108014000059 was examined by the Committee on August,

ll

2014. The 'skripsi' has been accepted and declared to have fulfilled one of the requirements for the degree of "S.Pd." (Bachelor of Arts) in English _{Language Education at the English Department.}

EXAMINATION COMMITTEE

CHAIRMAN

SECRETARY

EXAMINATOR

I

EXAMINATOAR

II

Drs. Syauki. M.Pd.

NIP. 1 964 1 212199t03t002

Zaharil Anasv. M. Hum. NrP. 1 9761 0072007 t0t002

Siti Nurul Azkivah. M.Sc.

NrP. 197605 1 12005012003

Drs.A.M Zainuri. M.Pd. NrP. 1 9530304t979031001

Acknowledged by:

Dean of Tarbiyah and Teacher's Training

: Sopiah

:108014000059

: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris

: Kp. Cidadap, Des. Girijaya, Kec. Cidahu, Kab. Sukabumi-Jawa Barat

Nama NIM Jurusan Alamat

Nama Pembimbing I

NIP

JurusatlProgram Studi Nama Pembimbing

II

NIP

Jurusan/Prograrn Studi

Drs. Syauki, M.Pd 1964t212199103t002 Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Zaharil Anasy, M. Hum. 1976t0072007101002 Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris

MENYATAKAN DENGAN SESUNGGUHNYA

Bahwa skripsi yang berjudul o'The Influence

of

Students' Educational

Background to Their Achievement

in

Learning English" adalah benar hasil karya sendiri di bawah bimbingan dosen:

Demikian surat pernyataan

_ini

saya buat dengan sesungguhnya dan saya siap menerima segala konsekuensi apabila terbukti bahwa skripsi ini bukan hasil karya sendiri.

Jakarta,5 Juli20l4 Yang Menyatakan

i

Fifth Semester Students of English Education Department UIN Jakarta,Skripsi of English Education Department, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta, 2014.

Advisors : Drs. Syauki, M.Pd and Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum.

Keywords : Students’ English Achievement, Educational Background.

This study generally attempts to see wheather students’ educational background influence students’ achievement in learning English at the second and fifth semester students of English Education Department UIN Jakarta academic year 2013/2014 and 2012/2013. To know students’ educational background, the writer used questionnaire in each three clasess. Then, to know its influence, she used comparative study by comparing students’ achievement especially students from SMA and MA backgrounds.

As the quantitative method, the writer analyzed the data by using t-test. The result showed that there was no significant influence of educational background between the students from SMA and from MA. The result of data analysis between variable X1 and X2 using t-test formula showed that the value of to (t observation) was 0.69. In the t- table, score degree of freedom 5% is 2.06 and score degree of freedom 1% is 2.78. So the writer can conclude that to is lower than tt (to : tt = 2.78>0.69< 2.06). In other words, the students’ educational background did not influence students’ achievement in learning English.

ii

Achievement in Learning English; A Comparative Study at the Second and

Fifth Semester Students of English Education Department UIN Jakarta, Skripsi of English Education Department, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta, 2014.

Pembimbing :Drs. Syauki, M.Pd and Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum

Kata Kunci : Nilai Bahasa Inggris Mahasiswa, Latar Belakang Pendidikan.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah latar belakang pendidikan mahasiswa semester dua dan lima Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris UIN Jakarta tahun akademik 2013/2014 dan 2012/2013 berpengaruh terhadap kemampuan mereka dalam belajar bahasa Inggris. Untuk mengetahui latar belakang pendidikan mahasiswa tersebut, penulis membagikan kuesioner kepada mahasiswa semester dua dan lima Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris yang terdiri dari masing-masing tiga kelas. Kemudian untuk mengetahui apakah latar belakang pendidikan mahasiswa berpengaruh atau tidak, penulis melakukan studi komparasi dengan membandingkan nilai mahasiswa yang khususnya berlatar belakang pendidikan SMA dan MA.

Sebagaimana metode kuantitatif, penulis menganalisa data dengan menggunakan Test T. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa tidak ada pengaruh dari perbedaan latar belakang pendidikan antara mahasiswa berlatar belakang SMA maupun MA. Hasil analisa data dari kedua variabel tersebut (variabel X1 dan X2) dengan menggunakan rumus T-test menunjukan bahwa nilai to adalah 0.69. Dalam Tt pada tingkat kebebasan 5% adalah 2.06 dan tingkat kebebasan 1% sama dengan 2.78. Maka To lebih rendah dibanding dengan nilai tt (to : tt = 2.78>0.69<2.06). Angka ini menunjukan bahwa latar belakang pendidikan mahasiswa tidak berpengaruh terhadap pencapaian mereka dalam belajar bahasa Inggris.

iii

blessing upon the writer’s life. Peace and blessing be upon to our prophet Muhammad SAW, his families, companions, and all his followers.

Alhamdulillah by the grace of Allah the Highest, the writer could finish her research paper after long hard effort of writing. Thus, she would like to express her greatest gratitude to her beloved parents (Udi and piah) and whole family the perpetual resort of precious love, care and sustenance who always pray and motivate her in every part of her life.

This reseach paper is presented to the Department of English Education,

Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic

University Jakarta as partial fulfillment of the requirment for the Degree of Strata 1 (S.Pd.).

In this occasion, the writer would also like to address her gratitude to her advisors Drs. Syauki, M.Pd and Zaharil Anasy, M. Hum., for their patiently guidance, kindness, valuable advice, suggestion and correction during the development of this research. She also aimed to thank to Nurlena Rifa’i, M.A, Ph.D, the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training.

She would like to express her deep appreciation and gratitude to all lecturers of English Education Department especially Ms. Ismailing Eviyuliwati who have taught her new knowledge and have given her gorgeous experiences in study.

Special thank to Mang Ajo and his family for support, kindly help and care. She also would like to appreciate and thank to all her beloved friends of English Education Department for academic year 2008 who have always been in the researcher side in facing all the laughter and tears during her study, especially

iv

prayer, effort, suggestion and motivation to complete this research paper that can not be mentioned one by one

The writer hopes her paper will be useful to its reader, but she also realized that it far from being perfect. It is a pleasure for her to accept the constructive critics and suggestion from anyone who read this paper.

