The Components of S tudents’ Attitudes towards TKBI Test

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1. The Components of S tudents’ Attitudes towards TKBI Test

This section describes the result of the questionnaire, including the descriptive statistic calculation and inferential statistic calculation. A descriptive analysis was made to describe the components of students attitudes, including the cognitive, affective, and behavioral attitudes as well as students‟ learning goals and perceptions on the test during the test preparation when attitudes are commonly studied and observable. The first questionnaire section describes the students‟ cognitive attitudes including their self-efficacy and their learning interest. The second questionnaire section describes students‟ affective attitudes towards the test. This includes students‟ anxiety, relax, success expectancy, and motivation. The third questionnaire section gathers information about student s‟ behavioral attitudes. The items show students‟ actions towards the test preparation. The fourth section of the questionnaire gives information about students‟ goal setting or learning goal. The last questionnaire section describes students‟ perceptions towards TKBI test itself, whether they thought that the test was easy, meaningful, motivating, and clear in terms of the goal. No Components Statements Score Meaning 1 Cognitive I believe that my English competence is enough to join TKBI test. 2.6 Fair 2 I can communicate in English fluently. 2.1 Negative 3 I can pronounce English words correctly. 2.4 Negative 4 I have enough vocabulary to understand questions. 2.4 Negative 87 No Components Statements Score Meaning 5 Cognitive I have enough vocabulary to answer questions, give information, and state opinions. 2.4 Negative 6 I can use English sentence structure. 2.4 Negative 7 I can use English tenses in the utterances. 2.3 Negative 8 I like speaking in English. 2.6 Fair 9 The number of English course credits in the department is enough for TKBI test preparation. 2.4 Negative 10 Affective I can control my anxiety during test. 2.7 Fair 11 I give my best competence during English test. 3.0 Positive 12 I believe I can answer all questions well. 2.7 Fair 13 I have prepared myself for TKBI test for more than 3 months. 2.6 Fair 14 I am highly motivated to take TKBI test. 2.6 Fair 15 In speaking test, I feel like having a conversation with a friend. 2.4 Negative 16 I am not worried about TKBI test. 2.4 Negative 17 Although I have to take TKBI test, I feel relax. 2.8 Positive 18 With my language competence, I am sure I can pass TKBI test. 2.9 Positive 19 Behavior I give my best effort to practice speaking English. 3.1 Positive 20 I allocate more time to practice speaking English with friends or lecturers. 2.6 Fair 21 I allocate more time to practice speaking English individually and independently. 2.7 Fair 22 I join English clubcommunity to practice speaking English. 2.2 Negative 23 I join English course to prepare for TKBI test. 2.4 Negative 88 No Components Statements Score Meaning 24 Behavior I manage my time to learn English during my study in the university. 2.6 Fair 25 I try many learning methods to prepare for TKBI test. 2.6 Fair 26 TKBI affects my method in learning English in the campus or individually. 2.7 Fair 27 Goal setting I have clear goal to learn English. 3.0 Positive 28 I learn English happily and enthusiastically. 3.0 Positive 29 I learn English to improve my English competence. 3.2 Positive 30 My main goal to learn English intensively is for TKBI test. 2.3 Negative 31 My target is to pass TKBI test and get high score. 3.1 Positive 32 English is important for my academic purpose. 3.4 Positive 33 I will use English in my future career. 3.0 Positive 34 Perception I know the purpose of TKBI test. 3.0 Positive 35 TKBI test motivates me to learn English. 3.0 Positive 36 In my opinion, TKBI test is difficult but I believe I can answer the questions well. 2.7 Fair 37 TKBI test helps me to improve my English proficiency. 2.7 Fair 38 TKBI test makes me believe that my English competence is good. 3.0 Positive 39 TKBI test makes me more confident to speak in English. 2.8 Positive 40 Preparing TKBI test makes me more able to communicate in English. 2.7 Fair Table 4.1 The Likert Scale Analysis of Attitudes towards Test The data from questionnaire helps the researcher to describe students‟ attitudes during the test preparation. The items on the cognitive attitudes of the 89 students show how the students perceived their knowledge on grammatical structures and tenses, their ability to pronounce English words, their vocabulary range to understand and answer the questions, and their ability to speak effortlessly. Those elements are considered as the significant factors that build students‟self-efficacy during the test preparation and test taking. Based on the score criteria Sudijono, 2009, p. 175 the responses on the first questionnaire item shows that the students had negative cognitive attitudes because almost half of the students were not really confident about their language competence and their ability to pass the test Table 4.1. They believed that their English competence was not enough to join the test and pass the test. Although many students gave negative responses, half of the students still showed positive cognitive attitudes that they had good confidence to succeed. This condition shows that the level of confidence was fair, not very low, but not high enough. Students‟ negative cognitive attitudes could be identified in the questionnaire section on cognitive attitudes Table 4.1 which shows score 2.1 to 2.4 from 4.0 maximum score. Therefore, when the students were asked to respond to some questionnaire items about their language competence, almost all students gave negative evaluation on their knowledge and ability. More than half of the respondents mentioned that they still found few pauses, pronunciation errors, and grammar mistakes during speaking Appendix 2. They also needed to enrich their vocabulary to help them answer questions. The negative evaluations on competence made the students have fair confidence level, because they could not be self-assured about passing such important test. 90 The questionnaire also gives information