The students` and lecturers` perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement in public speaking I at Sanata Dharma University - USD Repository
THE STUDENTS’ AND LECTURERS’ PERCEPTIONS
ON THE TRADITIONAL SEATING ARRANGEMENT
IN PUBLIC SPEAKING I AT SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Margaretha Sinta Septiani Hasibuan
041214068
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2008
THE STUDENTS’ AND LECTURERS’ PERCEPTIONS
ON THE TRADITIONAL SEATING ARRANGEMENT
IN PUBLIC SPEAKING I AT SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Margaretha Sinta Septiani Hasibuan
041214068
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2008
i A Thesis On
THE STUDENTS’ AND LECTURERS’ PERCEPTIONS
ON THE TRADITIONAL SEATING ARRANGEMENT
IN PUBLIC SPEAKING I AT SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
Prepared and Presented by Margaretha Sinta Septiani Hasibuan
Students Number: 041214068
Approved by:
SponsorDrs. Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A. October 13, 2008
A Thesis on
THE STUDENTS’ AND LECTURERS’ PERCEPTIONS
ON THE TRADITIONAL SEATING ARRANGEMENT
IN PUBLIC SPEAKING I CLASS AT SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
By MARGARETHA SINTA SEPTIANI HASIBUAN
Student Number: 041214068 Defended before the Board of Examiners
On October 22, 2008 And Declared Acceptable
Board of Examiners
Chairperson : A. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. ______________ Secretary : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. ______________ Member : Drs. Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A. ______________ Member : G. Punto Aji, M.Hum. ______________ Member : F.X. Ouda Teda Ena, S.Pd., M.Pd. ______________
Yogyakarta, October 22, 2008 Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University Dean,
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I wrote, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, October 13, 2008 The Writer
Margaretha Sinta Septiani Hasibuan 041214068
"Greatest Love Of All" I believe the children are our are future Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside Give them a sense of pride to make it easier Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to I never found anyone to fulfill my needs A lonely place to be So I learned to depend on me
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows If I fail, if I succeed At least I live as I believe No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity Because the greatest love of all Is happening to me I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me The greatest love of all Is easy to achieve Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all I believe the children are our future Teach them well and let them lead the way Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be And if by chance, that special place That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place Find your strength in love This thesis is dedicated to: All of the children around the world who have brilliant dreams My beloved parents and sisters
v
ACKNOWLEDEGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my Lord, Jesus because of His blessing I could finish this thesis. I realize that God is invisible, but I could feel His blessing and guidance everytime I wrote word by word in this thesis.
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my sponsor, Drs. Concilianus
Laos Mbato, M.A. for his feedback, suggestions, correction, support and time. I
would also like to express my gratitude to Ms. Siska and Ms. Dianne. First, because of their willingness, I could distribute the questionnaires to their classes and second, they provided time to answer my questions in the interview. I really appreciate their help. I also would like to express my special gratitude to Public Speaking I students of 2006 for being my participants, giving me suggestions and information which I really need.
I dedicate this thesis to my parents, Demister Hasibuan, S.E. and Pawarti,
S.H. , my elder sister, Kak Novi, and my younger sister, Dik Yoan. They are so
important in my life. Because of their support and encouragement, I could finish my thesis.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my beloved boyfriend, Andrias
Haris, for supporting me and giving me encouragement when I am really desperate.
I would like to give my gratitude to Dias, Festi, Vonny, Henny , Valent and
Novi for their support, data and advice and encouragement to finish my thesis. I also
vi thank all my friends in PBI 2004. Although we often compete in the class, we are still friends. All of you are my inspiration to finish my thesis as soon as possible.
I would also like to express my gratitude to all of my friends who helped me in finishing my thesis that I could not mention them one by one.
Margaretha Sinta
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE …………………………………………………………….. iAPPROVAL PAGES …………………………………………………….. ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………………………….. iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………….... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………… viii
LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………….. xi
LIST OF FIGURE ……………………………………………………….. xii
ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………. xiii
ABSTRAK …………………………………………………………………. xiv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ………………………………………………..
1 B. Problem Identification …………………………………………………..
6 C. Problem Limitation ……………………………………………………..
6 D. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………………
7 E. Objectives of the Study ………………………………………………….
8 F. Benefits of the Study …………………………………………………….
8 G. Definition of the Terms ………………………………………………….
9 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW A. Theoretical Description ………………………………………………….
12 1. Seating Arrangements ………………………………………………..
12 2. Public Speaking in English Language Education Context …………..
22 3. Perception and Perception Process …………………………………..