Jakarta, July 2014

The Writer

v APPROVAL

ENDORSHEMENT SHEET

ABSTRACT ... i

ABSTRAK ... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... v

LIST OF TABLES ... viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A.Background of the Study ... 1

B.Identification of the Problem ... 5

C.Limitation of the Study ... 5

D.Formulation of the Study ... 5

E. Objective of the Study ... 5

F. Significance of the Study ... 5

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK A. Language ... 7

B. Language Learning... 11

1. Meaning of Learning …………. ... 11

2. Theory of Language Learning ... 13

a. Empirism or Behaviourism ... ... 13

b. Rationalism ... 16

c. Constructivism ... ... 19

C. Achievement ... 26

1. Meaning of Achievement ... 26

2. Students’ Educational Background Influence Their Achievement ... 29

vi

D. Privious Study ... ... 38

1. The Effect of school Type on Academic Achievement: Evidence from Indonesia ... ... 38

2. The Effectiveness of Privat Versus Public School: The Case of Indonesia ... ... 39

3. The Comparative Study of Educational Backgroud ... 40

Thingking Framework ... 42

F. Hypotesis ... 43

CHAPTER III: REASERCH METHODOLOGY A. Research Design ... 44

B. Place and Time of Study ... 44

C. Population and Sampling ... 45

D. Data Resource ... 45

E. Technique of Data Collection ... 45

F. Technique of Data Analysis ... 46

CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDING A. Data description ... 48

B. Data analysis ... 55

1. Mean and Deviation Standard ... 55

2. Statistical Test (T-Test) ... 58

C. Test of Hypothesis ... 60

vii

REFERENCES ... 65 APPENDICES ... 68

viii

Table 4.2 English Score of Students from MA ... 49 Table 4.3 GPA of students from SMA ... 51 Table 4.4 GPA of students from MA ... 53 Table 4.5 Mean and Deviation Standard of Students

from SMA ... 55 Table 4.6 Mean and Deviation Standard of Students

from MA... 56 Table 4.7 Statistic Descriptive of the Reseach ... 57 Table 4.8 Calculation Result of the Hypothesis ... 60

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.

Background of Study

English is learned by people around the world for many purposes. According to Harmer, some people study English because they think it offers a chance for advancement in their professional life. They will get a better job if they master two languages than if they only know their mother tongue. Some others need it because they live in other countries and English as a medium of communication. Some students need it because most books around the world are written in English, and probably the greatest numbers of students learn English because it is on the school curriculum. There are many other possible reasons for learning English because English has a special position since it has become the international language of communication.1

In relation to the opinion above, the writer looked that, as an international language, English is the largest language used by people. As a lingua franca in the international world, English becomes the primary presupposition in order to communicate well among human all over the world. Mastering English may give any chance to have better understanding both national and international relationships.With English ability, people can share such as information, experience, culture, and build international relationship; people can learn other countries, other languages, even live in any countries. English is a bridge to the world because there are many possibilities can be done by English. Thus, English is an important foreign language to be learned.

The government enhances the quality of education in Indonesia particularly in learning English. As Manara quoted according to Dardjowidjojo, 2002,

……the government of Indonesia encourages and welcomes to the globalization era in which English plays an important role in the field of science and technology, socio-political relations, and economical growth. The

1 Jeremy Harmer, The Principle of English Language Teaching, New Edition (London and New York: Longman, 1991), p. 1.

encouragement takes the form of the 1998 official policy issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture which allows English to be used as a medium of instructions especially at the tertiary level. Since then many educational institutions, even at the primary level, have been competing in serving an English only environment in their institutions.2

Therefore,the government and private institution are struggling to develop teaching and learning process of English in Indonesia including to improve the teachers’ competence.

Some universities provide a faculty of teachers’ training including the English Education Department. One of them is Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), Jakarta. The faculty is divided into some departments, and one of them is English Education Department which prepares and trains students to be English teachers. They are taught not only how to teach, but also how to understand English itself.

However, English as a foreign language is a complex language to be learned because English has many components, such as grammar, sound, and vocabulary.As stated by Harmer that knowing a language is notjust a matter of having grammatical competence, it needs to know how the words are formed and pronouns, how to produce the sentences, and how they operate and change. The Communicative competence such as understanding of what language is appropriate in certain situation, and also knowing structure, discourse such as knowledge of organizational sequence which enables us to order what we say and write are also important.3

Moreover, English in Indonesia is as a foreign language which students are not common to use it, As stated on the book In Touch”compared to an English as a second language (ESL) context, learning English in the EFL setting needs more effort and persistence due to the lack of opportunity to use the target language

2 Gloria Poedjosoedarmo (ed.), Teacher Education in Language Teaching, (Newton: SEAMEO Regional Language Center, 2007), p. 133.

(TL) or no exposure to TL in the daily social interactions”.4 Therefore, it is not easy to be mastered. As a result some students found difficulties in learning process, and it outomaicly influence their achievement.

The difficultiy is not only because eeach student has difference ability and language level, but also they have difference background knowledge. A student perhaps has already known about certain materials, but some others do not have known yet. A student who has background knowledge about the material is going to learn will be easy to understand about the lesson and must be ready to learn further about the lesson. In other hand, a student who has lack of background knowledge will find difficulties to understand the lesson, and they are unready to learn higher level.

The students’ background knowledge is closely related to their previous study which is taken place at school where they had studied.One school is different from other schools; some schools perhaps have good programs and good teacher that lead students to have enough knowledge, and some others perhaps do not have. Thus, a school has important part to determine students’ competence, and it influences learning process when they continue their study at university.

Moreover there are schools which characteristically different, as the students who take English department come from many kinds of schools. Commonly they have graduated from general schools, Islamic school, and vocational school. In Indonesia, general school is commonly called SMA (Sekolah Menengah Atas), Islamic school (school based religion) is called MA (Sekolah Madrasah), and vocational School is called SMK (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan). The different characteristics of students, of course, color every class in this case English Education Department, and there is no specification of classes based on educational background.

4Maureen Howland (ed.), In Touch: The Perspective of Indonesian Students in Australia on Better Indonesia, (Adelaide: PersatuanPelajar Indonesia Australia (PPIA) and Flinders University, 2012), p. 163.

Even though they are from the same grade (secondary level), but they are characteristically different. As stated in the Act of the Republic of Indonesia on National Education Systemthat students from general school are prepared for high education, and vocational students are prepared to work. Meanwhile students from Islamic based school are required to have religious knowledge.5MA student has lesson burden more than SMA because their focus is not only general lesson, but also religious subject. According to Ministry of religious affair, MA is a school which Islamic lesson is the main subject learned beside general lessons.6Thus, automatically their focus is not only in general subject, but religious subject cannot be overlooked. Based on those different characteristic, each school has different student who has different ability and language level. The students’ differences will be an obstacle in learning process, and it influences their achievement.

