STUDENTS' PERCEPTION ON THE USE OF TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING STRATEGY IN TEACHING WRITING FOR THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF THE SMA ISLAM AL-MA'ARIF PANDAN INDAH IN
THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021
by Yulianingsih NIM. 170107078
STUDY PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF MATARAM MATARAM
2021
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION IN USING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING STRATEGY IN TEACHING WRITING FOR THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF THE SMA ISLAM AL-MA’ARIF
PANDAN INDAH IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021 Thesis
Presented as partial requirements at State Islamic University of Mataram for the attainment of the Sarjana Degree in English Education Department
by Yulianingsih NIM. 170107078
STUDY PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF MATARAM MATARAM
2021
MOTTO
اًر ْسي ر ْسع لٱ عم َنإف ْ اًر ْسي ر ْسع لٱ عم َنإ ْ
1
So, verily with every difficulty, there is relief:
Verily, with every difficulty, there is a relief.
(QS. AL- Insyirah: 5-6)
1 QS al-Insyirah [94]: 5-6.
DEDICATION
“I dedicate this thesis to my beloved father Takap, my mother Ikam, my sister Sariati, brother Husen Azhari, my niece Sofia Azhari and all my families. Also, my best friends Siti Mariyam, Nurayuni, Asma’ul Husna, Walbaitil Makmur, Siti Umi, and Nur’aini, my classmates B class especially Diana Wahyu, Dian Ayu, and Putri Sani, my almamater and my lecturers”.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillah, all praises be to Allah SWT. The most merciful God has been giving me his blessings and his help so the researcher can finish her sarjana thesis as one of the partial requirements for achieving the undergraduate Degree of English Language Program.
The researcher realizes that it would be impossible for her when the process of the study until she finishes her study without many contributions, support, and help from others. The researcher would like to express her deep gratitude and appreciation to the following:
1.
Dr. H. Pauzan, M. Hum., M.Pd as the advisor I and Mr. Najamuddin S.Pd., M.Hum as the advisor II who have kindly given the time, guidance, correction, motivation, and suggestion in completing the thesis
2. , as the examiners who have given
suggestions to help the researcher completes her thesis
3. Dr. Syarifudin, M.Pd, as the Head of English Language Program
4. Dr. Hj. Lubna, M.Pd the Dean faculty of Education and Teacher Training, the State Islamic University of Mataram for giving permission and approving to carry out the sarjana thesis
5. Prof Dr. H. Mutawalli, M.Ag, the Rector of the State Islamic University of Mataram for giving researcher permission.
6. Murzal, M.Ag, as the Secretary of English Language Program.
7.
All lecturers of the English Language Program who have shared knowledge and experiences.8.
The researcher’s beloved parents, brother, and sisters always give endless love, pray, support, and always remind the researcher to keep going and never give up.9.
The researcher’s precious friends for their motivation, support, aid, and prayer.10.
The researcher’s friends in B class of the English Language Program for their support and prayers.11.
Everyone who has helped the researcher conducts the research and writes the thesis.The researcher realizes that this thesis is still far from being perfect.
Therefore, the researcher accepts gratefully every criticism, comment, and suggestion from those who concern with this thesis. The researcher also hopes that this thesis will be useful and able to give a contribution to the improvement of English teaching and learning, and it can be useful for readers especially for who are interested in a similar study.
Mataram, 2020 Researcher,
Yulianingsih
TABLE OF CONTENT
COVER ... i
TITLE PAGE ... ii
APPROVAL ... iii
ADVISORS’ OFFICIAL NOTE ... iv
STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY ... v
RATIFICATION ... vi
MOTTO ... vii
DEDICATION ... viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ... ix
TABLE OF CONTENT ... xi
LIST OF TABLE ... xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES ... xv
ABSTRACT ... xvi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Background of Research ... 1
B. The Statement of Problem ... 7
C. Objectives and Significances of Research ... 7
D. Scope of the Research ... 8
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 10
A. Review of Literature ... 10
B. Theoretical Bases ... 14
1. Review on Perception ... 14
a. Definition of Perception ... 14
b. Process of Perception ... 15
c. The Two Dimensions of Perception ... 18
2. Review on Writing ... 20
a. Definition of Writing ... 20
b. Genres of writing ... 21
c. The Reasons for Teaching writing ... 22
d. The Purposes of Writing ... 24
e. Correction for Writing ... 20
f. Types of Classroom Writing Performance ... 27
3. Review of Task-Based Language Teaching Strategy ... 29
a. Definition of Task-Based Language Teaching Strategy ... 29
b. The Principles of Task-Based Language Teaching Strategy ... 30
c. Task Types in Task-Based Language Teaching Strategy ... 33
d. Assesing Task-Based Language Teaching Strategy ... 34
e. Techniques for Collecting Assessment Data ... 35
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ... 38
A. Approach and Type of Research ... 38
B. Presence of Researcher ... 38
C. Setting of Research ... 39
D. Source of Data ... 40
E. Procedure of Data Collection ... 41
F. Technique of Data Analysis ... 43
G. Trustworthiness ... 45
CHAPTER IV FINDING ... 47
A. Finding of the Questionnaire ... 47
B. Finding of the Interview ... 61
CHAPTER V DISCUSSION ... 68
A. Discussion of the Questionnaire ... 68
B. Discussion of the Interview... 71
CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ... 73
A. Conclusion ... 73
B. Suggestions ... 74
REFERENCES ... 76
APPENDIXES ... 79 CURICCULUM VITAE ... 1
List of Tables
Table 4.1 Questionnaires’ result of the students’ perception on the use of task-based language teaching in teaching writing, 48
List of Appendices Appendix 1: Lesson Plan, 74
Appendix 2: The Questionnaire, 83
Appendix 3: The Questionnaires’ result, 90 Appendix 4: Interview Guidance, 97 Appendix 5: Interview Transcript, 98 Appendix 6: Documentation, 103 Appendix 7: Kartu Konsultasi
Appendix 8: Surat Rekomendasi Penelitian
ABSTRACT
This research was conducted to know the students’ perception of the use of task- based language teaching strategy in teaching writing. The success of teaching and learning in writing is influenced by the students' perception. If the students have good perceptions of the task-based language teaching strategy, it means that task-based language teaching could be used as one of the teaching strategy in the writing class. The method of this research is a descriptive qualitative. To find out the students’
perceptions, the researcher used the questionnaire and interview as the instrument to collect the data. The researcher conducted this research at the SMA Islam Al-Ma’arif Pandan Indah at the eleventh-grade students.. The data obtained from the questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire was delivered to fifteen students. It is used to get information about their perceptions of the method in teaching writing. While the interview was delivered to five students to get the data about the ways the teacher teaches the students using task-based language teaching strategy. The results of the questionnaire and interview showed that most students had positive perceptions of the task-based language teaching. They said task-based language teaching helped them to increase their writing skill. This method motivated and facilitated them in learning writing, whether in the classroom and at their house. It prove that task-based language teaching is a suitable teaching strategy to use in writing class.
