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In addition, various thinkers in Manen 1990 noted that temporal structure in lived experience can never be understood in its immediate manifestation but only
reflectively as past presence. In order to grasp in its full richness and depth, there is a need to relate the particular to the universal, part to whole, episode to totality.
E. PROBLEM LIMITATION
As mentioned in the previous part, the study is concerned with some aspects of experience from the inside. It also focuses on particular incidents of the object of
experience and also how the body feels, etc. Those aspects of experience are described in relation to how the participants feel, understand, see and reflect to
what they mean by learning English. Furthermore, the point of this research is to “borrow” the participants’ experiences and reflections on their experiences in
order to gain the deeper significance of an aspect of human experience. In short, those experiences are then certainly decided to become the core of the study.
The study describes students’ lived experiences in learning English using phenomenological approach including the personal shared lived experiences. The
limited number of participants allows deep and focused story of students in learning English. The students come from same department and batch at UMY.
F. PROBLEM FORMULATION
As outlined in the background, students as learners have unique lived experiences in learning English, Manen 1990, p. 6 clarifies that he remains
sensitive to the uniqueness of the person in the particular situation guides his actions in phenomenological research. Moustakas 1994 views experience and
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behavior as an integrated and inseparable relationship of a phenomenon with the person experiencing the phenomenon.
In describing and interpreting a meaning of learning English to the students covering the elements of lived experience, the research question is formulated as
follows: -
What does learning English mean to the international class students of UMY?
G. RESEARCH GOAL
In the context of this research, meaning of learning English to the International Undergraduate Program of UMY students achieves the goal which is to describe
the lived experience they have had and then interpret it. By describing the past experiences of the participants, the study follows the procedural objective that is
revealing personal meaning of learning English to each participant. After transforming the participants’ lived experiences into sets of anecdotes
texts, I interpreted the data to get the meaning of learning English from what they already have lived through them. The immediate objective of this study are
narrative and interpretations. In addition, it is to obtain reflective understanding based on the persons who experience them. Ultimately, it is assumed that this
research will promote human dignity as empathic understanding promotes equity which is the baseline of autonomy empowerment.
H. RESEARCH BENEFITS
