CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background
Why
do people want to learn foreign language? Each person might have different
reasons. Harmer (1992:1) in Sahabuddin (1994) gives a number of different
reasons in learning foreign language. Two of them are curriculum and
advancement. The first reason is the main reason for students to study
language. They study it because it is on the curriculum whether they like it or
not. Second, people study language because they think it will give them
opportunity to develop their professional life.
It is expected to make them find a better job easily.
In
Indonesia, English has been determined as a foreign language which is taught as
one of the compulsary subject in the school. It means that it is a must for
students to learn and master English. It can not be denied that English plays
important role in our life. Most of the books, mass media, and articles are
written in English. Therefore, English is very useful language for learning
various kinds of knowledge, such as Art and Science, philosophy, politics,
technology, engineering, etc. Intended to fulfill the objectives of curriculum
and to develop their professional life students have to be success in mastering
English.
In
Indonesia, there are several kinds of school. Among of them are general school
and vocational school. English as a compulsary subject is not only taught for
elementary level up to high school of general school but also for vocational
school. In which, vocational school is known as skill education, offered
training in careers that require practical expertise. Students at vocational
school receive more hands-on, career-minded education than students at general
school. They are given the opportunity to explore their potential careers
goals. So, they more concern on the subject related to their specific trade,
such as welding, wood, art and design, mechanics, or engineering. However, they
still need another general subject to support their career development.
Therefore, vocational school students also receive general suject including
science, mathematics, and languages.
In
developing their skills, students have to be successfull in general subject
especially for English which is known as the International Language. As we know
that most of the books, mass media, and articles are written in English.
Students can get more information to enlarge their knowledge from those. Looking at the previous explanations, it is a
must for students to master English. Jacobovits in Sahabuddin (1994) states
that there are two important factors. They are environment factors and the
learner factors. The second factors is the most dominant one. It consists of
age, intelegent, aptitude, motivation, attitude, and cognitive style.
In
this case, the researcher is interested to research the attitude of vocational
school students. Morgan (1961:526) states that an attitude is usually defined
by psychologist as a tendency to respond positively (favourably) or negatively
(unfavourably) to certain object, person, or situation. Someone will have a
positive attitude towards something if it is considered good for him depends on
his need and interest of it.
According
to Aiken (1988), attitude and interest are placed at the same concept though
there are differences in the manner in which these terms are employed. Unlike
attitude, being interested in something simply means that the person spends
time thingking about or reacting to it. It can be said that interest has a
positive attitude. If a student has a good interest toward a lesson, they will
always try to know more and understand the lesson and enjoy all activities
related to that lesson. It means that interest also gives big impacts on
students’ success in mastering English.
Why
do the researcher concern on vocational school students? The researcher look at
the contrary situations between the students’ needs in developing their
practical expertise and the important of English. As we know that students at
Vocational school are brought to more concern on the subject related to their
specific trade to explore their skill while English is also very important to
enlarge their knowledge intend to develop their career. Which one is more
important for them?
Concerning
with this case, the researcher have done a survey at SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu
Gowa. As a vocational school, students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu are brought
out to focus more on practical subject. Three of six days are used in
laboratory to apply the specific-trade subjects. In this school, each trade has
a laboratory. They spend their time to practice the teories. The other days are
used to study the general subjects. English takes only 4 hours in a week.
The
researcher have interviewed some students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu to find out
their opinion about English. Some of them said that English is important for
them because they need English to develop their skills abroad. Some of them
said that it is not important to learn English because they do not use English
in their practical class. The most important subject is the subject related to
their specific-trade. Some of them said that they learn English only to follow
the curriculum of the school as the requirement of graduation.
Based
on those cases, the researcher decides to conduct the present research. The
intention of the study is to find out the attitude of students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu toward English.
B.
Problem
Statement
Based
on the background above, the researcher formulates the problem statement as
follows:
1.
What is the attitude of
the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu toward English?
2.
Is there any
significant correlation between students’ attitude toward English and their
English achievement?
C.
Objective
of Research
The
objectives of this research are to find out the attitude of students of SMK
Negeri 2 Somba Opu toward English, whether they have positive attitude or
negative attitude toward English, and to know the degree of correlation between
students’ attitude toward English and their English achievement.
D.
Significance
of Research
The
results of this research are expected to be useful information for the
teachers, headmaster, and the decision makers of English Language Instruction
in vocational school in Indonesia and especially in SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu in
improving educational system. It is also expected to give them considerations
to find a way in giving awareness to students about the importances of English.
E.
Scope
of Research
The
scope of this research is under the discipline of Psycolinguistics related to
the problem statement which deals with the students’ attitude. The activities
of this research cover in finding out the attitude of students of vocational
school toward English and the correlation of it with students’ achievement. The
content of this research is restricted to the students’ attitude and their
English achievement. Based on what Rokeach stated that attitude is an
organization of beliefs, which each belief within an attitude organization is
convinced to have three components. They are cognitive component, affective component,
and behavioral component. Then, about some factors that give influences to the
students’ attitude. The attitude obtained have close correlation to the
students’ achievement as what Spolsky states that attitude will affect the
learning outcomes.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE
LITERATURE
This
chapter deals with some previous findings, some partinent ideas, and resume.
A.
Some
Previous Findings
There
are some researches that have been reported to expose the students’ attitude
toward English to make teaching and learning process more effective.
Syarifuddin
(1988) reported that most of the students of IKIP Ujung Pandang feel demanded
to study English and they need to study English based on their discipline of
their study in their departments. Beside that, he reported that students are
interested in studying but they do not have enough effort and opportunity to
study the language intensively.
Dahlia
Luasin (2001) conducted research on the attitude of the students of sewing
study program of State University of Makassar towards English materials. She
reported that the students have positive attitude in the cognitive and
behavioral components towards English material but they have negative attitude
in the affective components towards English material.
Andi
Mulianti (1998) conducted research on the correlation between attitude and
students’ proficiency in learning English. She reported that there is positive
and meaningful correlation between the attitude and English learning
proficiency of the students. She also reported that the attitude has
contribution towards the successfull in learning.
Irwanto
(2000) conducted research on the attitude of the third grade students of SLTP
Terbuka Bangkala Jeneponto towards English. He found that the students have
positive attitude towards English speakers, media which use English, and
English Language Teaching (ELT). The students are exposed with English in their
daily activities. There are many kinds of activities that lead the students
come in contact with English such as, watching TV, playing, reading English
books or comics, attending English course, etc.
Looking
at the finding of some researchers above, the researcher conclude that attitude
has correlation with students’ interest, students’ motivation, and their
successful in language learning. Beside that, it can be concluded that
behavioral components takes a big contribution in influencing students’
attitude.
B.
Some
Partinents Ideas
1.
Definitions
of Attitude
According
to Rokeach (1980:112) “an attitude is a relatively enduring organization of
belief around an object or situation
predispotition one to respond in some preferential manner”. Furthermore, he
defines that an attitude is an organization of several beliefs focused on
specific subject (phisical or social, concrete or abstract) or condition
predisposing one to respond in some preferential manner. Some of those beliefs
about an object or condition refers to the fact and evaluation. An attitude is
thus a package of beliefs consisting of interconnected assertions to the effect
that certain things about a particular object or condition are true or false,
and other things about it are desirable or undesirable.
