9
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter includes two parts, namely theoretical description and theoretical framework. The theoretical description presents some important concepts related to
the research. The concepts are: 1 Perception, 2 Factors that affect person in perceiving the stimuli to make perception, 3 Perception on Learning, and 4
Speaking. Moreover, the theoretical framework consists of summary from the theories that will be used to solve the research problems.
A. Theoretical Description
In this section, the researcher discusses the theory related to this study. There are three related theories to be viewed. The theories are Perception, Perception on
Learning, and Speaking.
1. Perception
The understanding of perception can be derived from some sources. According to Worchel and Shebilske 1998:117, perception is the process of interpreting
information. Huffman et al. 1997:79 stated that perception is a process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory data into usable mental representations of the
world. Moskowitz and Orgel 1969: 158 argued that perception is a global response to a stimulus or a set of stimuli. According to Szilagyi and Wallace 1980:70,
perception is defined as a process by which individuals attend to incoming stimuli, organize, and then interpret such stimuli into a message that in turn indicates an
appropriate action or behavior. From those definitions, perception can be viewed as a conscious mental and
cognitive process of observing, comprehending, and responding about particular PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
thing, in which a person tries to translate the stimuli that he or she receives. Those responses occur in people’s awareness through their sensory receptors. Then, these
responses will be interpreted as meaningful information about the stimuli and so called perceptions.
Not every person can have exactly the same perception about particular things, even though the object is the same. It is because people percept something based on
their feeling of subjectivity and their experience in the past. It is supported by Mouly 1973:93 who said that two persons looking at the same phenomenon may see very
different things. As stated by Wick and Pick 1978: 171-208, there is a connection between perception and experience. They stated that perception and experience are
related to one another. This condition shows that perception occurs as our responses in learning or experiencing our environment. According to Gibson J, John M and
James H. Donnely 1985:60, perception is a cognitive process that individuals use to interpret and understand the world around them. Perception can be made through the
cognitive process in our mind. Sometimes perception may change and the changes depend on the stimulus that
someone has experienced. Moskowitz and Orgel 1969:159 said that most perceptions are developed and modified through reinforcement and through feedback
from his own behaviour. It means that perception can change based on the new experiences that someone recently get. However, perception is not always formed by
someone’s experience. There is another possibility to form perception that is based on others’ opinion. When the stimulus from others’ opinion is so strong, this
situation could affect someone’s perception without any experience which comes from him or herself. It means that the perception is created by stimuli received by his
or her sensory organs eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and skin and the person does not experience the stimuli directly. From the above explanation, it can be concluded that
perception can also be formed by sensations. When someone experiences a stimulus, he may have sensation and perception processes. Those processes are different but it
is quite difficult to separate one another. That argument is supported by Bootzin.R, Elizabeth.L and Robert Z 1983:103. They claimed that it is impossible to separate
perception from sensation. Sensations themselves are the entering of raw data from the senses into the brain Huffman et al, 1997:79. This thought is also supported by
James 1983:724 who stated that sensational and reproductive brain-processes combined, then, are what give us the content of our perceptions.
Now it is understood that both experience and sensation can form perception, but the result is different. Perception that is formed by experience is stronger than
perception formed by sensation Santoso, 2000:32. It means that the perception which is formed by experience is hard to be changed because someone feels more
impressed when heshe experiences it. In this study, perception refers to the response of role play to form some
meaningful information to the learning process. The students’ perception on the use of role play technique in learning speaking would be stronger if they experience it by
themselves. The students are really involved in the activity whether as actors or audiences. Whereas, it would be weaker if they have the perception by listening to
someone’s opinion on the use of role plays in learning speaking. If the students have positive experience they would form positive perception on the use of role play in
learning speaking and vice versa. Then, it would be more difficult to change the perception if the students form their perception based on their experiences and
visions of the technique.
1. Factors that Affect Persons in Perceiving the Stimuli to Make perception
In organizations theory, Gibson et al 1985:61 provides a perceptual process in the form of diagram, and there are six factors influencing someone’s perception.
They are stereotyping, selectivity, self-concept, situation, needs, and emotions.
a. Stereotype
The first factor is stereotype. Stereotype is a set of thinking in a particular group that is generalized to all members of the group Gibson et al, 1985:64. It indicates
that people have set some knowledge in their mind, although they do not know whether it is true or not. In perception on the use of role play in learning speaking,
stereotype might occur. For example, stereotype with age as the basis. The 2007 students of the English Education Study Program at Sanata Dharma University will
be assumed to have a same perception about it. If they consider role play as a good technique, they will set this in their mind so they will perceive role play positively.
