Research Problems Problem Limitation Research Objectives Theoretical Framework

4 the classroom activity automatically. On the other hand, if the students perceive the use of group discussion as a technique used in the classroom activity negatively, they will also have negative behaviour responses and less engaged during the classroom activity in the group discussion. Based on the explanation above, the researcher conducts a research about students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion and their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I. The aim of this research is to discover the students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion and their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I at the ELESP of Sanata Dharma University of Yogyakarta.

B. Research Problems

Based on the research background above, the researcher formulates the research questions as follows: 1. What are the students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion to increase their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I? 2. What are the students’ perceptions on their engagement in group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I?

C. Problem Limitation

The researcher would like to limit the discussion to the students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion and their engagement in the speaking PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 5 sessions of CLS I for the third semester of ELESP students of Sanata Dharma University. This research focuses on students’ personal perceptions on the use of group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I and the students’ perceptions on their engagement during the implementation of group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I at the third semester of ELESP. The participants of this research are 26 students from the third semester at ELESP of Sanata Dharma University who have experienced to use group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I.

D. Research Objectives

Based on the problem formulations above, the researcher formulates two research objectives, they are: 1. To find out the students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion to increase their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I. 2. To find out to the students’ perceptions on their engagement in group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I.

E. Research Benefits

The researcher expects that this research will be beneficial to ELESP lecturers, ELESP students, and future researchers. 6

1. ELESP Lecturers

This research expects that the lecturers can see whether group discussion is effective or ineffective enough to be used as one of techniques in increasing students’ engagement on their learning process in the speaking sessions of CLS I.

2. ELESP Students

This research is mostly focused on the students of CLS I course. It is expected that after this research, they can reflect themselves whether they have engaged enough in group discussion or not. Being engaged means that they can share their opinions in group discussion and be an active learning. Moreover, the researcher also hopes that they will be able to conduct a better way of learning in the future.

3. Future Researchers

The results of this research hopefully can be used as references for other studies which are related to this topic. The future researchers can also conduct further research related to this topic. Since this research focused on perception, the future researcher can conduct a research about the use of group discussion in developing motivation, the effectiveness of group discussion, and the improvements of speaking skills after engaging themselves in group discussion.

F. Definition of Terms

In this research, there will be four terms which are used. Those are perception, engagement, group discussion, and Critical Listening and Speaking I. 7 To avoid any misunderstanding while discussing this research, the researcher will explain briefly these four terms.

1. Perception

According to Robbins 2001 in his book Organizational Behaviour, perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory opinions in order to give meaning to their environment p. 221. In this research, perception is the students’ feeling on their engagement or effort during the group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I.

2. Engagement

Engagement here is students’ participation during their classroom activity through group discussion technique. Barkley 2009 states that student engagement is the product of motivation and active learning p. 6. It tells that if there is an element missing, the product will not occur. In this study, engagement is the students’ motivation to participate during the classroom activities through group discussion. Therefore, the students have some efforts to be engaged in the classroom activity.

3. Group Discussion

According to Flynn and Faso 1972, group discussion is a natural human activity, an interesting, exciting, and creative experience which define a small group as not more than twenty-five people who recognize themselves and one another as members and who meet in a face-to-face situation to accomplish some 8 purposes they believe better fulfilled in this way p. 4-5. In this research, group discussion is an interesting and exciting technique provided for students to participate in the classroom activity in order to give them chance to engage themselves in classroom activity, especially in the speaking sessions of CLS I. The students can show their creativity and effort to be engaged through group discussion in their learning process in the speaking sessions of CLS I.

4. Critical Listening and Speaking I

Critical Listening and Speaking I is one of compulsory courses in English Language Education Study Program at Sanata Dharma University of Yogyakarta. This course is given for the third semester students. One of the major skills that will be learned in this course is speaking skills. Speaking skills is needed to learn by the students because it is useful for them to improve their ability to communicate to each other. In this research, Critical Listening and Speaking I is one of compulsory courses for the third semester that is used as a setting to obtain the data for the research. 9 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In this chapter, all of the theories used in organizing this research will be explained by the researcher. It is divided into two sections, namely theoretical description and theoretical framework. The researcher will be discussing some important theories related to the research in theoretical description. The theories are perception, group discussion, and engagement. The researcher will be summarizing and relating the theories to the study in theoretical framework.

A. Theoretical Description

In this section, the theories which are related to this research will be discussed by the researcher. There are three major theories used in this research. They are perception, group discussion, and engagement.

