Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.
See Premium Plans
 
Gaining Confidence Through EnglishTri Murniati, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Purwokertokiske_t@yahoo.comAbstractAs English is widely known and used in most part of the world, its popularity is significantly increased. This motivates people to learn English basedon various reasons. Some are motivated because English facilitates their businesswhile some other, perhaps having different reasons such to improve their personalcapability. Since the global era is started, people are more aware to English not onlyas something which can support their activities but also as a means of self-empowerment. Such phenomenon can be easily found in our daily life. Universitystudents, for example, are willing to join an English club wishing that they canmaster English comprehensively even though they are taking English as their major.It seems that learning English through lectures is not sufficient. That is whystudents are in a high spirit of following activities such as English club. Meanwhile,some competitions such debate, reading and speech competitions are always havinga warm welcome. Those phenomena are certainly worth to have a deep explorationfor the result will surely show how worth English is for us. This article will discussabout how English is used as a means of gaining confidence in the process of empowering oneself especially by the students of English major by joining Englishclubs and competitions.Key words: confidence, English, self-empowerment, students1.IntroductionThis research begins with the basic assumption that students are all unique. Duringlectures, it is easy to spot students who are outstanding. The outstanding studentsare usually outspoken, active, and confident compared with the other students. Thisdifferent behavior is usually obviously seen since it is revealed during lectures. Oneclear explanation for that phenomenon is that the outspoken students are actuallythose who join English club. Question such as how can English club influencestudents' performance during classes, then, pops up. What motivate them to joinsuch club is worth to be questioned further especially because they are EnglishDepartment students. This shows that English has attracted the students more andmore. That is why learning English during classes is not enough.Further question which emerges is what are actually their motivations andexpectations in joining such club. To accomodate the answers of those questions, aquestionnaire is needed. The questionnaire will dig out the information which thenwill be used to answer the question research. Such a questionnaire is designed andintended to cover the information needed for the data analysis. This paper reportson a study undertaken to investigate the motivation of students to join English club.The finding will also be expected to cut open their expectations and also to revealthe impacts of joining such club.2.Literature Review2.1 English as A Global Language: Fame and ReputationEnglish as the worldwide language is certainly has an undoubtful reputation.1
 
English is currently the undisputed language of science and technology, andscientific journals in many countries are now switching from the vernacular toEnglish. In specific disciplines, English appears to be the universal language of communication
 
(Nunan, 2003). As the consequence of that fact, people nowadaysmust know English. Mastering English is also considered as a means of empowerment. Such case happened to the immigrants who come to USA. Withoutsufficient English-language abilities, the immigrants will have difficulties in doingtheir job and that will keep them in low-paid jobs. It can be concluded that Englishis the language of opportunity (Crystal, 2003).Such a phenomenon also happens in Indonesia. Nowadays, English is the languageof people in doing their bussiness. It is used as the means of communication withtheir client or colleagues. As global era is started, English gains its reign. The abilityin spoken and written English becomes one of the requirements of job vacancy.That is why job seekers try their best to be able to master English by followingEnglish courses for example. The society in Indonesia also perceive English as amost wanted language. Parents usually encourage their children to take Englishlesson seriously. They are indoubt of getting English tutor for their children.English teacher also has a good reputation since the society in Indonesia believethat English is important. Being English teacher, then, becomes one of the bestfuture dreams of the children in Indonesia. As a result, English department is knownas a favorite department for university student.2.2 Maslow's Motivation TheoryPeople do something because they have reasons to do it or they have something to be achieved. It is, then, known as a motivation. Motivation basically means asincentive or drive. To have a brief understanding on motivation, one shouldunderstand motivation theory. Motivation theory is not synonymous with behavior theory. The motivations are only one class of determinants of behavior. While behavior is almost always motivated, it is also almost always biologically, culturallyand situationally determined as well (Maslow, 1943). One of motivation theorieswhich has given a base-foundation in the development of motivation theory isMaslow's motivation theory.This 'classic' theory which is developed by Abraham Maslow concerns on the premise that human's need can be classified into five levels known as hierarchicalneeds. The five needs are the physiological needs, the needs for safety and security,the needs for love and belonging, the needs for esteem, and the need to actualize theself (Boeree, 2006). In fulfilling those need people tend to be motivated to fulfill the basic needs before moving on to other needs. The five-stage of human basic needsis summarized as follow:a)The physiological needsThese refer to the human needs for oxygen, water, nourishment, sex, sleep, wagesand food. If such needs are not fulfilled then one's motivation will arise fromthe quest to satisfy them. The higher needs such as social needs and esteem willnot emerge until one has met the basic needs. b)The needs for safety and securitySafety and security needs will come when the physiological needs are taken care of.People, then, will seek for safe circumstances, stability, and protection. If a person feels that she or he is in harm's way, higher needs will not receive muchattention (Boeree, 2006).c)The needs for love and belongingDuring this stage, one might need a feeling of acceptance, a feeling of fitting or of 2
 
 belonging to a group. People need to affiliate with others and to be accepted.d)The needs for esteemAccording to Maslow, there are two versions of esteem needs, the lower and thehigher one. The first is the need for the respect of others, the need for status,fame, glory, recognition, attention, reputation, appreciation, dignity or evendominance. The latter includes the need for self-respect, such as feelingconfidence, competence, achievement, mastery, independence, and freedom(Boeree, 2006). Self-esteem is the value you place on what you believe to betrue about yourself. How you see yourself and feel about yourself determineshow much value you place on yourself as a person. Self-esteem meansappreciating your own worth and importance and having the character to beaccountable for yourself and to act responsibly toward others (Mattews, 1998).e)The needs to actualize the self Even if all these needs are satisfied, we may still often (if not always) expect that anew discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual isdoing what he is fitted for. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy. What a man
can
 be, he
must 
 be.This need we may call self-actualization (Maslow, 1943).However, the latest development of this theory shows that there are three additionalneeds which complete Maslow's original theory. They are cognitive needs, aestheticneeds, and transcendence. Huitt (2007) notes that Maslow has broaden the fifthlevel needs. The first is cognitive needs which concern with the expression of thenatural human need to learn, explore, discover, and create a better understanding of the world around them. It is about getting to know and to gain knowledge. Next isaesthethic needs. As Maslow has stated before that when one need is fulfilled thehigher need emerges. Therefore after the cognitive needs are met aesthetic needswill pop up. People are then aware of fulfilling their desire of beauty, balance,form, order and symmetry. The last is self-trancendence. Actually Maslow puts self-actualization (from the first version) into the same level with self-trancendence(from the latest one). The final stage of Maslow's hierarchy of needs decribes how people's attempt to find themselves and also to realize their own potential. It issomething that goes beyond their ego. When this final stage is reached, one feels of  becoming self-actualized and self-trancendent, getting wiser and they automaticallyknow what to do in various situations of their life. 1.MethodologyThis research was considered as a descriptive analytic research. The data gainedfrom the questionnaire filled by students of English Department who join Englishclub. About 20 students of English Department were taken as the respondents of this small research. The richness of the the respondents' explanation is the mainconsideration to be taken as data source that is why this research did not pay muchattention on the number of the participant. The qualitatively gained data from thequestionnaires were used as the source of the the next step, the analysis. Theanswers from the questionnaires then were classified and processed in order toanswer the research questions. Those data were connected to the theory of Motivation by Abraham Maslow to reason and to prove the assumptions made inthe first place.2.Results and Discussions3
Search
Search History:
Searching...
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
  • p.
    • Notes
    Load more