(KODE : PENDBING-0015) : SKRIPSI IMPROVING STUDENT MOTIVATION TO SPEAK ENGLISH THROUGH COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
English is a widely spoken language, so it becomes a global language. As an international language, English has become a tool for International communication in every single life business. For the given reason, Indonesian government has decided that English becomes a compulsory subject that should be mastered by students from the elementary level to the college level.
Vygotsky (1962), in Wray (2006), in his investigating of the relationship between language and thought, he finds the unit of verbal though in word meaning. Vygotsky saw the meaning of a word representing a close relationship between language and thought. Swain (1985), in Lawtie (2006), notes that way to learning to speak is through speaking itself. It means the more practice to speaking the more oral skills will improve.
Nunan (1991), in Lawtie (2006), suggests that success in learn foreign language is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the target language. Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do no get any opportunity to speak in the target language, they soon get de-motivated and loose interest in learning. Nunan adds that if the right activities are taught in the right way, it can make speaking in class can be a lot of fun. For that reason, general learner motivation will raise and the English language classroom becomes a fun and dynamic place to be.
In English study, four language skills should be mastered are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In facts, speaking is one of the most important things in life, thus any expression of thought that comes from mind can be conveyed by speaking. For instance in daily lives most of people speak more than write. On the other hands, speaking a foreign language usually seems much harder than learning to write and read it. Often the most important problem people have with foreign languages is that they cannot speak.
Often the most important problem people have with foreign languages is that they cannot speak. Probably it happens because they shame to speak in the public. In fact, there are a vicious circle of speaking problem. First, people make mistakes when speaking, then they become afraid of speaking, and thus they never get the practice which would enable them to correct their mistakes.
While students are actively involved in the process of learning, they learn best. Students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats. Students energy increases, rewarding teams of students for performance is effective, and that appearing to increase the energy of the teams while they working together (Johnson, et all., 1981, cited by Gokhale 2006). In addition, Long & Richards (1987 cited by Lawtie 1996)), present that learner centered classrooms where learners do the talking in groups and learners have to take responsibility for using communicative resources to complete a task are shown to be more conducive to language learning than teacher centered classes.
According to Vygotsky (1978, in Gokhale 2006), students are capable of performing at higher intellectual levels when asked to work in collaborative situations than when asked to work individually. It is believed one of learning approaches that deal with working together is collaborative learning. In addition, Welch (2005) states that students learn best in a classroom where they feel free to express their ideas, they feel needed, and they feel comfortable with their peers.In nutshell speaks, some variables take part in the success of learning, it is not only the cognitive factors, but also the personality factors such as motivation. Gardner (1985 : 27, cited in Fatriyani 2005) points that in some contexts, personality variables relate to listening comprehension and oral production and it is important. In addition, Krashen (1982 : 31) cited by Fatriyani (2005) proposed three variables related to the success of the Second Language Acquisition (SLA). First is Motivation it is assumed that high motivational performance would generally do better in SLA. Second is Self-confidence, it is understood that performance tend to do better in SLA if self-confidence and good self-image involved. The final is Anxiety, it is believed that the one of good support for SLA is the measurement of anxiety as personal or classroom anxiety.
Motivation and learning are so closely bound together, so dependent upon and affected by one another. Houston in his Motivation (1997) states that learning cannot occur unless the organism who involves in learning is motivated to learn. In teaching and learning process, not all learners were motivated to perform all classroom tasks, hence motivation being one of learning substance. The learners complete the tasks not because they want to get some cognitive or affective reward from the teacher, but because they feel fun, interesting useful or challenging in it (Brown, 2001).
The writer, therefore, is fascinated to observe the using of collaborative learning in encourage students to speak. In other words, the writer would like to know whether Collaborative Learning could improve students' motivation to speak English or not.
1.2 Research Questions
In accordance with the using of Collaborative learning in improving students' motivation to speak which is the main concern of this study, writer formulated the problem statements of the study as follow :
1. Can Collaborative Learning improve students' motivation to speak English?
1.3 Scope of the Study
In relation to the statements that have been formulated above, two variables are confirmed in this study. They are the use of collaborative learning and the students' improvement to speak English in speaking class and how Collaborative Learning influence students' motivation improvement in speaking class. The scope of this research, however, is limited to investigate the effectiveness of collaborative learning in order to improve students' motivation in speaking English.
1.4 The Aims of the Study
In general, this study is designed to figure out the use of Collaborative Learning in improve students' motivation to speak English. Particularly, the study has some aims as follow :
1. To find out whether or not collaborative learning can improve students' motivation to speak English.
1.5 Significance of the study
This study is generally expected to contribute values consideration to the whole educational subjects related to the second language teaching, especially in teaching speaking English. The writer hopes that the curriculum maker and the teacher could construct the materials of speaking learning that pay attention on psychological aspect for instance motivation.
1.6 Organization of the Paper
This paper is organized into five chapters. The first chapter includes introduction which discuss, background, research questions, scope of the study, the aims of the study, significance of the study, assumption, hypotheses, method of investigation, population and sample, data collection procedure, clarifications of the key terms, and organization of the paper.
The second chapter concerns on theoretical foundations that contains the related theories which is served as a basis of the investigation of research questions. The research methodology that covers population and sample, instrument, research design, and the data analysis is presented in chapter third.
The result and findings of the study is reported in chapter fourth. It consists of data interpretation, the analyzing of the data, and the interpretation of the data. The Last is chapter fifth which holds conclusion and recommendations that synchronize with the research findings.