Students` perception of the use of internet in writing VI course in english language education study program of Sanata Dharma University - USD Repository
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE USE OF INTERNET
IN WRITING VI COURSE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY
PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Sri Ratnasari Sindu Lestari
St. Number : 03 1214 124
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2007
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE USE OF INTERNET
IN WRITING VI COURSE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY
PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Sri Ratnasari Sindu Lestari
St. Number : 03 1214 124
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
Kuminta pada Tuhan setangkai bunga mawar yang indah dan segar, tetapi Ia memberiku kaktus jelek dan berduri.
Kuminta kupu- kupu yang indah warna warni, tetapi diberiNya ulat.
Yach aku kecewa dan sedih Beberapa hari kemudian kaktus itu berbunga indah sekali dan ulat itu menjadi kupu- kupu yang cantik Baru aku sadar bahwa itulah jalan Tuhan. Selalu indah pada waktunya
Kadang kenyataan hidup itu begitu menyedihkan, banyak hal tidak sesuai dengan yang kita harapkan bahkan doakan, Tetapi suatu hal yang perlu kita ingat bahwa tangan Tuhan sedang merenda suatu karya yang indah dan mulia.
(Unknown) I dedicate this thesis to my beloved late father and my lovely mother
And for all my family
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like thank God, Allah SWT, for His blessing and giving me a very wonderful life. I love Him.
My biggest gratitude goes to my major sponsor, Drs. Pius Nurwidasa
Prihatin, M.Ed., for his time and consistent support in guiding me in finishing this
thesis. I am also in great debt to my co- sponsor Caecilia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd., for giving me her thoughtful understanding, helpful suggestions and positive advices.
I would also like to address my thankfulness to Fidelis Chosa K., S. Pd, Y.
Veniranda, S.Pd., M. Hum., Ag. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd, M.A., on their comments
and suggestions that help me much in finishing this thesis. I really appreciate their helps.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd.,
M.Pd, Gregorius Punto Aji, S.Pd., M.Hum., Markus Budiraharjo, S.Pd., M.Ed.
for giving me permission to distribute the questionnaires in their writing VI classes. I also thank Writing VI students Academic Year of 2006/2007 for being my respondents and giving me information needed in completing this thesis. I also thank
Jodi, Retno, Lisa, Dika, Sigit, Voni, Agnes, Paskalina, Festi, and Bram for their
willingness to be interviewed in order to complete the data for this thesis. Without their participation, I would not have obtained the data needed for my research.
My sincere appreciation goes, as always to my family. I dedicate this thesis especially to my late beloved father, Dollah Syamsuri, who always gave me love and support in doing this thesis before he passed away. I also dedicate this thesis to my mother, Suwarni, who always prays for me and gives me endless love and support. I am nothing without my parents.
I also thank my brothers and sisters: Mas Kelik, Mbak Iwuk, Mbak Tuti,
Mas Ipung, Mbak Ira, Mas Didik, Mbak Ari, Mbak Rini and Mas Bowo. I thank
them for all their supports, love, and prayer for me in achieving my dream. I also thank all my nephews and nieces, Jalu, Nana, Wisnu, Sindu, Elok, Adya, Ahnaf,
and Puput for the pleasant day we share together.
I am deeply grateful for my friends, Winny Aditya , Yessy, and Deni. Keep our friendship forever. Great appreciation goes to Bonaventura Dono Wiratmo and
Yoko Sentosa. I thank them for their willingness to help me finishing this study. I
also thank Joe, Mas Danang, Lintang, Iqho, Buyung, and Nani for their help, information, and support to finish this thesis.
My deepest gratitude goes to Suryo Prabowo Wicaksono, for all the great love and support he gave to me. I feel so fortunate that I have been able to know him.
I would like also to say thank the Secretariat staff of the English Education
Study Program, the SAC staffs, and the Library Staff of Sanata Dharma
University. I thank them for the excellent services.I also thank all people I could not mention here. I thank them for their supports and prayers.
