CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This introductory chapter presents the background of the study in the first
section and is followed by several more fundamental sections, provided in order.
The sections are research questions, purposes of the study, research design, scope
of the study, significance of the study, and organization of the study.
1.1 Background of the Study
There are various kinds of activity that students may do during
after-school time. About 6.5 million children and youth in America, in kindergarten
through 12th grade, participate in after-school programs nationwide (Little, Wimer,
& Weiss, 2008). Attending after-school programs as one of the aforementioned
activities, according to Durlak, Berger, and Celio (2009), is said to be part of a
growing national trend. The trend, as it is called, is caused by the number of youth
in after-school programs has grown steadily over the past two decades, for
example, in America, based on the government survey of a representative sample
of 35,743 youth in 2004 approximately half of them were in a kind of after-school
arrangement. 7% has a substitution for adult supervision, but 19 % were involved
in school-based programs, 17% were in the care of a relative while 6% were in
non-relative care, and 13 % relied on self-care. The important thing implied is to
know where and how youth spend their after-school time, so they can be
prevented from or be given the understanding to avoid the possibility of negative
outcomes, such as academic and behavioral problems, drug use, and other types of
risk that may happen during unsupervised time.
Certain places like science clubs, activities like visiting certain places such
as museums, zoos, planetariums, national parks, science fairs, and Science and
Mathematics Olympiads (Sahin, 2013 & Şimşek, 2011; in Sahin, Ayar, &
hours in a day or two during weekdays (Durlak, Berger, & Celio, 2009) are
associated with after-school programs.
There are after-school programs, which are based in schools or which
operate in community-based facilities, which offer a wide range of activities
focusing on assisting youth to reach their personal educational and career goals,
such as tutoring or academic assistance (Durlak, Berger, & Celio, 2009). They
may also occur in a variety of time for example, in the United States, there are
after-school programs which occur before and after school, on the weekends,
during school holidays, and in summer (Little, Wimer, & Weiss, 2008).
Little, Wimer, and Weiss (2008) describe that academic outcome is one of
the results for participating in such programs, such as better attitudes towards
school and higher educational aspirations, higher school attendance rates and less
tardiness, lower dropout rates, less disciplinary action for example suspension,
and better performance in school. By getting better performance, it means the
performance as measured by achievement test scores and grades. Greater on-time
promotion, improved homework completion, and engagement in learning are
other expected academic outcomes.
Moreover, one of the benefits of after-school programs is that students
learn how to collaborate and to communicate with their peers and teachers in ways
different from their interactions in regular classrooms (Mahoney, Cairns, &
Farmer, 2003). Moreover, they generate solutions to daily life problems in a
simple context by constructing their own understanding (Cicek, 2012).
Considering the previous explanation, it can be said that similar trend also
occurs in Indonesia. The trend is attending school-based extracurricular programs
and various types of Bimbingan Belajar (cram school), and getting private
tutoring from any tutors including from their school teachers. There are also
students attending an English course out-of-school or other courses. The
phenomenon of students attending cram schools or getting private tutoring is
cramming study, Dang and Rogers (2008) about private tutoring, and Bray and
Lykins (2012a; 2012b) about supplementary private tutoring.
Dang and Rogers (2008) and Bray and Lykins (2012a; 2012b) emphasize
three similar aspects about this phenomenon in different ways, namely the aspect
of students, whether they attend the cram schools or other kinds of private tutoring
for their own, the aspect of schools and teachers, whether their concern is their
students or the after-school programs are efficient or necessary for students’ need,
and the aspect of educational system, whether such kinds of after-school programs
are conducted by following the regulation and policies. Meanwhile, cram schools
were reported to be part of students’ strategies for preparing themselves to the
next level of schools such as higher education (Haberman, 2011). Further
description about cram schools is reviewed in the next chapter two.
Considering the purpose for students attending after-school programs, it
can be inferred that the programs are provided to assist students, to reach their
personal academic goals or to pursue their career goals later. Different goals to
reach or to pursue, termed as goal-orientation in the classroom context (Dörnyei,
2001), is then related to students’ perception of why they are interested in learning
a task (Pintrich & de Groot, 1990; Pintrich, 2004).
Besides attending after-school programs, there are students doing other
activities. Lamb (2007) reported that non-school-related activities are not always
irrelevant with students’ English learning. Activities that students do out-of-school, as he conveys, that exist and are reflected in students’ report about the use
of English outside the classroom, may be categorized as positive attitudes, for
example watching TV or video, listening to the radio or songs, reading books or
magazines, conversation, studying the language, including using a computer.
There is a gap, however, in terms of strategies of learning English, as
reported by Motlagh (2013), due to differences between the purpose as perceived
students’ and their teachers’ perception of students’ activity preferences. The importance of developing need-analysis was concluded to fill the gap.
On students’ side, reasons for learning English depend on different context
for learning, learners’ differences, and students’ motivation and responsibility for
learning it (Harmer, 2007). Since English has become a global language, with a
tremendous advancement of information, communication, and technology which
results in exposure to the English language as a daily phenomenon, more
Indonesians are strongly motivated to learn English (Hamied, 2012). Supporting
this, Lauder (2008) delineates several functions which English serves in Indonesia
that may relate to the reasons. Students may learn English because it is
increasingly used as a medium of instruction in schools and universities and is
taught widely as a foreign language for their intention, which includes further
study in an English speaking country and as a requirement for employment.
Regarding this matter, there are a number of studies conducted to
investigate roles of students’ motivation in English learning, to identify and to
examine reasons behind the motivation, and to investigate effects of their
motivation and reasons on their academic achievement (Keller, 2010).
