Psychosocial Barriers of High School Students in English Class: A Case Study in Pongok Island

Haiyudi Haiyudi ,Sitthipon Art-In

doi:10.13189/ujer.2020.081160

Abstract

Teaching and learning process belongs to a kind of two-way communication. Some noises or barriers usually appear during its process in the classroom. Psychosocial barrier is one of four popular barriers in communication. Thus, the purpose of this research is to identify the psychosocial barriers faced by high school students in English class. This research employs mixed-method using embedded design which consists of both quantitative as primary data and qualitative as supportive data. The population of this research consists of high school students in a rural area, in which Kepulauan Pongok was chosen as the case study sample. The sample was taken from 2 grades of two different high schools in Kepulauan Pongok, Southern Bangka Regency. In total, it consists of 50 students. The finding indicates a significant number of psychosocial barriers experienced by students especially in both field of experiences and filtering. Meanwhile, psychological distance is not quite significant. In detail, about 14.9% of those participants strongly agreed and 17% agreed that they face psychosocial barriers during learning English. The most impactful psychosocial barriers were English learning experiences in the previous class. Teachers' teaching styles are the riskiest barriers that cause the negative impacts of students' psychosocial in English class. Meanwhile, 36.2% stated a blue statement or were in a neutral position. As the rest felt like nothing happens about psychosocial barriers in English class. It is hoped that teachers can conduct the similar research in any subject to know and solve the psychosocial problems of students in order to adapt to the proper teaching method and counseling.

Highlights

Rationale of the studyForeign language becomes special for Indonesian students, especially for those who are studying in rural area
Some barriers of learning may appear during English learning process in the classroom
Teacher should be aware of communication barriers existing in the classroom due to some areas may be affected because of psychosocial barriers in communication

Summary

Introduction

Rationale of the studyForeign language becomes special for Indonesian students, especially for those who are studying in rural area. One of its indicators is because they don’t speak English in their daily life [7]. Learning access to technology is not as good as in a big city. The limited facility allows teachers not to be creative in teaching. Some barriers of learning may appear during English learning process in the classroom. The barriers in teaching and learning process often occur without any visible signal. Teachers need to find out the communication barriers in the class, so that the problems inside of the classroom can be handled. It is to find ideal process of teaching and learning. Teacher should be aware of communication barriers existing in the classroom due to some areas may be affected because of psychosocial barriers in communication

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion