T1__Full text Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: EFL Students’ Perceptions Towards the Use of Online Networks in the Classroom of ELEP UKSW T1 Full text

(1)

EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE OF ONLINE NETWORKS IN THE CLASSROOM OF

ELEP UKSW

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

BINTANG AMELIA SANTOSA

112012125

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS

UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA

SALATIGA

(2)

i

(3)

ii

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.

Copyright@ 2017. Bintang Amelia Santosa and Dian Toar Y. G Sumakul, S.Pd., M.A.

All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education Program, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga.

(4)

iii

(5)

iv

(6)

v

(7)

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. The Overall Findings

(10)

1

INTRODUCTION

There are various online networks that are specially designed to facilitate learning process such as Edmodo, Schoology, Quipper, and more. Therefore, utilizing internet within a classroom is supposed to have significant impacts due to this advancement. Trust (2016, pp. 1) asserts that online communities and networks provide ongoing, self-directed, and bottom-up learning experience compared to traditional ways of learning which rely on workshops and courses. Previous study which was conducted by Sagarra and Zapata (2008) showed that students had positive perceptions towards online networks. In addition, using online networks in the classroom is also effective. It does not require face-to-face meeting to complete courses, assignments, testing, or grading. Learning using online networks cannot only provide the students with more space to learn, but also assist the students to be an independent learner.

(11)

2

the success of the learning itself. Nevertheless, in Indonesia, the growth of online based education is still lagged behind because of some circumstances (Diki, 2013). In other word, using online networks to facilitate learning in Indonesia is still limited. Sumakul (2013) identifies that economic condition and geographical location may contribute to the negative perceptions toward online learning in Indonesia. As the result, the students’ perception of the use of online networks in teaching-learning may be different depending on their environment and their personal condition.

(12)

3

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. ONLINE LEARNING

Online learning is defined as an education in which the instructions and contents are primarily delivered through the internet (iNACOL (2011). In other words, it was particularly using internet as a main agent of learning between teachers and students. However, the common practice in ELEP UKSW is more likely to make use of online networks to assist a face-to-face meeting. The online networks such as Schoology and Edmodo are specifically made to assist both teachers and students in the learning process. However, with the tremendous advancement in communication technology and social media, there are also a lot of other internet networks that can be used within the classroom such as emails, Instant Messages (IMs), and Social Networking sites (SNSs). It is indisputable that online networks have increased to a higher level where it can change the role of teachers in regular schools. By using the online networks, students do not have to come to class and meet the teacher directly because the courses are updated online.

There had been various studies toward the effectiveness of utilizing online networks in the classroom which came out with some positive feedbacks (Espinosa, 2015; Grgurović, 2011; Orawiwatnakul & Wichadee, 2016, Sagarra &

(13)

4

A study conducted by Grgurović (2011) showed that the students agreed

that online activities help them improve their pronunciation, speaking skills, and listening skills. Teachers could give an online exercise and put in into to the system so that the students could practice their listening skill, speaking skill, and pronunciation. Another study conducted by Orawiwatnakul and Wichadee (2016) also found out that online activities could also increase the students’ language proficiency. For instance, students could make use of Facebook as an instrument to provide online exercise that could help them increase writing skill and grammar points. As the bottom line, online networks could provide students with various tools that could be adjusted to their learning needs.

(14)

5

B. THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION

Examining students’ perception in online-based learning environment is important. Students’ trust on the-online based learning would determine the success of the learning itself (Wang, 2014 pp. 346). Students who are feeling intimidated by the use of online networks will have a negative feedback even though studies point out that involving online learning have several positive impacts.

(15)

6

C. STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE NETWORKS IN THE CLASSROOM

A study conducted by Sumakul (2013) claimed that the use of online networks offered flexibility and enjoyment for the students. The utilization of social media, such as Facebook, was proven to be flexible because both teacher and the students could do any assignments anytime and anywhere.

