Learners’ Characteristics Research and Information Collecting

because the other five copies were not completed. The data were recorded in Table 4.1. Table 4.1: Data of the Participants Respondents Sex Education Staff of Bank Mandiri Yogyakarta F M SMU S1 S2 5 10 2 12 1 Most of the learners have had their Bachelor Degree. The results of the questionnaires indicated that learners’ learning motivation was very high. There were 12 out of 15 participants who stated their enjoyment of learning English. All the staff of Bank Mandiri Yogyakarta considered that English is important. Most of them had a conversation in English to interact with the foreign customers in Bank Mandiri. The learners stated that 1 to 5 of their customers are foreigners. Although English is important, the mastery of English was not considered as a must for them, because it did not influence their status, salary and promotion. However, since their job description is to serve the customers well, they considered speaking as the most important skill to learn. It can be seen in Table 4.2. Table 4.2: The Importance of English for the Staff of Bank Mandiri Items Responses Number Percentage 1. Whether or not English is important for the staff of Bank Mandiri a. Yes b. No 15 100 2. The frequency of the staff of Bank Mandiri in having a conversation in English. a. never b. sometimes c. often 2 13 13,3 86,7 3. People with whom the staff of Bank a. foreign customer 12 80 Items Responses Number Percentage Mandiri have a conversation in English. b. superior c. colleague 1 6,7 4. The percentage of foreign customers who are using Bank Mandiri’s services. a. 1 b. 1 – 5 c. 5-10 d. 10 15 100 5. English skill that supports the job description of the staff of Bank Mandiri. a. Speaking b. Listening c. Reading d. Writing 15 5 5 3 100 33,3 33,3 20 Table 4.3 showed the data about the participants’ interest in taking an English course. Table 4.3: Participants’ Interest in Taking an English Course Cases Responses Number Percentage If there is an English Course conducted at Bank Mandiri: 1. Whether or not the staff of Bank Mandiri join the course. a. Yes b. No 15 100 2. The length of the course desired by the staff of Bank Mandiri. a. 1 month b. 1,5 months c. 2 months 15 100 3. The amount of meetings desired by the staff of Bank Mandiri. a. 8 – 10 meetings b. 11 – 13 meetings c. 14 – 16 meetings 14 1 93,3 6,7 4. The frequency of the course desired by the staff of Bank Mandiri. a. once a week b. twice a week c. three times a week 15 100 5. The duration per meeting desired by the staff of Bank Mandiri. a. 60 minutes b. 90 minutes c. 120 minutes 15 100 The results indicated that all learners wanted to join an English course. They also wanted the course to run for one month and to take place twice a week. Most learners desired to have eight to ten meetings for the course, where each 55 meeting lasted for 90 minutes. Therefore, the writer designed a model of an English course as described below. The course would run ten meetings where eight topics would be covered. The course would be conducted twice a week and each meeting would take 90 minutes. Therefore, the course would be completed within 1, 5 months. Based on the questionnaire, the writer classified the participants into Pre- Intermediate level students because most of the participants had already learnt English at school, so they had known the basic knowledge of English. In the next discussion, the writer presented the media to learn English, teaching learning procedures, class activities and the best ways for them to learn. The information was recorded on Table 4.4. Table 4.4: Teaching Learning Media and Activities Items Responses Number Percentage 1. Media chosen by the staff of Bank Mandiri to learn English. a. movies b. songs c. games d. articles e. English books f. magazines and newspapers 1 1 14 13 6 9 6,7 6,7 93,3 86,7 40 60 2. Favorite activities chosen by the staff of Bank Mandiri in learning English. a. pair work b. group discussion c. whole class discussion d. lecture e. presentation f. role play g. problem solving h. debate i. conversation j. contextual tasks 15 6 5 2 3 10 7 3 15 15 100 40 33,3 13,3 20 66,7 46,7 20 100 100 Items Responses Number Percentage k. games 14 93,3 Most of the participants stated that games were their favorite media in learning English because games provided both fun and the essential experiences of using the target language that they should have. Through games, they also feel challenged to accomplish the goals. Based on this, the writer was sure that the materials designed would help the staff of Bank Mandiri in improving their English. The next question showed the detailed activities that the participants liked most. Since all of the participants chose learning by doing pair work, contextual tasks and conversation, the writer designed the materials which gave a lot of chance for the learners to discuss and be involved in a conversation. Other favorite activities were games and role play. Based on this, the exercises in the material designed would include most of those activities. The following sections showed the findings of the selection of the topics by the staff of Bank Mandiri. There were thirteen topics that the writer offered. The complete information can be seen in Table 4.5. Table 4.5: The Results of the Chosen Topics Topics Number Percentage 1. Greeting and Introduction 2. Handling Complaints 3. Numbers 4. Telephone Conversation 15 15 15 14 100 100 100 93.3 Topics Number Percentage 5. Describing Location 6. Explaining New Services 7. Using Bank’s Facilities 8. Making Appointments 9. Opening an Account 10. Asking Balance 11. Exchanging Currency 12. Cashing a Check 13. Transferring Money 13 13 12 12 5 4 4 4 4 86.7 86.7 80 80 33.3 26.7 26.7 26.7 26.7 The data were the results of the questionnaire. Learners chose Greetings and Introduction, Handling Complaints, Numbers, Telephone Conversation, Describing Location, Explaining New Services, Using Bank’s Facilities and Making Appointments as the topics to learn English. The presentation of the results on the topics showed the order of the chosen topics based on the percentage of the participants who chose those topics. The data had not represented the order of the presentations of the topics for the materials yet. Those topics were considered as ‘wants’ of the learners. Therefore, the topics might be reordered, added or reduced based on the lacks of the learners, the need of learning English for the staff, the area of content and the degree of the topic’s difficulties. Finally, the writer could conclude the needs of the learners in terms of necessities, lacks and wants in Table 4.6. Table 4.6: Necessities, Lacks and Wants of the Learners Necessities The staff need English to communicate well with the foreign customers using their bank’s services. Lacks The staff are lack of vocabulary and expressions related to their job description to serve the foreign customers well. Wants English is needed to communicate well with the foreign customers in order to give the best service to improve the image of the bank.

