Action research cycle 3 Teaching and Learning Process throughout the Action Research Cycles
134
themselves for the new material before the lesson. I offered a new project for cycle 3, which required them to do some take-home tasks related to
the upcoming topic and materials. I asked if they agreed with this project, and they said yes. So, I distributed a take-home task within the topic of
grammar. R FN 10.11
This newly-proposed individual take-home project for cycle 3 was applied as a response to the need for fostering learning autonomy in every student. This
differentiated take-home project was expected to give the students more stimulation to study independently outside the classroom in order to prepare for
the upcoming class. Therefore, the project was always related to the upcoming topic and material, the purpose of which was to help students prepare at home and
be familiar with the topic before the class started. In performing the cycle 3 project, each one of the students was given a different task on a small unit of
material, aiming to make them communicate with each other to comprehend the whole material unit. It was expected that by doing a small part of material, the
students could try to understand the whole material unit through peer knowledge- exchanging. This was like giving each student a piece of puzzle, so that they
would assemble it together into a whole piece of picture. This project was therefore used as a medium to also strengthen the collaborative learning since
students could learn from each other during completing the project. In order to understand deeper students’ learning attitudes, the students’
reflection journal for cycle 3 was modified see Appendix L, so that it could accommodate the researcher in observ
ing the improvement of students’ learning autonomy in relation to their contribution in the collaborative learning
environment. In addition, the new version of reflective journal made it possible to dig more in-depth information from the students although there were no more
135 interview session due to the unavailability of time given by the OMI institution. In
the revised version of reflective journal, there were two parts see Appendix L. The first part seeks students’ reflection on the conduct of today’s class in terms of
activities suitability. Meanwhile, the second part required students to reflect on their individual performance in both autonomous and collaborative learning, both
inside and outside the class. Another learning component, autonomy, is a complex concept which is not
observable easily since it is applicable in students’ overall learning attitudes, not just their inside-classro
om attitudes. Therefore, to measure one’s improvement in learning autonomy, there was a need to gather perception data. To fulfill this need,
the post-program questionnaire was adjusted so it could be used for measuring students’ autonomous learning attitude. Therefore, there were some additional
questions provided in an additional part of the questionnaire see Appendix I. The questions were developed from the aspects of learning autonomy covered in the
broad definitions of autonomy in language learning by Chan 2000 and Benson 2011, as well as the characteristics of an autonomous learner coined by
Dickinson 1993, as cited in Cakici, 2015, p.35.
2 Acting and observing
The attempts of solving problems in a mixed-competence speaking class continued to the last cycle, in which the acting and observing stages were shaped
of various occurrences. Both the progressions and regressions detected throughout cycle 3 are reported in this sub-section.
136 a
Coping with students’ low motivation Students’ various attitudes were captured during their study in the
collaborative learning environment of action research cycle 3. One of those was related to
students’ attitude in their commitment to the differentiated take-home project of cycle 3. As it was elaborated in the previous section, students had
agreed to adopt a new take-home project in cycle 3, which was intended to help them prepare for the upcoming materials. Although students regularly completed
this project independently outside the class, findings suggest that this project was not really effective in making students more autonomous nor collaborative, as its
initial intention. An autonomous learner is capable of taking control of his own learning in the purpose of achieving learning goals. However, in this case,
students’ commitment in individual learning outside the class was not followed with sufficient initiative to make themselves achieve the targeted standard. At the
end of the grammar class session, the students were asked to finish the two last parts in the worksheet at home
, with peers’ assistance, as depicted in the following field note:
Since time was running out, meanwhile there were still 2 grammar parts remaining to discuss, I asked the students to try to do it at home. I
encouraged students to consult and check their answers with the students who did the respective parts. Part 4, singular and plural nouns, was done
by Yosep and Ben. Part 5 was done by Amin, Arka, and Vino. Then, I asked them not to worry about the complex English grammar, because at
this stage they were only required to understand the basic structure. R FN 11.9.
It was very clearly explained that the students had to achieve the grammar
material targets by themselves as the session time was not sufficient. In addition, they were given very clear direction on who to consult if they faced difficulty
137 while completing it, in the hope that they achieved the targeted grammar focuses
outside the class independently. The following field note portrays what happened in the following class session, when I checked this assignment.
I asked if students have done the grammar exercise from last meeting. Students still had some problems in using modal auxiliaries. I guided the
students to complete the difficult grammar problems. But, because of the time limitation, I went fast to the next question if any. Satria turned out to
still want to ask the answer of number 5, a translation problem of
‘cancan’t’. I didn’t directly give the answer. Instead, I asked Vino, who got this matter for the personalized task to share the answer to his friends.
