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ATTRIBUTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL EFL LEARNERS IN AN
INDONESIAN HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXT
THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfillment
of the Requirements for the degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan

Kezia Meidy Setiawan
112013073

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
SALATIGA
2017

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in
any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any
university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this contains no material
previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is
made in the text.

Copyright @2017: Kezia Meidy Setiawan and Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali, M.Hum.

All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means
without the prior written permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the
English Language Education Program of Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana
Salatiga.

Kezia Meidy Setiawan:

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PERNYATAAN TIDAK PLAGIAT ....................................................................... i
PERNYATAAN IJIN AKSES ................................................................................ ii
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APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................................ v
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ................................................................................ v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... vi
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 1
LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................... 2
Advantages of Attributions in English Language Learning ................................ 2
Previous Studies on Attribution .......................................................................... 2
Characteristics of Successful Language Learners ............................................... 5
THE STUDY ....................................................................................................... 6

Method ................................................................................................................ 6
The Context of the Study .................................................................................... 7
The Research Participants ................................................................................... 7
Data Collection Instruments................................................................................ 8
Data Collection Procedures ................................................................................. 9
Data Analysis Procedure ................................................................................... 10
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................................... 11
Learning Style ................................................................................................... 11
Exposure to the Language ................................................................................. 13
Parent’s Influence.............................................................................................. 15
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Friends’ Support ................................................................................................ 17
Lecturers’ Performance ..................................................................................... 18
Classroom Environment .................................................................................... 20
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 22
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. 25
REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 26
APPENDIX ....................................................................................................... 29

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INTRODUCTION
Attributions allude to individual's recognitions in regards to reasons for
results (Sahinkarakas, 2011). Attributions refer to the reasons that attribute to
learners’ success or failure in the process of learning a target language. (Gonzales,
2011) In addition, individuals create attributions for the reasons of their own
actions (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2006, as cited in Demetriou, 2011). Furthermore,
according to Banks and Woolfson (2008), “Attributions are the causal
explanations that people assign to the events that happen to and around them.” (p.
49) Attribution also deals with the student’s interpretation about their results of
their achievement, basically, how they describe success and failure, by attributing
causes to them (Eccles and Wigfield, 2002; Weiner, 1985, 1994, as cited in
Yilmaz, 2012).
After the researcher has been studying in the Faculty of Language and Arts,
Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana (FLA-UKSW) for three years, she has seen
many students who show their outstanding learning achievements in certain
subjects. Although they join some organizations and events, they still succeed in
learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The researcher wonders about the
reasons behind their success. This attracts the researcher’s attention to explore the

attributions of these successful language learners. Therefore, the purpose of this
study is to explore students’ attributions for their success in learning EFL at FLAUKSW. More specifically, it is aimed to answer these research questions: (1)
What are the attributions of male successful language learners at FLA-UKSW?

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(2) What are the attributions of female successful language learners at FLAUKSW?

This current study can be beneficial for EFL students in similar contexts who
wish to learn from successful language learners. They will know what they have
to do to become successful language learners. They will be given some
suggestions about particular learning strategies such as finding learning style,
having a good time management, etc. For the teachers, they can reflect on
themselves, whether they are competent enough as lecturers to support their
students in EFL learning.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Advantages of Attributions in English Language Learning
In educational contexts, people see advantages of attributions. Lu,
Woodcock, and Jiang (2014) argued, “Attribution of success to an internal cause
(e.g., high ability) is more likely to increase self-esteem and the feeling of pride”

(p. 3). In addition, attributions can encourage people who are trying to fulfill their
goals (Kelley & Michela, 1980). Furthermore, Hsieh and Kang (2010) added that
the students’ potential for future success and motivation will be influenced by
students’ attributions and vice versa. (p. 609) Moreover, attribution can be very
helpful as the source of information for student’s explanation for their successes
and failures (Williams, Burden, Poulet & Maun, 2004).

