The Influence of Students’ Perception on English

Classroom Environment Toward Students’ Achievement in

English

Honip, S.Pd.
Student of Post-Graduate Program
in Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto, Indonesia

Abstract
An important influences of English mastery should be observed for the purpose to
get the best service to students in the class. The primary purpose of this study is to
give a view that students’ perception influence their English mastery or
achievement in English subject. When their perception is good, the good score will
be. But, when their perception of English class is bad, the bad score will be.
Quantitative analysis indicates the finding of questionnaire result shows good
perception on English classroom environment with the scale 3.40. Moreover,
students have good achievement in English subject with the mean of score, 88.6.
Based on the result, it shows that good perception have significantly impact toward
students’ English achievement.

Key words: influence, students, perception, English, classroom, achievement.

I. Introduction
In writer’s view, something interesting brings about happiness for students during teaching and
learning process in the class. In general, when our teaching and learning process is good and
interesting, the impact must be good. Teachers also feel satisfied and confident that students can
get information from the material that we deliver. Otherwise, when our teaching and learning
process is stodgy and none of interesting activity, it will influence students’ understanding
toward the material.

According to Hargreaves and Fullan in Richards “the teacher is the ultimate key to educational
change and school improvement”. In other words, it is what teachers think and do at the
classroom level that eventually determines what learners learn in the classroom. Richard also
stated that effective teachers are typically defined as those whose students perform better on
standardized achievement test (2002). Actually, there are many factors influence to a students’
academic achievement, including individual characteristics, teacher and classroom environment.
Yet, some studies proved that teacher is the most crucial factor contribute to the students’
achievement. In short, the way of teacher teach in the classroom will build students’ perception.

Perception is the way people judge others with whom they are in contact. A person’s attitude to
an idea or object determines what the person thinks, feels and how the person would like to
behave towards that idea or object. The way students perceive a subject determines their success
or failure in that subject (Dauda, Jambo, & Umar, 2016). Therefore, teacher should carry subject
in a good way since teaching is approaches to creating environments for learning (see Joyce and
Weil, 1972). With all their efforts and roles - as a classroom manager, source person, counselor,

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facilitator, orchestrator, researcher, model - teachers should be able to create opportunities for
leaming to take place (Suwartono, 2018).

Suwartono states that in the teaching of English in Indonesia, where it is a foreign language,
teachers’ creativity is even more crucial. It means that what teacher do will be apreciated by
students. Dauda et al states that students judge their teachers in such areas as the teachers
knowledge of the subject matter, communication, ability and the choice of appropriate teaching
method (2016). Teaching is not a simple job. A language teacher should have adequate
knowledge of the subject matter he/she teaches, teaching methodology, and adequate skills both
in the language use and teaching practice (Suwartono, 2017). In short, teacher’s ability influence
in the class will build students’ opinion and view to the teacher. When they feel comfort and
enthusiasm on the way teacher’s teaching, they will participate actively in the class, do what
teacher say. It means that students do the instruction well as the result they understand the
material and follow the teacher as a model.

Therefore, this article describes the influence of students’ perception on English class toward
students’ achievement in English. Quantitative approach was taken from Seventh Grade students’
score in the second semester of academic year 2017-2018 and the result of questionnaire analysis
about English learning in the class.

II. Current Study Of Students’ Perception

Some studies of students’ perception shows significant effect of comprehension of students’ skill.
The first is a study, which was studied about of student’s perception on teacher’s performance
and learning styles towards reading comprehension, finds significant effect. It was 29.1% of 20
students are affected from perception on teacher’s performance and learning style (Novita,
2015).

The second, a study in Korea in which investigating the relationship between students'
perceptions of classroom environment and their academic achievement in Korea. It was claimed
that classroom environment was a good predictor of students' academic achievement (Baek &
Choi, 2002).