In other word, using online networks is flexible because students could access it through their smartphones. Moreover, online networks could create a fun and interesting environment for the students. By combining educational matters to students’ social life, students would be more attracted to join online discussion or participate actively by commenting to their friends’ work (Sumakul, 2013). Students would be able to express their feeling more by using online networks since they could construct and edit their words before submitting.

(16)

7

who usually dominated the learning. This practice could be the solution to make the students’ participation equal. Facebook is a popular website (Boyd & Ellison, 2007, as cited in Espinosa, 2014) therefore, integrating students’ exercise in this mass social network would make them participate more because the exercise is merged into their social life. In short, students show a high level of satisfaction toward the use of online learning.

In contrary, Smart and Cappel (2006) obtained that the students’ perceptions on the use of online networks was only satisfactory in elective course but it was rather low in a compulsory course. The fair result of students’ perceptions was clearly evident. Additionally, a study conducted by Barr (2004) showed that the students preferred to use technology only if:

1. the technology offered pedagogical benefits to their learning 2. the materials were available

3. computers were part of the learning cultures

(17)

8 THE STUDY

A. CONTEXT OF THE STUDY

The study was conducted at English Language Education Program (ELEP), Faculty of Language and Art (FLA), Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. It was located in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. Using online networks was a common practice in ELEP. Every course at least used one online network as an instrument to submit assignments or to deliver materials of learning. Therefore, in order to be successful at the learning, the students should be able to keep up with the learning tools and learning styles. The use of online network was now integrated with face-to-face meeting. The courses were mostly using English as the main instruction in the class. This faculty was chosen to be the object of the study because it was easy to administer regarding to the time, location, fund, and resources.

B. PARTICIPANTS

(18)

9 C. INSTRUMENTS

In order to gather information from the participants, this study used a semi-structured interview. Interviewing is considered easy to do and user-friendly (Griffee, 2012). It is easy to administer because it is based on humans’ need to talk and have conversation. Moreover, it is user-friendly because it does not require statistical analysis in which the data could be analyzed easily. There were 15 predetermined questions that were adapted from Sagarra and Zapata (2008). A semi-structured interview was the appropriate instruments as it could explore the participants’ responses deeper by asking follow up questions.

D. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES

At first, a pilot interview was conducted with three students of ELEP. It was necessary to do a piloting interview as it could evaluate the questions and provide positive and negative feedbacks toward the interview (Griffee, 2012). There were a lot of things that should be considered after conducting a pilot interview such as the place of interview, how to record the data, and the questions themselves. After that, another participant was contacted directly and interviewed for at least 30 minutes. The interviewed used Indonesian, their mother tongue, so that they could express their thoughts and feelings more accurately.

E. DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

(19)

10

as cited in Griffee, 2012). After that, the data were coded according to the themes. This strategy was effective as it could save more time and energy.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Based on the interview from 12 participants, there were several elements that affected their perceptions on the use of online networks in the classroom. Their answers could be classified into four different major categories that were adapted from a study conducted by Sagarra and Zapata (2008). The four categories are presented in the table below:

Table 1. The Overall Findings

The accessibility The relation between online

activity, classroom, content, and L2

learning

The student’s interest

The student’s preferences

Easy Online activities help students improve their grammar, writing skill, and listening

skill

Helpful students prefer to have a face-to-face

meeting combine with online

activities Familiar Online activities

help students to understand class

content

Fun students like to have more time to

do online quizzes

(20)

11 F. THE ACCESSIBILITY

The accessibility is important to determine the success of an online learning as it might cause a failure to the learning when students do not have a good access to it (Barr, 2004). Based on the findings, most participants admitted that they could access the internet easily through their smartphones. The activities such as downloading materials, submitting assignments, and doing online discussion could be performed through their gadgets or laptop. When sitting in a course, students could just open up their files and listen to their lecture without having to be afraid of losing the printed materials. Therefore, using online networks is accessible because students have an easy access to it anytime and anywhere through their smartphones.

