Students’ Attitude towards English Active Use at English Language

Education Study Program and English Letters Study Program of

Khairun University

Asrul

, Abdulhalim Daud

, and Sunaidin Ode Mulae

Lecturer of English Language Education Study Program, Universitas Khairun, Ternate, Indonesia

Lecturer of English Literature Study Program, Universitas Khairun, Ternate, Indonesia

Keywords: Students’ attitude, Active use of English, Classroom.

Abstract: This research aims to find students’ attitude towards English active use of English language education study

program and English letters study program at Khairun University in classroom. Method of collecting data

uses qualitative research. Instrument in this research uses questionnaires. The questionnaires are consisting

of 40 items. Data analysis techniques used descriptive statistics. Subject of this research consists of 51

students and purposive samples. The result in this research indicates that the students’ attitude of English

Language Education Study Program and English Letters Study Program at Khairun University in classroom

shows Agree 41.76%, and then followed by Disagree 26.13%, Strongly Agree 20.29%, Strongly Disagree

6.96%, and No Attitude 4, 85%. This research recommends lecturers to encourage students using English in

the classroom actively.

1 INTRODUCTION

Enhancement human resources at this time, English

language skills are needed to encourage Indonesia's

development in era of globalization. English is used

by the world community to communicate in the

fields of Science and Technology. English is also

used in the ASEAN Free Trade and the ASEAN

Economic Community (MEA). Therefore, English is

used to encourage the achievement the ASEAN

community competition. Khairun University hopes

to becomes a campus international standard in the

ASEAN.

English Language Education Study Program and

English Letters Study Program of Khairun

University were as a pioneer to motivate students’

attitude in order to the creation and innovation in

using English actively. The students need to be

empowered their attitude towards English in the

classroom.

According to Suwarno cited by Mulae and Nuria

(2017) proposed middle way in the form of language

trilogy in developing abilities languages, namely

regional languages as the first language, Indonesian

as a second language, and English as a third

language. The development of the language trilogy

is carried out in various sectors such as families,

communities, institutions, educational institutions,

and mass media. Hence, Students’ attitude English

Language Education Study Program and English

Letters Study Program of Khairun University are

encouraged to become Role Models.

Thus, the role of students of English is one of the

keys to the realization of social transformation in an

international standard. Assessment of students’

attitude in the English Language Education Study

Program and English Letters Study Program are

important to obtain more comprehensive in

encouraging English speaking students in the

classroom.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The acquisition of second languages and foreign

languages are influenced by social and

psychological factors, including positive attitudes

towards oneself, positive attitudes towards the target

language, and positive attitudes towards the target

language user groups. The study of Suwarno, Kartini

and Darnoko cited by Mulae and Nuria (2017) states

there are significant correlation between students’

130

Asrul, ., Daud, A. and Mulae, S.

Students’ Attitude towards English Active Use of English Language Education Study Program and English Letters Study Program at Khairun University.

DOI: 10.5220/0008898301300135

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Teaching and Learning (ICTL 2018), pages 130-135

ISBN: 978-989-758-439-8

attitudes towards mastery of English in interacting

students. The views of the researchers put forward

provide the reason that strengthening English in the

classroom is very necessary. Many factors make

English not actively used in classrooms; among

them, (1) no better policy in the use of English; no

regulations and leadership instructions that use

English in classroom becomes important for

students; (3) there are negative assumptions that

English can slow the pace of acceleration of national

and local languages. (Mulae and Nuria (2017).

Furthermore, the researcher formulated those what

are students’ attitudes towards actively use English

of Language Education Study Program and English

Letters Study Program at Khairun University?

2.1 Attitude Theory

Attitude is a response or reaction of someone to a

situation and object. The word attitude refers to the

shape of the body, the position of the body upright,

behavior or gesture, and actions or actions carried

out based on views (establishment, beliefs, or

opinions) as a reaction to the existence of something

or event. (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesian, 2008:

1303). Allport in Chaer and Agustina cited by

Riyanti (2017: 11) argues that attitudes are mental

and nerve readiness that are formed through

experience that gives a dynamic direction or

influence to one's reaction to objects and

circumstances.

The attitude is the result of a reaction to an object

and the conditions behind the information received.

Johnson in Rokhman cited by Riyanti (2017) argues

that attitudes are not formed because of the nature of

birth but are formed because of the process. This

shows that a person's attitude is based on

information received and processed by his common

sense.