Because he spoke very fast, Satria still hadn’t got the correct answer. So, I encouraged Vino to teach his peers sitting around him. Then I asked the
students to consult friends who got the ‘modal’ part. Amin was one of the
students who got the ‘modal’ part. But, could not find his paper. It seemed to have been missing. He spent his rest of the time busy looking
for the missing paper.
R FN 12.2 Based on this lesson episode, it was indicated that students had not tried to solve
the grammar problems collaboratively on their own initiative. The case of Amin, who have missed his paper, raised the second issue
related to learning motivation. The fact that he did not take a good care of his homework demonstrated that he had low interest in his homework. This was, in
fact, not the only time that Amin did not commit to his homework. In addition, he was not the only student who had ever forgotten the homework. The field not
below captures the respective episode.
I went around to check students’ homework from last meeting: Completing table of V1 V2 and V3, preparing students to study today’s
material: simple past tense. All students did well. Amin did but not finished, while Titus did not do the homework at all. He said he forgot.
Then I asked him to finish it by the end of the class. R FN 13.1
There should have been some reasons why the students did not perform the given tasks well. It was understood that as members of religious congregation, their
lives are very tightly scheduled, not to mention the chores they have to do and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
138 other classes they have to take. The limited free-time that they had could be one of
the obstacles hindering them from performing peer learning outside the class, as Amin had ever stated in an interview session that he was not fond of homework
because he “didn’t have enough time” Translated, P ST02-INT 16. Similar to Amin, Titus failed to complete his homework because he had
forgotten, as he admitted. However, I tried to find out why he did not do his homework through checking his response towards the respective meeting’s
reflective journal guideline “Please explain briefly your process of finishing the
last homework.” The following transcript presents Titus’ response.
I worked with my friend to do my homework. I was not satisfied with the result. Translated, Q ST01-REFL 9.3
His reflection in the journal was inconsistent with the reality in the classroom. This inconsistency could be con
sidered as the possibility of students’ desirable answers in responding to the reflective journal guidelines.
Further, another finding confirmed that students’ low commitment towards
the take-home project was due to low motivation. In the reflective journals, some students admitted that learning obstacles usually came from the reluctance inside
themselves. The following transcripts present students’ answers to the reflective question “What difficulty do I experience during the learning process?”
My experience during the learning is lazy. Q ST02-REFL 9.5 the difficulty usually comes from myself, for example sleepiness and
laziness. Translated, Q ST03-REFL 9.5
The transcripts above show how students reported their low motivation during learning outside the class.
139 Other than that, a result from class observation also
detected students’ low motivation in participating classroom activities, one of which episode is captured
in the following observation field note.
... The next turn went to Ben and Satria. They both could arrange the question well and smoothly. Dony was the one to answer Satria’s
question. Then, the whole class had to repeat the information said by Dony. However, Titus did not follow to repeat the information like the
others. So, I asked him to repeat it himself. He looked confused, but Arka whispered the statement he needed to repeat. R FN 12.19
This field note showed Titus’ low motivation inside the classroom, which could
well support the assumption that this same factor caused his failure in completing his homework.
Similar to Titus’ case, Yosep also experienced low motivation during classroom motivation, which is portrayed in the following field notes taken from
the same lesson session on September 3, 2016.
…The students were invited to join a quiz to review the previous materials. They were working in mixed-competence group based on
sitting position. Group 1: Dony, Yosep, Satria. Group 2: Vino, Ben, Desta. Group 3: Arka, Titus, Amin. All students seemed to be excited.
They did the quiz really well. Most of them could recall the previous material well. However, the group of Dony, Satria, and Yosep was not as
energetic as the others. In fact, Yosep did not as active as usual. He rarely participated in answering during the quiz. This, in fact, affected his
group’s performance. Vino’s group was the most energetic. R FN 13.2 Teachers invited students to go out and play outside the classroom. When
the teachers and some students were already out, the inside-class camera
still recorded students’ behavior when they were left unattended, and what happened was surprising. Yosep said to Desta and Amin,
“Huaaaa
Hari ini gua males banget Makanya dari tadi gua gak ngomong kan?
Males”. Oh noo Today I feel so lazy That’s why I didn’t talk, you see? Lazy It seemed that Yosep was having a bad mood today. R FN
13.5
From the field notes above, it was captured that Yosep was having low motivation on that lesson. His attitude on that day was very different from how his
140 regular performance. It was, therefore, interesting to investigate why he had low
motivation from his point of view, which was written on his reflective journal. Unfortunately, he did not write anything that indicated the reason behind his low
motivation. Everything he wrote were good things, except his difficulty in “listening to teacher’s talk” Q ST04-REFL 9.6.