Previous Studies on Attribution
In 2004, Gobel, Thang, Sidhu, Oon, and Chan undertook a descriptive study
of Malaysian urban and rural students’ attributions for success and failure in EFL
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learning. They collected data using Attribution of Success and Failure
Questionnaires (ASQ & AFQ), based on Vispoel and Austin (1995). The
researchers compared between urban and rural students’ attributions. In regard to
attributions of success; the findings exposed that there was a major difference
between the mean scores of the urban and rural groups for Factor 1 (internal/
controllable attributes). Hence, it seemed that the rural group was less willing to
attribute success to their own ability, effort, and study skills than the urban group.
Jernigan (2004) led a study in a foreign language classroom to investigate

students’

perceptions

about

learning,

their

goal

accomplishment,

and

encouragement to continue language study. Open-ended survey and interview
were used to respond to the question of why students did or did not achieve their
goals. The results exposed a combination of several attributions at work. The
following categories emerged as reasons why they could attain their goals: self

(such as effort and attendance), teacher , classroom conditions (such as the
curriculum and the structure of the class), and peers (such as enthusiasm and
participation of classmates). Students who succeeded to achieve their goals
described themselves as self-motivated. As to attributions of failure, two
categories appeared: class (not enough time in class to practice speaking/listening
or to focus on culture or reading) and self (lack of motivation and work, lack of
attendance).
In 2012, Farid and Iqbal have carried out a study of 396 students from
selected districts of Punjab. The researcher measured causal attribution beliefs of
the educational outcomes among them. The instrument measured eight types of
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beliefs: ability, effort, luck, task difficulty, strategy, interest, family and teacher
influence. This study indicated that the prime causes of the students’ success are
from teachers’ and parents’ influence, effort, and strategy.
Mori, Gobel, Thepsiri, and Pojanapunya (2010) sought a comparative study
of Japanese and Thai University Students. The objective of the study was to
examine the gaps on motivation and language learning by investigating the
rapport between the attributions of EFL students toward authentic classroom
activities and their achievement of those activities. Mori et al. (2010) used a set of

questionnaires to investigate how EFL university students (355 Thai and 350
Japanese) in two countries attributed their successes and failures to actual
language learning tasks. Despite several differences based on culture, both groups
also have similarities. The results presented that both groups concentrated the
attributions of success more to the external factors, which were teachers and
classroom atmosphere, and attributions of failures more to the internal factors,
which were lack of ability and effort. The results showed that teacher took an
essential role in teaching and learning process. It affects students’ motivation in
learning EFL.
In 2011, Thang, Gobel, Nor, and Suppiah undertook a comparative study of
undergraduates from six public universities in Malaysia. This study attempted to
examine a relationship between performance attributions and different university
settings in the English as a Second Language (ESL) context. Thang et al. (2011)
analyzed this research quantitatively using questionnaire by measuring students’
responses to authentic tasks. The study showed that getting a good grade and
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teacher influences were the most recognized attributions of success across all six
universities in Malaysia.
The previous studies on attributions inform the current studies that reasons

behind the success of the students are mostly related to the factors surrounding the
participants. The most attributed reason of success recorded in the previous
studies is teacher’s influence performance. Teachers have an important role for
the students’ learning in the classroom. They are the center of the teaching and
learning process. Hence, if the teachers are competent enough and can make the
positive and relaxed atmosphere, the learning process will run smoothly.

Characteristics of Successful Language Learners
Successful language learners in this study have the following characteristics.
First, those four students were selected on the basis of their high-Grade Point
Average (GPA), which was above 3.5. Second, the four participants were active
students in joining some faculty or university events. Third, they are good at
managing time. They still got a high GPA even though they spent their time not
only for studying but also for joining some events or organizations. It is proof that
they could manage their time well to study and to do outside classroom activities.
These characteristics were used to select the research participants in this study.

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THE STUDY

Method
The purpose of the study was to explore male and female students’
attributions for their success in learning English as a foreign language in FLAUKSW. This study was approached qualitatively for achieving that purpose.
There are some characteristics in a qualitative approach. First, it aims to
answer questions about the what, how, and why of a phenomenon (Patton &
Cochran, 2002). Second, this approach is concerned with opinions, experiences,
and feelings of individuals producing subjective data (Hancock, 1998).
Furthermore, the researchers try to understand how they make sense of their
experience (Ospina, 2004). Fourth, qualitative study is an inductive approach in
which the data are used to develop concepts and theories (Hancock, 1998).
This study was in line with the characteristics as mentioned above. First,
this study was aimed to answer the questions of what and why of a phenomenon.
The participants were asked to tell their success of their EFL learning process. It
might answer the what question. Furthermore, the researcher asked the reasons
why they could be successful language learners. It contains a depth of
understanding rather than a numeric analysis of data. The researcher also tried to
understand how they make sense of their experience behind their success in EFL
learning process. Through their experiences, the participants were asked more
deeply why they could be successful language learners.

