The Meaning of learning english to international class students of University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta.

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ABSTRACT

Irna Stania. 2015. The Meaning of Learning English to International Class Students of University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

It is generally accepted that university students, especially international undergraduate program students, need to improve their mastery of the English language. As they are in international class, the use of English in almost all teaching-learning there is quite significant. They present, discuss and write in English. They have enough exposure in using English, so it is interesting to explore more on their lived experiences in learning English.

A lived experience means people’s everyday experiences of phenomenon. It has phenomenal aspect in the experience that can be reflectively grasped or interpreted. A particular lived experience as a part of a system of related experiences is explicated from it through the process of reflection on its meaning. Therefore, lived experience has a certain essence to retrospect. In relation to this,

this study attempted to describe participants’ lived experience in learning English

and interpret it.

Thestudy was to assess the participants’ lived experiences,and therefore the phenomenological approach was used. To gain the text, in-depth interviews were employed as the main text gathering instrument. Meanwhile, re-interviews then reconfirming the transcribed and written texts served as supporting text gathering instruments which were necessary for the data triangulation. The research was conducted at University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta in which two international undergraduate program student participants learnt English. The texts were systematically categorized through a coding process and continuously interpreted during the course of the research in order to make interpreted themes of significant statements of participants’ experiences. The research was conducted

from November 2014 to February 2015.

The following are the findings of this research. Among the most significant lived experience emerging from the participants’ are the interpreted theme connected tothe body and mind and interpreted theme connected to God. Each of the themes has being happy, being worried, being confused, being unsecured, being uncomfortable, being respectful, being grateful, being challenged, and being accommodated as sub-themes. Both participants shared what actually happened in the past and their feelings during the English classes. These two themes need to be highlighted. In my opinion, this categorization plays important role in the way I interpret the meaning of theparticipants’ texts.

The benefits of the study to participants are they become more reflective, and goal focused; to researcher is that it helps to be more self-actualized in assisting students to reach the highest level of need – self-actualization level – in particular and has enhanced pre-understanding of the topic under the discussion

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that is the lived experiences of the participants; to the audience is that by lived experiencing learning English without the necessity of actually experiencing it, will be able to furthermore reach empathic understanding.

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ABSTRAK

Irna Stania. 2015. The Meaning of Learning English to International Class Students of University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). Yogyakarta: Program Pasca Sarjana, Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Hal yang berlaku umum pada mahasiswa, terutama mahasiswa kelas Internasional adalah mereka perlu meningkatkan penguasaan bahasa Inggris. Karena mereka berada di kelas internasional, penggunaan bahasa Inggris di hampir semua kegiatan belajar-mengajar cukup signifikan. Mereka menyajikan presentasi, berdiskusi dan menulis dalam bahasa Inggris. Mereka memiliki eksposur yang cukup dalam menggunakan bahasa Inggris, sehingga sangat menarik untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman hidup mereka dalam belajar bahasa Inggris lebih lanjut.

Pengalaman hidup adalah fenomena pengalaman sehari-hari orang-orang. Pengalaman hidup tersebut memiliki aspek fenomenal dalam kisah yang bisa direnungkan atau ditafsirkan. Pengalaman hidup tertentu sebagai bagian dari sistem pengalaman terkait dijabarkan melalui proses refleksi pada maknanya. Oleh karena itu, pengalaman hidup memiliki esensi tertentu untuk retrospeksi. Sehubungan dengan ini, penelitian ini berusaha untuk menggambarkan pengalaman hidup peserta penelitian dalam belajar bahasa Inggris dan menafsirkannya.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menilai pengalaman hidup peserta penelitian, oleh karena itu proyek ini menggunakan pendekatan fenomenologis. Untuk mendapatkan cerita pengalaman, penelitian ini menggunakan wawancara yang mendalam sebagai instrumen utama pengumpulan teks. Sementara itu, mengulang wawancara guna menegaskan kembali teks yang ditranskrip dan ditulis menjadi instrumen pengumpulan teks pendukung yang diperlukan untuk triangulasi data. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta di mana dua mahasiswa program internasional mengikuti kuliah bahasa Inggris. Kumpulan kisah pengalaman peserta secara sistematis diberi kategori melalui proses pemberian kode dan selanjutnya ditafsirkan selama penelitian berlangsung guna mendapatkan tema yang ditafsirkan dari pernyataan pengalaman peserta yang signifikan. Penelitian ini berlangsung sejak bulan November 2014 sampai dengan Februari 2015.

Berikut ini adalah hasil penelitian ini. Di antara pengalaman hidup yang paling signifikan yang muncul dari peserta adalah tema yang ditafsirkan sebagai sesuatu yang terkait dengan tubuh dan pikiran dan tema yang terkait dengan Tuhan. Kedua tema itu memiliki sub-tema sebagai berikut; rasa bahagia, rasa khawatir, perasaan bingung, perasaan tidak aman, perasaan tidak nyaman, perasaan dihargai, rasa syukur, merasa mendapatkan tantangan, dan perasaan terbantukan. Kedua peserta berbagi apa benar-benar terjadi di masa lalu dan apa yang mereka rasakan selama belajar bahasa Inggris. Kedua tema ini perlu

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digarisbawahi. Menurut pendapat saya, kategorisasi ini memainkan peran penting dalam menafsirkan makna kisah pengalaman peserta.

Manfaat penelitian ini bagi peserta adalah agar mereka menjadi lebih reflektif, dan fokus pada tujuan; bagi peneliti bahwa hal ini membantu untuk lebih beraktualisasi diri dalam membantu siswa mencapai khususnya tingkat kebutuhan tertinggi - tingkat aktualisasi diri dan meningkatkan pemahaman tentang topik diskusi tentang pengalaman hidup peserta; bagi pembaca yaitu mengalami belajar bahasa Inggris tanpa harus benar-benar mengalaminya, dan selanjutnya untuk mencapai pemahaman empatik.

Kata kunci: fenomenologi, pengalaman hidup, belajar bahasa Inggris, reflektif, pemahaman empatik

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THE MEANING OF LEARNING ENGLISH TO

INTERNATIONAL CLASS STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF

MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M.Hum.)

in English Language Studies

by Irna Stania

Student number: 10 6332 006

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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THE MEANING OF LEARNING ENGLISH TO

INTERNATIONAL CLASS STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF

MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M.Hum.)

in English Language Studies

by Irna Stania

Student number: 10 6332 006

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2015

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A THESIS

THE MEANING OF LEARNING ENGLISH TO

INTERNATIONAL CLASS STUDENTS OF

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

Irna Stania 10 6332 006

Approved by

Dr. J. Bismoko ______________________ Supervisor Yogyakarta, July 29, 2015

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A THESIS

MEANING OF LEARNING ENGLISH TO INTERNATIONAL

CLASS STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH

YOGYAKARTA

by Irna Stania 10 6332 006

Defended before the Thesis Committee and Declared Acceptable

THESIS COMMITTEE

Chairperson : Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A _______________

Secretary : Dr. J Bismoko _______________

Members : 1. F.X. Mukarto, M.S., Ph.D. _______________

2. Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A.______________

Yogyakarta, August 20, 2015 The Graduate School Director Sanata Dharma University

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that all the ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise stated, are the ideas, phrases and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else’s ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper reference.

