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academic scores and English speaking skill will help her reach her dream to work in a foreign company in the future. The way she studies English reflects her
passion in English self-exploration to possess English good proficiency supported by good scores of English speaking ability and academic performance. Finally,
she expects for high scores in her English speaking ability and academic performance since she is quite confident and capable in the English lesson. She
also defines that English subject is part of language and literature in which the perfect score of English is indefinite since English subject is not an exact subject.
B. Research Discussion
This section exposes answers of the problems formulation. The data for this section derived from quantitative and qualitative research findings. To support the
quantitative result and discussion, I organized the shared themes of the interviewees’ statements as shown in Table 4.14.
Table 4.14 Shared Themes of Qualitative Results
Themes Coding
Shared Themes
Viewpoint of Vocational
High School I11032014P2AR-LA
I11032014P3BA-LA I11032014P9DA-LA
The participants had no interest in Vocational High school
since AR and BA were asked to study
in Vocational High
School by their parents and DA heard some bad stories from
her friends about the learning
process in Vocational High School.
Viewpoint of English as a
subject I11032014P16AR-LA
I11032014P26AR-LA I11032014P20DA-LA
I11032014P21DA-LA
Both AR and DA realized the importance of English although
in different level of awareness. AR
saw the importance from the passing grade
to pass since he did not understand English
subject in the past
and DA saw
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the importance from the use of the language for global
communication .
Feeling of learning
English in class
I11032014P31AR-LA I11032014P11BA-LA
I11032014P12BA-LA I11032014P54DA-LA
AR, BA , and DA felt happy in
studying English. AR felt happy because he was
comfortable with the learning
situation. BA felt happy to learn English if she faced
interactive learning materials
like singing English songs. DA felt happy to learn English
because she knew the importance of English mastery
for global communication
.
Learning styles
I11032014P11AR-LA I11032014P35AR-LA
I11032014P7BA-LA I11032014P35DA-LA
AR and BA tend to be passive
in English Lesson realizing their less interest in English
study and lack of English learning capability. DA
was more autonomous
in English learning realizing the
importance of English study for global communication.
English Speaking
Ability I11032014P74AR-LA
I11032014P75AR-LA I11032014P76AR-LA
I11032014P47BA-LA I11032014P59BA-LA
I11032014P60DA-LA I11032014P67DA-LA
AR , BA, and DA realized their
English speaking ability level based on their level of
comprehension related to English lessons
Academic Performance
I11032014P83AR-LA I11032014P61BA-LA
I11032014P73DA-LA
AR, BA, and DA targeted their academic performance
scores based on their views of English importance, the way
they learned English,
and their responses to English speaking
activities .
1. Correlation between Students’ Learning Style x
1
and Academic Performance y
The first research problem formulation was whether there was a correlation between s
tudents’ learning style x
1
and academic performance y.
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With statistical analysis of Pearson Product Moment Correlation, the result of correlation of
students’ learning style x
1
and academic performance y was they had correlation because the coefficient of correlation was more than 0,00. With
N=30, the correlation coefficient is 0,44 meaning the positive correlation. The degree of correlation is medium. Supported by the scatter plot, the direction of the
plots is positive because it goes up to the right. From the previous result, then H is rejected and H
1
is accepted. It means that there is positive correlation between
students learning style x
1
and their academic performance y. The degree of correlation is medium meaning that there are other aspects determining the result
of academic performance. The students who have bad academic performance have to maximize the other aspects beyond the learning style such as their awareness of
English importance as global language so that they can complement their learning style to gain better academic performance.
The medium correlation between students’ learning style and academic
performance is supported with the theoretical framework. Dunn and Dunn 1979 states that learning style is the learners’ variation to use one or more senses to
understand, organize, a nd retain experience. The learners’ experience, then, also
relates to the level of variation of using preferred learning styles. Learning style can also be developed based on the viewpoints of the learners related to which
learning style is more effective for them Dunn and Griggs 1979. Here, the learning experiences pl
ays important role to shape the learners’ perspective in using the preferred learning style. At school, after the students are able to
recognize their learning styles, they explore their knowledge and skill development to reach the learning outcome that the students have targeted or the
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teachers have expected. When the students are able to understand some learning materials and then get good results in academic task, then the students is
competent and they can step up to the next level as Chaplin 1965 states that academic performance is the students’ achievement in doing academic task. Then,
students’ capability in organizing their senses in the way they learn determines the result of their academic performance.
The students’ lived-experience relates to the strong correlation between their learning styles and academic performance also supports the acceptance of
hypothesis. Based on the interview shared themes as shown in Table 4.14, DA
saw the importance of English as global language therefore she was very interested in studying English I11032014P20DA-LA. She could be
autonomous in studying English because she had special interest to study English I11032014P35DA-LA
. She acquired the knowledge of English learning by pushing herself to study English harder and also by discussing with her classmates
or teacher to enhance her English skill. Then, she got high score 91 which was matched with her expectation I11032014P73DA-LA. Carter 1959 states that
academic performance is the result of acquiring knowledge and developing skill in
certain school subjects. DA already liked English before she entered Vocational
High School so that she already acquired English knowledge and developed her English skill more than other students. In addition, she felt that she needed to
master English to support her global communication in the future I11032014P21DA-LA
. AR, on the other hand, could not define the importance
of English for his social development I11032014P2AR-LA so that he only targeted the passing grade for his academic performance result. Then, he got low
110
score 42 for his academic performance showing that he needed to organize a better learning style and view the importance of English more.
Although AR and DA have the same learning styles accommodators, but
the way they view the importance of English subject is different and it relates to the result of their academic performance.
AR’s past experience of his lack in
English lesson and also his less interest in the further English lesson in the Vocational High School make him unable to comprehend the English lesson
completely. On the other hand, BA is able to enhance her interest of studying
English lesson since she finds interesting English learning activities. In this case, the students have to realize that English is important to master since English is
international language which is used around the world Quirk 1990; Curry 2003. If the students are interested to study English, then they will gain and conduct
more learning experiences. Kolb 1984 states that learning experience is the key factor to
formulate the students’ preferred learning styles. If the students already formulate their preferred learning styles and the same awareness of how
importance the English subject, their academic performance will be identified.
2. Correlation between English Speaking Ability x
1
and Academic Performance y
The second research problem formulation was whether there was a correlation between English speaking ability x
2
and academic performance y. By using Pearson Product Moment Correlation, the result of correlation of English
speaking ability x
2
and academic performance y was they had correlation because the coefficient of correlation was more than 0,00. With N=30, the
correlation coefficient is 0,88 meaning the positive correlation. The degree of
