students’ perception toward group work assignment...

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD GROUP WORK

ASSIGNMENT IN INDONESIAN TO ENGLISH

TRANSLATION CLASSES

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Tunggul Laras Agung Dewanto

112008034

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

SALATIGA

2013

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STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD GROUP WORK

ASSIGNMENT IN INDONESIAN TO ENGLISH

TRANSLATION CLASSES

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Tunggul Laras Agung Dewanto

112008034

Approved by:

Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT Martha Nandari, MA

Supervisor Examiner

ii

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accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my

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other person except where due reference is made in the text.

Copyright@ 2013.Tunggul Laras Agung Dewanto and Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT.

All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the

permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of

Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.

(Tunggul Laras Agung Dewanto)

iii

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Student ID Number: 112008034

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Faculty: Language and Literature

Kind of Work: Undergraduate Thesis

In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty free

right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD GROUP WORK ASSIGNMENT IN

INDONESIAN TO ENGLISH TRANSLATION CLASSES

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Date : 17 Juni 2013

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Approved by

Thesis Supervisor Thesis Examiner

Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT Martha Nandari, MA

Students’ Perception toward Group Work Assignment in Indonesian to English Translation Classes

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ABSTRACT

Kaye (2009) suggest that doing translation in group can help learner to translate better, since

it can encourage students to get better meaning, sharing ideas and discuss the use of language

at the deepest possible levels as they work through the process of understanding and then

looking for equivalents in another language. This study aimed to find out students‟ perception

toward group work in their Translation class. The subjects of this study were students of The

English Department in The Faculty of Language and Literature in Satya Wacana Christian

University in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. Students were interviewed using a semi-

structured interview to get data about their opinion and perception about group work itself

and their experiences doing assignments in their Translation classes. This study finds that

students have different attitude toward group work especially if it‟s done in Translation class.

Some positive and negative views of group work are also shared by participants in this study.

Keywords: translation, group work, collaborative learning

Introduction

As a student in Satya Wacana Christian University Salatiga, Indonesia, I am used to

working in a group to do assignments, whether it is a small group which consists of only 2-3

students or large groups which consist of more than 5 students. Group work, for some

students, is a helpful method in learning since it actually can decrease the amount of work

which they need to do. In group work, students will be able to share the responsibility in

order to complete one assignment with their group members. Group work or co-operative

learning or collaborative learning is stated as one of the greatest success stories in the history

of educational innovation (Slavin, 1996; White, 2007). It is related with the fact that group

work has some advantages such as encouraging teamwork skills and improving language

skills (Campbell & Li, 2006).

However, although there are some advantages that can be taken from group work,

there are still some problems with the implication of this method in class room assignments.

First is about the equal participation of each group members in doing the assignment.

Sometimes, there will be a member of the group who dominates the discussion in the process


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of finishing the assignment. In my opinion, this problem can create unpleasant atmosphere

inside the group and can affect the performance of the other group members. Another

problem rise regarding the mark which was given to the group. Each of the group members

will get the same mark based on their group performance and not their own individual

performance. Some of the group members may not be actively involved in the group

discussion, but they will get the same mark with the ones who are actively involved in group

discussion and in the process of finishing the assignment. In my experience, this case will

happen a lot in the group work. Not all group members are involved in discussion, especially

if it is in a large group which may consist up to 5 students. Some students thought that it is

unfair for them because it was possible for students who even do not participate in group

discussion get a good mark just because his/her group is performing good. After all, despite

the advantages and disadvantages of group work, this method is still used a lot, especially in

ELT classroom such as Translation class.

Doing translation assignment is a bit different with other assignment especially if it is

done in group, because as it is stated before, translation is a combination process between

reading combination, grammar use, and translation itself. Nevertheless, translation can be

difficult and tricky since it actually combines many skills such as reading comprehension,

grammar use, and translating itself. Kaye (2009) shared his view about translation especially

if it is done in group. He mentioned that translation in groups can encourage students to

discuss the meaning and use of language at the deepest possible levels as they work through

the process of understanding and then looking for equivalents in another language. Based on

that, doing translation in group is supposed to help the translation process itself, but for me

doing a translation in a group is actually more difficult.

