T1 112009026 Full text

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PERCEPTIONS OF FIRST GRADE STUDENTS IN SMP

NEGERI 2 SALATIGA TOWARDS TRADITIONAL TESTS

AND PORTFOLIO IN ENGLISH CLASS

Introduction

Assessment is one of the important things that have an important role in

education. The importance of assessment in education is stated by Hughes (2003)

who says that the proper relationship between teaching and assessment is a

partnership. By assessment process, the teacher can discover how far students

have achieved the objectives of the course of study. The teacher can use the result

of assessment to analyze which material should be explained again and which

instruments should be repaired.

The teaching of English as a formal subject in SMP level is stated to hve

several goals which are translated as follows: “The goals of teaching and learning English for SMP students are improving the four English skills. They should

master the receptive skills (reading and listening) and the productive skills

(speaking and writing), within a specified word level and relevant grammatical

structures and notions, in the context of the specified themes which are enclosed for SMP level students” (Balitbang Depdiknas, 2004: p.42).

However, in fact, most of SMP graduate still cannot use English for

communication. These failures are influenced by many factors. According to

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which is separated from the application. Teachers teach materials that will be

tested. The goal is that the students get a good score in the final test.

Based on the researcher’s experience, when the researcher was in SMA;

the teacher assessed the researcher by using traditional tests. Most of the subjects

in the researcher’s school, including English are also assessed through traditional

tests. Only traditional tests are given throughout the semester. Commonly

traditional tests consist of multiple choice questions and short answer questions,

which made students passive learners. The learning result is more emphasized

rather than the process itself. Giving quizzes and tests assess cognitive aspects

only; this kind of assessment is just to recall the student’s memorization.

The curriculum which is implemented today (2013 Curriculum) states that

the teaching and learning process may be considered successful if followed by the

change of teaching and learning strategy at class, the choosing of media, and the

choosing of an assessment process. There are three aspects of 2013 curriculum.

The first aspect is knowledge. The second aspect is attitude. The last aspect is the

skill. Skill is the new aspect in 2013 curriculum. The skill aspect is really

important in this 2013 curriculum. The students are able to propose their opinion,

be involved in discussion, make a report, and also do presentation. The aspect of

skill is important because without this aspect, the students cannot deliver their

knowledge appropriately and it would remain in theory. To respond the 2013

curriculum which emphasizes on the skill aspect, the selection of assessment is

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students’ learning progress, similar to the concern of the skill aspect on the 2013

curriculum, could be used.

One of the kinds of alternative assessments which are commonly used is

portfolio. According to Josifovic (2011) portfolio assessment is an ongoing

process involving the student and teacher in selecting samples of student work for

inclusion in a collection and the main purpose is to show the student's progress.

Based on that background, the researcher became interested in studying

the students’ perception toward the use of traditional tests and portfolio in English class on the first grade of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga. It is a fact that many teachers,

especially teachers in the state school have not applied portfolio or other

alternative assessment, whereas in the 2013 curriculum, the skill aspect is more

emphasized and portfolio could be one of several assessments to evaluate

students’ skills progress. The research question to be answered in this study was “what are the students’ perception toward the use of traditional tests and portfolio

in English class”. The term traditional tests is referred to the kind of final test semester, middle test semester and weekly test which are in multiple choice form

or mini essay form. While the portfolio is kind of making story, response journal,

student’s reflection, writing feedback, draft writing, etc. The aim of this study is to

investigate the students’ perception about the use of traditional tests and portfolio

in English class. This study was addressed for teachers. Hopefully this study gives

consideration to state school teacher related to the selection of assessment

especially in the 2013 curriculum which is concerned on the students’ learning

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Theoretical Framework

What is traditional test?

