Students` perceptions on the use of nicenet.org as teaching learning media in academic essay writing courses of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University.

STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE

OF NICENET.ORG AS TEACHING LEARNING MEDIA IN ACADEMIC ESSAY WRITING COURSES

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana PendidikanDegree

in English Language Education

By

Theofilus Ardentya Wusanamurti Student Number: 051214071

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

i

STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE

OF NICENET.ORG AS TEACHING LEARNING MEDIA IN ACADEMIC ESSAY WRITING COURSES

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana PendidikanDegree

in English Language Education

By

Theofilus Ardentya Wusanamurti Student Number: 051214071

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

vi ABSTRACT

Wusanamurti, Theofilus Ardentya. (2010). Students’ Perception on the Use of Nicenet.org as Teaching Learning Media in Academic Essay Writing Courses of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Entering the globalization era, people can not be separated from technology. Technology has begun to penetrate into every human’s aspect. Technology brings about a significant effect on education. Internet is one of information technology used in education as teaching learning media. One of the internet webs is Nicenet.org. It is a web allowing someone to make a virtual class. Nicenet.org starts being used by many lecturers of English Language Education Study Program (ELESP), Sanata Dharma University. Starting from the phenomenon which many lecturers use this education web, the writer tries to investigate the students’ perception on the use of Nicenet.org as teaching learning media. The media used by the lecturer influences the students’ perception, whereas, perception deals with the learning motivation affecting the students’ learning. As the result, perception is one of the key factors of the success of student’s learning.

To discover their perception, this study formulates two problems to be answered. First, what are the student’s perceptions on the use Nicenet.org as teaching learning media? Second, what are some possible suggestions to improve the implementation of Nicenet.org as teaching media?

The writer employed a survey research to solve the formulated problems. The writer collected the data by using two research instruments: questionnaire and interview. To gain the questionnaire data used as the main data, the writer distributed fifty seven questionnaires. The respondents came from the students of Academic Essay Writing courses of ELESP, Sanata Dharma University class A and D in the academic year 2008/2009. As the interview data, the writer interviewed four respondents and one lecturer. The interview data was employed to cross check the main data.

Based on the findings, the writer concludes that the students perceive Nicenet.org in the positive way. However, its implementation in the class is not well-implemented yet. Thus, to better the use of Nicenet.org, the writer provides the suggestions which are summarized from the students’ responses. The suggestions are: the lecturers should apply Nicenet.org effectively; the lecturers and the students should obey the class rule; Nicenet.org should be introduced intensively; and Nicenet.org should be applied not only in Academic Essay Writing class but also in other classes.

vii ABSTRAK

Wusanamurti, Theofilus Ardentya. (2010). Students’ Perception on the Use of Nicenet.org as Teaching Learning Media in Academic Essay Writing Course of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Memasuki era globalisasi, orang-orang tidak bisa dipisahkan dari tekhnologi. Tekhnologi telah merasuki tiap-tiap aspek kehidupan manusia. Hal ini sudah jelas bahwa tekhnologi membawa pengaruh terhadap dunia pendidikan. Internet adalah salah satu tekhnologi informasi yang digunakan dalam dunia sebagai media belajar pengajaran. Salah satu situs adalah Nicenet.org. Itu adalah situs yang memperbolehkan seseoarang untuk mencipatakan kelas maya. Nicenet.org mulai banyak digunakan oleh dosen-dosen di Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta. Bermula dari fenomena ini yaitu banyak dosen menggunakan web ini, penulis mencoba menelusuri persepsi siswa dalam menggunakan Nicenet.org. Media pembelejaran yang digunakan oleh dosen secara tidak langsung mempengaruhi persepsi tiap-tiap siswa, padahal, persepsi berhubungan erat dengan motivasi siswa yang mempengaruhi pencapaian siswa. Hasilnya, persepsi adalah salah satu kunci sukses pembelajaran siswa.

Untuk mengetahui persepsi mereka, studi ini mengemukakan dua masalah untuk dijawab. Pertama, bagaimana persepsi siswa-siswa terhadap penggunaan Nicenet.org sebagai media belajar mengajar? Kedua, apakah masukan untuk meningkatkan penerapan Nicenet.org sebagai media belajar mengajar?

Penulis menggunakan sebuah penelitian survey untuk menjawab masalah yang telah dikemukakan. Penulis mengumpulkan data menggunakan dua instrumen yaitu questionnaire dan wawancara. Untuk memperoleh data questionnaire yang digunakan sebagai data utama, penulis menyebarkan lima puluh tujuh questionnaire. Responden berasal dari mahasiswa A dan D mata kuliah Academic Essay Writingdi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma tahun ajaran 2008/2009. Sebagai data wawancara, penulis mewawancarai empat orang siswa dan seorang dosen. Data wawancara digunakan untuk memeriksa silang data utama.

Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, penulis menganggap bahwa siswa-siswa melihat Nicenet.org sebagai media pembelajaran yang berguna, memotivasi, dan menarik. Namun, penerapannya belum dimaksimalkan. Oleh karena itu, untuk meningkatkan penggunaan Nicenet.org, penulis memberikan beberapa masukan yang penulis rangkum dari jawaban-jawaban siswa, yaitu: dosen seharusnya menerapkan secara efektif, dosen dan siswa seharusnya mematuhi aturan yang sudah disepakati, Nicenet.org harus lebih diperkenalkan, dan Nicenet.org seharusnya digunakan di kelas-kelas lainnya, tidak hanya di kelas Academic Essay Writing.

viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Having written this part means that the mission in finishing my thesis had been accomplished. In accomplishing the mission, I have got a lot of guidance coming from my family, my colleagues, my friends, and my lecturers. However, the biggest gratitude goes to the most guiding person,Jesus Christ. Even though, sometimes, I forget to praise Him, He always rains me with endless blessings and guidance.

I would like to thank my sponsor, Dr. Retno Muljani, M.Pd., for her patience in correcting my thesis from a manuscript to a well published scientific literary work, her ideas in enriching my knowledge, and her comments and criticisms in building my thesis. I would like to address my gratitude to Hanandyo Darjito, S.Pd., M.Hum. for his favor to allow me to interrupt his teaching activity and his suggestions in developing my thesis. I also thank the students of Academic Essay Writing class A and D for being my respondents and allowing me to disturb their valuable time.

I also thank Sano, Astri, Hedwig, and Risma for their time to be my ‘victims’ in the interviews section. Their opinions and suggestions contribute much to my thesis and to the development of the teaching learning activity of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University.

I dedicate this scientific literary work to my parents,Bernardus Murhadi and Theresia Sri Sumarwanti. I thank my brother and sisters, Herman Yosef Aditya Danamurti, Monica Anitya Darumurti, and Reni Rosalina for their care and supports. I am deeply grateful forFelisitas Kanyamurti for her patience,

ix

supports and inspiring ideas. I also thank her family for asking when I finish my thesis.

To all my friends of English Language Education Study Program batch 05, Daniel, Adit, Wahyu Widiasih (for lending me a nice black tuxedo), Tunjung, Datia, Rimas, and Siska, I thank for being my partners in finishing my study. For the play performance group of Chickencoops Chinamen, The Sunbright and The Elite English Coursemembers, I appreciate your helps, laugh, and madness. I also owe Afan andde’Ratri for the SPSS short-course. I also thank the staffs of PBI’s secretariat,MbakDanik andMbakTari, for serving the best.

Finally, I would like to thank all people who could not be mentioned one by one in completing and accomplishing this thesis.

Sincerely,

x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE……… APPROVAL PAGES……… STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………..

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS………... ABSTRACT………...

ABSTRAK... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………... TABLE OF CONTENTS………. LIST OF APPENDICES……….. LIST OF TABLES……… LIST OF FIGURES……….. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION………...

A. Background of the Study……….. B. Problem Formulation……… C. Problem Limitation………... D. Objectives of the Study……… E. Benefits of the Study……… F. Definition of Terms………..

CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW………. A. Theoretical Description……….

1. Perception………. 2. Technology in Education………. 3. Teaching Learning Media………. 4. Internet in Language Teaching ……… 5. Writing Proficiency………... B. Theoretical Framework……….

i ii iv v vi vii viii x xii xiii xiv 1 1 4 5 5 6 8 10 10 11 17 18 22 25 27

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CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY……… A. Research Method………... B. Research Respondents……… C. Research Instruments……….