Most of stereotypes are wrong perceptions because it is formed not because of the fact that happens in our environment. It is supported by Gibson et al 1985:65 who
says that stereotyping can result in implementing improper programs.
b. Selectivity
The second factor is selectivity. It is impossible for us to catch all the stimuli that exist in our environment. Only certain stimuli are taken and then processed in
our brain. It is caused by our interest of those stimuli. The perception is based on something that we want to choose. It is supported by Gibson et al 1985:66 who
says that people tend to ignore information or cues that might make them feel discomfort. People will take stimuli that they want but most of the stimuli that they
take are positive for them. People have various interests, so they may select what is important or relevant to fulfilling their needs. This is why people perceive things
differently.
c. Self-concept
The third factor is self-concept. The way people see themselves in the form of self-concept will affect their perception about something in their environment. The
way we see and perceive ourselves is an attempt to avoid conflict with incompatible ideas. It is supported by Mouly 1973:92 who says that we perceive only those
things that are consistent with our motives and goals, and interpret our experiences to make them compatible with our present self-concept. Gibson et al 1985:67, in his
research, suggests that 1 knowing oneself makes it easier to see others accurately, 2 one’s own characteristics affect the characteristics identified in others, and 3
persons who accept themselves are more likely to see favourable aspects of other people. It indicates that when one person is successful in knowing hisher self-
concept, the perception about something can be seen accurately. The students’ self- concepts are often performed in their attitudes based on the stimuli which may result
as the feeling of likes and dislikes about certain thing.
d. Situation
The press of time will exactly force the manager to overlook some details, to rush certain activities and to ignore certain stimuli such as request from other
managers or from superior Gibson et al, 1985:67. People tend to work quickly when they do not have much time. Due to time limitation, people pay less attention
to the factors, which might affect the outcomes. People become careless in doing PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
their activities. They make decision about certain thing without further understanding or their perceptions towards the problem.
e. Need
Perceptions are significantly influenced by needs and desires Gibson et al, 1985:67. People will eat what they want to eat, they will see what they want to see,
and they will do everything they want to do. For example, in choosing the teaching technique, the teacher’s purpose of choosing the technique is to get the most
comfortable one based on the learners’ needs and expectation. Both needs and expectation influence people in forming perception. It also happens in students’
perception on the use of role play. People will perceive role play as a good technique if those people need this technique to achieve a certain goal.
f. Emotion
Emotion can influence someone in forming perception. Gibson et al 1985:68 supports this through his statement that strong emotions often warp perceptions.
Perception formed through experiencing a particular thing can influence the perception which will be formed in the future. A student who joins a class may have
perception on it. His perception on the learning is good because the lecturer can make him understand the material. Moreover, the lecturer is kind so most of the
students get an A for the final mark. Because of what the lecturer has done, the student will not be doubtful to recommend the lecturer to his friends and juniors.
Someone’s expectation also influences the forming of perception. When someone feels that he gets benefit from something, he will create a good perception
on his mind so he feels motivated in learning. On the other hand, a person will form a bad perception when he finds that something is not good for him. Something that has
no contribution to fulfil someone’s expectations and need will influence the forming of bad perception.
The forming of perception can influence someone’s motivation in doing something. Wahjosumidjo 1987:174, who says that motivation is a psychological
process, reflects the interaction among attitudes, needs, perception, and decision made by someone. For instance, a student who has good perception on the use of role
play will feel motivated in learning. It means that good perceptions do not only make the students more creative in conveying something but also train someone’s
confidence.
2. Perception on Learning
Stern 1987:304 added that learning is a process by which individuals change in a positively valued direction as a result of experience or practice and under the
influence of environmental factors including teaching. Marton, Dall’Alba, and Beaty 1993 stated that perception on learning deals with belief and concept. Biggs 1989
also stated that perception on learning deals with belief about knowledge which influences students’ approaches to learning. It means that perception on learning
always deals with belief and concept about knowledge message, which plays as stimulus from environment.
