A.

Background

As a foreign language, English is stamped as one of the difficult

lesson by some of the students. It shows that the motivation in learning

English is still less. In learning the subject, the students need motivation in

order to engage both the material and environment as Fredricks et. al

confirmed (2004) (as cited in Skinner et al, 2007, p.2). Their motivation is

one of the key asppect in learning English which is focused by foreign

language teachers and researchers protractedly (Zhao, 2012). It means that

if the students want to success in learning English, the students must boost

their motivation to learn it. Success here means the teaching-learning

process conducted well. It consists of the knowledge that is gained

completely, the material which is comprehended thoroughly, and the

process which is enjoyed by the students.

To encourage a low motivated students, the students need the

teacher’s support in gaining the motivation because the teacher has the

vital role in boosting it (Gopalan et. al, 2017). Many ways can be used as

the motivation by the teacher which is needed to convience students to

participate in activities, such as doing games, giving praise, or giving

reward. In this situation, the researcher chooses to investigate the

contribution of reward in learning English to boost their motivation. It

relates to previous study by Merits (2015) which aim to maximise the use

of rewards strategies in the classroom.

 Motivation emerged not only from the students but also from the

teacher as Lemos and Verisimo’s (2013) call intrinsic and extrinsic

motivation. The motivation which is less may be caused by the students

who are difficult to learn (lazy), students who do not understand the

material, otherwise they who do not like the lesson. Nevertheless

sometimes it may caused because of there are some teachers in a some

schools who even do not care about students achievment, they just think

that their duty is teaching and transfering the material to the students then

leave the class. It means that negative school effect has been linked to poor

academic achievment (Mansfield, 2007). It has been found on students’

emotions of “anger, frustation, and anxiety” (Anderman, 1999 as cited in

Mansfield, 2007, p.3).

To get the possitive school effect, some of the teachers use reward

in boosting students motivation which is expected to bring positive

academic outcomes. As Mansfield (2007) confirmed that receiving a

reward made the students feel recognized and it influence the relationship

between students and teacher in academic engagement. This reward

system push them to keep up even improve the skills they are showing

(Howlin, 2015). That is why the researcher is going to investigate this

phenomenon in order that the teacher realizes the worth of extrinsic

motivation to the students’ academic environment.

B. Formulation of the problem

The researcher formulates the problem of the research as follows:

 What does the reward contribute to ESL students?

C. Operational Definition

1. Motivation : It is how students engage in cognitive,

emotional, relational, or behavior in their

learning, especially in learning English as a

foreign language. It includes degree of attention,

curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that

students show when they are learning or being

taught.

2. Reward : It is supportive things that the teacher used

during tecahing-learning process to stimulate the

students so as to arise the motivation of learning.

3. ESL Students : The students who are observed and interviewed

by the researcher which are the students from

one of the junior high school in Tasikmalaya.

D. Aims of the Research

This present study concerned on the contribution of the reward

used by the teacher in boosting the students’ motivation.

E. Uses of the Research

1. Theoretical

This research is beneficial as references for the next researcher who

will take Teacher’s Reward in English Learning as thesis topic.

 2. Practical

The result of this research is to give the benefit for fostering the quality

and variety of teaching and learning using rewards method.

3. Empirical

For the researcher the result of this research will help the researcher

know how use reward to encourage student in learning English by

doing what will be investigated by researcher.

F. Literature Review

a. Literature Review

1. Motivation

To get the better teaching-learning process, the students be

required to have their own motivation. As Singh (2011) claimed

that one of the key factors that lead the students to their goals is the

‘drive’. Drive here means motivation. The motivation to learn has

been connected not only to better academic performance, but also

to greater conceptual understanding, satisfaction with school, self

regard, and social adaptation (Gottfried, 2009; Gottfried, 1985;

Ryan & Deci, 2009; Ryan & Deci, 2000). It means that motivation

is able to influence how students thought about school in general,

how they relate to the teachers, how much time and effort they set

to their studies, how much support they look for when they are

striving, how much they try to engage in academics, how they

perform on assessments, so forth (CEP, 2012). Further, Graham

and Weiner (1996) affirmed that what the individual is doing, what

the individual is thinking and feeling while engaged in the activity

are the motivation itself (as cited in Ozturk 2012, p.33).

Motivation is able to come out from inside of the students

called intrinsic motivation or from outside of the students called

extrinsic motivation (Hubmann, 2015). Hubmann (2015) and

Dornyei (1994) said that extrinsic motivation exists because of the

expectancy of reward while intrinsic motivation exists because of

personal satisfaction gained from doing something (Hubmann,

2015 and John 2008 as cited in Ozturk 2012, p.37).

Connecting with the second paragraph, intrinsic and

extrinsic motivation have their own types. “When intrinsically

motivated, a person is moved to act for the fun or challenge....”