Keywords: task-based language teaching, students’ perception, writing class
ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui persepsi siswa tentang penggunaan strategi pengajaran bahasa berbasis tugas dalam pengajaran menulis. Keberhasilan pembelajaran menulis dipengaruhi oleh persepsi siswa. Jika siswa memiliki persepsi yang baik terhadap strategi pembelajaran bahasa berbasis tugas, maka pembelajaran bahasa berbasis tugas dapat digunakan sebagai salah satu media pembelajaran di kelas menulis. Metode penelitian ini adalah pendekatan kualitatif. Untuk mengetahui persepsi siswa, peneliti menggunakan angket dan wawancara sebagai instrumen pengumpulan data. Peneliti melakukan penelitian ini di SMA Islam Al-Ma'arif Pandan Indah dengan peserta didik kelas sebelas. Data diperoleh dari kuesioner dan wawancara. Kuesioner dibagikan kepada enam belas siswa. Ini digunakan untuk mendapatkan informasi tentang persepsi mereka terhadap metode dalam mengajar menulis. Sedangkan wawancara disampaikan kepada lima siswa untuk mendapatkan data tentang cara guru mengajar siswa menggunakan strategi pengajaran bahasa berbasis tugas. Hasil angket dan wawancara menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar siswa memiliki persepsi positif terhadap pengajaran bahasa berbasis tugas. Mereka mengatakan pengajaran bahasa berbasis tugas membantu mereka meningkatkan keterampilan menulis. Metode ini memotivasi dan memfasilitasi mereka dalam belajar menulis, baik di kelas maupun di rumah. Jadi, dapat disimpulkan bahwa pengajaran bahasa berbasis tugas adalah metode yang cocok untuk digunakan dalam kelas menulis.
Keywords: task-based language teaching, students’ perception, writing class
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background oF Research
Teaching and learning for English are needed for all people in the world, specifically for students. According to Broughton, Brumfit, Flavell, Hill, and Pincas, of the 4,000 to 5,000 living languages, English is by far the most widely used2. Therefore, geographically English is divided into two kinds, English as the mother tongue (MT), as in the USA and Australia, and English as the Second language (SL), where English is the language of advertisement, administration, and educational institutional3. On other hand, in the rest of the world, English is used as a foreign language (EFL), which is taught in school and does not play an essential role in national and social life, for example in Indonesia. However, teaching English as a foreign language is to make students gained wide knowledge. Also, in Indonesia, English is one of the graduate provision.
Basically, the skills of English consist of four, one of them is Writing.
Writing is a skill where the students can express their ideas about something. According to Brown, writing is a written product of thinking, drafting, and revising procedures that require specialized skills.4 Writing is one of the bases for students' success in English language teaching and learning because it assists students to improve their vocabularies. It also helps them to
2 Geoffrey Broughton, Christopher Brumfit, Roger Flavell, Peter Hill, & Anita Pincas, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1978), the second edition, p. 1.
3 Ibid., p. 4.
4 H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principles: an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, (London: Pearson ESL, 2001), second edition, p. 335.
study an accurate language. According to Harmer, there is some importance of writing, such as writing encourages students to focus on accurate language use because they think as they write, it may provoke well development as they resolve problems which writing puts in their mind, writing is often used as a means of reinforcing language that has been thought, writing is frequently useful as preparation for some other activities, writing can be used as an integral part of a larger activity where the focus is on something else, such as language practice, acting out, or speaking, and writing is also used in questionnaire-type of activities5.
Harmer said the reasons for teaching writing to students of English as a foreign language include reinforcement, language development, learning style, and most importantly, writing as a skill in its own right6. On the other hand, in Islam, there are so many hadiths that explain the benefits of writing. Amir al- Mu'minin Ali (a.s) report that Rasulullah Shallallaahu'alaihi Wa Sallam said,
“to write this knowledge from which you will benefit in this world and also in the hereafter”7. Also, Abu Hurairah Radhiallahu'anha said, “no one is better informed than me about the prophet ahadith except Abdullah Ibnu Umar because
5Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach Writing, (London: Pearson ESL, 2004), p. 31-33.
6 Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English: an Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching, (London: London Longman, 2000), p. 79.
7Al Islam, Hadist Tentang Pentingnya Menulis, in https://www.al-islam.org, accessed on April 06, 2020.
he would write with his hand and memorize with his mind, whereas I would only memorize and would not write” (HR. Bukhari no. 113)8.
On other hand, the type of teaching writing is different between one student and the others. For example, the type of teaching writing of narrative text in senior high school will be different for University students. Also, the teaching of English writing materials for English education department students will be different from the Arabic education department. It is based on what Harmer said, like many other aspects of English language teaching, the type of writing we get students to do will depend on their age, interest, and leve9. On the other hand, students often regard writing as a difficult skill in language learning.
Byrne explained three aspects that make writing is difficult which cited by Zhuang Xin. Firstly, writing itself is a solitary activity without interaction or feedback but depends solely on the writer himself. Secondly, during the process of producing, a writer needs to make the effort to bridge the gap and to realize the possibility of communication. The last is writers have to present themselves to the unknown readers by effective the instruction10. So, English teachers, especially teaching in writing should understand the type of writing which must be given to the students.
8 Ibid .
9 Jeremy Harmer, How..., p. 80
10 Zhuang Xin, "Reflective Thinking on Communicative Teaching in Writing", US-China Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 5, May 2007, p. 19.
Based on the preliminary research was done by the researcher at the SMA Islam Al-Ma'arif Pandan Indah particularly in the second grade, writing is the skill that is taught in this school. Also, it becomes one of the students' competence measurement in English class. So, the teacher tries to use the best method to increase students' ability in writing. The eleventh-grade students were taught writing skills through the task-based language teaching strategy, that expected to enhance students' ability in writing. The teacher is starting to use this teaching strategy in the school year 2019/2020 till now.
Task-based language teaching is one of the methods in language teaching. Acording to Richard & Rodgers, TBLT refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching.
This method gives ease for students and the teacher because the teacher chooses the tasks to give for students are based on what students need11. Before giving the task, the teacher analyses the students' abilities level. Students should give a language learning facility by the teacher with various tasks that make students successful. So, the teacher has to monitor the students' achievement and interferes as needed. Therefore, it is an effective method for teaching writing.
Furthermore, Khairoh explained, task-based language teaching is an effective method in teaching writing because students can be enjoyed and fun in writing
11Jack C. Richards, & Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) 2nd edition, p. 223.
class, students can be active, and the classroom atmosphere can be more pleasant12.
Ellis stated that tasks in TBLT are divided into 4, such as unfocused task, focused task, input-providing task, and output-prompting task, this statement was cited by Freeman and Anderson13. Firstly, unfocused task, which is a task designed to provide learners with opportunities for communicating generally.
Students use their own resources of language to complete the task. Secondly, a focused task provides opportunities for communicating using some specific linguistic items, typically a grammar structure. Next, input providing task is engaging students with the receptive skills of listening and reading. For example, the students listen or read and do the task. The last is the output- prompting task. It stimulates the students to speak or write significantly. For example, one student shares or presents the materials, so other members of a group could finish the task.
The reason why the researcher takes the students' perception of the method in teaching writing to be studied because the success of teaching and learning in writing is influenced by the students' perception. Perception is important for both students and teachers because it influences the teaching and learning process. If the teachers know the students' perception of the teaching
12 Anisa Fadila Khairoh, "the Effectiveness of task-based Language teaching to Teach Writing an Experimental Research at First Grade of MAN 2 Boy-Lali in the Academic Year 2016/2017" (Skripsi, Islamic Education and Teacher Training Faculty, the State Islamic Institute of Surakarta, Surakarta, 2017), p. 69.
13Diane Larsen-Freeman & Marti Anderson, Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), third edition, p. 204.
strategy for teaching writing, they able to decide the appropriate teaching strategy. While, if the students understand their own perception, it will be easier to learn the materials in teaching writing. Moreover, they will know what they need and what teaching strategy is useful for them. Besides, if the students have positive perceptions of the teaching writing strategy which is given by the teachers, it can lead both teachers and students to attain good results in the process of teaching and learning. Inversely, if the students have negative perceptions, the teachers may change the teaching strategy to get the interests and attentions of the students. Positive or negative perceptions can be identified by knowing the responses of the students to the teaching method. If the students have a good perception, the students are motivated and interested to respond to the teaching technique used in class.
Based on the explanation above, the researcher would like to conduct a research under the title "Students’ Perception on the Use of Task-Based Language Teaching Strategy in Teaching Writing for the Eleventh Grade Students of the SMA Islam Al-Ma'arif Pandan Indah in the Academic Year 2020/2021"
B. The Statement of Problem
Stand on the background of the study above, the statement of this research is students' perception in using task-based language teaching in teaching writing by addressing the question "What is the students’ perception on
the use of task-based language teaching strategy in teaching writing for the eleventh-grade students of the SMA Islam Al-Ma’arif Pandan Indah?"
C. Objective and Significance of the Research
The objective of this research was to know students' perception on the use of task-based language teaching in teaching writing.
This study provides two significances, those are : 1. Theoretical Benefit
The result of this study is expected to give information for teachers or readers if the perspective or opinion of students for the method in language teaching and learning process is needed to get success in study. On the other hand, the researcher hopes it can be a reference for other researchers who have the same interest as the writer.
2. Practical Benefit
The researcher expects it can be the reference for readers or teachers to use the task-based language teaching (TBLT) method in English teaching and learning, special for writing. Moreover, it can be useful for students to increase their ability in writing.
D. Scope of the Research
The scopes of this research include students' perception in using task- based language teaching in teaching writing. Here, students' perception means the students' opinion about the use of Task-Based Language Teaching in teaching writing. TBLT is the method where the planning and session of teaching materials are based on doing a task. In this method, a lesson is designed for students to help them to complete tasks. For example, to write a text, to write an opinion, to plan a trip, and other tasks. It is closely related to the real needs of learners. So, it can be students highly motivating, and very useful for them.
In task-based language teaching, the teachers' roles are to choose tasks based on an analysis of students' need that appropriate to the level of students and to create pre-task and follow-up phases that are in line with the abilities and needs of students14. Also, teachers monitor students' performance and intervene as necessary. A pre-task phase typically begins a task sequence. During this phase, a teacher can introduce the students to the language they will need to complete the task. The tasks are meaningful and relevant so the students see the reason for doing the task and can see how the task relates to possible situations in their lives outside the classroom.
