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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Technology is a crucial part in human life. Technology contributes

its advantages and disadvantages in every aspects and human’s activity.

Technology is derived from the Greek word “techno” which means the

willingness, skills, knowledge of the ways, rules, tools and “logos” which

means science, word, learning and mental state (Stosic, 2015). Many

research findings show the positive effects of using technology, one of

them is in the field of education. Technology has a big role in building the

quality of education. Fatimah and Santiana (2017) argued that as the latest

instructional media in this globalization era, technology contributes good

benefits in the educational sector, especially in teaching and learning

process such as, helps the students to have new authentic and meaningful

learning experiences, provides more fun and effective learning atmosphere

to engage their effort and behavior, allows the students to work

collaboratively and easily access the information that can increase their

learning experiences.

Particularly in language learning, Kranthi (2017) stated that

technology has been used to assist and enhance the learning process.

Teachers can integrate various forms of technology to support their

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teaching, engage students’ motivation and participation in the learning

process, provide authentic examples of the target culture, and connect their

classrooms. To enhance the language learning experience, some

technology tools enable teachers to differentiate instruction, adapt

classroom activities and homework assignments in facilitating and

mediating the language learning.

Technology is synonymous with the existence of “communication

and information”. Therefore, the term ICT (Information and

Communication Technology) exists. Nowadays, ICT has become an

essential part of humans’ personal and social lives and also influenced

humans’ professional career (Golshan & Tafazoli, 2014). Mafuraga and

Moremi (2017) also stated that in educational aspect, ICT can lead to

increased student learning and improved teaching methods. However, the

challenges in using ICT emerged such as lack of experience of teachers

with technology compared to students, lack of local e-learning resources to

administer real-time classes and electronic assessments, lack of procedures

for monitoring and evaluating ICT use, insufficient equipment or provided

facilities, inappropriate attitudes, insufficient training and insufficient

capacity building (Tonui, Kerich, & Koross, 2016)(Soussi, 2015)

Swandewi (2017) argued that ICT has been widely used in 21st

century learning and considered as one of significant factor in the success

of learning process. Thus, in 21st century, it is a must for teacher to have

skill or ability in integrating the use of ICT in the teaching and learning

process. The stakeholders in education must be aware and concern to the

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integration of technology in teaching and learning process to minimize the

problems or challenges so the integration of technology itself will give

meaningful and effective learning for students. Moreover, Wahyuni (2018)

stated that in the 21st century the term Industrial Revolution 4.0 emerged.

Industrial Revolution 4.0 emphasizes on the digital economy, artificial

intelligence, big data, and robotic. In this case, the educational sector is

required to be able to construct creativity, developing critical thinking,

mastering the technology and digital literacy capabilities. Teacher as one

of the stakeholders who directly have an interaction with the students in

learning process are required to have five competencies as a preparation to

deal with Industrial Revolution 4.0 namely, educational competence,

competence for technological commercialization, competence in

globalization, competence in future strategies, and counselor competence.

Referring to requirements of 21st century learning and Industrial

Revolution 4.0, Indonesian educational system applied 2013 curriculum

that focuses on the integration of ICT in each subjects as learning sources

and media. 2013 curriculum is emphasized on students centered learning,

where the students are expected to be active and exploring the knowledge

independently under the monitor of the teacher. The whole learning

process should be interactive, enjoyable, challenging and motivating the

students to learn. Therefore, technology based learning is one of the main

strategies in the process standard of 2013 curriculum. Based on

Permendikbud No.22 Tahun 2016, some standards of curriculum 2013

should be implemented. One of them is the use of Information and

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Communication Technology (ICT) to improve the effectiveness and

efficiency of the learning process.

According to the requirements of curriculum 2013 described

previously, teaching and learning process of English as a foreign language

(EFL) in Indonesia must be adjusted to the existing regulation. The

integration or the use of ICT in English learning must be well

implemented so it is expected to improve the quality of English learning as

well as throughout the educational aspects, the English proficiency of

Indonesia students can be increased, because in 2019, the English

proficiency index of Indonesia is in low stage (EPI, 2019). Hence, teacher

can use various strategies that integrate the use of ICT in teaching English

to make the learning process more meaningful, students centered and

technology based.

In language learning, ICT can be implemented or integrated by

using various strategies. There are three major categories of learning types

integrated with information and communication technologies namely,

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Mobile Assisted

Language Learning (MALL), and Technology Enhanced Language

Learning (TELL). According to Genc-Ersoy & Ersoy (2017) CALL is

more considered as tools to assist language learning, while TELL is more

about the use of technology in supporting language learning. For the

MALL term, it was considered as the offspring of CALL. Kranthi (2017)

believed that the use of multimedia and internet is the characteristic of

these three strategies. Multimedia computers can provide an accurate

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interpretation of the target language and provide control and feedback for

learners.

Referring to all of those research findings, this recent studies

focused on investigating Technology – Enhanced Language Learning

(TELL) used in teaching and learning process at EFL context. In this case,

TELL can be defined as technological means or tools used in any language

learning activities for efficiency, motivation, and learning style flexibility

(Zhou & Wei, 2018). Several TELL tools usually used in a certain activity

in learning English namely, dialog (audio), video or film, audio recording

playback and online journal (text). Those kinds of technology can be used

to practice students’ pronunciation and grammar, to enrich vocabulary and

help the students comprehend the context and communication aspect in

learning a language (Radhakrishnan, 2017).

In this study, TELL is defined as the instructional situation or

environment where the learning process are assisted through computer,

internet, and the other technologies which supporting the language

learning. In Indonesia, TELL is one of the effective options that must be

applied in learning a new language especially English as a foreign

language because a full online learning cannot conducted in Indonesia. On

one side, the government in educational sector tries to implement or

integrate technology in teaching because of the existence of Industrial

Revolution 4.0, the development of the era and curriculum 2013.