b. Pre-Assessment

The data included learners’ proficiency level and their weaknesses. From the questionnaires, the writer found that eleven of them had learned English by joining an English course. Table 4.7 gave clear explanation about those who had joined an English course. Table 4.7: Educational Background Joined English Course Level Time Yes No Beginner Pre Intermediate Intermediate Advanced In 6 months In 1 year 2 years 11 4 3 7 - 1 1 1 9 The writer found out that from those who had joined an English course before, seven of them were in the Pre Intermediate level. Most of them took a course more than two years ago nine respondents. Therefore, 14 participants stated that they only had passive English ability. The next discussion was about the weaknesses they had, which were the difficulties in communicating using English. All of the participants found that they had difficulties in communicating using English. The difficulties that they met were presented in Table 4.8. Table 4.8: Difficulties in Communicating Using English Difficulties Number Percentage 1. The participants do not know what English vocabulary to produce 2. The participants do not know how to say the words that they want to say 3. The participants do not know the meaning of the sentences spoken by the foreign customers 4. The participants cannot produce correct English sentences 5. The participants cannot respond correctly to certain expressions 12 1 14 5 15 80 6,7 93,3 33,3 100 The data showed that all of the staff of Bank Mandiri Yogyakarta found difficulties in communicating using English. The first difficulty was that they did not know how to respond correctly to certain expressions. They knew what they wanted to say, but they could not find the English word. The second difficulty was that they did not know the meaning of the sentences spoken by the foreign customers. They did not know what the foreigners were asking or saying because they were not familiar with the words used by the foreigners. The first and the second difficulties were strongly influenced by the third difficulty where the participants did not know what English vocabulary to produce. They were lack of vocabulary related to their working world, and that was why they could not understand and respond correctly to what the foreign customers said. The participants also stated that they could not produce correct English sentences. The last difficulty was that they did not know how to say the words that they wanted to say.

c. Support Services