Morgan
(1961:526) states that “an attitude is usually defined by psychologist as a tendency
to respond positively (favourably) or negatively (unfavourably) to certain
objects, person, or situation”.
Rita
L. Atkinson, Richard and Ernest R. Hilgard (1981:543) point out that “Attitudes
are likes and dislikes; affinities for and aversion to situations, object,
persons, groups, and any other identifiable aspect of the environment,
including abstract ideas and social policies”.
Donald
in Rasyid (1978) points out that an attitude is defined as a predispotition of
act, a state of readiness to act in a particular way. Attitude is generalized
state of individual, which leads to act result in a wide variety of particular
ways of behaving.
Knech
in Mulianti (1998) states that an attitude as an enduring organization of
motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive processes with relate to
some aspect of individual’s world.
Oppenheim
(1966) states that most definition seem to agree that an attitude is a state of
readiness, a tendency to act or react in a certain way when faced with certain
stimuli. While according to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of current
English, attitude is the way of thingking or behaving towar someone or
something. Then, Allports in Syarifuddin (1988) defines attitude as a mental
and neutral state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a
directive or dynamic influences upon the ndividual responses to all objects and
situation with it is related.
The
last, Aiken (1988:303) defines an attitude as a learned predisposition object,
situation, institution, or person. He states also that an attitude consists of
three components, namely: cognitive components refer to knowledge or
intelective, affective components refer to the emotional and motivational, and
behavioral components refer to behavioral and action.
After
analyzing all the definitions above, the researcher concludes that attitude is
a way of thinking or behaving positively or negatively toward something, to act
or react in a certain condition, object, person, group, and any other
identifiable aspect of environment, either real or abstract which affect him/
her to respond in some preferential manner.
2.
Components
of Attitude
a.
According to Zimbardo
Philip G. (1979:647) Attitudes have three component:
1. Belief,
or proposition about the way things are ought to be.
2. Affect,
or emotion associated with these beliefs, measurable in terms of psychological
reactions or intensity and style of response.
3. Action-intention
component, with a given probability of responding in specific ways.
b.
Rokeach in Dahlia
Luasin (2001) states that attitude is an organization of beliefs, which each
belief within an attitude is convinced to have three component. They are:
1. Cognitive
component, because it represents a person’s knowlwdge, held with varying
degrees of certitude, about what is true or false, good or bad, and desireable
or undesireable.
2. Affective
component, because under suitable conditions the belief is capable of arousing
affect of varying intensity entering around the object of the belief, around
other objects (individuals or groups) taking a positive or negative position
with respect to the object of belief. Or around the belief itself, when its
validity is seriously questioned, as in an argument.
3. Behavioral
component, because the belief being a response predisposition of varying threshold,
must lead to some action when it is suitably activated.
c.
Hornby defines attitude
as a way of thinking or behaving towards someone or something. The component of
the attitude can be devided into two main parts based on the keywords, thinking
and behaving.
1.
Thinking, the word
thinking has often been considered in term of the cognitive component which
refers to our believe about the object, the amount of positive or negative
feeling that one has toward the object. It uses generally to judge things. Horny
defines this word as the use of mind in an active way to form connected idea.
2.
Behaving, Hornby states
that behave is or conduct oneself in the specific way, way of acting or
functioning. From the definition, it can be concluded that behave towards
things whether he respond positively or negatively.
d.
Syarifuddin (1988)
devided the word attitude into three components. They are:
1. Demand,
is an action of demanding or something demand (A.S Hornby, 1992). He said that
demand is something demanded and it seems important to do. In this case,
someone who feels demanded to do something, he will always try to fulfill it.
So that he will free of demand.
2. Need,
is something lacking on an existing of conditions in which are necessary to be
done or to be possessed. In other word, someone who need something will make
effort to do something that may support him to find what he needs.
3. Interest,
Hornby (1992) defines interest as (a) state of wanting to learn or know about
something or somebody. (b) Quality that rouses concern or curiosity; power to
hold one’s attention. (c) Thing with which one is enthusiastic.
3.
The
Functions of Attitudes
Daniel
Katz (1960) has advanced a functionalist theory of attitudes. He takes the view
that our attitudes are determined by the functions they serve for us. In brief,
people hold given attitudes because these attitudes help them achieve their
basic goals. Katz distinguish four types of psychological functions that
attitudes meet:
a.
The
Adjustment Function
Human
beings typically seek to maximize rewards and minimize penalties. According to
Katz, people develop attitudes that aid them in accomplising this goal. We tend
to favor a political party or candidate that will advance our economic lot-if
we are a businessperson, one that will hold the line on or lower corporate
taxes; if we are unemployed, one that will increase unemployment and social
welfare benefits. And we are likely to seek as a lover someone who provides us
with a variety of rewards-a sense of self-worth, recognition, security, and so on-while
avoiding someone who produces the opposite effect.
b.
The
Ego-defense Function
Some
attitudes serve to protect us from from acknowledging basic truths about
ourselves or the harsh realities of life. They serve as defense mechanism,
shielding us from inner pain. Projection is such a device: we attribute to
others traits that we find unacceptable in ourselves, and in so doing, we
dissociate ourselves from the traits. To the alcoholic it may be the other
fellow who overindulges; to the failing student it may be the teacher who is
incompetent; to the hostile and aggressive child it may be the other child who
started the fight.
c.
The
Value-expressive Function
While
ego-defensive attitudes prevent us from revealing unpleasant realities to
ourselves, other attitudes help give positive expression to our cental values
and to the type of person we imagine ourselves to be. Such attitudes reinforce
a sense of self-realization and self-expression. We may have a self-image of
ourself as an “enlightened conservative” or a “militant radical” and therefore
cultivate attitudes that we believe indicate such a core value; or we may see
ourself as a “swinger” or “someone really with it” and hence cultivate
attitudes that reinforce this perspective.
d.
The
Knowledge Function
In
life we seek some degrees of order, clarity, and stability in our personal
frame of reference; we search for meaning in and understanding of the events
that impinge upon us. Attitudes help supply us with standards of evaluation. It
clarity with respect to the great and bewildering complexities of life that are
due to human differences.
4.
Some
Factors That Influence Students Attitude
Mulianti,
Andi (1998) formulates some factors that give influences to students’ attitude.
They are:
a.
Aptitude
It
is a fairly common assumption that there is a thing as a special talent; knect,
gift or aptitude for second language learning, which some learners possess to a
greater extent than others and which is to a large extent responsible for
individual differences in second language learning success.
William
B, Michael in Mulbar (1986:10) defines aptitude as a person’s capacity, or
hypothetical potential for acquisition of a certain more or less well-defined
pattern of behavior involved in the performance of task with respect to which
the individual has little or no previous training.
In
this case, an aptitude can be seen as the quality of certain capacity possessed
by a person. From Mulbar’s quotation above, it seems that he considered an
aptitude from the individual capacity to acquire something or learning task
depends on whether a peson has little or no previous training.
Thus,
it can be said that every person or learner do differ in their aptitude for
particular kinds of learning specially in language learning. Every normal
person is born with the ability to learn languages.
It
is relevant to what Littlewood’s statement in Rasyid (1992:53) that every
normal chidren are born with an innate capacity as Language Acquisition Device
(LAD). Furthermore, he gave the characteristics of LAD, they are:
1.
Only the human species
has the LAD and usually operate successfully in normal person form infancy
until the age of seven.
2.