about the contribution of the department in preparing the students for TKBI test. The students could share whether the English course credits in the department were enough to help them during the test preparation. In this questionnaire item, most students mentioned that the contact hours were still limited so they did not have enough speaking practice Table 4.1. Since self-efficacy is related to learning interest, the questionnaire item also gathered information a bout students‟ learning interest during test preparation. The result shows that the students had fair interest to improve their communicative competence. More than half of the students mentioned that they did not like learning English. This number of students was considerably high when compared to those who had high learning interest. The condition reflects that many students did not enjoy learning English. The result of Likert scale analysis on the second questionnaire section shows that most students had fair affective attitudes towards the test. In some points, the students show positive attitudes, while the rest of the items are quite negative. Related to motivation, half of the respondents were relax and motivated enough to prepare themselves for the test and to take the test Appendix 2. However, the intrinsic motivation was not that high because quite many students, almost half of the respondents gave negative response on the motivation level. The students also mentioned that they could not really control their anxiety. Related to the affective attitudes, the questionnaire item also deals with their success expectancy to show if the students are sure that they can pass the test or not. The questionnaire result shows that most students had high success 91 expectancy although they were not really sure about their ability to answer the questions Table 4.1. An interesting result was found where more than half of the respondents mentioned that they felt nervous during speaking test Appendix 2. Although the test was designed as interactive conversation, the students could not feel as relax as having conversation with friends. This negative affective attitude was shown by score 2.4. An analysis on the third section of the questionnaire was made to find informa tion about students‟ behavioral attitudes. The analysis result tells about the students‟ learning effort and learning strategies to prepare for TKBI test. Hence, the researcher can identify what kind of learning approach is used by the students to improve their spoken English competence. Generally, the analysis result of these items show that TKBI test affe cted students‟ learning methods. Most students mentioned that TKBI test affected their learning process inside and outside the classroom. The students believed that they made their best effort to improve their competence and prepare themselves for the test. They also allocated more time to practice their skills. They practiced speaking in English with their lecturers or friends. They also practiced speaking independently. Only few students joined English club or English course to practice speaking in English. Overall, the results show that the students had fair behavioral attitudes because few negative attitudes were still found Table 4.1. The questionnaire results show that among all of the respondents, many students still gave less effort to study. Around 15 of the respondents mentioned that they did not give sufficient effort to improve their competence. 92 Being considerably important, the students should have clear learning goal. The fourth section of the questionnaire gives information about students‟ learning goals or learning motives. In addition, the students‟ types of learning motivation can be identified through their answers. The result of Likert scale analysis shows that the students had clear and positive learning goals. Almost all of the students had clear motives to learn Table 4.1. The students mentioned that passing TKBI test was not their main motive to learn English, so most of them gave negative responses on this statement. Related to the learning goal, most students agreed that English was important for their academic life and future career. Hence, the students still had enough intrinsic motivation to learn English. The last part of the questionnaire section is aimed to gather information about students‟perceptions towards the TKBI test itself. The students can share their opinions about the implementation of TKBI test as one of the requirements for thesis defense. The results of the questionnaire help the researcher to identify if the students think that the test is feasible, meaningful, and purposeful. Overall, the analysis results of the questionnaire show that the students considered TKBI test as a meaningful test for their lives. Almost all of the students mentioned that it motivated them to learn English and improved their confidence to speak in English. However, many students thought that the test was not really feasible because they considered it difficult, so they were not really sure if they could answer the questions well Table 4.1. More than half of the students mentioned that the test was beneficial to improve their quality. However, they still found that their communicative competence did not improve significantly. 93 The questionnaire results were also analyzed using inferential statistics. The Spearman‟s rho analysis was made to measure the correlation between the components of attitudes, including the cognitive attitudes, affective attitudes, behavioral attitudes, and learning goals. Hence, the researcher can infer the relation between one component of attitudes and another component of attitudes as a way to ensure the trustworthiness of the data and the instruments. The statistics also allowed prediction about the attitudes of the entire population. Correlations cognitive Affective Spearmans rho cognitive Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .177 Sig. 2-tailed . .044 N 130 130 affective Correlation Coefficient .177 1.000 Sig. 2-tailed .044 . N 130 130 . Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level 2-tailed. The statistical analysis using Spearman ‟s rho shows that some components of attitudes were correlated. There was a correlation between cognitive attitudes and affective attitudes. The statistical result of 0.04 shows that students‟ judgement about their language competence was correlated with students‟ anxiety. Based on the result Spearman‟s rho analysis, students who had high level of confidence were less anxious during test preparation and test taking processes. They were not worried about their performance on the test. On the contrary, those who were not confident felt more anxious that they would possibly fail on the test. 94 Correlations Cognitive Motivation Spearmans rho cognitive Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .186 Sig. 2-tailed . .034 N 130 130 motivation Correlation Coefficient .186 1.000 Sig. 2-tailed .034 . N 130 130 . Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level 2-tailed. The inferential statistics on cognitive and motivation helps to identify if there is a relation between students‟ cognitive attitudes and their motivation. The result of the statistical analysis shows that students‟ perceptions on their language competence were related to their motivation to learn and prepare for the test. In the questionnaire, students who had high confidence or self-efficacy about their language competence also had high motivation to learn. Correlations Efficacy success expectancy Spearmans rho Efficacy Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .428 Sig. 2-tailed . .000 N 130 130 success expectancy Correlation Coefficient .428 1.000 Sig. 2-tailed .000 . N 130 130 . Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level 2-tailed. The result of inferential statistic below 0.05 shows that there was a significant correlation between cognitive attitude and success expectancy. When the students showed high confidence about their language competence, they also showed high confidence that they could pass the test. A different condition 95 happened when the students had low confidence. The result of the statistical analysis confirmed that students who had low self-efficacy had low success expectancy. Correlations Efficacy practice effort Spearmans rho efficacy Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .038 Sig. 2-tailed . .668 N 130 130 practice effort Correlation Coefficient .038 1.000 Sig. 2-tailed .668 . N 130 130 The inferential statistic analysis presented above shows that self-efficacy was not correlated with learning strategies. The result of the analysis suggests that students‟ learning method during the test preparation was not related to the way they perceive their current English competence. The value from the statistical analysis helps to identify tha t students‟ perceptions or judgements about their language proficiency did not significantly contribute to shape their learning behaviors. The coefficient of 0.668 accepts the hypothesis that there was no correlation between cognitive attitudes and behavioral attitudes. Correlations test anxiety practice effort Spearmans rho controlled anxiety Correlation Coefficient 1.000 -.124 Sig. 2-tailed . .161 N 130 130 practice effort Correlation Coefficient -.124 1.000 Sig. 2-tailed .161 . N 130 130 96 The inferential statistics presented above rejects the correlation between emotions and learning strategies or learning approach. The phi coefficient of 0.161 accepts the null hypothesis that there was no correlation between affective and behavioral attitudes. The result shows that what the students felt towards the speaking test and their readiness for the test were not significantly linked to their actions to prepare themselves for the test. Therefore, when the students showed positive feelings, such as relax and enthusiasm or negative feelings of anxiety or worry, they could perform either positive or negative behaviors towards the learning process. In both conditions, the students could actively participate in every learning activity and have great desire to accomplish every learning task. Correlations feeling motivated practice effort Spearmans rho feeling motivated Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .254 Sig. 2-tailed . .004 N 130 130 practice effort Correlation Coefficient .254 1.000 Sig. 2-tailed .004 . N 130 130 . Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level 2-tailed. The result of Spe arman‟s rho infers the the relation between motivation and behavior. The value of 0.004 shows that students‟ motivation in preparing and taking the test was linked to their learning strategies. It was reported that students who had high motivation level would participate in every learning activity to improve their communicative competence. They managed their time to practice speaking in English outside the classroom with their friends or individually. The 97 researcher could identify the kinds of learning strategy taken by students with high and low motivation level. Correlations controlled anxiety enthusiasm Spearmans rho controlled anxiety Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .201 Sig. 2-tailed . .022 N 130 130 enthusiasm Correlation Coefficient .201 1.000 Sig. 2-tailed .022 . N 130 130 . Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level 2-tailed. The phi coefficient of 0.02 rejects the null hypothesis that emotions are not correlated with motivation. The result infers the correlation between affective attitudes and motivation. Although feelings were not related to learning effort, but when the students had positive feelings, they would have high intrinsic motivation to learn. Correlations feeling motivated success expectancy Spearmans rho feeling motivated Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .316 Sig. 2-tailed . .000 N 130 130 success expectancy Correlation Coefficient .316 1.000 Sig. 2-tailed .000 . N 130 130 . Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level 2-tailed. The coefficient 0.05 indicates that emotions or affective factors are correlated with success expectancy. The con dition suggests that students‟ feelings, 98 such as motivation or enthusiasm and anxiety bind correlation with expected success. When the students were more enthusiastic and less anxious, they would ensure themselves to succeed on the test. On the contrary, those who were less motivated and more anxious thought that they would fail.

2. The S tudents’ Experiences during Test Preparation and Test Taking