THE INFLUENCES OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION
AND LEARNING STYLES ON THE CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE OF EXTENSIVE READING II STUDENTS
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Argian Nicko Wiwoho Student Number: 031214092
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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THE INFLUENCES OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION
AND LEARNING STYLES ON THE CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE OF EXTENSIVE READING II STUDENTS
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Argian Nicko Wiwoho Student Number: 031214092
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
iv
“Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he died
that distinguish one man from another.”
Ernest Hemingway
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal;
it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill
“A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he
has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”
Theodore Roosevelt
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, my greatest appreciation goes to Allah SWT for all the blessings to finish this thesis and all the opportunities in this life. Second, my appreciation goes to my parents who have funded my education, shared a wonderful life, and given me meaningful experiences to deal with problems in this life.
Third, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my major sponsor, Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd., and my co-sponsor, Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd., for sharing with me the critical thoughts, helpful suggestions, and encouraging advice. Furthermore, I would like to express my deep gratefulness to the head of the department, Ag. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A., and all PBI lecturers who have contributed to the completion of my thesis.
Fourth, my thankfulness also goes to all my PBI mates, who have provided me sincere supports during my study and the completion of my thesis especially Dera, Vendi, Bunga, Chandra, Febri, Intika, Rere, Andreas Denny, Ari, Meiske, Daniel. It has been a remarkable memory to work and go through it all together.
Fifth, I intend to express my deep gratitude to Ian, who has supported me unwaveringly, helped me unconditionally, and provided a last escapade each time desperation strikes through. Lastly, my great thankfulness is for those who directly or indirectly helped and supported me in writing this thesis.
vi COVER PAGE
TITLE PAGE... PAGES OF APPROVAL... PAGE OF DEDICATION... STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... TABLE OF CONTENTS... LIST OF TABLES... ABSTRACT... ABSTRAK... CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A.Research Background... B.Problem Formulation... C.Problem Limitation... D.Research Objectives... E.Research Benefits... F. Definitions of Terms... CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A.Theoretical Description... 1. Extensive Reading... 2. Intrinsic Motivation... 3. Learning Styles... 4. Classroom Behaviours... B.Theoretical Framework... CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A.Research Method... B.Research Participants... C.Research Setting... D.Research Instrument... E.Data Gathering Technique... F. Data Analysis Technique... G.Research Procedures... CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
A.The Influence of Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Styles on Learners’ Classroom Performance... 1. Individual Characteristics of the Research Participants... a. Research Participants’ Intrinsic Motivation... b. Research Participants’ Learning Styles...
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2. The Influence of Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Styles on Research Participants’ Classroom Performance B. Research Participants’ Internal Drawbacks on Classroom
Performance... 1. Research Participants’ Strategy in Overcoming Intrinsic Motivation Drawbacks...
2. Research Participants’ Strategy in Overcoming Learning Styles Drawbacks... CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A.Conclusions... B.Suggestions... 1. For Teachers... 2. For Future Research... REFERENCES... APPENDICES
A.Questionnaire Forms of the Research Participants... Questionnaire Forms of the Research Participant A1... Questionnaire Forms of the Research Participant B3... B.Observation Results
Observation Results of Group A from Meeting 1 up to 10.... Observation Results of Group B from Meeting 1 up to 10.... C.Interview Transcripts
Interview Transcript of Research Participant A1... Interview Transcript of Research Participant B3...
41 61 62 65 75 75 77 77 78 80
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Table 3.1 Qualitative Components of the Research Design... Table 3.2 Behaviours Rubric on Classroom Performance... Table 4.1 Research Participants’ Perception about the Course.... Table 4.2 Research Participants’ Learning Styles... Table 4.3 Research Participants’ Preferences... Table 4.4 Learning Behaviour of Research Participant A1... Table 4.5 Classroom Performance Summary of Research
Participant A1... Table 4.6 Conduct Behaviour of Research Participant A2... Table 4.7 Classroom Performance Summary of Research
Participant A2... Table 4.8 Learning Behaviour of Research Participant A3... Table 4.9 Classroom Performance Summary of Research
Participant A3... Table 4.10 Emotional Behaviour of Research Participant A4... Table 4.11 Classroom Performance Summary of Research
Participant A4... Table 4.12 Emotional, Conduct, and Learning Behaviours of
Research Participant B1... Table 4.13 Classroom Performance Summary of Research
Participant B1... Table 4.14 Conduct Behaviour of Research Participant B2...
Table 4.15 Classroom Performance Summary of Research
Participant B2... Table 4.16 Emotional, Conduct, and Learning Behaviours of
Research Participant B3... Table 4.17 Classroom Performance Summary of Research
Participant B3... Table 4.18 Emotional Behaviour of Research Participant B4... Table 4.19 Classroom Performance Summary of Research
Participant B4... Table 4.20 Classroom Behaviours Summary of Research
x ABSTRACT
Wiwoho, Argian Nicko. 2008. The Effects of Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Styles on the Performance of Extensive Reading II Students. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Programme, Sanata Dharma University.
The underlying principle that Extensive Reading does not only require the learners to comprehend the texts but also to generate critical notions about them is greatly influenced by each pupil’s individual characteristics. The referred to characteristics originate from inside, recognized as internal factors, as well as outside, recognized as external factors, the learners. The research focused on the internal factors, especially intrinsic motivation and learning styles, since they appeared to give direct influence on the learners’ performance. It calls for an investigation of how intrinsic motivation and learning styles influence each individual performance in the classroom. The learners’ classroom performance was assessed by employing behaviours rubric which covered emotional, conduct, and learning behaviours. In addition, the research also attempted to find out the way how learners overcome the existing drawbacks in carrying out the course assignments.
The research investigated the influence of intrinsic motivation and learning styles on the learners’ performance in Extensive Reading II class and involved eight research participants representing one population consisting of learners with various individual characteristics. Descriptive qualitative was the method best utilized to treat the data. Supported by mainly qualitative data collected from a questionnaire, classroom observation sheets, and interview, the research attempted to figure out (1) how intrinsic motivation and learning styles influence learners’ classroom performance and (2) how learners overcome their internal drawbacks in performing the assigned Extensive Reading II tasks.