Mastery of a language is strongly influenced by

one's attitude towards the language. Paker and

Erarslan (2015: 2) suggest that there are two factors

that influence the way a person learns language,

namely how often the language is used and has an

open nature to accept the language. Furthermore,

Lioa (2018) in his research divides students’ attitude

towards a language into three parts namely;

accepting, neutral attitude, and rejecting. Moreover,

Mulae and Nuria (2017: 150) argue that there are

several factors that influence a person or group in

using a language learned namely; positive attitudes

toward target language, positive attitudes toward

oneself, and attitudes toward target language users.

Mastery of a language by someone in one particular

language is strongly influenced by the attitude of the

person himself.

Suwarno, Sartini, and Darnoko (2006) said a

person's attitude towards a particular language will

influence the policies taken relating to that language.

This is in line with Woolard and Schieffelin (1994)

cited by Schwieter that the attitude that a person has

towards language is closely related to their

perception of the user of the language. Suek (2014)

also said almost the same that people who use more

than one language have a certain attitude towards the

language user; including attitudes towards the

language used as native speakers, second languages,

and attitudes towards foreign languages. The use of

language and attitude can be positive and negative.

A positive attitude towards the language will have

an impact on the use of the language itself.

2.2 Previous Research

Research on attitudes towards English conducted

Arasuli cited by Mulae and Nuria (2017) through

research on attitude toward English among policy

makers in the city of Bengkulu, informing the

condition of the attitude of senior officials more

comprehensively. His research was continued by

mapping the attitudes of senior officials in South

Bengkulu Regency with a focus on senior officials

in government and business institutions in Bengkulu

province. His research shows that the attitude of

senior officials in government and business

institutions in South Bengkulu is very good because

based on the tabulation of data on attitudes of senior

officials in government and business institutions

very extensive on English.

Then, attitude research was also carried out by

Asrul (2008) about the attitude of prestige students

towards the motivation to learn English in SMAN 1

Ternate. His research showed that the attitude of

students significantly affected the achievement of

learning English. His findings shown SMAN 1

Ternate continued to strengthen in maintaining

student attitudes towards the process of learning

English in classroom.

3 RESEARCH METHOD

This research uses qualitative method because

variables measured using descriptive statistics to see

the students’ attitude actively use English in

classroom. Likert Scale outlined the Strongly Agree,

Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree,No Attitude, as

follows.

Students’ Attitude towards English Active Use of English Language Education Study Program and English Letters Study Program at

Khairun University

131

Alternative answer

Table1: Question and Answer Choices.

Question

Choice value and alternative answer

Strong-

Agree

Dis-

agree

Strong-

Dis-

agree

Atti-

tude

Positive

Negative

3.1 Subject of the Research

The subject of this research took 51 students in

semester 7

Faculty of Teachers Training and

Education (FKIP) consists of 31 students, Faculty of

Letters 20 students. Data collection in this research

uses questionnaire. Students were determined based

on purposive sampling. The sample is taken based

on the subjective judgment of the researcher, where

the requirements are made because all samples are

students who have been taught from semester 1

to semester 7

3.2 Data Collection and Analysis

Data collection is used questionnaire. Questionnaires

were submitted to student in written form delivered

directly to student with the number of question 40

items. In closed questionnaires, the students are only

to choose in giving answer.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Students’ attitudes towards actively English use of

Language Education Study Program and English

Letters Study Program shows that there were many

indicators among Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree,

Strongly Disagree, No attitude. On each of these

indicators are presented a number of questions

randomized attitude statements from 40 attitude

statements given to students to answer them. Each

question statement is summarized on several

indicators that in this study the indicators of the

Strongly Agree attitude statement or very positive

statement given randomly on the statement of

attitude are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 27, 28, 29, 30,

31, and 32. Indicators of Agree or positive

statements can be randomly assigned to attitude

statements at number 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20,

21, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40. Indicator

Disagree is negative attitude. Indicators Agree is

also given randomly at numbers 22, 23, 24, 25, and

26. Then the statement of the Strongly Disagree

English language is given randomly in number 7, 8,

9, 17, 18 and 19. Statements of no attitude are not

given questions about specific attitude statements,

but only look at the level of variation in student

responses in understanding the use of English.

Analysis of the attitude statement on all

indicators used the SPSS version 20. This research

founded that answering all questions the students’

attitude on categories Strongly Agree, Agree,

Disagree, Strongly Disagree, No attitude. Findings

on the Strongly Agree its indicator or a very positive

attitude in using English in the classroom are

illustrated on graph 1, the graph following can be

illustrated.

Graph1: Strongly Agree Indicators.