Sindu Lestari
STATEMENTS OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis which I wrote does not contain the works or part of the works of other people, except those cited in quotations and bibliography, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, September 25 , 2007 Sri Ratnasari Sindu L.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PageTITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE ........................................................................................... ii
APPROVAL PAGE ........................................................................................... iii
DEDICATION PAGE ........................................................................................ iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... v
STATEMENTS OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ............................................. vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... viii
LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................... x
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................. xi
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ xii
ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................ xiii
I.CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ....................................................................... 1 B. The Limitation of the Study ................................................................... 3 C. Problem Formulation ............................................................................. 3 D. Objectives of the Study .......................................................................... 4 E. The benefits of the Study ....................................................................... 4 F. Definition of Terms ............................................................................... 6 II. CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Theoretical Description ......................................................................... 9
1. Perception ............................................................................................... 9
2. Students’ Characteristics ......................................................................... 15
3. Internet in Education ............................................................................... 17
4. Writing Proficiency ................................................................................. 19
III.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Method ................................................................................................... 25 B. Respondent ............................................................................................ 26 C. Setting .................................................................................................... 27 D. Instruments ............................................................................................ 27
1. Questionnaire ............................................................................................ 27
2. Interview ................................................................................................... 30
E. Data Gathering Techniques ................................................................... 31
F. Data Analysis Techniques ..................................................................... 32
G. Research Procedures .............................................................................. 34 IV.
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A. Data Presentation from the Questionnaire ............................................... 35 B. Data Presentation from the Interview ...................................................... 41 C. Discussion ................................................................................................ 43 V. CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions .............................................................................................. 47 B. Suggestions .............................................................................................. 48
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................... 50
VII. APPENDICES ............................................................................................ 53
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE ..................................................................... 53 APPENDIX B INTERVIEW ............................................................................... 57 APPENDIX C DATA .......................................................................................... 58 APPENDIX D WRITING VI SYLLABUS ......................................................... 67
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1. Questionaire Blueprint ....................................................................... 28Table 3.2. Frequency of Questionnaire Distribution ........................................... 32Table 3.3. Central Tendency ............................................................................... 33Table 4.1. Questionaire Distribution ................................................................... 36Table 4.2. Data Presentation of the Questionnaire .............................................. 36
ABSTRACT
Ratnasari, Sri Sindu Lestari.(2007). Students’ Perceptions of the Use of Internet in
English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University.
Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma UniversityIn learning, the use of the Internet is helpful for learners. They can get much knowledge and many sources to support their learning. People believed that Internet could give contribution in learning because Internet is an interesting medium for the students. It makes the students motivated in learning. In Sanata Dharma University, especially English Education Study Program, the students often browse the Internet in order to do weekly task of writing VI. Lecturers of the course in class A, C, D, and E provide a website (www.writing6.wordpress.com), which contains weekly tasks and several good examples of research papers.
The problem to be solved is: What are the students’ perceptions of the use of Internet in writing VI class? And this study itself has an objective to answer the reserach problem. This study aims at exploring and figuring out the students’ perception of the use of the Internet in Writing VI classes and of Internet’s contribution toward the writing proficiency.
To solve the problem in this study, the writer conducted a survey research by distributing questionnaires consisting items related to perceptions and interview to get some additional information. The respondents and sources of data of this research were the sixth semester students from four writing classes in the academic year of 2006/2007 at the English Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University. There were five writing classes in English Education Study Program. However, the researcher took four classes as the respondents. There were 65 respondents from Class
A, Class C, Class D and Class E. Actually, there was also Class B, but the researcher HTU UTH did not include the Class B students, as this class does not use www.writing6.wordpress.com .
Based on the data gathered, most of the students have positive perception of the use of Internet and Internet’s contributions toward their writing proficiency. Internet is considered as a good supporting medium for English language learning, especially in writing proficiency.
ABSTRAK
Ratnasari, Sri Sindu Lestari.(2007). Students’ Perceptions of the Use of Internet in
English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University.
Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata DharmaKegunaan Internet sangat membantu siswa dalam belajar. Mereka dapat memperoleh banyak ilmu dan berbagai macam sumber untuk mendukung belajar mereka. Internet dipercaya dapat memberikan kontribusi dalam belajar. Hal ini dikarenakan Internet adalah media yang menarik bagi siswa. Hal tersebut membuat siswa menjadi lebih termotivasi dalam belajar. Di Universitas Sanata Dharma, khususnya Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, siswa sering mengakses Internet untuk mengerjakan tugas mingguan mata kulih Writing VI. Dosen-dosen mata kuliah Writing VI menyediakan website (www.writing6.wordpress.com), yang berisi tugas- tugas mingguan dan beberapa contoh tentang karya ilmiah yang baik.