The research revealed (1) that intrinsic motivation and learning styles functioned differently among the research participants. Research participants who shared the similar characteristics appeared to demonstrate discrepant performance in the classroom. Furthermore, (2) learners, who were intrinsically motivated and had a particular tendency on either wholistic or analytic, dealt with several problems in carrying out the course assignments. Consequently, they had different ways to overcome the existing drawbacks; some of research participants formed study groups in which each member became a proofreader for the other member. Some others were encouraged to undergo trial and error strategy in doing their projects. The rest were sometimes not enthusiastic about doing the tasks and relied on their peers’ help in completing the assignments.
xi ABSTRAK
Wiwoho, Argian Nicko. 2008. The Effects of Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Styles on the Performance of Extensive Reading II Students. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Prinsip dasar Extensive Reading yang tidak hanya menuntut siswa untuk memahami teks bacaan yang diberikan dalam kelas tetapi juga menuntut siswa untuk berpikir kritis tentang inti permasalahan didalamnya sangatlah dipengaruhi oleh karakteristik setiap siswa. Karakteristik yang dimaksud berasal baik dari dalam diri siswa, disebut sebagai faktor internal, dan dari luar diri siswa, disebut sebagai faktor eksternal. Penelitian ini mengacu pada faktor dari dalam diri siswa, terutama motivasi dari dalam diri dan pola pikir, karena faktor tersebut memberikan dampak langsung terhadap kinerja siswa di dalam kelas. Oleh sebab itu dibutuhkan adanya penelitian tentang bagaimana faktor-faktor internal tersebut mempengaruhi kinerja setiap siswa di dalam kelas. Kinerja siswa di dalam kelas akan dikategorikan berdasar rubrik perilaku yang meliputi perilaku emosi, perilaku interaksi, dan perilaku belajar. Selain itu, penelitian ini juga mencoba untuk mencari tahu cara siswa dalam mengatasi masalah-masalah yang mereka hadapi ketika mengerjakan tugas mata kuliah Extensive Reading II.
Penelitian ini mengarah pada pengaruh-pengaruh motivasi dari dalam diri dan pola pikir yang tercermin pada kinerja siswa di dalam kelas Extensive Reading II. Penelitian ini melibatkan delapan peserta yang mewakili satu populasi yang terdiri atas siswa dengan berbagai macam karakteristik. Deskriptif kualitatif menjadi metode yang digunakan untuk menganalisa data yang ada. Dengan dukungan data kualitatif yang diperoleh dari kuisioner, observasi dalam kelas, dan wawancara, penelitian ini mencoba mencari jawaban dari (1) bagaimana motivasi dari dalam diri dan pola pikir siswa memberi dampak pada kinerja siswa di dalam kelas dan (2) begaimana siswa mengatasi masalah-masalah yang mereka hadapi ketika mengerjakan tugas mata kuliah Extensive Reading II.
Dari penelitian ini didapati bahwa (1) motivasi dari dalam diri dan pola pikir mempunyai dampak yang berbeda pada tiap siswa. Peserta yang mempunyai karakteristik yang sama tampaknya menunjukkan kinerja yang berbeda di dalam kelas. Bahkan (2) siswa yang termotivasi dari dalam diri dan mempunyai kecenderungan pola pikir tertentu mengalami beberapa masalah. Maka dari itu, mereka mempunyai cara masing-masing untuk mengatasinya. Sebagian siswa membentuk kelompok belajar sebagai sarana diskusi. Sebagian siswa mencoba langkah trial and error. Sebagian lainnya tidak begitu antusias dalam mengerjakan tugas yang diberikan dan mengandalkan teman lainnya untuk mengerjakannya.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
The first chapter elicits general overview and description about the research. It consists of six sections namely research background, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms that will be used for further elaboration in the following chapters.
A. Research Background
Grabe and Stoller (2002: 9) defined reading as “the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately”. Apparently, reading can be defined loosely as the ability to make sense of written or printed symbols. The reader uses the symbols to guide the recovery of information from his or her memory and subsequently uses this information to construct a plausible relationship and/or interpretation of the author’s message (Mitchell, 1982: 67). No matter how easy it is to put a definition of reading, an inevitable multifaceted reading dimension will be encountered frequently.
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words within a fraction of just a second. One can do this despite the fact that the words are frequently represented by different shapes from the letter to the next. Individual can even identify words that have been misprinted or misspelt. Another example is that reader can cope with the fact that a word has different meanings in different contexts. Readers can combine the individual meaning of a word to derive the true meaning of the sentences, extended passages, and prose. This involves their strategy in drawing inferences and calling upon their experiences in the situation under the same circumstance. This circumstance differentiates successful from unsuccessful readers. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the individual differences namely motivation and learning styles.
The research focuses on the differences among individuals, especially in how actually beginning readers become fluent readers and what variables affect their progress. The most important resource for any potential readers to possess is an awareness of the way in which they use the language (Wallace, 1992: 35). Learners’ reading performance depends on many potential features. These features may come from inside as well as outside of the students themselves. Several examples are the home/family background of the pupils, the prevailing peer culture, the ethos of school, the quality of the academic staff, and the individual characteristics of the pupils.
and the prevailing peer culture, are generally beyond the control of the educational institutions. The rest, which are the individual characteristics of the pupils, can be changed or taken into account to improve learning process significantly.
The researcher, thereby, focuses the investigation on looking for the effects of one out of many factors on students’ reading performance. Here the researcher decides to specify the discussion on the internal factors generally known as individual characteristics and scrutinizes several variables that may affect students’ performance. However, it is not easy to discover how this performance is implemented unless an idea of what is learned is clear. This means that understanding the nature of definitions, rules, and procedures which are eventually utilized by accomplished readers is obviously important. Thus, this research aims to help teachers and education practitioners to maximize their performance in carrying out teaching-learning activity.
B. Problem Formulation
The researcher focuses on the research participants’ classroom performance in relation to their intrinsic motivation and learning styles which will be elaborated in the two following questions.
1. How do students’ intrinsic motivation and learning styles influence their classroom performance?
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C. Problem Limitation
The researcher intentionally chooses Extensive Reading course conducted by Father Lucianus Suharjanto S.J., S.S., B.S.T since this course considerably applies learning approach which requires the learners to engage and generate their own learning experience. Common Extensive Reading courses are conducted in such a way that learners are required only to draw an analysis based on supplied texts. However, in the preferred class, learners are required not only to comprehend new knowledge, to apply the knowledge meaningfully, and to analyze the information into its smaller parts but also to synthesize the information to generate a general conclusion that can be inferred from each learner’s personal viewpoint. Apparently, each conclusion from each individual is different from one another due to the existing distinctive individual characteristics; they are intrinsic motivation and learning styles. Besides, the researcher chooses Extensive Reading II course taught by Father Lucianus Suharjanto S.J., S.S., B.S.T because this class is apparently different in terms of methodology from the one the researcher enrolled in previous semester. It requires the students not only to analyse a particular topic given in the classroom but it also requires the students to come up with their syntheses about the assigned topic.
observing their behaviours. Learners’ observed behaviours are emotional behaviour, conduct behaviour, and learning behaviour. Afterwards, the researcher classifies the data in order to build descriptive conclusion of the research. Eventually, the investigation reveals the effects of intrinsic motivation and learning styles on the learners’ classroom performance in Extensive Reading II class.