Graph 1 above illustrates that the answers of 51

students are very varied because the average student

in answering the questions shows the smallest value

of 2.05 and the largest of 3.01 with an average level

of 73.40% for each student. The average decline rate

overall item 69.08%. The overall statement of

strongly Agree or attitudes very like overall

illustrates not too significant using English in the

classroom. If converted in determining attitudes on a

scale the rating scale is between levels 61-90. This

shows that students of English Language Education

and English Litters like to use English in the

classroom and around the campus.

When viewed at the level of diversity, the

respondents showed a figure of 239.7%. This

number implies that the diversity of responses of

respondents to the attitude of using English is good.

So, also the attitude of respondent is very good

because the density in answering questions is very

significant at 0.30%. The value of the attitude Agree

or scale likes English education students and English

Litters illustrated in the following graph.

ICTL 2018 - The 1st International Conference on Teaching and Learning

132

Graph 2: Agree Indicators.

In graph 2 above shows that the attitude of the

seventh semester students of English Language

Education Study Program and English Letters Study

Program at Khairun University illustrated the

number of items divided by the number of

respondents obtained by an average of 69% with the

diversity of each student at 322.3%, and their

density at 0.21%. This shows that every student in

the English Language Education Study Program and

English Letters study program is good at using

English actively in the classroom. The attitude value

Agree or likes in table 2 (two) 0.21% compared to

the attitude of Strongly Agree 0.30%. On chart 1 the

density level of the respondent's answer to theirs

attitude were very good. This shows that English and

English Letters Education students love to use

English actively in classroom.

In graph 3 illustrated that Disagree students learn

or use English in the classroom.

Graph 3.Disagree Indicators

Graph 3 above is illustrated that the seventh

semester of English Language Education and

English Letters Education at Khairun University is

Disagree on the use of English. The average level of

the item statement is 66.47% Disagree attitude for

each student. The average all students are in the

statement of Disagree 5.11% with diversity of

90.49%. An attitude scale the average is quite high

beyond the specified level, which is 31-60%. This is

also seen in the density level in responding to the

0.73% Disagree statement for all students.

Graph 4, students are measured by the indicator

of Strongly Disagree in using English in the

classroom.

Graph 4: Strongly Disagree Indicators.

Graph 4 above shows the attitude of each student

on Strongly Disagree in using English in the

classroom. The average response of each student is

1.56 - 8.80 or 36.68%. The responses of all students

were 17.26%, with a diversity of answers of 0.75-

2.18 or 59.94%. Overall answer density is 0.61%.

This means that students do not use English in class

very high. Graph 4 above shows that the use of a

scale of the Strongly Disagree attitude of students

does not like to use English in the classroom does

not exceed the set standard of 21-30%.

The results of Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree,

Strongly Disagree, No Attitude analysis show that

all students like to use English in the classroom.

However, not yet in level Strongly Agree English is

actively used in the classroom. Here is illustrated in

some students who have the attitude of Strongly

Agree using English. It can be seen in the following

details on graph 5.

Students’ Attitude towards English Active Use of English Language Education Study Program and English Letters Study Program at

Khairun University

133

Strongly

Agree

Disagree

Strongly

Disagree

Attitude

Graph 5: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly

Disagree, and No Attitude.

The graph 5 above it is known that the seventh

semester students of the English Language

Education Study Program FKIP and the English

Letters Study Program FIB University of Khairun on

the use of English in the classroom included 10

students who chose the Strongly Agree or

20,29%,Agree 21students or 41, 76%,Disagree 13

students or 26,13%,Strongly Disagree 4 students or

6,96%, and No Attitude 2 students or 4,85%.

5. CONCLUSIONS AND

SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions

This study found that the attitude of Strongly Agree

students of FKIP English Language Education Study

Program and English Letters Study Program FIB

Kharun University, all chose to Agree to use English

in the classroom more, namely 41.76%, followed by

attitude Disagree 26.13%, Strongly Agree 20.29%,

Strongly Disagree 6.96%, and Not Attitude 4.85%.

This shows that seventh semester students of FKIP

English Language Education Study Program and

FIB English Letters Study Program Agree to use

English actively in classroom with the diversity of

each student at 322.3%, and its density is at 0.21%.

The use of English in the class include 10 students

choosing Strongly Agree or 20.29%, 21Agree

students or 41, 76%,Disagree 13 students or

26.13%,Strongly Disagree 4 students or 6.96%, and

Not Attitude 2 students or 4.85%.

5.2 Suggestions

This research still has many shortcomings, including

not accommodating relationships the influence of

attitude and motivation. So, the further researcher is

expected to be able to connect attitudes and

motivations in the use of language actively in the

classroom. The results of this study recommend to

the Program Study of English Language Education

Study Program and English Letters study program to

encourage students to use language actively in the

classroom.

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