Pertanyaan penelitian yang perlu dijawab adalah: Bagaimanakah persepsi siswa terhadap penggunan Internet di mata kuliah Writing VI. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian. Penelitian ini meneliti dan menjelaskan tentang persepsi siswa terhadap penggunaan Internet dan kontribusi Internet terhadap ketrampilan menulis siswa. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian, peneliti menggunakan metode survey dengan menyebarkan kuesioner yang berisi hal- hal yang berkaitan dengan persepsi. Peneliti juga melakukan interview terhadap responden. Responden dan sumber data dalm penelitian ini adalah siswa semester 6 yang mengambil mata kuliah Writing VI tahun ajaran 2006/2007 di Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Ada lima kelas Writing di Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris. Akan tetapi, responden di penelitian ini adalah responden dari empat kelas. Ada 65 responden dari kels A, kelas C, kelas D, dan kelas E. Sebenarnya, ada juga kelas B, akan tetapi, peneliti tidak mengikutsertakan siswa kelas B sebagai responden, karena kelas tersebut tidak HTU UTH menggunakan www.writing6.wordpress.com . Berdasarkan data yang diperoleh, sebagian besar siswa mempunyai persepsi yang positif terhadap penggunaan Internet dan kontribusi Internet terhadap ketrampilan menulis siswa. Internet di anggap sebagai media pendukung yang bagus untuk pembelajaran bahasa Inggris, khususnya ketrampilan menulis.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This introductory chapter gives a description about this study. It provides
background information related to the subject matter, presents why the researchers intended to do the research on it, and the general aims of doing this research.
This chapter consists of six parts. They are the background, the limitation of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, the benefits of the study and the definition of terms.
A. Background of the Study
Technology has been used widely in human life. It exists in many parts of human life including education (Roblyer and Edward, 2000: 12). One of the technologies used in education is computer. Computer can be used in learning English as a teaching aid. The attractive and challenging materials using computer will be helpful to attract students’ interest to study. In addition, as a machine, computer is ready anytime the students feel motivated to learn with it.
Nowadays, technologies have been developed. One of them is Internet. It can serve everything people need. We just have to browse what we want through the web.
In learning, the use of internet is also helpful for learners. They can get much knowledge and many sources to support their learning. People believed that Internet could give contribution in learning because Internet is an interesting medium for the students. It makes the students motivated in learning. Roblyer and Edwards support that statement. They state (2000:243), “Internet in education provides unexpectedly powerful support for language arts and English activities, and the students are motivated in learning language”.
In Sanata Dharma University, especially English Education Study Program, the students often browse the Internet in order to do weekly task of writing VI. Lecturers of the course in class A, C, D, and E (Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd, Gregorius Punto Aji, S.Pd., M.Hum., Markus Budiraharjo, S.Pd., M.Ed) provide a website, which contains weekly tasks and several good examples of research papers. The website is www.writing6.wordpress.com.
This study aims to know the students’ perceptions of the use of Internet in writing class. Do they perceive the use of Internet in the positive or negative way? The study of perception in this context is important because as Altman (1985: 85) says that, “The way students perceive on something, whether it is in positive or negative way, influences the students’ behavioral responses”. The behavioral responses can also be positive or negative. Szilagyi and Wallace (1980 : 70) state that human perception results in human behavior: positive perception leads to positive behavior and vice
,
versa. Therefore if the students perceive the use of Internet in a positive way, the students’ behavioral responses will be positive too. This will support the teaching learning activities and the course goal achievement. However, if the students perceive the use of Internet in negative way, the students’ behavioral responses will be negative too.
Understanding the perception of the students of the use of Internet is important to know how the students perceive the use of the Internet. This study also wants to know how the students perceive the Internet contributions in improving their English contributes directly to the use of teaching learning media which is the important aspect in English language teaching. The result of this study will show how the students perceive the use of Internet and Internet’s contributions toward their writing proficiency. By having positive perception of the use of Internet, the students have realized that Internet is beneficial for them to accomplish writing VI exercises. That is why information about this study is important because we know Internet is a good media for English Language learning.
Seeing the importance of knowing how the students perceive the use of Internet to accomplish their Writing VI exercises and to improve their writing proficiency, there is a need to conduct a research on this topic.