1. Questionnaire……….. 2. Interview………. D. Data Gathering Techniques……… E. Data Analysis Techniques……….. F. Research Procedure………

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………..……… A. Questionnaire Data………. B. Interview Data……… C. Discussion………..

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS……….. A. Conclusions……… B. Suggestions……… REFERENCES………. APPENDICES………... 30 30 31 33 33 36 38 39 42 43 43 50 53 60 60 61 63 66

xii

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1 Permission Letter……… APPENDIX 2 Questionnaire………. APPENDIX 3 Interview……… APPENDIX 4 Questionnaire Data………. APPENDIX 5 Interview Result……….

66 67 70 71 74

xiii LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 3.1 The Questionnaire Blue Print……….. TABLE 3.2 The Example of the Question on Past Experience……….. TABLE 3.3 The Examples of the Question on Perception………... TABLE 3.4 The Examples of the Question on Suggestion……….. TABLE 3.5 The Example of the Interview Guide……… TABLE 3.6 The Summary of the Steps………. TABLE 4.1 The Distribution of the Responses………. TABLE 4.2 The Responses Classification……….

34 35 36 36 38 41 44 49

xiv

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 2.1 Perceptual Process………. FIGURE 3.1 The Percentage Formula……… FIGURE 3.2 The Mean Formula……… FIGURE 4.1 The Chart of Responses Classification……….

13 39 40 49

1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the writer presents the background why the writer is interested in discovering the student’s perception on the use of Nicenet.org as a teaching learning media. The writer divides this chapter into six parts: background of the study, problem limitation, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms.

A. Background of the Study

Technology in language teaching is not new. Indeed, technology has been around in language teaching for decades (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007:7). Tape recorders, language laboratories, and video have been used since 1960’s. However, the invention of computer has changed the map of teaching learning media. The use of computer in class leads to the more attractive and mobile activity.

The computer technology development has grown swiftly. As the result, it penetrates into human living aspects: economic, politic, military, and also education. Goodlad, Toole, and Tyler (1966:5) say that “acceptance of the high-speed digital computer, unlike that of many other great technical achievements, has been remarkably favorable in business, industry, science, and especially in national defense.” Therefore, to fulfill the human needs of computer, supporting facilities are invented. Experts are competing to invent more beneficial and

high-effective facilities. One of them is internet. Internet connects people around the world by a click. It offers opportunities for communication to people who are geographically separated.

Internet brings massive influences into human life. Consequently, the internet development brings people’s behavior shifting. Goodlad et al. (1966: 3) support that the electronic computer, mainstay of an advancing information technology, is significantly altering a wide range of human affairs. In addition, it also brings some significant impacts on the education development. According to Goodlad et al. (1966:4), the computer is the heart of electronic data processing which, in turn, now is viewed by our most insightful educational leaders as a necessary tool in advancing theory, research, and practice in education.

Unlimited information can be attained in the internet. Thus, it carries great potential for educational use, specifically second and foreign language education. Internet provides variety for the teachers to conduct a class. By using internet, teachers have opportunity to develop their pupils’ skills. Wolf (2003) clarifies that with a variety of learning tools, students can understand their experiences through verbal, written, and/or graphical means. As a result, many more students become engaged in the learning process.

According to Dudeney and Hockly (2007:7), learners are growing up with technology, and it is a natural and integrated part in their lives. Using interesting and creative media to deliver the material will increase student’s motivation to learn and to achieve student’s expectation. According to Vernon (1971:178), when an observer perceives something because he is interested in such things, it is

implied that he is knowledgeable about them, and also he is eager to perceive and learn more about them.

The internet facility as teaching learning media is gradually implemented by many education institutions. To answer the global demands on the technology development in education and to compete in the globalization era, Sanata Dharma University has completed the classes with modern facilities – LCD and free internet connection – that support the use of internet as teaching learning media.

This study is to discover Academic Essay Writing of English Language Education Study Program (ELEPS) students’ perception toward the use of an educational web named Nicenet.org. It is a web that allows the lecturers to make a virtual class. Nicenet.org is free web-based learning environment for classrooms, distance learning programs and collaborative academic projects.

In Sanata Dharma University, especially ELEPS, this web-education facility is trying to be introduced by some lecturers. The lecturers apply it to collect the assignment, give comment on the students work, or deliver a new material. Several classes start using this web to be a teaching learning media. Academic Essay Writing course is one of them.

As a result, implementing Nicenet.org may bring a new paradigm of teaching learning media used in the class. A new teaching learning media alters students’ perception about media used by the lecturer. Since perception is one of the success factors in students’ pace in learning, their perceptions become important to be researched. If the students perceive something in a positive way,

they will be motivated in learning. On the contrary, if the students perceive it negatively, they will feel distracted in the class activity. By having positive perception toward the use of Nicenet.org, hopefully, the students are expected to be able to improve their English proficiency, especially writing skill. Furthermore, since perception influences someone’s behavior, it also affects the students’ attitude toward Nicenet.org use.

Starting from this phenomenon of Nicenet.org development, the writer conducts the research about it. Students’ perception on the use of Nicenet.org will be explored in this study. The aim of this study is to discover how the Academic Essay Writing class A and D students perceive towards a media implemented by the lecturer and to obtain some possible suggestions in order to increase the implementation of Nicenet.org.

The finding of this study can be a great reflection of using Nicenet.org to conduct the class, particularly in Academic Essay Writing class A and D. Moreover, it is intended to develop the implementation of using Nicenet.org to improve the students’ English proficiency, especially writing proficiency.

B. Problem Formulation

Considering the background previously stated, the writer proposes two problems to address in this study as follows:

1. What are the student’s perceptions on the use Nicenet.org as teaching learning media?

2. What are some possible suggestions to improve the implementation of Nicenet.org as teaching media?

C. Problem Limitation

This study is limited to discuss the student’s perception about the use of Nicenet.org web in Academic Essay Writing courses in ELESP of Sanata Dharma University. The writer focuses on researching students’ personal perception and experiences in learning writing skills by using Nicenet.org and their possible suggestions to develop the Nicenet.org usage. A survey only uses a group of respondents namely the students of Academic Essay Writing class A and D in the academic year 2008/2009.

There are several classes which are using Nicenet.org as media. However, the writer prefers to conduct the research in Academic Essay Writing classes. The research is conducted ELESP, Sanata Dharma University, because the study’s result is intended for the sake of teaching learning media development of ELESP. The writer will not compare with the other places or universities since every university has different policies toward the use of internet in campus.

D. Objectives of the Study

Considering the formulation of the problems, the writer finds that there are two objectives to be obtained. They are stated as follows:

1. To understand the students’ perception and experiences on the use of internet especially Nicenet.org web as teaching learning media. By using a different

media to teach, the learners will have their own perceptions. The positive perception will bring a good attitude to the students and vice versa.

2. To provide suggestions to Sanata Dharma University, especially English Language Education Study Program or ELESP, about the development of the teaching learning media to teach more effectively. By using more appropriate media, the teachers can be able to help the students understand the lesson better.

E. Benefits of the Study

There are some benefits that can be obtained from this study. The benefits are for students, lecturers, future researchers who are interested in teaching learning media, and Sanata Dharma University, especially ELESP. To clarify the benefits of each element, the writer explains more below.

1. Students

The finding of this study is showing how Academic Essay Writing students perceive Nicenet.org as teaching media. Moreover, it also reveals how perception on the use of media can bring the impacts on the improvement of writing skills. By being introduced to Nicenet.org, the students will engage to a new teaching learning media so that they can try to apply it. Students who have a good perception on Nicenet.org will have a high motivation to learn. It can help the students to reach a maximum achievement in improving writing skill.

2. Lecturers

Media is one key of the success factors in teaching learning activity. In order to have a good material delivery, a teacher should have an appropriate media for the students. Selecting an appropriate media to the students is essential. This result of study describes the perception on the use of Nicenet.org. From the result, it can be illustrated that if the students perceive positively, the students’ achievement will increase. This study provides suggestions to the lecturer’s media selection to teach. The lecturer can make a trial of using a new media so that the students will not be bored. Hopefully, the learning objective expected by the lecture can be attained by implementing Nicenet.org.

3. Future Researchers

For the future researchers who are interested in this topic, this study can be a milestone for the next research. This study is hoped to be helpful for the further discussion about the use of Nicenet.org as teaching learning media. Moreover, this study can be an inspiration for next researchers concerning this area of study. The next research can explore more on the topics such as the implementation of Nicenet.org, its appropriate methods, or its material design.

