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3. Perception and Perceptual Process
According to Altman, et al. 1985: 85, perception is defined how the stimuli are selected and grouped by a person until create a meaningful
interpretation. Perception also can be defined as “a person’s view of reality” Altman, et al., 1985: 85 or the way people perceive something. Another
definition, perception is “an organism’ awareness of objects and events in the environment brought about by stimulation of its sense organs” as stated by
Bootzin, Loftus, and Zajonc 1979: 103. Based on definitions above, it can be concluded that perception is a
person’s point of view and interpretation of an object or event. Everybody may have different perception of an object, which then leads to different behavioural
responses and attitudes. Relating to this research, perception is defined as students’ way of perceiving, seeing, understanding and interpreting the use of
observation sheet as peer feedback in microteaching class. Perception is also defined as an active process of selecting, organizing, and
interpreting their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment Robbins, 2001; Huffman, Vernoy Vernoy, 2002 together with his
experiences, motivation, and attitudes Suparinah, 1986. The process of perceiving is always “an act of construction” Bootzin, Loftus, Zajonc, 1979:
103 where the brain uses sensory data to build a meaningful hypothesis about the existence of an object or event. There are three basics perceptual process based on
Huffman, Vernoy, and Vernoy 2002:
19 a.
Selection Every person may select certain stimuli as incoming information of an
object or event to which they will pay attention and the stimuli may different from one to another. Here, motivation, personal needs, and interests play key roles in
selecting stimuli. b. Organization
Having selected incoming information, in order to form a meaningful pattern, the selected stimuli should be organized.
c. Interpretation
After selecting the stimuli and organizing it into pattern, the brain uses the information to explain and make judgments about the external world.
Interpretation is influenced by some factors; they are early life experiences, perceptual expectations, cultural factors, and personal motivations, needs and
interests Huffman, Vernoy Vernoy, 2002; Bootzin, Loftus Zajonc, 1979. The selection of stimuli, organization, and interpretation as described
above are three basics of perceptual process that influence someone having meaningful interpretation of something in the environment. Generally, after
selecting certain stimuli, which can be in physical or mental stimuli, someone could organize then interpret the stimuli meaningfully. Furthermore, as the
response of stimuli, people will react to the stimuli in the form of behavioural response or attitudes whether the response is negative or positive.
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B. Theoretical Framework
Observation sheets as written evaluation has already been used to support teaching learning activities in educational contexts, especially in Microteaching
class. In Sanata Dharma University, the observation sheets are one of the media of teaching assessment in Microteaching class of Faculty of Teachers Training and
Education. The observation sheets are used to measure the students teaching performance. The observation sheets are filled by lecturer as supervisor and peers
as the observers. Then, the students are given the observation sheets as means formative feedback from their peers.
It is obvious that written evaluation form is needed to assess teaching skills performance as Subramaniams findings. And as Glover 2006 in his article
titled Written Feedback for Students: too much, too detailed or too incomprehensible
, says that feedback is effective if students act on it and use the information to improve their future work and learning. It can be concluded that
the feedback will be effective if the students have positive perception towards the feedback itself. Since the way the students perceive on something will influence
the students behavioural responses as Altman, et al. 1985 have argued, it will affect the effectiveness of feedback. If the students perceive the use of observation
sheets in positive way, the students behavioural responses will be positive too, which then will lead to positive teaching and learning activity and will support the
course goal achievement. On the other hand, if the students perceive the use of observation sheets in negative way, the students’ behavioural responses will be
negative and then will inhibit the teaching learning activity and the course goal
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