B. The Limitation of the Study
Teeler and Peta conducted a research on the use of Internet in Engish Language Teaching and learning. One of his findings was Internet is considered as a medium for exploration and supporting references for English Language Learning (Teeler and Peta, 2000). Inspired by Teeler’s and Peta’s research and considering that perception influences student’s behaviors, which then leads to the student’s achievement in learning, the researcher is interested in conducting this research.
English writing skill is taught in almost every levels of education, starting from elementary school, junior and senior high school, as well as university. However, the researcher will only conduct her research on the university. Since the scope of university is still too broad, narrowing down the scope is necessary. The scope is then reason is that this course has a web and the students use Internet to do writing VI exercises.
The researcher limited this study on the way the students of Sanata Dharma University, especially of English Education Study program, perceive the use of Internet in Writing VI classes and its contributions toward writing proficiency.
C. Problem Formulation
The researcher formulates the problem as follows: What are PBI students’ perceptions of the use of Internet in Writing VI class?
D. Objectives of the Study
The objective of this study is to answer the problem previously stated. This study aims at exploring and figuring out the students’ perception of the use of the Internet in Writing VI classes.
E. The Benefits of the Study
This study is expected to give positive contribution on English language teaching, especially to:
1. Lecturers who teach Writing subject, in Sanata Dharma University This study provides information about how the students perceive and understand about the use of Internet in Writing VI class. The students’ perceptions are various, and the variations lead the students to get different achievement. The lecturer might then scrutinize the negative perceptions of the students in order to find out some
Moreover, as the researcher also attempts to investigate the students’ perceptions on Internet’s contributions toward their writing proficiency, the lecturers will be also to see these perceptions. If the students perceive Internet’s contributions positively, the lecturer could have positive expectation toward the use of Internet in Writing VI class. On the other hand, if the students do not perceive any contributions toward their writing proficiency, the lecturers might review again the use of Internet, and if possible, the lecturers might make some reflections on the effectiveness of the use of Internet to accomplish students’ tasks. The lecturer might renew their strategy in teaching through Internet. Hopefully, new strategy in teaching can improve the students’ achievements.
2. Writing VI Students This study shows what actually the general perception of the students toward the use of Internet is. By knowing the data result, the students who have not had positive perception yet might have a more positive perception of Internet by improving their strategy on working with Internet. They use the Internet maximally and well in doing their writing exercises in order to have better writing products 3.
English Education Field This research explores how the students perceive the Internet in order to help them in doing the writing VI exercises. If the students perceive the use of Internet positively, Internet might to be applied to other subjects in English education Study Program Sanata Dharma University. Internet might be used in various and creative ways for every subject related to English Language education field.
4. Future researchers
The researcher hoped that this research inspire future researchers who concern to this field. They can conduct similar research related to the use of Internet as a supporting tool in Writing VI class. Other researchers may also enrich the existing research and to provide further discussion on the use of Internet.
F. Definition of Terms
Definition of terms is used in this study to avoid misunderstanding. The terms are:
1. Perception
Kreitner and Kinicki (1992: 126) define, “perception is a mental and cognitive process that enables people to interpret and understand the surroundings”. According to Szilagyi and Wallace (1980: 70), they says, “perception is defined as the process by which individuals attend to incoming stimuli, organize and then interpret such stimuli into a message that in turn indicates an appropriate action or behavior”.
In the study, perception refers to how the students feel, think about, and consider about the use of Internet in writing VI class and its contributions toward their writing proficiency.
2. Writing Proficiency
Writing proficiency is one’s ability to put down his ideas, ideals, imaginations or whatever he has in mind on one piece of writing, by knowledge of the language which covers: correct forms of the language on the sentence level, mechanics of punctuation and content organization
3. Internet
Internet is equal to World Wide Web, therefore when we hear “the Internet”, the person could be referring to the World Wide Web. Web is a system which has function for keeping, taking, formatting, and showing the information through client or HT TH server ( Levine, 1997: 5). He also adds that web can combine texts, pictures, sounds, and even animation that enable you to move just by clicking your mouse. Web is very useful source of information, and most of the information on it is free. We should try searching for information we are interested in through the web, and we will probably be surprised at how much information we can find
In this study, the Internet refers to the students’ source of information used in Writing VI class to support their learning in this course. There is also web provided HT TH by the lecturers. The web is www.writing6.wordpress.com .
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW This chapter reviews the theories that are going to be used in this study. This
chapter consists of two parts. They are literature review and theoretical framework. The literature review presents the main theories which are used as the references in this study. The theoretical framework presents the outline of the specific theories which are used as the guideline to answer the problems of this study.