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The Context of the Study
This study was conducted in English Language Education Program at FLAUKSW. It was located in Salatiga. The reason why the researcher selected the
context was the accessibility ease. The researcher could make the appointment
with the participants easily as they are in the same faculty which is FLA.

The Research Participants
There were four participants. They were two females and two males. It did
not attempt to generalize all of the participants. They were the students of FLAUKSW, Salatiga. They were all in the seventh-semester. They did their teaching
practicum during the sixth semester. When this study was conducted, they were
working on their thesis. Those four participants were selected based on the
selected criteria as successful language learners mentioned previously.
In this study, their names are kept in pseudonyms to keep their privacy.
Maria is the first student. In addition to English, she has learned other languages
such as Spanish and Japanese from her ship ministry experiences. However, she
speaks English the most fluently. After she had done her service in a ship
ministry, she registered to this faculty. Her academic skills have been great,
although she has joined many events since her second year in FLA - UKSW.
Naomi, the second student, is a smart and critical thinking person. She has
great skills in English. Once, she joined a debate organization in the faculty. She
became one of the representatives to participate in a debate competition.

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Petrus, the third student, has a big passion for music. He usually plays music
at church. He is very active joining the faculty events. Besides his own business,
he still concerns with his education in this faculty. His GPA is still high because
he can manage his time well.
Samuel, the second male student, is also a musician. He is a violinist. He is
smart and diligent. He is also good at pronunciation. During his study at FL –
UKSW, he was quite active joining the faculty events, but his GPA was still good.

Data Collection Instruments
For collecting the data, the researcher distributed an open-ended
questionnaire followed by a semi-structured interview. The questionnaire is in
English because the participants were given time to think and explore their
answers in their second language. The interview questions were conducted in
participants’ first language which is Bahasa Indonesia, to reduce anxiety and
make them more confident in providing clear responses. Before collecting the
data, the researcher piloted the questionnaire. The researcher had to offer the
questionnaire to two FLA-UKSW students. Each student was given two types of
questionnaires, which are open-ended and close-ended questionnaires. The
purpose was to find out the more suitable one for collecting richer data. The
researcher asked them to fill in the questionnaire. The next step was to interview
them based on their answers. The purpose in doing the piloting was to get
suggestions as to which questionnaire was more effective to dig better answers.

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As the result of the piloting, the researcher made a decision for choosing the
open-ended

questionnaire

(Appendix)

to

collect

the

data.

Open-ended

questionnaire is more appropriate because the purpose is to obtain richer data
from the participants. Furthermore, the participants had more freedom to fill in the
questionnaire without any leading questions. The questionnaire was followed by a
semi-structured interview.

Data Collection Procedures
First of all, the researcher made an appointment with each participant. The
participants were asked to bring their two main documents. They were students’
transcript and record points of their students’ activities. The documents were used
as a proof that they met the characteristics of successful EFL learners as
mentioned previously. Before moving forward to the questionnaire, the researcher
told them briefly about the purpose of this study and the meaning of each question
in the questionnaire. It helped the participants have clear understanding of those
questions. Then, the researcher gave them time to fill in the questionnaire.
After administering the questionnaire, the researcher made another
appointment with each participant to have an interview section. The interview was
conducted on three sections. They were on March 15th, 2017 for interviewing the
first and the second participants, on March 16th, 2017 for interviewing the third
participant, and finally on March 17th, 2017 for interviewing the fourth
participant. From their written responses on the questionnaire, the participants
were asked to give further clarifications orally. The questions asked were based on
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their answers to the questionnaire which were not clear yet and which needed
deeper clarifications. The interview section was recorded by using the researcher’s
smartphone. After getting all of the data, the researcher transcribed and analyzed
all of the information from the interviews.

