THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING

STRATEGY IN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION

OF THE 2nd GRADE OF STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 1 KEBUMEN

OF 2009/2010 ACADEMIC YEAR

A Thesis Proposal

Written by:

Barkah Tri Anggono

NIM 05202244074

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPERTEMENT

LANGUAGES AND ARTS FACULTY

YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY

JUNE 2009

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Problem

A language is a systematic means of communication by the use of sounds or

conventional symbols. It is the code we all use to express ourselves and communicate to others.

It is a system for communicating ideas and feelings using sounds, gestures, signs or marks. A

language is the written and spoken methods of combining words to create meaning used by a

particular group of people.

For various historical and economic reasons, English has become the dominant

language of the world in the twenty-first century. English is the language of science, air traffic

control, and tourism, the Internet and to a very large extent of trade and export. So that is why

improving the quality in teaching English is very important to prepare the learners of English as

a Foreign Language can be competitive as the human resource in their life.

There are infinite procedures teachers use to achieve desired effects from their

students, but there are general patterns these motivational tools follow. In order for teachers to

communicate with their students, they must identify with their needs on an individual basis

(Gawel, 1997). It is important to think about motivation as the essence of language teaching

because of the stark realities of learning English. The condition which happens in class is the

students feel afraid of English as one of their subject. It is because they feel that English is very

difficult to learn. So that, most students do not have enough motivation to learn and to get

involve in the activity of learning. Because of these adverse conditions, the students have to have

extraordinary motivation in order to succeed at learning English.

In teaching learning process, students’ motivation is very essential. Students’

motivation in learning English can be a good modal for enhancing the teachers’ objectives in

their class.

Because of the importance of motivation, the teacher should be more

creative in order to enhancing students’ motivation in the class. It’ is necessary to

apply an affective learning technique remembering learning strategy is one of the

important tools which bring the significant role in the learning process.

B. Identification of the Problem

According to Prayitno (1989: 94) there are some aspects on teaching which can influence

students’ learning motivation. They are teacher, student, material, media, method, and

evaluation.

Based on the Prayitno statement above, method brings also the significant influence in

the success of the process of teaching learning, especially in terms of improving students’

motivation in the class. So that, the effective strategy should be applied by the teacher in

achieving class objectives. There are some strategies in learning. According to Johnson &

Johnson (1991), there are four types of learning. They are Competitive Learning, Individualistic

Learning,

Collaborative Learning and Cooperative Learning

1). Competitive Learning

Competitive learning exists when one student goal is achieved; all other students fail to reach

that goal. (Johnson & Johnson,1991). Competitive learning can be interpersonal (between

individuals), where rows are most important or intergroup (between groups), where a group

setting is appropriate. Competitive learning can also be a cooperative activity when the

students formulate their own term and rules of the contest, giving them ownership of the

activity (Johnson & Johnson,1991).

2). Individualistic Learning

This type of learning exists when the learning or achievement of one student is independent

and separate from the achievements of the other students in the class

(Johnson&Johnson,1991). Individual learning implies that knowledge and cognitive skill are

assets that teacher can transfer to the learner (Saloman & Perkins, 1998). This learning can be

described as teacher-centered; that is, the teacher provides the major source of information,

assistance, criticism and feedback. Students work alone and are not expected to be interrupted

by other students. In this regard, students may be seated as far from each other as space

permits.

3). Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning takes place when students cooperate to construct a consensus to an open-

ended activity. Collaborative learning shares many of the same traits as cooperative learning. It

differs from cooperative learning by being more students centered than teacher centered.

Collaborative learning provides a vehicle for social constructivism, where students are in control

of their own learning and ultimately, the outcome of their learning. Cooperative learning is more

concerned with a specific outcome based on teacher facilitation and knowledge transition

(Panitz, 1996). Collaborative learning is best suited to an arrangement of groups, where students

can freely interact with each other and construct their ideas together.

3). Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning occurs when students work collaboratively towards a common goal

(Panitz, 1996). Achievements are positively correlated with the other cooperating students.

Students work together in small clusters or groups.

C. Limitation of the Problem

The problem of this study is limited to the effectiveness of cooperative learning as

a strategy in English learning to increase students’ motivation for 2nd grade students of SMA

Negeri 1 Kebumen of 2007/2008 Academic Year.

D. Formulation of the Problem

From the identification and limitation above, the problem of this research is “Is

the any significant difference between learning motivation of students who are taught using

cooperative learning and those who are taught without it?”

E. Objectives of the Research

The objective of this research is to find out whether there is any significant

difference between learning motivation of students who are taught by applying Cooperative

Learning and those who are taught without it.

F. Significance of the Research

1). For the teacher, it can be useful information about the effectiveness of applying the

Cooperative Learning strategy in the class.

2). The school can see how far Cooperative Learning influences the process of English

learning in improving students’ motivation.

3). The significance for English Education Department of Yogyakarta State University is

enriching and enlarging the knowledge of English Education practitioners in making

policies and arranging curriculum or lecturers’ method in teaching

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED THEORIES

A. Literature Review

1. Motivation

a. The Definition of Motivation

Motivation is internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in

people to be continually interested in and committed to a job, role, or subject, and to exert

persistent effort in attaining a goal. Motivation is the energizer of behavior and mother of all

action (Business Dictionary, 2002).

Motivation is the internal condition that activates behavior and gives it direction;

energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior (Wikipedia). The term is generally used for human

motivation but, theoretically, it can be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well.