The main concern of this study is the students’ perceptions of the use of Internet and of its contributions toward writing proficiency. In order to conduct this research, the researcher will discuss some literature reviews which provide the references or theories related to this research. The theories in this chapter will be discussed in order to answer several questions. The questions are:
1. What constitutes good perception and bad perception? 2.
What are the characteristics of the students?
3. What are the characteristics or the nature of the use of Internet in learning to write?
4. Do the characteristics of the students lead to good perception or bad perception?
5. Does the nature of the Internet or the use of Internet lead to good perception or bad perception? Hence, the researcher is going to, first, review the nature of perception, because this research aims to know what the students’ perceptions of the use of Internet in writing VI class are. The discussion about perception is also needed to answer the first question, that is, what constitutes good and bad perception. The readers will have clear description about how one person can be categorized to have good or bad perception.
Then, the researcher will review the characteristics of the students. This discussion is needed to know the students’ characteristics that lead to good perception or bad perception. In addition, the researcher will also discuss nature of Internet in education, especially the nature of Internet in learning to write. This discussion is needed to know what the characteristics of the use of Internet in learning to write that lead to good or bad perception. The researcher will also review the characteristics of writing proficiency, because this study also concern about students’ perceptions on the Internet’s contributions toward their writing proficiency.
A. Theoretical Description
This part presents some theories as the references in this study. As has been stated above, the researcher will discussed four elements which is important to be reviewed in order to answers the problem formulation. Four elements that are going to be discussed in detail are: Perception, Students’ Characteristics, Internet in Education, and Writing Proficiency.
1. Perception
Firstly, the researcher is going to discuss about perception. The discussion of perception is needed because this research aims to know what the students’ perceptions of the use of Internet in writing VI class are. The discussion about perception is also needed to answer the first question that the researcher have made as the guideline to answer the problem formulation. The researcher will discuss what constitutes good and bad perception.
Here, the researcher will review the perception theories in order to specify the area that the researcher is going to discuss. In this section, the researcher will discuss what perception is. The researcher also discusses the factors that influence someone’s perception.
There are several theories about perception. Robbins (2001: 121- 122) says, “Perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment”. This statement is supported by Borger and Seaborne (1982: 126). They state, “Perception is an awareness of the environment, through which a person processes incoming sensory data in certain way to arrive at useful impression of his surroundings”. Mozkowitz and Orgel (1969: 158) argue, “Perception is a global response to a stimulus or a set of stimuli”. Kreitner and Kinicki (1992: 126) add, “Perception is a mental and cognitive process that enables people to interpret and understand the surroundings”.
From those definitions, perception is viewed as the responses to a stimulus or to the surroundings through their mental and cognitive processes. Those responses occur in people’s awareness to the stimuli for people get the incoming data from the stimuli through their sensory receptors. Then, these responses will be interpreted as meaningful information about the stimuli and so called perceptions.
Robbins (2001:122) adds that, “Perception can also be defined as conscious mental processes of observing, viewing, responding, and understanding, in which someone gives a meaning on the stimulus he receives”. Perception does not solely involve sensory processes for it is also a mental process. In addition, Hardy and Heyes
(1988: 85) states that “the basic form of perception is people’s born talent, meanwhile perceptional ability is the result of learning, which is determined by the environment”.
Someone who receives the sensory data through their sensory receptors cannot automatically perceive the data into perception. He still needs further process and information to know exactly what the sensory data is. It is the role of the brain for interpreting those incoming sensory data and for giving a meaningful translation toward the stimuli.
When someone experiences a stimulus, he may have sensation and perception processes. Those processes are different things, which are quite difficult to be separated completely although they exist together. This statement is supported by Bootzin et al.(1983: 103). They say that it is impossible to separate perception from sensation.
However, the primary difference between perception and sensation can still be seen.
The primary difference is that sensation can be thought of as an organism’s first encounter with a raw sensory stimulus, while perception is the process by which it is interpreted, analyzed, integrated with other sensory information.
(Feldman, 1990: 127) When someone experiences a stimulus, by having sensation, he may receive the stimulus directly without any process to interpret, analyze, and understand about it.
If someone believes that stimulus will bring his needs, it will cause him to have positive perception toward the stimulus. This positive perception also occurs when someone has a big expectation toward the stimulus. The difference in someone’s needs and expectations when experiencing something causes the differences of perceptions from one person to another.