1. Perception

Everyone has their own way in seeing, viewing, and perceiving something in his or her life. The ways of seeing, viewing, and perceiving things are called as perception. In fact, everyone might have different perception on something. The following part will discuss deeper about some aspects related to perception. 10

a. Definition of Perception

According to Altman et al. 1985 perception is the way stimuli are selected and grouped by a person so that they can be meaningfully interpreted p. 85. It shows a person’s view of reality in hisher environment. In this study, perception is the way how the students perceive about the use of group discussion and their engagement in group discussion in the speaking sessions of CLS I.

b. Factors Influencing Perception

Someone’s perception can be influenced by several factors. Altman el al. 1985 state that four of the most important factors are a selection of stimuli, b organization of stimuli, c the situation, and d the person’s self-concept p. 86. 1 Selection of Stimuli There are many stimuli that will come up to our surrounding. We must focus on only a small number of all the stimuli. This process is called as selection. In this process, people try to select certain stimuli and filter out the others. As a result, people will perceive things differently because each person might select specific signals. 2 Organization of Stimuli The second factor that can influence perception is organization. The stimuli that have been selected must be arranged. The stimuli are arranged into a screening process. Therefore, it will be meaningful information. In fact, the arrangement of the stimuli affects the perception. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 11 3 The Situation Another factor influencing perception is the situation. A person’s familiarities, expectations, and experiences in his or her past might affect what that person perceives about a certain thing. Moreover, perceiving situation is also related to the way how well a person adapts his or her behaviour to the situation. For example, a person who is just graduated from college might find difficulty to understand the norms and values in his or her new workplace because he or she has no experience yet in which he or she works. 4 The Person’s Self-Concept The last factor influencing perception is the self-concept. The way people see and perceive themselves are usually called perception. These ways can affect their perception on things in the world around them. The self-concept is important because the person mental picture might affect much of what they see and perceive in their life. In this research, those factors influencing perception are important to be used as the basis information of implementation toward the students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion and their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I.

2. Group Discussion

Group discussion is one of techniques used by the ELESP lecturers at Sanata Dharma University in their teaching. This technique is used as a course of action for solving problems that one encounters in the classroom activity, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 12 especially in a group discussion. The use of group discussion is aimed to help the students to engage themselves in their learning process. The students try to show their effort during the impelmentation of group discussion. The following part will be discussing deeper about some aspects related to group discussion strategy.

a. Definition of Group Discussion

According to Slavin 1990, group discussion is when a group of people are together to do a work, and they are doing interactions with the member of the group and who are psychologically sensible of one another, and who are taking part themselves to be a group on a learning process. It is in line with Amy 2007 who says that group discussion is group where some number of students can work together to make decision, give andshare their opinions on given topic, create something, and solve problem. This shows that the students can help each group member to participate well in the learning process to achieve their goals.

b. Types of Group Discussion

There are two types of group discussion. They are “large-group discussion and small- group discussion” Borich, 1996, p. 325. It is taken from Viviana’s thesis 2013. 1 Large-Group Discussion Large-Group discussion consists of all students in class which are discussing a topic. The students are guided by the teacher in the discussion. Sometimes this type of group discussion is difficult to be handled because there are many learners interacting. As a teacher, we may get difficulty to manage the 13 class. In this type, the teachers lead the process of the group discussion. So, the teachers can do such as teaching, demonstrating, explaining the topic, asking, and answering questions if the students have any. 2 Small-Group Discussion Small-Group discussion is helpful for the students to increase their participation or engagement in the group discussion. The member of the group is usually around five to ten people. The students will have big chance to speak up their opinions when they are in small numbers in group discussion. The students have much time to participate in the group discussion. Therefore, it can increase their communication skill within each group member.

c. Stages of Group Discussion

There are four stages of group discussion namely “forming, storming, norming , and performing” Borich, 1996, p. 463-464. This statement is taken from Viviana’s thesis 2013. 1 Forming This stage focuses on acceptance and responsibilities of the students. At this stage, the students are still trying to find out their social structure and find out what they are expected to do in the groups. At this stage of group formation, the students are curious about one another and begin to see how and with whom they fit in. This means that the students try to look and find their group members based PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 14 on their consideration. After that, they unite in the group and start to do their tasks given. 2 Storming The aim of storming is to help the learners feel secured and perceived themselves as the members of group. This stage concerns shared influences. Thus, there will be an agreement that students treat their teacher as the leader of the class. In fact, the students should follow the rules that the teacher makes during the group discussion activity. 3 Norming This stage focuses on how the students ’ work should be done. This means that norms direct how the students should feel, think, act or behave in the groups. Therefore, they must follow the rules that are implemented in the groups. 4 Performing This stage will help the students build their confidence to perform in the groups. It includes the freedom, the control, and the self-regulation. Those three things are very important for the students in order to have a good performance. Moreover, at this stage, the teacher should give any feedback and evaluate the students’ performances. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 15