(Ryan and Deci, 2000, p.56). It means that interest, enjoyment,

satisfaction, and the desire for challenge are kinds of intrinsic

motivation as Ryan and Deci confirmed (2000). Also Oudeyer &

Kaplan (2009) and Oudeyer, Gottlieb, and Lopes (2016) affixed

‘curiousity’ as one of intrinsic motivation’s type too. For instance,

the students are able to be highly motivated to do homework or

study because of curiosity and interest. The other students can be

highly motivated to do assignment or learn because they

understand their potential and the activities will yield the good
grade. It means they do something in order to attain some

outcomes, that is mean extrinsically motivated (Ryan and Deci,

2000). External regulation (rewards and punishments), introjection

(ego involvment), identification (conscious valuing of activity),

and integration (self-determined) are the kinds of extrinsic

motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000).

Motivation in learning here refers to the positive attitude by

the students. If the students believe in no matter what the reason

that they have a restricted capability for learning or feels

improbable to succeed, the students will not be academically

motivated (Pintrich, 2003 as cited in CEP, 2012, p.4). When the

students have low self-confidence, high anxiety and embarassment,

their level of motivation will decrease even disappear (Dislen,

2013). The negative trusts of the students often caused the

phenomena that occur in the classroom presently, such as

‘disruptive behavior, cheating, and procrastination’ ( Schunk et al.,

2008 ; Wentzel & Wigfi eld, 2009 as cited in Kaplan et. al, 2014,

p.165). Moreover, teachers’ negative attitude towards students and

the classroom environments which are unsupported will break the

students’ willingness towards lesson too (Dislen, 2013). “As a

result, they tend to give up easily instead of making effort because

they easily lose their faith in their capabilities” (Dornyei, 2001a

cited in Ozturk, 2012 p.35).

 In order to generate and increase that motivation, the

teacher has to help the students to get rid of these negative

attitudes. Ryan and Deci (2000: 54) maintained that “to be

motivated means to be moved to do something” (as quoted in

Ozturk, 2012 p.33). Capturing the interest of students, stimulating

the curiosity to study, assisting the students to believe that they will

be succeed, and supporting them with rewards will motivate

enhancingly (Keller, 1983 as cited in Hubmann, 2015, p.28).

Related to McDonough (2007 as recited in Dislen, 2013, p.36) the

researcher concludes that the teacher’s roles here not only offering

the supportive and challenging learning environment but also

facilitating the development of the students’ motivational thinking.

2. Reward

Connecting with the statement before, motivation could be

emerged because of stimulus from the outside of the students. In

reality, many of the tasks which the teachers want their students to

perform and comprehend are not interesting or enjoyable. That is

why knowing about the extrinsic motivation, in this case reward

becomes an essential strategy for successful teaching-learning

process. As Kohn (1999) stated, the basic strategy for raising

students’ motivation is to say some words, ‘If you do this, you will

get this’ (as mentioned in Jakesova and Slezakova, 2016, p.323).

The statement above refers to the reward that the teacher give to
the students as one of the way to boost the students’ motivation.

Along with Wright (1987, p.17) rewards here refer to kinds of

incentives to support the students in increasing their interest and

creatively change their knowledge to be better (cited in Loi and

Uyen, 2016).

This reward system has been focused by some researchers

in the previous studies because of its relation to the behaviorism

(Sak et. al, 2016). The finding of Cap and Mares (2001) showed

that reward in its utilization in education has better results than

based on punishment. The rewards encourage learning, include

students’ knowledge and environment which is positively bring

them to the joy and satisfaction (Jakesova and Slezakova, 2016). It

denotes that extrinsic motivation (reward) are able to facilitate

even enhance the intrinsic motivation because the action allows the

joy and satisfaction of the basic phsychological need for

competence.

Every teacher has different types of reward to be given

depend on the students need or certain consideration of the teacher

itself, but almost all of them have a common aim which is to

motivate students to learn. It can be through punishment, such as

remove the students from class, lose the students free time at break

or referral point, giving praise, such as by giving applause or

saying ‘good’, real object (gift) such as thing or food, free time,
 certificate, and grade (Jovanovic & Matejevic, 2014 and Shreeve

et. al, 2002). The other researchers bombard the unmotivated

students in especially with stickers for good behavior, treats for

completing assignments, lunches for turning in homework (Seoane

and Smink, 1991). From all of the rewards given by the teacher,

gift and grade became the most effective rewards, but praise, free

time, and certificate also became the other effective rewards for

some students ( Shreeve et. al, 2002). It means that the students

have their own interest in enganging the rewards to boost their

motivation.

G. Study of the Relevant

The research is relevant to the study written by Merits (2015)

which discussing the advantages of using rewards in relation to the

students’ motivation and the academic environment. Merits concluded that

the benefits of using them are clear. They were able to encourage the

students to improve upon their behavior at the prospect of greater rewards.