More specifically, Champbell et al 2001 proposed five elements of language teaching-learning activities implementation that build students’ perception. Those are
1 How the teacher teaches the students, 2 What the teacher wants the students to learn, 3 How the students learn in class, 4 What the students learn, and 5 What
the purposes of learning the language are. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
3. Speaking
a. The Teaching of Speaking
Before discussing teaching of speaking, it is necessary to define what speaking is, in order to have enough understanding about speaking as a general. Speaking is
the productive auraloral skill Nunan 2003:48. Speakers talk in order to have some effects on their listeners. Speaking skill or oral communication is typified as an
activity involving two or more people as the participants are hearers and speakers having to react to what they are and make their contributions at high speed Johnson
and Morrow, 1983:70. Paulstan and Bruder 1976, in her book, defined speaking as a competency to communicate in the target language.
As cited from Kathleen M. Bailey in Nunan 2003:54-56, there are five principles in teaching speaking. First, be aware of the differences between second
language and foreign language learning context. A foreign language context is one where the target language is not the language of communication in the society. It is
very challenging for students who learn English as a foreign language because they do not have enough opportunities to use English as the target language. A second
language context is one where the target language is the language of communication in the society. Second, give students practice with both fluency and accuracy. In this
case, the students will have better progress by extensive practice. Third, provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work and limiting
teacher talk. Fourth, plan some speaking tasks which involve negotiation for meaning. The last, design some class activities that involve guidance and practice in
both transactional and interactional speaking. The difference between interactional and transactional speaking is on the purpose. When the purpose is interactional, it is
focusing on maintaining and establishing social relationships, but in transactional speaking the focus is primarily on the meaning of the message. According to Nunan
1991:42, interactional speech is much more fluid and unpredictable than transactional speech.
b. Role Plays
According to Paulstan and Bruder 1976:70, role plays are exercises where the student is assigned an untrue role from which he has to improvise some kind of
behavior toward the other role character in the exercise. They also stated that role play has four basic elements that are; situations, roles, useful expressions and
background knowledge. Golebiowska 1990:5 confirmed that role play is a communicative activity in which the learners are given a task to complete. In order to
ensure a lively and unpredictable course of activity, the learners are told who they are and what their opinions are.
Littlewood 1981:50 said that in role playing, learners are asked to imagine themselves in a situation that could occur in their daily activities or outside the
classroom. They are asked to adopt a specific role from this situation. They are asked to act as if the situation really exists.
Albert P’Rayan 2007 stated that a role play is an activity in which the participants or students of a language course assume the roles of some imaginary
characters and, as a team, create a story based on a situation and enact the play in front of an audience. Through this activity the students can practise certain language
functions and learn speaking skills. Moreover, he proposed some features of a good role play as listed in the next page.
Table 2.1.
The features of a good role play P’Rayan, 2007
The features of a good role play A good role play is based on a familiar situation.
The group of characters does not exceed two to three members. It gives extensive speaking practice to the participants.
It is based on real world contexts and allows students to speak naturally. It is interesting and enjoyable.
It develops the participants’ creativity. It fosters their critical thinking skills.
It breaks monotony and makes other students participate.
.
By considering those features, the teachers are expected to understand the technique of role play and as a result the role play could be used effectively.
Mcguire and Priestly 1981:87-91 stated that there are three types of Role play; those are Simple Role Play, Modeling Exercise and Structures Role Play. Simple
Role Play is a role play that can be used on fairly simple level, concentrating and beginning with situation that will be familiar to the learners, and involving only two
or four ‘actors’ at a time. This type of role play has two aims; those are to help those who are unable to do so to get better at dealing with particular situation, and to
introduce role play as a communicative exercise that can be used to help them learn to cope with more complex events
The second type of role play is Modeling Exercises. It consists of the role- played demonstrations of social skill or response by someone who is competent in its
execution for someone who is not. It can be carried out “live” face to face or recorded on video. The last type is called a structures role play. If we want to look at
encounters in which people have more complex sets of expectation, then it is possible to run role play in which individuals are given more elaborate instruction
about who they are supposed to be and what would like to happen. In preparing a role play, teacher needs to create an imaginary situation close to
students’ background of knowledge, thus in the role play it must be a fictitious role; PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
what should the student act as. Furthermore, in doing the role play, students have to use the appropriate expressions for their role or imaginary people based on the topic
given. In role plays, students are assigned roles and put into situations that they may eventually meet outside the classroom. Since role plays imitate life, the range of
language functions that may be used increases considerably. They have to use language that is appropriate to the situation and to the characters. Students usually
find role playing enjoyable, because they can explore themselves. However, this activity may not be suitable for students who lack of self-confidence. They may find
it threatening at first and will be unable to produce the target language. Cited from www.nclrc.org on How to Develop Speaking Ability with Role Play,
it suggested the teachers to consider these following tips.