3. Engagement

The way the students increase their achievement, positive behaviours, and being active in a classroom is called engagement. The students will do great effort in order to increase their achievement. Moreover, the students are supposed to be able to motivate themselves to participate in the classroom activity, especially in group discussion to increase their engagement. The following part will discuss deeper about some important aspects related to student engagement.

a. Definition of Engagement

Student engagement is primarily and historically about increasing achievement, positive behaviours, and a sense of belonging in all students. Over time, student engagement strategy were further developed and more broadly implemented as a means of generally managing classroom behaviours. According to Gilbert 2007, student engagement has been built around the hopeful goal of enhancing all students’ abilities to learn how to learn or to become lifelong learners in a knowledge-based society p. 1. Student engagement has become both a strategic process for learning and an accountability outcome unto itself. Moreover, Kuh 2009 also defines student engagement as the time and effort students devote to activities that are empirically linked to desired outcomes of college and what institutions do to induce students participate in these activities p. 683. 16 Barkley 2010 states that student engagement is the product of motivation and active learning p. 6. It tells that if there is an element missing, the product will not occur. They are related to each other as illustrated in figure 2.1. FIGURE 2.1. Venn Diagram Model of Student Engagement

b. Factors Influencing Engagement

There are five factors that can influence student engagement. Those are relationship with teachers, relationship with peers and classmates, self-efficacy, academic self-regulated learning, and motivation and interest in learning. These are the deeper explanation of five factors that can influence student engagement. 1 Relationships with Teachers There are two bases for student-teacher relationships called as interpersonal liking and trust. Students feel that they belong in school when teachers express involvement and warmth by treating students with care and affection and showing students that they enjoy having them in class Martin 17 Dowson, 2009, p. 327-365. When teachers are dependable sources of emotional and instrumental support in difficult times, students feel connected to their teachers and safe at school. Students also need structured interactions, in which teachers set high standards, clear expectations, and reasonable lim its for students’ behaviours performances, and consistently follow through on their demands. Stipek 2002 states that o ptimal structure includes teachers’ confidence in students’ underlying abilities as well as helping students figure out how to reach high levels of understanding and performance. The most important things are breaking tasks into manageable components that students are ready to master, and the provision of informational feedback so that when students do not meet expectations, teachers explain to them how to improve. 2 Relationship with Peers and Classmates Warmth is a key feature of high-quality peer relationships Furman Buhrmester, 1985, p. 1016-1034 and highly functional classroom climates Cabello Terrell, 1994. When students have opportunities to talk and listen to each other, provide emotional support, share learning experiences, and develop respects, they are more likely to feel that they are understood and cared by their peers. The students also feel that they belong to each other. Warm interactions with classroom peer s will create a climate of comfort and help students’ need for relatedness. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 18 3 Self-efficacy Self-effica cy is defined as the “perceived ability to learn and carry out a task or set of behaviours at an identified, optimal level of performance” Tyler Boelter, 2008, p. 29 and “the individual’s conviction of being able to master specific activities, situations, or aspects of his or her own psychological and social functioning” Bacchini Magliulo, 2003, p. 339. This means that the conviction of each student in the group to master the activity in group discussion is the main factor that can influence their engagement and achievement. Self-efficacy is related to the prior achievement of students. Those who have high academic self-efficacy participate more actively in learning. They are more diligent, and complete tasks more successfully than those who have lower self-efficacy Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, Pastorelli, 1996, p. 1206-1222. 4 Academic Self-regulated Learning Cleary and Zimmerman 2004 state that academic self-regulation relates to the degree to which students are motivated to learn, think about their own learning, and proactively make use of self –regulatory processes strategies and tools to improve their learning. This means that self-regulation is related to the studen ts’ motivations to be engaged on the learning process to improve their learning. This is also in line with Rush and Balamoutsou 2006 who state that engaged students share the values and approaches to learning of their lecturers, spend time and energy on educationally meaningful tasks, learn with others inside and outside the classroom, actively explore ideas confidently with others, and 19 learn to value perspectives other than their own p. 4. When students are part of a learning community, they are positive about their identity as a member of a group, focused on learning, ask questions in class, feel comfortable contributing to class discussions, spend time at campus, have made a few friends, and are motivated in classroom activity. 5 Motivation and Interest in Learning Motivation is a term frequently used synonymously for engagement. Motivation is a construct that describes what makes learners invest their time and effort. It is described in terms of “conditions and processes that account for the encouragement, direction, greatness, and preservation of effort” Katzell Thompson, 1990, p. 144. To explore motivation is to understand the goal behind the engagement of students and therefore what teachers can do to enhance this engagement. Fostering motivation among students is crucially important for short term learning and also for preparing students to be lifelong learners. According to Bong 2004, the way that students feel about themselves and learning tasks differs markedly across situations, so that students who are highly motivated in one domain may or may not be enthusiastic in other domains p. 296. Furthermore, personal interest is more durable and stable than situational interest in that it emerges as a way of being over time as individuals experience success and pleasure in learning Harlen, 2006; Tsai et al., 2008. This shows that personal interest in each individual is more crucial important factor to pleasure learners in learning. 20