In my experience, when I did a translation assignment whether it was in English to

Indonesian or Indonesian to English Translation class, I would need to understand the text


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first before I looked for its equivalent in the target language and wrote it using the correct

grammar. Reading comprehension was an important aspect in translation because most of the

time teacher gave texts from different perspectives and contexts. This translation assignment

was sometimes done in a small group which consisted of 2-3 students. To make it time

efficient, in doing the assignment, each member of the group would get different sections of a

text and the group members need to regroup to combine every parts into a full text with

suitable connecting language. However, since each member had different perspectives toward

the text and also different language style, it would be difficult to combine those parts into

one. This is one problem that often occurred when I did translation assignment in group. I

think there are other problems which happened during the process of doing translation

assignment and this is one reason of why I conduct this study. This study will be helpful for

the teachers to know their students perception about group work, especially in Translation

classes. It may also give students more knowledge about the meaning and the problems that

may occur during group work.

Theoretical Framework

This study aimed to find out students‟ perception toward group work in their Translation

class. By knowing it, teacher may consider which method is more appropriate to be used in

Translation classes. Kelly (2002: 14) defines translation competence as the “macro

competence that comprises the different capacities, skills, knowledge and even attitudes that

professional translators possess and which are involved in translation as an expert activity.”

These areas of competence are all necessary for both the acquisition of translation

competence and for the student to be able to complete translation assignments. It makes the

translation assignment sometimes need more time to finish since in doing the assignment,

students need to consider all of the aspects mentioned above. Translation is actually a


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difficult process, Newmark (1988) define it as an „endless‟ procedure, especially for

linguistically difficult passage because they can always be improved to get greater meaning.

As translator read it again and again, he/she will probably find a better equivalent word in the

target language, and also if it is done in group, translator will have a chance to get a deeper

meaning from the text. Barros (2011:43) suggests that “Since professional translation is

getting to be more of a social activity, we believe that encouraging teamwork in the

classroom is a good way to prepare students for it”.

Studies believed that, regardless of the subject matter, students who work in small groups

tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is

presented in other instructional formats. Students who work in collaborative groups also

achieve better results and are more satisfied with their learning experiences than those who

do not work in collaborative groups (Springer, Stanne & Donovan 1999; Li &Campbell,

2006). Collaborative learning is one of the teaching methods that does not only improve

language learning and academic achievement of the students but also their social skills by

students‟ interaction (Wang, 2007). While another view given by Porter (2006) stated that in

this learning method students are divided into small groups to learn knowledge, to explore or

discuss an assigned topic, complete projects and group assignments, or to participate in an

exchange of ideas, and share some insights with other group members. As Kiraly (2000: 36)

claimed, true collaborative learning does not mean simply dividing up the work on a task. It

is instead the mutual accomplishment of a task with the dual learning goals, which includes

the process of the collaborative learning and the product of the learning itself. Collaborative

requires joint completion so that the team members can construct meanings together. In

collaborative learning, students will be able to and do interaction among peers and share their

opinion and ideas to solve the problems. Collaborative learning is often used interchangeably

with cooperative learning, group learning, peer learning, learning community and


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constructive learning (Li &Campbell, 2006). Tiong and Yong (2004) found that students,

especially Asian, prefer doing group work and learn collaboratively in an informal learning

environment done after the class. Nevertheless, they become silent when it comes to group

discussion in the classroom among peers and teachers. Some contributing factors to this

phenomenon are Asian students‟ inadequate language skills, the influence of their previous

learning experiences, and their underdeveloped interpersonal communication skills (shyness,

low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and cultural differences among students).

According to Long & Porter (1985), there are five pedagogical arguments for the use of

group work in second language (SL) learning. Those are, for increasing the quantity of

language practice opportunities, improving the quality of student talk, for individualizing

instruction, for creating a positive affective climate in the classroom, and for increasing

student motivation. Besides, there are some external factors that can influence group work.

Those factors include the environment in which the group exist, the characteristics and

behavior patterns of each members, the effects of time, the group‟s task or purpose, the actual

size of the group and whether the group has constant or fluctuating membership (Douglas,

2000).These factors are often referred to as “the constraints” and not all of the factors are

negative. In fact, they are frequently very positive, and when students are aware of these

factors, it can help their performance in the group itself.

The Study

Context of the study

The setting of the study is a Faculty of Language and Literature in a private university in

Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. The subjects of this study were students of language

teaching program. This program provides 2 translation courses, 2 hour of Indonesian to

English translation course, which is offered after English to Indonesian translation course.


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One reason for selecting this course is because most of the times, in doing their translation

assignment, students are working in a small group which consists of 2-4 members.