Yogyakarta, July 29, 2015

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma

Nama : Irna Stania

Nomor Mahasiswa : 106332006

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

THE MEANING OF LEARNING ENGLISH TO

INTERNATIONAL CLASS STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan. Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu minta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal : 29 Juli 2015

Yang menyatakan,

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis is in many ways a product of my journey in the Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. First and foremost, I would convey my very first eternal gratitude to Allah, the Entirely Merciful, and the Especially Merciful. Praise is due to Allah Lord of the worlds. During that precious time, it had been contentment that I learnt so many things from my greatest teachers who had so generously shared their knowledge and their excellent current perspectives in English language teaching with me.

My sincere thanks genuine addressed to Dr. J. Bismoko, my thesis supervisor, for the guidance given to me before and during the conduct of my research project and especially the writing of my thesis as well. I believed that without his patience and support, this thesis would never have been accomplished.

In particular, I wish to thank Drs. F.X. Mukarto, M.S., Ph.D., the Head of Graduate Program in English Studies, Sanata Dharma University, from whom I learnt some personal qualities that made a best teacher.

I would like to acknowledge the support and professional help as well as personal friendship of Dr. B. B. Dwijatmoko, M.A. that I learned and enjoyed during of years of my study. I also thanked him for his assisting in refinement of the thesis.

A word of many thanks also goes to my research participants: Vitho and Mascu who had willingly told me the stories of their experiences. I believed they had really experienced and shared them to me. So, what I listened from them had really become rich and valuable sources of narratives I wrote in this thesis.

My dear friends in the same batch in English Language Studies also provided me with the color another ‘learning community atmosphere’ during myacademic years in this school. They all had been very lovely friends to me, especially ibu Mei, ibu Heny, Mega, Teddy. I thanked them for time and suggestions they shared with me. The appreciation also goes to dear EDSA UGM alumni group that I could not mention their names one by one, that had given me with restless supports during the completion of this project.

Of most important support for my work had been generous love and continuous support from my kids, Rega, Zakka, Kaishta and Karima who had always showed me their understanding through their cooperation – taking me to campus and home back forth, and my beloved husband Arinto Prakoso, who had always been caring and lovely companion since the last 28 years of our marriage. I thank them so much. A lasting gratitude is at all times addressed to my beloved parents, Drs. Abusamah Hamid and Animar Hakam and mum in-law, ibu Hj. Tetty Sarjono. Their endless love supports and prayers have been always great power for me. Yogyakarta, July 29, 2015.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ……… _i

APPROVAL PAGE ……… _ii

THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL ……… _iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ……… _iv

STATEMENT OF LICENSE AGREEMENT……….. _v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… _vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… _vii

LIST OF TABLES ……… _ix

LIST OF FIGURES ……… _x

ABSTRACT………..._... _xi

ABSTRAK ……… _xiii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. JUSTIFICATION OF CURRENT STUDY ………... 1

B. RESEARCHER’S VOICE ………... 4

C. PARTICIPANTS’ VOICE ………... 6

D. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION ……… 7

E. PROBLEM LIMITATION ……… 8

F. PROBLEM FORMULATION ……… 9

G. RESEARCH GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ………… 9

H. RESEARCH BENEFITS ……… 10

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW A. THEORETICAL REVIEW ……… 12

1. InternationalUndergraduate Program UMY …….. 13

2. Lived Experience ……….………... 14

3. Language Learning ……… 18

a. Goals of Language Learning ……… 21

b. Theories of Learning ……… 23

4. Meaning ……… 25

a. Empirical Meaning ……… 27

b. Transcendental Meaning ……… 28

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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. RESEARCH METHOD ……… 33

B. TEXTS ……… 37

C. PARTICIPANTS ……… 38

D. TEXT GATHERING INSTRUMENT ……… 40

E. TEXT GATHERING AND TEXT PROCESSING .……... 41

F. TRUSTWORTHINESS ……… 45

CHAPTER IV DESCRIPTION AND INTERPRETATION A. RELATIONSHIP OF RESEARCH PLAN AND ITS EXECUTION ……….. 46

B. TEXT DESCRIPTION ……….. 48

C. INTERPRETATION ……….………. 49

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION A. CONCLUSION ………. 68

B. PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATION ………. 72

C. RECOMMENDATION ………....………. 73

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……… 74

APPENDICES ……… 76

Appendix 1: Text ……… 77

Appendix 2: Structural Analysis Mascu a ... 86

Appendix 3: Structural AnalysisMascu b………. 87

Appendix 4: Structural Analysis Mascu c……… 88

Appendix 5: Structural Analysis Mascu d ... 90

Appendix 6: Structural Analysis Mascu e .…….. 91

Appendix 7: Structural Analysis Vitho a .…….. 93

Appendix 8: Structural Analysis Vitho b .…….. 93

Appendix 9: Structural Analysis Vitho c ……... 95

Appendix 10: Structural Analysis Vitho d ……... 97

Appendix 11: Structural Analysis Vitho e ……... 98

Appendix 12: Structural Analysis Vitho f .……. 99

Appendix 13: Structural Analysis Vitho g .……. 100

Appendix 14: Structural Analysis Vitho h ……. 101

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 Prefigured Themes ………. 32

Table 3.1 Research Participants and Setting….. 42 Table 3.2 Sample Blueprint of the Instrument... 43 Table 3.3 Research Procedure and Text Analysis 47 Table 4.1 Taxonomy of Student Emotions ... 55 Table 4.2 Selected Example of Significant

Statements of Participants Experiences

and Classroom Interaction……… 57

Table 4.3 Selected Example of Significant Statements of Participants Experiences

and Classroom Interaction……… 67

Table 4.4 Selected Example of Significant Statements of Participants Experiences

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 2.1 Spolsky’s General Model of Second

Language Learning …………... 21

Figure 3.1 Steps ofText Gathering ……… 46

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ABSTRACT

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ABSTRAK

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digarisbawahi. Menurut pendapat saya, kategorisasi ini memainkan peran penting dalam menafsirkan makna kisah pengalaman peserta.

Kata kunci: fenomenologi, pengalaman hidup, belajar bahasa Inggris, reflektif, pemahaman empatik

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This introductory chapter is to ensure the validity of the research project, i.e. its meaningfulness and relevance, as well as its feasibility. The chapter presents a justification for the current study so as to clarify the context within which the research was conducted before progressing to subsequent chapters. The problem identification is introduced and the problem limitation is presented which are of importance to this study, presenting the area of discussion for this study. My statement of the research question for conducting the study and the significance of the study are outlined. This chapter also introduces a description of phenomenology as a qualitative approach adopted for the study. The research benefit is set forth and closes the thesis.