After all, students’ from all competence levels had ever experienced low motivation, which was manifested in different learning attitudes both inside and
outside the class. The cause of which was unfortunately unrevealed from students’
reflective journal, since not all students were frank enough when writing their reflections. Participants’ non-openness, which was inevitable, turned to be a
hindrance for this study to reveal the most objective findings. In fact, this occurrence of low motivation could happen due to the
disparity in language competence, just as Elizondo’s concern that “high proficiency students may feel held back and low proficiency students may feel
pushed” 2013, p. 53. The findings throughout the cycles, however, the low motivation experienced by low competence students could be because of their
being overwhelmed of the extensive tasks given along the course. This was evidenced through low-competent
students’ losing of interest over grammar related tasks, which was relatively difficult. Meanwhile,
Yosep’s low motivation occurred during the material review session, in which previously-learned material
was repeated. This could have led him to be demotivated since he experienced retardation from the not sufficiently challenging activity.
141 In order to cope wi
th students’ low motivation problem inside the classroom, the teacher took an action as depicted in the following field note.
The students were invited to play outside, in the table tennis room. Hot ball game to help them remember past verb forms. Whenever the ball
landed on a Yosep, Arka, Vino, and Ben, Ms Fanny gave some difficult verbs to add the challenge. Regular verbs and commonly-used verbs were
given to the rest of the students. During the game, almost all students could demonstrate fair knowledge on Verb 2, although students like Titus
and Satria were not fast-responsive. Pronouncing V2 was still a problem for some students like Dony, Titus, and Amin. The game was lively.
After the game was over, they seemed more energetic when coming back to the classroom. R FN 13.6
The lesson was continued with inviting students to read Obama’s life storybiography by heart. They were given the same follow-up questions,
but different scaffoldings for every student. Tier 1: multiple choice questions with 3 options. Tier 2: matching question with answer. Tier 3:
Open question. All tiers had to write the answers in complete sentences, so they had to write sentences in past tense... R FN 13.7
To cope with motivation problem inside the classroom, the teacher added the challenge for those high-competent students, in order that no more top-tier
students experience low motivation. This was implemented in both the game and in-class individual exercise. In addition, taking students to play outside was
effective to improve the whole class’ vibes. Meanwhile, to cope with students’ laziness in doing independent learning outside the class, it turned out that
collaborative-based assignment was more effective than individual assignment. It was evidenced that students demonstrated laziness by not doing the homework
when they had to do individual take-home task. However, it was proven that when they were to do collaborative task such as interviewing peers to be reported in the
following class session, the students were more enthusiastic. It was portrayed in the following field note.
I asked students if they had done the project from last meeting, which was to interview friend’s life experience using 3 given verbs. All students
had done that. Then students were given examples on how to present their
142
interview results. Then, I asked who wanted to volunteer to be the first to present. R FN 12.5
Dony raised his hand and volunteered to be the first student to deliver presentation. Arka volunteered to ask a question. R FN 12.6
Throughout the cycles, it was observed that students had been more
consistent in accomplishing collective take-home tasks rather than independent tasks. Thus, the individual differentiated project agreed by participants at the
beginning of cycle 3 remained implemented, but with the insertion of collaborative aspect. That was, a task which required students to work with peers.
b Students’ performance in collaborative learning environment
Findings throughout cycle 3 suggested that there were more improvements in students’ collaboration skills during and subsequent to the action undertaking.
There wer e extensive findings indicated that students’ collaboration skills had
developed, one of which is presented in this following field notes:
Students were asked to make a group of 3. In this process, students must decide their group members randomly. When students were to choose
their group members, they made the decision among them. Yosep chose to be with Satria and Vino. When I asked Ben who he wanted to be with,
he was not sure. He just looked around. Then his friends decided for him that he should go with Titus and Desta. So, the third group was Arka with
Amin and Dony. R FN 12.23
The field note above portrays how students independently decided the group arrangement. It was interesting to see the empathic understanding among
them, so that the formed groups were equally composed; each one was composed of different competence students. Another series of field notes presented below
depicts similar findings from another lesson session.
When everyone had finished, Ms Fanny asked students to exchange their works, so they could do peer checking. Then, the discussion session
143
began. In the discussion, students were encouraged to answer with complete sentences, which required them to use simple past tense. For
number one, Yosep and Desta raised their hand and volunteered to answer, but Yosep gave the chance to Desta. The second student to
answer was chosen by Desta. Desta chose Titus. Then, Titus chose Amin to be the third student... R FN 13.15
The next appointed student was Satria. Then, Satria chose Dony. Both did well although Dony’s answer was incorrect. Ben then raised his hand
to give the correct answer. When Dony had to choose the next student, he chose Desta, but Desta had already got his turn, so he could no more
answer. Then, Ms Fanny appointed Vino…R FN 13.16
The fact that students always gave the chance to speak to students with
considerably lower competence as presented in the above field notes was very impressive. Similarly, when the higher-competent students were given the chance
to speak, they gave up the opportunity to other peers. Here, it was obvious that the students had grown remarkable level of emphatic understandings towards their
peers, as they always cared about what happened to their classmates. In this case, students’ affective aspect manifested through collaboration skills had developed.