c. Dimension of Engagement

According to Harper and Quaye 2009, engagement is more than involvement or participation – it requires feelings and sense making as well as activity p. 5. The feelings of the students are essential to know whether they are satisfied with their engagement or not. Acting without feeling engaged is just involvement or even compliance; feeling engaged without acting is dissociation. According to Fredricks, Blumenfeld and Paris 2004, drawing on Bloom 1956, usefully identify three dimensions to student engagement, as discussed below: 1 Behavioural Engagement Students who are behaviourally engaged would typically fulfil in behavioural norms, such as attendance and involvement, and would demonstrate the absence of disruptive or negative behaviour. 2 Emotional Engagement Students who engage emotionally would experience affective reactions such as interest, enjoyment, or a sense of belonging. Petrick et al. 2007 state that emotional engagement is liable to focus on the psychological aspects of student to student relationships, student and teacher relationships, student feelings and attitudes, and student perceptions of the social environment including affiliation, cohesion, fairness, mutual respect, and support from the teacher p. 83. This means that emotional engagement is closely related to the psychology of the students, including the students’ feelings, attitudes, and perception on their social environments. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 21 3 Cognitive Engagement Cognitively engaged students would be invested in their learning, would seek to go beyond the requirements, and would relish challenge.

d. The Purpose of Engagement

Being engaged in group discussion might help the students improve their speaking English skills. Coates 2005 states that this is fundamental: The concept of student engagement is based on the constructivist assumption that learning is influenced by how an individual participates in educationally purposeful activities in group discussion p. 26. 1 Engagement to Improve Learning The majority of literature on student engagement is concerned directly or indirectly with improving student learning. For Coates 2005, this is fundamental: The concept of student engagement is based on the constructivist assumption that learning is influenced by how an individual participates in educationally purposeful activities in a classroom p. 26. In essence, therefore, student engagement is concerned with the extent to which students engage in a range of educational activities through group discussion method used by the lecturer. While for Graham et al. 2007 state that the centrality of improving student learning through engagement is not a new-fangled idea introduced with the concept of student engagement, but one with a long history p. 233-234. The idea that students must be actively engaged in the learning process in order for it to be effective is not new. A various body of educational research has shown that PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 22 academic achievement is positively influenced by the amount of active participation in the learning process. According to Kuh 2009, engagement increases the odds that any student educational and social background not with standing that will attain his or her educational and personal objectives, acquire the skills and competencies demanded by the challenges of the twenty-first century, and enjoy the intellectual and monetary advantages associated with the completion of the baccalaureate degree p. 698.

