Theoretical Framework REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

27 Weekly tests have been implemented to support the teaching-learning activities in Vocabulary I class. The implementation of weekly tests is aimed to “encourage the students to master the meaning of the English vocabulary items of the 3000-word level especially in Indonesian” Nurwidasa, et al., 2006: 84. The students are asked to work on vocabulary tests every week with materials which have been determined in the beginning of the semester. The implementation of weekly tests is able to support the teaching- learning activities in Vocabulary I class. It encourages the students to have self learning habit by studying a large number of vocabulary items each week continuously. It also makes them not easily forget the materials mastered since each test includes the previous material. Therefore, their vocabulary mastery could be enhanced by having those tests. Nonetheless, how do the students perceive the weekly tests? Do they perceive weekly tests in positive or negative way? According to Altman, et al. 1985, the way the students perceive on something influences their behavioral responses. It means those behavioral responses can be positive or negative depend on the students’ perceptions. If the students perceive the weekly tests positively, their behavioral responses will be positive too, which will hold up the teaching learning activities and the course goal achievement. However, if the students perceive the weekly tests negatively, their behavioral responses will be negative too which will hinder the teaching- learning activities and the course goal achievement. The research is intended to unveil the students’ perceptions on the implementation of vocabulary weekly tests in Vocabulary I class. Besides, it PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 28 attempts to discover the contribution of the students’ perceptions towards their vocabulary mastery. Therefore, in this research, there are three major parts of theories, namely theories about perception and perception process, teaching and learning vocabulary and test. Those theories are employed to provide a basis for digging out the students’ perceptions on the vocabulary weekly tests. Accordingly, those theories facilitate the researcher to answer the first research question about how the students perceived the implementation of vocabulary weekly tests. Meanwhile, in order to answer the second research question about the contribution of students’ perceptions to their vocabulary mastery, Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation is employed to do the computation. Afterwards, the results of the computation can be used to see the correlation between two variables, namely students’ perceptions and their vocabulary mastery. Subsequently, it can be found to what extend the students’ perceptions contribute to their vocabulary mastery. 29

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter illustrates the method of the research. It is divided into parts of discussion, namely research method, research participants, research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique and research procedures.

A. Research Method

According to Ary, Jacobs, and Ravazieh 2002: 381, “descriptive research studies are designed to obtain information concerning the current status of phenomena.” The research belongs to descriptive research since it is designed to obtain information about the current status of phenomena, namely the students’ perceptions and the contribution of those perceptions to their vocabulary mastery. To accommodate the research, the researcher conducted two types of descriptive research, namely survey research and correlational research. Firstly, he made use of survey research. The survey took the form of both questionnaire and interview. The researcher administered a questionnaire to all students in the class and conducted an interview with some students as well. The goal is to achieve the first objective of the research, namely to unveil the students’ perceptions on the implementation of weekly tests in Vocabulary I class. Secondly, the researcher employed correlational research to correlate the students’ perceptions and their scores. To be detailed, by using this kind of research, he made an effort to attain 30 the second objective of the research, namely to find out the contribution of the students’ perceptions to the students’ vocabulary mastery. Correlational research was employed since the researcher attempted to investigate the strength and direction of relationships among two or more variables Ary, et al., 2002: 25.

B. Research Participants

The population of the research was the students belonging to class A of Vocabulary I class of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University in the academic year of 20072008. There were three classes of Vocabulary I course, namely A, B, and C. Class A was chosen to be the research population since it was the biggest class among other classes. There were 74 students in the class. Biggest number means a lot in view of providing representative data for the research. Despite the fact that all students learned the same subject with the same lecturer and teaching strategies as well, they might still have different perceptions with regards to their motivation and needs. This phenomenon would be an interesting matter to discuss through the research. Further, to verify the data acquired from the questionnaire, the researcher conducted interview with some students. They were divided into three groups, high, medium, and low achievers. The division was based on the students’ final scores. Those who acquired A were categorized as high achievers HA, B and C as medium achievers MA, and D and E as low achievers LA. There were two students from each group who would be asked to be interviewed.