One of the examples was taken from participant 4, who said,

simple karena itu cuma pake HP, ga perlu pake laptop jadi

kita bisa… ya secara kan ya orang- orang pada pake

Gadget, kayak android ini gampang di aksesnya

simple because that only use HP, no necessary use laptop.

People nowadays already have sophisticated gadget, such

as Android so it is accessible

(21)

12

do the online discussion. Thus, using online network was considered simple for the students. Another example was taken from participant 7, who said,

gampang, penggunaanya tu gampang. Terus buat upload

apapun itu juga gampang

It was easy to use. It was also easy to upload anything on it

Participant 7 emphasized that it was easy to upload anything on it. Regarding to the homework or assignment completion, the use of online networks was helpful as they could find it easy to perform the tasks.

(22)

13

The result of this study was supported by Song et al. (2004) who asserted that being comfortable with the online networks was one of the most important factors to ensure the learner’s success in online course. When the learners have an easy access to it, they would keep up with the learning better and perceive the more benefit of the use of online networks.

G. THE RELATION BETWEEN ONLINE ACTIVITIES, CLASSROOM CONTENT, AND L2 LEARNING

The second category focuses on whether the students recognize that online activity designed bring any significant changes to their language learning or not. Dempsey and Van Eck (2002), as cited in Song et al. (2004), declared that the better the course design, the more helpful it would be to the online learning. This is in line with Sagarra and Zapata (2008) who claim that online materials and also the activities could enhance the students’ language skills. Similarly, this study found that online activities helped the students improve their proficiency skills and understand the classroom content better.

One example was taken from participant 6, who said,

Meningkatnya lebih ke writing atau reading. Tugasnya

beberapa dosen ngasih link buat dengerin video apa

nonton video. Nah nanti kayak kita kadang ada yang suruh

transkrip atau bikin summary tentang cerintanya tu kayak

(23)

14

It is more improving my writing and reading skills. Some

of lecturers asked to watch or listen to a given link. After

that, we have to transcribe or make summary about the

story

Based on participant 6, the activity that her classmates and she needed to fulfill could improve writing skill as well as reading skill. From the excerpt, it was implied that she also acquired listening skill because she had to listen to the audio on the video in order to transcribe it or make a summary. Another example was taken from participant 8 who claimed that using online networks could help increasing her grammar. She said,

Iya grammar, berarti tadi terbantu itu ya … Sama pola

penyusunan kalimat gara-gara ada diskusinya.

Yes, it helps my grammar and my sentence construction

because of the discussions.

(24)

15

also help the students to understand the classroom content. Participant 4 mentioned,

Ya mesti kan ada materi yang di share gimana pendapat

kalian. Terus kita comment gitu. Kalo enggak kita nge-post

foto jadi kan kalo kemarin itu kita disuruh nyari

analogi-analogi tentang culture jadi kita nge-post foto tentang

culture lalu kita mention apa sih maknanya.

there must be materials that required to share or comment

about our opinion. The other day we have to look for

analogy of cultures. After that we have to post pictures

about the culture and then mention the meaning of it.

The activity that being mentioned by participant 4 required the students to learn more on the topic they have learnt before. In order to understand the class content, students should apply the knowledge they got from the classroom material and link it to the real-world problem. The activity mentioned by participant 4 enabled the students to make that connection.

(25)

16

online environment to fit the context. The role of teachers, as the main instructors to design the activity became one of the keys to determine the advantages of online networks.

H. THE STUDENT’S INTEREST

Regarding to the positives feedbacks from all of the previous categories, the findings indicated that the students were most likely enjoy their learning experience of using online networks. When being asked to mention what they liked the most from using online networks, there were two major categories appeared. The students were interested to its helpfulness and its enjoyment. A study conducted by Kitchakarn (2016) found that the ease of using online networks was the reason why the students had thought it was helpful. Students agreed that online networks helped them to overcome problems that might appear in regular classroom settings. In other words, they did not have to do many things at the same time.