Participants

The participants for this study were 20 students of the English Department who took the

Indonesian to English Translation class. For the whole semester, students were asked to do

the assignment in group and individually.

Research Question

What are students‟ perceptions toward group work assignment in Indonesian to English

Translation classes?

Instrument of Data collection

The instrument that I used to collect the data is semi-structured interview. Interview was

chosen to get more depth data from the participants about students‟ perception toward group

work in Translation class. The interviews took about 10-15 minutes on average and were

recorded and transcribed. Semi-structured interview was chosen to get more data from the

participants and to make the participants willing to talk and share their opinion about the

topic. The interviews were done in Indonesian to make it easier for the participants in

answering the questions.

The interview included questions on the student‟s definition of group work, student‟s

perception toward advantages and disadvantages of working in group, student‟s preferences

concerning group work in their Translation class and their previous experience in doing

group work. These questions will be divided into two parts. The first line of questioning

(questions 1-3) involved general questions to gain participants background knowledge and to

set the scene. The questions are focused in the meaning of group work and sharing the


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participants‟ experiences and feeling in doing group work based on their learning

experiences. The second set of question (questions 4-6) concentrated on how they see the

effect of group work in Translation class, whether they see it as beneficial and affecting their

grade or not, also about their participation in doing the assignment in the Translation class.

Procedures of Data collection

In this step, the recording of the interview that was done in Indonesian were transcribed

and then translated into English. Similar answers were put in group so that it is easier to

discuss and later drawing the conclusion, then the result was divided based on two main

themes which are (1) student‟s experiences and attitude toward Group Work in Translation

Class and (2) student‟s participation during group work in Translation Class. The result from

the interview about student‟s definition of teamwork, advantages and disadvantages of

working in group were grouped in the first theme which have three subthemes, while the

second theme would cover the student‟s concern about group work, especially about

students‟ participation.

Findings

There were two main themes that are discussed in this finding. Those are: student‟s

experiences and attitude toward Group Work in Translation Class and student‟s participation

during group work in Translation Class

1. student’s experiences and attitude toward Group Work in Translation Class

There were 3 subtopics that are discussed in this main theme, those are: Meaning of Group

Work, effects of group work and student‟s feeling toward Group Work activities.

A. Meaning of group work


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In this section I discussed about student‟s understanding about group work and its relation

with their experience in Translation class. During the interview, all participants gave their

answers about the meaning of group work which are actually almost similar from one

another.

For me, group work means that we work on something together, in which we also

exchange ideas. Then those ideas are combined and mixed into one “big idea”. So it’s

just like combining many ideas into one correct idea. In group we also need to help

one another so that the result will be satisfying (Participant 1)

This was a statement from Participant 1 which showed his understanding of group

work, in which he thinks that exchanging and combining ideas between group members is

one important part of doing this activity, beside the fact that group work must be done

together. While another interviewee adds another explanation which is similar to Participant‟s

1 statement.

In general, group work is an activity, which can be done inside or outside the class,

but must be done together, so in group work we do a project, it must be done with

friends to get maximal result. I am personally quite familiar with group work since it

has been determined by the teacher to do some final project in a group (Participant

6).

It can be seen that based on Participant‟s 6 experiences doing group work means to do

some assignments. She also thinks that group work is an activity that must be done with

friends to get a better result. As it was explained in her interview, she believed that something

which was done together would produce a better result rather than something which was done

individually.


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A slight different answer was given by Participant 4, although she also think that group work

is something that must be done together, she focused her explanation more on the ability of

students and the number of students involved during group work.

Group work is an activity where group is formed by the teacher without considering

the ability from certain student in some subject. An important point is students can

work together with their friends and they can help one another. And it is more than 2

people, if it’s only 2 than it is pair work. (Participant 4)

From her explanation, she thought that the ability of students in certain subject may

not be an important part in group work, since in group work students worked together, and

they can help one another in doing assignment. She believed that the process of doing group

work is far more important than the product itself, since in group work student will work

collaborative and cooperatively to solve a problem.

From the three answers about the meaning of group work and some view about group

work above, it may be concluded that the participants believed that group work is an activity

that are done together to finish an assignment or project, in which students can exchange their

ideas and help one another to get a better result. This view is supported by Porter (2006) who

suggested that group work is where students are divided into small groups to learn

knowledge, to explore or discuss an assigned topic, complete projects and group assignments,

or to participate in an exchange of ideas, and share some insights with other group members.

