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Global Research in Higher Education 
ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) 

Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe 

105 
 

Original Paper 

Six-Years Learning of English 

Harits Setyawan1* 
1 Institute Teknologi Sumatera (ITERA), Lampung Selatan, Indonesia  
* Harits Setyawan, Institute Teknologi Sumatera (ITERA), Lampung Selatan, Indonesia 

 

Received: May 9, 2018       Accepted: May 21, 2018        Online Published: June 1, 2018 

doi:10.22158/grhe.v1n2p105          URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v1n2p105 

 

Abstract 

The main objective of this research is to investigate the students’ English proficiency after learning the 

subject for six years; 3 years at Junior High School and 3 years at Senior High School. This research 

was conducted at some higher schools in Lampung. The higher schools involved both public and 

private institutions. The samples were chosen purposefully; students who were taught by the researcher. 

In overall there were 40 samples involved in this research. At the beginning of the class, before the 

students were taught by the researcher, they were given a multiple-choice test that measured the 

students’ knowledge of English grammar. The result showed the mean score that the students got was 

47.5, which meant very low English proficiency. It indicates that a long-duration learning of English 

does not guarantee that students will be proficient in that language.  

Keywords 

English language teaching, English proficiency, higher school students 

 

1. Introduction 

English is one of subjects which students learn at junior high schools and senior high schools in 

Indonesia. It means that the students learn English for 6 years at schools. Through a long-duration of 

learning English, it is expected that the students will have a sufficient proficiency in English, so they 

can compete both nationally and internationally. However, the researcher found that most of higher 

school students whom the researcher taught still had a low proficiency in English though they had 

learnt the subject at junior high school and senior high school. Evidently, what the researcher found 

aligns with what other researchers found. In their journal article, Camargo and Vásquez (2018, p. 117) 

stated all of them describing in detail that students were making writing mistakes when they were given 

written assignments in class which are close related to lack of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, 

sentence coherence and word choice. More specifically, Abdulmajeed and Hameed (2017, p. 40) 

explained, in their paper, the researchers concentrate on the most problematic subject in English 



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grammar that almost all the students suffer from. It is the “inherent” and “non-inherent” adjectives. 

In fact, researchers have found various methods and techniques to overcome problems in English 

language learning. Chubko (2017, p. 29) found that the implementation of the video making technique 

significantly improved students’ grammar test performance. The importance of this study is in 

introducing the grammar teaching technique that could enable students to identify the gaps in their 

understanding of grammar; and through self-study, collaboration, and discovery, students attain better 

grammar test scores. Equally important, Mabuan and Ebron (2017, pp. 96-97) suggested that students 

viewed online writing via e-mail as an academic tool that could help them develop their English writing 

skills in context, a social tool that could provide them opportunities to engage, collaborate, and learn 

from and with their peers, and a technological tool that could afford them additional means of learning 

along with in-class learning. Furthermore, Yusri, Ramadloni, and Mantasiah (2017, p. 63) concluded 

that the intercultural approach in the foreign language, especially language learning can increase 

students’ motivation. This can be seen from the increase in student motivation from the pretest and 

posttest conducted. 

Time to time, researchers find more methods and techniques which are scientifically proven that they 

are able to significantly improve students’ English proficiency, yet teachers still find that many 

students do not have sufficient competence in English. There is not much research that reveals 

students’ English proficiency after the students go through teaching and learning processes of the 

subject for a long time. It is necessary to discover the students’ English proficiency to find out the fact 

if English language teaching has reached its goals or not. Furthermore, conducting this research brings 

some other benefits. For policy makers, it can give a description of students’ English proficiency after 

learning the subject for a period of time, so it indirectly helps them in designing future policies. For 

educators, it can show if they are successful in teaching English or not, so they can enhance their 

performance in the classroom. For students, it can show their current English proficiency, so they will 

get more drive to improve their proficiency level if the result is not satisfying. Therefore, this research 

which is entitled Six-Years Teaching and Learning of English is accordingly conducted. 

 

2. Method 

2.1 Research Design 

This research was a quantitative research. The data were collected from higher school students who had 

studied English for six years; at junior high school and senior high school. The samples were chosen 

purposefully since this research investigated the students’ English proficiency after learning the subject 

for a period of time. There was a grammar test given to the students. The test covered topics that the 

students had ever learnt when they were at junior high school and senior high school. The collected 

data were statistically analyzed to determine the students’ English mastery. 