Data Analysis Procedure
To analyze the questionnaire data, the researcher first read all the answers.
Then, the researcher underlined phrases and sentences that were related to the
issues. After that, for the answers which are not fully described, the researcher
asked the participants to give further clarifications.
To analyze the interview data, the researcher had to initially listen to the
recorded interviews and transcribe them. The researcher used clean transcription
which is only focused on the content of the interview, without providing any extra
information (Zacharias, 2012). A narrative inquiry approach (Ary, Jacobs,
Sorensen, & Razavieh, 2010) was used to analyze the results of the interviews.
The researcher examined the stories that people tell stories behind their success in
learning EFL and co-construct a narrative analysis of those stories.
From the clarification of the second answer which is questioning the reasons
behind their success, the researcher began with analyzing those reasons. The
researcher coded responses from each participant with initial themes. Then, from
all of the answers, the researcher found out the most attributed reasons of their
success. It would be the initial themes if it is answered by at least two participants
or more (50% or 2 out of 4 participants). The last step, the researcher analyzed the
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data, linked them to the results of the previous studies and wrote them into
paragraphs.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This research aimed to answer the question: (1) What are the attributions of
male successful language learners at FLA-UKSW? (2) What are the attributions
of female successful language learners at FLA-UKSW? Based on the data

analysis, the researcher found six main themes behind their success in EFL
learning process. The themes were learning style, exposure to the language,
parent’s influence, friends’ support, lecturers’ performance, and classroom
environment. In this part, the researcher only provided the English version of the
interview data transcription to support the discussions in each theme, for the
researcher assumed that the thesis will be read internationally.

Learning Style
People have different personalities. Thus, in learning something, they have
their own ways. In EFL learning process, each participant has a different learning
style. All of the participants have their own ways to make them successful in EFL
learning. Three of them mentioned that they usually listened to the lecturers
carefully in the classroom. Therefore, they spent their time maximally while
studying in the classroom.
Excerpt 1
Like what I said before, in the classroom I have to focus and listen to the
lecturers carefully. I prefer to sit on a front seat. Sometimes, before the class
begins, I will do the scanning process and highlight the important points.
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Then, in the classroom, I will take notes of some additional information.
(Naomi/interview/translated by the researcher)
Excerpt 2
So, in the classroom, I will listen to the lecturers carefully. I listen to every
explanation carefully and effectively. The thing is that, I never studied
outside the class – my duty to study is only in the classroom. If you can find
out your learning style, it will benefit you. The benefit for me is I can spend
my time maximally in the classroom. I can do other things outside the
classroom. I usually use simple ways, so it is easier to understand. I rarely
take notes. (Samuel/questionnaire)
Furthermore, during the interview, Samuel added some detailed information
related to his answer in the questionnaire.
Excerpt 3
Not only listening, but while I am listening, I am also thinking. I try to
remember what the lecturers are saying. I keep it in my mind. But, for some
materials like grammar, I have to write down the concepts. The reason is
because the materials are too difficult if I just remember them in my mind.
(Samuel/interview/translated by the researcher)
For some students, grammar is one of the difficult materials in EFL
learning. Hence, they need a more efficient way to understand grammar. From
Excerpts 2 and 3, it can be seen that Samuel’s learning style is by listening to
someone speak, which is called auditory learning style. Nevertheless, for
understanding materials like grammar, he explained that he needed another way;
not just by listening. He had to note down the concepts because it would not be
enough to only remember them in his mind. Different from Samuel’s experience,
Petrus prefer to study grammar with friends. It helped him if he wanted to ask
difficult materials.
Excerpt 4
Sometimes I study individually, but for some materials, especially grammar,
I study in a group that consists of 2 to 3 people, including me. If I study
individually, I usually read it, and then memorize it. I study from my notes.
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I do not summarize the materials, but highlight the important things, and
then memorize them. (Petrus/interview/translated by the researcher)
Learning style is the new idea for the attributions of success. No previous
studies have mentioned learning style as one of the attributions of success.
However, this study found that participants’ learning style takes an important role
in the students’ success. If they do not find out the learning styles which are
beneficial for them, they will find it difficult to become successful in EFL
learning. On the contrary, if they find out the suitable learning style, they will
enjoy learning and become successful. Hamada, Rashad, and Darwesh (2011)
mentioned that knowing your particular learning style may benefit you in deciding
the best way to study for a test, like for example, highlighting the important things
and memorizing them or making a summary of the materials.