The importance of grades, which usually presents academic achievement,
according to Ebel and Frisbie (1991), has been argued for a long time, given back
to different policies and preferences taken by schools. As it is used for reporting
students’ educational status to parents and future teachers, grades become important. On the other hand, if they are inaccurate or if grades are assigned
carelessly, it will affect the educational efforts of students. However, the success
of learning cannot be overlooked only on the achievement because it also depends
on various affecting variables, including the use of language learning strategies
and motivation (Oxford & Nyikos, 1989). By focusing only on the achievement
will weaken students’ belief in the importance of lifelong learning or make them perceive that the lifelong learning is not worth their life (Ames, 1990).
including in successful foreign language learning (Chang, 2014; Jafari, 2013;
Kitjaroonchai, 2013; Lai, 2013; Long, Ming, & Chen, 2013). Nevertheless,
inferred from Lamb’s (2002) research about English learners in Indonesia,
motivation only is inadequate for successful English learning. Personal investment
in learning English, besides willingness and ability to study it autonomously
which were concluded to make them have their own learning opportunities, are
aspects that caused it. He further explored his own study in 2007, to seek
rationales of the limited achievements and the main factor found is that highly
motivated students realize their own motivation for learning English. However, he
suggests that students’ motivation should be developed more. More description
about students’ motivation and their motivation for learning English, including the motivational status, is overviewed in chapter two.
Considering the explanation above, it is hypothesized that after-school
activities may affect students’ motivation for learning English and be related to
their academic achievement. Moreover, this study is proposed to examine types of
after-school programs or activities which may affect students’ motivation for
learning English and the relation to their academic achievement, including their
perception about after-school activities which motivate them in English learning.
1.2 Research Questions
In line with the background aforementioned, this study attempts to address
the following research questions:
1. What type of motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic) could be students’ primary
motivation in English learning which may affect their academic achievement?
2. What are students’ perceptions towards after-school activities and their reasons
for learning English?
1.3 Purposes of the Study
1. To investigate the type of motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic) that could be the
students’ primary motivation in English learning which may affect their academic achievement.
2. To investigate students’ perception towards after-school activities and their
reasons for learning English.
1.4 Research Design
The design of this study is a qualitative approach. The approach is used to
discover a phenomenon from social or human problems, seen through
participants’ point of view (Creswell, 2009; 2012; Mackey & Gass, 2005). In line
with this, Bell (2010) conveys that by adopting qualitative perspective,
researchers are then more concerned to understand individual’s perception of the
world. Based on the aforementioned brief explanation of the qualitative study, the
design used in this present study aims at discovering the phenomena of students
attending or participating after-school programs or activities and their perceptions
towards motivation for learning English.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This research focuses on identifying after-school programs that students
attend or participate and after-school activities that students may do, towards their
motivation for learning English. Furthermore, the present study focuses on
investigating the motivational orientations (extrinsic and intrinsic) of these
students in English learning.
1.6 Significance of the Study
This present study, concerned with students’ motivation (extrinsic or intrinsic) in English learning and their school activities, including the
after-school programs, is expected to provide theoretical benefit and educational
Theoretically, this study is expected to enrich the literature on students’
motivation in English learning, including the type of motivation and the dynamics
of it. It is also expected to enrich the literature on students’ after-school activities
and after-school programs in Indonesia in the context of academic achievement,
which may maintain students’ motivation for learning English and promote their
academic outcomes.
In educational practice, the results and discussions provide information
related to students’ motivation in English learning and their after-school activities, including after-school programs, in order to develop lesson plans or activities. The
information includes teaching strategies in English learning, concerning
motivating the students during the process of learning and teaching activities and
maintaining the students’ existing motivation for successful learning as well as successful academic achievement.
As for professional benefit, informed by the conclusion of this study, it is
hoped that teachers and other stakeholders, including parents and other family
members, can help students in maintaining their existing motivation in English
learning besides realizing their motivation for learning English. In addition, it is
also hoped that this present study may be another basis for further research in the
field of motivation in English learning and study in the field of after-school
activities and program.
Moreover, it is hoped that any learning activities conducted, as well as
lesson plans applied and curriculum implemented, and educational policies
incorporate activities and programs during and after-school, may be further
developed and decided by considering the side of the students and their needs in
order to support students’ success academically.
1.7 Organization of the Study
This thesis is organized into five chapters as follows.
It presents the information related to the background of the study, the
research questions, the purposes of the study, the research design applied, the
scope of the study, the significance of the study, and organization of the study.
CHAPTER II - LITERATURE REVIEW
It consists of theoretical foundations of the study. It discusses an overview
of motivation in English learning, description about after-school programs and
activities, a review of academic achievement, and previous related research as the
basis for conducting this research.
CHAPTER III - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
It provides research methodologies used in this study. It elaborates the
research design applied and the research procedures conducted in order to answer
the research questions stated in the Chapter I. Systematically, this chapter three
consists of sections that are research problem, research design, research site and
participants, research procedures, data collection, and finally the data analyses. In
addition, the operational definition developed and used in this thesis is also
described in the section before procedures to conduct this research.
CHAPTER IV - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter explains the result of the study, including the analyses of data
based on data collection and the theoretical frameworks provided in Chapter Two.
It also explains the interpretation of the findings from this thesis.
CHAPTER V - CONCLUSION, SUGGESTIONS, AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This chapter presents the conclusion of the research that lead to the future
suggestion, related to the focus of the study as well as other related fields or scope.
It also contains the limitation of the study on the research conducted.
1.8 Concluding Remarks
This chapter explained the information related to the background of the
and significance of the study were also stated, and organization of the study was
presented. The next chapter reviews the information related to the theoretical