4. Sanata Dharma University

For Sanata Dharma University, especially English Language Education Study Program, this study can provide suggestions to develop a new learning teaching media. If the students’ perceptions tend to be positive, Nicenet.org can be

implemented not only in writing course but also in every course with an adjusted way.

F. Definition of Terms

In order to make a better understanding and to avoid misconception during the study, the following terms will represent some definitions which are used in this study.

1. Perception

According to Crow and Crow (1972: 93), perception is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory data according to the results of previous experiences. The processes of perception routinely alter what someone sees. They add that individual’s feeling influences her/his perception. Just one object can rise to multiple percepts.

Thus, according to their theory, in this study, the writer defines perception as the student’s feelings and experiences in the use of Nicenet.org.

2. Teaching Learning Media

Media is substance, surroundings, in which something exists or through which something moves. According to Brown, Lewis, and Harcleroad (1977: 2), media are regarded as central elements in the approach to systematic instruction. A good media should be able to send the lecturers’ instructions to their pupils and facilitate the students to get the given information. As the result of applying an appropriate media to deliver material, the students are expected to achieve better understanding on the material.

3. Internet in Language Teaching

Computer has been used in education scope since decades. The use of computer in education is called Computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Based on Levy (1997: 1), CALL is defined as ‘the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning’. The term CALL is used to describe any kind of language learning activity that makes use of computers. It has been implemented in the education scope, especially language teaching as well. The invention of Internet has changed the teaching learning activity. According to Newby, Lehman, Russell, and Stepich (2000:190), Internet is also referred to as the “Net,” the “Information Superhighway,” and “cyberspace.”

One of the educational webs is Nicenet.org. It is a sophisticated web, found in 1995, a communication tool that brings World-Wide-Web based conferencing, personal messaging, document sharing. In Academic Essay Writing classes A and D, Nicenet.org is implemented to comment the students’ works, give feedback, and deliver new materials.

4. Academic Essay Writing (KPE 357)

Academic Essay Writing course is one of the compulsory courses of English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. Based on Panduan Akademik 2007, the objective of Academic Essay writing is, on completing the course, the students are able to analyze and write short essays on language, language education, and literature.

10 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the discussion about the theories applied in this study. The writer divides this chapter into two parts: theoretical description and theoretical framework. In the theoretical description, the writer reviews on perception, technology in education, teaching learning media, internet in language teaching and writing proficiency. The theoretical framework contains the contributions of the specific theories which are employed in this study to address the problems.

A. Theoretical Description

Since this study is aimed to discover the students’ perception on the use of Nicenet.org as a teaching learning media, firstly, the writer discusses perception. The discussion about perception deals with the definition of perception by some experts, the perceptual process, and the influences in perceptual process. Secondly, the writer discusses technology in education. The writer drives a point about the use of technology in education. Moreover, the writer explains about its definition and its importance in the education world. Thirdly, the writer provides an explanation of teaching learning media. Fourthly, the writer clarifies internet in language teaching. Writing proficiency is the last. The further explanation will be clarified in the next page.

1. Perception

Human beings are equipped with several sense organs. Those organs are used to receive information from their surrounding. For instance, ears are to get information by hearing and nose is to get information by smelling. Each organ has specific function to send the received information to the brain. The information will be collected in the brain. By having the information, human can have a perception on the given situation.

Perception is the oldest topic discussed by psychologists. Research about perception has been developed since hundreds years ago. Researching perception becomes important since perception is a foundation underlining others disciplines. Many psychologists and scientists have been trying to define what perception is and research about it for hundreds years ago.

Universally, perception is described as the process of attaining awareness to understanding of sensory information. Based on Gibson, Ivancevich, and Donnely (1985: 60), perception is the cognitive process by which an individual gives meaning to the environment. The meaning given to the surrounding is various. Each individual has different meaning on the same environment. Because each person gives his or her own meaning toward the stimuli, he or she will ‘see’ what the others do not ‘see’. Everyone has different thought to the same thing.

According to Burner as cited by Shaw and Costanzo (1982: 186), perception is a process of categorization. The organism is stimulated by some appropriate input (external object, event, etc.) and responds to it by relating it a category of objects or events. Burner adds perception is not merely the passive

perception and automatic interpretation of stimuli, but rather it is an active process in which the incoming data are selectively related to the cognitive structure.

Altman, Valenzi, and Hodgetts (1985: 85) state that perception is the way stimuli are selected and grouped by a person so that they can be meaningfully interpreted. In other word, perception is a person’s view of reality.

Crow and Crow (1972: 93) state that a percept can be regarded as a meaningful sensation. Perception includes not only the sensitization of the sensory nerve but also the immediate associative mental processes that follow. Crow and Crow (1972:95) add that perception is influenced by an individual’s feelings and attitudes at the time of the perception. For example, if someone is hungry, the smell of frying fish will be pleasant, but if someone is full, it becomes an annoying thing. According to Vernon (1962: 32), perception is never instantaneous. It means that the forming of perception takes time. If people see one object for a very short time, people can not identify what it is.

Huffman, Vernoy, and Vernoy (1996: 97) describe that perception refers to the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory data into useful mental representation of the world. When people look something new, there will be much information coming up in their mind but only selected information will be processed further.

According to Huffman et al. (1996:98), perception consists of three basic processes: selection, organization, and interpretation of incoming sensation. It is supported by Gibson et al. (1985:61) say that perception involves receiving the

stimuli, organizing the stimuli, and translating or interpreting the organized stimuli so as to influence behavior and form attitudes.

Figure 2.1 Perceptual Process

The first step in perceptual process is selection. We choose the stimuli to which we will pay attention. Our brain arranges which information is more important and discards the rest of the given information. For example, when someone is joining a noisy class when the teacher is explaining and the others are yelling, she or he has power to select paying attention to the teacher or to the yelling groups. However, she or he has threshold to choose in what situation she or he wants to belong; paying attention to the teacher or being disturbed by the noise. This process is called selective attention.

Based on Huffman et al. (2000:108), the selection of the stimuli is influenced by three factors; physiological factors, stimulus factors, and psychological factors.

1. Physiological factors

One of the major physiological factors in selection is the presence of the specialized cells in the brain called feature detections (or feature analyzers) that respond only to certain sensory information. Another physiological factor is habituation. It is the tendency to ignore environmental factors to remain constant.

The brain seems ‘prewired’ to pay more attention to changes in the environment than to the stimuli that remain constant.

2. Stimulus factors

When given a wide variety of stimuli to choose from, we automatically select the stimuli that are intense, novel, moving, contrasting, and repetitious. The more intense, novel, moving, contrasting or repetitious the stimuli are, the bigger its chance to be selected. For example, the advertisements agent puts the ads more one time in one time break.

3. Psychological factors

Motivation and personal needs give effects on this factor. What you choose to perceive is determined largely by your current level of satisfaction or deprivation. Every student has different motivation toward a course. It makes them have different perception.

The second process is organization. After selecting the coming information, human organize it into patterns and principles that will help us to understand the incoming information. It means that the sensory message is arranged so as to become meaningful. Altman et al. (1985:89) state that the central function of organization process is to reduce initially complex information into simpler categories. Huffman et al. say that sensory data is organized according to form, perceptual constancies, depth, and color.

The form perception is organizing stimuli into patterns or shapes. The form perception is derived from figure and ground, proximity, continuity and closure.

The perceptual constancy is stabilizing a changing world. It means that the tendency for the environment to be perceived as remaining the same even with changes in sensory input.

Depth perception is seeing the world as three dimensional. It is the ability to accurately estimate the distance of perceived objects and thereby perceive the world in three dimensions. It is possible to judge the distance of object with nearly all senses. Such color perception seems to be inborn. So, practically from the moment of birth, people are able to see a world of greens and oranges, blues and reds, yellow and purples.

The final process is interpretation. After selecting and organizing the information, the brain will use the patterns and the principles to make judgments about the world. Someone’s interpretation is influenced by many factors. They are life experiences, perceptual expectations, cultural factors, personal motivations, and frame of reference.

Perception can be influenced by many factors. Those factors make someone’s perception different among others.

The factors influencing someone’s perception (Altman et al., 1985:86): 1. Selection of stimuli

Of all stimuli with which we are surrounded, we focus on only small number. It is the reason why people perceive thing differently- each person selects specific cues and filters, or screens, out the others. It means that a person has an awareness to choose the coming stimuli. If the students are in a classroom, they have choice to keep on paying attention to the teacher’s explanation or to be

disturbed by the noisy. However, everybody has different threshold. There is a student which can be disturbed easily or vice versa. Someone’s threshold affects the perception getting by him/her.

2. Organization of stimuli

The perceptual organization, then, helps us categorize the input. As stated before, the central function of the categorization process is to reduce initially complex information into simpler categories.

3. The situation

A person’s familiarity with, or expectations about, a situation, as well as his or her past experience, affects what that person perceives. Perceiving a situation accurately is also related to how well a person adjusts his behavior to the situations. When the students are joining a class using Nicenet.org, they adapt the situation in present situation. If they feel that the class is interesting, they will have positive perception toward the situation.

4. Self-concept

It is the way we feel about and perceive ourselves is known as our self-concept. This self concept is important because your mental picture of yourself determines much of what you perceive and do. Based on Combs, Aspy, Brown, Clute, and Hicks (1979:77), self concept is meant all those aspects of the perceptual field to which we refer when we say “I” or “me”. Moreover, it is the organization of perceptions about self which seems to the individual to be who he is. People tend to perceive what is congruent with their already existing concept of self.

2. Technology in Education

Now, learning process can not be limited. The competition of working world makes someone keep enriching and digging out the knowledge. Moreover, the demand of high human resources quality adds the need of tools that can fulfill their expectation. To answer that demand, technology has to be involved in learning process development. In teaching learning, technology used in education is not new. Yet, the use of technology in education is getting interesting, sophisticated and mobile. Therefore, technology in education keeps improving to get the most beneficial and effective in answering the world’s demand.

Based on Galbraith as cited by Newby et al. (2000: 9), technology is defined as the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks. It means that technology becomes a bridge between the theoretical knowledge and the real world. Technology allows theory to solve the practical problem faced by people.

Connecting to the technology’s meaning, instructional technology can be considered as applying scientific knowledge about human learning to the practical tasks and those who are teaching and learning. On other word, instructional technology is means of connecting the teacher, the instructional experience, and learners in ways that enhance learning. Instructional technology is used to increase learning effectiveness. Roblyer and Edwards (2000: 6) define educational technology as a combination of the processes and tools involved in addressing educational needs and problems.

Recently, the education needs tend to be more global. It means that there is no limitation hindering someone to learn. Furthermore, the limit of time and distance can not be an obstacle to gain knowledge.

Based on Roblyer and Edwards (2000: 12), technology has an important role to play in achieving this goal. They propose some reasons why education scope needs technology. However, the writer underlines their reason toward students’ motivation.

First reason is gaining learners’ attention. The visual and interactive features of many technology resources seem to help focus students’ attention and encourage them to spend more time on learning tasks.

Second reason is engaging the learner through production work. Students seem to like the activities because they promote creativity, self-expression, and feelings of self-efficacy and result in professional-looking products they can view with pride.

Third reason is increasing perceptions of control. When students perceive themselves as in control of their learning, the result has been called intrinsic motivation, or being motivated by the awareness that they are learning.

3. Teaching Learning Media

People communicate everyday and everywhere. When people send and receive information by any means, they communicate. Therefore, communication is often defined as the sending and receiving of message. To communicate well, people need several elements: sender, transmitter, and receiver. A communication

happens when the sender’s message is received by the receiver. Thus, sending information needs a transmitter named medium.

The term of medium (media in plural) is often defined as any device that brings information from the source to the destination. Heinich, Russell, and Molenda (1982:8) define that media refer to anything that carries information between a source and a receiver. Newby et al. (2000: 16) say that when media carry the messages with an instructional purpose, they are considered as instructional media. They add that instructional media are a means by which information can be delivered to a learner.

Schramm (1977: 16) clarifies that teaching learning media is divided into two: big media and small media. The big media means the complex, expensive media like television, sound films, and computer assisted instruction. By the little media, he means that the simpler ones. Schramm adds that teachers themselves believe multimedia instruction is more effective than a single medium. Referring to Schramm, the writer classifies Nicenet.org as a big media. To access Nicenet.org, teacher must be facilitated by internet connection and a set of computer.

Media are regarded as central elements in the approach to systematic instruction. Brown et al. (1977: 2) state that creative uses of the various media will increase the probability that your students will learn more, retain better what they learn, and improve their performance of the skills they are expected to develop.

Rowntree (1982:168) proposes six functions of media in teaching learning activity: engage the student’s motivation, recall earlier learning, provide new learning stimuli, activate the student’s response, give speedy feedback, and encourage appropriate practice.

The first function is to engage the student’s motivation. The student must be persuaded to involve himself in the learning. The necessary motivation must come from within him, though it may be stimulated, activated and encouraged b others. The student is motivated when he identifies with the objectives to which his learning leads, or when he enjoys the related activities as ends in themselves. Motivation can perhaps be engaged most flexibility by human interaction media. But motivation should be kept in view throughout the learning experience and increased from time to time.

The second is to recall earlier learning. Reminding the student of what he has already learned may well be part of engaging his motivation. Certainly he may need at least a review of the main ideas before he begins on new learning. Again whatever media used, such reviewing, and maybe testing and remedial teaching also, may need to be done not just at the beginning but also perhaps during any lengthy sequence of learning.

The third is to provide new learning stimuli. The media must provide the student with a meaningful message, explain things from his point of view, emphasize the vital issues, and so on. This function is fulfilled depends largely on what the student is called upon to do. It is not enough to let the ‘message’ wash over him – somehow he must respond to it.

The fourth is to activate the student’s response. If the learning is to mean anything to the students, and if he is to make it his own, he must be led to respond it – to be an active producer and user rather than a passive recipient of knowledge. So the media must provoke him into the appropriate activity. Essentially, the media must enable the student to shape and use the ideas being developed in the learning situation.

The fifth is to give speedy feedback. The media must provide comment on the students’ response. Otherwise the student will have no spur to modify his performance or improve. If teachers can quickly tell the student that his response is correct or reasonable, he is reinforced or rewarded. Feedback can be provided very speedily and flexibility by human interactions. In lectures, both feedback and interaction are normally space because of infrequency of student response.

The sixth is to encourage appropriate practice. The media must enable a student to make his response not just once but many times. The media should enable the student to try out his skill or understanding in a variety of contexts and preferably allow for him to use it in reaching the next level of proficiency.

Teaching learning media is used to improve teachers teaching techniques. A successful learning depends on the successful media used by the teacher. A research shows that various forms of media and their respective selection and utilization directly impact what learners perceive and how they retain and recall information (Newby et al., 2000:16).

To achieve the learning objectives, a teacher should take into consideration of media selection. According to Dick and Carey, as cited by Sadiman et al.

(1986: 86), besides addressing the learning objectives, there are four factors to be considered.

Pertama adalah ketersediaan sumber setempat. Kedua adalah dana, tenaga, dan fasilitasnya untuk membeli atau memproduksi. Ketiga adalah faktor yang menyangkut keluwesan, kepraktisan, dan ketahanan media. Faktor yang terahkir adalah efektivitas biaya dalam waktu yang lama.

The first is availability of local source. The second is fund, power, and facility to buy or produce the media. The third is the factors dealing with flexibility, practicality, and endurance of the media. The last factor is cost-effectiveness in a long period.

Grounded on those factors as Dick and Carey stated, Nicenet.org has fulfilled those requirements to be selected as media. Because of the availability of internet connection, accessing Nicenet.org is not difficult. Sanata Dharma University has facilitated students with the free internet connection. Moreover, internet is not an exclusive facility recently. Everyone can be in internet line for free.

4. Internet in Language Teaching

Teaching using internet is well known widely called CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning). Based on Levy (1997: 1), CALL is defined as ‘the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning’. He adds that CALL materials share many of the characteristics of non-CALL materials. Like all language learning materials, non-CALL materials can be authentic or pedagogic. It was developed and implemented in the 70’s. A teacher is able to conduct a class using internet by collecting the tasks or receiving some

information. Becoming communication media, internet provides much information for the teachers and also the students themselves. Internet can be used for various types of teaching activities, including collaborative assignments, student research and student managed publishing of their work. Because of the development of the teaching learning system that involve internet on it, a teacher is demanded to be able to use this facility (Warschuer, 1996).

The writer discusses internet, especially a web named Nicenet.org, because this study is dealing with the use of Nicenet.org. Since Internet consists of thousand of connected computer networks around the world, it gives people much information by one click. Internet allows the users to communicate among people around the world. Based on Newby et al. (2000:190), the internet is also referred to as the “Net,” the “Information Superhighway,” and “cyberspace.” Robyler and Edwards (2000: 208) add that the internet is called the ultimate network or the “mother of all networks.”

Robyler and Edwards (2000: 209) a major benefit of internet is the comprehensive nature of its information and services. Once connected, teachers and students can use Internet to exchange the messages and files among themselves and with other people around the world. They add that the other characteristics of internet are widely available, easy to use, and highly visual and graphic.

Recently, learning can not be separated by time, distance, and cost. Considering that demand, the experts in instructional technology invented an education web named Nicenet.org. Kleiner (1998) explains that Nicenet.org,

founded in 1995, is an organization of internet professionals who donate their time to provide services for the Internet community. One of Nicenet.org's primary goals is bringing communication tools and resources which are previously available only to those with large sums of money to the education community. It is free web-based learning environment for classrooms, distance learning programs and collaborative academic projects.

The Web-based learning atmosphere allows more effective interaction between the students and instructor. Nicenet.org also gives us features that make the learning teaching more efficient and flexible.

In the language teaching, the use of internet brings the impacts on the students’ language skills. The skills are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The last skills will be explored in this study since this study is aimed to know the students’ perception on the use of Nicenet.org in Academic Essay Writing classes. According to Roblyer and Edwards (2000: 243), the capability of communicating via computer with other students has provided unexpectedly powerful support for language arts and English activities. Students frequently are motivated to write well. For example, they communicate more clearly and use better spelling and grammar when they write for audiences at other sites.

Moreover, according to Johnson as cited by Levy (1997: 208), she concluded that from her survey, the use of a computer tool as a tool to accomplish functional tasks has far greater potential for second language learning than traditional or even communicative CALL. From her survey, it indicates that the

use of computers in the class affects positively toward the teaching learning activity.

5. Writing Proficiency

Writing is one of human’s basic language skills. Moreover, according to Zimmerman and Rodrigues (1992: 3-4), writing is a system of communication. It means that writing is means to deliver the message and information to others. Writing is much more than letters put in meaningful sentences. By writing, someone can convey their feeling, emotion, and thought in form of letters. Writing is way of thinking, way of learning, and way of sharing ideas with others. Weisman (1980: 3) adds that writing gave us the ability to record and communicate our experiences and knowledge.

Everybody can write. Otherwise, only small part of people is able to write well. According to Zimmerman and Rodrigues (1992: 8), good writing is writing that is appropriate to the specific writing situation for which it was produced. Furthermore, they define good writing as writing that is appropriate for the audience and purpose of a specific writing situation. Resting on their definition, Academic Essay Writing can be defined as writing academically. Forms of writing are various. Therefore, it uses formal style. The content, organization, sentence structure, and word choice must be appropriate used in academic writing.

In writing a good academic paper, there are several steps to be followed. According to Roth (1986: 7), there are five steps explained on the next page.

1. Choosing the topic

Choosing the right topic has resulted in more good papers than any probably any other single element in preparing a research paper.

2. Collecting information

Going to library is the best place to find relevant materials, read, and take notes.

3. Evaluating materials

A good research paper reflects a critical attitude toward the information you collect. You should also be sure what you have collected is accurate. You should also have had time to develop an attitude toward your material.

4. Organizing ideas

A collection of facts, quotations, and ideas can be either meaningless or purposeful.

5. Writing the paper

Writing research paper is easier if you have carefully and thoughtfully completed all the preparatory work.

Academic Essay Writing course (KPE 357) is a compulsory course for fifth semester students of ELESP. Based on Panduan Akademik 2007, its competence standards are, on completing the course, the students are able to analyze and write short essays on language, language education, and literature and to understand academic writing conventions. The topic discussed in the course are topic and thesis statement, essay outline, paragraph writing, argumentation, comparison and contrast, problem and solution, cause and effect, and book or

article review. Academic Essay writing is designed to introduce students to the underlying principles of academic writing. It is projected to help students to be able to analyze the characteristics of academic essay and to write good academic essay.

B. Theoretical Framework

This study is discovering the students’ perception on the use of Nicenet.org. From the findings of this study, hopefully, the writer can reveal students perception toward the issue. By having a positive perception, students are expected to have better motivation in achieving the objectives of the course and improving their English proficiency, especially in writing skills.

According to some perception theories by Gibson et al.; Burner; Altman et al.; Crow and Crow; Vernon; and Huffman et al. discussed previously, the writer defines perception as the way how someone responds to the given stimuli. Moreover, it is how to see his or her world influenced by several factors. The writer can conclude that someone’s perception is in line with his or her motivation. The more the students perceive in good ways, the more motivated they are. So do in the class activity, if the students have positive perception toward what the lecturer delivers about or how the lecturer delivers the material, they will have better motivation to learn.

In Academic Essay Writing classes, Nicenet.org is used as media by the lecturer. It is used to submit the assignments, grab the material, and give comment. Teaching learning activity can not work properly unless it is supported

by good and appropriate media for the students. The media used by the teacher brings impacts on the students’ attitude. It makes every student perceives differently on the media applied by the lecturer. Various perceptions may come up on their mind.

In this study, the writer tries to reveal the student’s’ perception on use of Nicenet.org as teaching learning media. Media in teaching learning activity is one of the most important elements to have an effective teaching learning activity. Brown et al. (1977: 2) state that creative uses of the various media will increase the probability that your students will learn more, retain better what they learn, and improve their performance of the skills which they are expected to develop. By using various media in learning activity applied by the lecturer, the student will not get bored. Moreover, they can develop the knowledge by themselves.

The writer proposes two research questions. The first is what is the students’ perception toward the use of Nicenet.org? The second is what are some possible suggestions to improve the implementation of Nicenet.org as teaching media? In the theoretical background, the writer describes some theories of perception, technology in media, teaching learning media, Nicenet.org and Academic Essay Writing course. Those theories are going to be basis to find out the answer of research questions proposed in this study.

To answer the research question number one, the writer employs the theory of the factors influencing someone’s perception by Huffman et al. and Altman et al. Based on their theories, perception is affected by motivation, personal needs, and past experiences. Those factors make the students have

different perception toward the same issue. The use of Nicenet.org as media imposes, automatically, the students to perceive it in the different ways. If implementing Nicenet.org as media is able to reach the students’ expectation in learning, as the result, the students are getting motivated to learn more.

In other words, the students have a positive perception toward Nicenet.org. Moreover, the students’ positive response on the use of Nicenet.org brings impact on their learning behavior. The students’ positive perception, here, has meaning that the students consider Nicenet.org as an effective media, motivating media, and beneficial media.

In order to answer the second proposed question, the writer sums up from the findings. The finding which is the students’ perception is gained by using questionnaires and interviews. What has to keep in mind to answer the second question is that the suggestions are summarized by the writer based on the students’ answers. Their suggestions are used to develop a teaching learning media named Nicenet.org. Nicenet.org, as media, is a new concept in teaching learning activity. Therefore, it needs to be developed. The suggestions of the students can be a gold mine in increasing the use of Nicenet.org. However, the selection of media has to consider several factors. The major factor is the objective of the course.

To discover the answers of the research questions, the writer requires appropriate methodologies. In the next chapter, the writer discusses the methodology employed in this study.

30 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the method of the study. This chapter is divided into six parts: the research methods, research participants, research instruments, data gathering techniques, data analysis techniques, and research procedure.

A. Research Method

The writer conducted qualitative research. Qualitative research is a study of which the data collected is in the form of words rather than numbers. According to Bodgan and Biklen (1982: 28), qualitative is descriptive. Thus, qualitative research usually uses the form of description to present the data instead of numbers. In this study, the data collected was in the form of statements of the students’ perceptions.

Particularly, this study was a survey study. According to Zimmerman and Rodrigues (1992: 106), a survey is a process of collecting information from a group of people about a specific subject. A survey is conducted to collect the opinions of a large group of people about a particular topic or issue. Further, a survey can be conducted either quantitative or qualitative. In the explanation of Fraenkel and Wallen (1994: 344), the purpose of survey study is to describe the characteristics of a population by using two instruments: interview and questionnaire.

In this study, the writer employed a qualitative survey. However, the results of the survey derived from the questionnaires were in form of numerical data. Thus, to make it descriptive, the writer converted the numerical data into form of statements. In qualitative study, the numerical data were used as evidence in of a certain issue.

B. Research Respondents

As a survey research, this study required a group of ELESP students as respondents. Since the number of the respondents should be limited to make it accessible, a sampling procedure was implemented.

According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1994: 79), sampling refers to the process of selecting individuals who will participate in a research. The first task to survey was defining the population. Population refers to all members of a particular group. To make it accessible to research, the population should be narrowed down into small group named sample. Sample is any group of individuals on whom information is obtained.

In this study, the selected population was the students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. The writer selected the sample from the Academic Essay Writing class A and D students which joined the class in the academic year 2008/2009.

In deciding the sample, the writer employed the purposive sampling that is a sample selected because the individuals have special qualifications of some sort (Fraenkel and Wallen, 1994). Since the focus of this study was the students’

perception on the use of Nicenet.org, the writer selected the Academic Essay Writing class. In addition, there were several courses implementing Nicenet.org as teaching learning media. However, the writer decided to conduct the research in Academic Essay Writing class A and D. In deciding the class, the writer considered the total students of those two classes handled by the same lecturer.

As stated before, the writer employed two kinds of research instruments: questionnaire and interview and each required respondents as follows:

The total respondents of the questionnaire were fifty seven students coming from the students of Academic Essay Writing class A and D. However, there was one questionnaire considered as invalid data since the respondent did not complete the closed-ended part of the questionnaire.

The total respondents of the interview were four students and one Academic Essay Writing lecturer. The writer interviewed two students of each class. In selecting the interviewees, the writer was referring to the respondents’ response in the questionnaire results, especially, question number two which was about how often they accessed Nicenet.org. The response was represented the students’ experience on accessing Nicenet.org.

The selected interviewees were four respondents consisting of two respondents having more experience – represented by choosing ‘agree’ response – and two respondents having less experience – represented by choosing ‘disagree response –.

C. Research Instruments

To answer the proposed problems, the writer employs two instruments: questionnaire and interview. The further explanation was explained as follows. 1. Questionnaire

The writer employed questionnaire to gather the respondents’ response on the given questions. The data result of questionnaire – in this study - would be used as the main data. According to Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh (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 questionnaire applied Likert scale. According to Ary et al. (2002: 224), Likert scale assesses attitudes toward a topic by presenting a set of statements about the topic. In this study, the questionnaire provided responses one up to four. The number indicated whether they strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. In this study, scale 1 represented strongly disagree degree. Scale 2 represented disagree degree. Scale 3 represented agree degree. Scale 4 represented strongly agree degree. The various agree-disagree responses are assigned a numeric number and the total scale is found by summing the numeric numbers. This total score represents the individual’s attitude toward the topic.

To provide the answer of two problems, the questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first was closed-ended. In closed-ended questions part, the respondents were provided several questions and they should answer based on the provided responses. The writer provided fifteen questions to be responded. The second was open-ended part. In this part, the respondents were free to provide the

response to the given questions. To address the second problem formulated previously, in this part, the respondents had to respond by giving suggestions on the implementation of Nicenet.org.

In order to answer the research problems, the writer provided the questions based on the theories discussed on chapter two. In designing the questionnaire, the writer followed rigidly the blueprint which was explained as follows:

Table 3.1 The Questionnaire Blue Print

Question Indicators Form

1 – 3

Students’ experiences in accessing internet and Nicenet.org

closed-ended

4 – 12

Students’ perception on the use of Nicenet.org in improving students’

writing skills

closed-ended

12 – 15 and

I

Students’ suggestions to improve the use of Nicenet.org as teaching

learning media

closed-ended

open-ended

Underlying on the blueprint, the writer divided the questionnaire into three categories of questions. The first part was asking the respondents’ general experiences in accessing internet and Nicenet.org. Someone’s perception is influenced by many elements. According to Altman et al., past experience is one of perceptual factors affecting someone’s perception. Therefore, the first three

questions dealt with the respondents’ experience on Nicenet.org usage. The questions could be drawn as the following example.

Table 3.2 The Example of the Question on Past Experience

No. Statement Strongly

Disagree Disagree Agree

Strongly Agree 3. I have known Nicenet.org before

joining Academic Essay Writing class

1 2 3 4

The second part – the questions number four to twelve – was about the students’ perception on the use Nicenet.org as teaching media. Those questions referred to address the first research problems. Grounded on Scrhamm’s theory, that media is divided into two: big media and small media, Nicenet.org is categorized into big media. However, to select the media applied in class was not deciding whether it was big or small merely. The major consideration was the objective of the learning and the characteristics of the students.

The students’ behavior toward the media became important since it was one of the key factors in succeeding the teaching learning activity. A successful teaching activity could be seen from the student’s achievement of the course’s learning objectives.

How the students behaved and perceived was influenced by perception. Thus, to answer first research problem, the questions number four to twelve were concerned on the students’ perception. The examples of the questionnaire could be seen on the next page.

Table 3.3 The Examples of the Question on Perception

No. Statement Strongly

Disagree Disagree Agree

Strongly Agree 5. I believe that Nicenet.org motivates

me in improving my writing skill (grammar accuracy and spelling)

1 2 3 4

6. I believe that Nicenet.org is an

effective teaching learning media 1 2 3 4

The third part was to address the second problems. This part consisted of three closed-ended questions – questions number thirteen to fifteen – and one open-ended question – Rome number one – which were employed to provide the answer of the second problem. To better the implementation of Nicenet.org, the suggestions which were according to the students were needed.

Table 3.4 The Examples of the Question on Suggestion

No. Statement Strongly

Disagree Disagree Agree

Strongly Agree 13. I believe that Nicenet.org can be

implemented in every course in English Language Education Study Program

1 2 3 4

15. I believe that implementing Nicenet.org can improve students English writing skills

1 2 3 4

2. Interview

Interview is an important way for a researcher to check the accuracy of the impressions he or she has gained through observation. According to Fetterman as

cited by Fraenkel and Wallen (1994: 385), interview is described as the most important data collection technique a qualitative researcher possesses. Interview has four types. However, in this study, the writer employed structured interview. Thus, the writer had to provide the interview guidelines before conducting the interviews.

Patton, as cited in Fraenkel and Wallen (1994: 386), identifies six types of question which might be asked during an interview. However, to answer the stated problems in this study, the writer adopted three types of questions: experience or behavior questions, opinion or value questions, and feelings questions. The interview result is used as additional data supporting the main data namely questionnaire results. The interviews were conducted to cross-check the result of questionnaire data.

In this study, the writer interviewed both the lecturer and the students. The interview with the lecturer was conducted to know how he implemented Nicenet.org and to see his reasons and expectations implementing Nicenet.org. Moreover, the interview result was intended to draw some suggestions from the lecturer’s point of view. Interviewing the students was intended to explore their perceptions on the use of Nicenet.org deeper and to explore more on their suggestions on the implementation of Nicenet.org.

The interview questions were intended to reveal the respondents’ response further. The deeper information was required to discover the answer of second research problem.

Table 3.5 Example of Interview Guide

No. Question

1. What is your opinion on the use of Nicenet.org as teaching learning media?

2. What are your suggestions on the use of Nicenet.org in the class?

D. Data Gathering Techniques

To collect the data, the writer employed questionnaire and interview. The form of questionnaire was both open-ended and close-ended. For the open-ended part, the respondents were obligated to respond based on the provided choices. In the open-ended part, the respondents could write their own responses on the given questions.

In distributing questionnaires, the writer employed two different techniques. The first was interrupting the class activity by distributing in the class. The writer distributed twenty eight questionnaires on November 25, 2009 in class II/K.33 of Sanata Dharma University. The second technique was distributing outside the Academic Essay writing class. The writer regarded that the second technique was required. The major reason was the schedule was changed because of a holiday. It made the class have to reschedule the meeting. Moreover, the class was nearing to the final examination. Therefore, since the students of Academic Essay Writing class were inter-students in which some students were in the same class in the other lectures, the writer asked one of the students to distribute the questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed on December 2, 2009 to December 3, 2009 in English Language Education Study Program’s area.

For data gathering by interview, the writer conducted five times. The interviews were administered on December 11, 2009 to December 12, 2009. All interviews were conducted in English Language Education Program of Sanata Dharma University’s area.

The interviews were administered to gain some additional data enriching the questionnaire result. In interviewing the respondents, the writer allowed them to explore and expand their answers. All interviews were recorded.

E. Data Analysis Techniques

In this study, the writer formulated two research questions. To address those two questions, the writer employed both questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire instrument was administered to find out, particularly, the answer of the first research questions. To analyze the questionnaire data, the writer followed the following steps.