Expectations and previous experience constantly interact with one another to influence our perceptions of sensory events. Perception is also substantially influenced by our motivation and needs. When in a particular motivational state, with tend to notice stimuli that in the past have been associated with the satisfaction of that state. Our expectation, past experiences, and psychological states combine, setting us to perceive the world in certain ways.
(Bootzin et al., 1983:119-120) Perception toward something can affect one’s behavior toward it. Perceptions play a role when someone understands the stimuli he receives by which he determines the behavior as the response to the stimuli.
According to Szilagyi and Wallace (1980: 70), “Perception is defined as the process by which individuals attend to incoming stimuli, organize and then interpret such stimuli into a message that in turn indicates an appropriate action or behavior”. Stimuli can derive from outside and inside of individuals. And although some individuals receive the same stimulus, the individuals can have different perception due to individuals’ different experience, thinking abilities and framework, and expectation. Hence, perception is personal.
Robbins (2001: 122- 124) states that, “Perception has three components’. They are a perceiver, target and the situation in which the perception is occurring. Each of these components influences the perceiver’s impression or interpretation of the target. First impressions are important in forming the perception toward certain stimuli. When someone is interested in perceiving certain stimulus at the first time, he will intend to know and learn more about it. Having good impressions can encourage someone to learn about it. These impressions will ultimately lead to the positive perceptions, in which the person feels happy and likes the thing. In contrary, having bad impressions will lead people to have negative perceptions, in which people will feel unhappy and dislike the thing. Therefore, if the students have good impression toward Internet, it is positively expected that he or she will perceive Internet positively.
The perceiver’s or the student’s experience, need, and emotions can affect his or her perception on the target. One of the most important characteristics of the perceiver that influences his or her target is experience. Past experience leads the perceiver to develop expectations, and these expectations affect current perception. If the students have pleasant experiences of using Internet, he or she will expect that Internet is beneficial in helping him to do his tasks. Thus, if students have pleasant and beneficial experience in using Internet, it is possible those students will have good perception, or that they perceive Internet positively.
Characteristics of the target that is being observed can affect what is perceived. Motion, sound, size, and other attributes of a target shape the way we see it. Internet is considered as a medium which have highly graphic and full of images. Internet also provides sources for English language learning. It may attract the students’ attentions that influence how they perceive Internet.
According to Robbins (2001), every perception occurs in some situational context, and this context can affect what one perceives. The most important effect that the situation can make is adding information about the target. The press of time will literally force the manager to overlook some details, to rush certain activities and to ignore certain stimuli such as request from other managers or from superiors (Gibson et al., 1985:67). People tend to work quickly when they do not have much time. Because of the limitation of time, people pay less attention to the factor, which might affect the work outcomes. They make decision about certain thing without further understanding on their perceptions toward the problem. Based on this theory, in the use of Internet in writing VI class, students will make perception on the use of Internet with further understanding about it.
There are six factors that influence someone’s perception. They are stereotyping, selectivity, self- concept, situation, needs, and emotions. Stereotype is a set of thinking in a particular group that generalized to all members of group or we can say it people’s mind set (Gibson et al, 1985: 64). People have set some knowledge in their mind, even if they do not know those knowledge is true or not. If most people consider that Internet is a good media to support learning, the students will set this in his or her mind. Then, he or she will perceive Internet positively.
In selectivity, it is impossible for us to catch all the stimuli that exist in our environment. Only certain stimuli are taken and we process them in our brain. It is caused by our interest of those stimuli. We make a perception based on something that we want to choose. It is supported by Gibson et al. (1985: 66) who says that people tend to ignore information or cues that might them feel discomfort. People have various interests so they may select what is important or what is relevant to fulfill their needs. This is why people perceive things differently. In the use of the Internet, people will ignore it and give bad perception on it if those people do not select the stimuli because they do not have any interest on it.
The way we see ourselves in the form of self- concept will affect our perception about something in our environment. When one person is successful in knowing his/ her self- concept, the perception about something can be seen accurately. When a student knows that he is lazy in doing tasks, he realizes that he should not be lazy in doing writing VI exercises, because he will not get good mark. He needs Internet that makes him motivated to do the exercises. Therefore, he will have good perception on the use of Internet.