 

 



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2.2 Population and Samples 

The population in this research covered all higher students in Lampung. However, the samples were 

taken from higher schools where the researcher taught English. There were 4 higher schools in which 

the data were collected. The higher schools involved public and private higher schools. From each 

higher school, 10 samples were chosen. Therefore, the total number of samples in this research was 40 

higher school students. Because this research was conducted in the early of 2018, only second semester 

students were eligible to become the samples. The second semester students were chosen since the 

longer they studied at campus, the more they were pushed to be proficient in English. It might have 

driven them to join English classes outside campus which could impact on their proficiency in English. 

Furthermore, there was no differentiation in gender and age. Both male and female students with 

different ages could become the samples as long as they were in the second semester when the research 

was conducted. 

2.3 Data Collecting Procedures 

There are some procedures that the researcher follows in conducting this research. The procedures are 

described as follows.  

2.3.1 Determining Sample 

The samples are determined based on their duration of learning English. Since college students have 

learnt English for six years; three years and junior high school and three years at senior high school, 

they are chosen as the samples of the research. 

2.3.2 Giving a Test 

The test is given to the samples of the research. They are given 10 minutes to answer 20 questions. The 

test is in the form of multiple choices. It covers topics that the students have ever learnt at junior high 

school and senior high school, like simple present tense and simple past tense. 

2.3.3 Analyzing Data 

The collected data are statistically analyzed to determine the students’ English proficiency after they 

have learnt the subject at junior high school and senior high school. 

2.4 Data Analysis 

In analyzing the collected data, the researcher uses the following criteria to determine the students’ 

English proficiency level after they have leant the subject for 6 years; 3 years at junior high school and 

3 years at senior high school. The classification of the score criteria is based on common scoring 

system that the researcher finds as far as the researcher teaches English at higher schools.   

Score 90-100  means excellent English proficiency level. 

Score 80-89  means very good English proficiency level. 

Score 70-78  means good English proficiency level. 

Score 60-69  means fair English proficiency level. 

Score 50-59  means low English proficiency level. 

Score 40-49  means very low English proficiency level. 



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Score 0-39  means poor English proficiency level. 

 

3. Result 

Having analyzed the data, the researcher finds that the students’ scores range from 20 to 90. It means 

that the students’ English proficiency level ranges from poor to excellent. The following table shows 

the distribution of the students’ scores. 

 

Table 1. Distribution of the Students’ Score 

Score Total Number Level 

90 1 Excellent 

85 1 Very Good 

80 

70 

65 

60 

55 

50 

40 

35 

30 

25 

20 

2 

2 

2 

6 

2 

3 

7 

4 

4 

3 

3 

Very Good 

Good 

Fair 

Fair 

Low 

Low 

Very Low 

Poor 

Poor 

Poor 

Poor 

Total 40  

 

The table shows that all proficiency classifications are represented though the total number of each 

classification is not equal. Excellent English proficiency level gets the least number of students with 

only 1 person who can achieve it, whereas poor English proficiency level gets the highest number of 

students with 14 persons who get scores lower than 40. There are 7 students who get very low English 

proficiency and 5 students who got low English proficiency level. Furthermore, 8 out of 40 students get 

fair English proficiency level, 2 out of 40 students get good English proficiency level, and 3 out of 40 

students get very good English proficiency level. The total number of students who get poor, very low, 

and low English proficiency level achieves 26 students. It outperforms the total number of students 

who get good, very good, and excellent English proficiency level.  

In overall, the percentage of students who get excellent English proficiency level is 2.5%. The 

percentage of students who get very good English proficiency level is 7.5%. The percentage of students 

who get good English proficiency level is 5%. The percentage of students who get fair English 



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proficiency level is 20%. The percentage of students who get low English proficiency level is 12.5%. 

The percentage of students who get very low English proficiency level is 17.5%. The percentage of 

students who get poor English proficiency level is 35%. It is clear that students with poor English 

proficiency level are dominant compared to students with other English proficiency levels, whereas 

student with excellent English proficiency level is a minority in the group. The following table shows 

statistical description of the students’ scores. 

 

Table 2. Statistical Description of the Students’ Score 

Descriptive Statistics 

 N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation 

90 40 20.0 90.0 47.500 18.9804 

Valid N (listwise) 40     

 

The table shows that the lowest score that the students get is 20 and the highest score that the students 

get is 90. Furthermore, the total number of students who join the test is 40 and the mean of the 

students’ scores is 47.5. Based on the proficiency level classification as previously explained, the mean 

of the students’ scores achieves only very low English proficiency.  

