THE STUDENTS’ AND TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ON THE ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 1, Issue 1, December 2012 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE THE STUDENTS’ AND TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ON THE USE OF COMPUTER IN EFL CLASSROOMS Anni Kristanti Yunandami SMA Negeri 2 Cimahi, Indonesia Email: annyky@yahoo.co.id Muhammad Handi Gunawan Indonesia University of Education, Indonesia Email: handi_gunawan@yahoo.co.id APA Citation: Yunandami, A. K. & Gunawan, M. H. (2012). The students’ and teachers’ perception on the use of computer in EFL classrooms. English Review: Journal of English Education, 1(1), 71-79 Received: 01-08-2011 Accepted: 03-09-2012 Published: 01-12-2012 Abstract: This study is aimed to investigate the students' and teachers’ perception on the use of computer in the EFL teaming process based on questionnaire and interview. By exploring the strengths and weaknesses on the use of computer in EFL classrooms as perceived from students' and teachers' perception. It concludes that a large number of students enjoyed learning English using computer because it was fun and interesting. Although, they had to share one computer with the class, but they enjoyed learning together with friends. The teachers enjoyed teaching English using computer because it could make them experience a different way of teaching. In addition, the computer use could challenge the teachers to be more creative. The computer could be used as an alternative learning device in learning. Keywords: students’ and teachers’ perception, English as a foreign language, computer. INTRODUCTION Curriculum in Indonesia has gone through several changes and development since 1945. It was developed in 1954 and revised in 1961, 1964, 1968, 1975, 1984, and 1994. In 2001 competence-based curriculum (CBC) was implemented (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, 2004). In year 2007, the government starts to implement the new curriculum, Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (school-based curriculum). This curriculum is based on the Law No. 20 Year 2003 on National Education System, which gives the government and local government to have full authority to guide, manage, help, and supervise their own education. Furthermore, the educational framework must follow the national education law. In addition, the law number 14 year 2005 on teachers and lectures put high priority on the teachers/lectures professionalism (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, 2006). It is obvious that teachers should be more professional and skillful in teaching. That is why the government must put high priority on teachers' certification to enhance the purpose of national education and to fulfil the demand of qualified human resource. Teachers are recommended to develop themselves so that they have to upgrade their skill through training and developing teaching material in the classroom. ANNI KRISTANTI YUNANDAMI & MUHAMMAD HANDI GUNAWAN The Students’ And Teachers’ Perception On The Use Of Computer In Efl Classrooms Moreover, teaching methodology develops well, more teachers are aware of the use of technology in the classroom. Teachers realize that teaching is not merely transferring the teachers' knowledge but also giving a lot of exposures for their students. The teaching method is more to communicative methodologies and moreover the most important thing is the informal 'acquisition-rich' learning environment (Skehan, 1985: 13). The learning environment or the stimulus is very important to make the students learn well. Computer becomes one of the alternatives besides language laboratories. Kenning & Kenning (1983:20) said that computer can be used as an effective teaching tool if teachers know how to use it. A computer is nothing more than a tool, an aid, to be used or not, moreover teachers can decide to use computer if it is necessary. The use of computer has been known for years in the field of education. Though, it was always argued that the computer cannot replace the main role of teacher in the classroom (Stemplesky, 2002 in Richards. and Renandya, 2002:364), computer is needed to make the process of learning and teaching easier and faster. Computer has been notified with the variety of form, from the simplest one to the most complicated one. It is said that the use of high technology tends to be expensive, and complicated, the high-tech media gives more and more facilities. In additional, teachers are being able to use the high-tech media to support the instructional design in the classroom. The use of computer in EFL classroom has opened the new way of the use of learning media. Since it can combine the varieties media (such as text, sound, picture, numerical, animation and video) in one digital software, and also because of the capability of being interactive, the computer becomes a sophisticated alternative to improve the quality of ELT. The use of computer can help the students to be autonomous learners (Brown, 2001: 51). Bret (1998: 301) says that multimedia language learning environments can deliver authentic input, provide meaningful language learning tasks, deliver feedback on those tasks and can be manipulated according to the needs of the user. This makes it ideal for independent study, and the learner perhaps having the