Perceptions are significantly influenced by needs and desires (Gibson et al. to do. In choosing a cloth, people choose based on their needs and expectations. Each person may have different style in fashion, needs, and expectation in choosing their clothes. It also happens in the use of Internet in writing VI class. Students will perceive Internet as good if they need it to find several references or knowledge to support their learning and they have desire to do the tasks seriously to get a good mark. They expect that Internet can help them accomplish their writing VI exercises.
Emotions such as anger, happiness, or fear can influence human perceptions. Gibson et al. (1985:68) supports this through his statement that strong emotions often distort perceptions. If the students enjoy, feel discomfort, and interested in using Internet, they may have positive perception on it.
In this study, the researcher focuses on how the students perceive the use in internet in writing VI class and Internet’s contributions toward writing proficiency.
This study uses definition which is synthesized from the definitions of perception above. Perception is then defined as a response to a stimulus or to a surrounding through mental and cognitive processes or through their feeling or thinking. This study wants to know how a student observes, views, responds, and understand the use of Internet as media in writing VI class. Then, he or she draws a meaning on it, or in short, perceives it as an important and beneficial medium which gives contributions to the improvement of writing proficiency.
2. Students’ Characteristics
After having discussion about perception, the researcher discusses about students’ characteristics. It aims to know whether students’ characteristics lead to good or bad perception on the use of Internet in Writing VI class.
In some psychology books, there are some theories to differentiate adolescence and adult. Hurlock (1994: 207) states, “Adolescence is a period when people have a shifting period from child to adult”. While Hurlock states that in adult period, people adjust themselves to the environment. They focus on job, married, and family.
Wirawan (1994: 5) defines, “Young people in the age of 14 up to 21 are categorized as Adolescence”. And the adolescence do not orient to the career and job.
The respondents of this study are students of 2004. Their ages are approximately 20 or 21, therefore, they are generally categorized as adolescence or the last stage of adolescence.
Another theory about adolescence came up from Csikszentimihalyi & Larson. They (1984:19) say, “Adolescence is period when people have some changes in mental development. These changes are signed with the changes from entropi to negentropi”.
Entropi is the condition in which there is no balance in human feeling, mind, and knowledge. While, negentropi is the condition in which the people have clear goal in his life, no doubt in facing the life, and have good self-concept. Adolescence have clearer goal to be achieved and better self-concept than children. From the previous discussion in perception section, self-concept is one of the factors that affect perception. The better the self-concept people have, the better their perception will be.
Therefore, the respondents are positively expected to have good perception of the use of Internet in writing VI class.
Wirawan (1994:25) adds that adolescence have some characteristics, such as: having big interest toward intellectual functions, looking for new experiences, and having high need for achievement. Students in the adolescence period are interested to gain knowledge. They are also interested in looking for new and challenging experiences. By using Internet, they can get knowledge which support their learning. They can also get some experiences in using Internet.
Adolescence also has need for achievement. Good achievement gives satisfaction and popularity for the students. That is why in adolescence period, the students try to do the best to get good achievement in their study. In writing class, the students may use Internet to help them in achieving good achievement. It is positively expected that they perceive Internet positively.
Hurlock (1994:219) states, “Adolescence tends to adapt with new modern technology and up to date things in their surrounding”. It occurs because they want to be accepted by their friends. Therefore, it has great possibility that the writing VI students like Internet, because Internet is one of the new modern technologies. Their interests may lead to the good perception of the use of Internet.
3. Internet in Education
The researcher will also discuss about the nature of Internet. This discussion is needed to know whether the use of Internet leads to good perception or bad perception.
Internet -is also well known as Net- is the biggest computer network in the HT TH world ( Levine, 1997: 4). Actually, internet is a group of networks which each of network can transfer information to one another.
The internet is the same as World Wide Web, when we hear someone speaks of “the internet”, the person may be referring to the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web, sometimes called the web or www, is massive computer database. Web is a system which has function for keeping, taking, formatting, and showing the HT TH information through client or server ( Levine, 1997: 5). Web can combine texts, pictures, sounds, and even animation that enable you to move just by clicking your mouse.
Web is a very useful source of information, and most of the information on it is free. We should try searching for information we are interested in through the web, and we will probably be surprised at how much information we can find. We can believe that web becomes more and more important for teaching, research, learning, and business. That is why web is a valuable source of information in teaching. Web is therefore a virtual library: it is a readily available world of information for the language learner.