This article refers to human motivation. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted

in the basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific

needs

such as eating and resting, or a desired object, hobby, goal, state of being, ideal,

or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, morality, or avoiding mortality.

b. Types of Motivation

c. The Measurement of Motivation

2. Cooperative Learning

a. Definition of Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is defined as a system of concrete teaching and learning

techniques, rather than an approach, in which students are active agents in the process of learning

through small group structures so that students work together to maximize their own and each

other’s learning (Kagan, 1995).

Richards, Platt & Platt (1992) stated that cooperative learning is a system of

teaching and learning techniques in which students were active agents in the process of learning

instead of passive receivers of the product of any given knowledge. They also pointed out that

cooperative learning activities were often used in communicative language teaching.

Cooperative learning occurs when students work collaboratively towards a common goal

(Panitz,1996). Achievements are positively correlated with the other cooperating students.

Students work together in small clusters or groups.

With so many similarities in essence, cooperative learning was used as a set of

teaching methods or techniques to embody the spirit of communicative language teaching by

activating the students to work together in small group.

b. The elements of Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each

with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their

understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is

taught but also for helping

teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work

through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it.

Cooperative efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so that all group members:

• gain from each other's efforts. (Your success benefits me and my success benefits you.)

• recognize that all group members share a common fate. (We all sink or swim together here.)

• know that one's performance is mutually caused by oneself and one'steam members. (We can

not do it without you.)

• feel proud and jointly celebrate when a group member is recognized for achievement.

Kagan (1995) shown that cooperative learning techniques:

• promote student learning and academic achievement

• increase student retention

• enhance student satisfaction with their learning experience

• help students develop skills in oral communication

• develop students' social skills

• promote student self-esteem

• help to promote positive race relations

He also stated that in principle, cooperative learning stuck to the following five elements,

(1) Positive interdependence

a. each group member's efforts are required and indispensable for group success

b. each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his

or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities

(2) Individual accountability

a. keeping the size of the group small. The smaller the size of the group, the greater the

individual accountability may be

b. giving an individual test to each student

c. randomly examining students orally by calling on one student to present his or her

group's work to the teacher (in the presence of the group) or to the entire class

d. observing each group and recording the frequency with which each member-

contributes to the group's work

e. assigning one student in each group the role of checker. The checker asks other group

members to explain the reasoning and rationale underlying group answers

f. having students teach what they learned to someone else

(3) Group processing

a. group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining

effective working relationships

b. describe what member actions are helpful and not helpful

c. make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change

(4) Face-to-face interaction

a. orally explaining how to solve problems

b. teaching one's knowledge to other

c. checking for understanding

d. discussing concepts being learned

e connecting present with past learning

(5) Interpersonal and small group skills

Teaching social skills such as leadership, decision-making, trust-building,communication,

and conflict-management skills.

c. Implementing Cooperative Learning in Teaching English

Cooperative learning as an effective teaching method in foreign language education is the

essential part in teaching English. Further examinations on cooperative learning and language

acquisition could be inspected through three vital variables of input, output, andcontext, which

contributed to language acquisition to a great extent (Krashen, 1985; Kagan, 1995). An

investigation revealed that cooperative learning had a dramatic positive impact on almost all of

the factors critical to language acquisition (Kagan, 1995).

B. Conceptual Framework

The concept of this study is shown by this following diagram.

C. Hypothesis

Based on the above stated theory, the hypothesis can be formulated as follows:

“There is a significant difference between motivation of students who are taught using

Cooperative Learning and those who are taught without it”.

Cooperative learning

Strategy

Method

Media

Material

Student Teacher

MOTIVATION

Evaluation

CHAPTER IIIRESEARCH METHOD

A. Research Type

This research is a quantitative research. This study can be classified into a quasi-

experimental study. The design used is an in tack group pretest- posttest design that involves a

group of students who belong to the experimental group and the one belong to control group. In

this study, the treatment which is given is applying cooperative learning in teaching learning

process.

B. Variables of the Study

There are two variables. They are independent and dependent variable. The

independent variable of this study is cooperative learning. This variable is represented by X. The

dependent variable is students’ motivation which is represented by Y.

The design of the research can be shown in this table

Group Independent Dependent

Experiment X Y

Control - Y

C. Research Population and Design

The

populatio

n on this

study is

two

classes of

the 2nd

grade

students

of SMA

Negeri 1

Kebumen

of 2009-

2010

Academi

c Year. No Class Casiffication ( Group ) Number of Student

1 2A 40 Student

2 2B 40 Student

The selection group for the experiment and non-experiment (control group) will use coin

toss. The experiment group will be given cooperative learning activities and notreatment for the

second group. Here are the distribution of treatment in the research.

Group Class Treatment Number of Student

Experiment 2B Cooperative Learning 40

Control 2A - 40

D. Research Instrument

1. Instrument of the research

This study will use questionnaire as the instrument of the research to gain data to see the

significant result of students’ motivation.

2. Validity of the instrument

To see the validity of the instrument, the researcher usesProduct Moment Correlation

formula

3. Reliability of the instrument

The researcher uses Alpha Formula to check the reliability of the instrument

E. Data Collecting Technique

Data collection in this study uses the motivational questionnaire in order to

understand the students’ motivation toward learning English before and after the treatment, a

questionnaire containing some items was developed by the researcher.

F. Data Analysis Technique

The technique of data analysis is examining the effects of the results of the

motivational questionnaire. As for the analysis of the motivational questionnaires, each student’s

responses to the some items in the questionnaire are scored with the help of the computer

software of SPSS. The statistical results of the questionnaire are compared for experiment and

control group analysis