This positive peer interaction among students in the group had indicated cohesiveness, which contributed to motivation in L2, and eventually led to more
productive learning outcome Lin, 2015, p.15. Similar to the above findings, students’ individual behavior indicated that
their collaboration skill had improved. One obvious example was Ben, a top tier student who did not use to realize his higher capability compared to the others,
started to be more confident in assisting his lower-competent peers. His attitude related to this was captured in one of the observation field notes:
Students worked in groups. They were actively involved in discussion activities. They seemed excited as well. Group 1: Vino, Yosep and Satria
had a very lively discussion. Each of them seemed to contribute a lot. Group 2: Ben did not seem to really enjoy working with Titus and Desta,
as their group did not seem to start the discussion. Nobody seemed to
144
start giving ideas. However, as Ben initiated to write a script, the group members started to follow the discussion. In this opportunity, Ben
assisted and led his group members carefully. Group 3: Arka, Amin, and Dony were equally active in sharing their ideas. Everyone contributed
very well. R FN 12.24
Ben’s better collaboration attitude was portrayed in the field note above. In fact, he himself also realized that he had improvement in peer-learning contribution, as
what he wrote in his reflective journal as a response towards the reflective question “What contribution have I made during the learning process?”:
I have tried to help my friends throughout the learning process. I have also done every task, followed the lesson well, and tried to speak English.
Q ST03REFL 10.7
The second obvious example was seen in Amin’s performance. Despite some reports that stated his frequent low-motivated attitude, Amin was one of the
students who had built a good sense of collaboration. His collaborative performance was recorded in the following field note:
When it came to Titus’ turn to ask a question to Arka, he was puzzled. Amin, who sat next to him tried to help him to construct the question... R
FN 12.20
Although he was usually hesitant and unconfident with his capability, Amin took action when he found his peer struggling, which indicated that he cared about his
friend’s success. In addition, through helping his friend, he could also practice constructing sentences, which was still a problem for him. Thus, each of the
students was benefited through their collaborative behavior.
c Students’ performance in terms of achieving the course goal
The overall action performed during the third cycle of action research comprised the principles of differentiated instruction, namely tiered, open-ended
145 tasks and activities, flexible and heterogeneous grouping approach, and selections
of topic in extensive speaking activities. This action was undertaken to facilitate students to achieve the course goal, which was to be able to speak English for
general communication purposes in both formal and informal contexts. To see if the action was effective in dev
eloping students’ speaking skill, it is necessary to investigate if the students could manage to successfully achieve the course goal
although they started from different points. Throughout the cycle, it was observed that students showed various
quality of speaking performance. In fact, all students in the bottom, middle, and top tier made improvements in terms of speaking skill. The bottom tier students
showed varied improvements. Titus, for example, started from the point where he had no idea on what people were talking about. At the beginning of the course,
even, he groped for words’ meanings. He could hardly understand short, slowly- uttered English utterance. Based on the observational field note and his own
reflections, however, there were some noticeable improvements observed during the class sessions, one of which is presented in the following transcript.
The next student to present was Titus. Titus delivered a brief presentation. He responded to the questions quite well and could produce
short, yet spontaneous answers. R FN 12.11
The field note above depicts Titus’ performance during an individual presentation session to report an interview result. In that presentation, Titus, after
the long struggle, could eventually make improvements in terms of both performing short speech and interaction. He was not able yet to deliver long
stretch of utterances at one time due to some his limitation in vocabulary and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
146 grammatical control. However, when performing interactions, he could now
produce short utterances as well as understand and give responses to people’s
questions addressed to him even though his pronunciation was not clear sometimes. Titus himself was aware of his progress as written in his reflective
journal, which is presented below:
I feel like I experience progress in myself. I can understand what my friend is talking about, and I can reply a little in English. Translated, Q
ST 01-REFL 7.3
Another case was from Satria, another tier 1 student, who departed from
the point where his English speaking proficiency was considerably low. This is shown in the field note taken during the pre-test below:
Satria usually performed very short fragments with minimum vocabulary. In te
rms of interaction, he could understand the interlocutor’s questions and utterances, yet unable to reply. There were too many pauses that he
made, which was time consuming, so frequently I had to make him speak by asking more questions or giving clues. He did not seem to know what
to say, which seemingly due to his poor vocabulary mastery… R FN 2.4
However, after a series of action conducted during action research, Satria reported that he had experienced progress in terms of maintaining communication
in English. He was also confident enough to frequently produce spontaneous, unprepared speeches. The transcripts below present Satria’s report on his
progress:
The progress that I experience is that I can help friends in doing english assignment and maintain communication. Translated, Q ST09-REFL
8.4
His reflection was consistent with his actual classroom performance, in which he voluntarily participated to ask a question in the question and answer
147 session during his peer’s report presentation. The lesson episode is presented in
the following field note:
.. . Satria volunteered to ask a question about Desta’s ticket price. He was
spontaneous in constructing that question since he didn’t seem to have prepared for that. R FN 12.19
The other bottom tier student, Desta, similarly demonstrated major
progress in his speaking skills. As a highly-motivated and obedient student, he regularly completed any tasks given the best that he could. Throughout the action
research, he managed to outperform other students in the bottom tier. Therefore, starting from cycle 3, he was entrusted to accomplish the tasks for middle tier
students. Desta was given more challenge in cycle 3, by having to finish exercises with reduced amount of scaffoldings. As it had been expected before, he could do
exercises for tier 2 students well, although he seemed to struggle at first. But, when given sufficient time, he could finish the exercise well. This episode was
captured during reading comprehension activity entitled “Obama’s Life Story”, which is presented in the following field note transcript:
…Desta seemed to have difficulties in answering the questions. He kept looking up the dictionary, seeming like there were many words he did not
understand the meanings. Once he understood the sentences, though, he could answer the questions himself although he needed longer time. R
FN 13.7
After completing the reading follow-up exercises, Desta seemed quite confident with his results.