D. Research Objectives
First, the research attempts to look for insight of the nature of intrinsic motivation and learning styles, especially in Extensive Reading II classroom performance. It is obvious that both domains, which are intrinsic motivation and learning styles, could influence the learners’ classroom performance. Therefore, the researcher deals with the individual characteristics description of intrinsic motivation and learning styles of each learner as well as their influence on the learners’ classroom performance. In order to measure the learners’ performance in the classroom, the researcher made use of classroom observable behaviours rubric which covers emotional, conduct, and learning behaviours. At this point, the influence of intrinsic motivation and learning styles on the learners’ classroom performance could be observed.
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drawbacks to carry out the assigned tasks in Extensive Reading II class. Eventually, the ways how learners overcome the existing drawbacks in the class could be figured out.
E. Research Benefits
This research is expected to be beneficial for teachers and education practitioners since it provides an investigative research on factors that affect students’ classroom performance. Besides, it is also expected to discover principles that could be used as a basis for improving techniques of teaching reading and give substantial contribution to English language teaching area. Correspondingly, all who are involved in education field may acquire elaborate knowledge and apply the information they obtain.
F. Definition of Terms
A number of terms are going to be utilized in the following chapters. Therefore, in order to avoid misconception or misunderstanding on the utilized terms, the researcher supplies definitions and brief points on each term.
1. Individual characteristics
Each individual feature varies from one another in terms of its application and visibility. In the research, individual characteristics refer to the learners’ intrinsic motivation and learning styles. The researcher seeks how these factors influence the learner’s classroom performance.
2. Performance
The word performance simply implies broad meaning in terms of what it refers to. With regard to reading domain, it may portray either reading strategies such as skimming and scanning or course achievement and course progress. However, in this research, the term performance refers to the learner’s classroom progress such as weekly assignments accomplishment and classroom individual presentation (Brown, 2000: 253). Consequently, learners’ performance could be observed and, therefore, it could help learners to achieve a better performance. 3. Extensive Reading
“Extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding of a usually somewhat longer text” (Brown, 2001: 313). It is true that most extensive reading activities are conducted outside of the class ever since there is insufficient amount of time inside the class to understand the essence of the texts. Besides, it also requires students to analyze what the subject matter of the text is.
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4. Motivation
“Motivation is the direction and intensity of an individual’s behaviour in situations in which performance can be evaluated according to some standards; the standards may be personal or may be imposed as external factors” (Stipek, 1993: 9). It is apparent that individual’s performance in particular tasks is affected by both personal factor, which is called intrinsic motivation, and external factor, which is called extrinsic motivation. These factors affect students’ performance significantly and, therefore, the researcher attempts to investigate the influence of intrinsic motivation on students’ performance in Extensive Reading II classroom. 5. Learning styles
9 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter includes two sections, namely theoretical description and theoretical framework. The first section, which is theoretical description, will take account of the beneficial related theories to be used in the research, whereas the second section, which is theoretical framework, will depict the correlation between the referred to theories and their roles in the development of the research.
A. Theoretical Description
Carrel and Grabe (1993), as cited in Schmitt (2002: 233), pointed out that interest in second language research and practice, especially in reading skill, has increased dramatically in the past 15 years. Part of this interest is due to the increasing recognition that reading ability is critical for academic learning. This interest is also due to the recognition that reading (either second language or foreign language reading) represents the primary way that students can learn on their own beyond the classroom activities. Reading, for either second language or foreign language readers, is complex and the development of fluent reading abilities by these readers is a challenging action.
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be applied to another learning experience (Fontana, 1985: 37). Obviously, teacher is not the only one factor who decides that the learning process is important. In other words, the learners are able to gain new meaningful knowledge from the on-going learning process, for each learner.
Teachers evidently cannot fully control the class and expect every student to succeed in completing the assigned course objectives. At some points, it is recognizable that some learners could succeed in carrying out the course objectives, some others could succeed although they encounter numerous hindrances during accomplishing the assigned tasks, and the rest could fail in carrying out the delegated objectives. Nevertheless, teachers can actually ‘control’ a class to promote and sustain a better learning process by running a well-organized and effective classroom arrangement. The question would be ‘how is it possible for teacher to actually control a classroom?’
well-organized and effective classroom management in order to provide equal opportunities for each individual learner to develop the learner’s abilities and accordingly advance to higher level of proficiency.
Alderson (2000: 32) stated that it has become common practice to divide research into factors that affect reading into the two major clusters of variables that are typically investigated. These factors are particularly focusing on, first, the factors inside the reader and, second, significant aspects outside the reader. There are a lot more constituents that can be investigated from inside the individual reader. The constituents that are originally developed from each individual are generally called reader’s variables. The readers’ variables constitute a number of different variables for instance reader’s prior knowledge or schemata, motivation, strategies in reading, emotional stability, learning styles, and so forth. These variables obviously affect individual’s classroom behaviours and attainment. Referring to the factors inside the readers, this research focuses its attention on two minor variables namely intrinsic motivation and learning styles.
1. Extensive Reading
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making a review about the text, and retelling the text in front of the class. Instead of doing these kinds of comprehension test activities, extensive reading requires the learners to gain the in depth information and, afterwards, grab what actually beyond the text is.
It is true that most extensive reading activities are conducted outside of the class ever since there is insufficient amount of time inside the class to understand the essence of the texts. Lecturers and/or instructors are only facilitators who guide and direct the learners to narrow their standpoint. Furthermore, extensive reading requires learners to analyze what the subject matter of the texts is so that learners could acquire an elaborate information beyond the written texts.
In this study, the setting of the chosen Extensive Reading II course requires the students not only to understand and analyze texts supplied by the lecturer but it also demands the students to analyze additional texts of their own intellectual interest. The texts of their own choice had to cover popular, scientific, as well as literary aspects. The course is carried out in fourteen effective meetings.