28 B. Theoretical Framework ………………………………………………….
35 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY A. Method …………………………………………………………………..
38 B. Research Participants ……………………………………………………
40 viii C. Setting ……………………………………………………………………
41 D. Research Instrument …………………………………………………….
41 E. Data Gathering Procedures ………………………………………………
42 F. Data Analysis Procedures ………………………………………………..
43 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULTS
A. The Students’ Perceptions on Traditional Seating Arrangement in Public Speaking I Class …………………………………………………
44
1. The Description of the Students’ Perceptions while a Lecturer was Giving a lecture Based on the Questionnaires Distributed …………
44
a. Close-ended questions ……………………………………………
44
b. Open-ended questions ……………………………………………
46 c. The students’ Perceptions based on the Interview ……………….
50
2. The Description of the Students’ Perceptions When They Had to Work in the Group and Group Performance (Debate) Based on the
Questionnaire Distributed …………………………………………
52
a. Close-ended questions ……………………………………………
52
b. Open-ended questions ……………………………………………
54 c. Description of the Students’ perceptions based on the interview ..
57 3. Discussion …………………………………………………………..
59 B. The Lecturers’ Perceptions on the Traditional Seating Arrangement in Public Speaking I Class Based on the interview …………………….
63
1. Discussion ……………………………………………………………
66 C. Students’ Suggestions for Teaching and Learning Process Using the Traditional Seating Arrangement …………………………………...
68
a. Students’ Suggestions Gathered from the Open-ended Questionnaire ……………………………………………………..
69 b. Description of Students’ Suggestions Based on the Interview …...
72 D. Lecturers’ Suggestions for Teaching and Learning Process Using the Traditional Seating Arrangement Based on the Interview ………….
73 ix
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions ………………………………………………………………
75 B. Suggestions ………………………………………………………………
78 1. For English Education Study Program ……………………………….
78
2. For the Lecturers who teach Public speaking I at Sanata Dharma University ……………………………………………………………
79 3. For the students who join Public Speaking I Class …………………..
79 4. For future researchers ………………………………………………..
80 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………….
81 APPENDICES ..............................................................................................
83 APPENDIX 1: The Questionnaire sheet …………………………………..
84 APPENDIX 2: The Interview Lists for the Public Speaking I Lecturers ….
87 APPENDIX 3: The Questionnaire Result of the use Traditional Seating Arrangement in Public Speaking I Class …………………
88 APPENDIX 4: The Questionnaire Results of the Use of Traditional Seating Arrangement in Public Speaking I class …………
90 APPENDIX 5: The Interview Results with the Lecturers ……………….... 100
APPENDIX 6: The Interview Results with the Students …………………. 103
x
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1. Questionnaire Result of the Students’ Perceptions on the TraditionalSeating Arrangement when the Lecturer was Giving a Lecture (close- ended questions) ………………………………………………..
45 Table 4.2. Questionnaire Result of the Students’ Perceptions When the Students Had to Work in Group Using the Traditional Seating Arrangement (close- ended questions) ………………………………………………..
53 xi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1. Traditional Seating Arrangement ………………………………13 Figure 2.2. Modified Traditional Seating Arrangement ……………………
14 Figure 2.3. Cluster Seating Arrangement …………………………………..
17 Figure 2. 4. Table Seating Arrangement ……………………………………
18 Figure 2.5. Circle Seating Arrangement ……………………………………
19 Figure 2.6. Pairs Seating Arrangement ……………………………………..
21 Figure 2.7 Horsehoe Seating Arrangement …………………………………
22 Figure 2.8. Factors that Influence Perception ………………………………
31 Figure 2.9. Perceptual Process ……………………………………………..
33 xii
ABSTRACT
Hasibuan, Margaretha. 2008. The Students’ and Lecturers’ Perceptions on the
Traditional Seating Arrangement in Public Speaking I class at Sanata Dharma
University. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.There are two main reasons why the researcher conducts this research. The first reason is that seating arrangement in the class has a possibility to affect the students and lecturers in teaching and learning process. The students’ and lecturers’ perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement can influence students’ and lecturers’ behaviour which then leads the students’ behaviour in the teaching and learning process. The second reason is that the researcher wants to improve and maximize the seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class, so that the students and lecturers are comfortable in following the teaching and learning process which is inspired by Alexandra Ramsden research about the seating arrangements.
This research attempts to answer two research questions. The research questions are (1) What are the students’ and lecturers’ perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class at Sanata Dharma University? (2) What are the students’ and lecturers’ suggestions about the teaching and learning process in Public Speaking I using the traditional seating arrangement?