Students are actively engaged with the task, with the teacher monitoring their
14 Diane Larsen-Freeman & Marti Anderson, Techniques..., hlm. 200
performances and intervening when necessary. The task has clear outcomes, so both students and teachers can tell if the task has been completed15.
According to Nunan, one of the earliest curricular applications of TBLT to appear in the literature was the Bangalore project. In this project, three principal task types are used, such as information gap, reasoning gap, and opinion gap16. Firstly, information-gap activity which involves a transfer of given information from one person to another, from one form to another, or from one place to another. Next, reasoning-gap activity which involves deriving some new information from given information through processes of inference, deduction, practical reasoning, or perception of relationships or patterns. The last, opinion-gap activity which involves identifying and articulating a personal preference, feeling, or attitude in response to a given situation.
15 Ibid.
16 David Nunan, Task-Based Language Teaching: Cambridge Language Teaching Library, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 56-57.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of Literature
In this study, the researcher uses some previous researches as guidance to accomplish it. Therefor, the researcher endeavors to find the previous researches that have similarities with this research.
The first previous research is the research that was conducted by Anisa Fadila Khairoh entitled "The Effectiveness of Task-Based Language Teaching to Teach Writing (An Experimental Research at First Grade of MAN 2 Boyolali in the Academic Year 2016/2017)"17. This research purposes to find out is or is not there a significant difference between students taught by using task-based language teaching and those taught by using the direct instructional method.
This study was an experimental research design. The researcher divided the subject into two groups, namely religion class as the control group, and science class as the experimental group. Control group taught through Direct Instruction, and experimental group taught through Task-Based Language Teaching. The result showed that there is a significant difference between students who were taught by using task-based language teaching and students who were taught by direct instructional method, or we can say the students that taught by task-based
17Anisa Fadila Khairoh, "The Effectiveness of Task-based Language Teaching to Teach Writing an Experimental Research at First Grade of MAN 2 Boy-Lali in the Academic Year 2016/2017" (Skripsi, Islamic Education and Teacher Training Faculty, the State Islamic Institute of Surakarta, Surakarta, 2017).
language teaching is a better score in writing than the students that taught by the direct instructional method. It was proven with the average of post-test in the experimental group is 79.76 which is higher than the average of post-test in the control group is 78.
From the previous study above, the researcher can take some similarities and differences. The similarity between the previous research with this study is both of the researches took Task-Based Language Teaching as the method in teaching writing. Meanwhile, the differences between these researches are the previous research investigated the effectiveness of the TBLT technique in teaching writing for the first grade of MAN 2 Boy-Lali, while this research aimed to know students perception in using TBLT in teaching writing for the eleventh-grade students of SMA Islam Al- Ma'arif P.I and the previous study conducted experimental research, while this study uses a qualitative approach.
The next previous research discussed "Students Perception Towards Teacher's Written Feedback Among 11th Grade Students at SMA N 1 Wedi Klaten" composed by Wahyu Dewi Pratiwi at the State University of Yogyakarta in 201318. It purposes to find out the types of teacher's written feedback that the teacher use in teaching writing for the eleventh-grade students of SMA Negeri 1 Wedi in the academic year 2012/1013, and to figure out the perception of the students toward written feedback of the teacher on their
18 Wahyu Dewi Pratiwi, "Students Perception Towards Teacher's Written Feedback among 11th Grade Students at SMAN 1 Wedi Klaten", (Skripsi, Faculty of Languages and Arts State University of Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, 2013).
writings. The similarities of this research and this study include both of these studies use a qualitative approach. Next, these researches use the triangulation technique to test the validity of the data. The last, the previous research and this research use eleventh-grade students of SMA for the participants.
Otherwise, the differences in these researches are the previous research discussed the students' perception of the teacher's written feedback. Meanwhile, this study will examine the students' perception of the method of teaching writing. Also, the technique for gathering data in Pratiwi's research was obtained from documentation, field note, questionnaire, and interview. Whereas, this research will obtain from the interview and the questionnaire.
The last previous research came from Rizagul Syzdykbayeva under the title "Students' Attitudes and Perceptions of Content and Language Integrated Learning in a Secondary School"19. The study was done in one of the 110 secondary schools with trilingual education in Kazakhstan, and it aimed to know the attitudes and perceptions of students in CLIL approach, to understand the benefits and challenges of CLIL perceived by the students, and to identify similarities and differences of the students' perception based on the year of their study in CLIL. This research used one-on-one face to face interviews and paper- based questionnaire as data collection instrument. Seven students participated in face-to-face one-on-one interviews, and 69 students in the paper-based
19 Ryzagul Syzdykbayeva, "Students' Attitudes and Perceptions of Content and Language Integrated Learning in a Secondary School", (thesis, Multilingual Education Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education, Kazakhstan, 2017).
questionnaire. The findings of the study showed that the majority of the students or participants (75 %) hold a positive attitude in the CLIL approach, some participants demonstrated neutral, and only a few participants had negative attitudes. The participants felt CLIL was beneficial because increasing their English ability, and they thought their English proficiency will help them succeed in their studies and careers. Students confronted some challenges such as linguistic incompetence (limited vocabulary, speaking skills) which limits the comprehension of the subject, the rigor of learning (shortage of time, intensive self-study), and psychological barriers (initial uncertainty, shyness, and anxiety).
Based on the previous research above, the researcher finds the similarities and differences with her research. The similarities are both of these researches investigated the students' perception, and the tools to collect the data are interview and questionnaire. Whereas, the differences are this study uses a qualitative approach only, while the previous research used a mixed-methods approach that is qualitative and quantitative. Also, the participants of this research are the eleventh-grade students, while the students of secondary school as the participants of the previous study. In more, this research aims to know the students' perception of the method of teaching writing. Meanwhile, the aims of previous research to know the attitudes and perceptions of students in the CLIL approach, to understand the benefits and challenges of CLIL that perceived by the students, and to identify similarities and differences in students perceptions and attitudes with 1, 2, and 3 years of study.