Another view from Brown (2008) sees group work as learning that occurs as a result of

interaction between peers engaged in the completion of a common task. Attention is on what

students can do to initiate and manage their own learning through collaboration with others.

When it comes to Translation class, which becomes the focus of this study, the

interviewee stated that the meaning of group work is still similar to the group work which

they did in general classes. Since basically in Translation class or in general classes, the


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objective of doing group work is still the same, which is to encourage students to work

together with their friends to solve problems or to finish assignment in which they shared

their view and ideas to be discussed together.

B. Effects of group work

This part will discuss about the effects of group work assignments. As students, all of the

interviewee had had an experience doing group work to finish their assignments or projects,

and some of them found that group work gave them many advantages.

When I am doing group work, there will be a lot of ideas from my friends, there are

many inputs, and so what we need to do is combining those ideas into one final idea

from the group (Participant 2)

Doing group work can reduce the amount of things I need to do, something that is

usually done by myself can be done together with friend(s) (Participant 5)

From the two statements above, we can suggest that because group work are done together,

they can get many new inputs from the other group members and this is useful if they found

difficulties in doing some assignment. As Participant 5 explained during the interview, he

stated that sometimes his friends in the group can give solution and answers that he had not

thought before, and if he got stuck to do something, there will be others who will help him.

And of course, inside their group they can divide the job, which make the project or

assignment less difficult to do and for some cases, it will help them finish their work faster

Most of students shared their experiences that they got not only from general classes

but also in Translation class. In Translation class, students were asked to do different

translation assignment to check their translation competence. And sometimes, when it is done

in group, students will divide the assignment to the members of the group and usually

students will divide it by paragraph, which means that one student will finish one paragraph


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and later all works will be combined into one. This method is done by students so that their

translation assignment will finish faster.

Another advantage from the group work shared by students is given by Participant 4

If each group members have known each other well and they have same

understanding about their responsibility in doing assignment, it will give advantages

for group work; the assignment will finish faster or on time. (Participant 4)

From Students E answer we can see that the connection among the group members inside the

group will play an important role. If they had already known one another, it will be really

useful for the group work activities. Some students stated that they only see the advantages of

group work if they work with “connected friends”. As suggested by Participant 3

In my experience, if I work with friends who are “connect” with me, it will give a lot

of advantages for me. But if I work with random friends whom I don’t really know,

sometimes the work will take much time and maybe doesn’t have a good result. If we

are not really connected, our heart and brain won’t work well as one group. We need

to adapt with other group members. But if I work with friends whom I have known

well, the advantage is they have known my capabilities and they will help if found

difficulties.

(Participant 3)

Here is another opinion shared by Participant 6 in relation with how the connection between

group members is really important in her group work activities

if we combined many brains from all of the group members, the result will be better,

but it also has disadvantages, if we work with friends who are not “right”, group

work will take much time than doing it individually and inside the group we have to


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combine some thoughts into one, and that become a challenge in doing group work

(Participant 6)

By looking at the statement given by some students above, we can see that interaction

among students student inside the group had been concerned by some students who took

Indonesian to English classes. When students worked with friends whom they are not

accustomed to work with, they felt that actually it gives negative impacts. The impact may

varied from difficulties in working together, longer time needed to finish a task and

challenges in combining ideas. Furthermore, this will probably lead to what is defined by

Morris and Hayes (1997) as “the free-rider problem” in group work activities. It has been

defined as follows: “The problem of the non-performing group member who reaps the

benefits of the accomplishments of the remaining group members with little or no cost to

him/herself‟‟. In this “free-rider” problem, students will rely on “smarter” student to finish

the assignment in group and he/she decide not to participate in the discussion, but still later

they get the mark or grade based on their group performance . This problem was experienced

by some interviewees, who stated that

“The problems may arise when we work with friends who are passive, which mean, in

their mind they thought, this is a group work and there are more capable friends, and

because they are more capable they should be the one who finished it, they rely on others.”

(Participant 3)

“…in a group maybe there will be student who is too lazy to finish his/her work. It’s

difficult for us too, because if we don’t engage him in the group, we’ll feel bad, since it’s a

group work. So then, we decide to do our work/task. The one who are too lazy need to follow

the others “(Participant 7)


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This problem had been discussed by Davies (2009), who stated that this problem was

actually caused by lack of motivation from the student itself. And he also noticed that

student‟s participation to be one of the most serious problems in group work (this will later

discussed in “student’s participation during group work”). He adds that this problem can be

solved by carefully considering the kind of task given to students, so that later task can

maximize each student‟s contribution and also teacher need to recognize and notice student‟s

effort in doing the group work activities.