Further, the improvement seen in Desta was frequently demonstrated through his higher confidence in participating in classroom open discussions. The
following field notes portray his overall progress. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
148
When everyone had finished, Ms Fanny asked students to exchange their works, so they could do peer checking. Then, the discussion session
began. In the discussion, students were encouraged to answer with complete sentences, which required them to use simple past tense. For
number one, Yosep and Desta raised their hand and volunteered to answer, but Yosep gave the chance to Desta. R FN 13.15
Not only participating actively in discussions, Desta’s confidence was also noticeable when he was performing speech in one of the presentation sessions, as
portrayed in the following field note:
Desta went to the front to present in the next turn. He frequently looked at the presentation guideline shown on the screen, trying to make his report
as excellent as it was instructed to, and he nailed it. Although his presentation was short, he presented an excellent, well-structured
interview report
… R FN 12.13
It is interesting to follow the bottom tier students’ progress as they dealt with relatively more struggles than students from other competence groups. However,
they managed to endure the whole process and proved that they could achieve considerable development in speaking skills. Even, one of them could make
themselves out of their initial competence group and achieve equal proficiency with those students in the higher competence groups.
The middle tier students, Dony and Amin, departed from the same starting points as they were noticeable false beginners with considerably sufficient
vocabulary mastery. However, turning their linguistic knowledge into oral productions was still a major issue for them, as they used to lack speaking
practices. Throughout the action research, students were trained to turn their English knowledge into active spoken productions and encouraged to use the
appropriate structure. At one of the last sessions of the course, Dony and Amin PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
149 were portrayed to
have developed in terms of controlling their utterance’s accuracy, as depicted in the following field note.
The next challenged student was Amin. He could turn the phrase ‘street sweeping’ into a good question ‘Have you ever swept the street?’ which
was excellent. After that, Dony did the next turn. He turned the word ‘charity’ into a well-structured question in present perfect tense ‘Have
you ever done charity?’… R FN 12.19 Dony was the next student to present the interview results with Ms Nora.
He spoke with quite clear pronunciation and intonation. Also, his utterances were quite well-structured, so it was understandable for the
audience. At the end of his presentation, Vino volunteered to ask a question about the kind of music that Ms Nora liked. Then Dony replied
well. R FN 14.14
The field notes suggest that the students’ performances were much better than how they used to perform before. Findings related to the middle tier students
indicated that their improvements occurred mainly in the awareness of maintaining well-formed sentence structures. Other than that, they also gained
fluency and more proper pronunciation, which contribute significantly in meaning negotiation during interactions.
When it came to examining top- tier students’ speaking performance, the
most noticeable thing was their significant engagement throughout the extensive speaking activities, particularly in classroom open discussions. One of the
episodes related to that matter is captured in the following field note:
... We did i nformal chit chatting about previous night’s event “Blotan
Idol”. I invited everyone to share their experiences. Almost all students were responsive to this informal discussion. Students like Ben, Desta,
Arka, Yosep, and Vino gave the most responses. R FN 12.1
In fact, not all students always had the willingness and confidence to express their thoughts into speeches, particularly in front of the forum. However, the high
150 competent students consistently showed their confidence in speaking. As a result,
they gained more opportunities to practice speaking compared to other students. Ben, one of the top tier students, however, was observed to be unconfident
at the beginning of the research period. He used to be unaware about his relatively higher competence compared to others, which made him rare to help his peers.
Also, he did not seem to actively contribute in classroom open discussion. However, in cycle 3, he seemed to have realized that his speaking performance
gradually developed. Therefore, he participated more significantly in the few last class sessions, as reported in the field note above. Other than that, he himself
testified in his reflective journal about this matter.
