13 more supportively to develop the target task since it is the social contribution which is
reckoned more. In addition, Fiechtner and Davis as cited in Falchikov, 2010 also insist that good peer ratings should be worth 21 up to 40 of the total grade of the
assignment.
c. Task Complexity
According to Fiechtner and Davis as cited in Falchikov, 2010, the activities assigned in class should be sufficient to give each group chances to improve the solidity
level within a group. In achieving this aim, however, they also recommend teachers not to assign too many activities at the same time. Besides, teachers should also ensure that
the activities given are varied, related to course objectives, and also able to allow an adequate amount of time for in-class group work.
As a final point, although the results of the studies might vary from other similar studies, it is worth noting that these factors may be very significant to be taken into
account when teachers assign their students to work in groups.
C. THE STUDY
1. Research Question
This study tried to answer the following questions: What are Satya Wacana Senior High School students‟ perceptions toward the
advantages and disadvantages of group work?
14 How do they perceive certain conditions for successful group work?
2. The Aim of the Present Study
The current study intended to identify senior high school students‟ perceptions
toward the advantages and disadvantages of group work applied in their English classroom, as well as to find out kinds of conditions influencing the way they perceived
group work as either successful or not.
3. Participants
At Satya Wacana Christian Senior High School, Salatiga, Indonesia, 120 twelfth graders around 15-19 years old became the respondents of this study. The twelfth graders
were chosen since plausibly they had more experience in working in groups rather than both the eleventh and tenth graders due to the longer time they devoted to study at school.
Therefore, it was hoped that the twelfth graders were able to make meaning of the group work experience that they had, much better than other lower-grade students in the school.
4. Instrumentation
A set of questions in the form of a questionnaire was administered to 120 twelfth graders for this study. The respondents were required to give their perceptions by
responding to 22 questions. These questions were written in Indonesian instead of English to help the respondents to better understand the meaning of each statement, with
the hope that the responses given were even more reliable.