It is a means in
processing the speech in the environment in order to they can construct the
speech based on system.
3.
The universal features
which are found in all known language, such as the use of word order to signal
meaning, or basic grammatical relationship that such as between subject and
object, will assist the LAD to operate so quickly and easily.
The
explanation above expalin to us that an aptitude is natural and owned by an
individual since he or she was born. Connected to the learning proccess,
students usually more interested to study a certain subject if it is suitable
with their aptitude. They will learn seriously and understand the subject
easier. For example, a student who has aptitude towards language, certainly he
or she will learn the language seriously because of his or her aptitude. It can
make the student will success in learning the language.
Based
on the explanation above, it can be concluded that aptitude is one of the
elements that can influences students’ aptitude.
b.
Interest
Some
experts have stated that interest is ine of the psychological factors that give
a big impact to students’ learning achievement. According to Aiken (1988)
interest is a feeling or preference connecting one’s own activities. Being
interested in something simply means that the person spends time thinking about
and reaction to it, regardless of whether those thoughts and reaction are
positive or negative.
Hillary
defines interest as persisting tendency to pay attention to and enjoy some
activities or content. While Airasian and Block state that interest may define
behaviorally in terms of whether or not the individual would voluntary involve
in additional learning tasks of his type free to make such as choice. In
addition, it may be defined more subjectively in terms of the individual’s
liking, enthusiasm, positive view, preference, and desire.
Sukardi
(1985:4) gives three ways to determine interest, they are:
1. Expressed
interest; a person can express his interest or choice by words.
2. Manifest
interest; a person can express his interest through actions or activities or he
will involve actively in a certain activity.
3. Inventoried
interest; a person’s interest can be measured from his respond to certain
questions related to particular activity.
Concerning
to the explanations above, it can be said that interest represent a positive
attitude towards object, people, opinion, experience, and activities. The
students’ sttitude can be formed because they have interest toward a certain
subject.
c.
Motivation
Psychologists
tend to use the word motive in different ways, depending on their theoritical
biases and orientation. As Hutt and Isaacson (1971:357) say that there is no
universal agreement what the word “motive” means either at a general meaning or
in certain theoritical framework. Motives are theoritical concept used to
explained the direction, intensity, and persistance of behavioral pattern.
According
to Simanjuntak (1988) motivation is commonly thought as an inner drive,
impulse, emotion, or wish that causes one to particular action. While Moscowits
and Orgel (1979:76) state that motivation is related to the study of the causes
of behavior: why does an organism (human) react, and why does it react in a
particular way?
In
learning language, motivation takes an important role. Some students will do
better than others because they are better motivated. According to Cook
(1991:72) in learning foreign language, people usually learn it because two
reasons, namely: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. The
integrative motivation refers to whether the students need to be attracted by
the culture of that foreign language, so it is caused him to integrated himself
into that culture. While the instrumental motivation reflects whether the
student in learning the language as a means in achieving something, such as it
will be a means in getting them a better job, fulfilling, academic achievement,
etc.
Talking
about the successfull in learning English, it is very important for the student
to have one or two kinds of those motivations. For example, if the student have
instrumental motivation, it will support the student to learn better because the
student have objectives in learning the language.
Based
on the explanation above, it can be inferred that motivation takes important
role in forming the students’ attitude towards English.
d.
Teacher
One
of the most important components in learning situation is the teachers
themselves. The teacher’s skill and personality are instrumental in creating
the conditions for learning. And in the development of education field.
Nowadays, the profesional teachers are very demanded. Baradja in Rasyid
(1993:48) gives six qualifications of professional English Teacher as ensuings:
1.
They can use English
fluently and accurately
2.
They master the
knowledge of that language
3.
They master the
principle of that language
4.
They possess the other
knowledge widely
5.
They possess the knowledge
of the native speaker culture
6.
They possess the
knowledge and skill as a fasilitator
By
seeing the important role of the teachers, we accept that the teachers, we
accept that the teachers also have dominant factors to the success of the
students in learning. The role of the teachers are needed to create a good
condition in a classroom. Asa clarks and Silberstain say in Sahabuddin
(1994:14) that teacher possess three roles, namely the teachers as a teacher,
the teachers as the participants and the teachers as the facilitators.
Finally,
we can say that the students’ positive attitude toward a subject will grow and
improve base on their perception about the teachers’ behavior, deed, and how
they carry out their profession.
e.
Materials
By
paying close attention to the role of the teachers and materials, we can see
the close relationship both of components. The teachers are the presenter of
the materials to the students, while the materials are something that the
presenter will teach to the students. Before coming to class to present the
materials. It is necessary for the teachers to make a good presentation.
There
are four consideration given by Syarifuddin A (1986) related to the materials
that should be presented to the students:
1) What
kind of material will be presented to the students
2) What
method are suitable to be applied for certain materials
3) What
media which are appropriate to be used
4) The
materials should be based on the students’ programmes of study. This helps them
to get the ease and encouragement to learn the subject
If the materials can not fulfill
the number of consideration above. It is needed for teacher to make a decision.
Whether he has to change and find the other materials that more suitable, or he
may reorganize the class activities which suitable with his teaching technique
in order to make the class interesting.
Based on the description above, it
seems that materilas must be design and created by the teachers well. If it
doesn’t, the teacher will face the innatentive student who have bad judgement
towards the teaching and the subject. It will lead the student to have positive
attitude. Thus, the material can directly affect the students’ attitude towards
an object.
5.
Attitude
In Language Learning
In
forming the students’s successful in learning, there are three important aspect
that should be considered. They are affective aspect, cognitive aspect, and
psychomotor aspect. Those three aspects have close realationship to each other.
Organizing
an English class doesn’t mean that bring the students in contact with the
material directly. Harmer (1991) states that before starting the class, a
teacher needs to know a considerable amount about the students. He has to know
the students feel about learning English, who the students are, what students
bring to the class, what the students need, do they feel friendly or hostile
towards English in particular based on their attitude toward English based on
their previous experiences.
According
to Crow in Syarifuddin (1986:17-19) the degree of success that a learner can be
expected to achieve in his learning depends on the measurement of his own
attitude or temporary and persistant interest. Attitude presents great
possibilities achievement and failure life.
Spolsky
(1989) states that factor influences the student’s success in learning language
is the learner’s attitude towards the target language. The student attitude
whether positive (favourable) or negative (unfavourable) will affect the
learning outcomes. Lambert and Ardner in Spolky (1989) state that an individual
motivation to learn a second language is controlled by his attitude. It doesn’t
affect directly, but it leads the student to motivate in learning the language.
In other words, Spolsky states that a motivation in second language learning
refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning
plus favorable attitude toward the target language.
Looking
at the previous description, it can be indicated that attitude in language
learning has an important role as one of the factors in reaching the objectives
of learning. The students who have positive attitude will always pay attention
and learn the language well.
6.
How
to Measure Attitude
There
are several ways adopted by some experts to measure attitude since it can not
directly observed. Aswar in Dahlia (2001) states that since behaviour can not
be associated with the attitude, the most important and basic way of assesing
the attitude is written statement. The written statement based on the attitude
scale will indicate whether he responds positively or negatively to the object.
Based on attitude expression then the observer can conclude the attitude of the
subject.
