43 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License eISSN 2721-5016 | pISSN 2721-5024 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user DOI: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33474/j-reall.v3i1.14237 Volume 3 | Number 1 | p. 43-54 Published on February 25th, 2022 The Practices of English in Indonesian secondary education: A sequential explanatory study Siti Sangadatul Latifah1, Moh. Arif Mahbub2, Ismaili3 1,2,3English Education Departement, Universitas Islam Jember, Indonesia 1saadahlatifah22@gmail.com, 2rifelbarzmahbub@gmail.com, 3ismak.alfarisi.gmail.com *) correspondence: saadahlatifah22@gmail.com ABSTRACT A growing body of literature on need analysis research has been carried out in indifference areas in various countries around the world. However, need analysis study in Indonesian vocational settings situated in marketing programs is still in its infancy. This article aimed at exploring participants’ angles toward the participants’ ESP Target Needs in the marketing program at a private Vocational High School (VHS) in East Java, Indonesia. By adapting Hutchinson & Waters' (1987) frameworks, this sequential explanatory mixed- methods (Creswell, 2014, 2018) employed a web-based questionnaire and a series of semi-structured interviews as the instruments. A web-based questionnaire consisting of 9 items: 2 items asking about wants, 2 items asking about necessities, and 5 items asking about lacks was administered to 15 participants who consented to take part in the recent study. Additionally, there were 3 areas of a series of semi-structured interviews exploring participants’ and the English teachers’ feelings about their wants, necessities, and lacks. A descriptive statistical method using SPSS v.25 was used to analyze the quantitative data, whereas thematic analysis proposed by Widodo (2014) was employed to analyze the qualitative data. The findings indicated that there were various perceptions related to their English target needs. Conclusions, limitations, and recommendations were then discussed. Keywords: English specific purposes (ESP); marketing program; need analysis; target needs; vocational high school (VHS) INTRODUCTION As stated in (Mahbub, 2018), the government regulation of the Republic of Indonesia No. 29 of 1990 concerning secondary education, chapter I general provisions, article 1 (3), implies that the development of students’ skills in vocational education should focus on the specific field. Still in the same reference, In article 3 (2), it is clearly stated that to enter to the workplace and developing professional behavior vocational education should give the priority to prepare vocational high school (henceforth VHS) students. Accordingly, the students at the secondary level are forced to have qualifications in accordance with their program. For this reason, Vocational education should provide opportunities for the students to acquire those competencies in order for them to be ready to contend the demand of today’s marketplace. However, the content of the school-based curriculum (KTSP) dan curriculum 2013 (K13) for vocational education in Indonesia had general English material. In fact, the English teachers in both VHS and general schools even use the same course books that are provided by markets that the contents are frequently inadequate to the VHS students’ needs as (Mahbub, 2018) has argued. A similar phenomenon has currently occurred in marketing program in one of private Vocational High Schools in Jember, in which the learning materials are not in line with the needs of that field. More surprisingly, the national standardized test (UN) conducts by Indonesian government has similar contents for all programs in VHS. In fact, it is same as general English and national standardized test (UN) or Computer Based Test (Henceforth CBT) set as two parameters for high school standards graduation requirements in Indonesia. Marketing management is one of vocational education program in Indonesian secondary schools focusing on providing the students with respect to planning, managing, and evaluating goods http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user http://dx.doi.org/10.33474/j-reall.v3i1.14237 Siti Sangadatul Latifah, Moh. Arif Mahbub, Ismaili 44 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and services, to fulfill the demands of a particular company or organization. Unfortunately, the English coursebook used by the teacher and students in classroom instruction still uses GE. Consequently, students with different needs do not meet the growing demands for understanding increased disciplinary/specialized language, knowledge, and practice in which English plays a pivotal role in mediating the development of learners’ specialized language competence and disciplinary knowledge and skills (Newton, 2016). For this reason, they are not contextualized for the students of marketing management program. This present study was anchored on Hutchinson & Waters' (1987) need analysis framework that encompasses two essential points “target needs” and “learning needs”. Target needs include three subcategories: necessities, lack, and wants, and two main points of learning need: learning strategies and basic language skills. This study limits only on investigating disclose specific content of target need areas that the participants feel they should learn. As described earlier, a question arises is “what are the needs of English in vocational education marketing programs?”. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the English needs of practicing English through the need analysis perspective in the context of VHS, in the marketing program. In addition, this study also aimed to identify the need for English in the marketing program are based on the learners’ target need in the process of syllabus design. The contribution of this study will enrich references to develop or design English materials in marketing programs in accordance with the students’ needs. Another contribution of this present research is as constructive inputs for curriculum designers to develop English materials for students’ marketing programs suited to their needs. METHODS Drawing upon the postpositivism and constructivism paradigm (Creswell, J., 2009, 2018) this current research employed a sequential explanatory mixed-method design (Fraenkel et al., 2012; Ivankova et al., 2006; Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2007) to invsestigate students’ needs for English in the realms of vocational education in Indonesia. All-necessary data were collected via a web-based questionnaire first and a semi-structured interview. Research context and participants. The procedure of participants recruitement was adopted from Hammersley & Traianou (2012). More specifically, we illustrated those procedures in this following part. Initially, we called one VHS head master to ask for permission in conducting this present study. Then, the Head master informed the English teacher about this research. We asked for an access to the students via whatApp group. Only then, we sent a letter of consents to the students via that platform. After signing the letter, of 32 students, fifteen (n = 15) students and one female English teacher voluntarily took part as research participants in this research project. There were from one of a private VHSs in Jember, Indonesia. They were comprised of (64.2 %) female and (35.7%) males, ranging from 16 to 18 years of age. The English teacher with a bachelor’s degree has taught in VHS for about 11 years. Those all data are shown in the following table in more detail. Those all demographic data are illustrated in the following table in more detail. TABLE 1. Demographic characteristic of the students Categories F % Gender Male Female 6 8 35.7 64.3 Age 16 17 18 1 10 3 7.1 71.4 21.4 Program Marketing 14 100 Grade level Second grade 14 100 Instrumentations. For data-gathering instruments, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed in this current study. To protect the privacy of the participants, a web-based questionnaire was intentionally http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user The Practices of English in Indonesian secondary education: A sequential explanatory study 45 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License designed anonymously and uploaded via Google Form suggested by Dornyei&Taguchi (2018). The questionnaires were mainly adopted and modified from many scholarly articles (Alsamadani, 2017; Liu et al., 2011; Prachanant, 2012). In addition, the questionnaire consists of 11 items in 2 separate parts with different response formats (closed-ended and 5-points Likert-scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The first part consisted of 2 items was designed to obtain participants’ biographical profiles about their ages and genders, as suggested by several scholars (Dornyei&Taguchi, 2018; Kouritzin, 2004). Moreover, the second part contained of 9 items intended to collect participants’ perceptions about their English target needs in the marketing program with three aspects measured namely wants, necessities, and lacks. More specifically, those items included 1 item about participants’ aims for learning English, 1 item about contextual issues of uses English for their future work domain, 1 item around the importance of the four language skills for their future work domain. 1 item of their proficiency level in the four basic language skills. 2 items regarding speaking difficulties, 1 item related to listening difficulties, 1 item regarding reading difficulties, and 1 item about writing difficulties. Before administering this instrument, the questionnaire was consulted to two experts specifying in the NA field. They were also involved to evaluate the content validity of this instrument. Based on their review, comments, and feedback, some inappropriate items were removed (items 8, 11, and 13) and some sentences with inappropriate diction were also modified (items 7 and 10). After the review and modifications, to validate this instrument, it was tested with a sample (5 students) who were not participants in this study. Finally, 9 items web-based questionnaire was created and distributed to the participants. The second instrument was a semi-structured interview carried out with both English teacher and students. It was conducted in Bahasa Indonesia with voluntary participants as suggested by Ghany & Latif (2012). Adopting the structure of questions from several academic scholars (Alsamadani, 2017; Uzun, 2018), it contained 3 questions including their wants, necessities, and lacks in joining English course. Since the pandemic of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbrake, we used WhatsApp Voice notes to deliver the questions. Furthermore, the