I have been more confident to speak in public, although my English is not really good. Translated, ST03-REFL 8.4
Based on the overall findings related to high- competent students’
improvements, it was shown that their major development occurred on the advancement of their utterances in terms of grammar. The data obtained from
students’ reflective journals supported this idea. The following transcripts are students’ responses to the reflective question “What kind of improvement do you
expe rience in terms of speaking skill after today’s lesson?”
I can use past tense and I know how to distinguish the different situations. Translated, Q ST05-REFL 10.4
I understand more tenses and I can use it during the talks. Translated, Q ST04-REFL 8.4
Nevertheless, top tier students’ deeper comprehension on grammar related knowledge somehow held them a little bit from speaking as fluently as how they
were expected to do. This following field notes recorded during progress test 3 portray the respective issue.
151
Vino was good at retelling someone’s speech. When telling his past experience, Vino was confident and fluent as well. There were minor
inaccuracies, but it did not hinder him from conveying his messages during interaction. He, however, seemed to overthought about the
grammar, which made him not fluent in asking questions. R FN 15.5 Arka could always convey his messages understandably and fluently with
proper tone. However, in terms of tenses, he was still groping a little bit to convert his verbs into the correct verb forms, which retarded his
speech. Overall, he could initiate long, spontaneous talks because of his relatively broad vocabulary mastery. R FN 15.10
The limitations found in top tier students’ speaking skill development
indeed hindered them a little bit from speaking fluently. However, significant improvements were still discovered in their speaking performances. All in all,
high competent students’ better proficiency had been beneficial in terms of creating a role model for the students in lower competences, as other students
could take examples from it. Another benefit was through their proficiency, the high competent students could share their knowledge and skills to assist other
peers, while at the same time excelling themselves.
d Improvement on students’ learning autonomy
Autonomy is one of the skills that supports one’s learning process since it could facilitate learners to achieve success. Learner autonomy was not meant to be
highlighted in this study, until this skill emerged in the middle of the action research undertaking, when the students became more aware of their individual
learning progress. That was, the moment when they could remark their learning habits and deficiencies and they had attempted to overcome those. Aware of the
importance of learning autonomy, some strategies were applied in the further action to make learners more autonomous. Therefore, it became necessary also to
152 extend the investigation into students’ development in terms of learning
autonomy. The investigation of students’ autonomy was performed through a series of
analysis on their reflection journals, as well as responses on part 2 of the post- program questionnaire see Appendix I, questions 19-22. The first discussion is
on students’ questionnaire responses. Autonomy is “the capacity to take charge of, or responsibility for, one’s own learning” Benson, 2011, p.58. In order to take
charge of the learning, learners need the ability to monitor his own learning. That is, learners’ ability to: 1 formulate learning objectives in collaboration with the
teacher, 2 select appropriate learning strategies consciously, 3 monitor their own use of learning strategies, 4
monitor own’s learning through self-assessment Dickinson, 1993, as cited in Cakici, 2015, p.35. Therefore, one of the ways to
identify an autonomous learner is by investigating whether or not their study behaviors meet those characteristics of learner autonomy.
The first questionnaire item on part 2 item 19 examines students’
perception on understanding learning objectives. The following table presents students’ responses to the first question.
Table 4.1. Students’ responses to questionnaire item 19
No
Statements Degree of Agreement
Total respondent
Total score
Mean
1 2
3 4
5
19 Understanding learning
objectives since the beginning of the lesson is
beneficial for me. -
- -
3 6
9 42
4.67 Please explain the
benefits briefly.
153 From the finding presented in table 4.1, it was seen that the students had
considerably high awareness of the importance of understanding lesson objectives since the beginning of the lesson session mean score = 4.67. However, there
were only 3 students 33.33 could state relevant explanations regarding why understanding lesson objectives was beneficial for them. Those benefits included:
1 helping them to prepare pre- existing ‘memory’ of English before class; 2
growing their motivation toward learning; 3 helping them ‘survive’ during the
lesson appendix O. Meanwhile, the other students either did not provide further elaboration or gave responses which were irrelevant to the question. From this
result, it was noticeable that the rest of the students who did not explain the benefits as required could be considered as having misunderstood the
questionnaire statement, or they probably only selected desirable answers. The second questionnaire item on part 2 item 20 examined students’
efforts to review l earning materials outside the class. Students’ responses towards
this item is presented as follows:
Table 4.2. Students’ responses to questionnaire item 20
No
Statements Degree of Agreement
Total respondent
Total score
Mean
1 2
3 4
5
20 Outside the classroom, I
try to review the content and speaking materials
from the last class, so that
I don’t forget them. -
1 3
3 2
9 33
3.67 Provide concrete
examples on how you review the materials
outside the class
154 Table 4.2 explains that students had fair awareness of the necessity to
review lessons independently outside the class, in order that they did not forget the materials mean score = 3.67.
