LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 23, No. 2, October 2020 LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/LLT Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 304 STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TOWARDS GLOBAL ASSESSMENT CERTIFICATE CURRICULUM: A SURVEY STUDY Uswatun Hasanah and Rizki Farani Islamic University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta uswahusna58@gmail.com and rizki.farani@uii.ac.id correspondence: uswahusna58@gmail.com DOI: 10.24071/llt.v23i2.2487 received 12 March 2020; accepted 17 May 2020 Abstract This paper aims to identify motivation of students to learn English as Foreign Language for Global Assessment Certificate (GAC) curriculum in an international private high school in Yogyakarta. There were 46 GAC students from grade X, XI and XII involved in this study. The level of motivation was measured by using Attitude/ Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) which consists of 5 domains: a) desire to learn English; b) attitudes toward learning English; c) the interest in foreign language; d) language class anxiety and e) language use anxiety. The results show that the motivation of the students to learn English as EFL was at high and moderate level. The students are able to speak English well but they need improvement on self-confidence in English. The survey implies that students well perceived English as an important means for their carrier prospects and way to enhance their knowledge. Keywords: students’ motivation, English as a foreign language, senior high school Introduction Motivation is one of the keys to the success of the teaching and learning process because it involves effort to encourage someone to do something or the driving force of the subject to do an action in a goal (Dörnyei, 1994). In this research, the context of motivation refers to learning motivation as psychological condition that drives a person to learn (Gardner, 1985). In terms of motivation to learn English as Foreign Language (EFL) in Indonesian context, students in Indonesia need strong internal motivation to improve their English competence since English is not their vernacular and national language. Integrative motivation requires positive attitudes from students towards speakers of the target language and culture (Gardner, 1985). It implies that motivation and attitude of language can be seen not only in the form of pleasure and pride in using a particular language but also according to the concept of cultural understanding. Studies on motivation and attitude in learning English from Iran and Jordan show that students have high motivation to learn English since they have positive awareness toward the importance of English. (Chalak & Kassain, 2010; Tahaineh & Daana, 2013). mailto:rizki.farani@uii.ac.id LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 23, No. 2, October 2020 305 This research discusses further about motivation of students in one of private International Senior High Schools in Yogyakarta during their study in International Program, Global Assessment Certificate Curriculum (GAC). In GAC program, students have opportunity to study all subjects by using English as their medium of instruction. To apply for GAC program, students need to take an entry test which includes Listening, Sentence Structure, Reading, Writing and Speaking Test. GAC modules consisting of English Academics, Mathematics, Computers, Study Skills, Business, Science and Social Sciences are supported by systematic learning and university success skills. Elective modules allow students to choose between the preparations for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) with the Test of English as a Foreign Language® (TOEFL). There is also ACT® test preparation. This test is an addition to the GAC core curriculum and is provided for students to have additional qualifications to apply to universities. However, passing grade of the entry test is relatively low. Students need to reach minimum score 65 to pass the test. As the impact of the policy, most students can pass the entry test and register for GA program for one year but unfortunately not all of them can meet academic achievement so School provides remediation test to improve students’ score. Based on this gap, it is assumed that there is imbalance situation between school policy and students’ psychological condition to survive in International Program GAC. They may experience low motivation during the program due to some factors, for instance mental condition, physical condition or boredom. To identify specifically about their motivation, this research intends to know: “What is the level of students’ motivation to learn English as foreign language in Global Assessment certificate curriculum?”