B. Theoretical Framework

This section connects all major relevant theories which have been already reviewed by the researcher above. The use of those theories is aimed to help the researcher in conducting the research to solve the research problems which are stated in chapter 1. In this research, the researcher attempts to answer two research questions. The first research question is about students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion to increase their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I. The second research question is about students’ perceptions on their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I. The researcher employs the theory of perception, group discussion, and engagement to answer the first and the second research questions. The researcher needs to know the definition of perception, group discussion, and engagement in order to acknowledge what perception, group discussion, and engagement are. According to Altman et al. 1985 “perception is the way stimuli are selected and grouped by a person so that they can be meaningfully interpreted ” p. 85. The 23 way students perceive on something; the use of group discussion, will influence their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I. Besides, t he students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion and their engagement can be positive and negative. Likewise, it can also influence the students’ behavioural responses. The behavioural responses can be positive or negative. It depends on the students’ perceptions. If the students perceive the use of group discussion and their engagement positively, they will have positive perception and the students’ behavioural responses will be positive too. The positive behavioural responses of the students will motivate them to get engaged and show their satisfaction and feeling in the speaking sessions of CLS I. On the other hand, if the students perceive the use of group discussion and their engagement negatively, they will also have negative behavioural responses, less motivated to be engaged in group discussion and felt unsatisfied with their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I. Altman el al. 1985 state that four of the most important factors that can influence perception are a selection of stimuli, b organization of stimuli, c the situation, and d the person’s self-concept p. 86. Related to this research, the students should be aware about these four factors which can influence their perception on the use of group discussion and their engagement in the speaking sessions of CLS I. One of the most crucial factors is self-concept. Self-concept is important because the person mental picture might affect much of what they see and perceive in their life. In this study, self-concept could influence the way the 24 students perceive the use of group discussion as a technique used by the lecturer and also their engagement during the implementation of group discussion. Besides, according to Slavin 1990, group discussion is when a group of people are together to do a work, and they are doing interactions with the member of the group and who are psychologically sensible of one another, and who are taking part themselves to be a group on a learning process. It is in line with Amy 2007 who says that group discussion is where some number of students can work together to make decision, give andshare their opinions on given topic, create something, and solve problem. This means that group discussion is a technique which can help the group members to build their communication skills and help the students to engage themselves on the learning activity. Moreover, t here are two types of group discussion. They are “large-group discussion and small- group discussion” Borich, 1996, p. 325. In this study, these types of group discussion might also identify how student perceives the use of group discussion itself. This will help the students perceive which types of group discussion they usually use in the speaking sessions of CLS I. Furthermore, the stages of group discussion can also influence the students’ perceptions on the use of group discussion. There are four stages of group discussion namely “forming, storming, norming , and performing” Borich, 1996, p. 463-464. The researcher needs to know which stages related to this research. Therefore, the researcher can determine which stage the students place themselves. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 25 In addition, the way the students increase their achievement, positive behaviours, and being active in a classroom is called engagement. Barkley 2010 states that student engagement is the product of motivation and active learning p. 6. It tells that if there is an element missing, the product will not occur. There are five factors that can influence student engagement. Those are relationship with teachers, relationship with peers and classmates, self-efficacy, academic self- regulated learning, and motivation and interest in learning. The most crucial factors influence engagement is academic self-regulated learning, and motivation and interest in learning. Harper Quaye 2009 state that engagement is more than involvement or participation – it requires feelings and sense making as well as activity p. 5. The feelings of the students are essential to know whether they are satisfied with their engagement or not. Moreover, Kuh 2009 also defines student engagement as the time and effort students devote to activities that are empirically linked to desired outcomes of college and what institutions do to induce students participate in these activities p. 683. According to Fredricks et al. 2004 there are three dimensions of engagement. They are behavioural, emotional, and cognitive engagement p. 62- 63. Students who are behaviourally engaged would typically fulfil with behavioural norms, such as attendance and involvement, and would demonstrate the absence of disruptive or negative behaviour. Meanwhile for the students who engage emotionally would experience affective reactions such as interest, enjoyment, or a sense of belonging. According to Patrick et al. 2007 emotional PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 26 engagement is liable to focus on the psychological aspects of student to student relationships, student and teacher relationships, student feelings and attitudes, and student perceptions of the social environment including affiliation, cohesion, fairness, mutual respect, and support from the teacher p. 83. Besides, for the students who cognitively engaged students would be invested in their learning, would seek to go beyond the requirements, and would relish challenge. Figure 2.2 Theoretical Framework Diagram: PERCEPTION GROUP DISCUSSION ENGAGEMENT Types of Group Discussion Stages of Group Discussion Factors that Influence Engagement Dimension of Engagement 1. Small 2. Large 1. Forming 2. Storming 3. Norming 4. Performing 1. Relationship with teacher 2. Relationship with peers and classmates 3. Self-efficacy 4. Academic self-regulated learning 5. Motivation and Interest in learning 1. Behavioural engagement 2. Emotional engagement 3. Cognitive engagement Factors that Influence Perception: 1. Selection of stimuli 2. Organization of stimuli 3. The situation 4. The person’s self-concept 27 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In this chapter, in order to answer the research questions as mentioned in chapter I, the researcher would like to discuss the method used in this research. This chapter contains some parts. They are research method, research setting, research participants, research instruments and data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.

A. Research Method