One of the examples was taken from participant 1, who explained,

aku suka sih kalo misalnya harus ngirim di Schoology atau

Edmodo atau Email karena menurutku lebih praktis.

Karena 1 ga harus ngeprint-ngeprint lagi. Terus yang

kedua tu ga perlu kalo misal ada deadline jam 2 dan ga

perlu harus lari-lari, harus ngeprint terus ngejar

dosennya. Jadi tinggal di kirim aja. Jadi kamu ga perlu

(26)

17

I do like to submit assignments on Schoology, Edmodo, or

Email because I think it is more practical. Firstly, I do not

have to print out the materials ever again. Secondly, I do

not have to be so hectic running here and there printing

the assignment and then finding my lecture in order to

submit it on time. So, I do not have to bother showering

and getting ready to go to campus.

(27)

18

The students mentioned that using online networks made the class more interesting and fun. The example was taken from participant 2, who mentioned,

kayak lebih hidup… keliatan lebih kreatif aja kelasnya,

ada yg lucu-lucu gitu… Seneng yang waktu pas

video-video itu, soalnya lucu gitu. Bikin video-video sendiri… dan

jarang gitu lho ada dosen yang kasih kayak gitu kak.

it is more alive… the class seems more creative and

amusing. I liked it when we were asked to make our own

video because I is funny. It is quite rare for any lecture to

give such task.

The result was consonant with Sumakul (2013) that learning using online networks provides enjoyment for students. Even though it needed a good instructor to design the classroom activity, it was inevitable that using online networks brought a new fresh air to the learning environment as the participants above described it more alive and more creative. Some of the participants (1, 3, and 12) also mentioned that the class was more modern because it integrated technology into the learning.

I. THE STUDENT’S PREFERENCES

(28)

19

rest stated that they prefer to have face-to-face instruction. The result was similar to Stepp-Greany (2002) in which the students prefer face-to-face instruction more. Based on her study, the face-to-face practice was chosen because using online networks in learning required high time. However, the findings in this study showed that the main reason why the students prefer to have face-to-face instruction was because the students desired for immediate feedback and clarity from the lecturer.

The example was taken from participant 7, who said,

Depend kebutuhannya. Kalo misalnya tentang, kan kita

ada paper atau apa harus konsultasi kan. Kalo misalnya

lewat aplikasi itu atau lewat chat itu enggak clear atau

enggak jelas. Jadi kalo, ya depend sih antara online apa

langsung. Tapi kalo ngumpulin tugas prefer ke aplikasi.

I think it depends on the need. For tasks that require

consultation, using application or online chat is unclear.

So, it depends between online or face-to-face. For

submitting tasks, I prefer to use application.

(29)

20

Although these two things could be seen as one of the disadvantages, most students admitted that they needed the involvement of online networks to their study. Based on the findings, most of the students prefered to have these practices combined. Therefore, all participants said that they wanted to have face-to-face meetings for lecturing and consultation, while demanded to use online networks to submit and do assignments, providing materials, and giving announcement.

Furthermore, the students also like to have more chance and time to do their assignment online. The students claimed that usually the online activities gave more time for them to do the task. Unlike in class activities that required the students to submit their work as soon as the class was over, the deadline in online activities were longer. Students also mentioned that they could get more feedbacks from the use of online networks.

Another example was taken from participant 2, who said,

feedbacknya lebih banyak, soalnya kalo di dalam kelas itu

kalo cuma presentasi banyak teman-teman yang malu

untuk ngomong, Nah kalo di taruh di online itu semua jadi

mau kasih feedback.

I can get more feedback. When we do in class presentation,

my classmate mostly reluctant to speak because they are

shy, but when we put the presentation online, everybody

(30)

21

Based on the example above, although sometime the lecturers’ feedback was delayed in online practice, getting more feedback from the classmate could also promote learning itself. It could be concluded that the students were more engaged to the learning in which they did not have to do anything spontaneously. Students had more time to construct their sentences before sending them to the platform. By doing so, the students would feel more comfortable compared to the time when they were asked to give comments spontaneously in the classroom. Being comfortable with the online networks in learning will result in positive attitude (Kitchakarn, 2016), and having positive attitude toward the online practice could lead to success in learning.

