Computer-assisted language learning to improve reading competence of mechanical engineering students : an action research.

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xvii ABSTRACT

Agustina Anna Rachmawati. 2015. Computer-Assisted Language Learning to Improve Reading Competence of Mechanical Engineering Students: an Action Research, Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Education Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

Reading is one of the basic skills in English which needs interpretation and background knowledge. It is categorized as input skill. It means when people read something they will get information from it. They consider reading as an important activity, so that they usually say that reading is a window of the world. By reading, they can get information widely without going anywhere. Mechanical engineering students’ reading competence needs to be improved so that the students can grasp meaning from the article which they have read because they have to read a lot of references which are mostly written in English.

The researcher and students agreed that they had some reading problems in improving reading competence. All of the problems influenced their reading achievement. Their reading achievements were low. From the interview with the students, the reading aspects which were needed to be improved were vocabulary and reading comprehension. The researcher offered technology to solve the problems. The technology which was offered was using CALL to improve reading competence for mechanical engineering students. The researcher made reading exercises and performed the exercises in Hot Potatoes. The aims of this research were to figure out teaching and learning process of reading skills in Mechanical Engineering study program conducted using CALL and to improve mechanical engineering students in reading competence.

The method was action research. The interview was gained from in-depth interview with the students and the observation was gained from a sequence of classroom observation in teaching practices and classroom situation. The quantitative data were gained from the questionnaire and test. In the first step, the research was started by collecting the information and data to gather students’ needs in English. Since it was an action research, the students were interviewed about the problems and their own solution to solve the problems. The need assessment questionnaire was also done to find out students’ real needs in reading skills. From the data, the learning technique was developed. The technique employed technology as a tool to solve students reading problems. The second step was the implementation of the action research cycles. All the students’ activities and attitudes were observed during the cycle. Based on the collected data, the reflection was done to find out whether there was any learning improvement using CALL or not. The test was conducted to find out the reading achievement in every cycle.

The result of the research indicates that materials which were built using CALL could give an alternative reading exercise. The students can do the exercises to practice their reading. The activities can be visualized by using CALL which is used to enrich the teaching-learning process. The exercises consist of crossword, matching,

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multiple choice, true false, short answer and gap filling covers the reading skills which needed by mechanical engineering students. The observation and reflection indicated that the teaching learning process gradually improves. The students were more interested using CALL in developing reading competence. CALL becomes one of the alternatives for them to learn reading. The reflection indicated that reading text is not merely doing exercises in photocopier paper. They can practice the exercises using computer application.

The improvement of the students’ reading competence is also supported by the result of the test score in every cycle. The starting competence was low (61.79). The improvement of each cycle shows that the use of CALL gradually improves reading competence as shown by the averages of the first, second and third cycle (M1= 67.50; M2= 75.00; M3= 78.21). The result from the pre-test to the third cycle test was processed using t-test to know the level of significant. I had to use t-test to confirm the significant level of the findings. The findings showed that the result was significant since the result was .000<.05 (sig. (2-tailed). The level of significant was 0.5 and .000 was below 0.5.

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xix ABSTRAK

Agustina Anna Rachmawati. 2015. Computer-Assisted Language Learning to Improve Reading Competence of Mechanical Engineering Students: an Action Research, Yogyakarta: Program Pascasarjana Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Membaca adalah salah satu keterampilan dasar dalam bahasa Inggris yang membutuhkan interpretasi dan latar belakang pengetahuan. Hal ini dikategorikan sebagai keterampilan input. Ini berarti ketika orang membaca sesuatu yang mereka akan mendapatkan informasi. Orang menganggap membaca sebagai kegiatan penting, sehingga orang biasanya mengatakan bahwa membaca adalah jendela dunia. Dengan membaca, orang bisa mendapatkan informasi secara luas tanpa terjadi di mana saja. Karena mahasiswa teknik mesin harus membaca banyak referensi yang sebagian besar ditulis dalam bahasa Inggris, kompetensi membaca harus diperdalam untuk membantu mahasiswa dalam menangkap makna dari artikel yang mereka baca.

Peneliti dan mahasiswa setuju bahwa mereka memiliki beberapa masalah dalam membaca. Masalah-masalah yang mereka hadapi antara lain, memiliki minat baca yang rendah and kurangnya latihan. Semua masalah membuat mereka memiliki prestasi membaca yang rendah. Dalam membantu mahasiswa mengembangkan membaca, peneliti menawarkan teknologi untuk memecahkan masalah. Teknologi yang menawarkan adalah menggunakan pembelajaran dengan teknologi untuk mengembangkan kompetensi membaca bagi mahasiswa teknik mesin. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana proses belajar mengajar dalam keterampilan membaca di program studi Teknik Mesin dilakukan dengan menggunakan aplikasi computer dan bagaimana kompetensi membaca mahasiswa Teknik meningkat.

Metode ini merupakan penelitian tindakan kelas. Data dikumpulkan dari data kualitatif yang diperoleh dari wawancara mendalam dan observasi dan data kuantitatif dari kuesioner dan tes. Pada langkah pertama, itu dimulai dalam mengumpulkan informasi dan data untuk mengumpulkan kebutuhan siswa dalam bahasa Inggris. Karena itu penelitian tindakan kelas, siswa diwawancarai tentang masalah dan solusi mereka sendiri untuk memecahkan masalah. Kuesioner penilaian kebutuhan tentang bahasa inggris juga dilakukan untuk mengetahui kebutuhan riil siswa dalam keterampilan membaca. Dari data, teknik belajar mengajar dengan applikasi computer dikembangkan. Teknik ini digunakan Hot Potatoes untuk memecahkan siswa membaca masalah. Langkah kedua adalah pelaksanaan siklus. Kegiatan dan sikap semua siswa yang diamati. Berdasarkan data yang dikumpulkan, refleksi itu dapat menjelaskan untuk mengetahui apakah perbaikan belajar setiap menggunakan Hot Potatoes atau tidak. Tes ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui pencapaian membaca di setiap siklus.

Dari hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa bahan yang dibangun menggunakan CALL bisa berkontribusi beberapa latihan yang bisa dilakukan oleh siswa untuk berlatih membaca mereka. Kegiatan dapat divisualisasikan dengan menggunakan CALL yang digunakan untuk memperkaya proses belajar-mengajar. Latihan terdiri

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dari silang, pencocokan, pilihan ganda, benar salah, jawaban singkat dan kesenjangan mengisi meliputi keterampilan membaca yang dibutuhkan oleh mahasiswa teknik mesin. Dari pengamatan dan refleksi menunjukkan bahwa proses pembelajaran secara bertahap membaik. Para siswa lebih tertarik menggunakan CALL dalam mengembangkan kompetensi membaca. Hot Potatoes menjadi salah satu alternatif bagi mereka untuk belajar membaca. Dari refleksi menunjukkan bahwa teks bacaan tidak hanya melakukan latihan di kertas fotokopi. Mereka bisa berlatih menggunakan aplikasi komputer. Peningkatan kompetensi membaca siswa juga didukung oleh hasil skor tes. Kompetensi mulai rendah (61,79). peningkatan setiap siklus menunjukkan bahwa Pengunaan CALL dalam reading menunjukan bahwa nilai berangsur-angsur membaik. Kompetensi membaca seperti yang ditunjukkan oleh rata-rata dari yang pertama, kedua dan ketiga siklus (M1 = 67,50; M2 = 75,00; M3 = 78,21).