Assessment is really important in education. The assessment is used to

measure the students’ understanding toward the materials that have been taught or

as an instrument to evaluate the students’ learning progress. There are many ways

to assess the students. One of the ways is by giving traditional tests. The

traditional tests are commonly used to assess the students’ understanding before

alternative assessment. According to (Burnaz, 2011) the most widely used type of

questions in traditional tests are multiple choice, true-false, matching,

fill-in-the-blank, short answers and essays. These traditional tests tools and techniques are

considered as effective tools in educational settings which consider memorization

by repetition important (Burnaz, 2011). However, this technique is insufficient to

evaluate the learner progress.

According to Franklin (2002) as stated in (Burnaz, 2011) there are some

drawbacks of traditional tests which are:

1). the traditional test tools fail to take into account students' growth and

development and hamper their progress.

2). the traditional tests do not involve discussions, classroom projects, and

other programs designed to show material to students and pass on

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Black (1992) and Maeroff (1991) said that the traditional tests have been

criticized for removing the human element and restricting communication

between students and teachers; for eliminating the opportunity for students to draft

and to revise their work; and for not allowing students to participate in choosing

work that would better represent their abilities.

Several characteristics of traditional tests were mentioned by Hughes

(2003):

1). Testing and instruction are regarded as separate activities.

2). Students are treated in a uniform way.

3) Decisions are based on single sets of data (test scores).

4). Emphasis on weaknesses/ failures: what students cannot do.

5). One-shot exams.

6). Cultural/ socio-economic status bias.

7). Focus on one, “right answer”.

The traditional tests practices lack sensitivity to the individual growth that

educators desire in students; thus the instruction itself appears misguided.

Another point which affects the students as Huerta – Macias (1995) points

out that the testing situation itself often produces anxiety within the student such

that they are unable to think clearly. Wolf (1989) more completely points out

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learners’ full range of intuitions and knowledge and exclusion of development.

Since English is a language and not real or exact knowledge, English supposes to

apply in our daily conversation. Conversation is closely linked to speaking skill. It

is the limitation of traditional tests. The traditional tests are difficult to evaluate

speaking skill fully as stated in (Burnaz, 2011). Burnaz (2011) also mentions that

there is no feedback provided to the learner in this type of assessment. Without

feedback, teaching and learning would be incomplete.

What is alternative assessment?

In order to compensate for the limitations of traditional tests, the scholars

interested in assessment methods and tools proposed the term “alternative

assessment” as a reforming movement and a shift from standardized assessment

method for the last several decades. Hancock (1994) stated in Burnaz (2011)

described that alternative assessment is an ongoing process involving the student

and teacher in making judgments about the student’s progress in language using

non-conventional strategies. Jacobs and Farrell (2001) stated in Burnaz (2011)

claimed that alternative assessment tools are developed to mirror real-life

conditions and involve thinking skills. On the basis of this assertion they mention

three principles for assessment in ELT setting. First, alternative assessment tools

emphasize meaning rather than form. Second, alternative assessment methods,

such as think-aloud protocols, seek to investigate the learning process. Third,

alternative assessment provides the social nature of learning through peer

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Another opinion was also stated by Sambell, McDowell & Brown (1997)

stated in Josifovic (2011):

- It is compatible with constructivist ideas in that it favors integration of

assessment, teaching and learning.

- The involvement of students as active and informed participants.

- Assessments tasks which are authentic, meaningful and engaging.

- Focus on both the process and products of learning.

- Moves away from single test or exam scores towards a descriptive

assessment based on a range of abilities and outcomes.

To strengthen Josifovic idea, Huerta-Macias (1995) stated in Samad

(2012) points out that alternative assessment is non-intrusive in the sense that they

are merely tasks that students do in class every day and students are evaluated on

these tasks.

Furthermore, alternative assessment offers information not only on

learners’ weaknesses, but also on their strengths, as they are manifested in class

over time. There are several forms of alternative assessment; performance

assessment, portfolios, self-assessments, peer-assessment, diaries and

student-teacher conferences (Norris, Brown, Hudson & Yoshioka, 1998:2) stated in

(Samad, 2012). In this research, the researchers used portfolio as one of the

examples of alternative assessment.

