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of situation. ” Altman et al., p. 89. People cannot perceive something that they
have not experience about it.
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. Self-Concept “Self-concept is the way someone perceives his or herself. The way people
feel and see themselves will affect their perception of surrounding. ” Altman et
al., p. 90. Self-concept is very important because it will determine what a person perceives and does. For example, a student who feels that he or she is an
independent person, he or she will enjoy and like to be in the environment which requires his or her independence, as in the implementation of independent
learning which requires the children’ independent in learning the material.
Children ’s self-concepts can shape their like or dislike towards the
implementation of independent learning. Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that everyone has his
or her own point of view on something. The same object or event can be perceived differently by different person then leads to different behavioral
response or attitudes. Related to this research, perception is the way how the students feel or think about and consider something, this case is the
implementation of independent learning in Kumon English Course.
2. Independent Learning
Independent learning is one of learning methods. Independent learning is also known by a number of other terms: learner autonomy, learner independence,
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lifelong learning, learning to learn, and thinking skills. According to Rousseau, autonomy is a precondition for effective learning. When learners succeed in
developing autonomy, they do not only become better language learners but they also develop into more responsible and critical members of the communities in
which they live as cited in Benson, 2001, p. 1. From that statement, it is clear that being responsible on something has an interrelation in autonomy.
Besides, when the learners are being autonomies, they are not only developing their language skills but they are also learning how to be responsible
on something. Learning English is about how people learn and practice by themself. Scharle and Szabo state that the best way to prepare them for successful
language learning is to help them to become autonomous as cited in Benson, 2001, p. 55. Therefore, when people are learning English, they need to become
autonomous. Although independent learning is done by the learners, people around them also have the important role. The most important role is to be the
motivator for them.
3. Young English Learners
The students who have range age from 6 up to 12 years old are the subject of this study. The students of this range age are regarded as young learners.
Therefore, this part will discuss the theory of young learners. Actually, children have a basic skill to help them to learn something such as language. According to
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Halliwell 1992, children have a well-established set of instincts, skills and characteristics which help them to learn another language. p. 3
It has long been hypothesized that children learn a foreign language better than adults. This is often used to support the earlier introduction of foreign
language teaching. This idea is that because children’s brain is still able to use the mechanisms that help the first language acquisition. However, Lightebown and
Spada as cited in Cameron, 2001 state that where native-like proficiency in a second language is the goal, then learning benefits from an early start, but when
the goal is communicative ability in a foreign language the benefit of an early starts are much less clear. From that statement , it can be concluded that the main
point of the benefit of an early starts learning English is such less clear because of the different needs, motivations, and context from children and adults when learn
a foreign language. Beside all the main points, children have basic characteristics to learn a foreign language. These characteristics are more help them to learn a
foreign language. There are the basic skills or characteristics of children which help them to
learn foreign language based on Halliwell 1992, p. 3-5
.
The first characteristic is chil
dren’s ability to grasp the meaning of the utterances from the intonation, gesture, facial expression, action, and circumstances. It shows that when children
learn a new language, they do not know the meaning of every single word. They just interpret sound, and new structure. Secondly,
children’s creativity of using the