This statement supported by the updated research found on the book What Works in Schools indicates that effective schools generally have fairly substantial

impact on student achievement “the finding from studies that use appropriate

students achievement measure provide strong evidence for the differential effectiveness of school; differences in school characteristics do contribute to

differences in achievement”.7

Based on the description above, the writer is interested in analysing the

students’ educational background and itsinfluences on students’achievement in

learning English. This research is conducted in the second and fifthsemester students of English Education Department at State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

5 Act of the Republic of Indonesia on National Education System Number 20, Year 2003, p. 44 6Haidar Putra Daulay, Pendidikan Islam Dalam System Pendidikan National di Indonesia (Jakarta: Kencana, 2004), p. 55.

B.

Identification of the problems

Based on the explanation above, the writer is interested in analysing whether educational background of second semester and fifth semester students of English Education Deapartment influences their achievement in learning English?

C.

Limitation of Study

The writer limits the problem on analyzing educational background of secondand fifth semester students of English Education Department especially students who have graduated from SMA and MA, and its related to their achievement in learning English.

D.

The Formulation of the Study

Based on the description above, the writer formulates the study that is discussed

on the Skripsi is: “Does the students’ educational background, especially from

SMA and MA, influence their English learningachievement?

E.

The Objective of Study

The writer wants to know whether students’ education background influences or not on students’ achievement in learning English.

F.

The Significance of the Study

The results of this research are expected to give contribution to: a. The Department of English Education

The writer expects that the research can contribute to the department of English education to determine what to do with the students from different

educational background, or determine what educational background is appropriate with English major to maximize students’ potential in learning English.

b.Further researchers

The result of this study is expected to be used as reference for the next researchers who are interested in developing this study.

7

A.

Language

Communication is very importance for us. The ability in which we develop an efficient and effective communication system has a significant effect on the quality of our life. Developing an efficient and effective communication system is by mastering the

language as a medium to communicate. As stated by Broughton and friends that “from

babyhood onwards, everybody starts (and never ceases) to learn how to communicate

effectively and how to respond to other people’s communications. Some people are better

at communicating than others, but every normal human being learns to communicate

through language”.1

Language has a central role in intellectual, social, and emotional developments of students and it is one of the tools in succeeding to learn some studies. As stated by

Bartlett and Burton that “As language is such an important part of our means of communication the ability to use and understand language will be a significant factor in

success in education”.2

In addition Ciccarelli said “language is a system for combining symbols (such as

words) so that an infinite number of meaningful statements can be made for the purpose of communicating with others. Language allows people not only to communicate with one another but also to represent their own internal mental activity. In other words,

language is a very important part of how people think”.3

Amanda also stated that

“language is a fundamental part of how humans interact with each other and the

environment around them. We use language to understand and learn about the world. Without language, it might have been impossible for humans to develop an advanced

civilization”.4

From explanation above, the writer agrees that language is used, developed, and shared by the human being as a part of live. As a nature of live, people need to interact

1 Geoffrey Broughton. et.al., Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 2nd ed, (London and New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003),p. 30.

2 Stave Bartlett and Diana Burton, Introduction to Educational Studies, (London: SAGE Publications, 2007), p. 151.

3 Saundra K. Ciccarelli, Psychology, (New Jersey: Person Education, Inc., 2009), p. 296. 4 Amanda A. Sleeper, Speech and Language, (New York: Chelsea House, 2007), p. 1.

among others through communication, and language is a medium to communicate. Thus language has important role in the life to express idea, opinion, thought, and socialize among human being. Through language, people can develop relationship, learn such as culture, knowledge, and discover the world.

The language that has important role in the international world is English. It cannot be avoided that English is the most widely spoken language in the world. The spread of English all over the world was very fast. The higher economical growing of English people and the successful of colonization, made many people relied on English as common language used for communication in the global world. No matter as first, second or foreign language.

As stated by Meyer:

English is currently the most widely spoken language in the world. Mandarin Chinese may have more speakers, but no language is spoken in more parts of the world than the English language. The global reach of English is one reason the language has more non-native speakers than native speaker. The popularity of English, it must be emphasized, has little to do with the languge itself, and more to do with geopolitical considerations: the initial spread of English world-wide as a consequence of British colonization, and the rise of the twenty century of the United States as an economic and political power in the world.5

In addition, Harmer stated, “although English is not the language with the largest number of native or first language speaker, it has become a lingua franca. A lingua franca can be defined as a language widely adopted for communication between two speakers whose native language are different from each other’s and

where one or both speaker are using it as second language”.6

Thus, as a lingua franca, English has important role in global world that is used to communicate in the international relationship. In More than Native Speakerbook mentioned “the growing role of English as the world’s international

language make its mastery especially important in a world brought ever closer

together by globalization”.7

Again this book mentioned that:

…learning English means developing the ability to understand and interact

with a universe that is largely inaccessible to those who don’t know English.

5_Meyer op. cit., p. 1.

6Jeremy Harmer, The practice of English Language Teaching, 3rd ed, (Harlow: Person Education Limited, 2001), p. 1.

Here it is worth pointing out that although learning any language may open new doors, learning English particularly does so because of its growing role as an international language; English is now the language of publishing and speech for most international communication and is often used even by people from non-English-speaking countries when they need to interact with people from other nations.8

Meyer further said “Because of the importance of English of the world language, English has been widely studied and taught; English has been a focus of many linguistics descriptions and it is taught worldwide in thousands of classrooms and language institutes. In fact more people are learning English...”9 Many schools all over the world require English as a foreign language to be learned including in Indonesia. As Manara quoted according to Dardjowidjojo, 20002,

…the government encourages and welcomes to the globalization era in which English plays an important role in the field of science and technology, socio-political relations, and economical growth. The encouragement takes the form of the 1998 official policy issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture which allows English to be used as a medium of instructions especially at the tertiary level. Since then many educational institutions, even at the primary level, have been competing in serving an English only environment in their institutions.10

English also is still learned at university, even most university’s students are required to pass test English as foreign language (TOEFL) before they graduate. It is because in this globalization era young people are prepared to be ready to compete in the global world.

As others languages, English is a product of human being, so understanding the values of what is right and good in using language is not less important. The changing forms of the words and the system of the language carry certain implication which is changed from one language to another. To understand a language, people have to know how it operates, how to pronounce, and how they change in form and sentence pattern to effect a change in meaning. Knowing language expressions appropriately to any situation according to goodness and

8Ibid, p. 7.

9 Meyer, loc. cit.

10 Gloria Poedjosoedarmo (ed.), Teacher Education in Language Teaching, (Newton: SEAMEO Regional Language Center, 2007), p. 133.

badness, correctness and incorrectness of language is important in order to be able to apply good English. So, knowledge about the language particularly English is important.