Table 2.2. Table of Tips to Succeed with Role Plays
Keatley and Kennedy, 2003
Tips to succeed with role plays: i. Prepare carefully: Introduce the activity by describing the situation and making
sure that all of the students understand it. ii. Set a goal or outcome: Be sure the students understand what the product of the role
play should be, whether a plan, a schedule, a group opinion, or some other product. iii. Use role cards: Give each student a card that describes the person or role to be
played. For lower-level students, the cards can include words or expressions that person might use.
iv. Brainstorm: Before you start the role play, have students brainstorm as a class predicts what vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic expressions they might use.
v. Keep groups small: Less-confident students will feel more able to participate if they do not have to compete with many voices.
vi. Give students time to prepare: Let them work individually to outline their ideas and the language they will need to express them.
vii. Be present as a resource, not a monitor: Stay in communicative mode to answer students’ questions. Do not correct their pronunciation or grammar unless they
specifically ask you about it. viii. Allow students to work at their own levels: Each student has individual language
skills, an individual approach to working in groups, and a specific role to play in the activity. Do not expect all students to contribute equally to the discussion, or to
use every grammar point you have taught. ix. Do topical follow-up: Have students report to the class on the outcome of their role
plays. x. Do linguistic follow-up: After the role play is over, give feedback on grammar or
pronunciation problems you have heard. This can wait until another class period when you plan to review pronunciation or grammar anyway.
Based on the previous descriptions, the implementation of role play can be considered as a good role play when the teacher has implemented the role play
through those steps above.
A. Theoretical Framework
This section discusses the students’ perceptions on the use of role play. Based on the theory from Szilagyi and Wallace 1980:70, perception is defined as a process
by which individuals attend to incoming stimuli, organize, and then interpret such stimuli into a message that in turn indicates an appropriate action or behavior.
Students’ perceptions on the use of role play technique in speaking class are important since they influence students’ motivation to learn and behave in the
learning activities. Besides that, the techniques of teaching are also important to facilitate the teaching-learning process. An appropriate technique would make a good
process. Since there are a lot of techniques, the teachers should be wise in creating and
selecting those techniques. The researcher considers role play as a suitable technique to learn speaking because role play fulfil the two principles in teaching speaking out
of five principles mentioned by Kathleen M. Bailey 2003. The first principle is role plays give students practice both fluency and accuracy, and the second principle is
role plays provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work and limit the teacher talk. As a summary, role play does not only give practice
fluency and accuracy but also provides opportunity for students to talk. In this case, role play should be implemented correctly. To answer the first problem formulation,
this study employed the theory of a good role play stated by Albert P’Rayan. By considering some tips to succeed with role play as suggested by Kaetley and
Kennedy 2003 and the features of a good role play proposed by Albert P’Rayan 2007, it is hoped that role play can help the students to improve their speaking skill.
Role play as a technique in learning speaking also brings some perception for the students. The students perceive role play as a good technique if they have good
experience about it, while the students perceive role play as a bad technique if they have negative experience on it. In other words, it can be said that the students
perceive role play as a good or bad technique in learning speaking according to what they have experienced.
Based on the theories of perception discussed in the theoretical descriptions section, Gibson et al 1985:61 stated that there are some factors such as stereotype,
self-concept, selectivity, situation, need, and emotion that affect a person in perceiving the stimuli to make perception. For example, if most students consider
that role play is a good technique to support learning, the students will set this in their mind. Then, they will perceive role play positively. When a student knows that
he is afraid to speak, he realizes that he should not be afraid to speak, because he will not get good mark. He needs role play that makes him motivated to speak. In the use
of role play, students will ignore it and give bad perception on it if those students do not select the stimuli because they do not have any interest on it. If the students enjoy,
feel comfortable, and interested in using role play, they may have positive perception on it. By having positive or good perceptions on the use of role play, the students
may be helped to have a better speaking practice. Recalling that each student has different individual characteristics then, the result of students’ perception may be
different from one to the other. After knowing the students’ perceptions on the use of role play in speaking class, lecturers can be helped in planning the better teaching-
learning activities. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
22
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the method of the study and divides it into seven parts. They are Method, Research Participants, Setting, Research Instruments, Data
Gathering Technique, Data Analysis Technique, and Research Procedure.