However, in reality the learning process is different with the requirements.

The implementation of ICT in educational sector of Indonesia was not

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maximal. It was caused by the two important factors namely, the lack of

infrastructure and the lack of human resources. Therefore, in the teaching

and learning process, both of teacher and students must have a skill in

using technology. Furthermore, the school institution, the government and

all of the stakeholders are also required to improve the quality of education

in Indonesia by utilizing technology properly.

Based on the preliminary observation done by the researcher, SMA

Negeri Bali Mandara is one of the schools in Buleleng Regency, which

already implements the use of ICT as the media in teaching and learning

process. SMA Negeri Bali Mandara applied 2013 curriculum and it is E –

learning based school. The school implemented technology in every

subject, starting from the system credit semester of the students, the

teaching and learning process and the evaluation. This is appropriate with

the vision of this school namely “Excellence in implementation of ICT”.

The students of SMA Negeri Bali Mandara have their own laptop

and use it as a medium in all subjects, one of them is in English teaching

and learning. Not only by using their laptop, the English teacher mostly

conduct the English teaching and learning at the multimedia laboratory.

The teachers applied various TELL to support and enhanced the learning

process, for example, computers and laptops as the hardwares, Microsoft

Office (Words, Excel and Power Point), audios, videos, songs, e-mail,

Google classroom, pictures (applied in UKBM Site) and also combined

with the kind of texts such as books, articles and journals. UKBM (Unit

Kegiatan Belajar Mandiri) is a kind of book consisted of the summary of

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the material and the exercises compiled directly by the English teacher.

There are two types of UKBM namely UKBM Site and Manual UKBM).

This is one of the characteristic of this school in teaching and learning

process.

By using all of those TELL, the English teachers want to make the

teaching and learning process more interesting, meaningful and easy to be

understood by the students. The teacher tried to fulfill themselves with

technological skills. On the students’ side, they feel more motivated in

learning English. Some argued that they like to learn English by the help

of technology. They feel joyful, the learning process is more interesting

and easier. However, some students also stated their difficulties or

challenges in using those TELL, such as the connection problem, time

allocation and technical problems.

Because of the variety of the students’ opinion about TELL related

to the benefits and problems they found in applying or using TELL in their

English learning, this study focused on two issues namely, the students’

perception and English teachers’ perception regarding the TELL used in

their English learning to enhance and support the learning process. The

general purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers and students of

SMA Negeri Bali Mandara perceived the used of TELL as well as

investigate the challenges they found and the solution to overcome their

challenges in using TELL in enhancing English teaching and learning.

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1.2 Identification of the Problem

In accordance with the development of the era, entering the

Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the existence of 2013 curriculum, SMAN

Bali Mandara is one of the schools which have implemented the use of

Technology-Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) in their teaching and

learning process, including in English subject. The English teacher used

the tools as a medium in teaching English to support and enhance the

learning process. From the used of the TELL, students proposed their own

opinion related to their feeling and usefulness as well as challenges they

found in using TELL to learn English.

Considering all of the phenomenon in SMAN Bali Mandara related

to the variation of students’ opinion towards the use of TELL and the

English teacher perception towards TELL have never been studied by

other researchers, the researcher is interest in investigating about how the

English teachers and students of SMA Negeri Bali Mandara perceive the

use of TELL in their English lesson as well as the challenges and solutions

they found in applying Technology-Enhanced Learning Learning.

1.3 Scope of the Study

In this study, the researcher focused on investigating English

teachers and students’ perception towards the used of TELL (Technology-

Enhanced Language Learning) including the challenges they found in

English teaching and learning process at SMA Negeri Bali Mandara and

the solution on how to overcome the challenges. This study was

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investigated by using UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of

Technology) framework. The perception of English teacher as the

instructor and utilization of technology in teaching English and the

students who utilized technology for their English learning was described

by using this theory.

1.4 Research Questions

Based on the background of the study above, the problem was formulated

as follows:

1.4.1. How do English teachers of SMA Negeri Bali Mandara perceive

the use of TELL in their English teaching and learning?

1.4.2. How do students of SMA Negeri Bali Mandara perceive the use of

TELL in their English teaching and learning?

1.4.3. What are the challenges and solutions in using TELL in English

teaching and learning based on teachers and students’ perception?

1.5 The Objective of Study

Related of the research questions above, the purpose of this study were:

1.5.1 Investigating the English teachers’ perception towards the used of

TELL in English teaching and learning process at SMA Negeri

Bali Mandara.

1.5.2 Investigating the students’ perception towards the used of TELL in

English teaching and learning process at SMA Negeri Bali

Mandara.
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1.5.3 Investigating the challenges and solutions in using TELL in

English teaching and learning process based on teachers and

students’ perception.

1.6 The Significance of Study

This study is significant for the teacher, the students, the school and other

researchers, as described below:

1.6.1 For the English Teacher

This study is expected to give obvious information for the teachers

regarding the real situation of their English teaching and learning

process from the students’ opinion or feedback, then teacher can

take a decision for maintaining and improving their teaching so it

can be called as a success technology-based teaching and learning

process.

1.6.2 For the Students

This study is expected to give additional information and

advantages for the students that technology, especially TELL can

be very beneficial for their English learning.

1.6.3 For the School

This result of this study is expected to give a reference for the

school in maintaining, improving the learning system, and

facilitating the learning process, so the teaching and learning

process will be technology-based and suitable with the demands of

Indonesian educational system.

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1.6.4 For the other Researchers

The result of this study is expected to give relevant information

and empirical evidence for the other researchers in order to conduct

their own research.