III. Methodology
Research Question
Does English classroom environment influence their English achievement?
Participants
The participants of this study was 30 students in Seventh Grade of SMP Al Irsyad Al
Islamiyyah Boarding School Purwokerto
Instrument
Methodology In order to gather data for the study, classroom environment questionnaire
and English score were used. Then, analysis methods used are presented.
Procedure
Data were collected from English students’ score in the second semester of the academic
year 2017/2018 and questionnaire about English classroom environment. The

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questionnaire was also used to compare students’ score and perception toward English
classroom environment. Those data above were collected for the purpose to know
whether their perception is followed by their score or not. To make a view of the
influence, the writer created a rubric as follow:

Table 1. Rubric of Perception Impact

Poin of Students’
Rubric Description
Perception Score
Bad < 2,4 10-59 Not Valid= Perception does not impact
Fair 2,50-2,99 60-79 Not Valid= Perception does not impact
Good 3,00-3,90 80-89 Valid= Perception gives impact
Very Good 4,00-4,60 90-100 Valid= Perception gives impact

The survey of students’ perception utilized questionnaire in which students responded to

the following statement:

Table 2. Indicator of Perception

Student Perceptions Toward Answer Choice
No
English Class Environment 1 2 3 4 5
1 In delivering the material, teacher uses learning methods
that are easily to be understood for students
2 In teaching and learning activities, teachers explain the
material in sequence
3 English learning is fun
4 In teaching, English teacher also provide motivation about
the subject related to the daily life
5 English teacher is a nice teacher in the class
6 Teacher always provides homework or assignments
7 With varied teaching methods I find it easier to understand
the subject matter
8 Teacher teaching methods make me eager to learn
9 The teacher always gives the students a chance to ask
questions
10 The teacher always answers the student's questions clearly

To give answer for each statement, some consideration answers are provided as below:
0 Poin for Never
1 Poin for Rarely
2 Poin for Sometimes
3 Poin for Often
4 Poin for Very often
Here is the scale to describe students’ perception toward English classroom environment:
Table 3. Rubric of Students’ Perception
Scale Perception
< 2,4 Bad
2,50-2,99 Fair

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 3,00-3,90 Good
4,00-4,60 Very Good
Result
Result of this study showed significant impact of students’ perception toward English
achievement.

1. Result of Questionnaire
Perseption
No Students Scale Description
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 0003 4 5 4 3 4 1 3 4 3 3 3,40 Good Perception
2 0004 3 4 3 4 3 1 3 3 5 4 3,30 Good Perception
3 0005 4 3 3 4 3 2 4 3 4 3 3,30 Good Perception
4 0006 3 4 3 5 2 3 3 3 5 4 3,50 Good Perception
5 0007 4 4 3 3 3 1 4 3 4 4 3,30 Good Perception
6 0010 4 4 3 4 2 1 3 2 4 4 3,40 Good Perception
7 0011 3 5 3 3 3 2 3 3 5 4 3,20 Good Perception
8 0012 3 5 3 3 3 2 3 3 4 3 2,90 Fair Perception
9 0013 3 4 2 3 2 1 3 3 4 4 3,40 Good Perception
10 0014 4 5 5 3 0 1 4 3 5 4 3,50 Good Perception
11 0015 4 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 4 3,50 Good Perception
12 0016 4 4 2 3 1 5 4 2 5 5 3,70 Good Perception
13 0017 3 4 3 3 3 5 4 5 4 3 2,90 Fair Perception
14 0018 3 4 3 2 2 2 3 3 4 3 3,60 Good Perception
15 0019 3 4 3 4 3 2 4 3 5 5 3,60 Good Perception
16 0020 4 4 4 3 4 1 4 4 5 5 3,80 Good Perception
17 0021 3 4 3 2 2 3 4 2 4 3 3,00 Good Perception
18 0022 4 5 4 4 4 3 3 4 5 5 4,10 Much Perception
19 0023 4 4 2 3 2 2 4 3 4 4 3,20 Good Perception
20 0024 4 5 4 4 3 1 3 2 5 5 3,60 Good Perception
21 0025 4 5 3 3 2 2 3 3 5 4 3,40 Good Perception
22 0026 4 5 3 3 4 1 4 5 4 4 3,70 Good Perception
23 0027 3 2 3 2 3 5 3 2 4 2 2,90 Fair Perception
24 0028 4 4 3 3 4 2 4 4 5 4 3,70 Good Perception
25 0029 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 3 4 4 3,80 Good Perception
26 0030 3 4 2 3 3 4 3 2 4 3 3,10 Good Perception
27 0031 4 5 3 5 2 1 3 3 5 4 3,50 Good Perception
28 0032 4 3 3 4 3 2 4 2 4 3 3,20 Good Perception
29 0068 3 2 3 3 2 5 3 2 4 2 2,90 Fair Perception
30 0069 3 4 3 4 3 2 4 3 5 4 3,50 Good Perception
Mean 3,40 Good Perception

Result of questionnaire showed that in general students have good perception toward
English class environment. Based on the data, mean students’ perception was 3.40
meaning that they have good perception.