Students’ further elaboration was consistent with this result. There were identified at least three concrete actions that students
performed to review the materials outside the class. Four students 44.4 stated that reviewed the materials through
using that day’s learning material in speaking practices. Two students 22.2 usually reviewed learning materials by retelling
that day’s learning experiences to other community members, one of which was performed during community dining time. Meanwhile, two other students
reported that they usually read through the materials again outside the class. The other one student, however, did not report to have performed any review activity.
The next questionnaire item item 21 investigated students’ reflective
behavior towards individual learning progress. The following table presents the result:
Tabl e 4.3. Students’ responses to questionnaire item 21
No
Statements Degree of Agreement
Total respondent
Total score
Mean
1 2
3 4
5 21
After the class, I reflect whether I have achieved
the targeted learning goal.
4 4
1 9
33 3.67
The finding suggests that students had fairly high initiative to reflect perform self- reflection toward their learning progress mean score = 3.67.
155 The last questionnaire item required students to reflect on their individual
efforts outside the class in the purpose to achieving the lesson objectives. Students’ response to this item is presented in the following table.
Table 4.4. Students’ responses to questionnaire item 22
No
Statements Degree of Agreement
Total respondent
Total score
Mean
1 2
3 4
5
22 When I realize that I
haven’t achieved the learning goal of a lesson
session, I study harder outside the class.
1 1
4 3
9 34
3.78 Provide concrete
examples on how you make extra efforts outside
the class.
Based on the information in table 4.4, the majority of students perform extra efforts in the attempt to achieve the course goal mean score = 3.78. Further, the
students mentioned different forms of learning efforts that they had undertaken to boost their learning. One student 11.11 mentioned that they practiced
pronunciation independently. Two students 22.22 tried to broaden their vocabulary mastery by regularly memorizing vocabulary. Three students
33.33 reported that they always reviewed t hat day’s materials. One of the
students admitted that he usually read other English books 11.11, meanwhile the rest two students did not report to have performed any extra efforts outside the
class. From the post-program questionnaire part 2, students
’ attitudes related to autonomous learning were uncovered. Findings show that the students were
reflective enough in monitoring their own learning process. Based on their PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
156 capability to self-reflect over individual performance, most of the students were
capable to determine the suitable strategies they need to perform in order to enhance learning process as well as achievement. The concrete actions mentioned
in the questionnaire open-ended questions clarified that the students had more or less built a positive individual learning habits.
Other than the questionnaire, students’ learning autonomy was fostered through regular reflective journals. As it has been mentioned, the students were
provided with a new version of reflective journal sheet in the action research cycle 3 see Appendix L. The guideline questions provided in the new journal version
were designed to fulfill two purposes. First, to promote students’ self-reflection, so that the students could enhance the skill of monitoring as well as taking control
over their own learning. Secondly, to investigate students’ overall improvements in terms of learning process, namely collaboration skill and learning autonomy, as
well as learning achievements. Therefore, t he results of investigation on students’
development of learning autonomy is discussed as well. Those are, sourced from students’ responses on reflective questions 4, 5, and 6, which are related to
students’ attitudes in monitoring their own learning. Findings suggest
that students’ learning autonomy was enhanced through their capability to overcome difficulties that they encountered during learning.
Some students reflected that the difficulty came from inside themselves, which was the feeling of sleepy and lazy Q ST03-REFL10.5, ST02-REFL 9.5. the
following transcripts describe the efforts they had done in coping with that difficulty:
157
Study hard always. Q ST02-REFL 9.6 By creating relaxed and fun atmosphere with friends sitting beside me.
Translated, Q ST03-REFL 10.6
Another common difficulties found among students was their limited range of vocabulary, which retarded them from moving forward Q ST01, ST 08-
REFL 10.5. However, they usually had the solution to overcome that difficulty, which was done through noting down new words and enriching their vocabulary
by reading English books Q ST01, ST 08- REFL 10.6. Further, the problems of forgetfulness and lack of concentration had created difficulties for some other
students that hindered them from producing correct pronunciations Q ST 06- REFL 10.5, ST 07-REFL 9.5. Responding to this, a suitable effort was reported
to have been performed by one of the students, as described in the following transcript:
I try to memorize verbs and also other words. I also try to read aloud. Translated, Q ST 06-REFL 10.6
Based on the findings obtained from students’ reflective journal, the issue of speaking anxiety was still experienced by some of the students, especially those
students from the bottom and middle tier. One of them wrote the following reflection:
The difficulty is that I often forget things, and I am not confident to talk. I am afraid to make mistakes and shy. Translated, ST09-REFL 8.5
In fact, some other students also encounter similar problem. They, however, reported different ways to cope with this problem. Two of the alternatives are
presented in the transcripts below:
I try to start with random chit-chatting with other people, although those people might not understand what I was saying the way I construct my
words is incorrect. Q ST07-REFL 8.6
158
I try to remember vocabulary and repeat them through communicating with friends, or translating English stories. Q ST09-REFL 8.6
Findings related to students’ individual efforts in coping with learning problems above indicate that the students were capable of selecting and implementing
appropriate learning strategies consciously, as well as monitoring their own use of learning strategies, which meet two of the characteristics of an autonomous
learner according to Dickinson 1993, as cited in Cakici, 2015, p.35. Further
, students’ ability to take control of their own learning was also portrayed through their self-reflections on personal improvements that they had
experienced so far. Some of their reflection transcripts are presented as follows:
I am able to speak confidently with people around me, although sometimes Bahasa Indonesia words were still dominating. Translated, Q
ST 08-REFL 8.4 So far, I have started to understand some tenses and learn to use them.