As stated by Broughton and friends

Learning to use a language thus involves a great deal more than acquiring some grammar and vocabulary and a reasonable pronunciation. It involves the competence to suit the language to the situation, the participant and the basic purpose. Conversely, and equally important, it involves the competence to interpret other speakers to the full. Using our mother tongue, most of us have very little awareness of how we alter our behavior and language to suit the

occasion…11

Therefore, since language learning cannot be directly learned in the same time, it needs good instruction and organization to which grade and level the language should be taught. Clearly it is not easy to do. More over in Indonesia English is a foreign language that the students of Indonesia are not common to use it. As stated

by Broughton and friends that as a foreign languge, even though English is taught often widely in schools, it does not play an essential role in national or social life...12It is strengthen by statement found on the book In Touchthat ”...compared to an English as a second language (ESL) context, learning English in the EFL setting needs more effort and persistence due to the lack of opportunity to use the target language (TL) or no exposure to TL in the daily social interactions...”13 In relation to this, in More than a Native Speaker book mentioned, Even though,

“...English is offered in middle school and even in the primary school, often as a require subject, but students study English only a few hours a week and have little opportunities to practice what they learn. Even the few students who complete a university major in English still usually have gaps in their English skills when they graduate...”14 Therefore, English teacher must be well prepared to be able to teach English well.

11 Broughton et.all, op. cit., p. 35 12Ibid,. p. 6.

13 Maireen Howland and Maria Flutsch, In Touch: The Perspective of Indonesian Students in Australia on a Better Indonesia, (Adelaide: Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia Australia (PPIA) and Flinders University, 2012), p. 163

As stated by Broughton and friends “...Ideally, however, the professional English language teacher should have not only the required personal qualities, but also training in the disciplines and fields of study appropriate to the language teaching process. Training of this kind can be stated in terms of what the teacher should know and what he should do.”15_“

In the light of his knowledge, he can then decide what English to teach, how to give practice in a meaningful way, and how to prepare and execute a progression of enjoyable, well-organized lessons.”16 Thus, the existence of language knowledge and teaching skill is important to serve

appropriate teachers how to teach English well. Therefore, English teachers’

training will serve a useful purpose at all grade level in establishing an interest and ability in language learning.

Some universities provide a faculty of teachers’ training including the English Education Department. One of them is Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta. The faculty is divided into some departments, and one of them is English Education Department which prepares and trains students to be English teachers. They are taught not only how to teach, but also of course they are taught deeply about English itself. As stated by Broughton and friends “...the role of the department is to enable all English teachers to operate as effectively as possible by providing all necessary support and encouragement, and the role of the head of department is simply to cause this to happen...”17

B.

Language Learning

1.

The Meaning of Learning

Learning is a fundamental process of life. Every individual learns and through learning they develop behavior by which they live. Based on Educational Psychology book by Kelvin Seifert and Rosemary Sutton, “learning is generally

15 Broughton, et. all., op. cit., p, 37. 16Ibid., p. 39.

defined as relatively permanent changes in behavior, skills, knowledge, or

attitudes resulting from identifiable psychological or social experiences”.18

Farrant in his book Principle and Practice of Education,described “learning is

the process by which we acquire and retain attitudes, knowledge, understanding, skills, and capabilities that cannot be attributed to inherited behavior patterns or physical growth. Capacity for learning is related to innate physiological factors.

Rate of learning depends on both inherited and environmental factors”.19

In addition, Ireson explained that “in every day usage, learning generally denote the deliberate acquisition of information or skills...some learning is not deliberate, but happens spontaniously as we take part in various activities during

our everyday lives”.20

Learning may occur intentionally or unintentionally, through organized or unorganized activities. Educational institutions such as schools are formal institution through which the attempt is made to develop and improve human potentials and learn good behavior. The nature of education is a lifelong process to lead people to be what is being expected. As Fethullah Gulen states that

“...through education individuals can become perfect human being –“insan-I

kamil” and develop the values that enable them to discover what it means to be truly human”.21

Based on the description above, the writer concludes that learning is a

fundamental process of life engages much of individuals’ activities and affects

human behavior which innate and environment are involved. Skills, knowledge, attitudes, personalities, etc. are developed and can be over changing through learning process. All human activities and achievements represent the result of learning. By the time, each generation has been able to profit by learning from the experiences and discoveries of the generations that have preceded it, and in turn

18 Kelvin Seifert and Rosemary Sutton, Educational Psychology, (Zurich: A Global Text, 2009), p. 20.

19 J.S. Farrant, Principle and Practice of Education, (Harlow:Longman Group, 1980), 2nd ed., p. 107

20 Judith Ireson, Learners, Learning and Educational Activities, (New York: Routledge, 2008), p. 6.

21 Fethullah Gulen Chair, The Significant of Education for the Future: The Gulen Model of Education, (UIN Jakarta: Fethullah Gulen Chair, 2010), p. iii.

has added its contribution to the ever-growing of human development. Customs, laws, languages, and social life have been developed and maintained as a result of

individual’s ability to learn.

2.

The Theory of Language Learning

Linguists have different views about language. The idea comes after another; even some of them came to add or to criticize the previous one. As stated by

Johnson that “As perhaps in all areas of human knowledge, in the field of applied linguistics nothing ever happens in a vacuum. New ideas do not just spring out of thin air; they often come out of old ideas and from ideas in other areas of

knowledge”.22

As a result, they have developed a variety of different theories about language, each having different emphasis. Some linguists believed that language is mainly a property of the mind; other linguists have developed theories that focused on experience and habit formation. Still others have attempted to develop theories that combine these two interest (language is a property of the mind and language is just habit formation and experiences) that are grounded in the assumption that language is the product of both a property of mind and habit formation.

Two basic idea of language learning are behaviorisms or empiricism and mentalists or rationalism.

a.

Empiricism or Behaviorisms

Some philosophers of this theory are Aristotle, Ivan Pavlov, John Locke, B. J. Skinner, and Watson, etc. Behaviorists viewed that “learning is assumed to shape development across the life span. Children play a relatively passive role in their own development. Just as the computer can do only as much as the programmer

direct it to do, so children do only what the environment direct them to do.”23

22 Keith Johnson, An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, (Harlow: Person Education Limited, 2001), p. 38.

23 E. Mavis Hetherington, Child Psychology: A Contemporary Viewpoint, (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1986), p. 6.

