CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD

In this chapter the writer gives a brief description about research location, population and sample, and procedure of collecting data.

A. Brief Description of the Research Location This research was conducted in MAN Model Banda Aceh. The school, which is one of the Islamic favorite schools in Banda Aceh, is located on Pocut Baren, No. 116, Kuta Alam, Banda Aceh. Previously, this school was named as MAN I Banda Aceh. But, it has changed to be MAN Model Banda Aceh since 1998 based on SK Dirjen Lembaga Islam DEPAG No.

E.IV/PP.00.06/KEP/17.A/98. It is laid around Islamic general schools; MTsN Model Banda Aceh in the west, Oxfam office in the east, SMU Safiatuddin in the north, and MIN I Banda Aceh in the south. Although this school is located in the densely populated area, it does not bother the education activities. It is supported with good facilities, good atmosphere and good local structure. So, it has made students enjoyed and pleased when they are studying in MAN Model Banda Aceh. According to profile books of MAN Model Banda Aceh, the total number of the teacher is 71 teachers, 48 of them are full-time teachers and 23 are part-time teachers. There are five full-time teachers in English subject. The school has 819 students. There are 28 classrooms. The first grade has 8 classes. The second and third grades are divided into 4 specific major programs;

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language has 2 classes, science has 10 classes, social has 6 classes and religion has 2 classes. This school has a lot of students and 5 English teachers. Based on learning purposes, the students of MAN Model Banda Aceh are divided into four object categories; Science, Social, Religion and Language classes. Students are free to choose the major based on their ability.

B. Population and Sample The population of this research was English teachers in MAN Model Banda Aceh. And for the participants, the writer took the teachers who teach English at the second year or class XI as the sample. There are two teachers who teach the English subject at Year XI, they are: Nurhasanah (NH), and Erfianti (EF). For the further explanation, the alias names of the teachers were used in the following chapter. Furthermore, in order to enhance the teachers statement as the primary data, the writer also interviewed some students from different class. They have learnt English subject with those teachers in the last grade. They became the secondary data in this research.

C. Data Collection The writer used qualitative approach in completing this research. It is a kind of research that produces findings that can not be achieved by using statistical procedures or other methods of quantification.84

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Juliet Corbin, Anselm Strauss, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory ( California: Sage Publications, 1997), p. 11.
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In order to gain data and information to support the thesis, the writer used interviews as data collection method. It was conducted upon the second year teachers at MAN Model Banda Aceh who were teaching English as primary data, and some of the second year students as the secondary data to enhance the primary data. 1. The Teachers Interview is needed to investigate more data, opinion and facts in order to make the data more detail and stronger. The interview was conducted individually with the teachers. Both of the English teachers interviewed with 10 questions in English. However, in fact, one teacher explained in English and another did in Bahasa. The whole questions were about their thought, personal concept and practical knowledge regarding assessment. Furthermore, in order to gain the accurate data, the writer classified the interview questions into several aspects. The questions numbers 1 to 5 are to obtain the information about the type of assessment methods used by the teachers to assess the students competence in English, and how to use them. It also about which one of that methods that was used most often and the reason why. The questions numbers 6 is to obtain the answer about the information resulted from applying the assessment. The next questions, 7-8 are about the teachers idea of classroom-based assessments objectivity and how they enhance it in assessing students at classroom. The question number 9 is to gain information about teachers perception towards these assessment serving. Then, the question number 10 is about how the teacher used the outcomes of assessment. And the last

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question is about teachers perception towards the influence from assessment in their instruction towards the students. The interview instrument for teachers was adopted and modified from Yuimeng Jias research who similarly investigated about ESL teachers perceptions and the use of classroom-based reading assessment. But, the focus on her research was about reading assessment and the sample was ESL teachers, whereas this research was more general in focusing on classroom-based assessment and for the EFL teachers instead. The instrument was attached at the end of this chapter. It has been modified from the original as needed. As mentioned before, the writer also interviewed some students in order to enhance the primary data from interviewing the teachers previously. Since the new academic year has just started (2013-2014) for a couple weeks, the writer decided to interview the third year students instead. They were about 3 students from different classroom (based on each teachers class when they were at second grade in academic year 2012-2013. The participants were chosen randomly. The interview questions consist of 5 questions which was delivered in Bahasa, because the writer wanted the participants could easily understand the questions. The questions are about the students perception towards their empirical experiences in the second year when they learnt English with the teachers (Mrs.NH, and Mrs.EF). The interview process towards the teachers and the students were done at school. In doing the interview, there was no significant difficulty found while interviewing. The only problem the writer had was the research was conducted

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while the school

the New School Year (from 2012/2013 to 2013/1014).

Consequently, based on curriculum, the school was going to have holiday for couple of weeks. As the result, the research was delayed from the dateline. Cause of that, this research take a long time because the writer should await for appropriate time to meet the respondents. However, during the interviewing, the teachers and students were enthutiastic in answering the questions. Finally, the research was completed and the writer got all data which would be analyzed in the following chapter.