In order to help the researcher to answer those problems, some theories are employed. First is the definition of various seating arrangements. Second is the definition of perception, perceptual process and factors which influence perception. Third is the nature of Public Speaking I class.
The researcher used descriptive research. The descriptive research was done by distributing the questionnaires to the students and conducting interview with the lecturers and students of Public Speaking I class.
The research findings of this data showed that most of the students argued that traditional seating arrangement was good, but not ideal for Public Speaking I class. The students were accustomed to this arrangement because they had been experiencing this seating since the first semester. The students could understand lecturer’s explanation well although some students who sat in the back row had a small problem when they sat there because if they sat in the back row there would be many distractions there. However, some of the students thought that they were not really comfortable with traditional seating arrangement when they had to do group work activities. They had to move heavy chairs or tables to gather with their friends in the group. It could waste time and cause bad sound. Afterwards they did not sit face to face, so that it would be difficult for them to interact with their friends in one group.
There are some suggestions that can be proposed by the researcher. The suggestions are for English Education Study Program, the students and lecturers of Public Speaking I and for the other researchers who would like to conduct further research on the seating arrangement. xiii
ABSTRAK
Hasibuan, Margaretha. 2008. The Students’ and Lecturers’ Perceptions on the
Traditional Seating Arrangement in Public Speaking I class at Sanata Dharma
University. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma UniversityAda dua alasan mengapa penelitian ini dilakukan. Alasan pertama adalah pengaturan tempat duduk dapat mempengaruhi para mahasiswa dan dosen dalam proses belajar mengajar di kelas. Hal ini terkait dengan persepsi mahasiswa dan dosen pada pengaturan tempat duduk dapat mempengaruhi perilaku mahasiswa dan dosen yang kemudian dapat berpengaruh pada perilaku mereka pada proses belajar mengajar. Alasan kedua adalah peneliti ingin meningkatkan dan membenahi pengaturan tempat duduk di kelas Public Speaking I, sehingga para mahasiswa dan dosen merasa nyaman dan termotivasi dalam mengikuti proses belajar mengajar. Alasan tersebut terinspirasi oleh peneliti Alexandra Ramsden tentang pengaturan tempat duduk.
Penilitian ini mencoba untuk menjawab dua pertanyaan, yaitu (1) Bagaimana persepsi para mahasiswa dan dosen tentang pengaturan tempat duduk tradisional? (2) Apakah masukan dari para mahasiswa dan dosen mengenai proses belajar mengajar di kelas Public Speaking I menggunakan pengaturan tempat duduk tradisional?
Untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian diatas, peniliti menerapkan penelitian yang bersifat deskripsi dengan menyebarkan kuesioner kepada mahasiswa Public
Speaking I
class dan melakukan wawancara dengan beberapa mahasisiwa dan dosen Public speaking I. Berdasarkan data yang diperoleh, kebanyakan mahasiswa berpersepsi bahwa pengaturan tempat duduk traditional baik untuk kelas Public Speaking I karena kebanyakan mahasiswa telah terbiasa dengan pengaturan tempat duduk tersebut, mereka telah menggunakan pengaturan tempat duduk tradisional dari semester pertama. Mahasiswa dapat mengerti penjelasan dari dosen dengan baik walaupun beberapa mahasiwa yang duduk di belakang menemui gangguan-gangguan yang mengganggu konsetrasi mereka. Dalam kerja kelompok, kebanyakan mahasiswa tidak nyaman menggunakan pengaturan tempat duduk traditional. Mereka harus memindahkan meja dan kursi yang berat untuk berkumpul dengan teman-teman satu kelompok. Ini dapat menghabiskan waktu dan menyebabkan suara yang tidak enak didengar. Selain itu, mereka tidak merasa nyaman karena mereka tidak duduk berhadap-hadapan sehingga menyulitkan mereka untuk dapat berkomunikasi dan berinteraksi dengan teman-teman lain dalam satu kelompok.
Ada beberapa saran yang dapat diberikan peneliti. Saran-saran tersebut ditujukan untuk prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris , para mahasiswa dan dosen pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, serta untuk peneliti yang ingin melaksanakan penelitian lebih lanjut. xiv
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter provides background information related to the subject matter to
be explored and analyzed, presents the motivation why the researcher intended to do the research on the subject matter, and the general aims of doing the research.