Different
methods can be used to obtain information on a person’s attitude, including
direct observation of how the person behave in relation to certain things. That
is, what does the person actually do or say in situations in which the attitude
object or event is present?willingness to do a favor, sign a petition, or make
a donation to some cause are examples of behavioral measures of attitudes.
Direct
behavioral observation certainly has its place, particularly with certain
groups of individuals (such as young children) or when other methods are
considered obtrusive. However, obtaining a representative sample of behavior,
across time and situations, is time-consuming and expensive. In addition,
behavioral measures of attitudes often yield different results from other
methods. Among these methods are projective techniques and attitude
questionnaires or scales.
Attitudes
ma be assesed projectively by showing a set of ambiguous pictures to people and
instructing them to make up a story about each picture. Because the pictures
can be interpreted in different ways, the stories the respondents tell should
reveal something about their attitudes toward the characters, scenes, and situations in the pictures.
The
most popular method of measuring attitudes is to administer an attitude scale.
An attitude scale, consisting of a set of positive and negative statements
concerning a subject of interest (a group of people, an institution, a concept,
and so forth) can be constructed by a number of different procedures. One of
the first attitude scale was the Borganus Social Distance Scale (Borganus,
1925), on which respondents were asked to indicate their degree of acceptance
of various racial and religious groups
by ranking them. The Borganus scale proved useful in research on regional
differences and other variables associated with racial prejudice, but it
permitted attitude measurement on only an ordinal scale and was fairly crude by
present standards. Somewhat more precise measures of attitudes were subsequently
made possible by the work of Louis Thurstone, Rensis Likert, Louis Guttman, and
other psychometricians.
a.
Thurstone
Scales
During
the late 1920s; Louis Thurstone and his colleagues began attempting to put
attitude measurment on the level of interval measurement by using the methods
of pair comparisons and equal-appearing intervals. The first step in
constructing an attitude scale by either method is to collect a large number of
statements expressing a wide range of positive and negative attitudes toward a
given topic. The next step in the method of pair comparisons is for a group
experts to compare every statement with every other statement and make a
statemnet about which statement in each pair expresses a more positive
attitude. Because the pair comparisons procedure proved cumbersome and
time-consuming, the method of equal-appearing intervals was preferred.
The
first step in the method of equal-appearing intervals is to have several dozen
expert “judges” sort the 200 or so attitude statements into eleven categories,
varying from least favorable to most favorable toward the attitude object. The
judges are instructed to think of the eleven categories as lying at equal
intervals along a continuum. After all judges have completed the sorting
process for all statements, a frequency distribution for each statement is
constructed by counting the number of judges who placed the statement in each
of the eleven categories. Next, the median (scale value) amd semi-interquartile
range (ambiguity index) is computed from the frequency distribution for each
statement. The final attitude consists of twenty or so statements selected in
such a way that the twenty scale values are approximately equidisant in
numerical value, the range of scale values is a wide as possible, and the
ambiguity indexes are low.
Thurstone
and his coworkers constructed some thirty attiude scales by the method of
equal-appearing intervals, which was generalized by Remmers in his master attitude scales.
Nine commercially available Master Attitude Scales (by H. H. Remmers, Purdue
University Bookstore) measure attitudes toward any school subject, any
vocation, any instruction, any defined group, any proposed, social action, any
practice, any homemaking activity, individual and group morale, and the high
school. Like the Thurstone scales in general, the realibilities of the Master
Attitude Scales are mostly in the 80s.
Despite
the fairly high realibilities of instrument constructed by this procedure, the
method of equal-appearing intervals has been critized on a number of points:
(1) the great amount of work required in constructing an attitude scale, (2)
the lack of uniqueness in a respondent’s score, and (3) the effects of the
judges’ own attitudes on the scale values of statements (Seltiz, Wrightsman
& Cook, 1976). Considering the availability of new time-saving techniques,
the first criticism is not so serious. The second criticism refers to the fact
that the same score, which is simply the median scale value of the statements
checked, may be obtained by checking different statements. The third criticism
refers to the fact that not everyone is capable of playing the role of a
neutral judge. Bruvold (1975) concluded, however, that careful instruction of
the judges reduces the judgmental bias to a level that does not seriously
distort the equal-interval properties of these scales. A final cricism, which
is not limited to Thurstone-type attitude scale, is that these scales represent
measurement at only an ordinal, not an interval, level (Petrie, 1969). Although
the actual level of measurement of equal-appearing interval scales probably
lies somewhere between the ordinal and interval levels, the matter is
debatable.
b.
Likert
Scales
Like
the method of equal-appearing intervals, Likert’s method of summated ratings
begins with the collection of a large number of statements expressing a variety
of positive and negative attitudes toward a specified object or event. Next a
group of 100 to 200 people, not necessarily expert judges as required by the
method of equal-appearing intervals, indicate on a four to seven point scale
the extent to which they agree or disagree with each statement. In the typical
case of a five-point scale, positively stated items are scored 0 for strongly
disagree, 1 for disagree, 2 for undecided, 3 for agree, and 4 for strongly
agree; negatively stated items are scored 4 for strongly disagree, 3 for
disagree, 2 for undecided, 1 for agree, and 0 for strongly agree. A
respondent’s total score on the initial
attitude item set is computed as the sum of scores for the individual items.
After the total score of all respondents on the initial item set are obtained,
a statistical procedure (t-test or item discrimination index) is applied to
each item. The equal numbers of positively and negatively stated items (usually
ten of each) that significantly
differentiate between respondents whose total scores fall in the upper 27
percent from those whose total score fall in the lower 27 percent are selected.
Not
all published attitude scales referred to as Likert-type scales were
constructed by items –analysis procedures (Triandis, 1971). In many cases a
series of declarative statements, each with five agree-disagree response
categories, is put together as an instrument without any specific theoretical
construct in mind or without following the Likert attitude–scaling procedure.
Consequently, one can not be certain that a questionnaire that looks like
Likert Scale was actually constructed by the Likert scaling procedure.
Despite
misuses of Likert’s method of summated ratings, it has several advantages over
Thurstone’s method of equal-appearing intervals (Selltiz, Wrightman & Cook,
1976). Because it does not require expert, unbiased judges, constructing a
Thurstone scale. Also unlike Thurstone scale, Likert scales permit the use of
items that are not clearly related to the attitude being assesed as long as
they are significantly correlated with total score. Finally, a Likert scale is
likely to have a higher reliability coeficient than a Thurstone scale consisting
of the same number of items. Like Thurstone scales, however, Likert scales have
beeen criticized for the fact that different patterns of response can yield the
same score and that the scores represent ordinal measurement at best.
c.
Guttman
Scales
The
Thurstone and Likert attitude-scaling procedures have been widely used, but a
third procedure-Guttman’s (1944) scalogram analysis-has been employed less
frequently. The purpose of scalogram analysis (Guttman, 1944) is to determine
whether the responses to the items chosen to measure a given attitude fall on a
single dimension. When the items constitude a true, unidimentional Guttman
scale, the respondent who endorses a particular item also endorses every item
having a lower scale value. This condition is more likely to be realized with
cognitive than with attitude statements and other affective items.
As
in the Borganus (1925) approach to attitude-scale construction, scalogram
analysis aims to produce a cumulative, ordinal scale. Guttman realized the
difficulty of creating such a true scale with attitudinal items, but he felt
that it could be approximated. The extent to which a true scale is obtained is
indicated by the reproducibility coefficient, computed as the proportion of
actual responses that fall into the perfect pattern of a true Guttman scale.
