54
improve their way of thinking especially in some tasks. Dipta also said that the exercises were not monotonous.
…The exercises are various enough for us to practice the vocabulary. They are not monotonous. They facilitate us to develop
our way of thinking. Especially in commenting sentences part, the feedback from friends can improve our knowledge about tenses and
vocabulary. DA18
However, on the contrary, Dipta complained about the number of the tasks. He said it was too many. He thought it was because of the task variation.
The tasks were quite many, perhaps because the features of the exercises are so various. Well…actually they are good to improve our
vocabulary knowledge but it’s tiring. Too many tasks to do. DA26
At last, when he was asked his preference in choosing between web-based vocabulary class and traditional class, Dipta chose traditional class. It was because
traditional class offered less homework than web-based vocabulary class. He felt stressful with the high expectation in web-based vocabulary class. He also said
that he regretted taking this class since it was quite demanding. …I just feel happier in traditional class…the one with books and
printed handouts. It is easier, I think. It is more suitable with my learning style. I just need to study in the class, no more exercises at
home. Everything is under control because it is done in class and the lecturer check the work directly. DA24
DA31: Honestly, I felt stressful with this new teaching method, miss. It seemed that the lecturer’s expectation was very high
by applying this website. If I knew this before, I wouldn’t take this class.
Q32: So, did you regret it? DA32: I think so, miss. Because this is actually an elective course, it
should not be this complicated. Further, Dipta also felt disappointed with his result of study since he got C
as the final result. He said that he had tried his best in studying but the result was not as he expected.
55
I feel that I’ve tried my best in studying. Reading and practicing in my spare time. I want to perform well so that my parents would be happy
to see me, it will also be my pride. I think I had done all of the tasks well. I tried to get A but I got only C. It’s quite disappointing. DA29
ELTGallery offered flexibility for the students to manage their own learning progress and process. In order to do that, the students were encouraged to
have high responsibility. However, Dipta still enjoyed classroom atmosphere with a large portion of interaction and supervision from the lecturer. He felt that it was
much easier to handle. Moreover, in conventional class, he would not face some technical problems which usually happened in web-based class. Thus, Dipta felt
that studying vocabulary with ELTGallery was burdening.
2. Martha’s Description
In this part, I present Martha’s personal profile to see her life background
better. Life background is important since it can give influence on the way someone reacts and acts in facing certain phenomena. This part also presents
Martha’s story of her lived experience in joining web-based vocabulary class.
a. Martha’s profile
Martha was twenty years old when she took the vocabulary class and agreed to help me as research participant in this study. She was also from
Yogyakarta and lived with her parents in Sleman, Yogyakarta. She was the youngest in the family. She had one elder sister and she was very close to her. Her
family was very familiar with English learning environment. Her sister was graduated from PBI Sanata Dharma University. Her mother also once took KBI in
Sanata Dharma University for her master degree. She felt lucky with that because PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
56
she could discuss her learning progress with her sister and mother. Martha ’s
mother is now an English teacher in SMPN 2 Mlati Yogyakarta. She described her mother as a firm and hardworking person. She also had a strong leadership skill,
thus her mother is also the headmaster of the school. Her father was a pensioner from PDAM Yogyakarta. She described her father as a wise and patient man. She
said that her family always supported her study well and it made her fully motivated to do her best in the study.
Before continuing her study in PBI Sanata Dharma University, Martha graduated from SMAN 2 Yogyakarta. She had realized that she had a talent and
interest in English since she was in senior high school. Thus, she entered PBI Sanata Dharma University. She had a strong will to improve her English skill
since she realized how important it was to be excellent in it. Martha described herself as an ambitious girl. She liked to set her expectations high and dare to take
risks in achieving her dreams. Martha was interested in education field because she could also learn about psychology, such as students’ motivation, learning
style, and so on. She was also interested to take the vocabulary class because she realized that vocabulary was very important to support her English learning
process. Thus, she took the class to improve her English skills significantly.
b. Martha’s story
Martha realized that she was going to endure different learning process with ELTGallery. She knew that she had to be more responsible with her own
learning process. She loved the idea of making the students more ready with what PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
57
they were going to have in class since ELTGallery had been completed with the learning materials for one semester.
Well, ELTGallery is applied in the class to help the students to learn vocabulary more independently. We have to be responsible to our
own learning progress because most of the activities and tasks should be done outside lesson hours. It really needs a good time
management, miss, because the tasks are quite a lot. MA2
…Even it required us to be very independent in accomplishing the goals. Personally, I felt positive about that. Moreover, I am typically a
person who is very curious about what topic to discuss in the class in the following day with the lecturer. With ELTGallery, the materials
were not only prepared for the following meeting but it was ready for the whole semester, so that I could prepare myself better for the class.
I was more ready and confident to join the class. Except…when there were a lot of things to do at the same time, then seeing the
deadline in ELTGallery was very stressing. But, the idea of making the students more independent and responsible to their own study
progress was very good, I think. MA46
Martha tried to make use of ELTGallery to improve her vocabulary knowledge maximally. Yet, when she could not find supported features, she tried
to find them from other sources. For example, ELTGallery did not provide the phonetic transcription in the word list. Then, Martha checked and practiced the
pronunciation in her dictionary. I always consult the dictionary, miss. I usually bring my pocket
dictionary in my bag. So every time I feel doubt about how to pronounce some words, I check the dictionary. Unfortunately,
ELTGallery is not yet completed with a feature to teach us the pronunciation. MA10
Martha shared that the vocabularies she learnt from the word list in ELTGallery helped her to improve her reading skill. However, Martha learnt word
formation more in linguistic class. Besides, she also checked dictionary and read more articles to improve her knowledge.
The vocabularies from the website help me to comprehend an article. I love reading, miss. So I think it helps me to improve my
58
understanding in written texts. Spoken texts, I improve it from watching English movies without Indonesian subtitles. Although I
often miss some words because the actors speak so fast but at least I learn. MA13
Every time I get a new word, I check the dictionary. Oia, in linguistic class I learn more about word formation. We did a lot of
practices there. MA12
Martha was lucky since her mother and sister could speak English well. Her sister graduated from PBI Sanata Dharma, while her mother graduated from
KBI Sanata Dharma. Martha often practiced her English with them at home. By doing so, she could get more exposures and improve her English skills.
MA14: I ask my mother and my sister, because they also know English. Sometimes we speak English at home. Oia, I also
learn new phrases through movies. Q15: Wow, you’re lucky enough to have such exposures at home,
Martha. You, your sister and your mom, it’s great that you can use English at home with them.
MA15: Yes, miss. It’s nice because we have the same educational background. My mother also took her master degree in KBI,
like you. My sister was also from PBI Sanata Dharma. So, it’s nice
ELTGallery for vocabulary learning was a new thing for Martha. She felt enthusiastic with the purpose of applying the website but she did not really like
the look of the website. She wished she had an opportunity to customize her own website page so that the look would be more attractive. She also regretted the
errors which often happened in the website. Well, ELTGallery is a new thing in vocabulary learning. The website
is quite accessible, except when we experienced error page. The destination buttons are quite simple. But unfortunately, the
appearance of each page is monotonous. Quite boring, I think. Perhaps it is because the website designer is still developing the
website himself so it went errors quite often. Personally, I don’t like dark blue color. I think it will be nice if we can customize the page
with our favorite color. Giving cute borders, pictures, so that the look is more interesting. The most important one is the look and the