Portfolio as one type of alternative assessment

Alternative assessment has become the tool widely used in education. The

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learning progress. Paulson and Meyer (1991) stated in (Burnaz, 2011) define

portfolio as a purposeful collection of student work that show the student’s efforts,

progress, and achievements in one or more areas. According to (Lotfi, 2012) there

are different kinds of portfolios, such as assessment portfolios, showcase

portfolios, and collections portfolios. Assessment portfolios consist of student’

items based on certain assessment criteria. Showcase portfolios contain students’

best pieces of work. Collections portfolios, often called working folders which are

collections of all the pieces of work during a certain period of time. The portfolio

includes information, sample work, and evaluations that serve as indicators for

student performance (Lotfi, 2012) for example written student work, such as

story, feedback, drafts or tentative writing. Other examples are part of exercise

sheets, reading response journal, or other student’s reflection.

Shimo (2005), Hamp-Lyons and Condon (2000) list the following benefits

for portfolios:

1). students learn many new things every week through feedback.

2). having assessment every time is more beneficial than simply studying

for a test.

3). Learners have the chance to reflect over their learning processes.

4). Portfolios can make a continuous assessment over a long time period.

5). Learners can make their original products and they can feel a sense of

achievement more compared to traditional tests.

6). Learners are able to take control over their learning and feel more

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and progress in their ability, and reset goals more effectively by looking

over their work.

Furthermore, when portfolios are used in their classes, students are often

able to receive more feedback to their work in progress, such as easy drafts, from

their teacher and classmates (Shimo, 2005). The portfolio as a purposeful

collection of students’ work, not only displays students’ effort, progress, and

achievement, but also demonstrates students’ participation in selecting contents

and selecting the criteria for assessment; Portfolio assessment is beneficial in the

sense that it leaves students chance to reflect upon their development, growth, and

progress over time (Wang, & Liao, 2008). Brown and Hudson (1998) underline

the same issue and states that portfolio assessment strengthens learning by

increasing learners’ attention, motivation and involvement in their learning

processes, promoting student-teacher and student-student collaboration and

encouraging students to learn the metalanguage necessary for students and

teachers to talk about language growth. Hughes (2003) make clear that the

portfolio is a useful tool in Higher Education because it is composed of materials

which show students’ progress, the degree of assimilation of the contents and the

ability to develop certain competencies previously established by the teachers. In

this sense, the portfolio is an authentic form of evaluation because it establishes a

link between theory and practice.

The Previous Studies

According to Yang (2003) the portfolio helped students to extend their

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what they like to read or listen to according to their personal interests and let them

plan how to learn English according to their learning styles. The study found that

portfolios raised students’ awareness of learning strategies, facilitated their

learning process, and enhanced their self-directed learning.

Samad (2012) said that the portfolio assessment include purpose, content

and structure which were considered crucial to bring about effective results of

student learning; the qualitative findings contribute to a better understanding of

the use of portfolios as an assessment tool and have some implications for

teaching and assessment.

Barootchi and Keshavarz (2002) set out a study to investigate if portfolio

assessment contributed to EFL learners‟ achievement and their sense of

responsibility toward monitoring their progress. The participants were 60 Iranian

16 year-old high school sophomores. The experimental groups were assessed

through both teacher-made tests and portfolios, whereas control 19 group was

assessed through only teacher-made tests. The results suggested that the subjects

of the research had positive perceptions towards portfolio assessment and this

procedure contributed to their achievement and their feeling of responsibility

towards monitoring their progress.

Song and Augusts (2002) study examined the correlation between

standardized assessment and portfolio in an ESL setting. In this study two groups

of advanced ESL students were compared. One group was assessed by portfolio

and the writing assessment test (WAT) which requires students to write an essay

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assessed only by the WAT. The findings indicated that the students who were

assessed by both portfolio and the WAT were more likely to pass into a more

advanced level than the students who were only assessed only by WAT. In

consequence, Song and August (2002) proposed that portfolio assessment enables

students to be more successful in passing into a more advanced level in English

courses.