2. Intrinsic Motivation
hard work and persistence. The locus of causality for learners’ hard work and persistence apparently comes from the learners’ intrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation theorists claim that human being is naturally settled with learning related activities. Stipek (1993: 59) endorsed that external reinforcement is not necessarily needed because learning is naturally reinforcing. Intrinsic motivation is obviously not subject to direct observation because it is an abstract domain. However, it can still be inferred from continuous observations which eventually lead to a general pattern. For example, some learners exhibit interest and enjoyment during completing the supplied tasks whereas some others do not. In other words, individuals learn best when they engage themselves in learning activities for their own intrinsic motivation. That is all because they want to rather than because they have to. Working on tasks for intrinsic motivation is more enjoyable. It also leads to more beneficial learning results compared to working on tasks for extrinsic motivation, such as pleasing a person in authority, obtaining rewards, avoiding punishments, and the like.
3. Learning Styles
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high language aptitude by various other factors, such as individual distinctive learning styles. It implies that style preference also contributes to the success of learners’ learning results.
Researchers have observed that learners’ learning approach may vary in a significantly different manner. Cohen and Dornyei (as cited in Schmitt, 2002: 176) claimed that the concept of learning styles has been used to refer to these existing differences. Learning styles seems to be relatively stable since they are formed from each individual’s past experience and gradually become a habit of learning. Therefore, teachers may not have such a direct influence on this learners’ variable. Hereby, learning styles may promote a better language learning.
In general, there are two major dimensions in learners’ learning preferences: they are wholistic view and analytic view (Riding, 2002: 23). The first dimension affects the way in which people think about, view, and respond to information and situations. This affects the way they learn, organize information, apply the information, and interact with other pupils. Wholists tend to see a situation as a whole and are able to have an overall perspective to appreciate its total context.
For wholists, there is a possible danger that the distinction among parts in the total context is blurred so that it is very difficult to distinguish the issues that make up the whole of a situation. The positive strength of wholistic learners is that they can see the whole picture by the time they consider a particular situation or information. Consequently, they can have a balanced view and see situations in their overall context. The negative aspect of wholistic learners is that they find difficulties in separating out a situation into its smaller parts or subsystems. In conclusion, wholistic learners are good at grabbing the overall context from a particular task. Yet, they may find difficulties in working on the details of each segment which makes up a particular context.
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system. Thus, there is a possibility that the information is out of proportion to the total situation.
For the analytics, the positive ability is that they can analyze a situation into parts and this allows them to come quickly to the heart of any problem. They are good at seeing similarities and detecting differences. Nevertheless, their negative aspect is that they may not be able to obtain a balanced view of the whole. Besides, they may also focus merely on one aspect of a situation excluding the others and broaden it out of its proper proportion.
4. Classroom Behaviours
This consideration begins with what is generally known as observable behaviours to the teacher in the classroom. Teachers could notice that some pupils appear more confident than others, some behave in a cooperative way while others are disruptive, some attend to the learning tasks while others are not motivated and poorly organized, and some do well in assessments while others do not. Riding (2002: 3) classified observable behaviours into three major categories; they are emotional behaviour, conduct behaviour, and learning behaviour.
a. Emotional Behaviour
or anxious in delivering presentations. In this study, emotional behaviour is one means to assess the students’ intrinsic motivation and learning styles.
b. Conduct Behaviour
Conduct behaviour can be perceived as students’ attitude in interacting with others (Riding, 2002: 4). Conduct behaviour can be disruptive/active misbehaviour, such as verbal interruption, distracting other pupils, inappropriate moving, physical aggression, or non-disruptive/passive misbehaviour such as inattention, daydreaming, and not completing work.
Disruptive/active misbehaviour usually reduces the pupils’ performance. Moreover, this impact is also seen not only on the pupils who are misbehaving but also of other pupils in the group who are distracted. On the other hand, passive misbehaviour is less likely to be seen as conduct disorder since it is not disruptive. It is considerably referred to as learning disorder. Like emotional behaviour, conduct behaviour is also one means to assess students’ intrinsic motivation and learning styles.
c. Learning Behaviour
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B. Theoretical Framework
There are obviously many factors that could influence learner’s individual performance. In this research, the researcher intends to seek the impact of the two referred to variables by monitoring individual’s observable classroom behaviours and performance. Thereby, this research focuses its investigation on the factors within the readers, which are intrinsic motivation and learning styles, and their effects on individual’s performance.
At this point, it is clear that this research involves intrinsic motivation and learning styles as its primary discussion. The researcher is aware that both intrinsic motivation and learning styles are abstract domains; they are not subject to direct observation but they can be inferred and indicated from several sources namely continuous observations, inquiry, and clarification through interview. It is also clear enough that both factors intensely affect individual’s classroom performance.
Afterwards, the inquiry results from both questionnaire and interview as well as these recorded and classified classroom behaviours are used to assess each research participant’s intrinsic motivation and learning styles. As what is stated in previous paragraphs, this course requires the learners not only to comprehend new knowledge, to apply the knowledge meaningfully, and to analyse the information into its smaller parts but also to synthesize the information to generate a general conclusion that can be inferred from each learner’s personal viewpoint.
20 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
The third chapter exposes the applied methodology and elaborates procedural steps that are utilized during the research. It entails seven sections namely research method, research participants, research setting, research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.
A. Research Method
Another characteristic of descriptive survey research is that it is inductive and creative (Patton, 2002: 55). The researcher attempted to conduct a natural setting survey, carried out open-ended data collection, and performed analytical strategies that hold the factual nature of the data. Interest in the details of the data to discover important patterns and interrelationship began with exploration of what to assess. The next step was confirming information guided by general boundary of what to observe rather than predetermined specific rules. Thus, the qualitative way of understanding discerned the research results in terms of textual data featuring frequent use of descriptive forms of analysis and presentation (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 2003: 250).
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The research conclusion presented a description that was bound to a particular context, situation, and experience. To some extent, the framework and/or the logical inference are most likely applicable to other research populations that share the identical characteristics under the specified circumstances. In order to describe the research method, the researcher provided a general framework portraying the research components in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1: Qualitative Components of the Research Design
Components Qualitative
Purposes Descriptive interpretation of the findings. Inductive development of inferences. Research method
- Relationship
- Sampling - Data collection - Data analysis
- Use of researcher influence and multiple data sources as a tool for understanding
- Stratified and simple random sampling - Adapting to particular unexpected situation - Textual analysis
- Descriptive approaches
Validity Internal validity
Generalizability
- Descriptive and interpretive validity
(comparing and crosschecking the consistency of information derived at different times by different means)
- Comparable to subjects sharing the similar characteristics under the corresponding context
B. Research Participants
from Reading I and Reading II. Besides, they were considered to have better reading sub-skills capability than other students who were still in the first year of their study.