That is, what proportion of the respondents who endorse a particular item
endorse all items below it on the scale?an acceptable value of the
reproducibility coefficient is 90 (Edwards, 1975).
d.
Semantic
Differential Scales
A
semantic differential scale asks an individual to give a quantitative rating to
the subject of the attitude scale on a number of bipolar adjective such as
good-bad, friendly-unfriendly, positive-negative. For example, on a scale
concerning attitude towards TV taxes, the following items might be included:
Necessary ___
___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___
Unnecessary
3
2 1 0
-1 -2 -3
Fair ___ ___
___ ___ ___
___ ___ Unfair
3
2 1 0 -1
-2 -3
Charles E. Osgood and his
associates (1975) devised the semantic differential to measure the connotative
meaning of a concept (a person, a product, a group of people, a song, a
political party,a candidate, or anything else). The subject is asked to rate
the concept on a series of seven-point bipolar scales as in the following
format for a political candidate (the subject is asked to check the appropriate
blank on the continuum):
Candidate Mary M.
Doe
Weak
StrongCautious
Rash
Bad
Good
Kind
CruelHonest
Dishonest
The scale provides a method of measuring the
similarity of difference between individuals in their concepts of a given
object.
7.
Achievement
Many
scientists have issued concepts deal with achievement. According to Good (1959:
7) achievement is academic knowkedge attained or skill development in the
school subject usually designed by teacher. Mackey in Nurrahmatullah has been
stated that achievement test determine how much of material of course has been
taught.
Gay
(1981: 144) states that achievement tests measure the current status of
individuals with respect to proficiency in given areas of knowledge or skill.
Standardize achievement test are carefully developed to include measurement of
objectives common to many school systems. They measyre knowledge of facts,
concepts, and principles. Individual level of achievement is compared to the
norm or average score, for his or her grade or age level. Standardize
achievement tests are available for individual curriculum areas.
Furthermore,
R.S Wood and D.g Marquis in Hasnia point
out that achievement is the actual
ability that can measure directly by using tests. In accordance with the prior
statement, Healton in states that the term achievement is generally use to more
formal test which have been designed to show the mastery of a particular
syllabus. These test are similar to class progress testing the sense that they
are generally based on a syllabus and measure what has been taught and
learnt.
C.
Resume
Related
to the previous research findings and some pertinent ideas, the researcher
resumes the following points:
Attitude
is a way of thinking or behaving positively or negatively toward something, to
act or react in a certain condition, object, person, group, and any other
identifiable aspect of environment, either real or abstract which affect him/
her to respond in some preferential manner.
An attitude consists of three components, namely:
cognitive components refer to knowledge or intelective, affective components
refer to the emotional and motivational, and behavioral components refer to
behavioral and action.
There are two most influencing factors in students’
attitude. They are interest and motivation. Being interested means that
students can spend time to think and react about something. While motivation is
an inner drive, impulse, or emotion that causes one to particular action.
Someone will do better if they are better motivated.
Students’ attitude have close relationship with the
degree of success in learning. It can be said that attitude presents greet
possibilities achievement. While achievement presents the academic test that
measure students’ proficiency in a given skill.
D.
Hypothesis
Related
to the previous explanation, the researcher formulates the hypothesis as
follow:
1.
H1 : There is a
significant correlation between students’ attitude toward English and their
English achievement.
2.
H0 : There is no
significant correlation between students’ attitude toward English and their
English achievement.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter deals with
the research design and variable, population and sample, instrument of the
research, procedure of collecting data and technique of data analysis.
A.
Research
Design and Variable
1.
Research design
In
this research, the researcher applied
correlational study. It described the attitude of vocational school students
toward English and determine the correlation between the attitude of the second
year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa toward English and their English
achievement.
2.
Variable
The
variables of the research as follow:
· The
dependent variable was the students’ attitude toward English
· The
independent variable was the students’ English achievement
B.
Population
and Sample
1.
Population
The
population of this research was the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba
Opu Gowa academic year 2010/2011. The number of students were 580 students, which
spread in 16 classes.
2.
Sample
The
technique sampling used in this research was simple random sampling. The sample
was taken from three classes. The researcher selected the classes randomly from
each different department, they were mechanical department, visual
communication design department, and leather craft department. The total sample
was 79 students, 35 students were taken from mechanical class, 22 students were
taken from visual communication design class, and 22 students were taken from
leather craft class.
C.
Instrument
of Research
The
instrument of this research was a questionnaire by using The Likert scale. The
questionnaire consisted of 18 items and each item was categorized into five
scales; they were strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and strongly
disagree. The questionnaire was constructed based on the components of
attitude; cognitive components (4 items), affective components (4 items), and
behaviotal/action components (4 items). It also related to the factors
that can influence the attitude;
interest (3 items) and motivation (3 items). The questionnaire was used to find
out the students’ attitude toward English.
Another
instrument that the researcher used was students’ English score. It took from the
teachers. It showed the students’ seccesful in learning English. Then, it was
used to analyze the correlation between students’ attitude toward English and
their English achievement.
D.
Procedure
of Collecting Data
Before
doing the data collection, the researcher came to the selected classes. It intended to do an approach to students and
knowing their performance in the classroom. After that, in the last meeting, the researcher collected
the data by following procedures:
1.
The researcher distributed the
questionnaire to the students.
2.
The researcher explained what the
questionnaire about and the purpose of the research.
3.
The students were given 45 minutes to
answer the questions.
Then, the data of students
achievement were taken from the teacher.
E.
Technique
of Data Analysis
The
data obtained from the questionnaire and students’ score. The data were
analyzed by using the procedures as follow:
1.
The questionnaire data
collected throught Likert Scale analyzed and tabulated based on the degree of
attitude.
|
Statement
|
Strongly
Agree
|
Agree
|
Undecided
|
Disagree
|
Strongly
Disagree
|
|
Positive
(+)
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
Negative
(-)
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
2.
Analyzing rate
percentage of the questionnaire data by using this formula:
P =
percentage
Fq = frequency
N = the total respondents
(Sujana,
1992:73)
3.
Classifying the
students’ attitude.
To
get the mean score of the students, the researcher used the following formula:
= the mean of the score 
=
the sum of all score
n = total number of students
(Gay,
1981)
If
the student’s score is under the mean score, it indicates that the student’s
attitude is negative. If the student’s score is over the mean score, it
indicates that the student’s attitude is positive.
4.
Classifying the
students’ score
·
9.6-10 is classified as
Excellent
·
8.6-9.5 is classified
as Very Good
·
7.6-8.5 is classified
as Good
·
6.6-7.5 is classified
as Fairly Good
·
5.6-6.5 is classified
as Fair
·
3.6-5.5 is classified
as Poor
·
0-3.5 is classified as
Very Poor
(Depdiknas,
2005)
5.
Calculating the
correlation
To
know the degree of correlation between the attitude of the second year students
of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa toward English and their English achievement,
the researcher apply the following formula:
rxy
(Gay, 1981)
To
interpret the result of the correlation analysis, the standard correlation
pearson r is used, that is:
|
No.
|
Standard
|
Interpretation
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
0.000-0.200
0.200-0.400
0.400-0.600
0.600-0.800
0.800-1.000
|
Very low
Low
Moderate
Substantial
High
|
(Hadi,
1979)
If
the rxy lies between 0.000-0.200, it means that the correlation between the
attitude of vocational school students and their English achievement is very
low. If the rxy lies between 0.200-0.400, it means that the correlation is low.
