Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

The researcher divides this chapter into two sections: the background and the research method. The background section constitutes information and reasons that support the research. The research method section shows the description of the procedure and all aspects involved in the research.

A. Background of the Study

In recent years, the English language education study program of Sanata Dharma University has witnessed an increasing number of enrolled Papuan students. Coming from different cultures, backgrounds and parents with limited prior English learning experiences compared with their peers, many Papuan students face some difficult challenges. In their past experience, Papuan students had difficulty understanding the English language because of limited facilities and the lack of competent English teachers. The researcher who is an active student is being interested in finding out about the lived experience of Papuan students particularly in relation to the process of learning and studying at the English education. Papuan students have difficulty in understanding lecturer’s explanation, and in adapting with classmates because of cultural differences and low English competence, for example, in group discussions and group presentations. As a result four Papuan students have decided to drop their course and moved to other study programs. This research was undertaken to study the lived experience of Papuan students enrolled at the English education Study Program at the Sanata Dharma University. In connection with the lived experience of Papuan students, the researcher explained the periods of their life as follows: before the study commencement and during the study period. The lived experience of the researcher and three other Papuan students before studying at the ELESP refers to our life in a dorm where we learnt how to adapt to the environment and to comprehend a variety of materials provided by lecturers and tutors. From the phenomenological point of view, doing the research is aimed to question the way we experience the world, the world in which we live as human beings. Furthermore, the phenomenology is the study of the lifeworld as we immediately experience it pre-reflectively rather than as we conceptualize, categorize, or reflect on it. The turning to the phenomena of lived experience means relearning to look at the world by reawakening the basic experience of the world Husserl, 1970b; Schutz Luckmann, 1973; and Merleau-Ponty, 1962. Dilthey 1985 suggested that most of the basic forms of lived experience involves our immediate and pre-replective consciousness of life. According to Darroch and Silvers 1982, p.1 as a form of “critical” thinking, phenomenology reflects essential and thereby transcends all lived experience and objective cognition to discover the intelligiblity that is their implicit ground. Experience becomes something pleasant to be consumed because it represents the reality of life because in the author’s imagination in which the learners may have a wish to experience it or enrich knowledge. Sometimes when we are involved in bad experience we can have bad feeling which will appear from experience such as, happiness, sadness or maybe a motivation which can make ourselves do something new or impossible things. Based on the background above, one research problem is formulated as follows: What is the lived experience of Papuan Students studying at the English Language Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University? The readers can gain some benefits from this study. First, by reading this research, the readers are able to understand more about human motivation or experience and to understand what really motivates them in reaching dreams or goals. Second, the lived experience can teach the readers how to be persistent in reaching their goals or dreams. This study is particularly beneficial for Papuan students who are studying or will study at the English language education. They will learn to understand other Papuan students who have already experienced learning in English education in order to maximize their learning strategies. The lecturers at the ELESP will also benefit from this research in that they will be more informed about how to support Papuan students in their study. The Papuan government will find this study beneficial as well in that they will be equipped with valid information about how Papuan students managed to study at the English language education study program. This information will help them prepare and support Papuan students better both before the study commencement and during the study period. The researchers can also get benefit from this study. The researcher expect, this study to give more information and stimulate them in analyzing deeper about the lived experience of the next generation of Papuan students.

B. Research Method