Peningkatan kemampuan membaca didukung dengan hasil test dari setiap siklus. Kemampuan awal menunjukan score yang rendah ( 61.79) peningkatan di setiap siklus menunjukan bahwa pengunaan CALL meningkat secara bertahap. Hasil dari tes sebelum dan sesudah siklus ketiga diproses dengan menggunakan t-test. T-test digunakan untuk mengetahui tingkat siknifikan dari tes. Hasil dari t-tes menunjukan ada perbedaan yang signifikan sebelum ada siklus dan sesudah ada siklus. Hasilnya adalah 000<.05 (sig. (2-tailed). Tingkat signifikan adalah 0.5 dan .000 dibawah 0.5.

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COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING TO

IMPROVE READING COMPETENCE OF

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS:

AN ACTION RESEARCH

A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements To Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M Hum) Degree

In English Language Studies

Agustina Anna Rachmawati Student Number: 136332020

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2015

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DEDICATION PAGE

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can appreciate them

when they’re, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but

yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together”

Marilyn Monroe

“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand”

Confucius

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My first and foremost gratitude would be to my only Lord Jesus Christ. Without His Endless Love and Guidance, I could never finish my thesis. He has also given me loving people who supported me in completing this thesis and finishing my study. It is a wonderful opportunity for me to give my deepest gratitude to all of them

I would like to express my deepest, special gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A. for his guidance and patience. I indeed thank him for his willingness, availability time and providing me with support, valuable criticism, opinions, suggestions for my thesis improvement. Without his support and guidance, I would not be able to accomplish my thesis. My sincere gratitude are also extended to all KBI lecturers, Dr. F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D., Dr. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons), Dr. Bismoko, Mr. Widya Kiswara, S.Pd., M.Hum., Mutiara Andalas, S.J., S.TD, Ms. Josephine Sri Murwani Pudji Lestari, M.Hum., for their insights, knowledge, encouragement and letting me learn great things during my study. I also thank to KBI Staff, Mbak lely and Pak Mul and all graduate staffs for helping me during my academic time.

My deepest gratitude also goes to the Head of Mechanical Engineering Department, Vocational College, Universitas Gadjah Mada, all lecturers, and his Staff for giving me opportunity to have experience and improve my teaching knowledge.

My deepest gratitude goes to my parents who always give me spirit, support and affection. Their prayer day by day has given me motivation and spirit to finish

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my thesis. I am also thankful for having my brother, Sigit Desiandana and sister-in law, Ani S. Widiyanti who always give me support and care to me.

I am very grateful to all my Classmates KBI C 13, mas Tangguh, mbak Hening, mbak Maya, Ratrie, Mimi, Nita and GeRePe classmates, Mbak Desi, Ika, Mbak yunita, Levyn,Dewinta, Anin, shanty, Belinda, mbak Marga, Dian for their support and motivation during my study. I am also very grateful to my true friend, mbak Sutanti, who always shares problems and motivates one another to finish this thesis. It has given me a big power to end my long journey of my thesis.

My deepest gratitude goes to my husband, Pandit Andriyanto, who always supports and understands me much in every condition. I am very thankful for being patient husband in my difficult time in finishing my thesis. For my lovely daughter, Maria Ovelia Dwiardhani, thank you for cheer me up when I am down. And thank you for your smile because it motivates me to finish my thesis.

Finally my gratitude goes to those whom I cannot mention by the names. May God bless them with health and happiness whole the life.

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TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL PAGE ... ii

DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ... iii

DEDICATION PAGE ... iv

STATEMENT OF WORK ORIGINALITY ... v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN UNTUK PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... xii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix

LIST OF TABLES ... xiii

LIST OF FIGURES ... xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xv

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS ... xvi

ABSTRACT ... xvii

ABSTRAK ... xix

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. Background ... 1

B. Problem Identification ... 7

C. Problem Limitation ... 8

D. Research Problems ... 10

E. Research Objectives ... 10

F. Research Benefits ... 11

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ... 14

A. Theoretical Review ... 14

1. CALL ... 14

a. The Concept of CALL ... 15

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2. Reading ... 18

a. The Process of Reading ... 20

b. Reading Comprehension ... 24

c. Teaching Reading... 27

d. Teaching Reading using Hot Potatoes in CALL ... 29

e. Learning Reading ... 31

f. Learning Reading using Hot Potatoes in CALL ... 32

3. English for Mechanical Engineering ... 38

4. Action Research ... 40

B. Review to Related Studies ... 42

C. Theoretical Framework ... 44

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ... 47

A. Research Method ... 47

B. Research Procedure ... 49

1. Planning ... 50

2. Acting ... 51

3. Observing ... 51

4. Reflection ... 51

C. Research Setting ... 52

D. The Instruments of Collecting Data ... 53

E. Technique of Collecting Data ... 56

F. Technique of Analyzing Data ... 63

1. Qualitative Data ... 63

2. Quantitative Data ... 63

G. Triangulation ... 66

CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 69

A. Results ... 69

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a. Observation before Action Research ... 69

b. Interview before Action Research ... 71

c. The Result of Need Analysis of Reading Competence ... 72

d. Problems of Reading ... 77

e. The Way of Solving problem ... 81

2. Action Research Cycles ... 83

a. Cycle I ... 83

1) Material ... 85

2) Process of Reading ... 89

3) Reflection ... 96

4) Test Result ... 97

5) Planning for the Next Cycle ... 98

b. Cycle II ... 101

1) Material ... 101

2) Learning Process Improvement... 108

3) Reflection ... 110

4) Test Result ... 112

5) Planning for the Next Cycle ... 112

c. Cycle III ... 115

1) Material ... 115

2) Learning Process Improvement... 122

3) Reflection ... 124

4) Test Result ... 125

B. Discussions ... 126

1. Learning Improvements ... 126

a. Learning Process Improvement... 126

b. Learning Result Improvement... 131

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A. Conclusion ... 133

B. Implication ... 137

C. Suggestion ... 137

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 140

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1. Skills which included in Reading………22

Table 3.1. Blueprint of The Need Analysis Questionnaire…...………57

Table 3.2. Blueprint of Students’ Reflection Interview…...……….60

Table 3.3. Blueprint of Students’ Feedback to the Techniques……...………..60

Table 3.4. Template of Descriptive Statistics of Need Analysis Questionnaire Result…..……….64

Table 3.5. The Way of Presenting Data interview………...………..67

Table 4.1. Reading Competence of Second Semester of Mechanical Engineering...72

Table 4.2. Pre-Test of Reading Competence.………. .. ... .73

Table 4.3. Need of Reading Skills.……….. .... 73

Table 4.4. Target Needs of Reading Competence………... .74

Table 4.5. Reading Competence and Technology……….75

Table 4.6. Comparison between Test Result of Pre-Test and Cycle I……….. ... ..98

Table 4.7. Comparison between Test result of Cycle I and Cycle II………… ... 112

Table 4.8. Comparison between Test Result of Cycle II and Cycle III…….... ... 126

Table 4.9. Result of Pre-Test and all Cycles.………...………131

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1. Example of Multiple-Choice in JQuiz ... 33

Figure 2.2. Example of Short-Answer of JQuiz ... 34

Figure 2.3. Example of Matching in JMatch ... 35

Figure 2.4. Example of Scoring System in JMatch ... 36

Figure 2.5. Example of JCross ... 37

Figure 2.6. Example of Scoring System in JCross ... 38

Figure 3.1. Self-Reflective Spiral in Action Research ... 49

Figure 4.6.1. Template of Measuring Tools Reading Exercise... 85

Figure 4.6.2. Crossword Template in Measuring Tools ... 86

Figure 4.6.3. Matching Template in Measuring Tools ... 87

Figure 4.6.4. True-False Template in Measuring Tools... 88

Figure 4.6.5. Matching Template in Measuring Tools ... 89

Figure 4.6.6. Electricity Template ... 102

Figure 4.6.7. Matching Template in Electricity ... 103

Figure 4.6.8. Gap-Filling Template in Electricity ... 104

Figure 4.6.9. Template Multiple-Choice Template in Electricity ... 105

Figure 4.6.10. True-False Template in Electricity ... 106

Figure 4.6.11. Crossword Template in Electricity ... 107

Figure 4.6.12. Fuel Template ... 116

Figure 4.6.13. Matching Template in Fuel ... 117

Figure 4.6.15. Crossword Template in Fuel ... 118

Figure 4.6.16. Multiple-Choice Template in Fuel... 119

Figure 4.6.17. Short-Answer Template in Fuel ... 120

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1. Transcript of Need Analysis Interview ... 144

