The Utilization of English4IT Website in Improving

Computer Major Students’ English Competence

Dewi Christa Kobis, Michel Farrel Tomatala

STMIK Multicom Bolaang-Mongondow, Kotamobagu, North-Sulawesi, Indonesia

Keywords: English4IT, Computer Major Students, English Competence, English for Specific Purposes.

Abstract: This study aims to evaluate the potential benefit of English4IT in helping Computer primary students at

STMIK Multicom Bolaang-Mongondow to learn English. These students were lacking interest in learning

English due to their background as science students, and English is not their primary. In order to gain their

interest in learning English and to maximize their potency in learning a foreign language, the teacher needs

to use a particular method to facilitate students’ language learning process. Thus, the teacher utilized

English4IT. English4IT is a website that provides eLearning Platform which is designed by

English4work.com for those who come from the area of Computer Science and Information Technology.

English materials on the platform are related to Computerization and Information Technology. This study

used a questionnaire and interview section to gain data from respondents. The respondents reported that

English4IT successfully attracted their interest in learning English and also helped them in improving their

English. This study will benefit teachers who teach English for a specific purpose such as teaching for

Computer significant students, and the students as well. This study is limited to the second semester of

Information Technology and Information System students of 2018-2019 academic year at STMIK Multicom

Bolaang-Mongondow and only involved 25 participants.

1 INTRODUCTION

These days, technology is categorized as an

inseparable component of human life. Technology

has also been categorized as a crucial component in

education due to its role to make learning and

teaching activities more effective and efficient.

Educational technology is mainly growing in the

classroom. The current generation of students is ready

to study under the influence of modern technology

which plays a crucial role in their learning process

and make them acquiring various cognitive

knowledge (Stosic, 2015). This statement suggests

that technology has a significant impact on students

in the context of gaining knowledge, and they are

even ready to be involved in learning activities that

utilize technology. This impact also proves that

students nowadays are highly engaged with

technology.

In regards to issues in the area of technology, the

industry has been developed and experienced

significant revolution from time to time. Nowadays,

the industrial revolution has been called 4.0 Industry,

where technology plays a crucial role. It is also called

the industry of the digital era. As has been mentioned

in the previous paragraph, students are highly

engaged and attached to technology. It means we can

use technology to improve students’ learning

performance. This technology even can be recognized

as human capital training. Human capital consists of

knowledge, expertise, ability, and skill (Ardela,

2018). Therefore, teachers may improve their

students’ human capital by honing their students’

knowledge, expertise, ability, and skill through

technology.

It is general knowledge to say that technology is

used for any subject in the educational system. Since

technology is highly engaged to learning and teaching

activities and has been used in almost all materials of

any subject, it is appropriate to research more in-

depth about its particular role in a specific subject

such as English. English has been chosen for being

the crucial aspect of this research because the

capability of speaking English is a basic necessity of

globalization. Whether you come from the field

where English is not your major or even have no

interest in learning English, the ability to use English

is a basic necessity in the global industry. It is

222

Christa Kobis, D. and Farrel Tomatala, M.

The Utilization of English4IT Website in Improving Computer Major Students’ English Competence.

DOI: 10.5220/0010622900002967

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of Vocational Higher Education (ICVHE 2019) - Empowering Human Capital Towards Sustainable 4.0 Industry, pages 222-231

ISBN: 978-989-758-530-2; ISSN: 2184-9870

reported that English has been assumed as the

primary key to the storehouse of production and

productivity and can even improve human capital.

English can be used to promote culture, to enhance

science and technology, to do commercial business,

and to interact globally. English unites nations

(Bodapati, 2016). That is why the role of technology

in improving English competence is highly necessary

to be conducted.

1.1 Background of the Study

Although English is a basic necessity which is needed

by most people in this globalization era, it is

undeniable that some people might face difficulties in

learning it. In addition, some students even lack the

motivation to learn English, especially students who

do not take English as their major. However,

technology can be used in order to solve this issue.

STMIK Multicom Bolaang-Mongondow, which is

located in Kotamobagu, North-Sulawesi, Indonesia is

a higher institution which is specialized in teaching

Computer related subjects such as Information

Technology and Information System. Although

students who enrol in this college take Information

Technology or Information System as their major,

English is still one of the general subjects that the

students need to take in order to complete their

required subjects and to be graduated.

Since English is just part of general subjects,

most students lack the motivation to learn it.

Motivation deficiency also impacts their performance

and achievement in learning English. Because of this

condition, the English teacher (who is also one of the

researchers of this research) has tried to use

technology to make the learning process more fun and

applicable to the students. The English teacher even

utilized English4IT, a website as E-Learning Platform

for the Computer majored students to learn English.

