International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 128

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
With the variety of activities provided by the learning websites, learning English challenges
students in positive ways. Students found that there was a lot of excitement learning a
language with computers and via the internet.
“To me, learning with technologies was a bit challenging. Learning English and in the
same time learning new things with computer and internet are not always easy.
However, I found it so much fun, especially when you hear people talking in English.”
[S1, L 21 – 23]
Another point raised by the participants was that they had positive perspectives on how
internet technologies benefit them to enrich their language learning experiences.
“I learnt much from the internet, especially pronunciation. It was a bit difficult how
to pronounce some English words, as they are different from Indonesia. I learnt lots
from what I heard on the conversations in the website. And sometimes I found what
I was looking for, ahaa..that was what I am looking for, hehehe.” [S 5, L 12 – 14]
To sum up this section, interview results showed that participants expressed their positive
learning experience with technologies, growing motivation in English learning, and positive
feeling and confidence on their language performance.
Discussion and conclusion
Elements in the literature review recommend the importance of meaningful infusion of ICT
into English classrooms to enhance teaching and learning (Hubbard, 2003). Studies have
demonstrated that if ICT can be integrated into a meaningful way, it can significantly
improve students’ academic performance, particularly students’ language skills (Alazam,
Bakar, Hamzah, & Asmiran, 2012; Kean et al., 2012; Klimova & Semradova, 2012; McMahon,
2009; Nair et al., 2012). The results of the present study indicate that in the period of time,
the integration of ICT in the traditional face to face English classrooms can significantly
improve students’ language proficiency. However, further studies with broader samples,
different context and treatments still need to be done to confirm these findings. In addition
to this, this current study also found that ICT can facilitate a more positive, supportive and
conducive learning environment which ultimately boost students’ motivation to learn more.
This is in line with the previous study findings (e.g Sun and Metros, 2011; Jung, 2006; Kean,
Embi, & Yunus, 2012).
This study findings suggest that the learning website / Internet provides the
fundamental condition for the EFL learners to enable them expose themselves to the target
language so the language acquisition process occurs in the same way. Empirical studies, as
mentioned in the previous section, suggest that engaging EFL learners in authentic
communication and putting them in the target language exposure as much as they could
becomes an indispensable condition for successful foreign language learning. From the
language theory point of view, language acquisition occurs when the learner is engaged
in an active interaction with the target language resources and authentic materials. It is
128 | P a g e