B. Theoretical Bases
1. Review on Perception a. Definition of perception
The word perception is coming from Latin words, namely Perceptio and Percepio which means receiving, collecting, the action of taking possession, and apprehension with the mind or senses.
The meaning of perception defined by the Cambridge dictionary20 is:
1) A belief or opinion, often held by many people and based on how things seem.
2) The quality of being aware of things through the physical senses, especially sight.
3) Someone's ability to notice and understand things that are not obvious to other people.
4) The way someone thinks and feels about a company, product, service, etc.
20Cambridge Dictionary, "Perception Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary", in https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/perception, accessed on May 20, 2020.
In conclusion, perception is an opinion or statement expressed by a person about something and it may differ from other people's opinions.
b. Process of Perception
According to OU Qiong, the perception process consists of three:
selection, organization, and interpretation21. 1) Selection
Selection is the first stage in process of perception, during which we convert the environment stimuli into a meaningful experience. In daily life, we are bombarded constantly by such a large variety of information that at a blink moment, we may encounter these stimuli, such as the words we are hearing, the witness of an accident, the ticking of a clock, and to name but a few.
Since our world embraces everything, countless stimuli are arriving at our sensory organs simultaneously and waiting to be processed.
However, we can not perceive all the information available to us, because in doing so we would experience information overload and disorder. Therefore, we perceive only part of the information from the environment through a selective process.
21OU Qiong, "A Brief Introduction to Perception", Canada, Vol. 15, No. 4, October 2017, p. 18- 19.
2) Organization
After selecting the information from the outside world, we need to organize it in some ways by finding certain meaningful patterns. This organization stage is accomplished by putting things or people into categories. For instance, when asked what a human being is, some people may describe it from the perspective of the body, race, or nationality. Perception in this stage has two characteristics.
Firstly, the organizing process gives human perception structure. We always put raw stimuli from the outside world into a structured meaningful experience. Secondly, the process shows that human perception possesses stability. That is, to say after we selected stimuli and put them into categories, the selected stimuli become durable.
3) Interpretation
Interpretation refers to the process of attaching meaning to the selected stimuli. One of the stimuli have been categorized into structured and stable patterns, we try to make sense of these patterns by assigning meaning to them. But, different people can give different perceptions of the same stimulus. When confronting a physical object or event, almost everybody agrees on its objective part of the meaning, but what it means to any unique individual varies according to that individual's past experiences and cultural
background. Different experiences and backgrounds will result in people's attributing different meanings to the same stimulus, so perception diversity appears.
In the meaning-attribution process, people from close cultures will have a similar store of past experiences and knowledge, so they will attribute similar meanings to the same stimulus, thus similar perceptions. Then it easier for communicators to understand the accurate meaning of each other's verbal and non-verbal behaviors, so communication goes smoothly. By contrast, if communicators use experiences or knowledge gained from their own culture to explain the unknown behaviors in another culture, they will attribute quite different meanings to the same stimulus, then perception differs and communication problems arise.
From the processes of perception above, those are crystal clear that perception of our physical and social world is an internal operation where we select stimuli and process them through our brains until we create structure, stability, and meaning for them.
c. The Two Dimensions of Perception
OU Qiong explains that to understand how we develop structure, stability, and meaning for the selected stimuli, we must take the two
fundamental dimensions of perception into account the physical perception dimension and psychological perception dimension22.
1) The Physical Dimension of Perception
The physical dimension of perception is about the conversion of a stimulus into a usable form, and it functions in people's acquisition of information or knowledge about the outside world. It includes not only the characteristics of stimuli, the nature, and functions of human sensory organs but also the transmission of stimuli through the nervous systems to brains. This physical dimension of perception causes little difficulty in intercultural communication (IC) because the physical differences that exist between one person and another are inconsequential when compared with psychological ones. Namely, no matter which culture we are from, what language we speak, and what skin color we have, we have every similar eye, ears, noses, and nerve endings that make us able to sense the world.
2) The Psychological Dimension of Perception
When the IC is concerned, the psychological dimension becomes more significant. It is because of people's beliefs, values, attitudes, needs, and interests have a much greater impact on how
22 Ibid., p. 19-20
they perceive the outside world. During this phase, people give interpretations of selected stimuli and by doing so, they have their unique personal touch on the outside world. For instance, as to parents' living together with their children, Chinese and American people tend to interpret it differently. In China, it is natural and quite usual for parents to live together with their children. So, in Chinese, there is such an expression "living under the same roof", because children are always told by their education that is their responsibility or obligation to take care of their parents and living together with the old and seeking advice from them is regarded as an asset as well as a blessing. Nevertheless, American parents and their children would rather live independently because their privacy is of high priority and they don't want others to interfere in their personal life. This kind of difference is due to their different cultural values or attitudes towards life. Consequently, this is people's values, attitudes, or motives (the psychological dimension) rather than their sensory organs (the physical dimension) that determine what stimuli will attract people's attention and hence receive meanings.
2. Review on Writing a. Definition of Writing
Writing is one of the important skills that students need to learn deeply not only for academic competence but also for their daily life or
professional life. Various definitions of writing that explained by some experts. Firstly, according to Edward writing is a process of expressing ideas or thought in words, should be done at our leisure. Writing can be very enjoyable as long as we have the idea and the means to achieve it.
Next, Brown stated that writing is a written product of thinking, drafting, and revising procedures that require specialized skills23. This means, in writing students focused on how to put their opinions, or representations in their mind cohesively in written text, and how to revise or edit the grammar correspondingly for clearer meaning.
From the explanation above, we can conclude that writing is a process of expressing ideas, opinions, or intelligence in words that need specialized abilities.
b. Genres of Writing
The learners of a foreign language should know what are the genres of writing, especially for the teachers. Brown mentioned, there are three writing genres, includes academic writing, job-related writing, and personal writing24.