A. JUSTIFICATION OF CURRENT STUDY

University students, especially international undergraduate program students, need to improve their mastery of the English language. One of the researcher’s motivations is to gain an insight into how students orient to lived experiences in learning English. This thesis provides research describing the lived experiences of some International Class students at UMY taking English class at the Language Training Center as their required subject. This project considers “what and what does it mean”(Manen, 1990): what each student has done in his everyday activity

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of learning English and what learning English means to them, with a view to reaching the better stages of needs, i.e. realization of self-potential (self-actualization) and competence in helping others.

There are studies focusing on teacher and learner as part of important elements in teaching-learning process (Reszke, 2011; Tumijo, 2008; Leaph, 2011). As an English teacher, my aim in undertaking this study is to ensure that this research project is feasible and valid. The project is not only relevant to education in reaching emphatic understanding, but also scientifically relevant and meaningful. As illustrated in Tumijo’s (2008) study of teachers’ lived experience of using a text-based curriculum in English teaching, it is found out from the lived-experience of the teachers that they have different perspectives on text-based curriculum. Moreover, it affects the approach they use in the classroom. If the teachers hold varying opinions on teaching English, it is reasonable to suppose that there must be the same case with the students’ opinions on learning English. This finding inspires me to pay attention to participants’ experiences in learning English to better reach emphatic understanding.

Another result of a study conducted by Suzanne Margaret Reszke in 2011, interesting as well, The Lived Experiences of Adult Learners of English as a Second (or Other) Language, suggests that sense of vocation motivates the participants to learn English as well as helps them to continue to have their English learning and to continue in using English to meet the requirement of their vocation through working with international organizations. She focuses on participants’ points of view in learning English, especially those who live in an English speaking country and work at international organizations. The study

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shows that the participants a part from experience the process of learning English reflect to what they have experienced to improve their performance in the workplace. A pertinent question is what about students learning English in non-English speaking countries?

Leaph in 2011 examined perceptions of thirty nine Cambodian University students about the effectiveness of oral feedback (OF) and written feedback (WF) on their writings. After two months of treatment, the results showed that both the OF and WF groups of students improved their holistic writing. Other indications recognized were that the OF group of students felt more oriented toward the oral feedback than the WF group toward written feedback. Additionally, the OF group made improvement in both micro aspects (i.e. grammar, vocabulary, mechanic, and spelling) and macro aspects (i.e. content and organization) of writing. On the other hand, WF group only improved in macro aspects of writing. The study does not share the meaning of the treatments to the students and shows only the proficiency of the students’ learning.

From those studies, it is clear that this project is still feasible and reliable to be conducted. It is understood that in learning English, in order to have better communication, there has to be a reflection where students see again what they have done and relate it with the meaning implied on learning English so that they become more empowered. Besides, both teachers’ and students’ empathic understanding are needed to meet the goal of learning-teaching English language particularly in order to better able to come to an understanding of the deeper meaning of an aspect of student experience in learning English in the context of

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the whole student experience. To this end, this study attempts to describe the essence of learning English to the participants.

B. RESEARCHER’S VOICE

As the world of lived experience is both the object and the source of phenomenological research, to make this study of the lived experience of learning English, I need to orient myself in a strong way to the question of the meaning of learning English. Manen posits that the ego-logical starting point for phenomenological research is a natural consequence of finding the access to life’s living dimensions. My own life experience is immediately accessible to conduct a personal description of a lived experience. Here is the researcher personal lived experience description particularly related to learning English.

Like every afternoon, that day I had waited my father coming home from the office for quite sometimes. I needed him to translate my favorite cartoon on TV as I did not understand any English word. There was no cartoon with Indonesian subtitle. My dad was the only hope for me to follow the story. He used to stay in US, that’s why he spoke English well. I was ready in front of the TV when I heard his car entering the garage. He showed up and talked to my mum. I ran to him and told him, “The cartoon was about to start, dad”. He went to his room and changes his clothes to t-shirt and short pants. A few minutes later, he took a seat next to me, “Where are we anyway,” he said and we watched the film together. He translated the dialogues as soon as I asked him, so I could easily understand the film. Unexpectedly, I heard dad’s snoring – “Oh, no….not again!” I said to myself. He fell asleep and no more explanation from him. I was so disappointed as the film was not over yet and I really wanted to know the ending. However, nothing I could do than watched the film with guessing the conversation. Since then I promised to myself that never depending on someone else – that I had to learn English myself.

I had been waiting quite some time for watching the cartoon with her father as well as following the film thoroughly. Suddenly, father was overslept and left the

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researcher alone without further translation of the text. It was very unpleasant experience but it made up the researcher’s mind to learn English in the future.

With this self-evidence that is experientially undeniable I now have the grasp of being a learner experiencing learning English. And yet the nature of meaning of this learning needs to be explicated by phenomenological human science. As now the researcher reflects on her own lived experience description and tries to detect the theme of the description. I become aware of the special meaning of learning English for the learner. The experience of being a teacher manifests me in learning English on learner’s mind and wondering what one may expect to become of them.

C. PARTICIPANTS’ VOICE

Two international undergraduate students participate in this study. Both of them are male and range in age from 21 and 22 years old. One of them is from Moluccas and has graduated from senior high school; the other one is from Bangka Island and has graduated from vocational senior high school. They both take Governmental Studies at UMY.

Vitho was born in Ambon, Maluku and graduated from SMA Negeri I Kataloka Maluku. He is the second child of four children in his family and has two sisters and one little brother. His father is a lecturer at Governmental Studies at Faculty of Social Politics Universitas Pattimura, Ambon, Maluku. His mother teaches Economics at Junior High School in Ambon. He has been exposed the English language since he was four years old by his family–parents and relatives.

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Mascu was born in Banda Aceh, Sumatera and graduated from Vocational High School in Bangka. He is the oldest child in the family and has two sisters and one brother. His father is an entrepreneur and his mother is a housewife. He has been introduced to songs in English by his mom at the beginning of his age.

D. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

The students’ lived experiences have different meanings to each of them. Through the unstructured interview, I describe my concrete daily situation to elicit the essence of their experiences. The concept of Lived Experience Descriptions (LED) used by Van Manen in Eilifsen (2011) is adopted from “lived experience” developed by theoreticians such as Dithley, Husserl ad Merleau-Ponty. He shared Dithley lived experience as a reflexive or self-given awareness that inheres in the temporality of consciousness of life as we live it. He agreed with Husserl lived experience as expressions of the full-fledged acts of consciousness in which meanings are given to intentional experience. He went on to quote the familiar line from Marleau-Ponty: the world is not what I think, but what I live through.

Regarding the importance of student beliefs, Horwitz in Wenden (1987) reports her study on the development of an instrument to assess students about language learning and report on the responses of one group of ESL students to this inventory. Its aim is to sensitize teachers to the types of beliefs students hold and to the possible consequences of these beliefs for second language learning and instruction. She focuses on the knowledge of student beliefs about language learning to understand the etiology of learning strategies.

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In addition, various thinkers in Manen (1990) noted that temporal structure in lived experience can never be understood in its immediate manifestation but only reflectively as past presence. In order to grasp in its full richness and depth, there is a need to relate the particular to the universal, part to whole, episode to totality.