Nunes (2004) conducted a case study lasting over one year with a group of

10th grade students in a Portuguese high school. The study was carried out to

indicate how important students’ reflection and students’ involvement in the

teaching – learning process are. Based on the results of the study, Nunes (2004)

suggested that portfolios help EFL learners monitor their own learning and

become more autonomous. She also claimed that portfolios could be used as

pedagogical tools to facilitate the use of learner – centered practice.

Banfi (2003) conducted a study on portfolios and he concluded that the

portfolio based approach has many advantages on learners and the learners were

satisfied with the portfolio implementation process. She also added that the

flexibility of portfolios was the key element in making them ideal tools for

encouraging learner autonomy and a useful means of demonstrating progress in

the development of linguistic, academic and professional skills.

Segers, Gijbels and Thurlings (2011) conducted a study on the portfolio

and the results indicate that, when implementing portfolio assessment, feedback is

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implemented, and how students’ learning is stimulated through the assessment

that influences the quality of learning.

The Study

The method section generally includes information about the context of

study, participants, data collection instrument, data collection procedure and data

analysis procedure.

Context of the study

The setting of this study is in SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga. It is located in the

small town of Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. The researcher selects this school

because it is one of the five state schools in Salatiga which is appointed by the

government to apply the 2013 curriculum, and this school already applied

traditional tests and portfolio for the first grade students who use the new 2013

curriculum. A further reason for the selection of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga is that this

school has high standing in the region as a state school with an excellent

reputation. Hopefully by doing this research in this school, SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga

could be an example to the other state schools in the context of giving assessment

to the students and able to adapt and apply the 2013 curriculum well.

Participants

The participants in this study were selected from the students in one class

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14 year old students. The number of the students is equal between the girls and the

boys. They are mostly Javanese. All of the students generally share an average

interest in learning English. To enroll in this school is not easy. One of the ways

to enter this school is by test or only for the students who have high grade in the

elementary national examination. Most of the students are not beginners. This

means that their English level is quite good. Several students have been studying

English since elementary school or even kindergarten. The researcher chose the

first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga as participants in this research

because they experienced both traditional tests and portfolio. These students use

2013 curriculum. The second reason is that first grade students of SMP Negeri 2

Salatiga do not have a burden to work on the national exam. So their focus is still

on the best way to learn the material instead of on passing the examination. The

traditional tests are given by the teacher in the middle of the semester and at the

end of the semester as a tool to evaluate the students, while the portfolio is given

by the teacher once a week as a tool to monitor the learning progress of the

students. Although they are freshman in SMP level, they already have a lot of

experiences in doing an assessment.

Data Collection Instrument

The researcher will use one instrument to collect the data. The data will be

collected by using questionnaires which was distributed to 30 students of first

grade of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga. The first two questions on the questionnaire are

close ended with provided 9 options in the form of responses about the strengths

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students’ own opinion on traditional tests and portfolio. The third question is used

to strengthen the students’ opinion. According to Djaali and Muljono (2007) the

likert scale was used to measure the attitudes, opinions and perceptions of a

person or group about a symptom or educational phenomenon. There are two

forms of responses used in the likert scale, positive questions to gauge the positive

attitude and negative questions to measure the negative attitude. Likert scale

answers form is strongly agree, agree, doubt, disagree, and strongly disagree. In

this study, the researcher provided a score for each answer in the questionnaire

appropriate reference in likert scale. For the options on questionnaire number 1

and 2, strongly disagree have a value of 1, disagree has a value 2, agree got the

value 3 and strongly agree received 4.

Data Collection Procedure

The data for this study were collected using a questionnaire. Before the

participants fill the data, firstly the researcher explained to the participants about

the definition of traditional tests and portfolio used in this study and gave the

example of each. After that, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to the

whole class and gave them a few minutes to fill in. The completed questionnaires

were collected on the same day.