Empiricists maintained that all knowledge derives from experience. Thus John Locke, a late seventeenth-century English philosopher, believed children were born with a blank slate for a mind and all learning and experiences filled it up. He advocated individualized instruction and control of self through reward and punishment. In addition, Watson claimed that he could teach a child anything. It can be said that you can teach a child to be what you want. Pavlov and Watson used the concept of classical conditioning to explain children’s behavior. Thus, According to them that classical conditioning, where new signals are acquired for existing responses, could be managed to create associations or learning. For example teacher instructs pupils to work quietly while putting his finger to her lips (unconditioned stimulus), pupils work quietly on task (unconditioned response), in other times the teacher puts her finger on her lips without say anything (conditioned stimulus), and the pupils work quietly (conditioned response). It can be concluded that when conditioning is already built, the pupil can directly associate the signal with the instruction in the previous event.24

According to Pavlov, “learning is seen as a question of developing connections (known as stimulus response bonds) between events. The process of

developing connection is called conditioning process”25_{. “}

...all behavior is viewed as a response to stimuli...Behavior happens in associative chains; all learning is thus characterized as associative learning, or habit formation, brought about by the

repeated association of a stimulus with a response”.26

Skinner used operant conditioning that focused on the impact of the consequences of behavior. According to him, behavior is modified by the type of rewarding or punishing event that follow it. Positive reinforcement, such as friendly smile, praise, or special treat, can increase the likelihood that a behavior will occur again, while punishment, such as frown, criticisms, withdrawal privileges etc, tents to decrease the chance that the behavior will recur.27“Skinner

24 Bartlett, op. cit., pp. 97-100. 25 Johnson, op. cit., p. 42.

26 Alice Omaggio Hadley, Teaching Language In Context, (Boston: Heinle, Cangage Learning, 2001), p. 55.

has looked upon learning as a series of experiences, each of which influences behavior in the same way that conditioning does. Thus, in his view, each learning experience is a stimulus that produces a behavioral response”.28 He offered three stage procedure; stimulus, response, and reinforcement. According to him, human baby learn a language through stimulus, response, and reinforcement. Baby feels hungry as a stimulus; it causes baby crying as a response; milk as a reinforcement to fulfill his hunger.29 He stated, “When the behavior to be learned was complex, it was developed by process called shaping. To shape a behavior, you break it down into small parts, and teach each one at a time, until eventually the whole

complex behavior is built up”.30

Behaviorism viewed “language as a product of experience, they believed that children entered life with a tabula rasa (blank slate), and learn language only after

being exposed to it.”31

In addition as Hadley quoted from Chastain (1976: 142), that:

Skinner used the term operant conditioning to describe verbal learning. In this view, language is characterized as a sophisticated response system that human acquire through automatic conditioning process. Some patterns of language are reinforced and others are not. Only those pattern reinforced by the community of language users will persist. In Skinnerian pshychology, the human being is likened to a machine with multiple working parts. The mind is thought to be a tabula rasa upon which are stamped associations between various stimuli in the environment and responses chosen from outside the organism for reinforcement.32

It can be concluded that behaviorist theories of language learning were based

on the assumption that the child’s mind is a tabula rasa. All behavior is viewed as

a response to stimuli. Conditioning involves the straitening of association between a stimulus and response through reinforcement. Language is acquired through conditioning process. The baby was born with nothing in his mind or he does not

28 Farrant, op. cit., p. 108.

29 Jeremy Harmer, The practice of English Language Teaching, New Edition, (London

and New York: Longman, 1991), p. 32.

30 Johnson, loc.cit.

31 Charles F. Meyer, English Linguistics, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 16.

know anything yet, and then he get little by little knowledge and skills naturally from the environment around till he can adjust with it. A child hears the words, utterances, and sentences and how those are used in daily life by the people around him. In certain times he can use and understand those patterns as well as people around him use to communicate. The way the child acquires the language can be applied to learn second or foreign language through drills as the child hears those patterns over the times.

b.

Rationalism

Other terms are used for refering to the rationalist are nativist (innateness) and mentalist, and cognitive.33 Rationalism viewed that people have their own capacity in acquiring the language. Everyone is born with that ability to acquire the language and to develop the language naturally.

Noam Chomsky had criticized Skinner viewpoint about language acquisition.

According to him, Skinner’s theory cannot possible to explain the creativity of

children in generating language. He viewed that language is more complex than stimulus-response connection as Skinner imagined, and the process of children’ creativity need to take place in the human mind. He emphasized that children were born with some kinds of special language processing ability that known as language acquisition device (LAD).34

Other Rationalists theory such as Eric Lennenberg and David McNeil believed that language learning was controlled by biological mechanisms. According to Mcneill, LAD has various innate linguistic properties which then by Brown being summarized into:

1) The ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sound 2) The ability to organize language into a system of structures

3) The knowledge of what was possible and what was not possible in any linguistic system

33 Hadley, op. cit., p. 58

4) The ability to construct the simplest possible system based on the linguistic data to which one was exposed.35

Finally Hadley made conclusion that:

The basic difference between the two positions seems to lie in the presumed locus of control of the process of the language acquisition. The rationalist position includes theories that assume that human have an innate capacity for the development of language, and that we are genetically programmed to develop our linguistic system in certain ways...Meanwhile

empiricists maintain it is the learner’s experience that is largely responsible for

language learning and it is more important than any specific innate capacity.36 Gleason and Ratner explained why he linguist of innate theorist do believed that the principles of language are inborn and not learned because young children arrive at successful grammar so much more rapidly than professional linguists. In other words linguist can study a language for years to discover its rules, while children intuit the rules of language quickly and for the most part accurately.37 Bartlett and Button also concluded that:

What follow from these differing perspectives are very different account of the way the mind works. Thus the empiricists see the mind as an information-process device which applies information-processes of attention, sensation, perception and memory to each new stimuli (experience). Conversely, rationalists, and a subsequent related group of thinkers, nativists, governed by their belief that some ideas are innate, maintain that the mind is similarly preprogrammed with an inherent structure of concept development and language acquisition... Rationalists will star from their theories of prior knowledge and innateness of mental structures and explore how these are manifest within human behavior.38 Other Rationalist Such as Stephen Krashen 1982, with his theory known as Monitor Theory which believed that first and second language acquisition are

similar. He introduced “Monitor Model to the language learning. He describes

five central hypotheses:

1) The acquisition and learning distinction. Adults have to distich way to develop competence in a second language. First, acquisition, which

35Ibid., p. 58 36Ibid., p. 54.

37Jean Berko Gleason and Nan Bernstein Ratner (ed.), Psycholinguistics, (Orlando: Harcourt Brace College Publisers, 1998), p. 378

subconscious process, similar to the way children develop ability in the first language; and second is learning, which is conscious knowledge of the grammar rules and their application in production of second language. 2) The nature order hypothesis, which maintains that acquisition of

grammatical structures (primary morphemes) follows a predictable order when that acquisition is natural (not formal learning).