A. Background of the Study
Seating arrangement may play an important role in teaching and learning activities. The arrangement of seating which is comfortable can support and motivate the students to learn harder and seriously in the class. The most beneficial seating arrangement can be determined by the type of learning activities that lecturer plans to focus on the teaching and learning process in the classroom. Seating arrangement is one way to control the classroom; it can promote some activities and communication.
The seating arrangement of the classroom is an important aspect to be considered as a lecturer. Different seating arrangements allow for different types of learning activities and classroom management that the lecturer wants.
The seating arrangement is a main part in a lecturer’s plan for classroom management. The considerations in arranging the physical environment of the room are settled so that teaching and learning can work efficiently. The lecturer needs to be able to walk around the room without the students have to move their desks.
Lecturers need to consider that the students who sit in the front row of the classroom
1
2 tend to interact more frequently with the lecturer and the number of behavioral problems tends to increase when the students sit farther from the teacher. The best arrangement depends on the situation of the class and the activities itself.
According to Nicole Cusick (1999: 2), there are six types of seating arrangement; such as desk rows or traditional seating arrangement, circle or semicircle, clusters or modular, table rows, horseshoe, and pairs. The example of desk row or traditional seating arrangement is in Sanata Dharma University. English Education Study Program at Sanata Dharma University consists of nine base rooms; there are I/K.03, I/K.10, I/K.11, I/K.12, I/K.13, I/K.15, II/K.31, II/K.32, II/K.33. All of them still use traditional seating arrangement with traditional wooden tables and chairs except the room in I/K.11 which is more modern because the form or style of the chairs and tables are not traditional, the table and chair are in one part. The position of seating arrangement and the form of chairs and tables in this university still keeps the old tradition with the traditional tables and chairs consisting of many rows, so there will be the students who sit in the front, middle and back row. The lecturer stands in the front of the room and all of the students’ desks face the lecturer. “Since all of the students are facing forward and the lecturer is in the front of the classroom, he or she is the primary source of knowledge” (Nicole Cusick, 1999:2).
The seating arrangement in traditional seating can encourage the students to focus on the lecturer while he or she is giving a lecture and media used in the class, such as
3 blackboard, overhead projector, screen and other instructional aids in teaching process.
Adams and Biddle (1970: 50) discovered the existence of an “action zone” in the classroom especially in the traditional seating arrangement. This action zone included the students who sit in the middle and front row seats. These students receive more opportunity to talk or interact with their lecturer than others; this is because lecturers tend to stand in front, where their attention is focused on the students in immediate view. In any case, students who sit in this section of the classroom receive more teachers’ attention.
According to Ramsden (1999: 2) which is not really different with Adam and Biddle’s opinion, in traditional seating, the students who sit in the center or front of the classroom tend to interact more frequently with the teacher and the number of behavioral problems tends to increase as the students sit farther from the teacher. It can happen because the space between the students who sit in the front and the teacher is very close, so the teacher can observe the students easier than the students who sit in the back.
Alexandra Ramsden ( 1999: 2) conducted research on seating arrangement. Her findings were with the traditional seating arrangement; it is easy for the teacher to give lectures, whole group instruction, and tests because there is less opportunity for the students to do behavioral distractions. The objective of these activities is to have the students focus and concentrate on the lecture, with minimal distractions.
4 This arrangement is not appropriate for the group discussion and the teaching process tends to be one way. It is good that the students can face forward the teacher directly, but we do not know whether this type of seating arrangement can encourage and motivate the students in teaching and learning process considering that there are students who sit in the front, middle and back which can make the teacher difficult to control all of the students.
The lecturer has to remember that decisions on classroom arrangement should take into account the attractiveness and effectiveness of the course to the students. If the students want to interact but the arrangement inhibits interaction, or if students do not want to interact but the seating is arranged so that interaction demands are high, there will be many opportunities for the students themselves to develop negative affect which can influence the teaching and learning activities in the class.
From the explanation above, it can be said that the seating arrangement can influence the activities in the classroom. This study is going to do the research on Public Speaking I class. Public Speaking I focuses more on spoken language and cooperative learning. In Public Speaking I class, most of the time in the class is used to do group activities like role-play, information gap and debate. So, the seating arrangement in this class must be comfortable for the student to do group work including to move their chairs and tables easily. There is not a special room for speaking, reading and writing. The special room is designed in listening class. Based on the researcher’s experiences, the seating arrangement which is traditional including the form of table and chair is perhaps acceptable for writing or reading
5 class but not in Public Speaking I class because in Public Speaking I class the activities tend to be done in groups work. The seating arrangement should be the arrangement which is comfortable for the students to interact with their friends including the chairs which are easy to be moved. Most of the classrooms at Sanata Dharma University are big classes which consist of many chairs and tables in traditional arrangement. This kind of class can be a big problem for the subjects which need group work task.