C. Student’s feeling toward Group Work activities.

After talking over some understandings about group work and the effects for students

especially in translation class, this section will discuss about students feeling about group

work. As it was mentioned before, there are some advantages and disadvantages from doing

translation in group work that student can get. When comes to their feeling about group work,

students who were interviewed shared a slight similar opinion.

“Happy, because we can work together…” (Participant 8)

“Group work is helpful! Especially if I work with friends whom I have known well before

since they can give new ideas “(Participant 4)

“As I told before, if I work with someone I like, I mean their personality and characters

are similar with me, the group work activity will be smooth…” (Participant 6)

Above statements show that students have same positive view about group work. Most of

them said that they were happy to do group work for several reasons. Most of them

mentioned that the reasons were because they can share ideas and get a better understanding

from certain topic when they do something in group. Then, when it comes to group

discussion, students will be able to interact and communicate with his/her friend which will

be useful to improve their social skills, since sometimes student will need to work with

someone whom he/she doesn‟t know before. They also can reduce the amount of task that


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needs to do, for example in Translation class in which students who worked in group will be

able to divide the assignment which consists of many paragraphs.

Nevertheless, in relation with statements above, in the beginning of each Indonesian

to English Translation class, students of this program from some classes were asked to

choose whether they wanted to do translation in group or individually by the teacher. From

all the interviewee, although they share a rather similar understanding and have same positive

view about group work, when they were asked which one they preferred, they gave different

opinions.

Participant 1, who previously gave his understanding about group work, stated that he

preferred doing translation assignment individually. He said

…I tend to choose to work individually, because in translation I think the way

people/student translate something is different. There are some students whose

translation is still sound Indonesian but they think that their translation is right…

Another interviewee, Participant 11 added,

I am Happy to do group work, because we can work together, but after all I’m prefer

doing the assignment individually, because when I work alone, I can be more focus on

only one thought.

While Participant 6 said that

I prefer doing translation individually, it doesn’t mean I’m exclusive or something

like that, but if I work individually, the assignment can be finished faster. Because for

example if I do the translation, I use this sentence pattern and if I do it in group, I

need to discuss it first, and it takes more time.

As it mentioned before, doing translation is a combination process between reading

combination, grammar use, and translation itself. And because of the difference in student‟s

reading and grammar competence, it would also affect their performance in doing group


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translation. Newark (1988) shared his view about this problem. He said translation is actually

a difficult process and he defined it as an “endless” procedure, especially for linguistically

difficult passage because they can always be improved to get greater meaning. And for some

students who were interviewed, they also concern about it. For them who had higher

translation competence will think they need to read the translation texts more than once to get

better understanding while others think it isn‟t necessary. So when it comes to group

translation, in which students divide the text into several parts to be done by the members of

the group, there will be a difference in meaning and also style of language. Furthermore, the

problem with style of language of each student can lead to another problem when the group

needs to combine all the works from their members into one coherence text which also need

to have consistency in the style of language. This is one reason for students to choose

working individually rather than doing in group translation. Other reason is that by doing

translation individually, students can be more focused since they don‟t need to discuss it with

their friend, and of course the assignment can finish faster.

After all, despite the fact some students find that doing translation individually is

more advantageous for them, other interviewee still chose to work their translation

assignment in group.

I prefer Group, because if the text is long, we can divide it into several parts, and it

can save time, since in my experience usually the text is quite long (2 pages), but

sometimes I find difference in style of language, so after we compile the work, it will

be checked together to make the translation consistent, and after that we read it.

(Participant 4)

It can be seen from the statement above that the differences in style of language also become

an important thing to consider in doing translation in group. Similar view about the style of

language was shared by Participant 8


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In my group usually the text is divided into several parts, and one member of the

group will need to get one part (usually one paragraph) to finish. But before

submitting our work, the assignment will be compiled first and we read it first, so we

can correct the assignment first so that there are no different in language (Participant

8)

From the two statements above, we can see an inconsistency from the interviewee. Both of

them think that by doing translation in group they can finish the assignment faster, but they

also mentioned that if they do translation in group, they need to rechecked and corrected the

work before it was submitted to the teacher so that the translation are consistent between one

paragraph and another. This process will for sure spend much time because combining two or

more language with different style is not easy. The time consuming problems because of

doing translation in group were actually discussed by Kaye (2009), but instead of seeing it as

drawback of translation; he saw it as one advantage of doing translation in group. He

mentioned that translation in groups can encourage students to discuss the meaning and use

of language at the deepest possible levels as they work through the process of understanding

and then looking for equivalents in another language. It can happen because just like what has

been shared by the interviewee above, they need to recheck the work once again even after

the work has finished to ensure there are no language inconsistency and probably to find a

better meaning for some difficult word.