E. PROBLEM LIMITATION

As mentioned in the previous part, the study is concerned with some aspects of experience from the inside. It also focuses on particular incidents of the object of experience and also how the body feels, etc. Those aspects of experience are described in relation to how the participants feel, understand, see and reflect to what they mean by learning English. Furthermore, the point of this research is to “borrow” the participants’ experiences and reflections on their experiences in order to gain the deeper significance of an aspect of human experience. In short, those experiences are then certainly decided to become the core of the study.

The study describes students’ lived experiences in learning English using phenomenological approach including the personal shared lived experiences. The limited number of participants allows deep and focused story of students in learning English. The students come from same department and batch at UMY.

F. PROBLEM FORMULATION

As outlined in the background, students as learners have unique lived experiences in learning English, Manen (1990, p. 6) clarifies that he remains sensitive to the uniqueness of the person in the particular situation guides his actions in phenomenological research. Moustakas (1994) views experience and

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behavior as an integrated and inseparable relationship of a phenomenon with the person experiencing the phenomenon.

In describing and interpreting a meaning of learning English to the students (covering the elements of lived experience), the research question is formulated as follows:

- What does learning English mean to the international class students of UMY?

G. RESEARCH GOAL

In the context of this research, meaning of learning English to the International Undergraduate Program of UMY students achieves the goal which is to describe the lived experience they have had and then interpret it. By describing the past experiences of the participants, the study follows the procedural objective that is revealing personal meaning of learning English to each participant.

After transforming the participants’ lived experiences into sets of anecdotes (texts), I interpreted the data to get the meaning of learning English from what they already have lived through them. The immediate objective of this study are narrative and interpretations. In addition, it is to obtain reflective understanding based on the persons who experience them. Ultimately, it is assumed that this research will promote human dignity as empathic understanding promotes equity which is the baseline of autonomy empowerment.

H. RESEARCH BENEFITS

This study deals with describing and interpreting students’lived experiences in learning English. It has direct and indirect benefits for both audience and

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participants as well as the researcher. To the participants, this study provides an opportunity for them to open up and search their memories of the past on what they actually have done when confronted with learning a foreign language. Moreover, it is expected that they are able to be more reflective on what they have experienced and relate them to the objective of learning English with a view to becoming more goal-focused. The reflection is looking back at what has been actually done, thought, felt et cetera and relating it with some goals in life: empirical, but more importantly transcendent or true and meaningful life. Indirectly, they contribute something valuable to fellow students, who may have undergone similar problems which at first they seem to tell us about our inner state but in knowing oneself one can also come to know about the external world and other people (Dithley in Moustakas, 1994).

For this study intends to describe and interpret students’ lived experiences in learning English, it is expected that the study provides significant contributions for the educational field research, especially teaching English as second language. Secondly, it is also assumed that it will generate other ideas for research in this field and thus will enrich the development of teaching English practices in general.

To the researcher, this research helps me to be more self-actualized in assisting students to reach the highest level of need–self-actualization level–in particular in the context of learning English in the hope that one day if they face the similar situation they can truly see what has really done and been related to certain goal– empiric, transcendent and spiritual one. In the second place, this study has

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enhanced my pre-understanding of the topic under the discussion that is the lived experiences of the participants.

To the audience, particularly fellow teachers, firstly, by knowing this shared lived experience, they will be more informed about students’ circumstances, which can help them to be sensitized to students’ real situations in terms of their learning strategies and study habits, including how they cope with the difficulties in grasping linguistic concepts and in performing language skills.

It is expected that this knowledge of students’ backgrounds will enable teachers to develop an intelligent awareness or empathic understanding of students’ common problems in the learning process specifically chances to become more reflective and autonomous in the future. This will certainly affect teachers’ methodology and approach in class management.

Secondly, the teachers and other stake holders would work hand in hand to provide an effective curriculum and a conducive environment so that whatever the mastery target of learning English that has been decided, there should be a valuable goal that students are able to become more autonomous and even self-actualizing in helping others.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter introduces theoretical review consisting of some relevant theories concerning to the study. It is to clarify relevant concepts and their relations in (1) literature review, and in relation with the trustworthiness of the study, I considered to set aside the pre-understanding (bracketing) in (2) framework of pre-understanding.

A. THEORETICAL REVIEW

This part covers priory logical truth of the meaning of students’ lived experiences in learning English. The theory of lived experience is in the first order because this is the general concern of this study. The lived experience refers to what learning English language experienced by the students as the phenomena revealed by the study. That is why in this discussion the theory of lived experience comes before the theory of language learning. The last part of this section is a framework of pre-understanding. It is to answer the research question logically.

The discussion begins with lived experience including views of some scholars on the subject. Next, language learning which is divided into theories in language learning, goals of language learning as the phenomena described and interpreted later on.

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1. International Undergraduate Program of UMY (IUP UMY)

International Undergraduate Program UMY consists of 4-years undergraduate program in Economics, Law and Governmental Studies. Generally, it offers the international programs which are conducted in English. The IUP in Governmental studies curriculum includes research organized by Jusuf Kallas School of Government and supported by an International Institution-Asia Pacific Society for Public Affairs (APSPA). All of the courses delivered in English and thought by International lecturers. The program also supports International student exchange and has International collaborations.

2. Lived Experience

The purpose of this chapter is to make it easier for the audience to grasp the relevant concepts and their relations. I will begin with a brief background of relevant theories. This includes a short presentation of lived experience, followed by a section on language learning. This is followed by the presentation of meaning which is primarily central of this study.

Given my interest in researching lived experience, phenomenology focuses on lived experience and looks at people’s everyday experiences of phenomenon and how these experiences are structured, focusing the analysis on the perspective of the individual experiencing the phenomenon (Merriam, 2002). According to Bruner as cited by Eastmond (2007) lived experience – life as experienced – is considered as how a person perceives and ascribes meaning to what happens, drawing on previous experience or cultural repertoires, including any manner in

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have lived through. In her research, Yasmina describes Junior High School students’ lived experiences in learning monologues. The result shows that students’ understanding of monologues of descriptive and procedure texts are formed through repeated reading, the use of dictionaries, their prior knowledge, various sources and collaborative process with their teachers and peers.

Lived experience is seen as a true reflection that is thoughtful, reflective grasping of what it is that renders this or that particular experience – its special significance (Manen, 1990). As the focus is on describing what experienced by the participants, the aim of phenomenology is to limit personal experiences with a phenomenon description of the universal essence (Creswell, 2007, p. 58). The nature of lived experience is suggested by Dilthey in 1985 (Manen, 1990) as the involvement of our immediate, pre-reflective consciousness of life: a reflexive or self-given awareness which is, as awareness, unaware of itself. Moreover, Dithley outlines that lived experiences are related to each other like motifs in the andante of symphony, as something that belongs to a particular lived experience (unit of meaning), which becomes part of a system of contextually related experiences, explicated from it through a process of reflection on its meaning. Thus, a lived experience has a certain essence, a “quality” that we recognize in retrospect. Merleau-Ponty (in Manen, 1990) has a more ontological term to the concept of lived experience as immediate awareness which he calls “sensibility”. The sensible is that: this possibility to be evident in silence, to be understood implicitly.