The researcher determined to access only a class of ER-II for the sake of administration effectiveness, thorough elaboration, and time manageability. Moreover, the researcher involved eight participants belonging to the same class to be assessed during the period of the data collection phase. In order to carry out the investigation at ease, the research participants were divided into two major groups; they were high achieving (HA) participants and average achieving (AA) participants. Subjects who achieved between 3.31 up to 4.00 Grade Point Average (GPA) were considered as high achieving participants whereas subjects who achieved GPA within range of 2.75 up to 3.30 were considered as average achieving participants.
The researcher intended to search for supporting and sustaining factors that enabled learners to attain a better performance. Learners’ performance could be measured from, one out of many, their grades. Accordingly, the researcher only involved students with high achievement and average achievement. In other words, students with low achievement were left out considering that they might provide minor contribution to the research.
C. Research Setting
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academic year. The study and the data gathering process took place in Extensive Reading II class B taught by Father Lucianus Suharjanto, S.J., S.S., B.S.T. The classroom setting required the students not only to analyze texts supplied by the lecturer but also to synthesize additional intellectual interest texts of their own choice.
In the first four meetings, the students were assigned to determine popular texts of their own choice. Popular texts referred to general up-to-date topics found in newspapers, magazines, journals, internet, or other sources. In meeting 5 up to meeting 7, the students were expected to assemble assignments that were based on scientific sources which provided theories, such as research reports, journals, books of particular domain, and the like. In meeting 8 up to meeting 10, the students had to search literary works which could be related to their previous topics from popular and scientific field. In the last two weeks, the students had to compose a final hypothesis that was based on three domains namely popular reading, scientific reading, and literary reading.
commonly known reading activities. The purpose was not to test reading comprehension skill or analysis ability but to measure the higher stage of comprehension skill that is synthesis ability.
In conclusion, it was visible that students were required to compose weekly reports or assignments, to present their findings, and to attempt to hypothesize the findings in front of the class. Apparently, this circumstance became the most prominent reason in conducting research in the referred to class ever since this was the first experience for the researcher to cope with such a class.
D. Research Instruments
The researcher employed three research instruments as the means to collect data. The three research instruments were a questionnaire, observation sheets, and a semi-structured interview. The goal of utilizing three research instruments was to triangulate and verify the collected data from each instrument. The data collected from each research instrument were complementary to each other. The researcher made use of the three research instruments in order to answer the first problem formulation. Besides, in order to answer the second problem formulation, the researcher explored the observation sheets and the semi-structured interview.
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learners’ intrinsic motivation and learning styles. The intrinsic motivation and learning styles were abstract domains and, therefore, not subject to direct observation. Instead, it had to be inferred from some indicators such as questionnaire results, classroom overt behaviours, and interview results.
The second research instrument, which was observation sheet, was carried out under unobstrusive condition. Webb (1966: 56) asserted that unobstrusive condition implements a principle in which the researcher is involved as participant in the preferred class in order to avoid the emergence of observer’s paradox from the students. Observation sheets were used to record research participants’ activities during the lesson hour. The nature of the observations was unstructured and, thus, the researcher was able to note down freely about anything relevant to the research development. Observations took place in natural real life setting within ten meetings out of fourteen total meetings. The observations were intended to verify the data gained from the questionnaire and portray the detailed description of a particular phenomenon. Besides, they also sought and monitored specific and defined behaviours; they were emotional, learning, and conduct behaviours that were relevant to the research development.
subsequently, pre-determined based on the actually happening events in the classroom. The interview results captured direct quotations about learner’s experience, feelings, and personal perspective.
E. Data Gathering Technique
The data gathering process took place in the even semester of 2007/2008 academic year in which Extensive Reading II was carried out. Regarding the three distinct research instruments, the data gathering process also differed from one another in terms of time and settings. The first research instrument, which was a questionnaire, was distributed, collected, and assessed prior to the beginning of the Extensive Reading II course. After identifying the subjects’ divergent characteristics, classroom observations were then executed in order to gain factual data of each subject. Thirdly, the semi-structured interview was put into action with the purpose of obtaining further information for the sake of the research analysis clarity.
F. Data Analysis Technique
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One way to assess learners’ intrinsic motivation and learning styles was by employing multiple data sources; they are a questionnaire, observation sheets, and an interview. The questionnaire classified the students based on their learning styles and elicited surface information about both learners’ intrinsic motivation and learning styles. First of all, the grouping system was carried out by means of the questionnaire instrument. When research participants preferred to learn one topic for discussion at a time rather than learning two topics simultaneously, they were considered as analytic learners. On the contrary, if research participants preferred to learn two topics for discussion at a time rather than learning topics part by part, they were considered as wholistic learners. Another consideration was if research participants were interested in a hierarchical learning system in which all the materials were arranged in a way based on certain categories, they were considered as analytic learners. In contrast, if research participants were interested in a more flexible learning system in which the materials might expand into another topic, they were considered wholistic learners. At this point, the researcher could group the research participants into either wholistic or analytic learners and observe the typical characteristics of each group. The observations resulted on a number of divergent responses among research participants.
distraction, interruption, physical aggression, and inattention. Learning behaviour covered personal interest in the lesson, effective communication, and perseverance. Both positive and negative behaviours on classroom performance is summarized in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2: Behaviours Rubric on Classroom Performance
Classroom
Performance Positive Behaviours Negative Behaviours
Emotional Behaviour
•Steady state of self confidence. •Not appearing overly anxious
and nervous.
•Dynamic participation in the activities.
•Inconstant state of self confidence.
•Develop the sense of nervousness in a particular circumstance.
Conduct Behaviour
•Carry out relevant activities to the lesson.
•Acceptable physical movements.
•Improper verbal and nonverbal distractions.
•Inappropriate physical aggression.
Learning Behaviour
•Exhibit interest in the lesson. •Lack of interest in the lesson.
