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AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ RETICENCE BEHAVIOR IN CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
(A Study at the eleventh grade students of Senior High School 5 Padang) Tria Vani Aris *)
English Department, STKIP PGRI SUMBAR, [email protected] Dona Alicia**)
M. Khairi Ikhsan **)
ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menemukan informasi tentang apa saja faktor yang menyebabkan sikap diam siswa di kelas melalui interview yang di lakukan dengan siswa. Jenis dari penelitian ini adalah qualitative method. Populasi dari penelitian ini adalah siswa SMA Negeri 5 Padang kelas XI tahun akademik 2015/2016. Sedangkan yang menjadi sampel adalah siswa kelas XI IPS 1 dan XI IPS 2 yang diambil dengan menggunakan cluster purposive sampling yang berjumlah 10 siswa. Pengambilan sampel dari setiap kelas rata-rata terdiri dari lima siswa. Dalam pengambilan data, peneliti melakukan observation checklist untuk melihat siswa yang memiliki sikap diam di kelas dan melakukan interview dengan siswa. Observation checklist terdiri dari 25 items dan pada interview terdiri dari 4 pertanyaan secara unstructured. Berdasarkan interview peneliti menemukan bahwa factor penyebab siswa diam di kelas adalah lack of motivation in learning English well, lack of required language proficiency, introvert personality, and uninteresting teaching content.
Key words: Reticence, Behavior, Classroom activity
*) Researcher
**) Advisors INTRODUCTION
Classroom activity is a main part in the teaching learning process because all of the study activities are occurred. Teaching and learning are actions which are needed to accomplish a goal in education. Then, learning is an important form of personal adaptation. It is an active not a passive process. Meanwhile, teaching is a process that facilitates learning. In the process of teaching learning the students have to achieve four skills when the classroom activity is occurred. Such as, listening, reading, speaking, and writing. All of skills are related one and others. In classroom activity, the students take responsibility for their own learning. They are actively engaged in their learning, pay attention to the lesson, and then apply language learning. In addition, there are some categories of learning being successful which is communicating to their teacher and friends.
Communication is the way the students to know
their comprehension and to express their ability in giving feedback that needed in classroom activity. It is the most important part of the students for getting success in their learning activity. Overall, the students are active in classroom activity and are able to communicate, for examples: to respond, to give opinions, to answer the questions from the teachers directly, and also to give feedback to the teacher.
But in fact, half of students have reticence behaviors in classroom because the students were not able to learn actively in the class so that they just silence when the teaching learning was ongoing, sit down in the class, nothing to do, do not care about the lesson, do not give feedback to the teacher, and passive in class discussion. Meanwhile the researcher interests to investigate further about what the factors that causes students’ reticence behavior are in classroom activity. Based on the explanation above, the researcher found something that related with the students’ reticence behavior in classroom activity.
2 There are three problems that the researcher found in pre observation and pre interview of the research are: First, the students do not response the lesson. Second, they do not want to participate in giving opinion and feedback to the teacher. Third, they are only silence. Thus, the students do not learn progressively. Concerning with the identification of the problem above, there is a problem of students’
behavior when learning in classroom activities. In this research, the researcher only focused on analyzing the factors of students’ reticence behavior in classroom activity. Due to the explanation before, the researcher did formulate the research questions on how is students’ reticence behavior in classroom activity at the eleventh grade students in Senior High School 5 Padang in academic year 2014-2015 and what are factors that cause students’ reticence at the eleventh grade students in Senior High School 5 Padang in academic year 2014-2015. The purposes of this research are to know the students’ reticence behavior and to find some factors that cause students’ reticence in classroom activities.
RETICENCE
Reticence is a form of behavior of students who have less willing to participate in class.
Reticence refers to the behavior of a person’s personality who prefers silence than be actively involved so that they are more likely to be passive.
Students only follow the activities but they do not want to do an interaction to communicate the lesson.