opportunity to work through the exercises at their own pace Moreover, multimedia can help the students learning to learn, developing language skills (listening, reading, writing, and pronunciation or speaking). The use of technology in EFL classroom is very crucial since our government has put the high priority to the use of instructional computer-based teaching (ICT). The National Education Department mentions the importance of the use of technology in classroom as in written down in "Rencana Strategi (Renstra) Pembangunan Pendidikan Nasional 2005-2009" (The Strategic Plan in Developing The National Education 2005-2009). It is said that one of the programs that will be conducted in 2005-2009 is implementing information technology (IT) in the classroom (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, 2066). The government realizes the lack of the facilities but this program will be conducted step by step. Moreover, The Pusat Teknologi dan Komputer has used the television as a media to broadcast the educational program in 2004. The educational program reached 80 cities in ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 1, Issue 1, December 2012 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE Indonesia (including village and district area). Furthermore, the use of computer can be considered a learning media that gives the different kinds of intelligent as proposed by Gardner (1983 in Brown, 2001:113). Gardner's theory about multiple intelligence, that people have more than one intelligent such as musical/rhythmic, verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, motoric /kinaesthetic, logic/mathematic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal, opens the chance of multimedia in the classroom in order to facilitate the students' differences in learning. The research tries to portray the possibility of the computer uses in the EFL classroom, particularly in senior high school. The focus is on the students' and teachers' perception on the use of computer in EFL classroom. The study is very important in order the answer the demand of the importance of English as one of skill that students should acknowledge in the future. Furthermore, this study can give a new enlightment in English teaching learning to improve the students' mastery. In addition, the lack of using the computer in the classroom (especially in EFL classroom and Senior High School) becomes the main reason why this research was conducted. Hopefully, this research gives the benefit for the national educational in our country. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The research focused on two things; they are the students' and teachers' perceptions to the use of computer to improve the teaching-learning process and to explore the possibility of using computer in senior high school. These are the following purposes: 1. Finding out the students' perception on the use of computer in the EFL teaming process based on questionnaire and interview. 2. Finding out the teachers' perception on the use of computer in EFL teaching process based on questionnaire and interview. 3. Exploring the strengths and weaknesses on the use of computer in EFL classrooms as perceived from students' and teachers' perception. 4. Exploring the contributions of the learning situation to the students' and teachers' perception. As outlined in purpose of the study there are three research questions to be answered: 1. What is the students` perception on the use of computer in EFL classrooms? 2. What is the teachers' perception on the use of computer in EFL classrooms? 3. What are the strengths and weaknesses as perceived from the students' and teachers' perception? 4. What are the contributions of the learning situation to the students' and teachers' perception? The study is intended to survey the students' and teachers' perceptions on the use of computer in the EFL classroom, the strengths and weaknesses, and the implications of learning situation towards the students' and teachers' perception. Moreover, it can give a new perspective in English teaching-learning, such as: a) The use of computer for ELT in senior high school. b) The material development for computer-based learning to improve the quality of ELT in senior high school. ANNI KRISTANTI YUNANDAMI & MUHAMMAD HANDI GUNAWAN The Students’ And Teachers’ Perception On The Use Of Computer In Efl Classrooms c) This research is largely descriptive statistics meaning that it involved measuring data using graphs, tables, and basic descriptions of numbers such as averages or means. The sub ects of the study were the first year students of one senior high school in Cimahi of academic year 2005/2006. There were 100 students and 6 English teachers. In addition, the research was conducted during the curriculum 2004. This study was limited to survey on the use of computer in EFL classroom in which each student and teacher were required to answer a questionnaire about their perceptions on the use of multimedia in EFL class-room. The questionnaire and interview were based on the theory of perception proposed by Sperling (in Fransiska: 2000) and curriculum 2004. The interview data will complete, clarify, support or even contradict with the result of questionnaire. METHOD The study was intended to reveal and describe the students' and teachers' perceptions on the use multimedia in EFL classrooms. This