Appendix 2. Transcript of Reflection Interview1_Handy... 147

Appendix 3. Transcript of Reflection Interview1_Esti ... 149

Appendix 4. Transcript of Reflection Interview1_Aji ... 152

Appendix 5. Transcript of Reflection Interview1_Sansan ... 154

Appendix 6. Transcript of Reflection Interview2_Handy... 157

Appendix 7. Transcript of Reflection Interview2_Esti ... 159

Appendix 8. Transcript of Reflection Interview 2_Aji ... 162

Appendix 9. Transcript of Reflection Interview2_Sansan ... 164

Appendix10. Transcript of Reflection Interview3_Handy... 167

Appendix 11. Transcript of Reflection Interview3_Esti ... 169

Appendix12. Transcript of Reflection Interview3_Aji ... 171

Appendix 13. Transcript of Reflection Interview3_Sansan ... 173

Appendix14. Transcript of Reflection Interview1_all Students ... 175

Appendix 15. Transcript of Reflection Interview2_all Students ... 177

Appendix16. Transcript of Reflection Interview3_all Students ... 180

Appendix 17. Need Analysis Questionnaire Instrument ... 183

Appendix 18. Students’ Questionnaire Answer ... 186

Appendix 19. Test Model of Reading from Cycle I to Cycle III ... 188

Appendix 20. Students’ Works ... 192

Appendix 21. Observational Notes ... 198

Appendix 22. Photographs of Learning Process ... 204

Appendix 23. Test Result ... 205

Appendix 24. Descriptive Statistics ... 206

Appendix 25. Test Improvement from Cycle I to Cycle III ... 207

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ICT : Information and Communication Technology CALL : Computer Assisted Language Learning

Adv : Advantage

L. Im : Learning Improvement

P : Problem

S : Solution

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xvii ABSTRACT

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xix ABSTRAK

Agustina Anna Rachmawati. 2015. Computer-Assisted Language Learning to Improve Reading Competence of Mechanical Engineering Students: an Action Research, Yogyakarta: Program Pascasarjana Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The introductory chapter contains the background information related to the research problem. The purpose is to establish a framework for the study so that readers know the issue under study. The chapter contains six different parts. The first is background of the study which followed by identification of the problem. The next two are the limitation of the problem and statement of research questions. The last two present the research goals and the research benefits.

A. Background

English competences are supposed to be achieved because in education field, competence can be its goal to be achieved. Competence according to Raven and Stephenson (2001) is understood as a standardized requirement for an individual to properly perform in a specific job. It includes a combination of knowledge, skill and behavior utilized to improve performance. It can be said that competence is the quality of being adequately, having the ability to perform a specific role. The students’ competence in school is based on the empowerment of students themselves and teacher himself or herself. Competence can be related to the ability.

Reading is one of the basic skills of English. It is categorized as input skill. It means when people read something, they will get information from it. Nunan (2004:68) states, reading is a fluent process of reader combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning. In reading, readers combine the information from the text and the information from their existing

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background knowledge. Reading, one of language skills, should be mastered well by the students because reading is an essential factor that influences one’s activity in communication. Reading is regarded as a decoding skill, which is, interpreting codes into ideas.

The way of teaching reading has been developed to meet the students’ needs. The teaching and learning orientation has moved from the traditional one which puts attention on teachers’ role and the teaching method to the learners’ great involvement in the teaching learning process. How learners can maximize their own way to have better language learning is put on the priority. Teachers not only teach traditionally as a teacher centered, but also create activities and exercises which can make students active in learning process. The mix teaching method is used by employing technology as a supporting tool to complete the learning. By mixing between the traditional teaching with the teaching using media, students get easier to understand the lesson because they get involved in teaching learning process.

Teaching learning process in reading also should be improved to get the students’ real needs. Reading competence is beneficial for mechanical engineering students since they have to comprehend the mechanical articles and manual books which are written in English. They have to comprehend the meaning of the text. It cannot be denied that they have to read lots articles related to mechanical terms which almost written in English. Unfortunately, most students of mechanical engineering have difficulty in comprehend English articles.

The fact has shown that the students are hard to develop their reading competence. They are not accustomed to read text in English even though all the

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manuals books are in English. It makes them do not have motivation to read. It is also evidence that in class, the students have limited time to practice their ability. Meanwhile, practicing is so important in learning English. As the students in mechanical engineering class come from various educational backgrounds, problems appear in teaching learning process. They lack basic vocabularies in mechanical terms; their level of proficiency is different. Moreover, students lack practices. Those problems make the teaching learning process is not effective. They create other problems like, students daydreaming; listening to IPods, instant messaging on a cell phone, playing a laptop. The proportion of students visibly engaged in taking notes in most classes has become all-too-often rather small.

One of the efforts to teach English especially reading is by employing the technology in learning language. Most educators put efforts to exploit technology in education for developing students’ competence. Educators are aware the existence of a digital technology can assist in the language education. They are being presented with a new opportunity to engage students in innovative ways. Technology can be employed as a tool to support the teaching learning process.

The development of technology has already resulted friendly computer application which can help the teachers create various and innovative learning. As Beatty (2006) states “much of CALL in technology-driven with improvement in computer’s power, speed, storage and software tools help to define directions for pedagogy and research.” The use of multimedia will help students to enjoy the lesson inside and outside class. The teachers have tried to provide the students better learning environments by equipping them with the latest technology. This effort has

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encouraged teachers to use various assistive technologies such as computers and the internet in their classrooms especially over the last decade; this process is called integration of information and communication technologies (Hsu, 2010).

In Indonesia, many teachers have applied their teaching techniques by using the information communication technology (ICT) to achieve English competences. The teachers are supposed to assist the students developing their English competences by using the ICT, so that the students will be ready to use English in any kinds of situations. The integrating multimedia presentation tools which are available to perform better teaching have become easier in today’s classroom. This study introduces a freeware named Hot Potatoes to investigate the use of the ICT to develop students’ competence.

Teaching learning process using multimedia also can be equipped in English classroom in college. Since college students are already adult learners. They are supposed to be independent active in class and outside classroom. Learning using multimedia will give more benefits for them to be active and autonomous. Moreover, they will develop their English competences. English needs lots practice to be fluent. When they are not familiar with English, teaching learning process will be useless.

In Mechanical Engineering Study Program, Vocational College, Gadjah Mada University, The use of multimedia has been familiar in teaching learning process. In English class, the teacher also uses multimedia to give the lesson. English for mechanical engineering is included in English for the specific academic purpose which aims on practical outcomes. It is more effective for them because ESAP is designed to meet the specific purposes of the learners.

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Since English which is taught in mechanical engineering is English for specific academic purpose, Mechanical Engineering students are expected to actively use English in their academic setting, that is to understand English texts which are useful for their study, to prepare themselves in international academic forums; in professional setting, that is in job market competitions; and even in international communication setting, that is to be able to communicate with colleagues or people from different countries. Therefore, these students need to be prepared to use English in terms of academic, professional and personal uses.