According to Keaten and Liu (2009:8), reticence referred to the behavior that people avoid communication because they believe it is better to remain silent than to risk appearing foolish. It is clear that, it refers to people who have a tendency to avoid communication that is do not want to talk because they think that silence is the best way to reduce the risky to make a mistakes in communicating. Therefore, it makes people do not discuss anything because it is more likely to think about the impact that will be occurred.
In hence, the variety of students’ reticence in classroom activity depend on the types of how the reticence itself. Jackson and Liu (2009:67) state that, there are four types of students’ reticence behavior.
They are:
a. Psychological is the study of mental processes, behavior, and the relationship between them. The focus of psychology is generally on the individual, whether alone or in interaction with others and the environment. Psychology came from the basic of students’ personal itself. Psychological factor that causes of students’ reticence to communicate in English classroom interaction came from students themselves such as many students to be silent and speechless in classroom interaction. They are feeling anxiety and shyness. It makes the students did not have self confidence to communicate.
b. Linguistics is the linguistic factors causing students’ reticence to communicate are cover learners’ difficulties with the transfer of information from the mother tongue to the target language, with the native-speaker teachers’ pronunciation, and a lack of knowledge of grammatical patterns in English as well as cultural and social knowledge.
c. Culture is as one major factor contributing to student silence although this has been recently challenged. According to Caletcova in Nunan (1999:25), cultural factors that might cause learners’
reticence to communicate in a classroom activity related to learners’ prior learning experiences and expectations.
d. Social is contextual factors involve the variables that originate from outside of the student which is influenced by the environment around them. In the case of reticence, the environment will give impact to the students. In the case of students’ reticence behavior, the friends of their students give negative impact for them such as they follow anything that their friend did.
FACTOR OF RETICENCE
According to Xuehua and Meihua (2013:130), there are six causes of students’ reticence behavior, they are:
1. Previous learning experience is an essential tool that can be deployed in monitoring the students. The way of the students in learning process before will be affected the next learning process. The students who have habit not active in learning and they tend to be quiet when the learning process will remain inactive. They will not be active, if there is no effort to change the habit.
3 2. Lack of required language proficiency are
lack of knowledge in oral responses which is the students do not have ability in English so that it makes the students difficult to share ideas, to response, and giving feedback to the teacher.
3. Uninteresting teaching content are including to the lesson that will be taught by the teacher.
The lesson should be appropriate and should be interest to the students because it is the success form that has to be achieved in teaching learning process. Moreover, in the contrary most of students tend to be reticent because of the lesson that taught by the teacher is not interest so that the students are not focus to the lesson.
4. Anxiety of making mistakes is viewed to be detrimental to performance on learning tasks that require attention and deliberate effort and anxiety as a subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry. Thus, the students fear to make mistakes about something that they convey when they are talking with the teacher. A study conducted on foreign language anxiety has shown that anxiety might prevent language learners from achieving a higher level of proficiency in foreign languages and it is negatively related to foreign language learning.
5. Introvert personality involves to shyness which is a painful trait that can inhibit social interaction and the public demonstration of competencies. Students who are highly introverted or shy will find classroom activities and assignments requiring extroverting behaviors unpleasant and difficult.
6. Lack of motivation of learning English well is the students’ behavior and thinking are associated with motivation and motivated individual acts in a goal directed purposeful manner. Motivation is termed is the most influential factor in students’ learning.
Students’ motivation is primary driving force for long term process of learning. Motivation is often seen as the key students’ variable because without it, nothing much happens. It means the students’ will not success to learn English if there is no motivation.
RESEARCH METHOD
In this research, the researcher used descriptive research. The researcher chose descriptive research is to describe how students’
reticence behaviors in classroom activities of students’ grade XI at senior high school 5 Padang.
According to Yusuf (2007:83), descriptive research is to describe systematically, factual, and accurate about the facts and characteristics. First, the problem will be subject in the study is current issue or useful.
