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effective age of learning language, as its purpose then could be used properly and of course will be very useful for their future life.
This study may help the government and schools to consider what actually the students think or belief about English. By understanding their perceptions of
it, we as the language education provider can give or teach English language more appropriately for their education, social, and professional life. This study has a
purpose to find out the perceptions of the Indonesian senior high school‟s students
about English.
This study is conducted with the following research questions:
What are the Indonesian students of senior high school’s
perceptions about English?
II. Literature Review
1. PerceptionAttitude
The notion „perception‟ has similar meaning with „attitudes‟ that according to Johnson Johnson
, “it may be thought of as opinions, belief, ways of responding, with respect to some set of problems
”. Bani-Khaled also stated that „attitude‟ may hard to investigate because it seems „fuzzy‟ and „illusive‟ Bani-
Khaled, 2014, p. 401. Based on his study, he concluded that the overall attitudes of The University of Jordan‟s students were positive in respond to the English
impacts in the world Bani-Khaled, 2014, p. 400. It means that English mostly
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get positive reaction from the Jordanian students. Or we can say that they had good perceptions toward English‟s influences to them even to the global life.
2. The Geographical spread of English
“The global status of English is partly due to the number of people who speak it”. According to Crystal 2003, 1.500 million from 2.000 million people
speak English in the world wide, consisting around 329 million L1 speakers inner circle countries, 430 million L2 speakers outer circle countries, and 750 million
speakers of English as a foreign language expanding circle countries. It means that approximately one fourth
of world‟s populations are capable of commu
nicating to a „useful level‟ in English Lauder, 2008, p. 10.
According to Crystal 2003,
the inner circle
countries refer to the „traditional bases‟ of English like in UK, USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and
New Zealand.
The outer or extended
circle countries are the countries that feel the earlier spread of English in non-native settings. In this area, English becomes
an important second language. The countries in this circle are Singapore, Malaysia, India, and over fifty other territories. The last category is
the expanding or extending circle
countries. Countries in this area are the nations which recognize the importance of English as an international language, but which were
not colonized by the countries of the
inner circle
, and which have not given English any special official status. In this category, English plays a role as foreign
language like in Indonesia, China, Japan, Greece, and Poland. Lauder, 2008, p. 11.
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Based on Focho 2011, there are four main roles of English in the countries that use it for second language or an important official language. The
first role is „
English for academic success
‟. English is used a lot in academic aspect. In many countries over the world, English becomes a school subject or a
medium of instruction across subject. Focho stated that at the beginning of the 21
st
century, 90 of information in electronic retrieval systems was stored in English, the language of internet, and it made English be more vital and considered as an
important need for everyone Focho, 2011, p. 4. English has a dominant role compared to other languages. According to Coleman 2010, “45 of the world‟s
international students are in 4 English-speaking countries: USA, UK, Australia, and C
anada”. Dickson and Cumming 1996 also added “that even in non-English countries, English is the most popular foreign language as a subject for students
worldwide ” Focho, 2011, p. 4. It seems like show the world‟s awareness of the
important of English i n academic aspect. “Proficiency in English seems to be an
important gateway to an education that is easily recognized and valued internationally” Focho, 2011, p. 4.
The second English role is „
English for international job opportunities
‟. Nowadays, the relationship between English and employability becomes more
significant. According to Kirubahar et al. 2010 “employability can be viewed as the ability to get a job, maintain it, or get a new one”, and in some case, it will be
more on the ability in speaking English fluently and effectively Focho, 2011, p. 4. Many non-native English speakers work in foreign countries where the use of
English is very important and be a necessity in the workplace. English is