Lived experience itself becomes the point of departure and end point of phenomenological research – Alvesson (2000) identifies the research result as

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text. The objective of phenomenology is to transform lived experience into a textual expression of its essence (Manen, 1990). Based on the elaboration above, lived experience has something to do with a certain experience that may be reflexive, able to be interpreted and have meaning. In other words, another goal of phenomenology is to leave the individual phenomenon behind and to reach that so-called ‘essence’ (Alvesson, 2000). For example students’ lived experience in learning English at Vocational School in Yogyakarta illuminates that deep understanding of personal background of each student gives positive support of the achievement of learning goals and students feel being humanized when they are called by their names properly.

Eastmond mentions that phenomenological assumption used in narrative analysis in qualitative research takes meaning ascribed to the phenomena through being experienced and furthermore, that we can only be aware of something about other people’s experiences from the expressions they give them. Thus, stories can be seen as interpretations of the past instead of simply reflecting life as lived. For instance, Caecilia interprets that some students of a vocational School experiencing English language learning through Self-Access Center in Yogyakarta apply strategies in their learning as the efforts to be autonomous students and SAC is more than a place of learning language, the facilities are provided with certain intention to grow learning awareness among students up.

Referring to the problem limitation, the study focuses on students’ experiences in learning English as phenomenon to be described and interpreted. Reflective – interpretative is needed to achieve a fuller, more meaningful understanding, to bring “before me something that otherwise happens ‘behind my back’ “(Gadamer

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in Moustakas, 1994). Thus, the meaning of learning English to students here is meant to what they have experienced in learning English (empirical) and how they relate them to reflect in order to become more empowered in the future.

Put briefly, lived experience is conscious experience that a person has had in the past. Since the intentionality refers to consciousness – the individuals are always conscious to something (Kafle, 2011) – lived experience in this study is what students consciously have experienced in their English learning process and reflection they have made in order to be more autonomous and to understand others more. As stated by Bleicher (1980) that we recognize ourselves as individuals only through intercourse with others and so become aware of characteristics which are specific to ourselves.

3. Language Learning

Assuming that second language acquisition is contrasted with second language learning, Ellis (2008) defineslearning (in second language learning) as conscious study of a second language. From the meaning of the word, to learn means to gain knowledge of or skill by study, experience, or being taught (Oxford American dictionary & Thesaurus).

Brook cited the definition of ‘learning’ as a change in performance that occurs under the conditions of practice. There are two types of learning namely classical conditioning and instrumental learning. In classical conditioning, if a stimulus that produces a given response is accompanied by another stimulus, it will be found after many repetitions that the first stimulus may be omitted and still the response is produced. On the other hand, in the instrumental learning type the subject is motivated by some sort of drive; he performs the acts that gain reward without

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delay. Language, as referring to Brown, is a system of arbitrary conventionalized vocal, written, or gestural symbols that enable members of a given community to communicate intelligibly with one another. In an effort to bring the learner, language and learning into some sort of proximity, it will be useful to consider theories of learning.

Johnson (1992) refers second language learning to the development of bilingualism or multilingualism and the learning of varieties of a language. She uses the term second language learning as the umbrella encompasses learning in second language and foreign language settings as well as in situations in which a language is used in wider communication.

Mitchell (2004) takes Spolsky’s model of second language learning to represent a general theory of second language learning. Figure 2.1 shows Spolsky’s general model of second language learning. The model summarizes theoretical views on the overall relationship between contextual factors (social context – where the second language learning takes place), leading to individual learner differences (attitudes), learning opportunities and learning outcomes. The rectangular boxes show the factors (or variables) that she believes are most significant for learning that can lead to differences in success or failure. The directions of influence are shown by arrows connecting the various boxes. The contents of the various boxes are defined at great length, as consisting of clusters of interacting ‘Conditions’, which make language learning success more or less likely. These ‘conditions’ summarize the results of a great variety of empirical language learning research, as Spolky interprets it.

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To apprehend language learning supports us to know what is happening within as stated by Mitchell (2004) there are two reasons of understanding language learning that may help to understand the process of activities that help or perhaps block them for learning:

1. Instead of that it is interesting in language learning, understanding language learning can also contribute to more general understanding about improving about the nature of language, of human learning and of intercultural communication, and thus about the human mind itself, as well as how all these are interrelated and affect each other.

2. The knowledge will be useful. Becoming better at explaining the learning process, and better able to account for both success and failure in SLL, there will be a payoff for millions of teachers, and tens of millions of students and other learners, who are struggling with the task.

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provides

leads to

which appear in the learner as

which joins with other personal characteristics such as

all of which explain the use the learner makes of the available

the interplay between learner and situation determining

Figure 2.1 Spolsky’s general model of second language learning (Source, Mitchell, 2004, p. 8)

This model (Figure 2.1) shows a general theory of second language learning that summarizes theoretical view on the overall relationship between contextual

Previous Knowledge Capabilities

Personality

Social context

Attitudes (of various kinds)

Motivation

Age

Learning opportunities(formal or informal)

Linguistic and non-linguistic outcomes for the learner

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factors, individual leaner differences, learning opportunities and learning outcomes. It is thus an ideal model in the openness of phenomena it is trying to explain. The rectangular boxes show the factors considered as the significant for learning, that is, where variation can lead to differences in success or failure. The arrows connecting the various boxes show directions of influence. These conditions represent the results of a great variety of empirical language learning research, as Spolsky interprets it (Mitchell, 2004).

Furthermore, Ellis (2008) defines motivation in language learning in terms of the learner’s overall goal or orientation. Though the standard modern psychological definition of motivation is not clear, motivation – as seen at previous figure–is also considered as a social psychological factor indicating the differential success in learning a second language (Gass, 1994).

Mitchell (2004) sees that there are differences between individual learners. One of them is affective factors which motivation is a part of it. She quoted Gardner and MacIntyre’s definition of motivation as a complex construct, defined by three main components: ‘desire to achieve a goal, effort extended in this direction, and satisfaction of the task’.

a. Goals of language learning

According to Nation (2009), a language learning course is used to reach learning goals. These goals can include the learning of language items – pronunciation, vocabulary, grammatical constructions – ideas (content), skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing or sub-skills) and Text (discourse).

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As language is a quite complicated activity, which involves both neural and muscular tissue, and it has psychological, interpersonal, and cultural aspects that are indispensable to its acquisition and use, Brooks offered two choices of goal. First, we seek to establish the learner, within the limits of his experience, a coordinate system of two languages in which not only the overt patterns of behavior that characterize the new language, but also the mental processes that accompany it, shall have equal status as the mother tongue, yet be entirely separate from it. On the other hand, we may be content to establish in the learner a compound system, in which some features of the new language are learned, yet for the most part, the whole complex structure of language behavior.