Data Analysis Procedure

After getting the data from the questionnaires, the researcher began to fill

this table. The table below was used to help organize the data. The researcher

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Here is an explanation of Table 1:

- One big table above is divided into two small tables which are

traditional tests table and portfolio table.

- Line Q1 to Q10 is options 1 to options 10 in question Number 1

and 2 on the questionnaire.

- Columns P1 until P30 are the number of participants.

- AVE column is the number of averages of each participant.

- The SCR row is the sum of the total score of each option on the

questionnaire.

- T. AV column is the total average of the answer of each

participant. T.AV column is used to look at the total response of

participants towards the traditional tests and portfolio.

- RANK row is a line used to view the high score of every option

on the questionnaire. This row could not be separated by SCR row.

RANK row used as a reference to the most options, see as a form of

participants’ responses. This RANK row is described as the final

theme to the results of research.

After creating the table, the researcher began to give a score for each

option in the questionnaire and enter the scores in the score table and calculated

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all average and total score by using the row RANK researchers find the most

options for selected students. These options will later become the theme for the

final results of this research. While others options are explained through a pie with

a percentage of the model diagram. There are 7 other options described as

perceptions of students on traditional tests and portfolios.

The Findings

This section presents the finding of the research. It shows the results of the

data analyses obtained from the questionnaires conducted in SMP Negeri 2

Salatiga. The analyses were explained in terms of qualitative data and were used

to answer the research questions: what are the students’ perceptions towards the

use of traditional tests and portfolio in English class.

Traditional Tests

The perceptions of first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga towards

traditional tests are that they like them with the total average point of whole class

3,0 point. From 30 students, there are 14 students who did not like traditional tests

and 16 students who liked traditional tests. The students’ reasons of why they

liked traditional tests are presented below:

- Traditional tests are easier to understand.

This perception has 96 points from the overall score 120 points for each

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overall students who liked the traditional tests. As Hughes (2003) said those

traditional tests only focus on one right answer. Therefore, for students it will be

easy to understand the questions in traditional tests because they only required to

focuse on one right answer. They did not have to understand much about the

command to do many things in the questions. The students prefer a lot of

questions with only one right answer rather than doing a lot of work or

assignment. They prefer focusing on one of the correct answers better rather than

working on a lot of things.

- Traditional tests are more structured.

This perception has 94 points from the overall score 120 points for each

response in the questionnaire. According to Burnaz (2011) the most widely used

types of traditional assessment are multiple choice tests, true-false tests, matching

tests, fill-in-the-blank tests, short answers and essays. In the traditional tests

normally there will be round 40-60 multiple choice questions with five options (A

– E) and then continued with a mini essay of about 5-10 questions. This structured

test model is preferred by students. This is what makes the students like traditional

tests.

- There was a remediation for traditional tests.

This perception has 92 points of the overall score 120 points for each option

in the questionnaire. According to Hughes (2003) the essential point of learning

assessment is remediation or improvement which is included in the traditional

assessment. They argue that educators must prepare a remediation or

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19 11%

89% 0% 0%

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

been able to understand and develop. The Model of remediation or improvements

is freely adjusted by teacher as mentioned by student 4, 10, 14, and 20 below:

"There is a remediation for traditional test and it is more comfortable because it is up to the teacher, sometimes just repeated the wrong answer or work on other questions but fewer and easier. So, the remediation is same as the traditional test model but shorter. "

From the several perceptions above, it can be concluded that the first grade

students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga like traditional tests with some strong

perceptions which are traditional tests do not have many instruction that it was

easier for them to understand the questions, then traditional tests are structured or

patterned, and the last there is remidiation for traditional tests which is more

comfortable and shorter. The complete data can be seen in the table 2 (see

APENDIX 2).

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20 13%

67% 20%

0%

From figure 1, it can be seen that from 30 students 89% agree with the

traditional tests, while 11% strongly agree with the traditional tests. This indicates

that the traditional test was favored by first grade students of SMP Negeri 2

Salatiga.

- Others students’ perception about traditional tests.

The overall perceptions regarding the results of the traditional tests can be

viewed from the diagram below.

Figure 2. Traditional Tests Are More Efficient

From figure 2 it can be seen that from 30 students, 67% agree that

traditional tests are more efficient in time and 13% of students strongly agree that

traditional tests are eficient in time. Whereas 20% of students do not agree with

this perception. It can be concluded that over half of the students agree that the

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21 10%

70% 20% 0%

27%

52% 21%

0%

Figure 3. Traditional Tests Based on Memorization

traditional tests are done based on memorization such as formulas or material

given by the teacher and 10% of students strongly agree that the traditional tests

are done based on memorization. 20% of students do not agree with this

perception. It can be concluded over half of the students agree that the traditional

tests based on memorization.

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22 10%

60% 30%

0%

From figure 4 it can be seen that from 30students, 52% agree that

traditional tests are more effective to measure learning ability of the students.

While 27% of students strongly agree with this perception and 10% of students do

not agree. From the results of figure 4, over half of the students agreed that the

traditional tests is more effective to measure learning ability of the students.

Figure 5. More Comfortable working on Traditional Tests.

From figure 5 it can be seen that from 30 students, 60% agree that when

working on traditional tests they feel more comfortable and 10% of students

strongly agree with this perception. While 30% of students do not agree with this

perceptio. From figure 5 above, it can be concluded that over half of students

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23 14%

72% 10%

4%

20%

53% 20%

7%

Figure 6. Traditioal Tests Become Standardized in education.

From figure 6 it can be seen that from 30students, 72% agree that

traditional tests have become standards in education. Whereas 14% of students

strongly agree with this perception and 10% of students do not agree. 4% of

students strongly disagree. From the results of figure 6 above over half of the

entire students already stepped that traditional tests have become the

standardization in education.

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traditional tests cheaper and save on costs. While 20% of students strongly agree

with this perception and 20% of students do not agree. 7% of students strongly

disagree.

In line with Hughes (2003) said those traditional tests only focus on one

right answer and the essential point of learning assessment is remediation or

improvement which is included in the traditional assessment, this study also

reveal that it will be easy to student to understand the questions in traditional tests

because they only required to focuse on one right answer. Not only for the

students but also for the educators, they must prepare a remediation or

improvements to their students so that students know what material they have not

been able to understand and develop.

Portfolio

The perceptions of first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga towards

portfolio is that they liked it with the total average point of whole class 3,1 points.

From 30 students, there are 12 students who didn’t like portfolio and 18 students

who liked portfolio. The first grade students in SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga like

portfolio because of the following reasons:

- Portfolio sharpens creativity in learning.

This perception has 103 points score from the overall score 120 points for

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perceptions of overall students who like portfolio. Shimo (2005), Hamp-Lyons

and Condon (2000) list the following benefits for portfolios: They explain one of

the benefits is that learners can make their original products and they can feel a

sense of achievement. This theory reinforces the students' opinions regarding the

portfolio. The first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga felt free to work

creatively to make their learning result. They were also satisfied when they

successfully reached their target in working portfolio. The theory and perceptions

of first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga were very suitable to the

conditions where students and teachers have to implement the curriculum in 2013.

Students are required to be free to do their assignment, purely the result of their

personal effort, as already mentioned in the 2013 curriculum in the aspects of the

skill.

- Portfolio adds activeness and independence in learning.

This perception has 100 points score of the overall score of 120 points for

each option in the questionnaire. The portfolio as a purposeful collection of

students’ work, not only displays students’ effort, progress, and achievement, but

also demonstrates students’ participation in selecting contents and selecting the

criteria for assessment (Wang & Liao 2008). They emphasized that portfolio

could demonstrate students’ participation in selecting contents and selecting the

criteria for assessment. The first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga should

be active and independent in learning. Aspects of skill in the curriculum in 2013

give remarkable influence in the students' learning methods. With this curriculum

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tasks. They should be active in selecting content for portfolio assignments and

other tasks. This kind of model will give burden to some students who are less

active. The perception of first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga was very

clear that doing portfolio helps them to be more independent in learning. This is

also strengthened by the role of teachers in curriculum 2013 who should be a

facilitator of their learning.

