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Third, the time allocation terminated this study in three cycles for reasons that the students learned English for two semesters or one academic year. This allowed the
study to be replicated and improved in other tertiary levels of education in Indonesia, especially in other polytechnics in Indonesia.
The researcher was the lecturer who directly taught and collaborated with the students and the managing staff of SALL. The treatments focused on pursuing
language learning autonomy and improving reading skills by solving the students’ perceived problems. The main variables of this study were the students’ learning
behaviors viewed from how they set goals and focused their learning to identify their learning purposes and how they evaluated their learning viewed from their
perceived learning benefits, strategies adopted, affective responses and problems. The analysis is based on several data collected from tests, questionnaires, students’
journals, field notesteacher’s diaries, observations, and interviews.
3.2 The Procedures of The Study
A study needs systematical data collection, analysis, and triangulation. The general frame of this study is illustrated in figure 3 b. This study covered
preliminary studies, a diagnostic phase and three cycles of treatments. Before the study was carried out, two preliminary studies were conducted at
a state polytechnic to try out the instruments such as questionnaires, guiding questions for journals and the questions for interviews. They also served to obtain
rough ideas of the learning environment and the students’ problems. To develop a tentative treatments and materials, observations of classroom activities as well as
informal interviews with the heads of SALL, civil engineering department and the students were carried out. Academic context was also carefully observed by
evaluating the available textbooks in libraries. These data were analyzed and the findings were correlated with the theoretical concepts suggested by experts of
reading and learning autonomy. The questionnaires were revised and a pre-designed study was constructed.
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Collecting data to find tertiary students’ interests, problems and perceived problems in reading textbooks,
through preliminary studies. Preparation
Pre-designing the study Finding out the students’ perceived problems, interests in reading texts
Finding out the students’ learning habits and language learning goals in the diagnostic phase.
Revising the pre-design study and planning the first treatment Treatment
Evaluating the result week 5 9 Nov. 06 The body of
the study Planning the second treatment Treatment
Evaluating the result week 15 25 April 07 Planning the third treatment
Treatment Evaluating the result Week 925 July 07
Analyzing the development of students’ learning autonomy, and drawing conclusion
Diagram. 3 b. Design of the Study
During the diagnostic phase which was conducted for 3 weeks, the students completed proficiency tests in addition to close and open-ended questionnaires. The
results of the questionnaires were triangulated with the results of several informal interviews. The data were analyzed and discussed with the students and then the
managing staff of SALL to decide and plan the Cycle 1 treatment. When being planned and conducted, an ideal treatment was consulted with theoretical concepts.
Approaching the end of each cycle, the students were asked to write self- observation Wallace, 1998: 76, 80 or write reflective journals. Treatments and
students’ progress were evaluated at the end of each cycle from students’ reflective journal and their tasks Cohen, 2007; Wenden, 1986 as well as ‘thinking process
journals’ taken while they are guessing the meanings of new words from short texts Nation, 2002: 223; Arden and Close, 1986 as cited in Nation, 2002: 249; Green,
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1998:1-2. The problems identified became the basis of the subsequent treatments to achieve some positive development.
The data collected were analyzed and triangulated with some informal talks, and observation written in the teacher’s diaries. To obtain the stages of autonomy
development, continuous comparisons were carried out either within each learner across cycles or across learners within each cycle .
3.3 Access