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Regarding the second research question, the researcher paid attention to respondents’ classroom behaviours by means of observation sheets and highlighted problems generally encountered by each respondent during performing and accomplishing the given tasks. The researcher could draw conclusions how research participants dealt with the problems they found during the lesson. The researcher progressively elaborated a general statement and conclusion well grounded on the data through induction. Obviously, a conceptual understanding on the topic that primarily referred to literature review had to be combined with the researcher’s arguments. Accordingly, the findings and conclusions of the research were considerably valid. Moreover, in order to provide research internal validity, the researcher employed the multiple data source strategy. A triangulation can be achieved by combining the analysis and interpretation of the data collected and the personal perspective of the researcher.
G. Research Procedures
The topic concerned was, nevertheless, still too broad since there are many factors that might affect students’ performance. Consequently, the researcher determined to focus on one major scope, which was individual characteristics, and later on this major scope could be subcategorized into two minor constituents, which were intrinsic motivation and learning styles. The researcher referred to motivation and learning styles as the two minor constituents due to their correlation to students’ performance.
The essence was that it described how these components might influence students’ performance and which one played the major role in it. Later on the researcher outlined a qualitative research design due to several considerations. Next, the researcher adapted and designed three research instruments; they were a questionnaire, observation sheets, and a semi-structured interview.
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learning behaviour; it covered personal interest in the lesson, effective communication, and perseverance.
33 CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
The chapter depicts the results, analysis, the researcher’s arguments, and discussions which were based on multiple data sources namely a questionnaire, observation sheets, and interview. The researcher divided chapter four into two major sections. The first section described the individual characteristics of each research participant and the influence of intrinsic motivation and learning styles on each learner’s classroom performance. The second section described the way how actually research participants overcame the drawbacks in performing the assigned Extensive Reading II tasks.
A. The Influence of Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Styles on Learners’ Classroom Performance
1. Individual Characteristics of the Research Participants
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provide direct advantage as those of research participants who were extrinsically motivated. Intrinsically motivated research participants would establish long term goals which emphasize the process of learning rather than the results of learning.
Some learners had a tendency to exhibit risk-taking characteristic which enabled them to do trial and error whereas some others tend to play safe by avoiding risk-taking in accomplishing an assignment. In another circumstance, it turned out that some learners preferred to work in group frequently in order to obtain feedbacks from the peer group while some others preferred to work individually so that they could measure their true proficiency.
The existing diversities from individual characteristics were fairly beneficial as well as detrimental for the learners in experiencing meaningful learning under a particular learning environment. It was impossible to eliminate the detrimental effect of the individual characteristics. Nonetheless, teachers could attempt to facilitate the beneficial features and diminish the detrimental effects of the referred to characteristics. Therefore, each learner could be given equal opportunities which enable the learner to make use of the beneficial individual characteristics effectively.
a. Research Participants’ Intrinsic Motivation
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with GPA between 2.75 up to 3.29. Some of these differences were presented in Table 4.1.
Further investigation through the interview turned out that the research participants’ answers had a common similarity; they intended to gain knowledge from the lesson and apply the obtained knowledge outside the classroom (see Appendix C). When the research participants were aware of the knowledge application outside the class, they were considered as intrinsically motivated learners. Nonetheless, the analysis and discussion were not merely based on this assumption. In order to arrive at a deeper level of discussion, the researcher made use of two other research instruments namely observations and interview to verify the findings.
Table 4.1: Research Participants’ Perception about the Course
Research Participants’ Perception Group A Group B
Felt confident with his/her ability to succeed in
accomplishing the course objectives. 75% 75%
Felt quite uncertain with his/her ability to succeed in
accomplishing the course objectives. 25% 25%
Perceived mistakes as encouragement to learn
something new. 75% 50%
Perceived mistakes as discouragement that hinder a
better learning experience. 25% 50%
Considered that some topics were not interesting. 25% 50%
Considered that some topics were not practical and
not directly related to his/her daily life. 50% 50%
Thought that classroom activities were boring. 25% 75%
Considered that the course assignments were
Based on Table 4.1, research participants had varying opinions about the Extensive Reading II course. They were all intrinsically motivated. However, their existing discrepant opinions would bring about different performances in the classroom. Research participants who had a positive perception about the Extensive Reading II class indeed would respond differently in terms of behaviours from research participants who had a negative perception. The behaviours were represented in Table 3.2. It identified the expected behaviours that could occur in the classroom.
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In addition, intrinsically motivated research participants particularly needed topics for discussion that were interesting and applicable to the real life setting outside the class. Besides, they also wanted topics for discussion that had direct relation to their daily life. As a result, they would consider that the information they obtained from the classroom was meaningful. Further discussion on the divergent responses of intrinsically motivated research participants would be exposed on section 2.
b. Research Participants’ Learning Styles
The questionnaire revealed the research participants’ learning styles. Based on the results, some research participants appeared to be wholistic, whereas some others apppeared to be analytic. The scoring chart below indicates that a score of 60 is the midpoint. It means that there is no particular dominance on either wholistic or analytic if research participant’ score is 60.
Table 4.2: Research Participants’ Learning Styles
64 – 70 Moderately wholistic
57 – 63 No particular dominance on either wholistic or analytic 50 – 56 Moderately analytic
Research Participant Questionnaire Results
A1 66
A2 64
A3 54
A4 55
B1 56
B2 64
B3 51
At this point, it was worth remembering that the research participants were grouped into either group A or B depending on their GPA. Group A consisted of research participants with GPA between 3.3 up to 4.0, whereas group B consisted of research participants with GPA between 2.75 up to 3.29. Some of the research participants shared the same characteristic; it was whether they belonged to wholictic learners group or analytic learners group. Even though, some discrepant responses and behaviours in the classroom among research participants belonging to the same group were research participant to observation.
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Table 4.3: Research Participants’ Preferences
Brief points Group A Group B Wholistic Analytic Wholistic Analytic
Working preference
• Prefer individual work in completing the assigned tasks.
• Prefer group work in completing the assigned tasks.
50% - 25% -
- 50% - 75% Instructions Preference
• Prefer detailed verbal explanations or instructions over written ones. • Prefer demonstrated and illustrated
examples in the instructions.
50% - 25% -
- 50% - 75% Problem Solving Preference
• Looking at problems as a whole and in general context.
• Looking at problems part by part in a specific context.
50% - 25% -
- 50% - 75% Tests Preference
• Multiple choice questions.
• Essay or open-ended questions.
50% - 25% - - 50% - 75%
2. The Influence of Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Styles on Research Participants’ Classroom Performance
In the previous section, intrinsic motivation and learning styles resulted in different responses among the eight research participants. Therefore, it was necessary to scrutinize each research participant’s classroom behaviours. Nonetheless, some comparisons between or among research research participants could be found in order to provide apparent similarities and/or differences.