3) The monitor hypothesis, that acquisition is initiator of all second language utterances, and responsible for fluency, while learning can function only as an editor or monitor for the output. This monitor operates only when there is sufficient time, the focus is on form, and language user knows the rule being applied.

4) The input hypothesis, which maintain that we acquire more language only when we are exposed to comprehensible input (language that contains structures that are a step above our current level of competence (i+1), but which is comprehensible throughout use of context, our knowledge of the world, and other extra linguistic clue directed to us). According to this hypothesis, acquires go for meaning first, and, as a result, acquire structure as well. The input need to be deliberately planned to contain appropriate structure (i+1). A final part of the input hypothesis maintains that speaking fluency cannot be taught directly, but rather emerge naturally over time. Krashen maintains that although early speech is not grammatically accurate, accuracy will develop over time as he hears and understands more input.

5) The affective filter hypothesis, comprehensible input can have its effect on acquisition only when affective conditions are optimal: he is motivated, he has self-confidence and good self image, and his level of anxiety is low. When learners are put on defensive, the effective filter is high, and comprehensible input cannot get in.

According to Krashen, the comprehensible input is most useful in learning foreign language where the learners do not have input source outside of the class

or for learners who have low competence that they are unable to understand the language of the outside world. Student should never be required to produce speech unless they ready to do so. Speaking fluency cannot be taught, but emerge naturally in time with enough comprehensible input. Error correction should be minimized in the classroom because it raises the affective filter, even it should not be used in free conversation or when acquisition is likely to take place. The requirement of optimal input should be comprehensible, interesting and relevant, not grammatically sequenced, provided in sufficient quality to supply i+1, and delivered to the student who are willing to do. 39

Based on the explanation above, it seem that language acquisition is similar to the process by which children acquire their native language, and learning language involves conscious knowledge of grammatical rules. Since second and foreign language acquisition is similar to children acquire their first language, learning can be function only as an editor of what is produced, and learning can serve as a monitor of performance. Learner acquires new structure only when comprehensible input (i+1) is exposed. Error correction should be minimized in the classroom, where the main purpose of the instruction should be to provide comprehensible input. For successful in language learning, the learner must be motivated, have a good self-image, and be free from anxiety.

c.

Constructivism

According to Bartlett and Burton in their book Introduction to Education Studies, “Constructivism is predicated on the idea that people make their own sense of things in a unique ways ...Constructivism emphasizes the need to give

learners responsibility for directing their own learning experience”.40

In addition

Pritchard and Woollard explain that “this theory is based on the central notion that

is learners we construct out own understanding of the world around us based on experience as we live and grow. We select and transform information from past

39 Hadley, op. cit., p. 61-62. 40 Bartlett, op. cit., p. 124.

and current knowledge and experience into new personal knowledge and

understanding.”41

A psychologist Jean Piaget said, children use schemas in actively constructing

their world. A schema is a concept or framework that exists in an individual’s

mind to organize and interpret information. Schema can range from a simple to

the complex. Piaget’s was interested in schema focused on how children organize

and represent their current experience. He said that two process assimilation and accommodation are responsible for how children use and adapt their schemas. Assimilation occurs when a child incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge. In assimilation children assimilate the environment into a schema. Accommodation occurs when a child adjusts to new information. That is, children adjust their schemas to the environment. Piaget gave an example, the way young children know the function of hammer and nail to hang a picture based on children experience seeing people did it, and this process called assimilation. The way young children adjust to use hammer is called accommodation.42

He also emphasized, to adjust with the world, children cognitively organize their experiences. Organization refers to grouping isolated behavior into a higher-order or in other word it makes a cognitive system. Every level of thought is organized, and continues refine it. This organization is an inherent part of development. After learned certain things, children continually integrate and coordinate other branches of knowledge that often develop independently.43

“Piaget believes that language is a subordinate part of cognitive development. ...Infant must learn about the world around them, which they do through active experimentation and construction. For example the infant crown around the floor, observes objects from all angles and slowly develops a sensorimotor

understanding of the space in which she lives.”44

41 Alan Pritchard and John Woollard, Psychology for the Classroom: Constructivism and Social Learning, (New York: Routledge, 2010), p. 8.

42 John W. Santrock, Educational Psychology, (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004), p. 39. 43Ibid.

Piaget emphasized that children learn best when they are active and seek the solutions for themselves rather than imitating the teacher or doing thing by rote (Learning something in order to be able to repeat it from memory rather than to understand it). He suggested that effective teacher designs situations that allow

student learning by doing. These situations promote students’ thinking and

discovery, and the teachers listen, watch and question student, to help them gain better understanding. The teacher also needs to consider the child’s knowledge

and level of thinking. For Piaget, children’s learning should occur naturally;

children should not be pushed and pressured into achieving too much too early in their development, before they are ready. Teacher observes the students’ interests and natural participation in any activities to determine what the course of learning will be. Teacher encourages peer interaction during the lesson and games because

students’ different viewpoints can contribute to advance thinking.45

Other psychologist who believed that children actively construct their

knowledge is Lee Vygotsky (1896-1934). Santrock explained the heart of

Vygotsky’s view:

1) The child cognitive skills can be understood only when they are developmentally analyzed and interpreted. For Vygotsky, taking a

developmental approach means understanding the child’s cognitive

functioning by examining its origins and transformations from earlier to later forms. Thus, particular mental act such as using inner speech cannot be view accurately in isolation but should be evaluated as a step in a gradual developmental process.

2) Cognitive skills are mediated by words, language, and forms of discourse, which serve as psychological tools for facilitating and transforming mental activity. For Vygotsky, in early childhood, language is begin to be used as a tool that helps the child plan activities and solves problems.

3) Cognitive skills originate from social relations and culture. He described

child’s development as inseparable from social and cultural activities. In

45 Santrock, op. cit., p 50.

one culture child learn to account by help of computer, another perhaps learn to count by using fingers or using breads.46

Santrock further explained that based on Vygotsky’s view, “knowledge is distributed among people and environment, which include objects, artifacts, tools, books, and the communities in which people live. This suggests that knowing can best be advanced through interaction with others in cooperative activities".47

According to Santrock, Both Piaget and Vygotsky emphasized on children actively construct knowledge and understanding rather than being passive receptacle. But Vygotsky is social constructivist approach which emphasizes the social context of learning and that knowledge is mutually build and constructed.48 It can be said that for Vygotsky knowledge is constructed through interaction with others.