DISCUSSION

(31)

22

Technology indeed has the chance to improve teaching and learning (Blankson & Blankson, 2008). However, the success of integrating online networks to the classroom does not only rely on its benefits of the platforms. It takes both effort on the teacher as the main instructor and also the students. The role of the teacher is to design the activities on online networks according to the learning goals. The teachers have to design activities that could engage all of the students to participate actively. Maintaining communication among the students is essential to promote dynamic in the learning (Russon & Benson, 2005). Therefore, teachers are suggested to design the activity based on collaborative learning practice, such as designing weekly online group discussion. Based on the findings, the activity could promote the learning as it would not only make all of the students participate, but also enhance their grammar and writing skill. Poorly-planned activity might result in low students’ satisfaction (Sagarra & Zapata, 2008) and would waste the benefits of online networks. Moreover, as the learning promotes autonomous and independency (Sagarra & Zapata, 2008), learning through online networks requires students to be discipline and self-motivated. Therefore, it was important to give enlightenment to the students, especially at their first year in order to make them understand and committed to the learning.

(32)

23

located around mountains, the availability of good signal was inadequate. Therefore, some participants mentioned that the unavailability of signal was the cause of bad connection. Because of the bad connection, students had troubled to send their assignments and do online tests. This behavior cost them zero point on their assessment. To minimize the damage, it was suggested that the teacher educated the students about the online networks that was going to be used including its accessibility, the usage, and also the problems so that the students would take precautions in case something bad happened.

Second, the inexperience of how to use the online networks contributed to the failure of learning. Another problems also arose from the teacher’s tendency to always rely on online networks without giving enough teaching. These two issues lessen the benefit of online networks. Some of the participants mentioned that they did not feel any significant improvement between the use of online networks and their L2 learning. When being asked to explain more, they said that the online networks were only used to give announcements and submit assignments. According to Blankson and Blankson (2008), integrating technology into the learning could only beneficial if it corresponded to the learning environment and meets the students’ needs (Barr, 2004). In order to gain the maximum benefit from using online networks, it is necessary to design the proper activities that could engage the students to participate and do more in the learning process.

(33)

24

references of how to design the course accordingly. Therefore, students will enjoy the maximum benefits of integrating online network to the face-to-face meeting.

CONCLUSION

This study examined the student’s perceptions of the use of online networks in learning English in ELEP UKSW. The data were collected from 12 participants ranging from the first to the final year students through semi-structured interview containing 15 open-ended questions. The interview questions were adapted from Sagarra & Zapata (2008) in order to be able to explore more students’ perceptions in various categories. The categories were the accessibility, the relation between online activities, classroom content, and L2 learning, the student’s interest, and the student’s preferences.

(34)

25

(35)

26

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

There are always so many people to thank after completing any project. This paper would not have been possible without the support of people around me.

First of all, I would like to say my deepest gratitude to Jesus Christ for all of his blessing and joy throughout my life. Without his blessing, I would not make it to this day. My very special thanks go to my beloved family for their endless hard work and prayer. I also owe a favor to Fransisca Dewi Ratih and Theresia Sri Rahayu for the financial support for my study. Without their support, I would not be able to hold my degree.

I would also like to express my great appreciation to my supervisor, Mr. Dian Toar Yusak G. Sumakul, M.A., for his valuable time, guidance, and patience during the development of this final paper work. My appreciation also extends to my examiner, Ma’am Rindang Widyaningrum, M.hum. for her willingness to read and examine this paper.

(36)

27

REFERENCES

Bach, S., Haynes, P. & Smith, J.L. (2007). Online Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Berkshire, UK: Open University Press.