. This research is important to be conducted as a part of GAC program evaluation. It is expected that the findings can provide overview for School to reconsider its policy. Method This is a quantitative research in a format of survey study (Creswell, 2014) that involved 46 students who are taking GAC program in International Senior High School, Yogyakarta. Since the aim of this study is to map the level of motivation of the students, survey research is an appropriate design to answer the research question. The questionnaires used in data collection process were the revised version of Attitude/ Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) (Gardner, 2004). It contains 104 items and characterized into 12 scales (a) Interest in Foreign; (b) Parental Encouragement; (c) Motivational intensity; (d) English class anxiety; (e) English teacher evaluation; (f) Attitudes towards learning English; (g) Attitudes towards English-speaking people; (h) Integrative orientation (i) Desire to learn English; (j) English course evaluation; (k) English use anxiety; (l) Instrumental Orientation. However, there were only 5 domains used in this research because not all domain LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 23, No. 2, October 2020 306 is appropriate with students’ characters. This decision was taken after conducting construct validity with the director of GAC program. Table 1.1. Adaptation of Domain AMTB International Version Domain Positively Keyed Negatively Keyed (a) Desire to Learn English 1,2,3,4,5 6,7,8,9,10 (b) Attitudes towards learning English 11,12,13,14,15 16,17,18,19,20 (c) Interest in Foreign Language 21,22,23,24,25 26,27,28,29,30 (d) Language Class Anxiety 31,32,33,34,35 36,37,38,39,40 (e) Language Use Anxiety 41,42,43,44,45 46,47,48,49,50 The adaptation version of AMTB has been used in many studies of English as Foreign Language motivation (e.g., Chalak & Kassain, 2010; Tahaineh & Daana, 2013; Chairat, 2015). To measure students’ motivation, the point of “strongly agree” is 5 and “strongly disagree” is 1. For more details, the score for Likert scale by Riduwan (2016) for the questionnaire as follows: Table 1.2. The Score for Likert Scale Likert Scale Score Strongly Agree 5 Agree 4 Neutral 3 Disagree 2 Strongly Disagree 1 The Attitude/Motivation Test Battery: Technical Report by Gardner (1985) and AMTB International revised version (Gardner, 2004) provided 8 points of Likert scale but in this research, the director studies of GAC asserted to reduce the scales to be 5 points of Likert scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree to make students understand. Table 1.3 The Scale Interpretation of Positive Statements Intrepretation Scale High 4,5 Medium 3 Low 1,2 Table 1.4 The Scale Interpretation for Negative Statements (reverse) Interpretation Scale High 1,2 Medium 3 Low 4,5 Note. negative statements scale is the opposite of positive statements scale LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 23, No. 2, October 2020 307 The positive and negative statements indicated the motivation and attitudes in detail. The questionnaire was translated into Bahasa Indonesia by using the back- translation procedure in order to avoid the difficulties and misunderstanding. Back translation procedure is a technical term in translation, with procedures to translate material from language A to language B, then, the results of the translation of language B are validated by expertise (Tyupa, 2011). The quality of Back- Translation can be predicted and has a translation function that is equivalent to the original and the target versions are studied. Respondents were asked to read and check the questions carefully for 30-minute session. Findings and Discussion Results will be discussed in terms of frequencies/percentages and the total mean value. Table 1.5 The frequencies/percentages and the total mean value Domain Freq/Perc High Moderate Total Means Desire to learn English Freq 34 12 46 4.5 Percent 73.2% 26.8% 100% Attitudes towards learning English Freq 37 9 46 4.3 Percent 78.5% 21.8% 100% Interest in foreign language Freq 36 10 46 4.4 Percent 77.8% 22.2% 100% Language class anxiety Freq 29 17 46 3.7 Percent 62.2% 37.2% 100% Language use anxiety Freq 22 24 46 3.6 Percent 49.3% 50.7% 100% Based on table 1.5, the finding results state that the percentage level in each domain is between high and moderate. There are 78.5% of students who show positive attitudes towards learning English as well as their motivation to master various foreign languages perfectly. They also have interest in foreign languages and consider English as an important subject (77.8%). In desire to learn English, as many as 73.2% of students want to become proficient in the language. They relatively do not show any language use anxiety about speaking English including English in class presentations or when discussing with foreign students during a cultural exchange program 62.2%. However, language use anxiety shows a considerable difference since there are 49.3% students who experience anxiety in speaking English due to several internal or external factors. The factors may occur based on the existence of attitude-based motive (integrative motive) and self- confidence motivational sub processes that revealed the presence of relatively independent classroom-based sub process, characterized by classroom cohesion and evaluation (Dornyei, 1994). Desire to Learn English There are 61.80% students who have high motivation in positive item. They are eager to be fluent in English because they need to use English as language of LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 23, No. 2, October 2020 308 instruction in GAC program. However, there are 73.20% of students who are highly motivated in negative item. They state that they have no desire to learn English. This finding shows that motivation is perceived from learners’ desire to be more proficient in the language learning (Gardner, 1985). Attitudes toward Learning English There are 78.50% students who wish to speak many foreign languages perfectly. It implies that they have high motivation in building positive attitude toward Learning English. As the impact of this finding, students in GAC program are able to participate in cultural exchange program where students communicate directly with native speakers. It proves that attitudes towards a language are often mirrored in the attitudes towards the members of that speech community (Fasold,1984) as cited in (Chalak & Kassain, 2010). In addition, GAC program also prepares the students to pursue their future education in English speaking country so it is obvious that students have motivation to master various foreign languages perfectly. However, the highest score is on the negative item which the students think that learning English is a waste of time. In fact, they need to learn English to survive their study in GAC program. This data implies that students is more interested in practicing the language directly than studying the concept of the language. On the other word, students in secondary and high school perceive English as an important mean to support their carrier prospects and way to enhance their knowledge and prepare them to pursue advanced studies as well as help them to communicate with foreigners when they travel to other countries (Kitjaroonchai, 2013). Interest in Foreign Language There are 77.80% students who have high motivation in reading original English text. They do not prefer to read the translation version. The finding implies that integrative motivation plays an important role because a person needs to learn from language learning community and the ability to gain a knowledge applied from the learning language or instrumental motivation (Gardner & Lambert, 1959; Hudson, 2000) cited in (Tahaineh & Daana, 2013). The result also shows that 77.80% students are highly motivated in the statement “it is not important for us to learn foreign languages”. It can be concluded that students strongly disagree with the statement. This shows that students consider English is very important. Language Class Anxiety In the language class anxiety, there are 37.30% students who admit that they don’t understand why students feel nervous about speaking English in class. It means that students feel confident in speaking English in class. This finding implies that integrity, attitudes toward English and positive motivation are obtained in the classroom based on different cultural contexts and gender biases (Tahaineh & Daana, 2013). In the context of GAC Program, the students consist of male and female so they have opportunity to interact with all genders but a study case in Jordan (Tahaineh & Daana, 2013) involves all female students in one class. The difference of gender can affect knowledge building. LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 23, No. 2, October 2020 309 Despite their confidence in speaking English in the class, there are 49.30% students who states that they embarrass to volunteer answering questions in the class. They also feel nervous when they speak in the class. Mattarima & Hamdan (2011) states that some factors in anxiety is the pressure of speaking assignments that require students to present individually and spontaneously in a limited time, lack of prior knowledge about the topic and less interaction in teacher-student relationship. Students in GAC program may experience the similar pressure since they need to use English all the time. Language Use Anxiety In the language use anxiety, there are 58.70% students who have high motivation in speaking English if English speakers are presented. They feel more secure if they can listen dan see some examples from original native speaker about how to speak in English. In addition, there are 62.20% students who have high motivation in negative statement. The students feel worried in speaking English. This means some students do not worry about speaking English including English in class presentations or when discussing with foreign students during a cultural exchange program. This is in accordance with the opinion of Oxford & Shearin (1984) cited in Chalak & Kassain (2010) that visiting other countries and communicating with native speakers can influence the type of motivation they must achieve. Thus, learner's motivation is possible influenced by whether the student learns in a foreign language environment or a second language environment. All of the findings in this research have answered the research question because the data really represent the level of students’ motivation in GAC Program at one of private international senior high school in Yogyakarta. Overall, students have high and moderate level of motivation in learning English as EFL. However, they need to improve their self-confidence. The implication of this findings are some students who do not pass the academic requirement and take remediation test actually have a good skill in English but they are not able to maintain their motivation during GAC program. They experience unstable motivation during one- year program of GAC. Conclusion Students in GAC program have high and moderate level of motivation in learning English. However, they need to maintain their motivation for all program in terms of achieving academic learning objectives. Overall, there is no students who have low motivation. Based on the findings, school should provide additional program on motivation building to provide sufficient literacy for the students about how to improve self-confidence in learning English. School also needs to revise policy about passing grade indicators. The score of passing grade needs to be modified from 65 % to 75 % so all students who register for GAC program have good foundation in English and self-confidence. Having balance competence helps students to improve their quality in learning English. LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 23, No. 2, October 2020 310 References Abidin, J. Z., Muhammadi, M. P., & Alzwari, H. (2012). 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