Furthermore,

Hamada et al. (2011) stated, “Knowing how to absorb and retain information may
help you recognize your strong points as well as your not-so-strong areas.” (p. 49)
If learners have found their best style of learning, they will find it easier to learn
and enjoy the process of learning.

Exposure to the Language
Before entering this faculty, the participants already had basic knowledge of
English from their childhood or previous experiences. Samuel took an English
course when they were children. His parents asked them to do that. Furthermore,
Samuel is a gamer; his English has been improved a lot while playing the games.
He has gained many vocabularies from the games. Maria and Petrus have gone

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abroad, and their English skill also improved from those experiences. The
following excerpts show their responses.
Excerpt 5
I got the skills from school. Once I joined a student exchange program to
Australia. It helped me a lot to improve my speaking and listening, and
enrich my vocabularies. The focus was not in learning grammar or
pronunciation. (Petrus/questionnaire/translated by the researcher)
Excerpt 6
From my previous experience in ship ministry, I received basic knowledge
of English. My English skills were improved there. People were required to
speak English. I have improved a lot in speaking skill because we had to
communicate with hundreds of people from different countries because
English was our universal language there. Speaking skill helped me to be
more familiar with English and helped me to be more fluent. Furthermore, I
used to be a course teacher. It helped me a lot to understand teaching
grammar. From being a course teacher, I learned a lot and got background
knowledge about teaching. So, in the teaching practicum I was more
familiar with teaching stuff. (Maria/interview/translated by the researcher)
Excerpt 7
I also have a hobby that needs consistency – playing music. I spend 4-6
hours for practicing and if you skip one day, you will lose what you have
been practicing for in a week. Being a musician helps me to learn and
improve my English. I know some vocabularies that are used in certain
contexts. The word structure in music context is more complicated than the
context in FLA. The vocabularies are also more difficult. Therefore, it helps
me to be more familiar with the easier one. I got the highest grade in the
English subject when I was in elementary school. I played PlayStation
when I was a child. I learned a lot from playing those games which are in
English. I gained many vocabularies from the contexts. When I was in
elementary school, I took an English course for about 1 to 2 years. After
being a gamer, I did not find it too difficult to follow the materials at my
English course. Now, I am playing online games in PC or smartphone. RPG
games which contain a lot of conversations help me too.
(Samuel/questionnaire)

Excerpt 8
When I was in third grade, I took an English course. I often read English
books. Also, I often watched Western movies without any subtitles. It helps
me to improve my listening skill. I joined storytelling, speech and debate
competitions. (Naomi/questionnaire)
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Reading the excerpts above, it is obvious that four of them quoted exposure
to the language as the reasons behind their success. This attribution confirms the
results of Jernigan’s study (2004). In Jernigan’s study, general exposure to other
languages is one of the four categories of students’ beliefs about language
learning which is learning a second language after childhood. It is consistent with
the participants’ experiences. Besides what happens now, the participants also had
some previous experiences which prepared them to be successful in EFL learning.
Engel (1991, p.29), as cited in Jarvis, Holford, and Griffin (2003) described
that “Learning is seen as cumulative” (p. 136). Subjects and topics are not taught
deeply at one time only. The process of learning is a long journey and it needs
more time. In addition, Engel (1991, p.29) mentioned there is progression in
learning. For being the more successful learners, learning also requires practice
and practice. Practice in learning makes perfect. The more the learners do
practice, the more fluent they will be. For example, to improve speaking skill,
learners have to practice speaking with foreigners or anyone in English. As time
goes by, the progression in learning will be enhanced.

Parent’s Influence
Four of the participants felt that their parents’ influence is the most
attributed reasons for their success in EFL learning. They felt their parents
motivated them to learn EFL in FLA-UKSW. Their parents helped and supported
them when they felt tired and anxious. They gave support to their children as the
motivation not to give up. The following excerpts will clarify their responses.
15