A. Method
The method of this study was a qualitative study. According to Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh 2002:421, qualitative research focuses on understanding social events
from the perspective of the human participant. The most common data collection methods used in qualitative study are observation, interview and document analysis.
To be exact, this research was a survey research. Sprinthall R, Gregory S. and Lee S. 1991:93 defined survey research is designed to gather information from samples by
using questionnaires or, sometimes, interviews. Survey research focused on a group’s opinions, beliefs, attitudes and or characteristics. The advantage of using this type of
research is that substantial amounts of information can be collected in a relatively short time.
The qualitative study is employed in order to answer the first problem, how does the implementation of the role play technique reflect the features of a good role play.
In this case, the researcher conducted some observations. The researcher also distributed questionnaires and conducted interviews of the purpose to answer the
second problem formulation, what the students’ perceptions on the use of role play in speaking class are.
B. Research Participants
The research participants of the study were the students of Interactional Speech classes in the English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University in the
academic year of 20072008. The researcher took 51 students of Interactional Speech class A and E as the research participants. In this case, the researcher employed
purposive sampling because the focus of this research was the first semester students who take Interactional Speech class and they use role play. As stated by Cohen,
Manion and Morrison 2000:103, purposive sampling belongs to non-probability samples in which the researchers handpick the cases to be included in the sample on
the basis of their judgement of their typicality. The Interactional Speech class A and E were chosen because they used role play technique as their teaching-learning
activity. The role play technique enabled the students to work in group and present their play based on a certain topic. The researcher took those two classes out of six
Interactional Speech classes on account of their accessibility. Moreover, as a plus point, those two classes were taught by the same lecturer.
C. Setting
This research was conducted in the odd semester in the Academic Year of 20072008 starting from October until November 2007. The setting of this study
was the Interactional Speech classes. Each class consisted of approximately 25 – 30 first semester students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata
Dharma University. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
D. Research Instruments
In this study, the researcher used three kinds of instruments; they were observation, questionnaire and interview.
1. Observation
Observation is the most basic method for obtaining data in qualitative research. This observation is made to get a comprehensive picture of a situation. The
researcher used checklist to record the data collected in the observation. Ary et al 2002:234 defined a checklist as the simplest device which presents a list of
behaviours that are to be observed. The researcher constructed 15 statements in this observation by considering the theory of a good role play and tips to succeed with
role play. The researcher chose some points which related to the purpose to answer the first problem formulation. The researcher observed the students’ activities during
the learning process by making a check sign √ in the observation sheet whether
each behavior is present or absent. Through this instrument, the researcher was able to record many things related to all of the aspects to be observed. Then, the result of
observation was used to compile the statements in the questionnaire. The researcher divided the observation sheet into three main parts. The first part
Part A was the observed aspect during the learning process in class. The second part or Part B was the students’ activities during the learning process. The third part
Part C was the further explanations about the learning process.
Table 3.1. Sample of the Observation Sheets OBSERVATION SHEET
Date: Class:
Statements Yes
No Notes
1. The students are ready in having experience the learning process
2. Questionnaire
According to Ary et al 2002:566 questionnaire is an instrument in which respondents provide written responses to questions or mark items that indicate their
responses. In this study, the questionnaires were distributed in order to obtain information from the students about their perception after experiencing the role play.
According to Ary, et al 1979:175, there are two types of questionnaire. They are structured, or closed type, and unstructured, or open type. The questionnaire used in
this research was a combination between open and closed forms. Singarimbun 1989:178 defined this kind of questionnaire as a semi-open-ended questionnaire.
The open type items were used to get more information from the students because they are permitted to answer freely and fully in their own ideas. On the other hand,
the closed type items were used to enable the respondents easy in filling the questionnaires since the students only have to put a check sign
√ in the provided space according to their opinions. The researcher compiled the questions based on
some theories of role play. The questionnaire used for this study was consisted of 23 closed types, and 2
open types. The researcher divided the questionnaire into three parts. The first part Part A consisted of the students’ identification, the second part Part B consisted
of the statements list and the third part Part C consisted of the students’ opinions. The questionnaire was in the form of Likert scale. Ary et al 2002:224 stated that a
Likert scale assesses attitudes toward a topic by presenting a set of statements about the topic and asking respondents to indicate whether they strongly agree, agree, are