This reward system help to develop good ‘habits of mind’ that he said has

lead to success in school and life. Merits believes that rewards are the vital

asset to classroom, but the students should not be always rewarded in

everything especially in the simple task. The rewards can be the praise,

certificate or medal, foods, grade, or free time. If used effectively, the

potential weaknesess of reward can be avoided, and the positive influences

would be more visible.

H. Research Prosedures

1. Method of the Research

Classroom research is the research design that I have chosen for

this study. “This method is used to observe the phenomena occur in the

classroom without giving any pedagogical treatment in the classroom”

(Widodo, 2016, p.16). In classroom research the researcher undertaking

the research in a sample of schools or classroom and using the teacher

and students as the subjects in educational environment (Hopkins,

2008). The design focuses on teaching-learning thus the data which will

be gathered is from the classroom itself (Hopkins, 2008). The

researcher collects the huge sample which will be qualitatively

interpreted.

2. Participants

This research focuses on the students and the teacher in one of

junior high school in Tasikmalaya. Before collecting the data, the

study must deem the ethical code of the research. First, the researcher

has to discuss to them personally and collectivelly. The researcher

conveys the intention, what they should do, and why the researcher

chooses them. Second, the researcher asks them to be the participants,

whether they are willing or not. If they do not want to be the

participants, the researcher cannot force them. There is re-negotiation

if needed. Third, the researcher explains how long they will be the

reseacher’s participants.
3. Data Collection and Procedures

The data of this study are collected from participants of

observation using video then focused on depth interview.

a. Observation

Through observation, the students and the teacher are

recorded in the classroom using video. The researcher records the

teaching-learning process when the teacher uses reward as the tool

to boost the students motivation. The kinds of reward here depend

on the teacher itself, so the researcher just observes. This process

will be recorded around three times.

b. Interview

It focuses also with followed up semi-structured interview

to the three of the students purposively and the English teacher to

know more about their perspectives about the contribution of the

reward related to their experiences. The interview will be in the

place which is agreed by both side, in order that the students and

the teacher also the researcher feel more relax.

4. Technique of Analysing the Data

To analyse the data of observation, the researcher uses Thematic

analysis by Braun and Clarke (2006) while to analyse the data of

interview, the researcher uses the analysis by Miles and Huberman

(1994).

a. Thematic Analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006)

 Thematic analysis interprets various aspect of the research topic in

order to gain the understanding of the phenomenon in great detail.

Here are the stages of thematic analysis:

1) Phase 1 familiarising yourself with your data

Knowing your own data is a must. In this phase you have to

be aware of the data that you have collected before. Reading

the data, searching for the meaning, and then transcribing the

verbal data are the main activities in this phase. In the

transcription the data, you have to transcribe it into the written

form. When transcribing the data, you will be more familiar

with your own data.

2) Phase 2 generated initial code

After knowing and understanding your data, it is time to

code. It means that you have to mark the data based on the

classification you made related to the topic. You can use

colours pen or highlight in the computer to mark it. The way

you code it depends on ‘theory driven’ or ‘data driven’.

3) Phase 3 searching for theme

The long list which you have coded before should be

analysed broader and combined them using tables, mind maps,

or write the name of each code with a brief description and

then organizing them into theme.

4) Phase 4 reviewing themes

 In this phase, you reconsider the theme and edit it, whether

there are enough data to support them or not, whether the data

too various or not. It might be two or more separate themes are

form one theme or might be on the contrary. If there is a

trouble or something unappropriate, you have to change it,

creating a new theme or removing its theme from your

analysis.

5) Phase 5 defining and naming themes

At this point, you name the theme with a brief, and

effective name in order the reader will know what the theme is

about. Then you define clearly what your themes are and it

should be coherent with the data. Not only pharaphrasing but

also identifying what is interesting about them and why.

6) Phase 6 producing the report

In the last of the stage, you write the report whether it is for

‘publication or for a research assignment or dissertation’. It

should be rational, unrepetead, and interesting so as to the

reader will not be bored.

b. Qualitative Data Analysis (Miles and Huberman, 1994)

Miles and huberman divided the stages of analysis into

three stages, as follows:

1) Data Reduction
 In this stage, Miles and Huberman separate the analysis

into some stages. Before that the resaercher has to organise the

data by type/write the interview. In early stage, the researcher

begins with selecting and simplifaying the data. In the next

stage, the researcher conceptualizing to develop abstract

concepts. The researcher have to reduce the data without losing

key information which support explanation and give evidence.

To make it easear the researcher will analyse it using code that

refers to lebel or sign the data refer to the phenomenon.

2) Data Display

During this phase, the researcher have to display the data in

order to assemble the information of the data, and also become

the basis for future analysis. The researcher are able to use

graphs, charts, networks, tables, or diagrams to display or

make the comparison of the data.

3) Conclusion

In the last of the stages, the researcher draw and verify the

conclusion which will be conclude from the stage before. The

researcher concludes this research by conveying the

interpretation of the data.

5. Research Time Line