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1. International Undergraduate Program of UMY IUP UMY
International Undergraduate Program UMY consists of 4-years undergraduate program in Economics, Law and
Governmental Studies. Generally, it offers the international programs which are conducted in English. The IUP
in Governmental studies curriculum includes research organized by Jusuf Kallas
School of Government and supported by an International Institution-Asia Pacific Society for Public Affairs APSPA. All of the courses delivered in English and
thought by International lecturers. The program also supports International student exchange and has International collaborations.
2. Lived Experience
The purpose of this chapter is to make it easier for the audience to grasp the relevant concepts and their relations. I will begin with a brief background of
relevant theories. This includes a short presentation of lived experience, followed by a section on language learning. This is followed by the presentation of meaning
which is primarily central of this study. Given my interest in researching lived experience, phenomenology focuses on
lived experience and looks at people’s everyday experiences of phenomenon and how these experiences are structured, focusing the analysis on the perspective of
the individual experiencing the phenomenon Merriam, 2002. According to Bruner as cited by Eastmond 2007 lived experience – life as experienced – is
considered as how a person perceives and ascribes meaning to what happens, drawing on previous experience or cultural repertoires, including any manner in
which the participants are able to describe what phenomenal experiences they
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have lived through. In her research, Yasmina describes Junior High School students’ lived experiences in learning monologues. The result shows that
students’ understanding of monologues of descriptive and procedure texts are formed through repeated reading, the use of dictionaries, their prior knowledge,
various sources and collaborative process with their teachers and peers. Lived experience is seen as a true reflection that is thoughtful, reflective
grasping of what it is that renders this or that particular experience – its special significance Manen, 1990. As the focus is on describing what experienced by
the participants, the aim of phenomenology is to limit personal experiences with a phenomenon description of the universal essence Creswell, 2007, p. 58. The
nature of lived experience is suggested by Dilthey in 1985 Manen, 1990 as the involvement of our immediate, pre-reflective consciousness of life: a reflexive or
self-given awareness which is, as awareness, unaware of itself. Moreover, Dithley outlines that lived experiences are related to each other like motifs in the andante
of symphony, as something that belongs to a particular lived experience unit of meaning, which becomes part of a system of contextually related experiences,
explicated from it through a process of reflection on its meaning. Thus, a lived experience has a certain essence, a “quality” that we recognize in retrospect.
Merleau-Ponty in Manen, 1990 has a more ontological term to the concept of lived experience as immediate awareness which he calls “sensibility”. The
sensible is that: this possibility to be evident in silence, to be understood implicitly.
Lived experience itself becomes the point of departure and end point of phenomenological research – Alvesson 2000 identifies the research result as
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text. The objective of phenomenology is to transform lived experience into a textual expression of its essence Manen, 1990. Based on the elaboration above,
lived experience has something to do with a certain experience that may be reflexive, able to be interpreted and have meaning. In other words, another goal of
phenomenology is to leave the individual phenomenon behind and to reach that so-called ‘essence’ Alvesson, 2000. For example students’ lived experience in
learning English at Vocational School in Yogyakarta illuminates that deep understanding of personal background of each student gives positive support of
the achievement of learning goals and students feel being humanized when they are called by their names properly.
Eastmond mentions that phenomenological assumption used in narrative analysis in qualitative research takes meaning ascribed to the phenomena through
being experienced and furthermore, that we can only be aware of something about other people’s experiences from the expressions they give them. Thus,
stories can be seen as interpretations of the past instead of simply reflecting life as lived. For instance, Caecilia interprets that some students of a vocational School
experiencing English language learning through Self-Access Center in
Yogyakarta apply strategies in their learning as the efforts to be autonomous students and SAC is more than a place of learning language, the facilities are
provided with certain intention to grow learning awareness among students up. Referring to the problem limitation, the study focuses on students’ experiences
in learning English as phenomenon to be described and interpreted. Reflective – interpretative is needed to achieve a fuller, more meaningful understanding, to
bring “before me something that otherwise happens ‘behind my back’ “Gadamer
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in Moustakas, 1994. Thus, the meaning of learning English to students here is meant to what they have experienced in learning English empirical and how they
relate them to reflect in order to become more empowered in the future. Put briefly, lived experience is conscious experience that a person has had in
the past. Since the intentionality refers to consciousness – the individuals are always conscious to something Kafle, 2011 – lived experience in this study is
what students consciously have experienced in their English learning process and reflection they have made in order to be more autonomous and to understand
others more. As stated by Bleicher 1980 that we recognize ourselves as individuals only through intercourse with others and so become aware of
characteristics which are specific to ourselves.
3. Language Learning
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