1) Academic Writing
23H. Douglas Brown, Teaching..., p. 335
24H. Douglas Brown, Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices, (London:
Pearson ESL, 2003), p. 219.
Academic writing is a kind of writing used in an educational institution, such as tertiary level, elementary school, junior high school, senior high school, and university.
Furthermore, it can be referred to as a style used by researchers to determine the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and expertise in specific areas. There are some kinds of academic writing, namely papers and general subject reports, essays, academically focused journals, technical reports, theses, and dissertations.
2) Job-Related Writing
It has some functions which include to provide practical information, to give the facts, to give an accurate measurement, and to ensure and to make recommendations. Types of job-related writing are messages, letters/emails, memos, reports, schedules, labels, signs, advertisements, and announcements.
3) Personal Writing
It is a writing activity based on personal opinions, thoughts, or experiences. It revers to write about an important person, event, or time period in a person's life. The purpose is to make readers can fully experience and understand the event or situation. Personal writing has some genres, i.e letters, emails,
greeting cards, invitations, notes, diaries, personal journals, and fiction.
c. The Reasons for Teaching Writing
Teaching writing is so important for students. Harmer explained the reasons for teaching writing for the students of English as a foreign language include reinforcement, language development, learning style, and most importantly, writing as a skill in its own right25. We will look at each of these below.
1) Reinforcement
Some students acquire languages in a purely oral/aural way, but most of us benefit greatly from seeing the language written down. The visual demonstration of language construction is invaluable for both our understanding of how it all fits together and as an aid to committing the new language to memory.
Students often find it useful to write sentences using a new language shortly after they have studied it.
2) Language Development
We cannot be sure, but it seems that the actual process of writing (rather like the process of speaking) helps us to learn as
25Jeremy Harmer, How..., p. 79
we go along. The ental activity we have to go through to construct properly written texts is all part of the ongoing learning experience.
3) Learning Style
Some students are fantastically quick at picking up the language just by looking and listening, for the rest of us, it may take a little longer. For many learners, the time to things through, to produce language in a slower way, is invaluable. Writing is appropriate for such learners. It can also be a quiet reflective activity instead of the rush and bother of interpersonal face-to- face communication.
4) Writing is a Skill
The most important reason for teaching writing is a basic language skill, just as important as speaking, listening, and reading. Students need to know how to write letters, how to put written reports together, how to reply to advertisements, and increasingly how to write using electronic media. They need to know some of writing's special conventions (punctuation, paragraph construction, etc.) just as they need to know how to pronounce spoken English appropriately. Part of the teachers' job is to give them that skill.
d. The Purposes of Writing
According to Khairoh, the purpose of writing has to do with the goals or aims of writing26. The purposes of writing include :
1) Expressing Ideas
Writers or teachers express their feeling, like or dislike, expression, personality through writing to make readers or learners understand the materials.
2) Providing Information
Providing information means to give information and explain it. This goal is to focus on the materials being discussed.
3) Persuading the Readers
To convince readers about a matter of opinion. Also, it focuses on the readers' point of view.
4) Creating Literary Work
It means a work that is based on one's point of view (opinion, attitude, and observation) of other matters occurring in one's environment.
26Anisa Fadila Khairoh, The Effectiveness....,p. 11-12.
e. Correction for writing
Teachers should know what is the best method to correct writing for students. So, they will not have the statement that their written English is poor in quality. 27Harmer describes some ways to correct writing that have a demotivated effect on students.
One way of avoiding over-correction problems is teachers tell their students that for a particular piece of work they are only going to correct mistakes of punctuation, spelling, or grammar, etc. This has two advantages, such as it makes students concentrate on that particular aspect, and it cuts down on the correction.
Another technique that many teachers use is to agree on a list of written symbols (S = spelling, WO = word order, etc). When they come across a mistake they underline it discreetly and write the symbol in the margin. This corrects look less damaging.
Correcting is important, but it can be time-consuming and frustrating, especially when it is difficult to know what the mistake is because it is unclear what the students are trying to say. Common sense and talking to students about these are the only solutions here.
The other really important point is that correction is worthless if students just put their corrected writing away and never look at it again.
27Jeremy Harmer, How..., p. 84.
Teachers have to ensure that they understand the problem and then redraft the passage correctly.
f. Types of classroom writing performance
According to 28Brown, there are five major categories of classroom writing performance, include:
a. Imitative (writing down)
At the beginning level of learning to write, students will simply write down English letters, words, and possibly sentences to learn the conventions of the orthographic code.
b. Intensive (Controlled)
Writing is sometimes used as a production model for learning, reinforcing, or testing grammatical concepts. This intensive writing typically appears in controlled, written grammar exercises. A common part of controlled writing is to present a paragraph to students in which they have to alter a given structure throughout.
Yet, another form of controlled writing is a Dicto-camp. In this, a paragraph is read at normal speed, usually two or three times, then the teacher asks students to rewrite the paragraph to the best of their reading recollection. In one of several variations of the Dicto-
28H. Douglas Brown, Teaching..., p. 343-346.
camp technique, after reading the passage, the teacher puts key words from the paragraph, in sequence, on the chalkboard as cues for the students.
c. Self-Writing
The most salient instance of this category in the classroom is note-taking, where students take notes during a lecture for later recall. Besides, the diary of journal writing falls into this category.
However, in many circumstances, a dialogue journal, in which a student records his/her thoughts, feelings, and reactions and which an instructor reads and responds to, while ostensibly written for oneself has two audiences.
d. Display Writing
For all language students, short answers exercises, essay examinations, and even research reports will involve an element of the display. For academically bound ESL students, one of the academic skills that they need to master is a whole array of display writing techniques.
e. Real Writing
The two categories of real and display writing are actually two ends of the continuum, and in between the two extremes lies
some combinations of display and real writing. three subcategories illustrate how reality can be injected :
1) Academic
The language experience approach gives groups of students opportunities to convey genuine information to each other. Content-based Instruction encourages the exchange of useful information, and some of these learning use the written word.