On a similar study done by Barros (2011) which discussed collaborative learning in the

translation classroom in Spain, from all the participants, 45,5% choose to do work individual

translation and only a few (6,3%) choose to do translation in group, while the rest choose the

combination of both individual and group work. The reasons given by the participants were

also similar to the study I did such as students can organize their time as they wish and also

implement their own decision in doing translation. Other reasons includes to avoid conflicts


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and arguments with other team members and to get more translation practice. This may

suggest that although many students think that doing group work assignment is helpful and

advantageous, when it comes to translating a text, some students have different opinions and

attitude based on their own experiences.

2. Student’s participation during group work in Translation Class

Student‟s participation in group work had been highlighted by some researcher since it is

considered to be one of the most serious problems in group work (David 2009, Morgan 2002)

and this section will discuss about student participation in Translation class. Some students

who were interviewed stated that his/her friend work well and give contribution to their

group. As mentioned by Participant 10 and 5

They work well, if they have a good basic, they can finish the assignment well

(Participant 10)

They look happy to do something in group, because they can work together. Most of

my friend will choose to work in group because they can work with their friend.

(Participant 5)

Both statements showed that students have positive contribution to their own group

discussion in Translation class. The fact that students are able to work with their peer and

building their social skills while they are doing assignments made some students participate a

lot and give considerable contribution to their group. In Translation class, students were

asked to do the translation assignment in group so that they can use their language at the

deepest possible levels as they work through the process of understanding and then looking

for equivalents in another language (Kaye 2009). Nevertheless, this did not happen to every

student who took Translation class. Some students still did not take part in their group

discussion. As mentioned by Participant 1 and 3


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Every students have differences in doing group work, there are student who are active

and there are also who only follow his/her friend. (Participant 1)

In my experience, in translation class, in my group there are 2 friends who are very

active while other is not (Participant 3)

From above statements, we can see that based on students experiences in doing group

work in Translation class, there were students who was actively involved and some others

who were not giving contribution to the group. This is what is discussed by Davis (2009),

about the “free rider” problem and the sucker effect.

The free rider problem, who had been mentioned earlier in this study, are defined as

students who are not performing well in group but still get benefits of the accomplishment of

the remaining group members. While the sucker effect, as also mentioned by Kerr (1983), is

defined as more competent students who try to avoid being a “sucker”. They reduce their own

input and contribution to the task and will even choose to fail as a group rather than be a

“sucker”. This happens a lot in group discussion, when there are more capable and competent

students in group, and also some others who are not actively involved in the group.

Sometimes, the discussion will be dominated by one student and the objective of doing group

work in which students were asked to discuss and work together to finish a certain problem

were not achieved.

To solve this problem, some interviewee give suggestion about what is needed to be

considered by students when they are working in group with their friends

It depends on each person. If someone has a big will, discipline and loyalty I’m sure

he will participate a lot in the group; they will realize their own responsibility. This is

not individual work; this is a group work so I need to take part in doing the project.

(Participant 6)


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She mentioned that if each student has realized what is their responsibility in doing group

work, they will automatically give contribution to his/her group. And sometimes, in each

group, students need to appoint a leader, not to dominate the discussion but to give command

and also suggestion in finishing assignment to the rest of group members. When doing group

activities, some students will be a kind of “lost” and don‟t know what to do, and this will be

covered by the presence of students who acted as “group leader”.

Conclusion

Translation which has become the basis of language teaching for a very long time has

a different characteristic compared to other subjects in terms of learning language.

Translation also can be tricky since it actually combine many skills such as reading

comprehension, grammar use, and translating itself. Kaye (2009) suggest that doing

translation in group can help learner to translate better, since it can encourage students to get

better meaning, sharing ideas and discuss the use of language at the deepest possible levels as

they work through the process of understanding and then looking for equivalents in another

language. This study aimed to find out students‟ perception toward group work in their

Translation classes.