research is largely descriptive statistics meaning that it involved measuring data using graphs, tables, and basic descriptions of numbers such as averages or means (Coolidge, 2000). The subjects of the study were the first year students of one senior high school in Cimahi of academic year 2005- 2006. There were 100 students and 6 English teachers. In addition, the research was conducted during the curriculum 2004. This study was limited to survey on the use of computer in EFL classroom in which each student and teacher were required to answer a questionnaire about their perceptions on the use of multimedia in EFL classroom. The questionnaire and interview were based on the theory of perception proposed by Sperling (in Fransiska, 2000) and curriculum 2004. The interview data will complete, clarify, support or even contradict with the result of questionnaire. The setting was a senior high school in Cimahi. This school has a multimedia laboratory so that the main reason why this research was conducted at this particular school. Moreover, this research tries to figure out the potential asset in local area especially in Cimahi. The participants were students and English teachers at a high school in Cimahi. The students' level were grade one. There were 100 students and 6 English teachers. In addition, the 100 students were chosen because it was their first time using computer to learn English in multimedia laboratory. Moreover, the 100 students initiate the transfer into percentage in data analysis. The 6 teachers were chosen because there are 6 English teachers in that school. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The students' perceptions The computer gave them fun learning through games, presentation, and interesting pictures. Moreover, they could learn autonomously. The computer provided them a fun learning compared to teacher's explanation in the classroom. They said computer used to vary the learning and teaching process so the students did not have to listen to the teacher's explanation. Through computer, they could watch movie, and play games. In addition, they could learn together with friends in the classroom. ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 1, Issue 1, December 2012 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE Computer encouraged the students to learn English because through computer they were able to get so many exposures; such as the examples of communicative dialog. Moreover, the computer helped them to develop their English vocabulary. The students also said that they enjoyed playing games so that it provided them the challenging situation to learn more and more. 6% of the respondents were not sure whether it encouraged them to learn English or not. The interview revealed that they considered the material was too difficult for them and there were also too many new vocabularies that they were not familiar with. The students sometimes felt ashamed if they made mistakes in pronouncing words. It can be concluded that in term of the sensory of stimulus, the respondents gave positive answers. The table shows that the pictures, sounds, and text in the computer could help the students to learn English well, especially reading, listening, vocabulary and grammar. It can be concluded that in term of the learning process the respondents enjoyed learning within the group because it was fun and they could ask their friends if they did not know something. And they liked to learn by themselves too because they did not have to rely on the teacher. But, they felt whenever they worked with the group some of their friends kept silent. This could be happened because (1) the big size of the students, (2) there was only one computer to share with the whole class. The strengths and weaknesses This section concerns with the discussion from research findings which are about the students' perceptions and strengths-weaknesses on the use of computer in EFL classroom. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the students enjoyed learning English using computer because was fun and interesting. This fact is in line with Kayser (2002); he says that the benefit of the use on computer in EFL classroom is students are able to learn how to use technology more effectively. Although, they had to share one computer with the class they enjoyed working together with their friends. The class seemed noisy and uncontrollable but they could learn from others without being afraid of making mistakes. They liked to compete with their friends among the group. Although, some of them kept silent they actually involved in the learning process. They shared their opinion with the group. Although, they seemed enjoy the learning, some of them still afraid of making mistakes and the limited vocabulary mastery made them think that the use of computer did not give them any support to learn English well. Luis Reis (1995) has proven this through six-month experiment on the impact of using multimedia in his class. He finds out that his students feel less motivated because they did not interact directly with the computer. Moreover, he says that his students tend to use their mother tongue whenever they learn English through computer because they have a very limited mastery of English vocabulary. The computer could be used as an alternative learning. Though the facility was so limited they could learn