Excerpt 9
When I am in the lowest point, I will consult it to my parents. Besides
parents, I also share it with my friends and ask how to overcome my
problems. We help each other by giving support in education things also life
lessons. So, we don’t always do things individually. My parents often
supported and gave me moral value. (Petrus/questionnaire/translated by the
researcher)
Excerpt 10
My mother once said to me, we have to do our best wherever we are. After
that, the motivation will come to us. My mother told me that I have to face it
first. I have decided to enroll in this faculty, so I have to do my best.
(Naomi/interview/translated by the researcher)
Excerpt 11
People in my house, like my parents, support me in my EFL learning. My
parents also motivate me in any other ways. (Maria/interview/translated by
the researcher)
Excerpt 12
Family can be as the reasons behind our success. If all people in our family
speak English frequently, their children will be more succeed. Family will
be as our indirectly teacher. Maybe their family often goes abroad, so they
are fluent in English. Their children will follow their parents, so their
English become better. If their parents do not speak English at all, they can
motivate their children by asking them to go to an English course.
I had an English course when I was in elementary school. I could not speak
English back then. My parents want me to be fluent in English. My father
often asks me to teach him English. They think English is important so they
ask me to have an English course. I enter this faculty because of my parents’
suggestion. (Samuel/interview/translated by the researcher)
Parents’ influence is also the most attributed reason behind their success in
EFL learning. All of the participants thought that their parents are helpful for
them. The statement is consistent with the results of Farid and Iqbal’s study
(2012) that parents’ influence is one of the prime causes of the success of
Pakistani students. They explained how important their family was in their life.
Similarly, this study found that parents have an important role for the language
learners, which is mostly a motivator.
16

Harmer (2007), as cited in Mali (2015, p. 9) argued that students’
motivation can be affected by people who are close to them. When they are at the
lowest point, they are tired of the difficulties in doing the project; they can share it
with and ask for a solution to their parents. Besides, their parents would do other
things like getting them into an English course when they were in school like
Samuel’s parents who asked him to take an English course when he was an
elementary school student. It makes them more familiar with English and also it
benefits their performance in this college. After taking an English course, his
English skills were improved. He could speak English more fluent.

Friends’ Support
Besides parents, friends also motivated them when they were tired and felt
unworthy. Three of the participants mentioned that their friends often cheered
them up and gave them support when their college life seemed difficult. They
often shared their experiences, and then their friends would help them to
overcome their problems. Some of their friends also assisted them in studying
some difficult materials.
Refer back to the Excerpt 9, Petrus said that beside parents, he also got help
from their friends. His friends gave them solutions to overcome his problems in
real life and education things. They helped each other so they did not always do
things individually.
Excerpt 13
My friends always give me support. Friends can be one of the factors,
friends outside the campus or friends whom you hang out with. Sometimes,
I share my experience with them when my college life seemed hard at that
17

time. They cheered me up and told
(Samuel/interview/translated by the researcher)

me

not

to

give

up.

Excerpt 14
I often ask my friends about technical things like how much naysayer that
we have to put in academic writing, also the paper format. I rarely ask about
the theoretical things like grammar. Sometimes, I ask them for some
suggestions if the answers are right or wrong. Some of them help me a lot.
(Maria/interview/translated by the researcher)
Three of the participants mentioned friends’ influence as the cause of their
success. This confirms with Harmer’s (2007). He mentioned that people who are
close to them can be great influence to students’ attitudes of language learning. He
added, “The attitude of the students’ peers is also crucial.” (p. 99) Hence, he
added some information that the more enthusiastic the peers to learn English, the
more motivated the students to learn the subject. The existence of participants’
friends is beneficial for them. Their friends could help them explaining some
difficult materials if they did not understand. Also, the participants need support
and motivation from their friends if they are demotivated.

Lecturers’ Performance
Three of them mentioned that lecturers were one of the factors behind their
success. Lecturers have their styles in teaching the students. The participants
mentioned that lecturers in FLA helped and motivated them to keep learning.
Students often asked about materials or other things related to them, and they
were very welcomed. Furthermore, they said most FLA lecturers were friendly
with their students. It made the students more excited to learn English.
Excerpt 15
18