According to Gary D. Borich (1996: 78) “in speaking class, group work should entail 60-80 percent of the time to a cooperative activity; the remainder is being devoted to whole class discussion.” In Public Speaking I class, the lecturer has to provide opportunities for students to speak by using group work or pair work. In this class the lecturers should limit their talk, so it will give the opportunity for the students to increase the amount of time speaking in target language during lessons.
So, the seating arrangement in speaking class must be comfortable and easy for the students to interact with the other students in pair work or group work. Traditional seating arrangement is not appropriate for the Public Speaking I class because this arrangement only gives restricted interaction among the students.
This research is intended to explore the perceptions and suggestions of fourth semester students in Public speaking I class and lectures of Public Speaking I on the traditional seating arrangement at Sanata Dharma University. This study would like to address two questions. Firstly, the researcher intends to find what the students’ and lectures’ perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class
6 at Sanata Dharma University are. Secondly, the researcher intends to know what the students’ and lecturers’ suggestions for the teaching and learning activities using the traditional seating arrangement at Sanata University especially in Public Speaking I class are.
B. Problem Identification
Seating arrangements are very important when we think about classroom management. The way a class should be arranged clearly depends on the type of students, the activities in the class and the philosophies of the lectures itself. Sanata Dharma is one of the universities which still uses desk row or traditional seating arrangement, so there will be students who sit in the front, middle and back. Some arguments state that the seating arrangement is important to support students’ learning, lecturers’ teaching process and activities in the class. This research, then, is attempted to observe two major variables exposed here namely: fourth semester students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of Public Speaking
I on the traditional/conventional seating arrangement especially in Public speaking I class.
Public Speaking I is chosen because most of the activities in this subject are group work activities and the possible suggestions to improve and maximize the use of the traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class.
C. Problem Limitation
This study only focuses on the effort to investigate the students’ and lecturers’ of Public Speaking I perceptions and suggestions on the traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class at Sanata Dharma University. This research is
7 also limited to the fourth semester students of English Education Study Program in the academic year of 2006 and some lecturers of Public Speaking I class who teach in the fourth semester. The fourth semester students of Sanata Dharma University are chosen because they still have Public Speaking I class in this semester and they are more experienced with the conventional or traditional seating arrangement than the students in the lower semester. Most of the students in the fourth semester have experienced studying in English Study Program base rooms (I/K.03, I/K.10, I/K.11, I/K.12, I/K13, I/K.15, II/K.31, II/K.32, II/K.33). The researcher chooses Public Speaking I class because in Public Speaking class most of the activities are group work where the students need comfortable class to gather in group. So, it is better to know whether the traditional seating arrangement could influence and support the activities in Public Speaking.
D. Problem Formulation
The problems of the research were formulated in order to show exactly what questions to be answered. Based on the background, problem identification, and problem limitation, the research problems were formulated as follows:
1. What are the students’ and lecturers’ perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class at Sanata Dharma University?
2. What are the students’ and lecturers’ suggestions about the teaching and learning activities using the traditional seating arrangement in the Public Speaking I class?
8 E. Objectives of the Study In relation to the research problems previously stated, the research objectives of this study are:
1. To find the students’ and lecturers’ perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I at Sanata Dharma University.
2. To find the students’ and lectures’ suggestions about teaching and learning activities using the traditional seating arrangement in the Public Speaking I class.
F. Benefits of the Study
The benefits of this study are set as follows:
1. The English Education Study Program It is hoped that based on the students’ and lecturers’ perceptions and suggestions on the traditional seating arrangement, English Education Study Program
Department can improve and maximize the use of seating arrangement which can make the students and lecturers comfortable in the class and support teaching and learning activities in the class and if possible the university can provide a special room for Public Speaking I class.
2. Lecturers who teach Public Speaking I class, especially at Sanata Dharma University
It is expected that English lecturers may use the result of this research as the inputs to encourage the students to study well and seriously in the class with the appropriate seating arrangement. Therefore, the researcher hopes that the research
9 will give suggestions for the lecturers to arrange their own classroom and future students based on the needs which can support teaching and learning process.
3. Students who join Public Speaking I class It is expected that the students are more encouraged when they follow teaching and learning process because the seating arrangement may play an important role in creating atmosphere which can make the students feel comfortable in the class.