The objectives of learning English in mechanical engineering are tailored to the need of second semester students. The course includes integrated skills in the areas which are needed by second semester students to prepare them in their daily life as mechanical engineering students such as capable to understand and speak in English in specific topic, capable to read and understand the manual books which mostly written in English and also capable to written short report in English.

The focus of this study is reading skill because the information around the world grows fast and there are so many articles about mechanical terms released everyday and written in English. Reading is very important for students when they are in the workplace: they have to expand their knowledge through reading so they can adjust themselves with the growth of workplace needs. In answering those requirements, mechanical engineering students need to have the ability to read comprehensively.

Hot Potatoes as one of computer-assisted language learning is used to improve reading competence. Hot Potatoes will serve some exercises which can help

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the students practice their reading skill. Hot Potatoes is a software suite containing six applications that are well-suited for use in an educational setting. It is a simple way of creating attractive, web-based interactive exercises with feedback for the students. Hot Potatoes Suite enables teachers to create interactive web-based teaching exercises which can be delivered to any internet-connected computer equipped with a browser. In Hot Potatoes, the teachers do not need to know anything about these languages in order to use the programs. All they need to do is enter the data for exercises (questions, answers, responses etc.). CALL can provide an available learning experience to students and give them the opportunity to practically experience the ideas presented and strengthen their learning. It is a motivating way to engage the students in language tasks presented through a computer screen. The course is not simply a computer version of textbook, instead, the material and exercises to provide interactive and engaging tasks for students.

Action research is conducted in this study. The goal of this research is to solve the specific problems in classroom. It will help the teacher provide alternative teaching techniques and also help mechanical engineering students to improve their reading competence. Action research is used because it provides a process to improve, incorporate change involve educators to work together to improve their own practice (Ary: 2010). Action research is conducted through some steps by observing, planning, acting and reflecting. It is done in the cyclic. There are four steps in the cycles, first is planning, in this phase, the researcher and participants identify a problem or issue and develop a plan of the action in order to bring about improvement in a specific area of the research context. Second is action. In this

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phase, the plan puts into an action over an agreed period of time. Third is observation, this phase involves the researcher in observing systematically the effect of the action and documenting the action. Fourth is reflection, the researcher reflects on, evaluates and describes the effects of the action in order to make sense of what has happened and to understand the issue more clearly. This research is to bring about positive changes toward the education. The students actualize themselves to explore their potential to get better understanding result through various data and what they have got. They are willing to make better changes to overcome the problems

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B. Problem Identification

The vocational college provides graduates who are able to use English as mechanical engineering students and later will be used English as engineers. Reading competence, especially, it is taught with other skills in English integrately. It is needed by students to be able to comprehend mechanical texts. Based on the interview and need assessments which have been conducted to the participants, the researcher found out that students had some reading problems.

The problems were found in the learning process and students’ reading achievement. The teaching learning process from the teacher and students were not well. It makes them get difficulty to learn reading skills well because they do not have adequate exposures and time to practice in English. The monotonous process of learning made students discourage to learn. The teacher still used ordinary way almost every day. Reading exercises employed using paper which had been given to

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the students one week before reading lesson. They were just asked to do the exercises which had been written in the photocopied paper exercises.

The problem on students’ reading competence could also be found from the students’ achievement. The students’ reading competence was still low. It could be seen from the students’ reading score. The students’ reading competence was low because they had difficulties in understanding the text. They got it difficult in understanding sentences, finding the meaning of the sentences and drawing conclusions. The students needed a lot of time in understanding the text. Those all made their achievement low and caused failure in the learning process.

This action research offers CALL which uses Hot Potatoes which can be used by students to improve their reading competence in English. CALL which offered can use the internet connection to support the exercises. It will foster students in achieving reading competence and it will make students more independent in learning English. They can practice what they have learnt in classroom by doing exercises outside the classroom. By using technology, the students will be able to enjoy the exercise seriously because while learning English, they can also play with their laptop.

C. Problem Limitation

To limit the study in order to be specific to conduct and find particular problems easier, this study covers classroom action research. Action research covers the teaching learning process which is conducted using CALL. The learning process which is conducted using CALL could involve the activities which were done by the students in practicing reading. The activities were included in one topic of reading. In

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a topic, the students should do the activities like crossword puzzle, matching for the pre-reading activities. Reading comprehension was served as while reading activities which include multiple choices, true false questions, and short answers. The post- reading included gap fillings and crosswords. The roles of the teacher are to monitor the learning process and check the students’ understanding by asking related questions or giving feedbacks. There are some skills were explored in this research, namely, recognizing vocabularies related to the text, finding the main idea of the text, skimming, scanning the information in the text, drawing conclusion, interpreting the text based on the background knowledge.

In a more specific area, this study is intended to improve reading competence using CALL for mechanical engineering students. Reading skills are explored more, since they need reading skill to make them easier to understand manual books which mostly written in English. It also will be useful for them when they enter a working field. The reading aspects which were explored in this study were vocabulary and reading comprehension. Vocabulary is needed by the students to enlarge their mechanical engineering term. Reading comprehension helped them to comprehend the meaning of the text.

Exercises are created based on second semester’s syllabus. In my action research study, the target population is all students in the class room (n=30) of second semester students of mechanical engineering in Gadjah Mada University, students will be invited to identify their problems and together with the researcher find out the solution to make learning process improves and they can improve their English competence.

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D. Research Problems

The research questions are formulated as following to guide my action research in solving the students’ reading competence:

1. How can teaching learning process of reading skills in Mechanical Engineering study program be conducted using computer-assisted language learning?

2. How does computer-assisted language learning improve the Mechanical engineering students’ reading competence?

E. Research Objectives

The objectives of the research are first; to describe the learning process using computer assisted language learning for mechanical engineering students. The researcher observed and reflected the activities from the first cycle to third cycle of the Action research. Through the observation and reflection, the activities in reading competence using CALL would be evaluated, reflected and re-designed for the next activity to improve students’ reading competence. The researcher would improve the learning process using CALL. All the activities which were indicated on the improvement would be reported.

The second objective is to report the students reading improvement which is shown in the improvement in every cycle. The improvements of every cycle are reported in the test improvement of every cycle.

The reading competence of mechanical engineering students was low. It could be proved from the result of the achievement at the pre-test. Some problems which appeared in learning reading make the students difficult to get better achievement in

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English competence. It is necessary for teachers to foster students to be active inside class. These challenged the researcher to find better techniques to teach them.

The result of the observation and interview with the students showed that the students needed media to develop their reading competence. The objective of the research based on the research question was to improve the teaching learning process using CALL. The improvement of the research meant that students can comprehend reading passage using CALL. By comprehending the reading passage well, it is expected that the students can improve reading competence. Reading competence improves by achieving better result in reading competence.

Exercises in CALL can also be used by the teacher to help students in achieving better competence. By using CALL, the students can engage their reading competence by practicing the activities. In learning process, this research wants to discover that computer-assisted language learning is effective to provide more exercises and more practices in classroom. It is hoped that CALL can help the learning process and are able to make learning effective. This research employs action research. It means that this research encourages learning empowerment of the students. The researcher explored the students’ opinion in problems of reading and how to solve the problems, reading improvement using CALL. The students can develop their competence by themselves inside and outside classroom. The students can also be autonomous learners so that, they could master and practice what they have learnt in class well.