He introduced the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). It is

the set of tasks that children can master by other’s help.

The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the term for the range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but can be learned with guidance and assistance from adults or more skilled children. Thus, the lower limit of ZPD is a level of a problem solving reached by the child working independently. The upper limit is the level of additional responsibility the child can accept with the assistence of an able instructor.49

Beside ZPD, Vygotsky also introduced scaffolding. It is a technique of changing the level of support. It means the technique of how teacher or instructor adjusts to the learner needs and abilities. When the task is new, the instructor

adjusts the amount of guidance to fit student’s current performance level, as the

students performance increase, the guidance is decrease. The important of scaffolding in ZPD is based on Vygotsky’s view as children having rich but

unsystematic, disorganized, and spontaneous concepts. Thus, children’s needs other who skilled in order the children’s concepts become more systematic,

logical, and rational.50

46Ibid, p. 51.

47Ibid.

48Ibid., p. 54. 49Ibid., p. 51. 50Ibid., p. 52.

In relation to the language and thought, Vygotsky believed that young children use language to plan, guide, and monitor their behavior in a self-regulatory fashion beside for social communication. Self-regulation refers to inner speech or private speech which is important tools of thought during the early childhood years. For Vygotsky language and thought initially develop independently for each other and then merge. He said that language even in the earliest forms is socially based. He believed that children who use private speech have well socially competent because private speech represents an early transition to become social communicative. According to him, when children talk to themselves, they are using language to govern their behavior and guide themselves.51

In addition, Bartlett and Burton stated that in communication, the development is not just forming the language to formulate the sentence since the process of combining the words to shape the sentences also shaping the thought

itself. Thus, Vygotsky’s view emphasized the importance of talk as a learning tool.52 According to Santrock, “Vygotsky’s view about of the importance of

sociocultural influences on children’s development fits with the current belief that it is important to evaluate the contextual factors in learning”.53

Santrock compared Piaget and Vygotsky point of view, such as Vygotsky emphasizes on the importance of inner speech in development, but for Piaget it is immature. For Piaget children construct knowledge by transforming, organizing, and reorganizing previous knowledge. For Vygotsky, children construct knowledge through social interaction with others. The implication of Piaget theory provides support for teaching strategies that encourage children to explore their

world and discover knowledge. The main implication for Vygotsky’s theory for

teaching is that we should establish many opportunities for students to learn with the teacher and more skilled peers. In both Piaget and Vygotsky theories, teacher serves as facilitators and guides rather than directors and models of learning.54

51Ibid., pp. 52-53. 52 Bartlett, op. cit., p. 125. 53 Santrock, op. cit., p. 54. 54Ibid., pp. 54-55.

According to Kozulin as quoted by Bartlett and Burton, that Piaget and Vygotsky theories, explaining their common dominators as a child centered approach, an emphasized on action in the formation of thought, and a systematic understanding of psychological functioning and their biggest different as their understanding of psychological activity (Konzulin, 1998:34). Bartlett and Burton further explained for Vygotsky, psychological activity has social-cultural characteristics from the very beginning of development. Theoretical concepts are generative from a range of different stimuli, implying a problem solving approach for the learner and facilitator role for the teacher. Whereas Piaget (1959)

considered language was a tool of thought in child’s developing mind, for

Vygotsky, language was generated from the need to communicate and was central to the development of thinking. Vygotsky emphasized the functional value of egocentric speech to verbal reasoning and self-regulation, and the importance of socio-cultural factors in its development. In inner speech the sense attached by the individual predominates over meaning but speech forms originating in external dialogues have to be internalized and internal thoughts translated into a form of speech comprehensible for others. Vygotsky likened this to there being two coauthors, where one accommodates their thoughts to the pre-existent system of meanings and the other immediately turns them into idiosyncratic senses, in simultaneous outbound and inbound conversations.55

Jerome Bruner also had contributed to educational psychology with emphasized on structure invention within communicative learning models. The same view with Vygotsky that learning as an active social process. According to him learning involves the active constructing of knowledge through experiences with environment. The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses and makes decisions, relying on an internal and developing cognitive structure to do so. In other word learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their existing knowledge. Social contact with others, the teacher, in many formal learning contexts is a key element of the process of learning.

55 Bartlett, loc. cit.

...learning is an active, social process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current and pre-existing knowledge. The learners select and transform information, construct hypotheses and make decisions with reference to and reliance upon an internal cognitive structure. This cognitive structure which he refers to is the network of schemas which provide meaning and structure to experience and allow the individual to build on what is already known in order to go further.56

Social interactionists viewed language as a means of communicative behavior that develops through interaction with other human beings. Bruner (1985) offered the term LASS (Language Acquisition Socialization System) as an alternative to

chomsky’s LAD. According to them, children acquire the language in part through the mediation and help of others, rather than purely through their own mental activity in processing adult language. Social interactionists point that the way adult talking to young children affects the different kind of input on

children’s developing language. Thus children acquired language through social

interaction which difference input results difference languages.57

Based on the explanation above, the writer looked that constructivism emphasized on the students actively construct their knowledge. Piaget, one of the constructivism theorists believed that children have schema to process any information and construct the knowledge through assimilation and accommodation. He suggested learning by doing and learning naturally based on their readiness. Other theorists such as Vygotsky believed that students constructed their knowledge trough social interaction. Learning will be best by help of others. He introduced ZPD and scaffolding as the technique to help students in maximizing their potentials.

Regarding of the difference views of language learning above, the writer concludes that learning is a fundamental process of life engages much of

individuals’ activities and affects human behavior which innate and environment

are involved. Skills, knowledge, attitudes, personalities, etc. are developed and can be over changing through learning process. All human activities and achievements represent the result of learning.

56 Pritchard, op. cit., p. 15. 57 Gleason, op. cit., p. 386.

C.

Achievement

1.

The Meaning of Achievement

Algarabel and Dasi on their article mentioned some definition of achievement based on different perspective. According to them, basically achievement is the competence a person has in an area of content; it also refers to acquisition, and learning knowledge representation. Further they defined achievement from the cognitive point of view, refers to the different stage of knowledge acquisition. The knowledge refers to highly structured set mental models built after long sessions of practice. They also quoted from Niemi, 1999 that educationally, achievement may be defined as the mastering of major concepts and principles, important pacts and propositions, skills, strategic knowledge and integration knowledge.58

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that in general, achievement means all the things that people obtain or done successfully from his or her effort. Academically, achievement is the result students obtain after following a teaching learning process in certain period of times. It is important thing to measure how far understanding and skill students have and to know whether the goals have been reached successfully or no. Students’ achievement reflects their understanding as a result of learning.