Second, descriptive research is described about phenomena accurately. It means that descriptive research just describe the phenomenon without giving treatment. Based on the statement above, it can be concluded that descriptive research is very appropriate to describe the phenomenon which happen in environment currently. Therefore, Sukmadinata (2010:72-73) explains that,
“descriptive research describes the phenomenon, event which happen in the environment.” It means that descriptive study can use to investigate the problem or issue of educational, social and others.
RESULT 1. Observation
a. Psychological
Based on the researcher’s observation in both of class, there is the researcher saw that the student. As bellow:
The students feel shyness and anxiety and also fear of losing face so that it made the students did not ask questions, share ideas, give opinion. During three times of observation, the student number one never gave response to the teacher such as ask and answer questions, share ideas and gave opinion to the teacher. In classroom, she was often feeling shy and feeling fear to communicate with the teacher. In addition, the researcher’s saw the student number four was feeling anxiety when she wanted to ask a question to the teacher. She was waiting her friend to asked it. Therefore, the student number eight was unwilling to communicate in classroom activity. She has not confident then it made her fear to communicate when she was learning in classroom activity. And also, the student number nine was shy in classroom activity because she chose to
4 communicate with her chair mate than to communicate with the teacher.
b. Linguistics
The researcher conducted the observation checklist to see how the students’ reticence in classroom activity is. The researcher saw that when the teacher asked question to the student number two, she cannot say the answer in English. Then, the student number six is like doubt to response the lesson which is giving feedback. It means, they would not able to convey their ideas to their full extension without a good command of the underlying grammar patterns and structures of the language.
c. Cultural
Based on observation of the researcher in both of class, the researcher found that teaching’s style in teaching and how the way teacher to deliver content of material. In the observation process, sometimes the teacher gave good material based on the students’
needs but sometimes it was not. And then, when the teaching learning process in classroom activity the teacher did not stimulate the students for every meeting.
Thus, it made the students did not want to participate in class. The researcher found that classroom environment did not support and give them motivation to do that. The researcher saw that the student number seven needed much time to answer the questions while the teacher only gave the short time.
Thus, the students preferred to be silent rather than to participate in the classroom orally. The students did not get interest of the teacher trait and embarrassing situation.
Additionally, the students was getting bored because of the teaching content of the teacher was not interesting. The researcher saw that the student number ten was always getting bored in classroom.
d. Social
In classroom activity, the students number three and five were busy to communicate with their friend. Moreover, the student number ten was silent in classroom activity which was nothing to do. He was influenced by his classmate that he did not care with the
lesson. For example, if their chair mate has reticence behavior do not like English subject, the students who associate with them, they will be influenced by their friend.
They more like to communicate with their friend that to the teacher.
Related to the first research question “How is students’ reticence behavior” in classroom activity at the eleventh grade students in Senior High School 5 Padang in academic year 2014-2015 was based on the finding state that based on the researcher’s interview with the students of both of classes are XI IPS 1 and XI IPS 2, the researcher found that there four factors that cause students’
reticence in classroom activity. They are introvert personality, Lack of Language Proficiency, Lack of Motivation in Learning English Well and Uninteresting Teaching Content.
1. Introvert Personality
Based on the researcher’s interview with the first student, he said that He preferred to be silent in the class because he felt shy to communicate in classroom activity such as ask the questions to the teacher. The second student said that he did not confident to communicate in class.
Furthermore, the third student revealed that she felt fear to communicate with the teacher. Besides that, she did not confident to participate in the class caused by her classmate. Then, the fourth student claimed to be that she felt shy and fear to ask to the teacher.
2. Lack of Language Proficiency
In addition, the sixth student did not like English and there was no interest to learn English. Then, she preferred to be silent in classroom activity because she did not know about English and did not know how to pronoun a word well. And also, based on the researcher’s interview with the seventh student, she said that she did not like English because it was difficult thing and too difficult to say anything in English.
5 3. Lack of Motivation in Learning English
Well
Then, the other causes that found of the researcher by interview were the eighth only like English to little bit because he lack of motivation. Moreover, in classroom activity, he preferred to be silent because the classroom environment was noisy.