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F. Research Benefits

This study is expected to give the benefits for some parties. The researcher can learn a lot from this research. The crucial theories, methods and experiences of processing the various data would be beneficial for doing the similar research. Since it is action research, this study provides the benefits for the students in solving problems especially reading competence. They can get valuable experiences in improving their own competence by employing computer application. Practically, students are expected to be able to practice exercises in CALL so that, they can develop their English by practicing them. Students can also find out that learning English is not only monotonous by doing paper exercises. They can apply it by using their computer and they will get more motivation and exposure to improve their English. It offers very good visual impact and uses English in different situations. It allows and encourages interactive learning between the students and the computer. It allows student to make choice and progress at their own speed. the exercises enhance students’ motivation and provide more stimulation for learning. It also helps to enhance students’ language skills and enrich their vocabulary. Students could work under a pressure-free atmosphere when working on the computer. There was no public embarrassment even when they gave a wrong answer. All topics were designed in the same manner.

The result of the action research can be used by English lecturers in mechanical engineering to give alternative teaching techniques and solve the problems which faced by students in learning English. Moreover, it can improve teaching learning process. CALL which uses Hot Potatoes can be used as one of task

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sources to teach English for students. The result can be used as one of tools to improve students’ reading competence and as reflection to improve materials.

The result of the study can be used by other researchers as one of the references to conduct action research on English language teaching, especially in developing reading competence through CALL for mechanical engineering students. The results of the research would inspire the other researcher to do the action research using other application in developing reading competence. The result of the research can be used the other research to compare their finding using the other media in computer application or software. Theoretically, the result of the study is expected to enrich the English learning teaching literatures concerning with learning using CALL.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Theoretical Review

Theoretical review is going to discuss four fundamental sections. The first involves the concept of CALL. The second is reading competence, the third is English for mechanical engineering, and the fourth is action research.

1. CALL

The use of technology related to computers has been expansively increased and become a common feature of the classroom. There is no doubt that the use of computers in language learning brings some chances and advantages for developing second language acquisition. Its use will later occupy more roles in the second language classroom in the future (Richard and Renandya, 2002). However, utilizing the computer in language learning does not portray the teacher’s absence in the class that all aspects of learning are restrained by the computer. In fact, the teachers are the ones who possess the control over the quality of learning occurred in the classroom.

Using computers in the classroom is important for both teachers and learners. Computers can handle a range of activities and carry out programmed functions at amazing speed. They can check exercises after they are done, move students gradually from easier to more difficult exercises according to their levels and abilities. When students fail to answer questions correctly or perform activities, the computer can simulate, drill, or explain the phenomenon in a way that makes it easier for the learner to understand (Hoffman, 1996).

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Some language practitioners and teachers believe that utilizing computer in second language learning brings a good influence for the learners to improve language skills. Providing the learners with CALL is not solely about providing an innovative learning and considering conventional class as no longer good. It provides students different learning atmosphere as they experience more interaction outside the class.

a. The Concept of CALL

The use of computer has been increased in word wide. The search for and study of applications of computer in language teaching and learning can be regarded as the definition of what is called the Computer – Assisted Language Learning (CALL) (Levy, 1997:1) Levy stated CALL is interdisciplinary in nature, and it has developed the effort to find ways of using the computer for teaching.

Levy (1997:76) stated that a conceptualization of a CALL is an abstract notion that may go beyond a description of any particular set of CALL materials will shed light on the author’s conceptualization. It can be said that the concept of CALL is actually a reflection on how CALL develops materials. Levy (1997:77) stated that conceptualization of CALL depends on the material as well as how the materials are used in the learning process. The use of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) can offer viable opportunities for the promotion of the concept of responsibility for one’s learning, by putting control of the learning in the hands of the students (Benson, 2006).

CALL is also going to be applied in teaching reading to develop reading skills in Mechanical Engineering College. It will promote new teaching and learning

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atmosphere in class. The control of learning is not only from teacher, but also students themselves in understanding the material.

b. The Benefits of CALL

According to Donalson (2006), some of the benefits of CALL in teaching learning process that help students to develop their language competence. The first is learner autonomy. The learner can spend more time on those topics that are causing difficulty. Information can be reviewed and tasks can be repeated until the learner understand and move on to a new topic. The learner feels in control, which usually enhances satisfaction levels with the learning process. Successful language learners assume responsibility for their own learning. The second is privacy. Many learners are shy in a traditional classroom setting, not participating as much as they would like, for fear of making mistakes and being the object of ridicule. The computer offers a forum where learners can lose their self-consciousness. The computer will not expose them when they make any mistakes (although the errors may be stored for review). The learners can learn within the sheltered, protected confines of the CALL program.

The third is access to Information. Another benefit of CALL is the control over access to information. A CALL program has the potential to provide more information to the learner (via links to electronic dictionaries, more detailed screens and links to other sites) With a CALL program, the user can leave when s/he wishes and come back to where s/he left off and start again. Thus, users have more control over the cognitive load they bear during a lesson. The fourth is interactivity.

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Computers promote interactivity. Learners have to interact with the computer and cannot hide behind their classmates. If the learner does nothing, nothing happens. At the very least, learners have to start the CALL program. The program can only pass from one section to another with the “consent” of the learner. Thus learners have to drive the program. Usually they have to use the target language in exercises within the program. They have plenty of opportunities to practice the language in a one-on-one situation. They can practice the exercises as many times as they like, until they are satisfied with their results.

The fifth is Non-Traditional Features. CALL programs should not just imitate what happens in a traditional classroom situation but enhance the learning process by doing things that are only possible with the use of the computer. One such area is that of examples. New exercise types have been introduced which can not only test the learner’s knowledge, but also avoid the boredom associated with constant repetition of the same types of exercises. The variety of exercises available helps to maintain the student’s interest. Audio and video are features possible in CALL that cannot be as smoothly integrated into the more traditional learning courses. The sixth is repetition. The last benefit of CALL is the ability to repeatedly review information. This repetition can aid reinforcement. This is obviously beneficial to the learner and is a definite advantage over the traditional classroom situation in which it is not that easy to ask the teacher to repeat something until it is understood by the learner.

Understanding and creating language learning environments in applying CALL are important to make learning process effective. Some principles of CALL

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should be considered in teaching English using CALL. According to Egbert et.al., eight conditions should be considered for optimal language learning environments. First, learners have opportunities to interact and negotiate meaning. Second, learners interact in the target language with an authentic audience. Third, learners are involved in authentic tasks. Fourth, learners are exposed to and encouraged to produce varied and creative language. Fifth, learners have enough time and feedback. Sixth, learners are guided to attend mindfully to the learning process. Seventh, learners work in an atmosphere with an ideal stress or anxiety level. Eighth, learner autonomy is supported.

Egbert and Hanson-Smith (1999) state that Internet communication can help teachers and learners create many of the conditions for an optimal learning environment. According to them, it increases self-esteem by empowering both the teacher and student regardless of certain physical challenges or social and cultural differences. They add that it encourages and motivates students to become involved in authentic projects

Those benefits will be used in applying CALL in mechanical engineering class to make students develop their reading competence. Since CALL have many benefits, those will help students in learning English as foreign language. They will find that learning English is fun with CALL.

2. Reading Competence

Competence includes skill and knowledge. In can be seen from Chomsky in Brumfit and Johnson (1998: 13) is “the speaker-hearer’s knowledge and ability thus includes concepts of appropriateness and acceptability”. The specific learning

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outcomes under language competence deal with knowledge of the language and the ability to use that knowledge to interpret and produce meaningful texts appropriate to the situation in which they are used.

Language competence in this study deals with reading competence of mechanical engineering students. The ability to interpret and comprehend text suitable in content can be seen from reading. Language competence is best developed in the context of activities or tasks where the language is used for real purposes, in other words, in practical application. Competence is needed by mechanical engineering students because as mechanical engineering students, they should recognize the knowledge and they also have to use it in real situation.

