INDONESIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT INDIVIDUAL WORK

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a study conducted in English Education Department of Pekalongan University Central Java Indonesia in 2017. The study focused on finding out students’ perceptions about individual work. The research was conducted in the first semester of the academic year of 2017/2018 by involving 53 students who were required to complete an open-ended questionnaire. The findings showed that around 60% of the respondents favoured individual work as for them individual work gives a sense of self-challenge, self-responsibility and self-satisfaction. It is also seen as a tool for self-evaluation and self-improvement. However the rest of the respondents were less positive about individual work due to their inability to cope with the confusion and difficulties in doing the work. This indicates that not all students had the readiness to work independently and thus trainings need be given to the students before they are assigned to do individual work.