The students of English Department are prepared to be professional English teachers that they are required to understand English and how to teach it. However, different student has different ability and language level. Some students are better in learning language than others. Some of them are progress to the language materials, but some others are not or perhaps slow. That why there are achievement gaps among those students.

Students of the same age are not necessary at the same stage of readiness to learn. Some students are able to understand the materials faster than others. Some

of them need more exercise than others, and so on. The differences of students’

58 _{Salvador Algarabel and Carmen Dasi, The Definition of Achievement and the Construction}

ability are effect of some factors. As found on the book More Than a Native Speaker students are individuals who differ in significant ways. First students differ in their language knowledge and skills, second student may differ in learning styles and strengths; finally students differ in their level of motivation, their attitudes toward study in general, and their feelings toward English study in particular.59

Other factor such as previous learning experiences also influences students’ achievement. As a research found on the book What Works in schools shows that

background knowledge has strong relationship to students’ achievement:

The strong correlation between crystallized intelligence and academic achievement helps to explain the strong relationship between background

knowledge (or “prior knowledge” in some studies) and achievement.

Filip Dochy, Mien Segers, and Michele Buehl (1999) conducted one of the most extensive investigations of the relationship between background knowledge and academic achievement. In their analysis of 183 studies, they found 91.5 percent of the studies demonstrated positive effect of background knowledge on learning...

...Enhancing a students’ background knowledge is akin to enhancing his

crystallized intellegence, which is one of the strongest determiner of academic achievement.60

Even though it is not the only factor in determining students’ achievement, but

student who had learned much about English will be easy to learned English than student who learned little about English. The English knowledge background will influence their learning process and automatically will influence their achievement.

In accordance with the statement above, educators such as Ausubel believed that “learning must be meaningful and permanent. For material to be meaningful, it must be clearly relatable to existing knowledge that the learner already possesses. Furthermore, this existing knowledge base must be organized in such a way that the new information is easily assimilated or attached to the learner

59 Garshich, op. cit., p. 4

60 Robert J. Marzano, What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action, (Danvers: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2003), pp. 134-136.

cognitive structure”.61

Hadley concluded that “when the input provided to language learners is organized and easily relatable to what they already known, the burden of comprehension and learning is eased considerably”.62

From the statement above, the writer saw that the background knowledge is no less important in learning process. Student who has background knowledge about the material he is going to learn will be easy to understand about the lesson and must be ready to learn further about the lesson. In other hand, student who has lack background knowledge will find difficulties to understand, and they unready to learn higher level.

The difference of background knowledge is not only because of student’s ability itself, but also it is influences by the external factors such as school where they had studied. Some educator experts agree that a circumstance such as school circumstance influences learning process. As stated on the book Teacher Education in Language Teaching,

…learning to teach is a complex process, a process that has been called

“mysterious and sometimes unpredictable” (Bullough & Baughman, 1993, p. 93). This is because the learning does not only take place during the first years alone; other influences have an impact on how the first year teachers are socialize into the profession (and many of these factors started long before the preservice teacher entered the teacher education programme), such as the influence of their previous schooling…63

All factors may influence to a greater or lesser degree of individual’s ability to

achieve successfully on any learning level includes students’ educational

background. It has an effect to student learning process, and it influenced their achievement

61 Alice Omaggio Hadley, Teaching Language in Context ,Third Edition, (Boston: Heinle, Cengage Learning, 2001), p. 144.

62Ibid., p. 161.

2.

The Students

’

Educational Background Influence Their

Achievement

One school is different from other schools; some schools perhaps have good programs and good teacher that lead students to have enough knowledge, and

some others perhaps don’t have. Thus, a school has important part to determine students’ competence, and it influences learning process when they continue their study at university. As stated on the book Teacher Education in Language Teaching, “The influence of previous schooling at all level from kindergarten, to

elementary, to high school, and even to university is strong because we all spend long hours at all levels of our formal school process watching what teacher do and

developing image about teaching and learning.”64

In addition, in Manajemen Pendidikan Nasional (Management of National Education) stated that “the quality of higher education in the region is closely related to the quality of its senior secondary schools”.65 Moreover there are schools which characteristically different, as the students of English Department came from many kinds of those schools. As stated on National Education System Article 18:

Secondary education is continuation of basic education. Secondary education comprises general secondary education and vocational secondary education. secondary education takes the form of senior general secondary schools, that is, Sekolah Menengah Atas (SMA) as well as Madrasah Aliyah (MA), and senior vocational secondary school, that is, Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan (SMK), as well as Madrasah Kejuruan (MAK), or other schools of the same level.66

The different characteristics of students of course color every class in this case English Education Department, and there is no specification of classes based on educational background. Moreover, they come from different educational background which every school has different goal in teaching English.

64,Ibid., p. 3.

65 A. R. Tilaar, Manajemen Pendidikan National: Kajian pendidikan Masa Depan, (Bandung: PT Remaja Rosdakarya, 2008), p. 119.

66 Act of the Republic of Indonesia on National Education System: Act Number 20, Year 2003,p. 13.

The writer will not discuss further about SMK or MAK. Even though students from those can continue their study to University and take English subject but actually the English curriculum in SMK is different from SMA and MA. Meanwhile SMA and MA have the same English curriculum, so the writer focuses only on SMA and MA.

a.

Sekolah Menengah Atas (SMA)

"Education means conscious and well-planned effort in creating a learning environment and learning process so that learners will be able to develop their full potential for acquiring spiritual and religious strengths, develop self-control, personality, intelligence, morals and noble characters and skill that one needs for him/herself, for the community, for the notion, and for the State”.67

Formal education in Indonesia consists of pre-primary (two years), primary (six years), lower secondary (three years), upper secondary (three years) and finally, higher education. General primary schools, also known as Sekolah Dasar (SD), are followed by lower secondary schools called Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP). After completing lower secondary education, students have the option to progress to general upper secondary schools (Sekolah Menengah Atas– SMA) or technical and vocational upper secondary schools (Madrasah Aliyah Kejuruan– MAK), both of which require three years to complete. In Indonesia education is centrally controlled by the Ministry of National Education. 6 years in primary school and 3 years in junior high school are compulsory. As stated on the

National Education System that “every seven to fifteen years old citizen shall have to receive basic education”.68

The students of SMA are taught to have and develop academic skills that they are prepared to continue their study to the high level or university. As Stated On National Education System “General education is basic and secondary education

67Ibid, p. 6.

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Anasv"

M.

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NrP.

1 9761 0072007

t01002