If the rxy lies between 0.400-0.600, it means that the correlation is moderate.
If the rxy lies between 0.600-0.800, it means that the correlation is
substantial. If the rxy lies between 0.800-1.000, it means that the correlation
is high.
To
find out whether the correlation between two variables of this study is
significant or not, the r analysis is compared with the r table.
If
rxy > r table, the correlation is positive
If
rxy < r table, the correlation is negative
If
rxy = r table, the correlation is zero
BAB IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter consists of two parts.
The first part deals with the findings of the research and the second part
deals with the discussion of the findings.
A.
Findings
In
this part, the data of research’s findings are presented to show the frequency and
the percentage of the respondents who strongly agree, agree, undecided,
disagree, or strongly disagree with each item of the questionnaire. The
questionnaire describes about students’ attitude toward English. The
questionnaire covers the factors of attitude and the component of the attitude,
which is devided into cognitive component, affective component, and behavioral
or action component.
1.
The
Factors of Attitude
This
part is presented to know the attitude of the second grade students of SMK
Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa in learning English which is affected by some factors.
It covers the students’ attitude based on their interest and motivation in
learning English.
Table
4.1 (English is not an interesting subject)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
5
13
12
28
21
|
6.33
16.46
15.19
35.44
26.58
|
Bahasa Inggris bukanlah pelajaran yang menarik
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The
table 4.1 above shows that the students of vocational school are interested
toward English as one of compulsary subject in school’s curriculum. It is
proved that 62.02 % respondents disagree with the statement that English is not
an interesting subject. 15.19 % respondents are undecided and 22.79 %
respondents agree with the statement.
Table
4.2 (Students attend to English class because English is very interesting
subject)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
16
40
21
2
0
|
20.25
50.64
26.58
2.53
0
|
Saya selalu hadir ketika pelajaran bahasa Inggris karena
saya tertarik mempelajarinya
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.2 above shows that there
is good participation of the second grade students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu
Gowa in English class because they believe that English is interesting. It is
proved that 70.89 % respondents agree that they always attend to English class
because they are interested to learn English. 26.58 % respondents are undecided
and 2.55 % respondents disgree woth the statement.
Table 4.3 (Most of mass medias are written in
English. It motivated the students to learn English)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
23
43
6
7
0
|
29.11
54.43
7.6
8.86
0
|
Saya terpacu untuk mempelajari bahasa Inggris karena
banyaknya media yang menggunakan bahasa Inggris
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The
table 4.3 above shows that almost all students (83.54 % respondents) are
so much motivated to learn English because most of mass media are written in
English. 7.6 % respondents are undecided and 8.86 % respondents disagree with
the statement.
Table 4.4 (As an International language, English is
needed to develop career abroad)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
41
27
8
3
0
|
51.9
34.18
10.13
3.79
0
|
Karena bahasa Inggris adalah bahasa Internasional, saya
ingin mempelajari bahasa Inggris agar bisa mengembangkan karir ke luar negeri
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.4 above
shows that almost all students are motivated to learn English, which is
known as internasional language, to develop their career abroad. It is proved
that 85.27 % respondents agree with the statement, 10.13 % respondents are
undecided, and 3.79 % respondents disgree with the statement.
Table 4.5 (Teachers performance can influence
students’ motivation to learn English)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
29
44
4
1
1
|
36.71
55.69
5.06
1.27
1.27
|
Saya termotivasi untuk belajar bahasa Inggris apabila guru
dapat menyajikan materi dengan baik
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.5 above shows that
performance of the teacher can motivate the students to learn English. It is
proved that 92.4 % respondents agree with the statement, 5.06 % are undecided,
and 2.54 % respondents disagree with the statement that they are motivated to
learn English if the teacher can present the material well.
Table 4.6 (Teaching learning facilities influence
students’ motivation)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
13
27
13
23
3
|
16.46
34.18
16.46
29.11
3.79
|
Sarana dan prasarana yang kurang lengkap membuat saya
malas mengikuti pelajaran bahasa Inggris
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.6 above shows that some of
students believe that teaching learning instrument influence their motivation
to learn English. It is proved that 50.64% respondents agree, 16.46%
respondents are undecided, and 32.9% respondents disagree with the statement
that uncompleted instruments make them lazy to learn English.
Based on the explanations above, it
can be concluded that the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa
have positive response toward some factors of the attitude. It reflect that
they have positive attitude toward English.
2.
Cognitive
Components
Cognitive
component is the first component of attitude. This component covers the
knowledge or information that students have about English. It leads to students
belief toward English.
Table
4.7 (The importance of English for Vocational School)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
38
26
5
5
5
|
48.1
32.91
6.33
6.33
6.33
|
Bahasa Inggris di sekolah kejuruan adalah pelajaran yang
sangat penting dan dibutuhkan
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The
table 4.7 above shows that almost all students belief that English is one of
the most important subject in their school. It is shown by the result of the
research that 81.01% respondents agree, 6.33% respondents are undecided, and
12.66% respondents disagree with the statement.
Table 4.8 (English is needed to enlarge students’
knowledge)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
44
26
6
2
1
|
58.69
32.91
7.6
2.53
1.27
|
Dengan menguasai bahasa Inggris, siswa dapat memperoleh
informasi dan pengetahuan yang lebih luas
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.8 above shows that
almost all students realize that they need English to enlarge their knowledge.
It is proved that 91.6% respondents agree with the statement. 7.6% respondents
are undecided and 3.8% respondents disagree with the statement.
Table
4.9 (English is needed to develop students’ skill)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
20
41
12
5
1
|
25.31
51.9
15.19
6.33
1.27
|
Bahasa Inggris yang sesuai dengan jurusan tertentu dapat meningkatkan
kualitas keterampilan siswa
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.9 above shows that most of students realize
that English which relevance to their specific trade can be useful to develop
their skill. It is proved that 77.21% respondents agree with the statement,
15.19% are undecided, and 7.6% respondents disagree with the statement.
Table
4.10 (English is needed to continue students education to higher level)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
42
30
6
0
1
|
53.16
37.97
7.6
0
1.27
|
Bahasa Inggris sangat dibutuhkan untuk melanjutkan pendidikan
ke jenjang yang lebih tinggi
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.10 above shows that
almost all students belief that by mastering English will be so much helpful
for them to continue their education to higher level. It is proved that 91.13%
respondents agree with the statement, 7.6% are undecided, and 1.27% respondents
disagree with the statement.
Based on the explanations above, it
can be concluded that most of second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu
Gowa have positive response toward information, facts, or knowledge about
English. It means that they have positive attitude toward cognitive component.
3.
Affective
Component
This
is the second component of the attitude. The affective component represents the
feelings and emotions of the students toward English.
Table 4.11 (Students dislike English)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
6
6
16
23
28
|
7.6
7.6
20.25
29.11
35.44
|
Saya tidak suka dengan pelajaran bahasa Inggris
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The
table 4.11 above shows that the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu
Gowa like English. It is shown by the result that 64.55% respondents disagree
with the statement that they do not like English. 20.25% respondents are
undecided, and 14.12% respondents disagree with the statement.