The research revealed that every research participant was intrinsically motivated. The research participants answered that they wanted to learn in order to obtain personal advantages. Further investigation by means of interview revealed that the referred to advantages did not have to provide direct benefits such as obtaining good grades and obtaining rewards for them. The research participants’ answers apparently had a broad similarity; they wanted to be able to use and apply the obtained information and skills to their field of expertise as teachers. Nevertheless, intrinsic motivation worked differently when later on the focus moved to the research participants’ classroom behaviours. Basically, the major difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation lies on the reason why learners act as they do (Fontana, 1985: 58); whether learners perform an action for their own sake in order to obtain pleasure and satisfaction such as enjoy doing a particular activity or learners perform an action in order to obtain extrinsic reward such as good grades or to avoid punishment.
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was to gain knowledge from the lesson and to apply the obtained knowledge outside the classroom. Meanwhile, their secondary purposes, considered as extrinsic motivation, were to achieve good grades, to avoid penalties or extra assignments, and to acquire rewards. However, the focus of the research was only the research participants’ intrinsic motivation even though it was impossible to put aside the existing extrinsic motivation.
Based on the observations, each research participant behaved differently from one to another. Throughout the course, research participant A1 demonstrated significantly steady state of self confidence starting from the first meeting of the course (see Appendix 2). It was seen from her progress inside the classroom. Her abilities and high state of self confidence allowed her to work both individually and cooperatively. In addition, she frequently questioned ambiguous part of the upcoming assignments to the lecturer. However, her wholistic characteristic encouraged her to be less cooperative and to attempt independent tasks accomplishment most of the time. In other words, she looked for help only whenever it was necessary. Her high state of self confidence was not only seen from her work preference but also from her projects presentation in front of the class in which she seldom hesitated in presenting her ideas.
displayed ineffective communication whenever her concentration split. The interview results revealed that she probably could do the assignments better if she was given longer time. She perceived the course positively. It meant that whatever the materials, whether she was interested in them or not, she tried to focus on accomplishing the course objectives. Her perception about trial and error during the course did not hinder her to achieve a better result whereas some other research participants felt frustrated whenever they found difficulties during the tasks accomplishment.
In relation to her learning behaviour, her wholistic characteristic and persistent intrinsic motivation facilitated her to maintain her concentration during the course. It was observable from each meeting in which she tried to listen to both the lecturer’s explanations and her friends’ projects presentation. Besides, instead of taking notes while listening to the lecturer’s explanations, she had a tendency to take notes only on the major parts. This occured in meeting 3, 4, 8, and 9 as presented in Table 4.4.
Table 4.4: Learning Behaviour of Research Participant A1
Learning Behaviour
Meeting 3: Took notes on the important details and major points of lesson. Meeting 4: Focused on the lecturer’s explanation and took notes while listening if necessary.
Meeting 8: Took notes while listening if necessary.
Meeting 9: Listened to the lecturer’s explanation and took notes if necessary.
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Table 4.5: Classroom Performance Summary of Research Participant A1
Research Participant A1
Meetings 1 up to 10
• Demonstrated constant emotional behaviour by showing steady state of self confidence in the tasks accomplishment.
• Exhibited effective conduct behaviour by appreciating other pupils’ projects presentation during the course.
• Displayed positive learning behaviour which supported the learning experience by showing persistence in carrying out the course objectives.
Almost similar to research participant A1, research participant A2 demonsrated a nearly steady state of self confidence throughout the course. However, it was clearly seen that at some time during the course administration she had a tendency to be more dependent on the peers than to herself. This condition contradicted her nature as a wholistic learner because wholistic learners would work individually. Further investigation by means of interview revealed that she had tendency to perceive the the course more negatively. She thought that some of the available topics for discusion were not interesting. As a result, her interest in the topics influenced her concentration and attention during the lesson. Therefore, in some meetings in which she was interested in the available topics for discussion, she showed high state of self confidence by willingly put forward her opinion and actively involved in the classroom activities. On the other hand, if she was not interested in the topics, she demonstrated ineffective emotional behaviour by exhibiting unsteady state of self confidence.
distraction to other pupils during the course. If she was not interested in the given topic for discussion, she frequently talked about other topics that were irrelevant to the course with her peers. This could be traced in meeting 1, 4, and 8.
Table 4.6: Conduct Behaviour of Research Participant A2
Conduct Behaviour
Meeting 1: Provided verbal disturbance for other pupils by talking noisily. Meeting 4: Provided verbal nuisance for other students by talking loudly. Meeting 8: Provided noise diturbance for other pupils by talking loudly during the course.
This also caused her attention to split among the lecturer’s explanation, classroom objectives, and her peers. This obviously also influenced her learning behaviour. Successful learning behaviour would be indicated by individual’s persistent perception. At this point, it was noticed from the observation that she sometimes well attended the lesson if the topics were interesting and, on the contrary, she neglected the classroom objectives if the topics were not interesting for her.
Table 4.7: Classroom Performance Summary of Research Participant A2
Research Participant A2
Meetings 1 up to 10
• Demonstrated ineffective emotional behaviour by showing unstable self confidence in the tasks accomplishment.
• Exhibited unsteady conduct behaviour depending on her interest in the available topics for discussion.
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Different from research participant A1 and A2, who were wholistic learners, research participant A3 was analytic learner. Based on the observations, compared to the wholistic learners who mostly had tendency to take notes on the major parts of the lecturer’s instruction, most analytic learners had tendency to take notes on all the lecturer’s explanation while listening to it, discussing with the peers, or doing other activities. This behaviour could be traced in meeting 1, 2, 4, and 5. Regarding her emotional behaviour, she exhibited a gradual development of self confidence in the classroom. For instance, in meeting 1 she hesitantly performed the course objectives, in meeting 2 she started to accomplish the given tasks willingly, and in meeting 3 she began to work effectively by cooperating with her peers in completing the available assignments.
Table 4.8: Learning Behaviour of Research Participant A3
Learning Behaviour
Meeting 1: Listened to the lecturer’s instructions while taking notes. Meeting 2: Paid attention to the lecturer’s explanations while taking notes. Meeting 3: Listened to the lecturer’s instructions while taking notes. Meeting 4: Listened to the lecturer’s instructions while taking notes.
nonverbally by other pupils’ behaviour. Nonetheless, her positive perception sustained her concentration. Although sometimes she felt fatigued with both the classroom assignments and activities, her gradually developed state of self confidence and trial-error effort facilitated her to remain focused on the course objectives. She attempted concentrating on the assigned tasks. In conclusion, her positive perception significantly supported her learning behaviour during the course.