Lecturers. They have their own teaching styles. Some of them are easier to
understand. They motivate us to be better. But, some of them have different
teaching styles, which do not suit me. But, I mean in a way if they influence
me, I have to push myself better to do better. However they teach, I have to
still do my best. If I do not like their teaching style, for example it burdens
me, even though it makes me demotivated, it likes a cycle. It makes me to
do better.
I like lecturers who are relaxed but they teach the materials clearly,
structured
and
do
not
have
much
pressure
in
class.
(Samuel/interview/translated by the researcher)
Excerpt 16
Lecturers motivate me indirectly. I feel more relaxed when I am talking with
them. So, I am happy with my teaching and learning activities. We have
known each other, so it is less pressure to talk and ask them something. It
does not have to be that formal, but still with the good etiquette.
I like lecturers who can push and motivate their students to learn, keep up
with what materials are going to be taught, who are disciplined with the
syllabus and the materials, but also welcome any question from their
students or ask them to explain something. (Naomi/interview/translated by
the researcher)
Excerpt 17
From lecturers. Some of them do not care enough about the students; they
cannot motivate their students to study. Perhaps, if the students get bad
score, they do not want to approach each student to improve their grade. It
will affect the students’ motivation.
I often got some lecturers who ignore the students. There was one lecturer
from TEYL class. She will give an additional assignment as an additional
point to increase their grade for the students who get low grade. (Student
4/questionnaire/translated by the researcher)

The role of the lecturers or teachers in a classroom is very important
because it affects the teaching and learning process. This finding is in line with the
result of Thang, Gobel, Nor and Suppiah’s study (2011). In that study, the two
most endorsed attributions of success is interest in getting a good grade (5.17 out
of 6-point Likert scale) and teachers’ influence (4.63). The teacher’s influence is
considered the two most endorsed attributions of success. Furthermore, in Mori,
Gobel, Thepsiri, and Pojanapunya’s study (2010), teacher’s influence is the
19

second most endorsed success attribution for the Thai students after interest in
grades.
Besides teaching, good and adoring relationship should be built by the
teacher in motivating the students. (Astuti, 2013 as cited in Mali, 2015).
Additionally, Smith (2012) argued that pedagogy needed the educators’ thinking
and practice exploration to accompany and care about learners’ life learning.
Thus, education is not always about transferring knowledge to the students.

Classroom Environment
The research findings showed that the environment of the classroom is one
of the factors that influenced the success of the learning process. If the atmosphere
supports the learning process which is quiet enough, it will make the students
more focused on certain subjects. Here, two of the participants, Samuel and
Naomi mentioned the classroom environment and the university’s surrounding as
the attributions of success. One of them, Samuel, explained that if the atmosphere
was conducive and relaxed enough, they would be more focused on learning, as
can be seen in the following excerpts.
Excerpt 18
I think the classroom condition and the environment, and the peers also. For
me, I am more concentrated when I am listening, so when the class starts to
be crowded, it disturbs me. My concentration will be distracted when my
friends start to talk. Sometimes, I remember what my friends are talking
about, not the materials from the lecturers.
My Integrated Course and Grammar classes were quiet enough. Since the
third year, I got many classes which were very noisy, such as
Sociolinguistics. I could not absorb much material from the lecturers. I am
easily distracted when people start talking. (Samuel/interview/translated by
the researcher)
20

Samuel thought that a quite surrounding considered as his conducive
atmosphere. He was an auditory learner so he preferred a quite class. The reason
is because a quite class helped him to be more concentrated while listening to the
lecturers. Once the class was noisy, his concentration would be distracted. He
could not absorb materials well.
Next to Naomi’s response, she compared the university’s environment with
her friends’. She said the environment in her university is less pressured than in
her friends’. The surrounding is quite comfortable and cozy along with the
lecturers who were friendly to their students.

Excerpt 19
Here, the environment is very different from that in other universities. While
we are doing many tasks and projects, we still have time to join some
organizations in the faculty. We can improve our soft skills through joining
the organizations. Also, the lecturers are friendly with their students so we
will enjoy the teaching and learning process, less pressured than in other
universities. (Naomi/questionnaire/translated by the researcher)
From her responses above, the researcher interpreted that Naomi preferred
the environment which is less pressured. While she was busy with doing tasks or
projects, she could refresh her mind with joining some organizations. She also
likes the lecturers who are friendly with their students.
This attribution echoes the results of Thang et al’s study (2011), in which
classroom atmosphere was the seventh out of twelve most endorsed success
attributions. It can be concluded that classroom environment influences the

21

students’ motivation and effort to learn. If the environment is conducive, quiet and
less pressured, it will motivate and support students to learn maximally.

