The Use Of English Outside The Classroom by Students of SMP Kristen Lentera

Abstract

Many Indonesian students learn English. However, they have a small chance to use it outside the classroom as a daily communication language because English is a foreign language in Indonesia. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate what kind of activities of using English the students do outside the classroom and how the activities help them in learning English. A total of 130 SMP Kristen Lentera students in three different levels of study participated in filling in the questionnaire and were grouped into several categories. Then, five of eleven participants who strongly agree with all statements in the questionnaire were involved in an interview. The study revealed that the five participants used English outside the classroom to communicate, do a free voluntary reading, sing or listening to English songs, watch English videos or movies, surf to the internet and use mobile phone, and write pieces of writing. It was found those activities help learners in improving their English, especially in speaking and vocabulary. The results of the study suggest that teachers can utilize the students' outside classroom activities of using English as part of the teaching materials to enhance successful learning.