Translated, Q ST 03-REFL 9.4 I am more confident to speak in public. Translated, Q ST04-REFL 10.4
After all, students’ increased awareness of their personal improvements indicated that they have developed the sense of learning autonomy as they could perform
self-assessment, which is a valuable skill contributing to learning autonomy. 3
Reflecting The overall dynamics of cycle 3 was filled with a series of action aiming
to solve the problems in an English speaking class of mixed-competence learners. The action was expected to help students overcome the barriers to making
students achieve higher English speaking competences in spite of their initial competence disparities. The main objective of this action research was to help all
participants to achieve their learning goal through a series of action which are presumed to be effective in minimizing various difficulties existing in their
159 mixed-competence group. Therefore, the dynamics of the action implementation
needs to be reflected in the purpose of evaluating its effectiveness. Reflecting on the whole phenomena occurring throughout cycle 3, both the
low and high competent students were benefited by the action in different ways. First of all, every student regardless of the competence experienced development
in terms of speaking skills. The action was shown to have enabled the students to overcome both psychological and intellectual barriers of speaking. In the action
implementation, it was portrayed that different speaking improvements were experienced by students in all competences.
The lower and middle competent students, for example, could build interactional skills as their ability to exchange meanings increased. In addition, it
was found that they showed progress in terms of producing utterances since they became less anxious and more confident in performing speeches, which indicated
that they had overcome psychological barriers. These students, in fact, learned a lot from both the equally capable and more capable students.
The higher competent students, on the other hand, started from a more advanced point where they could already handle simple interactional speeches and
express their messages using sufficient vocabulary. Throughout the cycle, they demonstrated broader vocabulary in more fluent speeches which were constructed
more grammatically. In short, students in all competences had been able to speak English for general communication purposes in formal and non-formal contexts,
as the course objective, although with different quality. All the students and I were aware of this different size of improvement, and we were open towards it. The
160 following lesson episode portrays our collective reflection on the last meeting of
the action research, 10 September 2016.
After students reflected on the formal and informal situations they had performed, I invited them to reflect further to how many percent they had
achieved the goal. Amin said 40. Titus said 30. Arka said 60. Desta said 40. Ben said 50. Vino said 45. Satria said 35. Yosep said
70. Dony 50. Some of the students showed facial expressions as if they were not sure about how much they had achieved, although
eventually they mention those percentages. Then I asked them to write the percentage in their reflective journal, in case anyone was not
confident to speak it up... R FN 15.4
The field note above describes the lesson episode in which the students share their reflections on how much they had achieve the course goal. As it was
anticipated before, some of them mentioned low percentages due to unconfidence. In fact, some students claimed in the reflective journal that they achieved higher
than those. Ben, Vino, and Dony wrote 60, 75, and 60 respectively. The different quality of improvements demonstrated in students’ speaking
performances, after all, had indicated that no single student was left behind. In the contrary, some students developed better than expected, although some other only
showed slight progress. Other than speaking skill development, what mattered equally in this
action research was the development of students’ learning process, both individually and collectively. It was evidenced throughout cycle 3 that students
had built extensive collaborative learning skills, which were manifested in their overall learning behavior. It was found that students’ emphatic understanding was
fostered as they consistently demonstrated tolerance towards their peers. Other than that, they had developed sensitivity in terms of understanding their peers’
situations and needs, which was shown through their constant willingness to help PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
161 and support their peers. The group had built cohesiveness and therefore positive
interdependence, which resulted in promoted interactions among them. The promotion of learners’ autonomy added a bonus in this research
outcome, as during the two month-period of action research, the students were constantly encouraged to self-reflect on their own learning as well as state their
aspiration to improve learning. As a result, students’ ability to take control of their own learning was boosted throughout the process. This was evidenced through
students’ ability to identify their own strength and weaknesses during learning process and consciously determine the strategies to cope with their personal
learning problems.