well. The students still needed the teacher to guide them using computer in the classroom. Reis (1995) states that a classroom equipped with one computer need the ANNI KRISTANTI YUNANDAMI & MUHAMMAD HANDI GUNAWAN The Students’ And Teachers’ Perception On The Use Of Computer In Efl Classrooms teachers' guidance because teachers still need to drill students with tutorial grammar. In addition, Galavis (1998) adds that computers and other equipment are just tools, so teachers have to make them work for the teachers. not against the teachers. The students thought that computer helped to learn English well. Besides, it helped them to use English words, phrases, tenses, vocabulary, pronunciation sentences correctly. Moreover, according to Oxford University Press (2004) multimedia can help the students learning to learn, developing language skills (listening, reading, writing, and pronunciation or speaking). They admitted that the pictures, sounds and text in the computer helped them to comprehend the dialogue which represented by the native speakers. They got a lot of exposures from the computer especially dealing with the variety of English expressions. Moreover, they could create a communicative dialogue and the subtitle helped them to understand the different kind of text and this could help the students to guess the meaning from the context. This is proven by Brett (1998, in Jackson:2002) states that multimedia language learning environments can deliver authentic input, provide meaningful language learning tasks, deliver feedback on those tasks and can be manipulated according to the needs of the user. But still there were some problems dealing with how the computer helped the students to reach their goals in learning English, such as; (1) the limited mastery of vocabulary, (2) the lack of tenses knowledge, (3) the computer program only focused on speaking and listening, (4) the learning program was too difficult to follow, (5) no speech media (like microphone or headset), (6) no equal chance in using computer because they had to share one computer with the whole class. The pictures, sounds, and text in the computer could help the students to learn English well, especially reading, listening, vocabulary and grammar. The students learnt English using computer in multimedia laboratory. Mostly they had to share one computer with the class. Then they preferred learning English using computer once in a month or even unscheduled because they would experience a different situation. Moreover, sharing one computer with the class was no big problem for them as long as they could learn together with friends. They realized that the school had only limited computer facilities. But sometimes they felt disappointed that they could not use computer individually. The students enjoyed learning within the group because it was fun and they could ask their friends if they did not know something. And they liked to learn by themselves too because they did not have to rely on the teacher. But, they felt whenever they worked with the group some of their friends kept silent. This could be happened because (1) the big size of the students, (2) there was only one computer to share with the whole class. Harmer (2002:150) says that teachers have to remember there are still so many problems dealing with using computer. The teachers' perceptions This section concerns with the second research problem i.e. the teachers' perceptions on the use of computer in EFL classroom. The data collection was taken in two ways by questionnaire and interview. The ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 1, Issue 1, December 2012 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE questionnaire was given on May 2006. After classifying the answers form the respondents, the interview were conducted on July 2006 (2 respondents were interviewed). The respondents (there are 6 English teachers) gave positive perception. It means that the use of multimedia in EFL classroom has given positive impacts. The analysis is classified based on the variable in the questionnaire. There are 4 categories: (1) Students' personal feelings, attitude drives and goals, (2) The sensory nature of the stimulus (3) Learning experience that the students have. The category is based on the theory of perception proposed by Sperling (in Fransiska: 200 1). It can be concluded that the teachers enjoyed teaching English using computer could make them; (1) experience a different way of teaching, (2) more creative, (3) challenge themselves to prepare the material well, (4) present a fun learning for the students, (5) motivate the students to learn better, (6) give so many exposures of communicative dialogue. It comes to the conclusion that teaching English using computer supported the students to learn English well and this could help the students to experience a fun, and interactive learning. It can be concluded that the teachers gave a positive view towards the computer. They said computer could help teachers to teach better since it provided motion pictures. The students had a different way of learning. The exposures were so many especially for speaking, listening, and vocabulary so that the students were able to create a communicative dialogue. But since the one who used the computer was the teacher, they could not see whether the computer could increase the students being