2) Vocational/Technical
Some varieties of real writing can take place in classes of students studying English for advancement in their occupations.
Real letters can be written, genuine directions for some operations might be given, and actual forms can be filled out.
These possibilities are even greater in what has come to be called English in the Workplace, where the ESL is offered within companies and corporations.
3) Personal
In virtually any ESL classes, diaries, letters, postcards, notes, personal messages, and other informal writing can take place, especially within the context of an interactive classroom.
While certain tasks may be somewhat contrived, nevertheless the genuine exchange of information can help.
3. Review of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) a. Definition of TBLT
Task-based language teaching is also known as task-based instruction, task-based teaching, and task-based approach. According to Richard and Rodger, Task-based language teaching (TBLT) refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction29. Also, they explain tasks are proposed as a useful instrument in this method. So there are two early applications of a task-based approach within a communicative framework for language teaching were the Malaysian Communicational Syllabus in 1975 and the Bangalore project30, namely Beretta and Davies, Prabhu, and Berreta.
Meanwhile, 31 according to Khairoh, task-based language teaching is an approach that seeks to allow students to work somewhat at their own peace, and within their own level and area of interest to process and restructure their inter-language.
29Jack C. Richards, & Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches..., p. 223
30Ibid.
31Anisa Fadila Khairoh, The Effectiveness...,p. 23-24
Therefore, the researcher concludes task-based language teaching is a method in teaching students by giving the tasks based on their abilities. So, students will be easier to do their tasks.
b. Principles of TBLT
According to Freeman & Anderson, There are ten principles in task-based language teaching32, those are :
1) Teachers Goal
The goal of teachers is to facilitate students' language learning by engaging them in a variety of tasks that have a clear outcome.
2) Teachers and Students Role
The teachers' roles are to choose tasks based on an analysis of students' need that appropriate to the level of students and to create pre-task and follow-up phases that are in line with the abilities and needs of students. Also, teachers monitor students' performance and intervene as necessary. While the role of students is to communicate with their peers to complete a task.
32Diane Larsen-Freeman & Marti Anderson, Techniques..., p. 200
3) Characteristics of the Teaching/Learning Process
A pre-task phase typically begins a task sequence. During this phase, a teacher can introduce the students to the language they will need to complete the task. The tasks are meaningful and relevant so the students see the reason for doing the task and can see how the task relates to possible situations in their lives outside the classroom.
Students are actively engaged with the task, with the teacher monitoring their performances and intervening when necessary. The task has clear outcomes, so both students and teachers can tell if the task has been completed. On the other hand, a post-task phase takes place to reinforce students' learning or to address any problems that may have arisen.
4) The Nature of Student-Teacher and Student-Student Interaction The teacher is the input provider during the initial phase of the lesson. Also, he/she sets the task for students to perform. The teacher pays attention during the task, making note of the language that should be focused on. He/she provides recasts feedback.
Students often work closely together to help each other accomplish the task and to solve the problem.
5) The Language and Culture Viewed
Language is for communicating and for doing. Culture is not explicitly dealt with, although certain tasks might have a cultural focus, such as when students prepare different ethnic foods to share33. 6) Language Areas and Language Skills are Emphasized
The meaning dimension of language is emphasized. While, depending on the task nature, any of the four skills can be utilized.
7) The Role of the Student's Native Language
There is no explicit role for students' native language.
8) Evaluation Accomplished
The teacher constantly evaluates students in light of tasks outcome and the languages they use.
9) The Teacher Responds to Student Errors
Focus on the form is essential to students' learning. Error correction is done through recasting, modeling, or giving brief grammar explanations.
c. Task Types in TBLT
According to Nunan, one of the earliest curricular applications of TBLT to appear in the literature was the Bangalore project. In this
33 Ibid..., p. 201
project, three principal task types are used, such as information gap, reasoning gap, and opinion gap34.
1) Information-Gap Activity
Information-gap activity involves a transfer of given information from one person to another, from one form to another, or from one place to another. The activity often involves selection or relevant information as well, and learners may have to meet the criteria of completeness and correctness in making the transfer.
2) Reasoning-Gap Activity
Reasoning-Gap Activity involves deriving some new information from given information through processes of inference, deduction, practical reasoning, or perception of relationships or patterns. The activity necessarily involves comprehending and conveying information, as an information-gap activity, but the information to be conveyed is not identical with that initially comprehended. There is a piece of reasoning that connects the two.
3) Opinion-Gap Activity
Opinion-gap activity involves identifying and articulating a personal preference, feeling, or attitude in response to a given
34 David Nunan, Task-Based Language Teaching: Cambridge Language Teaching Library, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 56-57.
situation. The activity may involve using factual information and formulating arguments to justify one's opinion, but there is no objective procedure for demonstrating outcomes from different individuals or on different occasions.
d. Assessing TBLT
Nunan argued despite the diverse context and situation in which TBLT is carried out, the assessment of learning outcomes should always involve the direct assessment of students performance, be criterion- referenced, focus on the attainment of specific objectives rather than trying to assess general proficiency, and be formative in nature35.
e. Techniques for Collecting Assessment Data
Nunan explained some techniques for collecting assessment data in task-based language teaching36, such as :
1) Performance Scales
Performace scales have been popular tools for direct assessment for many years, because they are performance-based and set out to describe learner behavior, and particularly suitable for task- based assessment.
2) Production Tasks (Role Plays, Discussion Tasks, and Simulations)
35 Ibid., p. 164
36Ibid., p. 153-159
As already indicated, practically any pedagogical task can be used for assessing learner progress. The main difference lies in how the task is set up, and how learner language is recorded and analyzed.