Reading is regarded as one of English skills that need reader’s interpretation from text. Nuttal viewed that reading essentially focuses on meaning, especially, delivering meaning from writer to reader (2005:3). It means that the reading activity builds thinking collaboratively among the reader, the writer and the text.

In line with Nuttal, reading involves the recognition of the elements of meaning in their essential relations including accuracy and thoroughness in comprehension. Knowing nature of reading is one of requirements to facilitate the readers in comprehending the text well. In reading, we have ability to go back and find the meaning of difficult words. According to Nunan (2003:68), reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from text and their own background of knowledge to build the meaning.

There was a shift in emphasis reading from passive skill (reading along with listening) to an active one (focus on reader). Thus, the readers were typically

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described as extracting meaning from a text. Reading is considered as interactive either than active. Readers are seen as negotiating meaning; meaning is partial within the text and writers’ intentions may not be privileged over reader’s interpretations (Carter & Nunan, 2001).

a. The Process of Reading

Reading is regarded as one of English skills that need reader’s interpretation from text. In this sense, according to Nuttal (2005) views that reading focuses on meaning, especially delivers meaning from reader. It means that, the reading activity builds thinking collaboratively among the reader, the writer and the text. Reading is a process where readers combine information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning (Nunan, 2003: 68). Reading is also an interactive process in at least two ways. First, the various processes involved in reading are carried out virtually simultaneously. While we are recognising words very rapidly and keeping them active in our working memories, we are also analysing the structure of sentences to assemble the most logical clause-level meanings, building a main-idea model of text comprehension in our heads, monitoring comprehension and so on. Combining these skills in an efficient manner makes general comprehension a time-consuming ability to master.

Reading is interactive in the sense that linguistic information from the text interacts with information activated by the readers’ background knowledge. These two knowledge sources (linguistic and background) are essential for building the reader’s interpretation of the text (Grabe &Stroller, 2002). The goal of reading is

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comprehension (Nunan, 2003, 68). It is to grasp of main ideas and supporting ideas and related to those main ideas to background knowledge as appropriate.

The process of decoding word and comprehending meaning will be used in this study to develop students’ reading competence. The students actively work with their reading using their interpretation and also their background knowledge.

There are five aspects to the process of reading: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension and fluency. These five aspects work together to create the reading experience (Wallace, 2003). Phonics is the connection between sounds and letter symbols. It is also the combination of these sound-symbol connections to create words. Phonemic awareness is closely related to phonics because both involve the connection between sounds and words. Fluency is a reader’s ability to read with speed, accuracy and expression. Thus, it requires him to combine and use multiple reading skills at the same time.

Vocabulary is needed in order to read the written text. Fluency is intimately tied to comprehension. A reader must be able to move quickly enough through a text to develop meaning. Comprehension is what most people think reading is. This is because comprehension is the main reason why we read. It is the aspect of reading that all of the others serve to create. Reading comprehension is an understanding what a text is all about. It is more than just understanding words in isolation. It is putting them together and using prior knowledge to develop meaning. Reading comprehension is the most complex aspect of reading. It not only involves all of the other four aspects of reading, it also requires the reader to draw upon general thinking skills.

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Reading skills involve some skills that should be taught to make students comprehend reading text. The table below listed several skills which included in reading:

Table 2.1. Skills which included in Reading

No Skills

1 Automatic decoding. Being able to recognize a word at a glance.

2 Previewing and predicting. Giving the text a quick once-over to be able to guess what is to come.

3 Specifying purpose. Knowing why a text is being read.

4 Identifying genre. Knowing the nature of the text in order to predict the form and content.

5 Questioning. Asking questions in an inner dialog with the author. 6 Scanning. Looking through a text very rapidly for specific information. 7 Recognizing topics. Finding out what the text is about.

8 Classification of ideas into main topics and details. Categorizing words and ideas on the basis of their relationships; distinguishing general and specific. 9 Locating topic sentences. Identifying the general statement in a paragraph 10 Stating the main idea (or thesis) of a sentence, paragraph or passage.

Knowing what the author’s point is about the topic.

11 Recognizing patterns of relationships. Identifying the relationships between ideas; the overall structure of the text.

12 Identifying and using words that signal the patterns of relationships between ideas. Being able to see connections between ideas by the use of words such as first, then, later

13 Inferring the main idea, using patterns and other clues.

14 Recognizing and using pronouns, referents, and other lexical equivalents as clues to cohesion.

15 Guessing the meaning of unknown words from the context. Using such clues as knowledge of word parts, syntax, and relationship patterns.

16 Skimming. Quickly getting the gist or overview of a passage or book. 17 Paraphrasing. Re-stating texts in the reader’s own words in order to monitor

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No Skills

18 Summarizing. Shortening material by retaining and re-stating main ideas and leaving out details.

19 Drawing conclusions. Putting together information from parts of the text and inducing new or additional ideas.

20 Drawing inferences and using evidence. Using evidence in the text to know things that are unstated.

21 Visualizing. Picturing, or actually drawing a picture or diagram, of what is described in the text.

22 Reading critically. Judging the accuracy of a passage with respect to what the reader already knows; distinguishing fact from opinion.

23 Reading faster. Reading fast enough to allow the brain to process the input as ideas rather than single words.

24 Adjusting reading rate according to materials and purpose. Being able to choose the speed and strategies needed for the level of comprehension desired by the reader.

Adapted from Mikulecky, 1990 This study will focus on some skills on reading. I will select some of them to be applied in developing reading competence from mechanical engineering students. In selecting skills, the needs of the students will be considered. It will be seen from the study program profile and the graduate competence. Furthermore, Mickulecky (1990) views the importance of building skills on reading besides background knowledge and conceptual framework activation. Learning not to read every word, improving bottom up processing, word knowledge, finding topic and main ideas, recognizing patterns of textual organization, as well as learning how skim and summarising are seen as prominent skills to maintain.

As the result of reading process, there are also some factors that influence the students in their reading. Some experts have identified a number of factors affecting comprehension skill. One of them is Dawson and Bamman (1967: 220- 223). According to them, there are five factors which affect the comprehension skill. They

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are first, intelligence. Students have different intelligence, so it will be possible for them to produce different comprehension. The number of ideas that they understand and depth of their understanding will be largely dependent upon his general capacity to learn. The second is experience. Students with limited experience may have difficulty in comprehending many of the ideas and activities with which other students are familiar before they come to school.

The third is mechanics of reading. Comprehension will be easier for the students if they have all mastered the skills of word attack and word meaning, and if they have learned to handle material books properly. Obviously, there must be a fine balance somewhat in each student between careful attention to word attack skills and to comprehension skills. The fourth is interest and interest span. It is truism that we all respond quickly to what we read if we are interested in the topic or at least familiar with it. The interest span is related to personality factors; a disturbed student who has encountered many unfortunate experiences at home or in the school may be unable to preserve when required for comprehending reading passages.

b. Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is discussed because this research is going to solve the problem in vocabulary and comprehension in reading skills. They are related each other. Reading comprehension depends on vocabulary knowledge and vice versa. The more students read, the better their vocabulary becomes. The more vocabulary they know, the better they can read. The question for teachers and second-language students, however, was always, “Which words should the students learn?” (Mikulecky, 2008). It is well established that good readers read with ease, accuracy

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and understanding. Good readers also read more, and by reading more, they increase

their vocabulary and knowledge. According to Nation (2001), direct teaching of

vocabulary should constitute about 25 percent of a vocabulary program. Instruction should be planned so that the students encounter a new word at least seven or more times in meaningful contexts. To motivate students, it is important to explain the usefulness of mastering the high-frequency words and how that will improve reading comprehension.