Table 4.12 (Students’ pleasure in learning English
that relevance with their specific trade)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
I5
34
19
9
2
|
18.99
43.04
24.05
11.39
2.53
|
Saya senang mempelajari hal-hal baru mengenai bahasa
Inggris terutama yang berhubungan dengan
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The
table 4.12 above shows that the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu
Gowa prefer to learn English that relevance with their specific trade. It is
proved that 62.03% respondents agree with the statement, 24.05% respondents are
undecided, and 13.92% respondents disagree with the statement.
Table 4.13 (Unconfusing in understanding the
textbook written in English)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
10
43
20
5
1
|
12.66
54.43
25.31
6.33
1.27
|
Belajar bahasa Inggris membuat saya tidak bingung lagi
dalam memahami buku-buku panduan yang berbahasa Inggris
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The
table 4.13 above shows that learning English makes students feel unconfuse in
understanding the book which is written in English. It is shown by the result
that 67.09% respondents agree with the statement, 25.31% respondents are
undecided, and 7.6% respondents disagree with the statetement that learning
English make them understand the book which is written in English easily.
Table
4.14 (Uncomfortable feeling in learning English)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
7
20
14
28
10
|
8.86
25.32
17.72
35.44
12.66
|
Saya merasa gugup dan tidak nyaman ketika pelajaran bahasa
Inggris berlangsung
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.14 above shows that some
of students feel comfort during English learning proccess and some of them does
not. It is proved that only 48.1% respondents disagree with the statement that learning
English make them feel nervous and uncomfort. 17.72% respondents are undecided
and 34.18% respondents disagree with the statement.
Based on the explanations above, it
can be concluded that most of the students have good response toward all feeling
or emotion aspects given in questionnaire. It means that most of the second
year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa have positive attitude toward
affective component.
4.
Behavioral/
Action Component
This
component is the tendency or disposition to act in certain ways with reference
to the object. This component is important to know the actions of the students
toward English whether they reflect positive attitude or negative attitude
toward English.
Table
4.15 (The students attend the English class just for passing the English
subject)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
12
19
6
24
18
|
15.19
24.05
7.6
30.38
22.78
|
Saya mengikuti pelajaran bahasa Inggris hanya untuk
mendapat nilai lulus
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.15 above shows that the
students learn English is not only to get passing grade as curriculum
requirement but also to get knowledge. It is proved that 53.16% respondents
disagree with the statement, 7.6% respondents are undecided, and 39.24%
respondents agree with the statement.
Table
4.16 (The frequency of reading English book after English class finished)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
4
22
33
14
6
|
5.06
27.85
41.77
17.72
7.6
|
Saya sering membaca ulang buku-buku bahasa Inggris setelah
pelajaran bahasa Inggris selesai
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.16 above shows that less than a half of all
respondents always read the English book after class finished, it is shown by
the result that 32.91% respondents agree
with the statement. Almost a half of respondents seldom read the English book
after class finished, it is proved that 41.77% respondents are undecided.
Another of the respondents almost never read the English book after English
class finished, it is shown by the result that 25.32% respondents disagree with
the statement.
Table
4.17 (The enthusiasm of the students in learning English)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
13
27
26
7
6
|
16.46
34.17
32.91
8.86
7.6
|
Saya selalu bersemangat dalam mengikuti pelajaran bahasa
Inggris
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.17 above shows that the students have good
enthusiasm in attending English class. It is proved that 50.63% respondents
agree, 32.91% respondents are undecided, and 16.46% respondents disagree with
the statement that they always
enthusiastic in attending English class.
Table
4.18 (The students always ask the teacher if they don’t understand the
materials)
|
No.
|
Options
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Item Statement
|
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
|
Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
|
13
33
33
7
3
|
16.46
29.12
41.77
8.86
3.79
|
Saya selalu bertanya kepada guru apabila ada materi
pelajaran ynag kurang jelas
|
|
Total
|
79
|
100
|
||
The table 4.18 above shows that some
of the students have active participation and attention toward English in
English class. It is proved that 45.58% respondents agree with the statement
that they always ask the teacher if they do not understand the materials.
41.77% respondents are undecided and 12.65% respondents disagree with the
statement.
Based on the explanations above, it
can be concluded that the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa
have positive attitude toward behavioral or action component. It is reflected
by the result that in English teaching learning proccess, they have positive
and meaningful attention and participation.
5.
Collective
Distribution
The
Mean Score:
=
=
= 67.39
The
researcher classifies the attitude into two parts, negative attitude and
positive attitude. The students whose score are below 67.39 possess the
negative attitude and the others whose score are over 67.39 possess the
positive attitude. Based on the mean score above, it shows that 54.43% students
possess the positive attitude toward
English and 45.57% students possess the negative attitude toward English.
The
frequency and percentage distribution of students’ attitude can be seen at the
following table:
Table 4.19
|
NO.
|
Score Interval
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
|
1.
|
38-43
|
2
|
2.53
|
|
2.
|
44-49
|
0
|
0
|
|
3.
|
50-55
|
6
|
7.59
|
|
4.
|
56-61
|
12
|
15.19
|
|
5.
|
62-67
|
16
|
20.25
|
|
6.
|
68-73
|
16
|
20.25
|
|
7.
|
74-79
|
16
|
20.25
|
|
8.
|
80-85
|
11
|
13.94
|
|
TOTAL
|
79
|
100
|
|
6.
Students’
score
The classification of
the students’ score can be seen in the table below:
Table
4.20
|
NO.
|
Score Interval
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (%)
|
Classification
|
|
1.
|
9.6-10
|
0
|
0
|
Excellent
|
|
2.
|
8.6-9.5
|
1
|
1.27
|
Very Good
|
|
3.
|
7.6-8.5
|
15
|
18.99
|
Good
|
|
4.
|
6.6-7.5
|
37
|
46.83
|
Fairly Good
|
|
5.
|
5.6-6.5
|
21
|
26.58
|
Fair
|
|
6.
|
3.6-5.5
|
5
|
6.33
|
Poor
|
|
7.
|
0 -3.5
|
0
|
0
|
Very Poor
|
|
TOTAL
|
79
|
100
|
|
|
The
table 4.20 above shows that no student get “excellent”, 1.27% students are in
‘very good’ classification, 18.99% students obtain “good” classification,
46.83% students obtain “fairly good” classification, 26.58% students are in
“fair” classification, 6.33% students obtain “poor” classufication, and no
student get “very poor”. It proves that
the English achievement of the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu
Gowa are classified in “fairly good” classification.
7.
The
Correlation between Students’ Attitude and Their English Achievement
In
order to know the correlation degree between the attitude of the second year
students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa toward English and their English achievement,
at level of significance (ρ) = 0.05 with the degree of freedom (df) = (n-2) =
77, the Pearson r formula is employed.
∑x = 5324
∑y = 548.3
∑x2 = 365052
∑y2 = 3860.95
∑xy = 37423.1
rxy = 0.801
The
interpretation of the correlation analysis state that the correlation between
students’ attitude toward English and their English achievement is in high
correlation, namely 0.801 which lies between 0.800-1.000.
8.
Hypothesis
Testing
The
hypothesis of this research are:
H0 :There is no significant correlation
between students’ attitude toward Enlish and their English achievement
H1 :There is significant correlation
between students’ attitude toward English and their English achievement.