CONCLUSION
This study attempted to explore the attributions of male and female
successful language learners at FLA-UKSW. Based on the results, the researcher
found six main themes behind their success in EFL learning. Two of six themes
are from the participants themselves such as, their learning style and experience
on exposure to the language. The other four attributions are from outside, such as
their parents’ influence, lecturers’ performance, friends’ support, and the
classroom environment. From this study, it can be seen that there are at least these
six attributions that help students to become successful language learners.
Based on the results, the male and female attributions are quite similar. Both
male and female attributions were included in all of the six themes. The similarity
is their auditory learning style. They are good at listening. They absorb the
materials better when they are listening to the lecturers carefully.
There is no significant difference between the male and female attributions.
The female participants often take notes while they are listening to the lecturers.
Conversely, the male participants rarely take notes. They will take notes
occasionally when they are learning grammar. It is too difficult just by
remembering it in their mind.
For those who want to be successful, this study provides some experiences
of the participants that need to be learned. The readers can reflect on ways of how
22

they learn English. Having an experience that is related to improving English
skills may help students to be more fluent. Moreover, trying to speak English in
daily life with parents, friends, or even foreigners improve speaking ability better
than just receiving theories. The most important thing for students is they have to
find out their learning style. It gives more relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere when
learners like what they are doing. Students will have a bigger chance to become
successful language learners when they enjoy the learning process.
For parents, they have to be more active in monitoring their children’s study
progress. When their children seem tired and try to give up, they have to cheer
them up and offer solutions to the problems. A compliment is also a good trigger
for the students when they get an achievement of their good grade. It will increase
their excitement in EFL learning.
For teachers or lecturers, they have to more careful with their performance
in the classroom. They should take care of their students when they seem
demotivated. They should make their own creative ways to make the learning
process become enjoyable and fun, so the students will be more excited.
The Indonesian government should add more hours for students in junior
and senior high schools to learn English. The purpose is preparing the students for
their college. It will give benefits for the improvement of their English skills.
Through practicing and studying English more frequently, learners will become
more familiar and fluent in English. That experience will become the trigger for
their future college.

23

The study is only limited to a specific context which covers a small range.
Thus, for further research, the researcher suggests that a study be conducted in a
larger context to get more varied data and greater results.

24

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I want to express my gratefulness to my only Savior, Jesus
Christ. I could not go this far without His endless blessing. I could not thank
enough to my parents, Harry Setiawan and Lesty Daryanti, my grandparents,
Danny Soehendra and Shinta Suryaputra also my siblings, Devina June and
Wilhelm Jonathan for the unconditional love, caring, and encouragement since the
beginning of my college life until now. Without their continuous support, I would
not be able to complete this thesis.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude my thesis supervisor, Mr. Yustinus
Calvin Gai Mali, M. Hum for your support, guidance, patience and kindness over
this time. Also, to my thesis examiner, Mrs. Gita Hastuti, M.A., thank you for
your support and your time to evaluate my thesis. To my beloved team, Maria
Immaculata, Mika Setiyani, Atika Purwaningtyas, and Arya thank you for
standing tall as one, for supporting each other until we reach the final step of
college. Special thanks to my beloved participants, Laura Salvadora, Aurelia
Melinda, Joshua Branatha, and Ones Kurniawan for your willingness to help me
completing my thesis.
To my dear friends and my personal support, Intan Hayuningtyas, Aurelia
Melinda, Anggraini Shintya, Carolina Ika, Riana Devi, Ones Kurniawan, Edwin
Rudiyanto, Gabriela Agmassini, Winda Felicia, Vinka Aprilita, Selfi Tetelepta
and all of my friends that I could not mention one by one, thank you for sharing
experiences, making beautiful memories, also struggling together to finally reach
the happy ending of our college life.
25

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APPENDIX

Dear Respondents,
My name is Kezia Meidy. Recently, I am studying for my Bachelor
Degree in English Language Education Study Program of Universitas Kristen

Satya Wacana. Now, I am in the process of doing a research on Attributions of
Successful EFL Learners in an Indonesian Higher Education Context.
Accordingly, in this opportunity, I would like to ask your assistance by answering
the questions in this questionnaire. I use those questions in order to obtain
information concerning your perspectives on your attributions for the success in
learning EFL.
It will not affect your grad