What is expected from language learning is stated by Spolsky (1992) learner’s success in achieving the linguistic outcomes (linguistic and communicative competence of a variable nature) and non-linguistic outcomes (including changes of attitude) that have been determined personally or socially.

Generally, language learning is a process of developing the ability to communicate in a second language. As well, the daily learning language as the participants have experienced through is the main source of this study and described and interpreted as close as possible to what they mean in a more realistic and practical sense.

As the activity, language learning has psychological aspect involved. Batiha and friends investigate anxiety as one of the most important affective variables in EFL learning attainment. The participants are postgraduate Arab students majoring English language. The result mentions that test anxiety, fear of failing the course, instructor-learner interaction, vocabulary, negative evaluation and high

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expectation are factors provoking the general FL classroom anxiety the most. The phenomenon of anxiety has widely acknowledged as one of the most psychological phenomena that is experienced in many social or learning context (Batiha, 2014). In connection with this theory, the instructor-learner interaction experienced by the participants is considered as significant factor of learning to meet the objective of language learning.

Another study conducted by Dagarin is about having an implication of effective classroom interaction concerning with a pleasant atmosphere in the classroom with friendly relationships among the participants of learning process. The engaging thing is the theory she adopts as the support of the research. It is mentioned that how the situation actually develops depends on the attitudes and intentions of the people involved, and on their interpretations of each other’s attitudes and intentions. Pointless to say, only when there is co-operation between both sides can communication effectively take place and learning occur (Dagarin, 2004). Related to my research, there are pleasant and unpleasant situation during the learning process experienced by the participants. They are not only play a valuable role in completing the objective of language learning, but they also have meaning beyond the empirical goal.

The last study carried on by Toth (2011) is about the foreign language anxiety which findings share certain characteristics with anxieties like self-perceptions, belief, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process. Though the participants have different education background, I have found out that the characteristics of such anxiety experienced by the participants in my study.

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Both motivation – driving force which involve expending effort, expressing desire, and feeling enjoyment – and classroom interaction are needed to grasp meaning of language learning.

What the scholars see in learning English is limited to the empirical objectives. They are to improve how the learner understands the target language, how the learner read texts, how the learner becomes better English user, et cetera. This study tries to find out the meaning of language learning, here as the phenomenon, and how the learner becomes more reflective after having gone through the language learning process.

b. Theories of learning

To learn is defined as “to gain knowledge, comprehension, or mastery through experience or study” in The American Heritage Dictionary of English

Language (1996). Hergenhahn (2009) modifies the definition of learning as a relatively permanent change in behavioral potentiality that results from experience and cannot be attributed to temporary body states such as those induced by illness, fatigue, or drugs. An experience as an aspect in learning is considered as a significant point to be discussed further in this study. However, the psychologist, Olson (2009), revises Gregory A. Kimble’s definition of learning as a relatively permanent change in behavioral potentiality that results from experience and cannot be attributed to temporary body states such as those induced by illness, fatigue, or drug.

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John Dewey as quoted by Bradley in 2005, states that an ounce of experience is better than a ton of theory simply because it is in experience that any theory has vital and verifiable significance. In this study I focus on learning second language, out of the debate between those who believe that education is a matter of making meaning for the learner on the one hand, those who believe that the function of education is to facilitate the process whereby learners make their own meaning, on the other (Nunan, 1999). There are three most famous schools of thought in second language acquisition. First, behaviorism considered effective language behavior to be the production of correct responses to stimuli. If a particular response is reinforced, it then becomes habitual, or conditioned. Second, cognitive psychology sought to discover underlying motivations and deeper structures of human behavior. Third, constructivism argued that all human beings construct their own version of reality, and therefore multiple contrasting ways of knowing and describing are equally legitimate.

Borger (1982, p. 74) states that learning is presented as adaptive behavioral change to current circumstances, with the implication that a careful analysis of the learner’s environment should account for the changes involved. There is a process and adaptation in learning. So that there would be a need to take a look at it in a way to know what happens in the learner. Furthermore, he emphasizes that making sense of the whole and of parts would be very much a mutually supportive process.

In addition, Ellis defines learning as the internalization of rules and formulas which are then used to communicate in the L2. However, Krashen in Ellis (2008)

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uses the term to refer to the process of developing conscious or metalingual knowledge through formal study.

3. Meaning

Aspers declares that the central concept of in the social sciences is understanding. Understanding is intimately connected to meaning. He additionally states that meanings come in structures and accomplish meaning in relation to other meanings. Reszke (2011) confirms that the nature of understanding is the central concern in hermeneutic and entering to understanding compels one to consider the other person. Hermeneutic is the process of deciphering which goes from manifest content and meaning to latent or hidden meaning (Palmer, 1969).

Meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a concept or a phenomenon becomes the central of description of phenomenology. The basic purpose of phenomenology is to reduce individual experiences with a phenomenon to a description of the universal essence (Creswell, 2007). Manen (1990) explicates that phenomenological questions are meaning questions which ask for the meaning and significance of certain phenomena. It can be more understood, so that, on the basis of this understanding one may be able to act more thoughtfully and more tactfully in certain situations. As the study aims to interpret the meaning of learning English of the participants, it is clear here what meaning I intend to see. He further describes phenomenological research as caring, thoughtful act, because the researcher seeks to know the essential to being. Moustakas (1994) additionally states that meaning is created when the object as it appears in our consciousness mingles with the object in nature. There are two

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kinds of meaning that are outlined in the following parts of this writing such as empirical meaning and transcendence meaning.

As Husserl’s cited by Lindseth that in describing the essence of experiences cannot be heard without narration. To come to the meaning of a phenomenon we have to tell stories, which express our experiences of such positioning. These stories reveal the meaning of experiences in our lives. We have to produce texts to be able to thoroughly examine the meaning structure of a phenomenon as a part of our life world – and thereby reveal the essential meaning of that phenomenon. Thus, the essential meaning must be studied and revealed in the interpretation of text.

In one of her articles, Eilifsen (2011) states that in phenomenological writing, the phenomenon the research tries to reveal is in the center. The purpose of phenomenological research is to bring the phenomenon to light. Anecdotes can help throw the light upon other experiences. She moreover clarifies that in everyday life we tell stories and we do not dwell on what these stories are actually telling us; their meanings may slip by us. They are actually much more; they tell more than words can express. In relation to this study, the experience of learning English is thus so much more than words to describe exactly what learning English means to them.

a. Empirical Meaning

Phenomenology is the science of phenomena (Manen, 1997). He cites Husserl for this discipline endeavors to describe how the world is constituted and experienced through conscious acts. He also states that phenomenology always

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asks the question of what is the nature or meaning of something. The first meaning that I try to find out from this study is an empirical one that means deriving knowledge from experience alone, based on observation, investigation and experimentation as opposed to theoretical knowledge (Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus). Then the empirical meaning refers to a meaning grasped from one’s experience as he/she lived through it. Particularly, what learning English means to the participants based on what they have done, felt, and thought through it. They may be getting better grades, better English, better work, et cetera that those are what is called hominization. In his lecture, Bismoko states that empirical meaning is also anything related with the improvement of empirical (material) life quality. Therefore, the phenomenological knowledge here means empirical based on experience but it also goes beyond an interest in “mean” particularly (Manen, 1990).