After doing interview to some students who take Indonesian to English Translation

class, there are some findings that are discussed in this study. Students give their perception

toward group work which they refer as an activity that are done together to finish an

assignment or project, in which students can exchange their ideas and help one another to get

a better result. Although sometimes they found some obstacles in doing group work they

suggest that group work is beneficial and helpful. But, although all students have same

positive view about group work, when it comes to their Translation classes, students have

different opinions. Not all students prefer to work in group while they are doing their in-class


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translation assignment, some stated that doing translation in group is more difficult and spend

too much time compared if they are doing those assignments individually. By knowing

students perception toward group work assignments, translation teachers may consider which

method is more appropriate to be used in Translation classes.

Further study may be needed to suggest solution and suggestion to the problems faced

by students in doing translation assignments especially if it is done in group and make the

learning process more efficient both to the students and teachers of Translation classes. There

are some limitation in this study in terms of the numbers of students who were interviewed

and methodology used in doing the research. Class observation may be needed to know

students‟ performance in their Translation class while doing translation assignment in group.


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References

Barros, E. H. (2011). Collaborative learning in the translation classroom: preliminary survey results.

The Journal of Specialised Translation(16), 42-52.

Campbell, J., & Li, M. (2006). Asian Students‟ Perceptions of Group Work and Group Assignments

in a New Zealand Tertiary Institution. EDU-COM International Conference (pp. 78-89).

Perth Western Australia: Edith Cowan University.

Davies, M. (2009).Group work as a Form of Assessment. Teaching and Learning Unit Staff

Development Guides.

Douglas, T. (2000). Basic Groupwork. New York: Routledge.

Kaye, P. (2009, March 25). Translation activities in the language classroom. (T. Editor, Editor)

Retrieved February 22, 2011, from Teaching English:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/translation-activities-language-classroom

Kiraly, D. (2000). A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education: Empowerment from

Theory to Practice. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

Long, M. H., & Porter, P. A. (1985). Group Work, Interlanguage Talk, and Second Language

Acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 207-228.

Morris, R., & Hayes, C. (1997). Small Group Work: Are Group Assignments a Legitimate Form of

Assessment? Paper presented at the Learning though Teaching: Proceedings of the 6thAnnual

Teaching Learning Forum, Perth, Western Australia.

Newmark, P. (1988). Approaches to Translation. London: Prentice Hall International .

Porter, J. Y. (2006). Using learning communities to enhance counselling curriculum. Retrieved from

Vistas Online: http://counselingoutfitters.com/Porter.htm

Slavin, R. E. (1996). Research on cooperative learning and achievement: What we know, what we

need to know. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 43-69.

Springer, L., Stanne, M. E., & Donovan, S. S. (1999). Effects of small-group learning on

undergraduates in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology: A meta-analysis.

Review of Educational Research, 69, 21-51.

Tiong, K.-M., & Yong, S.-T. (2004). Confucian heritage culture learners„ and instructors„

expectations and preferences in collaborative learning: convergence or divergence?

Wang, T.-P. (2007, December). The Comparison of the Difficulties between Cooperative Learning

and Traditional Teaching Methods in College English Teachers. The Journal of Human

Resource and Adult Learning, 3(2), 23 - 29.

White, F., Flloyd, H., & Goldfried, J. (2007). Evaluating student perceptions of group work and group

assessment. Transforming a university: the scholarship of teaching and learning in practice,

71-80.


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APPENDIX

List of Interview Question

1. Menurut (nama), apa pengertian Groupwork?

2. Berdasarkan pengalaman (nama), keuntungan atau kerugian apakah yang (nama)

rasakan dari mengerjakan tugas secara berkelompok (groupwork)?

3. Apa yang (nama) rasakan ketika (nama) bekerja dengan teman-teman dalam sebuah

kelompok

4. Dalam kelas translation, apakah pernah diberi tugas untuk mengerjakan secara

berkelompok?

a. Jika iya, mana yang (nama) pilih diantara (group/individu)?

b. Jika (nama) memilih group, apa yang membuat (nama) memilih bekerja dalam

grup?

c. Jika secara individu, apa yang membuat (nama) memilih bekerja secara individu?

5. Menurut (nama), bagaimana partisipasi mahasiswa dalam bekerja kelompok? Kalau

(nama) sendiri?

6. “Student will achieve better result when they are doing assignment in group”, apa

pendapat (nama) tentang pernyataan ini?


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Interview transcribe (Participant 1)

Interviewer (I) : Good Morning, (name) so today I would like to do interview about group

work in translation class, before we start, is it correct that this semester you take the

Indonesian to English course?