 

4. Discussion 

The finding of this research shows that although the students have learnt English for six years; three 

years at junior high schools and three years at senior high schools, most of them do not have sufficient 

competence in English. It implies that a long duration of English language teaching and learning does 

not guarantee that the students will have sufficient competence in English. This case can be caused by 

various factors. One of the factors is a conventional method of teaching. Hussain (2017, p. 144) 

explained, due to conventional methods of teaching, an anxiety developed in the students and they lost 

their interest in this subject. Furthermore, the ways teachers teach in the classroom can also influence 

the success of teaching and learning English. Teachers often forget that the main objective of learning a 

language is to make someone able to communicate by using the target language. Ibrahim, M. K., and 

Ibrahim, Y. A. (2017, p. 297) showed dominant practices that teachers do in the classroom: (1) 

concentration on language form rather than use and appropriateness, (2) a tendency to favor 

accuracy-focused activities rather than fluency-focused, and (3) an attention to exercises on the 

language rather than communication tasks to be achieved through the language. 

Equally important, foreign language education planning can also influence the success of teaching and 

learning process of English. Yunus and Taslim (2017, pp. 4-5) found that in the context of English 

foreign language learning at ABA UMI, students interacted only with their classmates. As known, 

students who learn English as a foreign language do not use English as a daily means of 



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communication. The foreign language is not also an official language that is used in formal situations. 

In other words, they use English only in certain situations, like at schools or when given assignments to 

speak English. With limited exposure to the target language, it will be very difficult for students to be 

fluent in English. It is crucial to construct an appropriate foreign language education planning then. 

Aligning with this statement, Qian (2017, p. 45) found that medium-long term foreign language 

education planning was critical for the rational development of basic foreign language education which 

had to be adjusted to the needs of social developments as well as individual rights. 

The finding of this research hopefully become a consideration for policy makers in English language 

teaching and learning, English teachers, and students. For policy makers, it hopefully gives a 

description of the real situation in the field. Most students who come to higher schools have insufficient 

competence in English. By knowing this situation, it is expected that educational policies will be made 

in order to solve problems that both teachers and students face in English language teaching and 

learning. For English teachers, it hopefully becomes a reflection of how they teach their students. When 

the students have insufficient competence in English, it implies that there is something wrong in the 

teaching and learning process. By knowing this situation, it is expected that English teachers do 

improvements in the way of teaching English, so the objectives of English language teaching and 

learning can be achieved. For students, it hopefully gives a view of where their English competence 

currently is. Their current English competence is still far from what is expected. By knowing this 

situation, it is expected that they become more motivated in improving their English proficiency to 

cope with globalization era. 

 

Acknowledgements 

First of all the researcher would like to thank to God that the researcher is able to finish this journal 

article. The researcher would like also to thank to higher school students who have participated in this 

research. Without their willingness to participate, this research would not run well. Furthermore, the 

researcher would like to thank the researcher’s friends who always support and encourage the 

researcher to always be active and routine in conducting research on English language teaching and 

learning. The last but not least, the researcher also thanks all people who have directly or indirectly 

contributed to the success of this research. 

 

References 

Abdulmajeed, & Hameed. (2017). Using a Linguistic Theory of Humour in Teaching English Grammar. 

English Language Teaching, 10(2), 40-47. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v10n2p40 

Camargo, & Vásquez. (2018). The Impact of Wikis & Videos Integration though Cooperative Writing 

Tasks Processes. English Language Teaching, 11(5). 

Chubko. (2017). Video Making as a Way to Improve Students’ Grammar Knowledge: A Case Study of 

Teaching Grammar in the Academic English Classroom. The Asian EFL Journal, 98. 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe            Global Research in Higher Education                  Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 

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Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

Husain. (2017). An Evaluation of ELT Situation in Higher Education Institutions in Punjab, Pakistan. 

European Journal of English Language Teaching, 2(3). 

Ibrahim, M. K., & Ibrahim, Y. A. (2017). Communicative English Language Teaching in Egypt: 

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Qian. (2017). Recent Developments of China’s Basic Foreign Language Education: Review and 

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Yunus, & Taslim. (2017). English Lecturers’ Perceptions of Task-Based Reading Teaching at ABA 

Universitas Muslim Indonesia. The Asian EFL Journal, 98. 

Yusri, Romadloni, & Mantasiah. (2017). Intercultural Approach in Foreign Language Learning to 

Improve Students’ Motivation. The Asian EFL Journal, 98. 

 