b. Transcendental Meaning

The ultimate meaning that I try to discover is transcendent meaning. Manen (1990) specifies that phenomenological human science sponsors a certain concept of progress that is the progress of humanizing human life and humanizing human institutions to help human beings to become increasingly thoughtful and thus better prepared to act tactfully in situations. Moreover, it also has reference to Maslow’s expended hierarchy of needs. Originally, it is a five stage of hierarchy of needs namely physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization (Maslow, 1962). However, later on Maslow criticizes his previous theory and develops into eight stage of hierarchy of needs

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including cognitive needs, aesthetic needs, self-actualization and transcendence needs. At this point, I try to dig up the self-actualization where the participants realize their personal potential, self-fulfillment, personal growth and peak experiences (Maslow, 1968) and see how the participants come up to transcendent needs where after they reach the self-actualization level, they help others to become more self-actualized. In short, I ensure to understand the participants’ transcendent meaning (humanization) captured from their own lived experience in learning English. The meaning of learning English gained by me from the participants’ experiences must be different and unique to one another and it goes deeper than the experience itself.

In another article, Manen (1989) posits that anecdotal narrative allows the person to reflect in a concrete way on experience and thus appropriate experience. He also mentions that to anecdote is to reflect or to think. In a reflective grasping, anecdotes recreate experience but in a transcended (focused, condensed, intensified, oriented and narrative) form. Thus, the act of anecdoting as concrete reflecting prepares the space for hermeneutic phenomenological reflection and understanding.

Hermeneutic phenomenology as stated by Kafle focuses on subjective experience of individuals and group in an attempt to uncover the world as experienced by the subject through their life world stories. In her article, Van der Mescht takes a term under Uberwelt dimension, spiritual beliefs to refer to a person’s connection to the abstract and absolute aspect of living. She believes that it will color the way one experiences the temporary nature of this life.

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B. FRAMEWORK OF PRE-UNDERSTANDING

Learning English develops the ability to communicate in second language and nonlinguistic outcomes including changes of attitude. Related to my research, there are pleasant and unpleasant situation during the learning process experienced by the participants. Although the teachers have provided with good lesson plans, materials and approaches, the students have their own unique lived experiences in learning English. The students’ lived experiences in learning English will probably vary in terms of feeling, actions, understanding towards the learning process covering motivation, classroom interaction and anxiety.

To know the students’ lived experiences in learning English, I need to know their own anecdotes in learning English. This is in line with the current postmodern view regarding that the truth does not belong to the dominance instead people seek and perceive the phenomenon from various different angles including individual’s point of view. Therefore, I need stories from individual student through in-depth interview as well as the written documents. The participating students need to express their lived experiences in learning English and I tried to describe and interpret their stories on the issue.

In brief, this study described lived experiences of the International Undergraduate Program students of UMY in learning English. The International Undergraduate Program students in this study mean students who join the International Undergraduate class at UMY–taking English as compulsory subject –which English is their daily language in the teaching-learning process in campus which forces them to present and discuss as well as write their assignments in English.

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English is the compulsory subject for undergraduate students at UMY. The aim of learning English there is to achieve a certain level of academic purposes. The international program students are required to master the English language as the major language used in the daily learning process. They are expected to be competent not only in writing and reading but actively in international communication. The study does not stop at that point–more than just reaching up good proficiency – it is supposed to find out how the reflection of learning English (having both empirical and transcendent meanings) for them is more meaningful so they become more competent in helping others or more humanizing.

Lived experience is what has actually happened in the past and what it means to people. It is the interpretation or responses of people toward the world or the phenomena. Students experience their difficult as well as enjoyable situations English language learning from time to time. They can talk about them, but they are not usually able to explain what they mean to them. Therefore, we cannot ask students what learning English mean to them. This study emphasized the students’ lived experiences in learning English which mean what students felt about, acted, thought within the learning English lessons.

From this theoretical framework, a thematic interaction is constructed in order to guide me to describe the research context and limit the text gathering. I also use this to limit the scope. Using the thematic interaction it is also hoped to limit the scope of participants’ narratives.

However, because the study was progressive qualitative, the prefigured theme is still to be changed and adapted to emergent phenomena. Table 2.1 shows the

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prefigured themes in this study. This functions as the main reference for me in accomplishing this project.

Table 2.1 Prefigured Themes

Construct 1 Theme Construct 2 Theme

Lived

experienced fun

Learning

English

Classroom interaction happy

stressful Motivation

uncomfortable

speechless Anxiety

stage fright

As initial ideas to do this research, I proposed pre-understanding based on the theoretical review. In this study, the prefigured themes I assumed that the

students’ lived experience in learning English varies in terms of classroom interaction, motivation, and anxiety.

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter aims to ensure that the texts are valid texts, processes and interpretation of validity. This section discusses the methodology and the procedures that will be employed in the research. It is essential to the study as it explains in details the appropriate steps of how to answer the research question systematically. The elaboration deals with (1) research method, (2) texts, (3) participants, (4) text gathering instrument (5) text gathering, (6) research steps and text processing, and (7) trustworthiness.

A. RESEARCH METHOD

The review of literature for this study includes lived experience, language learning and meaning. The following explanation is the procedure of getting meaning of students lived experience conducted by the researcher in relationship to literature review.

This study adapts Groenewald’s (2004) five steps of text explication, which are bracketing and phenomenological reduction, delineating units of meaning, clustering of units of meaning to form themes, summarizing each interview, validating it and where necessary modifying it and extracting general and unique themes from all the interviews and making a composite summary.

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Delineating units of meaning is a critical phase where the experience researched is extracted. Here, I needed to make judgment calls while consciously bracketing my own presuppositions in order to avoid inappropriate judgments. The list of units of relevant meaning extracted from interview is carefully scrutinized and the clearly redundant units eliminated (Moustakas, 1994). To do this, I consider the literal content, the number of times a meaning was mentioned and how it was stated.

Clusters of themes are typically formed by grouping units of meaning together (Creswell, 1998) and I identify the significant topics, also called units of significance (Sadala and Ardono in Groenewald 2004). Moreover, it is important for me to go back to the recorded interview and forth to the list of non-redundant units to derive (Holloway and Hycner in Groenewald, 2004).

Summarizing, validating and modifying each interview–at this point I sum up all the themes elicited from the texts giving the holistic context (Ellenberger as cited in Groenewald, 2004) or concludes the explication by writing the composite summary which must reflect the context which the themes emerged. I also return to the participant to determine if the essence of the interview has been correctly captured and any modification is done as result of this validity check. The problem with the interview is sometimes the participants mix the incident being told with the one happening in another case, so that I have to reconfirm to the participants several times.

After the four previous steps of process have been done, I identified the themes common to most or all of the interviews. Care must be taken not to cluster common themes if significant differences exist. The unique and minority voices

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the corner and we sat there under the tree.

My friends and I enjoyed the view while maintaining the English lesson.