Table 4.9: Classroom Performance Summary of Research Participant A3
Research Participant A3
Meeting 1 up to 10
• Demonstrated gradual development of emotional behaviour by showing stable self confidence in the tasks accomplishment.
• Exhibited effective conduct behaviour by attempting to stay focus on the course objectives although sometimes was distracted by other pupils’ behaviour.
• Revealed positive learning behaviour which supported the learning experience as a result of her positive perception regardless of all obstacles.
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attentive to the lecturer’s explanation, demonstrating interest in the available topics, and actively engaged in classroom activities were several examples which indicated positive learning behaviour.
Regarding the results of the observations and further investigation by means of interview, research participant A4 was much different from other research participants belonging to group A. Research participant A4 had a significant negative perception about herself as well as about the course. In comparison, research participants A1, A2, and A3 demonstrated a fairly steady state of self confidence throughout the course. Meanwhile, research participant A4 exhibited a particular degree of uncertainty in the classroom. This was fairly seen from meeting 1, 3, 5, and 10.
Table 4.10: Emotional Behaviour of Research Participant A4
Emotional Behaviour
Meeting 1: Listened to what the peer group said.
Meeting 3: Greatly influenced by and dependent on peer group.
Meeting 5: Speech defect, hesitation, and frequent short pauses in delivering the presentation.
Meeting 10: Hesitation, short pauses, and nearly inaudible voice during the presentation.
pauses, inaudible voice and other speech defects. This circumstance apparently influenced and discouraged her self confidence because from meeting to meeting it was clearly seen that she exhibited great dependence on her peers and inconstant self confidence.
Furthermore, she also perceived that the available topics for discussion were not practical since she rarely found such a case in real setting environment. It meant that she could not directly apply the knowledge she obtained from the lesson to her real life environment. As a result, most of the times when she felt bored with the supplied topics, she preferred to have a chit-chat with other pupils and displayed some verbal and nonverbal nuisances to other pupils. Consequently, the learning experience was fairly meaningless. Further investigation by means of interview revealed that research participant A4 undeliberately performed such behaviours since she had less interest in the topics available for discussion. Therefore, she focused most of her attention only to parts that interested her and had obvious relevance to her real life experience. She was willing to carry out the course objectives even though she was not interested in the available topics. The degree of uncertainty affected the level of success in accomplishing the assigned task. Her performance was not as good as those of other research participants belonging to the same group.
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all details that were exlplained by the lecturer. Nevertheless, she still could not perform the course assignments satisfactorily. In order to become aware of what actually she should do with the assigned tasks, she frequently inquired her peers about what to do and cooperated with them in accomplishing the tasks.
Table 4.11: Classroom Performance Summary of Research Participant A4
Research participant A4
Meetings 1 up to 10
• Demonstrated unsteady state of emotional behaviour by showing inconstant self confidence in the tasks accomplishment that might discourage better learning process.
• Exhibited detachable positive conduct behaviour by providing verbal and nonverbal distractions and simultaneously showing appreciation to other pupils’ projects presentation.
• Showed partially negative learning behaviour due to her unsteady state of self confidence.
Afterwards, the focus of the discussion turned to research participants belonging to group B who were considered as average achievers. Three-quarter of the research participants belonging to group B were analytic learners. Nonetheless, these similarities did not indicate the same classroom behaviours among the research samples.
afterwards, became a pattern that interested the researcher to develop deeper investigation by means of interview.
The results of the interview showed that she was not interested in the available topics for classroom discussion, perceived the topics not practical to her daily life, and considered the classroom activities boring. Her negative perception about the lesson greatly influenced her classroom behaviours. In relation to her emotional behaviour, she exhibited a significantly low self confidence since she frequently was dependent on her peers in accomplishing the assigned tasks. Several examples from the observations were represented in Table 4.12 below.
Table 4.12: Emotional, Conduct, and Learning Behaviours of Research Participant B1
Emotional behaviour
Meeting 1: Paid more attention to the peers than to the lecturer’s explanations. Meeting 5: Hesitation and short pauses occured during delivering the
presentation.
Meeting 7: Hesitation and evident long pauses occured during delivering the presentation.
Conduct Behaviour
Meeting 1: Frequent interruption and nonverbal interference to other pupils. Meeting 2: Frequently gave verbal and nonverbal nuisance to other pupils. Meeting 7: Did not appreciated other pupils by not listening to their presentations.
Meeting 8: Caught up daydreaming and not focusing on the lesson. Learning Behaviour
Meeting 1: Took notes while listening and chitchatting with peer group if necessary.
Meeting 2: Kept busy doing irrelevant activities to the course and leaving out the course objectives.
Meeting 8: More discussion on irrelevant topics to the course with the peers.
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in front of the class or in a small group discussion. She exhibited numerous speech defects in delivering the presentation such as hesitation and frequent long pauses. In addition, based on the observations, the presentation particularly did not provide adequate information about her topic.
Furthermore, she established a significantly ineffective conduct behaviour since she provided major verbal and nonverbal interference to other pupils during the lesson over and over again. It obviously resulted in the decreased level of self concentration on the lesson. Due to the existing decreased level of self concentration, she did not persist in carrying out the course objectives. She regularly left out the given tasks or passively engaged in the classroom activities and preferred to have other activities such as daydreaming and chit-chatting with her peers. In addition, she was sometimes unaware of what to do and, therefore, she often confirmed the peers what the lecturer’s instruction was. In conclusion, she evidently had problems in coping with self concentration because her impersistence in completing the course objectives consistently emerged from time to time.
Table 4.13: Classroom Performance Summary of Research Participant B1
Research participant B1
Meetings 1 up to 10
• Demonstrated fluctuating emotional behaviour by showing inconstant self confidence in the tasks accomplishment that might discourage better learning process.
• Exhibited considerably negative conduct behaviour by providing frequent verbal and nonverbal distractions.
Similar to research participant B1, research participant B2 was analytic learner. Nonetheless, he had a rather positive perception about the course. Regarding his emotional behaviour, it was noticed since the initial period of the course administration that he possessed a remarkably high self confidence. It could be inferred from his independence in completing most of the assigned tasks throughout the course. He had a tendency to learn rather cooperatively than individually. Further in