Participant 1 (P1) : Yap, correct

I : And the teacher is…

P1 : Mr. Andrew Thren

I : OK, that‟s great now let‟s proceed, so what do you think about group work? what comes

to your mind when you heard the term group work?

P1 : For me, Group work means that we work on something together, in which we also

exchange ideas. Then those ideas are combined and mixed into one “big idea”.

I : A big Idea? What do you mean?

P1 : Yes, So it‟s just like combining many ideas into one correct idea. In group we also need

to help one another so that the result will be satisfying

I : Ok, So it‟s like combining many ideas…then based on your experiences in doing group

work, what effects which you see from doing group work?

P1 : In general or in translation class only?

I : in general first, later we will discuss about the translation class

P1 : Ok, so There are 2 sides, advantages and disadvantages, for advantages, if we got stuck

to solve one problem, probably other friend(s) in the group can give solution to solve the

problem. It‟s useful for us. The problem arise because it‟s difficult to mix ideas from all of

the group members, sometimes we have one good idea but other group member(s) do not

agree with our idea and even some time we need to “agree” to other‟s idea. To solve that kind

of problem, we move it to the “forum”, we ask from all of group members which idea is

better and discussed it together, If many of them say my idea is not very good, then I can‟t

force my idea to be chosen. Do I think it solve the problem? Yes! But it depends on the given


24

argument. So, I need to know why the other group member doesn‟t accept my idea. If they

can give “make sense” reason, then I can accept it

I : make sense reason? Ok…interesting and you will move the discussion to what you call as

forum?

P1 : Ya..so that I can get the best result from doing the group work

I : So, what about the feeling…what do you feel about doing assignment in group?

P1 : I will be happy to do it, because there will be always new idea from the other group

member. But I can also feel that group work has drawback because maybe I have good idea,

but it doesn‟t be accepted by other members

I : Well, ok…so now we move to the translation class, in your class have you ever did the

assignment in group

P1 : Yes

I : Can you tell me something about it?

P1 : Yes, the lecturer gives us freedom to choose whether we want to work in group or

individually. But I tend to choose to work individually, because in translation I think the way

people/student translate something is different.

I : How different?

P1 : There are some student whose translation is still sound Indonesian but they think that

their translation is right, in my opinion, everything need to be checked and need to be

changed so that it will be sound English, it makes me prefer to work individually. I think

some students only translating the words, not the sentences, it still sound Bahasa but the word

is in English, the other reasons are I can be more focus and work faster

I : So you prefer individual?

P1 : Yes

I : How about the students participation in translation class?

P1 : As I can see, Every students have differences in doing group work, there are student

who are active and there are also who only follow his/her friend. I think in groupwork, there


25

must be someone who are able and want to be a leader who can manage everything in his/her

group. Sometimes, groupwork only work when it‟s close to the deadline. Because everyone

will work in a hurry

I : Ya…it‟s very common, and sometimes it happens to me to…so this is the last question…

“student will achieve better result when they are doing assignment in group”, What do you

think about this statement?

P1 : It‟s not always like that, like when it‟s in a hectic situation, Group work can be really

helpful, but based on my experience, I can‟t rely on my friend. I‟m afraid that I get a bad

mark because of the groupwork

I : So you don‟t agree?

P1 : Well, let‟s say I‟m half agree

I : Ok then…thank you for your participation, and frankly this interview is really helpful for

my research, since most of the interviewee so far tend to choose to work in group rather than

individually in their translation class…once again, thank you

P1 : Your welcome


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Acknowledgment

First, I would like to thank Jesus Christ for his grace and blessing for me. I wish to

sincerely appreciate all people who helped me to finish this study. I am highly indebted to,

Mrs. Victoria Usada Palupi, MA- ELT, for her guidance as the supervisor of my study and to

Mrs. Martha Nandari, MA, for his guidance as the second reader during the finishing process

of this thesis.

I am also greatly indebted to my mother, Titik Rahayu and my father in heaven, Samekto

Bhakti who have always been my inspiration and also for my brothers and sisters, for their

support and their care. I also would like to say thank you for Yayasan Beasiswa Oikumene

(YBO), Dr.Herumoyo and Ibu Lukas Subianto for the supports so that I can finally finish my

study.

Lastly, I would like to show my deepest gratitude to all of ED friends, especially those

from class of 2008, who will always be a family to me and others who have supported and

helped me during my study.

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