We introduced ourselves one-by-one there with pleasure as it was an outdoor class.

She got us snacks, for all of us!

We had fun English today since it was an outdoor activity and the teacher student allowed us having snacks during the lesson and I was wrong about the English teacher student.

Enjoying the class

Following the activity

Feeling surprised

Enjoying the lesson

Being happy

to self

Being connected to self

Appendix 11 : Structural Analysis Vitho e

It was the first day of English course in ELTI in Jogja. There were about twenty of

us. The students were already in classroom when the teacher came in. She greeted

and looked at us, then started to introduce herself. After finishing the introduction,

she showed us some different colors of cards. Each card has data to be completed

such as name, address, mobile no, hobby, etc. She told us that she would share the

cards to us and asked us to gather in a group with members having the same color

of the card. What we should do with the card later on was completing the data by

asking questions and giving information using English to friends in the group. I

got green card then I went to green group. We did not know each other yet but by

having the card with us, it helped us to ask and answer the questions related to

introduction activity. We are allowed to ask open-ended questions. My friends and

I did not feel hesitate nor under pressured as I forgot all those things as the pupils

moved around and began the interview. We even developed the questions as we

need to know more about our new friends. I enjoyed the lesson very much by

involving actively. Though I saw some members from other groups did not look

interested in the activity, our group performed well in participating in the activity.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher gave us a list to be completed about other

students in classroom and we continued introducing ourselves among classmates

until the bell rang.

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Meaning Unit Condensation Sub-theme Theme

There were about twenty of us. The students were already in classroom when the teacher came in.

I got green card then I went to green group.

We did not know each other yet but by having the card with us, it helped us to ask and answer the questions related to introduction activity.

My friends and I did not feel hesitate nor under pressured as I forgot all those things as the pupils moved around and began the interview.

We even developed the questions as we need to know more about our new friends.

I enjoyed the lesson very much by involving actively.

Though I saw some members from other groups did not look interested in the activity, our group performed well in participating in the activity.

Waiting for the teacher

Participating in the activity

Getting involved

Enjoying the activity

Being patient

Being involved

Being connected to body and mind

Being connected to self

Appendix 12 : Structural Analysis Vitho f

It happened when I joint an English course in Pare, Kediri, East Java. It was

vocabulary class. I met some new friends. The teacher came in class and we

introduced ourselves. She then wrote an article on the blackboard. She asked us to

read the sentences and clean the blackboard. She asked us to repeat after her some

words or sentences and memorized the meanings. She did it several times, writing

an article, cleaning the board and asking to repeat after her. It was a very boring

lesson I had ever had in my life. I was so tired of following such activity.

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Meaning Unit Condensation Sub-theme Theme

It was vocabulary class. I met some new friends.

The teacher came in class and we introduced ourselves.

She asked us to repeat after her some words or sentences and memorized the meanings.

She did it several times, writing an article, cleaning the board and asking to repeat after her.

It was a very boring lesson I had ever had in my life. I was so tired of following such activity.

Feeling happy

Introducing each other

Being required to do things

Feeling bored

Being happy

Being involved

Being not free

Being burdened

Being connected to self

Appendix 13 : Structural Analysis Vitho g

It was when I was in the second year at junior high school. After greeting, the

teacher asked us to present our daily activities as instructed at previous meeting.

She didn’t give clear instruction about what to do it, how to do it or even no

example. Only

a few of us presented in front of the class since most of us didn’t

really know what to do. I did my assignment with a help of my mom. When it was

my turn, I delivered the daily activities by mentioning parts of the day time. After

I finished, the teacher

gave a short comment

“okay, good” and she did it to all of

us presenting the topic. I expected that she’d discuss about our assignment and

gave suggestions on it. I didn’t feel challenged and felt terrible.

Meaning Unit Condensation Sub-theme Theme

After greeting, the teacher asked us to present our daily activities as instructed at

being required to do things

Being occupied Being connected to self

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previous meeting.

She didn’t give clear instruction about what to do it, how to do it or even no example.

I did my assignment with a help of my mom.

When it was my turn, I delivered the daily activities by mentioning parts of the day time.

After I finished, the teacher gave a short comment “okay, good” and she did it to all of us presenting the topic.

I expected that she’d discuss about our assignment and gave suggestions on it.

I didn’t feel challenged and felt terrible.

Feeling confused

Participating in the activity

Completing the task

Getting complement

Feeling dissatisfied

Being burdened

Being supported

Being involved

Being happy

Being displeased

Being connected to self

Appendix 14 : Structural Analysis Vitho h

Another story was at fourth semester at UMY. It was Public Speaking class. We

started and finished the class with memorizing Quran Surah At Tariq. We recited

and memorized one ayah per meeting and on that last meeting, we were

memorizing the complete Surah and presenting our topic. My topic was RA

Kartini and I made it

–

many questions from the audiences. There were some

comments from them such as why I didn’t take another heroin from other region.

One funny question was from one of my mates and his comment was Tjut Nyak

Dien was from Bali and he insisted it. All of us laughed at him and tried to tell

him that TND was from Aceh. He finally accepted. I didn’t feel burdensome for

reciting and memorizing a surah in English class. I thought that I am a moslem

and it’s good to recite Quran and learnt the meaning of it at the same time even in

English class. Furthermore, as I study at Islamic university and it’s acceptable to

(5)

Meaning Unit

Condensation

Sub-theme

Theme

We started and

finished the class

with

memorizing

Quran Surah At

Tariq. We recited

and

memorized

one

ayah

per

meeting and on

that last meeting,

we

were

memorizing

the

complete

Surah

and presenting our

topic.

My topic was RA

Kartini and I made

it

–

many questions

from the audiences.

All of us laughed

at him and tried to

tell him that TND

was from Aceh.

I

didn’t

feel

burdensome

for

reciting

and

memorizing

a

surah in English

class. I thought that

I am a moslem and

it’s good to recite

Quran and learnt

the meaning of it at

the same time even

in English class.

Participating in the activity

Feeling succeeded

Feeling happy

Feeling blessed

Being involved

Being confident

Enjoying the topic

Being blessed

Being connected to God

Being connected to self

Being connected to God

Appendix 15 : Structural Analysis Vitho i

We had to perform a short drama on the last day. The title was taken from a

legend from Lombok island since one of us was from there. There were four of us

and we made the dialogues based on the story. We wore costumes for royal family

(6)

as the story was about a kingdom. I was a king and I wore surcoat made from

sarong. All of us did our best, I mean we memorized the dialogues and performed

well though one of us missed the show. It was great show and loved role play. I

was so excited and the group was perfect.

Meaning Unit Condensation Sub-theme Theme

The title was taken from a legend from Lombok island since one of us was from there.

We wore costumes for royal family as the story was about a kingdom. I was a king and I wore surcoat made from sarong.

All of us did our best, I mean we memorized the dialogues and performed well though one of us missed the show.

It was great show and loved role play. I was so excited and the group was perfect.

Participating in the activity

Feeling succeeded

Being involved

Being confident

Being connected to body and mind

Being connected to self