- Portfolio adds responsibility in learning.

This perception has 97 points of the overall score of 120 points for each

option in the questionnaire. Shimo (2005), Hamp-Lyons and Condon (2000)

explained that by doing portfolio, learners are able to take control over their

learning and feel more responsible; as mentioned by student 5 ,7 ,8 and 28 below:

“by working on a portfolio they felt more responsible in their learning process. They realized their failure after getting feedback from the teacher or classmates. From the failure they felt that they should be more responsible for fixing their failures or weaknesses. They were responsible for installing a new target in learning and to understand the material or at least to understand the new methods of learning. Through the portfolio they were responsible for themselves in their own learning process.”

From the several perceptions above, it can be summarized that the first

grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga liked portfolio because of some strong

perceptions. They think that through portfolio students’ creativity is more honed

in the learning process and portfolio added activeness and independence in

learning by preparing materials and performing jobs or performing some other

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their learning process. The complete data can be seen in the table 2 (see

APENDIX 2).

Figure 8. Overall Student’s Perception Towards Portfolio

From Figure 8, it can be seen that from 30 students 57% agree with

portfolio, while 14% strongly agree with portfolio. 25% disagree with portfolio

and 4% strongly disagree with portfolio. This indicates that portfolio favored by

first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga although not all students.

- Others students’ perception about Portfolio.

The overall perceptions regarding the results of the portfolio can be

viewed from the diagram below.

Figure 9. Learning Development can be Know by Portfolio

14%

57% 25%

4%

10%

80% 10% 0%

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28 20%

63% 17%

0%

From Figure 9 it can be seen that from 30 students, 80% agree that by

doing portfolio students can know their learning development and 10% of students

strongly agree whereas 10% of students do not agree with this perception. It can

be concluded that most of the students agree that by doing portfolio students can

know their learning development.

Figure 10. Portfolio as an Indicator of the Learning Achievement and

Development.

From figure 10 it can be seen that from 30 students, 63% agree that portfolio

as an indicator of the learning achievement and development. While 20% of

students strongly agree with this perception and 17% of students disagree that

portfolio as an indicator of the learning achievement and development. It can be

concluded that over half of the students agree that portfolio as an indicator of the

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29 23%

57% 20%

0%

36%

47% 17%

0%

Figure 11. Portfolio to Determine the Learning Target

portfolio is used to determine the learning target. While 23% of students strongly

agree with this perception and 20% of students do not agree. From the results of

the figure 11, over half of the students agree that portfolio is use to determine the

learning target.

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30 40%

40% 20%

0%

as an indicator failure and repair. While 36% of students strongly agree with this

perception and 17% of students disagree. From figure 12 above, it can be

concluded that over all of the students think that portfolio as an indicator failure

and repair.

Figure 13. Portfolio to Determine Strengths and Weaknessess in Learning

is use to determine strengths and weaknessess in learning. Whereas 40% of the

students strongly agree with this perception and 20% of students do not agree.

From the results of figure 13 above over half of the entire students have the same

perceptions that portfolio is used to determine strengths and weaknessess in

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31

31%

52% 14%

3%

Figure 14. Portfolio Improve Relation Between Students and Teachers in the

Learning Process

portfolio improves relation between students and teachers in the learning process.

While 31% of students strongly agree with this perception and 14% of students do

not agree. 3% of students strongly disagree.