Barr, D. (2004). Students and ICT: an analysis of student reaction to the use of computer technology in language learning. IALLT: journal of Language Learning Technologies, 36(2), 19-38.

Blankson, Joseph ; Kyei-Blankson, Lydia. (2008). Nontraditional Students' Perception of a Blended Course: Integrating synchronous Online

Discussion and Face-to-Face Instruction. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 19(3), 421-438.

Dempsey, J.V., & Van Eck, R.N.V. (2002). Instructional design on-line: Evolving expectations. In R.A. Reiser, & J.V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology ( pp. 281–294). New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Diki, D. (2013). International Collaboration of Distance Learning Universities for Online Learning in Indonesia. LUX: A journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University, 2(1), 1-8. Espinosa, L. F. (2015, November). The use of Facebook for Educational Purpose

in EFL Classroom. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(11), 2206-2211.

Felix, U. (2002). The web as a vehicle for constructivist approaches in language teaching. ReCALL, 14(1), 2–15.

Grgurović, M. (2011). Blended Learning in an ESL Class: A case Study. CALICO Journal, 29(1), 100-117.

Griffe, D. T. (2012). An Introduction to Second Language Research Methods: Design and Data. TESL-EJ Publication.

(37)

28

iNACOL. (2011). The Online Learning Definiton Project.

Kitchakarn, O. (2016). How Students Perceived Social Media as a Learning Tool in Enhancing their Language Learning Performance. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 15(4), 53-60.

Orawiwatnakul, Wiwat; Wichadee, Saovapa. (2016, July). Achieving Better Learning Performance through the Discussion Activity in Facebook. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 15(3), 1-8.

Roth, A. D. (2009). Following Plato's Advice: Pedagogy and Technology for the Facebook Generation. Journal of Philosophy and History of Education, 59, 125-128.

Russo, Tracy; Benson, Spencer. (2005). Learning with Invisible Others: Perceptions of Online Presence and their Relationship to Cognitive and Affective Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 8(1), 54-62. Sagarra, Nuria; Zapata, Gabriela C;. (2008). Blending Classroom Instruction with

Online Homework: A Study of Student Perceptions of Computer-assisted L2 learning. ReCall, 20(2), 208-224.

Smart, K. L., & Cappel, J. J. (2006). Students' Perceptions of Online Learning: A Comparative Study. Journal of Information Technology Education, 5, 201-219.

Song, Liyan; Singleton, Ernise S; Hill, Janette R.; Koh, Myung Hwa. (2004). Improving online learning: Student perceptions of useful and challenging characteristics. Internet and Higher Education, 7, 59–70.

(38)

29

Sumakul, D. T. Y. G. (2013). Facebook Group in an EFL Grammar Classroom. 4th CELC: International Symposium. Singapore: CELC, NUS.

Sumakul, D. T. (2013). Students' Perception of the Use of Facebook in the Language CLassroom. The Sixth Conference on Applied Linguistics (CONAPLIN 6), (pp. 127-132).

Trust, T. (2016). New Model of Teacher Learning in an Online Learning. JRTE: Journal of research on Technology in Education, 48(4), 290-305.

(39)

30 APPENDIX

Interview Questions adapted from Sagarra and Zapata (2008) 1. How often go online?

2. Have you ever join a class which uses online networks? 3. What kind of networks does the lecture use?

4. In what classes do you use the networks? 5. What does it usually used for?

6. From all of the networks that you have mentioned, which one do you like? 7. What do you think of the accessibility?

8. When you access the online networks, do you use laptop or your smartphone?

9. What do you think of the class that uses online networks? 10.What do you like the most of using online networks? 11.What do you like the least of online networks?

12.Do you think that using online networks could enhance your skills such as writing, reading, listening, and speaking?

13.Do you think that using online networks could increase your grammar? 14.Do you think that using online networks could enhance your vocabulary? 15.From scale 1 to 10, how much do you like the use of online networks to