It
is found that from the application of the Pearson r formula that rxy= 0.801. If
the result put into the standard correlation it is in high correlation, which
lies between 0.800-1.000. if the result is consulted to the r table value with
the degree of freedom (df) = (n-2) = 77 and ρ = 0.05 , the r table is 0.2172.
Since
rxy = 0.801 and r table = 0.2172, it means that rxy higher than r table. It
indicates that null hypothesis (H0) is rejected and alternative hypothesis (H1)
is accepted. It also indicates that there is a significant correlation between
the students’ attitude toward English and their English achievement.
B.
Discussion
In
this part, the researcher discusses about the attitude of the second grade
students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa toward English based on the result of
the research.
1.
The
Factors of Attitude
As
in previous chapter, based on the theories of some psychologists, Andi Mulianti
formulated some factors that influence the students’ attitude. The researcher
takes two most important factors, they are interest and motivation. Hillary
defines interest as persisting tendency to pay attention to and enjoy some
activities or contents.
The
findings of the research show that the second grade students of SMK Negeri 2
Somba Opu are interested to learn English. It is proved that 62.02% respondents
disagree with the statement that Englsh is not interesting. 70.89% respondents
agree with the statement that they always attend to English class because they
are interested to learn English. It proves that the students pay more attention
toward English. As what Aiken states that being interested in something means
that the person will spend time thinking about and reaction to the object.
According
to Simanjuntak (1988) in Andi Mulianti, motivation is commonly thought as an
inner drive, impulse, emotion, or wish that causes one particular action.
Motivation may be external or internal. Based on the research findings, it
shows that the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu are well
motivated to learn English influenced by some external factors, such as English’s
role in daily life, teacher performance, and teaching learning media. It is
proved that 83.54% respondents agree that they are motivated to learn English
because most of mass media are written in English, 85.27% respondents agree
with the statement that they need English to develop their career abroad, 92.4%
respondents agree with the statement that the teacher performance can motivate
them to learn English, and 50.64% respondents are motivated to learn if the
teaching learning proccess supported by complete facilities.
Based
on the above descriptions, it can be concluded that the second grade students
of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa respond some factors of attitude posotively. It
leads the students to have positive attitude toward English.
2.
Cognitive
Component
People
react whether positive or negative to an object depend on how much and what
kind of information or knowledge they have about the object. As Morgan (1961)
states that someone will have postive attitude toward something if it is
considered positive for him and on the contrary. Related to what Rokeach stated
that cognitive component represents a person’s knowledge, held with varying
degrees of certitude, about what is true or false, good or bad, and desireable
or undesireable. So. This is very important aspect to determine students’
attitude toward English.
The
findings of the research show that 81.01% agree that English is very important
subject in Vocational school, 91.6% respondents agree that English is useful to
enlarge the students’ knowledge, 77.21% respondents agree that English is
important to develop syudents’ skill, and 91.13% respondents agree that English
is very important to help students to continue their education to higher level.
Those findings prove that the students have positive or good information,
knowledge, or fact about English.
Based
on those explanations, it can be concluded that the second grade students of
SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa have positive attitude toward cognitive attitude.
3.
Affective
Component
The
affective components consists of all the person’s emotion and affect toward the
object, especially positive or negative evaluation. (Crites, Fabrigar, &
petty, 1994). Fear, sympaty, pity, hate, anger, envy, love, and contempt are
among the emotions that may be excited by a given individual.
It
is important to know students’ respond toward affective component to determine
their attitude toward English because
attitude represents one’s feeling or emotion. As Knech in Andi Mulianti (1998)
states that an attitude as an enduring organization of emotional, motivational,
perceptual, and cognitive proccess that relate to some aspects of individual’s
world.
Findings
of the research show that 64.55% respondents disagree with the statement that
they dislike English, 62.03% respondents agree with the statement that they
prefer learning English that related to their specific trade, 67.09%
respondents agree that learning English make them unconfuse in understanding
English book, and 48,1% respondents disagree with the statement that they have
uneasy and confuse feeling toward English.
Based
on those explanations, it can be conclude that students have good feeling and
emotion toward English. It means that most of second year students of SMK
Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa have positive attitude toward affective component.
4.
Behavioral/
action component
It
is simply assumed that students’s attitude determine their behavior. It means
that attitude and behavior have closed relationship each other. Much of
interest and attitude come from assumption that they do affect behavior. So, it
is so much important to know students’ respond toward behavior component intent
to determine their attitude toward English.
According
to Donald in Rasyid (1978), he points out that an attitude is defined as a predisposition
of act, a state of readiness to act in a particular way. Attitude is
generalized state of individual, which leads to act result in a wide variety of
particular ways of behaving. It proves that behavior component, which is
consisted of students’ tendency to act regarding English, gives effect to
students’ attitude toward English.
Findings
of the research show that 53.16% respondents learn English not only to get the
passing grade but also to get more knowledge about English. 32.91% respondents
agree that they always read English book after English class finished and
41.77% respondents are undecided, it means that students don’t take any more
time to learn English than they absolutely have to. 50.63% respondents always
have great enthusism in attending English class. 45.58% respondents always ask
the teacher if they do not understand the materials. Those findings prove that
most of students have good behavior in English learning proccess.
Based
on those explanations, it can be conclude that most of second grade students of
SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa have positive attitude toward behavior component.
The
results of questionnaire items about students’ attitude toward the factor of
attitude, cognitive component, affective component, and behavioral component
give a clear evidence that the second year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu
Gowa have positive attitude toward English. It is proved that 54.43% students
have positive attitude and 45.57% students have negative attitude. Even as
students of vocational school they receive more hands-on, career minded
education and they concern more on the subject related to their specific trade,
it does not reduce their interest toward English.
5.
The
correlation between students’ attitude and their English achievement
After analyzing the correlation between students’
attitude toward English and their English achievement, it can be stated that
there is a significant correlation between the attitude of the second year
students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa toward English and their English
achievement. It proves the theories of Crown that the degree of success that a
learner can be expected to achieve in his learning depends on the measurement
of his own attitude and persistant interest. The students’ attitude will affect
the learning outcomes.
CHAPTER
V
CONCLUSION
AND SUGGESTIONS
This
chapter consists of two parts, namely the conclusion based on the result of
data analysis and discussion and the suggestions for students, teacher, and
also for further study.
A.
Conclusion
1.
Based on the data and
the discussion in the previous chapter, it can be concluded that most of second
year students of SMK Negeri 2 Somba Opu Gowa have positive attitude toward some
factors of attitude which are known can give effect to the students’ attitude.
They also have positive attitude toward cognitive component, affective
component, and behavioral component, that have relationship with attitude
itself. It can be concluded that the second grade students of SMK Negeri 2
Somba Opu Gowa have positive attitude toward English though they are brough out
to more concern on the subjects related to their specific trade.
2.
There is a significant
correlation between the attitude of the second year students of SMK Negeri 2
Somba Opu Gowa toward English and their English achievement.
B.
Suggestions
Based
on what the researcher found during the research, the researcher would like to
give the following suggestions:
1) The
students should know the objectives they learn English, so that they can do
better in learning English beacuse they are better motivated.
2) The
teachers should be able to create good condition in the classroom and prepare
appropriate materials. It aims at creating students’ good judgement toward the
teaching and the subject. Thus, it can directly affect the students’ attitude
toward English.
3) For
further study, the researcher suggest to conduct a research about the
particular teaching strategies applied by the teacher for vocational school.
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