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2. Students’ Score

S Score Description Then, we come to see students’ score. This score was
taken from the final exam of English subject in
0003 93,0 Very Good
second semester of the academic year 2017/2018.
0004 83,0 Good
0005 94,0 Very Good In average, the students’ score is 88.6. It means that
0006 88,0 Good students of seventh grade in SMP Al Irsyad Al
0007 96,0 Very Good Islamiyyah Boarding School have good score.
0010 90,0 Very Good
0011 84,0 Good
0012 80,0 Good
0013 82,0 Good
0014 87,0 Good
0015 86,0 Good
0016 92,0 Very Good
0017 86,0 Good
0018 87,0 Good
0019 90,0 Very Good
0020 94,0 Very Good
0021 94,0 Very Good
0022 90,0 Very Good
0023 95,0 Very Good
0024 90,0 Very Good
0025 92,0 Very Good
0026 86,0 Good
0027 84,0 Good
0028 86,0 Good
0029 84,0 Good
0030 86,0 Good
0031 95,0 Very Good
0032 90,0 Very Good
0068 84,0 Good
0069 89,0 Good
Mean 88,6 Good

3. Summary of Findings
The major purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of students’
perception on English classroom environment toward students’ achievement in English
at the Seventh grade students of SMP Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah Boarding School
Purwokerto.
Specifically, this study wanted to answer “Does English classroom environment
influence students’ English achievement?”

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 To give clear statistic, let’s come to the first table “Rubric of Perception Impact” in
which it tells us to conclude whether English classroom environment give impact to
the students’ achievement or not.
 The result of qestionnaire show that the average of students’ perception on English
classroom environment is good, in scale 3.40.
 This is supported by the achievement of students in English subject proved by their
score in which the average of students score is 88.6 meaning that students have
good achievement in English.

Those data above both result of questionnaire and students’ score implied that
students’ perception on English classroom environment carries impact toward
students’ achievement. Based on the rubric, students’ perception is on the scale 3.00-
3.90 and in average their score is 80-89, it means that perception gives impact.

IV. Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of students’ perception on English
classroom environment toward students’ achievement in English. The result of questionnaire
shows positive perception on English class, in scale 3.40. According to a study from Baek and
Choi (2002), classroom environment was related to students' academic achievement in English.
They also stated that students’ level of learning would be improved as their perceptions of
involvement in learning increase. Moreover, students’ achievement in English was good since
the average of students’ score was 88.6. Achievement depends on the result of teaching and
learning process.

Those data implies that students’ perception on English class environment determines strong
impact toward their academic achievement. Therefore, teacher should prepare their teaching well
and create good classroom environment. Problem that he/she face in the classroom should be
resolved as soon as possible. Then, teacher also consider much to the students’ achievement
since it is a description of their way in teaching.

V. References
Baek, S.-G., & Choi, H.-J. (2002). The Relationship Between Students’ Perceptions of
Classroom Environment and Their Academic Achievement in Korea, 3, 125–135.
Dauda, B., Jambo, H. E., & Umar, M. A. (2016). Students’ Perception of Factors Influencing
Teaching and Learning of Mathematics, 7(20), 114–122.
Novita, P. (2015). THE EFFECTS OF STUDENT’S PERCEPTION ON TEACHER’S
PERFORMANCE AND LEARNING STYLES TOWARDS STUDENT’S READING
COMPREHENSION. In Conference (pp. 397–404). Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Richard, J. C., & Renandya, W. A. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching (An Anthology of
Current Practice). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Suwartono. (2016). Teacher’s Creativity in ELT, 1–8.

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Suwartono. (2017). Fighting For A Better Achievement of English: What Should Indonesian EFL
Students Do? Presented at the TESOL, Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto.
Suwartono. (2018). IN SEARCH OF CREATIVE EFL TEACHERS: A HIGHLIGHT OF BEST
CLASSROOM PRACTICES. In Seminar (pp. 1–12). Universitas Muhammadiyah
Purwokerto.

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