4. Uninteresting Teaching Content
The last, the ninth student said that he did not understand about English. Sometimes he understood but sometimes he could not understand. Therefore, the lesson that had given by teacher was not interesting.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
Based on findings, there are several conclusion could be derived. The first is from how the students’ reticence is. The second is from what the factors that cause students’ reticence are. The students feel shyness, anxiety, and do not confident because they felt a bit nervous and shy if they were asking, answering, giving feedback, and responding around their friends in class, anxiety which are the students felt afraid and panic because the fear of making mistakes. Sometimes the teacher gave good material based on the students’ needs but sometimes it was not. Classroom environment did not support and give them motivation to the students. The students fear of teacher’s trait because the teacher only gave short wait-time to the students to think.
The students like communicate with friends when the students feel bored in class and the students were following their classmate to be passive in classroom.
The students have incorrect of pronunciation which is the students did not know how to pronounce a certain word well. And then, the students could not find word or structure to express their opinion.
Thus, they got difficult to construct any sentences to transfer some information. In the sense, the students were getting bored to study because of their friends that disturb them. This case is caused by the situation and condition in classroom was noisy.
However, the students like communicate with friends when the students feel bored in class and the students were following their classmate to be passive in classroom. The inquiry on students of
target class showed that there are four causes of the students’ reticence. Those are lack of motivation of learning English well, lack of required language proficiency, uninteresting teaching content, and introvert personality.
According to the result of interview with ten students, it is show that the students tend to be reticence caused by several reason. It is found that the students have less interest toward English because they said that English is too difficult subject. This is supported by the fact that they think they could not understand when the teacher gave the explanation about the material because they could not get interest in learn the lesson. Then, the students less of language proficiency which is means that they have less prior knowledge of English. Thus, they got difficult to say about English. In addition, they less confident which is shy to communicate around their classmate in the class. Finally, the students become reticence was also caused by feeling guilty when they performed wrong pronunciation of English. Therefore, this research conducted in descriptive study which designed in observation and interview analysis. The sources of data in this research were observation checklist and the recording of interview with the eleventh grade students. In collecting the data, the researcher used observation checklist and interview of existing data. The researcher took the data from interview to know the factors that cause of students’
reticence in classroom activity. Moreover, the researcher analyzed the data from the researcher’s interview with the students. There were ten students and it conducted with the unstructured interview.
Furthermore, the researcher organized the recording of interview of each student. It can be seen the factors that causes them to be reticence in classroom activity. The relevancy was based on the several factors of indicator. Then, from the factors of students’ reticence, the researcher made interpretation about the factor that causes students reticence at eleventh grade students in senior high school 5 Padang.
As the problem solving to this reticence causes, the researcher provide the following suggestion such as the teacher should use appropriate learning material related to the students study program in order to attract attention and
6 develop students’ interest in learning English, teacher should give motivation to the students in pre- activity or before teacher convey the learning material to improve comprehension for the students in order to change their mindset about learning English, the teacher should be more creative in teaching for example by using multimedia in order to build dynamic language learning situation, the frequency in using teaching media should be added in order to stimulate the learning process be better, the teacher should give more attention and effort to help students without rushing them to accomplish learning target. In this case the teacher should tend to practice process learning orientation than product learning orientation. Shortly, the teachers must have the best strategy in guide all of students in the class to be like English and to make them to be more active in learning activity. Thus, all of the students can be brave to communicate and participate in the classroom activity.
REFERENCES
Liu, Meihua. 2009. Reticence and Anxiety in Oral English Lesson. Switzerland: International Academy Publisher
Sukmadinata, Syaodih, Nana. 2010. Metode Penelitian Pendidikan. Bandung: PT Remaja Rosdakarya
Xuehua, Wang, & Meihua, Chen. 2013.
International Conference on the Modern Development of Humanities and Social Science. Nanjing: Southeast University
Yusuf, Muri. A. 2007. Metodologi Penelitian.
Padang: Padang State Universitas