Reading comprehension is about understanding written text and it is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. It consists of two processes: word recognition and comprehension. Word recognition refers to the process of perceiving hoe written symbols correspond to one’s spoken language, comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text. Traders typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help them understand written text. Skilled readers generally are able to construct meaning through the integration of existing and new knowledge and use certain strategies to assist, monitor, regulate and maintain comprehension (Grow, 1996). Grabe and Stroller (2002: 4) states that reading a way to draw information from a text to form an interpretation of that information.

Comprehension is the process of deriving meaning from connected text. It involves word knowledge (vocabulary) as well as thinking and reasoning. Therefore, comprehension is not a passive process, but an active one. The reader actively engages with the text to construct meaning. This active engagement includes making

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use of prior knowledge. It involves drawing inferences from the words and expressions that a writer uses to communicate information, ideas and viewpoints.

Reading comprehension takes the greater attention in Mechanical Engineering Study Program. The students need to comprehend the text and instructional books which written in English because most of books used are in English. The students also need vocabulary development to help them comprehend reading texts. As we know that reading comprehension deals with language messages in written form and it also is seen as a way to draw information to interpret the meaning ( Grabe & Stroller, 2002). Knowing strategic of reading is beneficial for college students to understand text which is given. Since the college students almost deal with lots of reading text. They need to understand how to read text effectively.

In sum up, reading comprehension is the process to grasp meaning of the text from writer that involves experience and prior knowledge that the reader has. This process can be harmonious with the purpose of reading. According to Grabe and Stroller (2002), the purpose of reading has been classified into four purposes. First, reading to search for simple information and reading to skim. It is common reading ability, here, the reader scan the text to find out a specific piece of information or specific word. Meanwhile, reading to skim is the strategy to form the general idea using basic reading comprehension and guesses the important point. Second, reading to learn from text. It happens in academic and professional context. It also requires remembering the main idea and the supporting idea, making a relation with the reader’s knowledge. This activity could bring stronger inference because it is to help remember information. Third, reading to integrate information, write and critique

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text. This skill needs critical evaluation where the readers integrate and decide the information that she or he wants. Then, it involves abilities such as composing, selecting, and making critique from material. Fourth, reading for general comprehension. It can be done by fluent readers very fast and automatically in the processing word, and effective coordination in many process of the text.

c. Teaching Reading

In teaching reading to second language students, reading should be taught in context so that they could recognize what reading. Reading in English or in any other language is a necessary life skill, yet one of the greatest challenges of teaching reading comprehension is motivating students to read. As considered by Harmer (2001), “reading is not a passive skill” (p. 70). However, when it comes to giving reading activities to students in the class, many times it is possible to see that students get bored or tired of reading because the material is not interesting for them, consists of long passages, or takes such a long time to be read that students start feeling frustrated or drowsy. Indeed, there are many other reasons why students do not have a successful reading process. Nuttall (2005, p. 35) listed some reasons of failure on reading process, namely, negative expectations, unsuitable tasks, the wrong procedures, expecting them to run before they can walk, the wrong texts.

Nonetheless, even when the reading material is interesting for the students and the teacher plans different activities to study this material, students eventually get tired of working with the traditional paper-based approach, a situation which constitutes a great challenge for language teachers. Even so, this does not mean that language teachers are expected to devise teaching strategies from feel discouraged

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about their current teaching techniques. Indeed, using traditional approaches to teach-ing readteach-ing comprehension aided by technology can be help students developteach-ing reading competence.

When we teach reading to students, there are principles to do. Nunan (2003:74-77) suggested that there are several principles for teaching reading. They are exploiting the reader’s background knowledge, building a strong vocabulary case, teach for comprehension, working on increasing reading rates, teaching reading strategies, encourageing readers to transform strategies into skills, building assessment and evaluation into your teaching and strive for continuous improvement as a reading teacher. Teacher should be able to make students reduce their dependence to dictionary. Teacher should find the way to make balance on assisting students to improve students reading rate and students reading comprehension skills.

As teachers, we should show student how they can adjust their reading behaviour to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and reading purposes. They help students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to each reading situation. Strategies that can help students read more quickly and effectively include, first Previewing, in the strategy the students review titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense of the structure and content of a reading selection. Second is predicting which using knowledge of the subject matter to make predictions about content and vocabulary and check comprehension; using knowledge of the text type and purpose to make predictions about discourse structure; using knowledge about the author to make predictions about writing style, vocabulary, and content. Third is skimming and scanning which using a quick survey

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of the text to get the main idea, identify text structure, confirm or question predictions. Fourth is guessing from context. The strategy is used prior knowledge of the subject and the ideas in the text as clues to the meanings of unknown words, instead of stopping to look them up. The last is paraphrasing which stopping at the end of a section to check comprehension by restating the information and ideas in the text (Grellet, 1981).

In the real teaching learning process in Mechanical Engineering, the passing standard for reading competence is to understand the meaning of interpersonal and transactional written text formal or informal in form of recount, narrative, procedure, descriptive and report in daily life in specific purposes context. Mechanical Engineering students should be familiar with texts in specific texts. The ability of reading especially for second language learners will help them to face the competition in the globalization era. So, teaching reading should be considering those aspects. d. Teaching Reading using Hot Potatoes in CALL

Technology in the classroom support students’ learning process and increases collaborative work since students and teachers have to interact in the classroom to carry out activities that involve the use of technology. According to Brown (1994), collaborative work in the acquisition of a foreign language can be affected by using the new didactic applications of computer equipment and programs.

The use of freeware such as Hot Potatoes in term of teaching and learning has strong relationship with the use of CALL. A lot of researchers have tried to connect the relationship between CALL, teaching and learning. Beatty (2003:1) “CALL is a subject tied tightly to other areas of the study with applied linguistic such as computer

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science”. This study uses computer as a tool for teaching and learning. CALL is employed in many different ways.

Teaching and learning English using CALL can provide students with exciting new ways. CALL tools can promote teaching and learning English. Samuel and Bakar (2006: 4) agree that ICT are helpful for students to learn English. The utilization and integration of ICT tools can indeed assist students in acquiring English language competence as well as enhance their learning experience.

Hot Potatoes is used to deliver exercises in CALL. It is made up of six different exercise creating tools which can be used to develop interactive activities (Half-Baked Software Inc., 2009). Each program has different kinds of activities. In teaching reading for mechanical engineering, I will use 3 kinds of activities. JQuiz creates multiple choices and short answer quizzes. It can also create multi-select items, which combine the multiple choice and short answer capabilities. JCloze is suitable for creating cloze and fill-in-the-blank exercises. It will help students to enlarge their vocabulary. JCross creates crossword puzzles that can be generated by typing words and creating a crossword grid manually or automatically at the user’s convenience. JMatch creates matching exercises. It has three formats, standard, drag/drop, and flashcard. The first two formats are convenient for individual work, and the last one for teacher-led activities.

