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high-stake test preparation because the students need to pass the test, unless they will fail and take the high consequence due to failing the test.
3. Students’ Behavioral Attitudes towards TKBI Test
The third questionnaire section which was aimed at identifying students‟ actions and behaviors indicates that most students had fair learning behaviors. The
score of 2.7 indicates that their actions towards the test were considered fair because negative attitudes or learning misbehaviors were still found. Related to
their affective attitudes, the students were extrinsically motivated to learn to prepare for TKBI test and pass the test. The score of 3.1 in the questionnaire item
shows that the students gave their effort to practice speaking in English. They could use various ways to practice their speaking skills including communicating
with their friends and lecturers. The students also allocated time to have individual practice outside the class. However, only few students joined TKBI
preparation course or English course in the language institute to improve their English skill.
“When we studied in the class English course subject we were
guided , then we could practice speaking freely. We could discuss
with friends, for interview simulation
.” learningmethod. P8.r4.p173
“There was TKBI preparation in the campus, so there was TKBI preparation course with tutors from English Education Study
Program twice a week, and we could learn to prepare ourselves. learningmethod.P9.r3.p174 The learning model used handouts
per topic for example introduction, hobby, daily life. learningmethod.P9.r4.p175 There were discussion, role play,
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practice, mid test and final test too. So, there was interview
simulation
.” learningmethod.P9.r5.p175
“The preparation was done together with English 2 course but I forgot the name of the lecturer. It was done for several months. The
lecturer was once replaced.” learningmethod.P10.r4.p177 “It was like public speaking class. We delivered presentations, and
our friends listened to our presentations and asked questions. That‟s it.” learningmethod.P10.r5.p177
Some study programs such as Mathematic Education and Primary School Teacher Education provide English Club or TKBI preparation course in addition
to obligatory English course subject to help the students maximize their preparation to take the test. They employed various learning strategies during the
test preparation. They could simulate the interview with their friends using any topics related to their personal identitites, families, studies, hobbies and future
plans. These students employed additional learning approach which was characterized by their effective time management and continuous practice of
communicative skill. They allocated more time to practice their speaking skills and aimed to give their best performance on the test. However, the students did
not take these actions by their initiatives because everything was guided by the lecturers and the program was conducted by department. This means that the
learning approach was not self-initiated. Therefore, the students did not try to do more outside the class. They were not interested to join club or community to
practice their communicative skills. The non-English departments have managed to avoid exam-oriented
culture in the university. To give example, Technological Department and
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Psychology Department conduct public speaking class for early semester students. Although the students are required to pass the test, they are not forced to learn the
test. Most learning activities are not designed to drill the students with the speaking test skills. Instead, they equip the students with necessary
communicative skills which are useful for their lives, such as public speaking, presentation, and discussion. Interview simulation which resembles the test is only
conducted as the part of the activities but does not dominate the learning process. Besides interview simulation, the students also practiced their public speaking
skills. Each student was given the opportunity to present a topic and answer some questions from his or her friends and lecturer based on the topic. Therefore, the
learning contents are not designed based on the test contents. However, the trend of exam culture starts when the students prepare for
the test, mostly in the last semesters because they are obliged to pass the test. As a result, they give their effort to develop their competence for earning good score.
Negative behavioral attitudes appear when their learning motivation and orientation shift into passing the exam. They might stop learning after taking the
test or when they think it is enough. The signs of misbehaviors were clarified in the interview session when the students shared their experience during the test
preparation.
“Yes only memorizing the vocabulary, I still remember some of the
questions…” learningmethod.P3.r5.p164
“For the preparation, I asked my friend from English Education Study Program to teach me
.” learningmethod.P2.r3.p163
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“I did not do much preparation.” learningeffort.P6.r7.p170 Yes, I got the information from friends who had taken the test
earlier. contentleak.P6.r9.p170 “Browse the internet, searched topic about life, then learned from
that. Searched the keywords from the topic, and developed the words
. Yes, just imagined
what we would say later.” learningmethod.P6.r11.p170
Although half of the students gave positive responses on the behavior items and some of them mentioned positive attitudes in the interview, the score
does not reflect quite positive behaviors. Adding to the lecturer-driven and test- driven learning, the time they allocated for practicing their speaking skills was not
enough. They learned only in the classroom, so they did not have enough language exposure and practice outside the classroom. Learning stopped in the
classroom and the students did not learn continuously. Although the students asked their friends from English department to help them study for TKBI test,
they only learned in short period of time. In fact, enough language exposure and practice are needed since learning a language is a habit formation.
Negative behavioral attitudes were shown when the students made their effort by using various methods to prepare for the test which could lead to
misbehaviors. Some students learned by memorizing the vocabularies to help them understand and answer the questions. Students who had taken the test or
been informed about the test content would spend more time memorizing the questions and preparing the answers. Their learning was also deteriorated by the
use of internet to browse the topics for the test. The students mentioned that they could browse the internet, searched for related topics, and prepared the answers.
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They simply read the topics and developed the topics with their own words. These methods were not really effective and helpful to improve their language
competence.
I heard that it was difficult . Many friends tried several times,
but failed . framebuilding.P1.r2.p161
That‟s it miss, they
friends learned by only memorizing the vocabulary, the test questions, and the answer. learningmethod.P1.r3.p161
Furthermore, memorizing the vocabularies and answers often led to
failure. A students shared how their friends failed on the test many times because they did not learn properly. These students mostly failed to understand unfamiliar
questions from the examiners, hence they could not give their best answers. In addition, by memorizing the questions and answer, the students were not prepared
to answer unfamiliar questions because they had limited vocabularies to do so. This condition also obstructed their fluency because they often paused their
speech to figure out how to express their ideas effortlessly.
4. Students’ Goals in Learning English