confident. The mastery of vocabulary was the main problems for the students. Besides, computer was only a tool; it could not replace the main role of teachers. It comes up with the conclusion that computer helped the students to learn both in group and individually. The teachers could let their students to learn individually. But still the teachers must guide their students. The problem that the students needed to guide was vocabulary. Moreover, the teachers must pay attention that not all the students could use the computer. The contributions of learning situation to the students' and teachers' perception Most of the students learnt English using computer in multimedia laboratory. They had to share one computer with the class. Moreover, they preferred learning English using computer once in a month or even unscheduled because they would experience a different situation. In addition, sharing one computer with the class was no big problem for them as long as they could learn together with friends. They realized that the school had only limited computer facilities. But sometimes they felt disappointed that they could not use computer individually. The students learnt the computer by the It can be concluded that most of the teachers used multimedia laboratory to teach English and they only used one computer for one class. They used LCD so that their students could see the pictures clearly. The schedule was varied, too. Sometimes it could be once in a month, unscheduled, and once in a week. The schedule could be made by the school staff or by the teachers. The teachers used computer ANNI KRISTANTI YUNANDAMI & MUHAMMAD HANDI GUNAWAN The Students’ And Teachers’ Perception On The Use Of Computer In Efl Classrooms based on the necessities. In addition, they had to share the multimedia laboratory with other subjects. Moreover, most of the teachers got the computer skill by learning on their own since there is no special training about computer use in the classroom. CONCLUSION This study concludes that a large number of students enjoyed learning English using computer because it was fun and interesting. Although, they had to share one computer with the class; it but they enjoyed learning together with friends. The computer could be used as an alternative learning. Furthermore, the teachers enjoyed teaching English using computer because it could make them experience a different way of teaching. In addition, the computer use could challenge the teachers to be more creative. The teachers had a lot of opportunities to prepare the material well. Moreover, the computer provided a fun learning for the students and motivated the students to learn better. The computer gave so many exposures of communicative dialogue. Moreover, using multimedia in EFL classroom can help with some difficulties associated with the EFL situation, such as a large class sizes and mixed-ability classrooms. Therefore, teachers must acknowledge the function of media in EFL classroom. Through the use of media, the learning process can be increased to reach the goal of learning process. There are some strengths and weaknesses on the use of computer in EFL classrooms as perceived from the students` and teachers' perception. It can be concluded that the learning situation was interactive and fun. On the other hand, the learning program was too difficult to follow. They needed the teacher's encouragement to make them- feel more confident. Besides, the students thought that the teacher did not know how to use the computer well so that the learning process was not smooth. The students sometimes felt afraid of making mistakes. They said it was difficult to think critically because the limitation of grammar and vocabulary mastery. They could think critically if the material led them do so. Moreover, the learning situation notably; the place, the computer facilities, the frequency, and the computer skill influenced the students' and teachers' perception on the use of computer in EFL classrooms. This study is not without any limitations. Therefore, in drawing conclusions there are several limitations that should be kept in mind. Firstly, the research was done in one school in one city. It is suggested that the number of public senior high school be increased and cover several cities so that the generalizations of the result of the research are wider to draw. Secondly, most of the analysis of the students' and teachers' perception was done through questionnaires and interview. The analysis would be more thorough if supported with classroom observation recordings conducted by the researcher. Overall, the results of the study show that using media in EFL classroom is very important to increase the students' motivation and attention. Moreover, using computer as a teaching media is a must since it helps the students get the exposures that the teachers can not give in the classroom. In addition, teachers must be wise using the computer, just remember that the ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 1, Issue 1, December 2012 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE computer is only a media. Teachers must be more creative in teaching by developing the computer as a media of teaching and learning which supports the new curriculum "KTSP" (school-based curriculum). REFERENCES Alwasilah, A. C. (2002). 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