The use of Hot Potatoes in CALL opens new doors to teachers as they empower themselves to create and design materials suited to their students’ needs especially for mechanical engineering students. In reading, students can practice reading exercises in different ways. It will promote new atmosphere how to understand and

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comprehend different texts. Exercise in Hot Potatoes employs some activities which help students to understand text. The exercises in reading skill can be pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading activities. By providing the exercise in Hot potatoes, students can practice inside and outside of classroom.

e. Learning Reading

The definition of learning has been stated by many researchers, Newby, Shepich, Lehwan and Russell (2000: 21) define learning by stating that “we defined learning as a change in or potential to change one’s level of skill or knowledge and it is of central concern for both students and teachers”. Another definition of learning is stated by Brown (2000:7)

(1)Learning is acquisition or “getting”. (2) Learning is retention of information or skill. (3) Retention implies storage systems, memory, and cognitive organization. (4) Learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon events outside or inside the organism. (5) Learning is relatively permanent but subject to forgetting. (6) Learning involves some form of practice, perhaps reinforced practice. (7) Learning is a change in behavior. Learning needs practice. According to Nation (2011), the practice must meet the conditions for fluency development or the four strands. First, the students’ focus is on receiving or conveying meaning. Second, all material should be largely familiar to them. That is no unfamiliar language, and there are largely familiar content and discourse features. In other words, it must be easy for them to do. Third, there is some pressure or encouragement to perform at a faster than usual speed. Fourth, there is a large amount of input or output. This is a matter of quality of practice. Learning reading in mechanical engineering students should involved four fluency development. They should learn from the materials which provided four

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requirements. In this research, the materials provide that fluency development practice.

f. Learning Reading using Hot Potatoes in CALL

Technology is one of many ways in learning words, as Hierbert and Kamil (2005:10) mention that the way of learning words also include technology and multimedia where students can interact with language orally, pictorially and in writing. Nowadays, the use of ICT in language teaching and learning has been the focus of a number of recent research review studies. Hot Potatoes offer us to learn English.

The use of ICT has proposed the new ways of teaching and learning reading in English. Samuel and Bakar (2006:4) agree that computer applications are helpful for students to learn english as their statement “The utilization and integration of ICT tools can indeed assist students in acquiring english language competency as well as enhance their quality of their learning experience.”

Learning reading using Hot Potatoes in CALL provides the students some exciting new ways (i.e. with several different types of feature that Hot Potatoes can offer). CALL tools can promote teaching and learning English. Learning reading using Hot Potatoes in this research can be done be through four types of module, they include JQuiz, JMatch and JCross. Jcloze.

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Figure 2.1. The Example Multiple-Choice in JQuiz

In this research, the researcher uses multiple-choice, true-false and short-answer for JQuiz. At the multiple-choice type of exercise, the students are supposed to answer the correct answer directly by choosing four available answers. As we can see from figure, the students have to answer the correct answer after they read the passage. At this exercises, the score is done one by one. If the answer is wrong, the warning will show up indicating that the answer is wrong. If the answer is correct. The warning will show up with 100% score that indicating your answer is correct. At this stage, the students may continue to the next questions. The questions was designed 10 numbers each exercise and they have to answer all questions

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The role in the multiple-choice in the JQuiz will be similar to the true-false and short-answer in JQuiz. The different is in the available answer. In true-false, the students are asked to choose two choices; true or false. In short answer, the students are asked to answer shortly and correctly. At this exercises, the scoring roles will be calculated same like the multiple-choice.

Figure 2.2. The Example of Short-Answer in JQuiz

The second type of exercises that is used is JMatch. Healey (2009:1) mentions that "A very easy hot Potatoes Potatoes to use is JMatch, which lets you create a matching exercise." The students just match the correct word from right column to the left one. The left is the vocabulary which related to the reading text; while the right column is the synonym of the vocabularies. If the matching is correct. The score

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will increase. On the contrary, if the matching is wrong, the score will reduce. There were 10 vocabulary exercises which related to the reading text.

Figure 2.3. The Example of Maching in JMatch

The scoring system of matching exercises is the left and right can be mixed then the score will be shown after the check button has been pushed. The score shown depend on how many words are correct. The score will automatically do the calculation to show the final score. The students have to mach all the number of question to get the maximum score. However, the students may repeat the matching exercises as they wish until they achieve the maximum result.

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Figure 2.4. The Example of Scoring System in JMatch

The third exercise is JCross. Healey (2009:4) mentions that "JCross creates crossword puzzles." The researcher just simply adds the words and the clues and then the software will automatically create the puzzle for them. Winke and MacGregor (2001:30) explain that "JCross can be used to design crossword puzzles with customized puzzle layout and optimal clues for each word." at this type of exercise, the students are able to fill the answer in which they wish to complete first. They can do the exercises randomly. If all the answer is correct, the score will automatically show up after the students push the check button.

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Figure 2.5. The Example of JCross

If all the students are correct, the score will automatically show up after the students push the check button. Thus, the score shows 100%. The computation of the score is automatically done by the software, thus the students should not worry about how many scores they can achieve through the crossword exercises. The students may repeat the exercises as they wish to get the maximum result.

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Figure 2.6. The Example of Scoring System in JCross 3. English for Mechanical Engineering

The proficiency in different language skills is very important to university students, who have to cover the enormous amount of reading materials like in Mechanical Engineering which need to read English references more. In the course of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), students face demanding tasks of learning subject-matter through English. The cornerstone of ESP is unfamiliar vocabulary and subject-matter concepts. In order to succeed, students need to develop proficiency in reading.

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• Some students were pleased because they got high score and showed to his friends.

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Appendix 23. The Test Result

No pre test Tes 1 Tes 2 Tes 3

1 45 60 70 75

2 65 70 65 70

3 55 60 75 80

4 60 70 85 85

5 70 65 75 80

6 60 75 75 80

7 55 55 65 70

8 65 75 70 75

9 75 85 90 85

10 70 70 80 70

11 50 60 75 75

12 65 70 65 70

13 70 70 85 80

14 55 65 75 75

15 65 70 80 80

16 70 65 75 80

17 55 55 60 70

18 50 55 70 70

19 60 60 80 75

20 70 70 85 80

21 60 65 65 75

22 65 75 90 90

23 75 80 75 90

24 50 60 60 75

25 65 70 80 90

26 60 70 80 85

27 60 70 70 80

28 65 75 80 80

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Appendix 24. The Descriptive Statistics

Statistics

Pre test Test 1 Test 2 Test 3

N Valid 28 28 28 28

Missing 0 0 0 0

Mean 61.79 67.50 75.00 78.21 Median 62.50 70.00 75.00 80.00

Mode 65 70 75 80

Std. Deviation 7.843 7.515 7.278 6.268

Minimum 45 55 60 70

Maximum 75 85 90 90

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Appendix 25. The Test Improvement of Every Cycle

Statistics Peningkatandari Pre test keTes 1

PeningkatandariT es 1 ke Test 2

PeningkatandariT es 2 ke Test 3

N Valid 28 28 28

Missing 0 0 0

Mean 5.71 7.50 3.21

Median 5.00 10.00 5.00

Mode 10 10 5

Std. Deviation 5.394 7.391 6.118

Minimum -5 -5 -10

Maximum 15 20 15

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Computer-assisted language learning to improve reading competence of mechanical engineering students : an action research.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING TO

IMPROVE READING COMPETENCE OF

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS:

AN ACTION RESEARCH

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A.

Theoretical Review

Appendix 23. The Test Result

Appendix 24. The Descriptive Statistics

Appendix 25. The Test Improvement of Every Cycle

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Links

Computer-assisted language learning to improve reading competence of mechanical engineering students : an action research.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING TO

IMPROVE READING COMPETENCE OF

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS:

AN ACTION RESEARCH

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A.

Theoretical Review

Appendix 23. The Test Result

Appendix 24. The Descriptive Statistics

Appendix 25. The Test Improvement of Every Cycle

Parts

Dokumen yang terkait

The Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Language Learning in Teaching Past Tense to the Tenth Grade Students of SMAN 5 Tangerang Selatan

The influence of computer assisted language learning on students' listening skill

Applying Student Teams Achievement Division (STAD) Technique to Improve Students’ Reading Comprehension in Discussion Text. (A Classroom Action Research in the Third Grade of SMA Fatahillah Jakarta)

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Corrective Feedback in Dialogue-based Computer Assisted Language Learning.

Computer-Assisted reading material to enhance reading skills.

Computer-Assisted listening model to enhance mechanical engineering students listening skills.

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H J Q D

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