4. Future Researchers It is hoped that observers, experts and people who are interested in classroom management especially seating arrangement may be inspired by the outcome of this research to conduct further studies in a wider scope.
G. Definition of Terms
In this study, the researcher uses the terms perception, traditional seating arrangement and Public Speaking I because those terms become the main points of this research that is the students’ and lectures’ perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class at Sanata Dharma University.
1. Perception
According to Altman, et al (1985: 85) perception defined as “the way how people select and group the stimuli so that they can interpret the stimuli meaningfully.” In other words, perception is how the people give meaning to their environment by interpreting the stimuli. “The effect of knowledge and experience are in themselves liable to produce selective perception and the funneling of attention to objects and events about which special knowledge and experience have been
10 acquired” ( Vernon, 1971: 217). In this study, the word ‘perception’ is related to the seating arrangement in the teaching and learning activities. Then the researcher would like to focus the study on the students’ and lecturers’ perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement in Public speaking I class at Sanata Dharma University.
2. Traditional seating arrangement
In this study, traditional seating arrangement is the seating arrangement in all classes at Sanata Dharma University. Alexandra Ramsden (1999: 2) points out that “desk rows are a traditional classroom seating arrangement of several rows of desks facing the teacher.” The student’s desks do not touch each other but are arranged in rows and columns. In this study, the researcher would like to emphasize that what she focuses on this study is the traditional seating arrangement at Sanata Dharma University.
There are advantages and disadvantages using the traditional seating arrangement. According to Don Clark (2001: 1) and Ramsden (1999: 2), the traditional seating arrangement is best used for short lectures. The teacher is often difficult to interact with all of the students especially with the students who sit in the back rows. This arrangement is not appropriate for the group discussion and the teaching process tends to be one way because the teacher only gives the lecture and seldom interacts with the students.
3. Public Speaking I
In this study, Public Speaking I is one of the compulsory courses offered in English Education Study Program which trains the students to be able to
11 communicate in the target language. Speaking is "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" (Chaney, 1998: 13). Speaking is one of skills of the second language learning and teaching. For many years, English teacher just teach speaking as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues. However, in this era of globalization requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules which are appropriate in each communicative circumstance.
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW The main concern of this study is the students’ and lecturers’ perceptions on
the conventional or traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class at Sanata Dharma University. In order to conduct this study, the researcher is going to discuss some literature reviews which provide the background related to this research.
Hence, the researcher is going to first review the nature of various kinds seating arrangement. Second is the nature of Public Speaking I. Then, the researcher will review the theories of perception. After reviewing the background theories, the researcher will then elaborate the theories to describe the steps that the researcher will conduct in order to gather the data needed.
A. Theoretical Description Here, the researcher will review the nature of seating arrangements in educational context, the perception theories and the nature of speaking in order to specify the area that the researcher is going to discuss.
1. Seating Arrangements
a. Traditional Seating arrangement There are many kinds of seating arrangements which are used in classroom.
One of seating arrangements which is used mostly in classroom in Indonesia is conventional or traditional seating arrangement. Although this seating arrangement
12
13 is old fashioned and still keeps old tradition, it still dominates the seating arrangement in the world. A recent survey of classrooms on a university campus found over 90 percent of the classrooms to have this arrangement (Cusick, 1999: 2).
According to Alexandra Ramsden (1999: 2), “conventional seating arrangement is a traditional classroom seating arrangement which consists of several rows of desks facing the teacher.” So, the seating arrangements will consist of rows and columns. In this type of seating the teacher only can move through the rows.
“Because the students only face to one direction toward their teacher, the teacher becomes the primary source of the knowledge” (Cusick, 1999: 2).
Figure 1 Traditional Seating (Alexandra Ramsden, 1999: 1)
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x 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Figure 2 Modified traditional seating (Don Clark, 2001:1)
Some studies also said that seating location or position can influence students’ behavior and students’ achievement in the class. According to Adams and Biddle (1970: 50) most classrooms contain what they call “an “action zone”, an area of the classroom where the teacher spends most of his time on large proportion of his interaction with the students.” In most classrooms, this action zone includes the students who sit in the first row, middle row and the center of aisle. The students who are in action zone are much more active in the classroom than the others who sit in the back. In many cases, the students who sit in the front usually dominate discussion and get a large proportion of the teacher‘s attention. Students who sit at the back of the room seldom interact with their teacher because they are out from teacher’s control, so they are much less active in the class discussion.