Tabulating the data gathered was the first step. The writer tabulated the data in form of percentage. In order to acquire the frequency of the respondent’s response on the statement, this step was required. The percentage data was gained by applying the formula as follows:

The second step was translating the data into descriptive analysis. To convert the numeric data into descriptive data, a central tendency formula was required. Central tendency is to find out the respondent’s answer tendency. Central tendency is derived from mean, median and mode. However, in this study, the writer only calculated the mean since the median and the mode were not relevant to be used. Mean is to indicate the tendency of respondents. To acquire the mean, the following formula was applied.

Figure 3.2 The Mean Formula

The result of the mean indicated the respondent’s perception on the use Nicenet.org as teaching learning media. Moreover, the answer of the first problem could be drawn by the results.

In assessing the responses, the writer classified the results as the following classifications.

1 – 1.9 was considered as negative perception 2 – 2.9 was considered as medium perception 3 – 4 was considered as positive perception

A negative perception indicated that the respondent did not perceive Nicenet.org as a contributing media in her/his study. A medium perception was when the respondent responded between ‘agree’ and ‘disagree’ degree. A positive

perception implied that the respondent perceived Nicenet.org as contributing media in his/her study.

To address the second research problem, the writer worked on analyzing the questionnaire data, especially, the open-ended part and the interview. In analyzing the instruments, the writer followed some steps.

The first step was examining the responses on the open-ended question. To collect the responses, the writer employed note-taking technique. The writer noted the respondents’ suggestions on the implementation of Nicenet.org. Afterwards, the writer summed up those responses in the form of paragraphs.

Coding the interview data was the second step. For the interview data, the writer examined the recorded result of the interview. The recorded interview results were transcribed into paragraphs. The interview data was to recheck the questionnaire results. This data was designated to explore some possible suggestions which were not revealed in the questionnaire result.

The last step in addressing the second research problem was summarizing the result of questionnaire and interview into paragraphs. The steps in addressing the second problem formulation could be illustrated as follows:

Table 3.6 The Summary of the Steps

No. Step

1. Examining the open-ended results of the questionnaires 2. Coding the interview data

F. Research Procedure

The starting point in conducting this study was the writer’s curiosity on why Nicenet.org was introduced by several lecturers. Carrying on the starting point, the writer tried to find out the questions research. To get some theoretical background related to the study, the writer reviewed some theories used in this study. Those theories were employed as the basic of this study to analyze the problems.

However, there were several main steps in conducting this research. The first was asking permission of the lecturer. The second was distributing the questionnaires. The writer distributed the questionnaires on November 25, 2009 and December 2, 2009 to December 3, 2009. The interviews were conducted on December 11, 2009 to December 12, 2009.

Analyzing the data was the third step. Having collected the data, the writer analyzed by following several steps. Since this was qualitative research, the numerical data gained by the questionnaires were transcribed into statements.

43 CHAPTER 4

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the writer analyzes the data which have gathered by employing the research instruments: the questionnaires and the interviews. From the analyzed data, the writer acquires the findings which are discussed to address the research problems stated on Chapter I.

The writer divides this chapter into three main sections. The first section is the questionnaire data. This section clarifies the findings by which the questionnaires were employed. The numerical data was, then, converted into statements. The second section is the interview result. In this section, the writer reports the data gathered by coding the record. The last section is discussion. The writer explores more on the findings gathered by the questionnaires and the interviews. Moreover, the writer discusses what the writer has found from conducting the research. In the discussion section, the writer draws the answer of the research questions.

A. Questionnaire Data

To collect the questionnaire data, the writer distributed the questionnaires to the students of Academic Essay Writing class of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. In the questionnaire, the respondents had to choose the agreement scales which are in form of Likert Scale to the provided statements.

The writer distributed fifty eight questionnaires. However, the valid questionnaires were fifty seven. The writer considered one questionnaire as an invalid questionnaire since the respondent did not finish completing the questionnaire. The frequency of the respondents’ responses can be seen as follows:

Table 4.1 The Distribution of the Responses

No. Statement Frequencies of Responses

1 2 3 4

1. I can get internet connection easily 3 (5.26%) 10 (17.54%) 25 (43.85%) 19 (33.33%) 2. I often access Nicenet.org (more than

three times a week)

25 (43.85%) 25 (43.85%) 6 (10.52%) 1 (1.75%) 3. I have known Nicenet.org before joining

Academic Essay writing class

35 (61.40%) 14 (24.56%) 6 (10.52%) 2 (3.50%) 4. I believe that Nicenet.org can help me to

reach my expectation in developing my writing skills (grammar accuracy and spelling) 6 (10.52%) 23 (40.35%) 28 (49.12%)

-5. I believe that Nicenet.org motivates me in improving my writing skills (grammar accuracy and spelling)

7 (12.28%) 32 (56.14%) 17 (29.82%) 1 (1.75%)

6. I believe that Nicenet.org is an effective teaching learning media

14 (24.56%) 16 (28.07%) 25 (43.85%) 2 (3.50%) 7. I feel challenged to learn when my class

conducts Nicenet.org 7 (12.28%) 27 (47.36%) 21 (36.84%) 2 (3.50%) 8. I believe that Nicenet.org can improve

my English proficiency, especially my writing skill (grammar accuracy and spelling) 3 (5.26%) 22 (38.59%) 32 (56.14%)

-9. I believe that Nicenenet.org is beneficial for me to improve my writing skill (grammar accuracy and spelling)

3 (5.26%) 22 (38.59%) 30 (52.14%) 2 (3.50%)

10. I get more motivated to do my assignment by using Nicenet.org

7 (12.28%) 26 (45.61%) 24 (42.10%)

-No. Statements Frequencies of Responses

1 2 3 4

11. I feel satisfied using Nicenet.org as teaching learning media

11 (19.29%) 32 (56.16%) 13 (22.80%) 1 (1.75%) 12 I believe Nicenet.org is an interesting

media 11 (19.29%) 11 (19.29%) 30 (52.63%) 5 (8.77%) 13. I believe that Nicenet.org can be

implemented in every course in English Language Education Study Program

6 (10.52%) 13 (22.80%) 35 (61.40%) 3 (5.26%)

14. I prefer to use Nicenet.org to learn English 8 (14.03%) 34 (59.64%) 14 (24.56%) 1 (1.75%) 15. I believe that implementing Nicenet.org

can improve students English writing skills 5 (8.77%) 18 (31.57%) 33 (57.89%) 1 (1.75%)

The writer converts the numerical data formed in percentage into statements. The further explanations were presented according to the questionnaire’s blueprint as follows:

1. Students’ experiences in accessing Internet and Nicenet.org

In the first statement, the writer asks the respondents about their experiences on the internet facility. As the result, the respondents are able to access internet easily. It is proven by twenty five respondents (43.85%) chose ‘agree’ and nineteen respondents (33.33%) chose ‘strongly agree’. However, the easy-facilitated internet connection does not support the use of Nicenet.org. The result can be shown from the second statement. In the second statement, the writer provides the statement about the frequency of the respondents on accessing Nicenet.org. The writer limits ‘often’ as three times a week. Almost of the respondents – fifty students – access Nicenet.org less than three times a week.

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

3 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3

1 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2

1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2

2 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 2 2 2 2 3 3

2 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 2 2 3 1 2 2 2

2 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 3 2 2 2 3 1 1 2 3

2 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 3 2 2 3 1 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 2 2 3

3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3

2 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 2 2

2 3 2 3 2 3 2 2 2 1 3 2 2 1 2 2 2

4 4 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 3 2 3

3 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 3 2 3

2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 2 2

3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 2 2 3

35 41 37 35 41 43 35 38 39 34 35 34 38 27 31 30 38 1978

2.3 2.7 2.5 2.3 2.7 2.9 2.3 2.5 2.6 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.5 1.8 2.1 2.0 2.5 34.7

74

APPENDIX 5 INTERVIEW RESULT

Code: Lecturer

Interview Date: December 11, 2009

1. Using Nicenet.org is ehmmm…helps us much especially in filing the students’ assignments

2. From the definition Nicenet is actually kind of internet assistant for the classroom activity, so I think by having this the teachers will be helped much having the students’ assignment and it could be helpful also to have more regular contact with the student.

3. Usually I have office hour, a certain amount of time in which I will use that time to work with Nicenet, for nicenet that the students will see that in those hours I will be online on the Nicenet.org and I’m going to up date also Nicenet.

4. Well Actually for writing, I ask the students to submit their work in Nicenet.org then I will read their assignments and by doing do I can give contact them one by one, I can give the comment, It will be helpful for the students to well reflect their writing then by doing so, I can have more time to give more ideas that I can cover.