In line with Shimo (2005), Hamp-Lyons and Condon (2000) list the

following benefits for portfolios: They explain one of the benefits is that learners

can make their original products and they can feel a sense of achievement and by

doing portfolio, learners are able to take control over their learning and feel more

responsible. This study also reveal that the first grade students of SMP Negeri 2

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32 Conclusion

This study answered the research question; what are the students’

perception towards the use of traditional tests and portfolio in English class on

first grade of SMP 2 Negeri Salatiga. The limitation on this study is only valid in

SMP Negeri 2 on 2014/2015 school year for first grade students because not all

class aims to apply the 2013 curriculum. This study revealed that these two tools

of assessment are liked by first grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga for some

reasons. The students had different perceptions toward these two assessment tools.

They liked traditional tests because in traditional tests there were not many

commands, the assignment was structured or patterned, and there were

remediation tests for improvement. While their perceptions towards liking the

portfolio is that through a portfolio students’ creativity is more honed in learning,

portfolio adds activeness and independence in students learning, and through a

portfolio, students are more responsible in their learning process. Hopefully this

study gives the state school teacher, ideas related to the assessment to give to the

students by considering the student learning progress especially in the 2013

curriculum. Considerably more work will need to be done to determine students’

perception in another scope in language learning. Teacher’ perception is also

important to research. The continued development of the curriculum makes

students and teachers open their mind to give their opinion that should be studied

in the context of learning. Any suggestion could be a reference to create a new

method that is effective in responding to the development of the curriculum from

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33

The Acknowledgment

First and above all, I would like to express my gratitude to my God and my

savior Jesus Christ, for being my strength during the writing of my thesis. Thank

you for Your love and Your power that are given to me. I am using this

opportunity too to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Ibu Martha

Nandari, M.A for the continuous support of my research. Thank you for your

patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and the guidance helped me in all the time of

research and writing of this thesis. Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank to

my thesis examiner Ibu Victoria Usadya Palupi, M.A ELT for the encouragement

and the necessary criticism.This thesis cannot be completed without her advice. I

also sincerely thank to first grade students 7B Class, the headmaster and the

teachers of SMP Negeri 2 Salatiga. It would not have been possible without the

cooperation and kind support from them. I express my warm thanks to the

families of Bp. Pdt. Yohanes Purnomo and Bp. Eri Budi Lastono. Thanks for your

support, love, and your guidence in completing the thesis. Special thank to Ervina

Kumalasari, finally I paid my promise to you so thanks for your care, help, and

time that you have given to me. Also I thank to Theodorus Miraji, Daniel Wahyu

Nugroho, all of mentor and staff in PPA Efrata IO-801 Salatiga, all of family in

LDP Comppasion Indonesia, Baptist Youth and the congregation of Gereja Baptis

Indonesia Salatiga, and all of you guys Niners 2009. Last but not the least; I

would like to thank my family: Joko Supryono, Martha Maryatun, Kurnia

Widiasputri and Lelono Aji Widiasputra for supporting me spiritually throughout

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34

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37 APPENDIX 1

(The Questionnaire)

Yang terkasih teman – teman semua,

Saya adalah mahasiswa UKSW Fakultas Bahasa dan Sastra Progdi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris yang sedang mengadakan penelitian guna menyelesaikan program sarjana. Penelitian saya tentang persepsi siswa terhadap penggunaan test tradisional dan portfolio dalam kelas bahasa Inggris, dengan pertayaan masalah; apa persepsi siswa terhadap penggunaan test traditional dan portfolio di kelas bahasa Inggris? Test traditional adalah test tertulis meliputi (test akhir semester, test tengah semester ataupun ulangan harian) sedang Portfolio adalah kumpulan tugas (membuat cerita, percakapan, essay, laporan laporan, dll) yang disatukan. Isilah angket ini dengan jujur sesuai dengan persepsi anda dengan memberi tanda √ pada kolom yang tersedia.

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38 h. Lebih murah tidak

banyak biaya.

h. Menambah keaktifan dan kemandirian dalam belajar.

i.Ada remidiasi atau perbaikan.

i.Meningkatkan relasi siswa dan guru dalam proses belajar mengajar.

3. Tuliskanlah alasan anda yang lain dibawah ini mengenai tradisional tests dan portfolio

Traditional test :

...

Portfolio :

...

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