CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of The Study

English is one of the languages used by many countries in the world. Every

day people in all parts of the world use English whether in a formal or informal

situation. English becomes the language that is always used to communicate

among people in a different country. Some countries are using English as their

first language. It showed the importance of English in the world. Even though in

Indonesia the position of English as the foreign language, in reality, English is

very necessary. In this era, English is the language studied by every level of

learners in Indonesia whether low or highest learner level. That is why teaching

and learning English is used to train the students' ability in understanding and

produce that language correctly.

In English, there are four basic skills including listening, speaking, reading,

and writing that can be learned in language development.1 These skills are very

important to be learned especially for English learners. These are the basic parts

before learning the higher part in English and influencing the learners' ability to

mastery English. Besides that, these four skills are related to each other in

acquiring the language for humans whether the first language or the second

language acquisition. Listening is the first skill that is used by humans in learning

a language then followed by speaking, reading, and writing. Human usually uses

those skills sequentially without separating or just studying one of the skills for
1
Safiye Bilican et. all, The Factors that Predict The Frequency of Activities Developing
Students’ Listening Comprehension Skills, Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol.5219-
5224. no. 46, 2012, gpp.5219-5224.

1
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communicating. It means that communication delivers the message from one

person to the others and receiving feedback from them. 2 The communication

process must involve those four skills. In learning at the school, the students are

taught those four skills and also practice them to improve their knowledge related

to that skills but in reality, the students have not practiced it well because of some

difficulties such as less understanding and always using their first language in the

class even in English class.

Regardless of those problems, many ways are used in learning by English

learners to mastery those skills in both formal and informal education. Joining a

course or English class is one of the ways to improve English skills. Different

from the school, students can manage and set the time based on the leisure time

that they have. So it will not be a problem in learning English at the course.

Besides that, learning at the course as a solution for the student has less

understanding in studying English at the school. Most of the students share their

homework at the course and the teacher helps the student to discuss with more

explanation about the homework and finish it.

Nowadays, the situation does not allow to go outside and join in the

crowded place because of Covid-19. The daily activities of the community have

changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this virus has not only attacted one

country but also has spread in 215 countries throughout the world. This virus has

a significant impact on society, almost all residents in Indonesia have diverted all

activities that are carried out outside and do those activities at home instead. All

2
Sholihatul Hamidah Daulay, Langauge and Society, (Medan: Lembaga Peduli
Pengembangan Pendidikan Indonesia (LPPPI), 2019), p.10
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age levels including children, adults, and middle age should carry out the physical

distancing where each individual always stays at home and works at home,

without meeting or keeping in touch with the other people directly. This

government policy is an effort to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission

because without realizing it if one person has been indicated positive infected

Covid-19 meeting a person is negative in Covid-19 infection. It is going to happen

that the negative one becomes the positive or infected in the Covid-19 virus. For

this problem, people are encouraged to wear masks if they want to buy something

or finishing an urgent business outside.

On the other hand, the Covid-19 virus had an impact on Education Field.

This situation gives new challenges to the Education system in Indonesia.

Academic activities are stopped whether university or school because academic

activity also involves many people include hundreds of students and teaching staff

and that is considered as a crowded situation where it can cause the spread of

Covid-19. For the solution, there is a significant change in teaching and learning

activities in the school. Face-to-face learning was not allowed to be applied

anymore and the school takes the policy of creating the virtual class instead. To

reduce the infected people of Covid-19, the government warned the society to

stay at home. The government has forbidden coming near a crowded place, social

distancing, and physical distancing, using a mask and washing hands.3 The

learning process must be able to follow the rules that can prevent direct physical

contact among the students and between students and teachers. Hence, online

3
Ali Sadikin & Afreni Hamidah, Online Learning in the Middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic,
Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan Biologi, vol 6. no.2, 2020, pp.214-214.
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learning is one of the appropriate ways to be applied in the learning and teaching

process because online learning can be carried out even though in a different and

separate place. This is one of the advantages of online learning during this

pandemic.

As time goes by, technology play the important role in many aspects,

especially in the academic aspect. Technology becomes the necessary thing as the

center of global knowledge for the student. According to Mizuho in this era,

information from the various sciences is very easy to get quickly using the

internet network. Almost all institution around the world utilizes it in every

teaching aspect.4 It means that in teaching, technology is used as a forum for

students and teachers to discuss and learn the subject material. This helps the

teacher to provide the best possible care based on technology and following the

current development in the education field. Technology can also be used as an

effective approach for teaching and learning activities. Online learning can not be

separated from technology because technology is the main tool in applying online

learning for every level of students. The use of technology in education can be

proven in the use of computers and Handphone.

In this Pandemic, students tend in using mobile phones. There are 2 kinds of

mobile phone impact for students good and bad impact. In this case, parents or

teachers have to lead the student to do the good activities as can as possible during

their quarantine at home. Hence, some teachers lead a part of students' time every

day during the online learning and some homework, and also the teachers make

4
Mizuho Linuma, Learning and Teaching with Technology in the Knowledge Society New
Literacy, Collaboration and Digital Content, (Tokyo: SpringerBriefs in Education, 2016), p.15
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the interesting tool to the students are always consistent in learning English during

this pandemic. That's why the teachers apply some applications for studying

English because they have leisure time at home without going to school. Some

applications are usually used to improve English skills namely Hello English,

Memerise, Cake, BBC Learning English, and Duolingo.

Many users use Duolingo application as a learning English platform. This

application is easily used by students in learning English and it is free to access on

every Android mobile phone. it can motivate the student to improve their English

skill. In Duolingo application, the student can learn by setting the time and place

freely without any disruption. Besides that, Duolingo application also provides

many activities to encourage the students to improve their English skills. The

students will study vocabulary, reading, writing, listening, speaking, and also

grammar. The level of the material depends on the students. They can choose

what level that they want to learn based on their ability until they understand and

go to the next level for the higher the material.

Regardless of those things, every application must have advantages and

disadvantages during the process of using it. The students may have their own

opinion or perception in using it for learning English. The students may tell about

this application in a different perception. Therefore, this research aims to know

whether Duolingo application helps the students to improve their English or not.

The students are asked to explain based on their perception honestly. The

researcher expects positive feedback from the students' perception on the use of

Duolingo application. This research is conducted under the title

“STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION ON THE USE OF DUOLINGO APPLICATION

IN LEARNING ENGLISH DURING COVID-19”.

B. Research Problems

Based on the background above, the research problems of this study are

formulated as follow :

1. The students got difficulties in learning English during Covid-19.

2. The students were suggested to learn English through Duolingo application to

study at home and school during the Covid-19 pandemic.

3. Duolingo application has a bad and good impact on students in learning

English. The students express their opinion about that application.

C. The Formulation of The Research

The formulation of this research is “What are students’ perceptions toward

the use of Duolingo application in learning English during Covid-19?”

D. Objectives of the Research

The objective of this research is to find out the students’ perception toward

the use of Duolingo application in learning English during Covid-19.

E. Significance of the Research

1. Student

This research is expected to be able to help and motivate English learners to

improve their English skills by using Duolingo application.

2. Teacher

This research is expected as an experience and to be able to enrich the

knowledge for teachers especially English teachers about the contribution of

Duolingo application during Covid-19.

3. Further researcher

This research is expected to be able as the reference and experience to enrich

the knowledge.

F. Limitation of the Study

This study focus on the perception of students about the use of Duolingo

Application in learning English during Covid-19 at SMP Swasta IT Al-Fattah in

Academic Year 2019.