You might want to obtain samples of learner language or to capture aspects of learner-learner interaction. If the letter is the case, then observation schedules such as the one presented in the next section may suffice. While the role-play and the simulation can both be used to assess learner language, they were initially designed for classroom interaction.
In selecting language production tasks, it is important to be clear about the purpose, as well as the kind of language you want to elicit.
3) Observation Schedules
The number of observation schedules is almost limitless for an excellent collection of observation tasks, many of which are suitable for collecting assessment data in the task-based classroom.
The following checklist is intended to assess the ability of students to contribute to small group discussions in task-based conversation classes.
4) Journals, Diaries, and Learning Logs
In addition to encouraging learners to become more reflective and self-directed, journals, diaries, and learning logs can help to bring together teaching and assessment in mutually beneficial ways.
See the following example.
Complete one diary sheet each week This week I studied ...
This week I learned ...
This week I used my English in these places ...
This week I spoke English with these people ...
This week I make these mistakes ...
My difficulties are ...
I would like to know ...
I would like to help with ...
My learning and practicing plans for next week are ...
Each week, the learners complete the sentence starters, and over the course of a semester, they have a concrete record of their growth and development. Besides that, we can ask students to make sentences above by using the table.
5) Portfolios
Portfolios are different in kind from the other instruments discussed in this section. They can contain a wide range of written, spoken, language data, and can incorporate all of the other instruments already discussed.
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD A. Approach and Types of Research
The approach of this research is using qualitative and dealing with the perception of students for the teaching strategy used by the teacher in the English teaching and learning process. According to Leedy & Omrod, the qualitative approach has two things in common. Firstly, they focus on phenomena that occur in natural settings, that is in the real world. Secondly, it involves studying those phenomena in all their complexity37. Otherwise, this study was descriptive qualitative where it was a kind of qualitative approach that focused on the description. Leedy & Ormrod stated that description reveals the nature of certain situations, settings, processes, relationships, systems, or people38.
Furthermore, this study described the first common thing of the qualitative approach, that was the phenomena that occur in natural settings.
Because the researcher explains the real statement or perspective of students.
B. The Presence of Research
The presence of research means, this study used the researcher as the key instrument in planning the research, collecting the data, analyzing the data, and
37 Paul D. Leedy & Jeane Ellis Ormrod, Practical Research: Planning and Design, (New Jersey:
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004), eighth edition, hlm. 133.
38 Ibid, hlm. 134.
writing the data. Firstly, the researcher was the key instrument in planning when she plans to make this research. Next, the researcher tried to collect the data from the students’ responses. Afterward, the researcher analyzed the data thoroughly and accurately. The last, she wrote the data or students' statements that she got during the research process.
C. Setting of Research
This research was conducted at the SMA Islam Al-Ma'arif Pandan Indah.
It is located at Jln. Raya Pandan Indah – Kabul, Pandan Indah, Lombok Tengah Regency. This school was built on 16th of November 2011. It has nine rooms, where there are two office rooms and seven rooms for the classroom39.It is located in a rural area. But, the achievements of the students as the same as other schools, the example they had gotten the second winner in the district level of wits contest, the first winner of the semaphore-morse contest at the district level.
Also, the students are often selected by the Central Lombok government to follow the national scouting activities. This school has some extracurriculars namely scout, diniyah, tilawatil Qur'an, and English course. Also, this school often gives chances for the students to study English in Java. This school has two English teachers in which one teacher is teaching in eleventh grade, and the other is teaching in two classes, tenth and twelve grades. In this research, the researcher selected the eleventh grade as the field of the study because the English teacher of this class applied the teaching strategy used by the researcher.
39 H. Mahimudin, Spd.I, M.Pd, Interview, Bolor Gejek, 20 June 2020.
It was proved by the lesson plan from the teacher. In addition, there were fifteen students of the eleventh grade, namely six boys and nine girls.
On other hand, This school used curriculum 2013 in the English teaching and learning process. Besides, this school emphasize the students to have good English proficiency. So, it was important to know their argument about the method used by their English teacher. Also, in this pandemic situation, it helped the researcher for researching because this school still doing the teaching and learning process offline or face to face.
D. Source of Data
Sources of data were important in research because these were the substances where the researcher got information that was required.
There were two sources of data that usually use in qualitative research, namely primary datum and secondary datum. Therefore, the researcher used both of them. 40Sugiyono defined, the primary datum was the datum that is got by the researcher directly. This source can be interview and questionnaire result which were done by the researcher. It was cited by Ismi Hardiana Eka Putri. The primary datum in this study was the perception of eleventh-grade students of the SMA Islam Al-Ma'arif Pandan Indah about the English teaching and learning method, especially in teaching writing. The research instrument to collect the
40 Ismi Hardiana Eka Putri, "Analysis of Speech Act Used in "Maleficent 1", (Skripsi, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training State Islamic University of Mataram, Mataram, 2020), hlm. 22.
primary data was the researcher herself because she established the frameworks or systems of this study.
Meanwhile, the secondary datum was the datum that refers to the material of the research. The data can be obtained from the school, e-book, manual book, article, journal, or thesis. The secondary data of this research were the data that the researcher got from the head master of SMA Islam Al-Ma’arif Pandan Indah and the lesson plan of the tenth grade students.
E. The Procedure of Data Collection
This research used the researcher as the instrument to get the information related to this study. There were two ways to collect the data in this research, namely the questionnaire and the interview.
1. Questionnaire
Keinath & Neuner stated a questionnaire was a set of printed or written questions with a choice of answers, devised for a survey or statistical study. They also explained the requirements to use a questionnaire, such as a reach a large number of people, not to explore new, difficult or controversial issues, obtain standardized data, the respondents can answer the questions, and you have enough money and time.
In this research, the researcher distributed some questions on the paper for the students to get information about their perceptions of the