semi-structured interview was also addressed to the English teacher. It was conducted to obtain deeper and more detailed information and also to clarify the data into the themes of the questionnaire. This interview was conducted for approximately 15 – 30 minutes. Finally, the findings were analyzed and the conclusions were drowned. Procedure In the first stage of gathering data, the quantitative data from web-based questionnaire was employed via Google form. In addition, a web link was made and posted on a social media platform. Over a period, 14 days in overage the participants responded to the questionnaire. Furthermore, a semi- structured interview was conducted approximately two days after the questionnaire distribution and it was recorded on audio-recorder to have accurate data for analysis. Data analysis Data gained from the web-based questionnaires were then analyzed by using a descriptive statistical method by presenting frequencies, mean (M), standard deviation (SD), and percentages (%) using SPSS v.25. Further, the reliabilities of these instruments were also tested using Cronbach’s Alpha showed 0.706, signaling high reliability (Cohen et al., 2007, p. 506). Moreover, the verbal data from the audio-recorded interview was analyze using several steps of data analysis framework (Widodo, 2014) including (1) listening to the audio-recorded to find the appropriate themes (2) transcribing the verbal data, (3) coding and classifying the data, (4) interpreting and communicating interview data (5) building credibility by providing an opportunity to the participants to do member checking prosess. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Willingness http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user Siti Sangadatul Latifah, Moh. Arif Mahbub, Ismaili 46 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License The data in the table reveals participants’ perceptions of their English target needs. It means that the average score and standard deviation (SD) are also provided. The SD value in the table is approximately 1. It shows that participants’ responses are close to the average. The participants were asked to show their goal of learning English for a future career or future education, which of two options they prefer (item 1). Most of the participants (n = 11, 73.3%) admitted that they more prefer learning English for their future career than for future education (n = 4, 26.7%). In response to the second question (item 2) about their future job career, it is reported that entrepreneur is their most likely job career 10 (66.7%), while sales executives 2 (13.3%), business office 2 (13.3%), and only 6.7% (n = 1) of marketing supervisor were also reported as one of their possible future work environments. An overview of participants’ responses to questions 1 – 2 is illustrated in Table 2. TABLE 2. Students’ view about purposes for learning English and uses English for their future work domain. Wants Options F % 1. The aim for learning English For future career For future education 11 4 73.3% 26.7% 2. Future job career Business office Sales executive Entrepreneur Marketing supervisor 2 2 10 1 13.3 % 13.3 % 66.7 % 6.7 % To support the result of the web-based interview, we conducted a semi-structured interview with 4 students (1 male and 3 female) and 1 English teacher (1 female). The results of the interview data analysis revealed three main topics concerning the establishment of target needs in vocational settings: (1) wants, (2) necessities, (3) and lacks. Item 1 asked participants' goals in learning English, they stated that their goal of learning English was for their future careers. As expressed in the following excerpt: ‘… I'm studying English for my future job after graduation [from vocational high school]’. (Participant 2, female) I'm learning English for preparing my oral skill to be competent in my future career. So, I can compete [with others] in my work place’. (Participant 3, female) I took English course because I want to be a millennial entrepreneur, [because] I want to have my own business and promoting our product to other countries.’ (Participant 4, male) The data gathered from the interview considering participants’ wants indicated that their goals of learning English are for their future job career. This means that the interviews and the questionnaire express a similar idea. Necessities The next aspects were concerning participants’ necessities including the importance of the four language skills (item 3) and participants’ proficiency in four language skills (item 4). Based on the result in table 3, reported that a vast majority 9 (60%) claimed that speaking is the most important skill for their future work, followed by reading skill 20% (n =3), writing skill (n =2, 13.3%), and only 6.7% (n =1) for listening skill. TABLE 3. Students’ perceptions of the importance of the four language skills for their future work domain. Necessities Options F % 3. The most important language skill for a future job Reading 3 20 Writing 2 13.3 Speaking 9 60 Listening 1 6.7 For item 4, more than a half of participants (n = 7, 53.4%) reported that they have the ability in reading skill, and (n = 4, 26.7%) are competent in the skills of oral expression, writing skill 3 (20%), and only 7.6% are competent in listening skill. Table 4 depicts the results of item 4. http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user The Practices of English in Indonesian secondary education: A sequential explanatory study 47 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License TABLE 4. Students’ perceptions of their proficiency in the four language skills. Necessities Options F % 4. Proficiency in four language skills Reading 7 53.4 Writing 3 20 Speaking 4 26.7 Listening 1 6.7 In terms of participants’ necessities, speaking skill was found to be the most crucial skill for their future job. Likewise, quite a few participants reported: ‘… To me, speaking skill [the most important]. [Because] speaking English can increase our self-confidence level like when we are presenting goods, serving customers, etc.’ (participant 2, female) ‘[I think] speaking is the most needed [skill]… [And also] as in my majoring [marketing program] we have to be able to develop public relation with both face to face and digital marketing.’ (Participant 2, male) In this situation, the English teacher clarifies that oral skill becomes the essential point for their future job career. As expressed: ‘Since my monitoring so far, those [four skills] are connected. But speaking has become the main skill for their work prospects [in marketing program]. [Because] marketing is related to how they market the product, control the product, run the product, goods or suits and they will communicate with many people both in domestic [Indonesia] or overseas [other than Indonesia].’ (Participant 5, female) For the participants’ proficiency, most of the participants reported that they have abilities in reading. ‘…. I'm the best at reading [skills]. [Because] I like it. (Participant 1, female) ‘I’m able to read well. … I’m very excited to be a good [English] reader. (Participant 3, female) It means that these collected data also attesting the results of the questionnaire. Weaknesses The next aspect involves the lack of participants, including the participants’ difficulties in four language skills. In reporting these findings, we summarized the number and percentage of participants who reported the frequency of difficulty as “always or often”, and the number and percentage of participants who reported the frequency of “seldom or never”. The data in the table reveals participants’ perceptions of their English target needs. It means that the average score and standard deviation (SD) are also provided. The SD value in the table is approximately 1. Table 5 demonstrated participants’ perceptions of their speaking difficulties, including using inappropriate words (item 5), and lacking confidence in speaking (item6). Based on the result of Q5, 6 (40%) participants claimed that sometimes they had trouble using appropriate words when speaking. for the same amount of participants also express that they are weak in using appropriate diction. Whereas for the same amount of participants in (M= 3.26, SD= 0.88) acclaimed infrequent response, the remaining response was only 20% (n = 3). In response to item 7, slightly over half of the participants (n = 9, 60%) claimed that they lacking the confidence to speak. 20% (n = 3) of participants were occasionally considered a choice (M= 3.60, SD =1.24). The rest show that they can speak confidently. TABLE 5. Students’ perception of their speaking difficulties Lacks Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never Mean SD How often do the following happen to you? F % F % F % F % F % 5. Using inappropriate words. 1 6.7 5 33.3 6 40 3 20 0 0 3.27 0.88 6. Lacking confidence in speaking 4 26.7 5 33.3 3 20 2 13.3 1 6.7 3.60 1.24 For item 7, a concern of listening difficulties almost a half percent of the answers 46.7% (n=7) seldom get difficulties in understanding the main point of conversation. Meanwhile, (n=3, 20%) showed difficulties. And 33.3% in the neutral option. Table 6 depicts the results of item 7. TABLE 6. Students’ perception of their listening difficulties. Lacks Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never Mean SD http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user Siti Sangadatul Latifah, Moh. Arif Mahbub, Ismaili 48 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License I have trouble in… F % F % F % F % F % 7. The Understanding subject matter of talk. 1 6.7 2 13.3 5 33.3 7 46.7 0 0 2.80 0.94 The following features are related to participants’ view of reading difficulties they encountered. Item 8 asked the participants how difficult it is to find the keywords in the texts. As expected less than a quarter of 20% of responses stated to have skimming problems. At the same time (n=7, 46.7%) of the responses expressed get easier in skimming, and the rest 33.3% choose sometimes option (M= 2.80, SD = 0.94). Table 7 illustrated the result of Q8. TABLE 7. Participants’ perception of their reading difficulties. Lacks Always Often Sometime Seldom Never Mean SD I have trouble in… F % F % F % F % F % 8. Skimming 1 6.7 2 13.3 5 33.3 7 46.7 0 0 2.80 0.94 The data are shown in table 8 present the results of the questions design to explore the problem of participants’ writing difficulties. For item 9, the results obtained from item 9 illustrated that 7 (46.7%) participants were unable to express their idea, while 40% (n=6) choose the middle answer and only 13.3% (n=2) of participants were able to express their idea appropriately. The results are illustrated in Table 8 for more detail. TABLE 8. Students’ perception of their writing difficulties. Lacks Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never Mean SD I have trouble in… F % F % F % F % F % 9. Expressing ideas appropriately 1 6.7 6 40 6 40 2 13.3 0 0 3.40 0.82 Furthermore, we also confirmed the same result in the interview transcription related to the aspects of participants’ difficulties in English learning. The interview transcription turns out that they were lacking confidence in speaking and understanding fast or long-text descriptions in English. ‘…I’m so shy to speak in English, [I feel] afraid of making mistakes.’ (Participants 1, female) ‘….I think the difficulty of my student is related to their ability to speak … lacking confidence in speaking English.’ (Participant 5, female) In terms of participants’ lack of learning English, those data also correspond to the data resulted from web-based questionnaire. The next issue is whether the textbook materials are relevant to the students’ career field. The thematic analysis revealed of this question show that the teacher admitted that the materials in the textbook were fundamentally irrelevant to the students’ career area, which she presented in the following excerpt: In my opinion, the government-mandated textbook does not serve the materials suite with students’ needs, especially in the marketing department. That is why I must be selective in choosing the right materials for my students. (Participant 5, female) It was difficult for the students, to record their feelings in detail because their comments were limited. In this section, we will provide an in-depth description of the English needs of VHS students resulted from the web-based questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The findings from the data analysis are going to be presented in the following parts in more detail. In this research, table 2 reflects of participants’ goals of learning English Q1 and Q2. Participants mainly express their intention to continue their studies in higher education and to get a http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user The Practices of English in Indonesian secondary education: A sequential explanatory study 49 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License job these data are supported by the interview result. For Q1 reported the majority of participants (73.3%) admitted that their goal for learning English is to get a job. From these data, it can be said that VHS students already know about what they want after graduating from a marketing major. These results are consistent with previous studies by many academics (Alqunayeer & Zamir, 2016; Anwar, 2019; Boroujeni et al., 2013; Guiyu & Yang, 2016; Hossain, 2013; Liu et al., 2011; Nimasari, 2018; Poedjiastutie & Oliver, 2017; Sujana et al., 2020) admitted that getting a job has been considered as their primary learning goals. This is following Indonesian government regulation no 29 of 1990 in article 3 (2), which says that Vocational education should give priority to the students to be ready to enter the workplace (Mahbub, 2018). However, a recent scientific publication reported contradictory phenomena that during 2016-2019 the average unemployment rate in Indonesia has significantly increased from 44.34% to 60.09% (Ohara et al., 2020). This reflects that there is no link and match between vocational education outputs and the labor market. In the 21st century, the competition in today’s workplace is extremely fierce. Moreover, in this digital age, more and more workplaces are becoming multicultural and multilingual in all areas, it also reveals the required of foreign language and cross-cultural communication even in the simple task at the workplace (Vogt & Kantelinen, 2013). Thus, VHS graduates must be prepared to compete in digital marketing. In terms of the future job they wanted (Q2), the statistic data indicated that 66.7% confessed that they wanted to be an entrepreneur. These data were supported the interview transcription. Becoming an entrepreneur plays a critical role in economic growth. For Mahmood et al. (2020), producing students with entrepreneurial skills and competencies will guarantee the success of an entrepreneurial program. Consequently, the course contents should be carefully designed to accommodate the students’ needs suited to their program. On the other hand, the Indonesian government focuses on the National Examination as one of the final standards for all majors, where the content is not in accordance with each major (Mahbub, 2018). Foreign language proficiency is important throughout the career for workplace professionals. In Q3, participants were asked to respond on what skill they will emphasize for their future work. Based on the verbal and statistical analysis, the vast majority of participants (60%) assumed that speaking is the preferred skill. The participants expected that they can produce English well in communication especially in terms of international collaboration. It is sensible to say that speaking is the most important skill. This finding echoes the conclusions of many studies(Anwar, 2019; Fadel & Rajab, 2017; Guiyu & Yang, 2016; Hossain, 2013; Liu et al., 2011; Nimasari, 2018; Poedjiastutie & Oliver, 2017; Prachanant, 2012; Saragih, 2014; Sujana et al., 2020) confessed that speaking has been measured as their crucial skill needed for their job, particularly in the 21st-century labor markets (Sebastianus et al., 2019). On the other hand, interview transcription data indicated that participants were lacking confidence in speaking. This means that there is a gap between their necessities and communicative competence. When asking about the participants’ proficiency in English language skills Q4, the statistic data and oral transcription reported the same ideas that more than a half of participants 53.4% admitted that they have competencies in reading. The interview transcription also indicated that participants felt confident and excited when the teacher give them reading tasks. This finding corroborates with Alsamadanis' (2017) study in Saudi claimed that reading is their most capable skill. Students reading skill and their critical thinking skills have significantly correlated with successful learning (Adjoa & Mai, 2016). Unfortunately, reading materials in the Indonesian government-mandated textbook are too general reading content. It significantly proved that there is a missing link between the reading materials studied and the necessary reading content. Therefore it is highly required to redesign the reading content materials in that textbook suited to each program (Mahbub, 2018). For Q5, participants were asked how often they using inappropriate words when speaking. In this case, students are supposed to be able to select the words that are close to the marketing topics given. The responses reported a total mean of one-third and .88 for SD indicated that using appropriate diction still becomes their obstacle in speaking English. This means that students cannot construct vocabulary cohesively in their speech production. This finding linked up with Prachanants' http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user Siti Sangadatul Latifah, Moh. Arif Mahbub, Ismaili 50 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (2012) study in Thailand which found that using appropriates diction has been ranked as the most serious problem encountered in oral communication. Similarly, research in three provinces in eastern Indonesia by Sebastianus et al. (2019) affirmed that the main strangle for students to practice their English is using proper vocabulary. Though Alqahtani (2015) argued that vocabulary mastery is a crucial component for students, which significantly influences the success of communication. Lacking confidence in speaking was examined beyond the questionnaire item 6. The analysis evidence that slightly over half (60%) of respondents perceive it difficult to speak confidently. This was clarified by the English teacher interview result which affirmed that they are shy and afraid of making mistakes when speaking English. These findings were aligned with preliminary research, which claimed that respondents mostly felt afraid of having miscommunication due to they did not have enough confidence (Saragih, 2014) especially in public-speaking (Fadhla, 2020) causing their hesitancy to speak up (Alqunayeer & Zamir, 2016). These become the primary factor that hinders the use of language in communication. As previously described, the dominant of participants agreed that speaking ability becomes the most notable capability for their desired jobs in the future. Hence, one of the fundamental steps is to remind students of the importance of mastering oral skills for their long and short-term career plans. Furthermore, what is taught at the school is highly required as the most reliable resources to fill these gaps among their outstanding abilities and their insufficiency of self- confidence (Kahramanoglu et al., 2018) Regarding the participants’ adversities of listening (item 7) almost half 46.7% of participants indicated that they had not sufficiently in understanding the subject matter of talk, similar to Salems' (2017) conclusions. The same tendency was also notified by several academic researchers, Nushi & Oroujis' (2020) stating that unfamiliar with the phonological process of pronunciation become the greatest strangle in understanding the main idea of talk. On the same side, Prachanants' (2012) informs that the participants were mostly unable to understand the different accents of both native and non- native speakers. The speaker speaks too fast was also reported as the obstacle of understanding the central point in listening (Ilhan, 2018). In the light of the previous findings, confirm that most of the students are unaware of the importance of listening skills (Alsamadani, 2017; Boroujeni et al., 2013). It contradicts Tunagürs' et al. (2021) findings assert that productive skills (listening and speaking) are the most essential aspect of successful communication. It shows that is mutual reciprocity between listening difficulties and participants’ language proficiency. In terms of participants’ reading difficulties (Q8), the result evidenced that more than a quarter 26.7 % of participants confessed troubles in skimming texts. This means that they were fully aware of the importance of fast-finding keywords in texts is undeniable. This remark is in line with Kose et al. (2019) study stating that being able to skim through relevant articles and books in a particular area becomes the most frequent reading needs. This is confirmed by Atai & Nazari, (2011) who reported the same case, most of the participants assessed that skimming text becomes the substantial point in reading sub-skill. Adjoa & Mais' (2016) also confirmed