5. Nicenet.org is a good media and it I will be one way or solution for teacher to help student more outside the class.

6. Nicenet has one weaknesses it is very poor with graphic so we can give more let say more features in order to give suggestion so we can give sign there by having circle, italic, underline, in order to help for student to find the certain text we are discussing

How about the implementation?

I usually give note to the students to read certain paragraph of their writing then I will later talk about the paragraph. If it is possible talk about the sentences, it is going to be hard for the students to find the line from the beginning to the end.

Code: B

Interview Date: December 11, 2009

1. Saya menggunakan internet hampir tiap hari saya tidak menemukan kesulitan dalam mengakses di kampus, di perpus, dan di rumah

2. Awalnya saya merasa termotivasi karena di NC temen-temen bisa baca artikel kita juga bisa menberi feed back tetapi setelah tau di kelas tidak ada gunanya karena dosennya sendiri tidak mengharuskan mengirim hasilnya lewat NC jadi hanya beberapa orang saja yang mengirim ke NC sehingga tidak semua tidak tahu menggunakan NC.

3. Menurut saya NC bagus sekali jika NC di setiap kelas dapat menggunakan dengan tepat guna.

4. Akan sangat membantu meningkatkan karena jika kita berani mengekspos tulisan kita dan membiarkan temnan-teman membacanya kita harus bertanggung jawab atas isi, tata bahasa, sehingga ga cuma berani copi paste saja.

5. Sejauh ini baru Academic Essay awalnya bener-bener menarik perhatian dan bagi temen-temen tidak meyukai akses lewat internet karena agak ribet mending dikasih aja dalam bentuk print out

6. Masukan saya ketika sebuah matkul ingin menggunakan NC pastikna semua anak wajib menggunakan NC sehingga tidak ada alasan untuk tidak mengirimkan atau tidak tau. Dan harus memberikan komen ke kerjaan lain.

Menurut saya mungkin dipastikan lagi cara membuka NC gimana temen bisa mengirim jika mereka tidak tau cara mengekpsos tulisan mereka

Code: C

Interview Date: December 12, 2009

1. Kalo untuk menggunakan internet sekarang udah sering banget karena sekarang udah banyak tugas dari dosen untuk ngumpulin paper, jadi saya sering banget kira-kira 2 – 3 kali. Biasanya untuk cari tugas

2. Awalnya sih iya, kayana kesannya keren tapi lama2 kok ga ya aaa pak hani juga ga ngeharusin ngumpulin dalam bentuk print out jadi saya lama-lama ngerasa kok Nicenet jadi second priority. Kayana cuma buat biar tulisanku exist di internet. Ya karena akirnya sih pertamanya dilihat dari sisi skoringnya lebih memilih, agak males juga ke NC untuk up load tugas doang jadi anak2 lain juga pada ikut kaya cumafollower.

3. Sebenarnya bagus untuk modern class terutama kelas on line tu bgus banget jadi cuma ngasih tugas dan nanti dikasih feed back itu bagus banget, tapi itu tadi untuk pengajaran di academic essay tadi masih manual print out-an gitu.

4. Kalo kemampuan menulis tu ga gitu ya kalo kasih feed back itu enakan tatap mukaface to face.

5. Kalo misalnya dosennya di luar negeri itu sangat bagus, tetapi untuk fasilitator buat dosen yang berada dalam lingkup kampus dan kita bisa bertemu setiap hari itu kayaknya agak kuarang ya.

6. Aku pikir untuk kalo pake NC sekalian kelas on line skalian on line sehingga kalo mau ketemu dosen ke kantor aja.

vi

ABSTRACT

Wusanamurti, Theofilus Ardentya. (2010). Students’ Perception on the Use of Nicenet.org as Teaching Learning Media in Academic Essay Writing Courses of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Entering the globalization era, people can not be separated from technology. Technology has begun to penetrate into every human’s aspect. Technology brings about a significant effect on education. Internet is one of information technology used in education as teaching learning media. One of the internet webs is Nicenet.org. It is a web allowing someone to make a virtual class. Nicenet.org starts being used by many lecturers of English Language Education Study Program (ELESP), Sanata Dharma University. Starting from the phenomenon which many lecturers use this education web, the writer tries to investigate the students’ perception on the use of Nicenet.org as teaching learning media. The media used by the lecturer influences the students’ perception, whereas, perception deals with the learning motivation affecting the students’ learning. As the result, perception is one of the key factors of the success of student’s learning.

To discover their perception, this study formulates two problems to be answered. First, what are the student’s perceptions on the use Nicenet.org as teaching learning media? Second, what are some possible suggestions to improve the implementation of Nicenet.org as teaching media?

The writer employed a survey research to solve the formulated problems. The writer collected the data by using two research instruments: questionnaire and interview. To gain the questionnaire data used as the main data, the writer distributed fifty seven questionnaires. The respondents came from the students of Academic Essay Writing courses of ELESP, Sanata Dharma University class A and D in the academic year 2008/2009. As the interview data, the writer interviewed four respondents and one lecturer. The interview data was employed to cross check the main data.

Based on the findings, the writer concludes that the students perceive Nicenet.org in the positive way. However, its implementation in the class is not well-implemented yet. Thus, to better the use of Nicenet.org, the writer provides the suggestions which are summarized from the students’ responses. The suggestions are: the lecturers should apply Nicenet.org effectively; the lecturers and the students should obey the class rule; Nicenet.org should be introduced intensively; and Nicenet.org should be applied not only in Academic Essay Writing class but also in other classes.

vii

ABSTRAK

Wusanamurti, Theofilus Ardentya. (2010). Students’ Perception on the Use of Nicenet.org as Teaching Learning Media in Academic Essay Writing Course of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Memasuki era globalisasi, orang-orang tidak bisa dipisahkan dari tekhnologi. Tekhnologi telah merasuki tiap-tiap aspek kehidupan manusia. Hal ini sudah jelas bahwa tekhnologi membawa pengaruh terhadap dunia pendidikan. Internet adalah salah satu tekhnologi informasi yang digunakan dalam dunia sebagai media belajar pengajaran. Salah satu situs adalah Nicenet.org. Itu adalah situs yang memperbolehkan seseoarang untuk mencipatakan kelas maya. Nicenet.org mulai banyak digunakan oleh dosen-dosen di Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta. Bermula dari fenomena ini yaitu banyak dosen menggunakan web ini, penulis mencoba menelusuri persepsi siswa dalam menggunakan Nicenet.org. Media pembelejaran yang digunakan oleh dosen secara tidak langsung mempengaruhi persepsi tiap-tiap siswa, padahal, persepsi berhubungan erat dengan motivasi siswa yang mempengaruhi pencapaian siswa. Hasilnya, persepsi adalah salah satu kunci sukses pembelajaran siswa.

Untuk mengetahui persepsi mereka, studi ini mengemukakan dua masalah untuk dijawab. Pertama, bagaimana persepsi siswa-siswa terhadap penggunaan Nicenet.org sebagai media belajar mengajar? Kedua, apakah masukan untuk meningkatkan penerapan Nicenet.org sebagai media belajar mengajar?

Penulis menggunakan sebuah penelitian survey untuk menjawab masalah yang telah dikemukakan. Penulis mengumpulkan data menggunakan dua instrumen yaitu questionnaire dan wawancara. Untuk memperoleh data questionnaire yang digunakan sebagai data utama, penulis menyebarkan lima puluh tujuh questionnaire. Responden berasal dari mahasiswa A dan D mata kuliah Academic Essay Writingdi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma tahun ajaran 2008/2009. Sebagai data wawancara, penulis mewawancarai empat orang siswa dan seorang dosen. Data wawancara digunakan untuk memeriksa silang data utama.

Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, penulis menganggap bahwa siswa-siswa melihat Nicenet.org sebagai media pembelajaran yang berguna, memotivasi, dan menarik. Namun, penerapannya belum dimaksimalkan. Oleh karena itu, untuk meningkatkan penggunaan Nicenet.org, penulis memberikan beberapa masukan yang penulis rangkum dari jawaban-jawaban siswa, yaitu: dosen seharusnya menerapkan secara efektif, dosen dan siswa seharusnya mematuhi aturan yang sudah disepakati, Nicenet.org harus lebih diperkenalkan, dan Nicenet.org seharusnya digunakan di kelas-kelas lainnya, tidak hanya di kelas Academic Essay Writing.