that being able to guess the unfamiliar vocabulary supports the reader to quickly find the keywords of the texts. As aforementioned earlier, reading is the skill that the dominant of participants has mastered. This represents the result of verbal and numerical data show that they are good at reading and confident in reading tasks, similar to the results of Alqunayeer & Zamirs' (2016). This shows that there was a significant correlation between reading difficulties and participants’ language proficiency. Lastly, regarding the participants writing difficulties (Q9) the amount show less than a half 46.7% of respondents recognized that they have trouble in expressing ideas appropriately. These inventions fit the Yuvayapan & Bilginers' (2020) search informs that students are distressed in deciding content at the beginning of writing because they are less confident in presenting ideas. In addition, Alqunayeer & Zamirs' (2016) and Sabaruns' (2018) study breakdown that the majority of the students are weak in using correct grammar to convey their views when writing. This was supported by Hossains' (2013) research stated that the students were unable to provide analytically, coherently, and cohesively to correlate their minds in writing. The inability to determine correct words was also been http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user The Practices of English in Indonesian secondary education: A sequential explanatory study 51 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License cited as a struggle factor of the weakness in expressing ideas by Prachanants' (2012) study. The collected information indicates that participants are still confused to express what they want to say clearly. Therefore, improvement of writing skills is very crucial for them to solve their writing problems. In this section we analyzed the result of an English teachers’ interview on the aspect of relevancy the materials of Indonesian Government-mandated textbook to the participants’ vocational area represented that the contents are irrelevant to the marketing concern. Interestingly, these findings concur with the research finding by Saragih (2014) pointed out that the mandated textbook did not served the relevant materials that nurses highly required to support their profession in the future. However, in reality, mandated books is solely for achieving students’ learning goals without adjusting the learning materials to students’ needs (Ibrahim et al., 2013). Consequently, it is difficult for students to master the language skills that are highly demanded by their particular context (Mostafavi et al., 2021). There was a huge gap between target needs and students’ proficiency. The teachers should therefore, sort E-resources as a supplement material by selecting the appropriate contents for the marketing field. Moreover, Nimasari (2018) has suggested to revise and further develop the mandated textbook to fit the ESP devices. CONCLUSIONS As highlighted in the objectives of this paper, it set out to examine the views of practicing English in a secondary vocational school. Anchored from Hutchinson & Waterss' (1987) as the cornerstone framework, which bases line on three measurable aspects of English Target Needs; wants, necessities, and lacks revealed that practicing English is served strong indication that participants highly needed to fulfill the entrepreneurial requirements as a concern for their chosen future job. As previously analyzed, the four basics English skills have a significant relationship in the fulfillment of English targets in their work. Among those skills, reading was considered as the most mastered skill, followed by speaking, writing, and listening as the weakest skill. To be precise, speaking was cited as the most influential skill for their work. However, lack of using appropriated diction and self-confidence level remain to be a major caused of mastering oral communication skills. It can be inferred that this condition is not linear with the process of preparing students to enter today's workplace. Additionally, there were many inconsistencies between the government-mandated textbook and contextual issues. Unsurprisingly, this situation hiders the development of participants’ competencies. One of the possible solutions is that the teachers should emphasize the using of appropriate dictions through authentic materials suited to the marketing context. This article emphasizes only on investigating students and teacher perception in management program toward English targeted needs in one of Indonesian private VHS setting. Thus, for further study, we hope there will be research on investigating students’ need in a broader scope. Moreover, policymakers should pay more attention to secondary education related to graduation standards and appropriate teaching materials to improve the quality of education. http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user Siti Sangadatul Latifah, Moh. Arif Mahbub, Ismaili 52 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License REFERENCES Adjoa, N., & Mai, M. M. (2016). A Needs Analysis for a Discipline-Specific Reading Intervention. English Language Teaching, 9(3), 235–247. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n3p235 Alqahtani, M. (2015). The importance of vocabulary in language learning and how to be taught. 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