English4IT is an English as a Foreign Language

(EFL) E-Learning Platform. This website is created

by English 4 Work as a site which focuses on ESP

(English for Specific Purposes). English4IT is

suitable for those who learn or work in the area of

Computer Science, Information Technology,

Information System, or Engineering. After the

implementation of English4IT Website, students who

joined the English class are invited to participate as

respondents of this research. Since all of the students

have done well in English class by using English4IT

as their E-Learning Platform, this study focuses on

the students’ perceptions for gaining the actual data

which focuses on students’ personal opinions after

learning English with English4IT.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

This research has two purposes. The first purpose is

to find about Computer majored students’ satisfaction

level of using English4IT Website in learning

English. This study aims to check whether the

utilization of English4IT gives benefits to the

students. The expected benefits are improvement in

their English and their satisfaction during the

utilization of English4IT Website. The second

purpose is to know in what ways English4IT Website

has improved the students’ English competence by

checking their perceptions. This purpose aims to see

the possible methods, aspects, components, or

strategies that English4IT Website might have in

order to improve the students’ English competence.

1.3 Research Questions

After considering the background and purpose of the

study above, the research questions that have lead this

study to its completion are:

1. What has Computer majored students’

satisfaction level of using English4IT Website in

learning English based on their perceptions?

2. How does English4IT Website improve

Computer majored students’ English competence

based on their perceptions?

1.4 Limitation of the Study

This research is limited to 25 sophomore students of

STMIK Multicom Bolaang-Mongondow who

enrolled in the even semester of 2018-2019 academic

year and took the subject of English for Computer

Science 2. Its research field only focuses on the

analysis of students’ satisfaction level of using

English4IT Website and how this site improved the

students’ English competence during the period they

utilized it as their platform in learning English. For

the data collection, this research precisely focuses on

gaining the data by having students’ statement and

derive the findings and conclusion by referring to

students’ perceptions after they completed their

training by using English4IT Website.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 English4IT

English4IT is an English E-Learning Platform which

is specially designed for students or workers who

The Utilization of English4IT Website in Improving Computer Major Students’ English Competence

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involve in the area of Information Technology,

Information System, Computer Science or even

Engineering. English4IT is part of English4works

site. English4works designs several E-Learning

platforms which focused on English for Specific

Purpose (ESP). English4IT provides English learning

in four areas which are listening, reading, speaking,

and writing. This platform also provides a discussion

forum in which teacher and students could interact

with each other to fulfil the completion of the tasks.

English4IT can be used by the students when the

teachers are beside them to give detailed explanations

regarding how to operate it and English4IT can be

used by students autonomously when they are at

home or outside the classroom. The teacher just needs

to pay $9 every month in order to use English4IT and

created one online class through its site. Each class

will only allow 25 students. Students will not be

charged any payment as long as they enrol to a class

of a teacher who is a member of English4IT and has

paid monthly subscription. The teacher will be able to

control his/her students’ performance and grade

online.

English4IT provides 25 units for learning English.

Each unit provides an English learning which is

related to Computer, Technology, and Engineering

such as Introduction to Software, Software

Application, Programming Languages, IT Experts, IT

History, Information of Networking, Internet, IT

Companies, and even IT Slangs. Each unit will have

listening comprehension, reading materials, unit

vocabularies, spelling and recognition training,

discussion forum, writing, and speaking activities.

English4IT also provides a printable certificate for

teachers and students who have completed their

English learning. A certificate will be given if the

teachers of students have completed at least 20 units

and obtained a minimum score of 85%.

Interestingly, students would be able to re-do each

activity for several times if they think they are not

satisfied enough with their previous score. This

remedial activity helps students to memorize each

vocabulary and even understand the learning

materials better since they have seen the unit

vocabulary and learning materials for several times

until they think that they are satisfied enough with

their current scores and have already memorized the

vocabularies of each unit and comprehend the

learning materials. In addition, English4IT can be

accessed whenever and wherever which provides

flexibility for students to fulfil their learning activities

of each unit.

2.2 Technology in Improving

Computer Major Students’ English

Competence

In 2008, researchers tried to research about the

effectiveness of E-Learning Portal in teaching and

learning English for Computer majored students or

specifically for ESP in IT-related subjects. The

researchers listed that several resources can be used

for IT students or workers. They were Dave

Sperling’s Internet Guide, Infotech English for

Computer Users and Chambers Guide to English for

IT. Interestingly, the only online resource that they

found in the area of English for Computer students

around 2007 is English4IT (Gridasova et al., 2008).

English4IT has developed its website and tools in

order to give better learning experiences for the

learners from the area of Information Technology,

Information System, Computer Science or even

Engineering. It is reported that English4IT is on the

list of 2018 Top 6 Courses and Resources for

Learning English for Information Technology. The

six resources are English4IT, English for Information

Technology by Pearson Longman, FluentU – An

English Solution for IT Professionals, The

Professional English for Information Technology

Course by ATC, The English for Information

Technology Course by In-Tuition, and Oxford

English for Information Technology (Shawn, 2018).

Technologies for learning English in the area of

Science and Technology experts are reportedly

needed to get extra attention. English is primarily

necessary for scientists, technicians, and computer

experts. However, some of them are lacking

motivation in learning English or possess anxiety in

learning it. Thus, an effective and efficient curriculum

or approaches are necessary in order to help those

who involve in the area of computer science.

Musikhin (2016) reported that in the globalization

era, English communication for scientists and

engineers who do not have English as their first

language realize that English has become crucial as

their main related capabilities. He found that that

appropriate ESP materials are highly necessary for

scientists and engineers. Musikhin explained that

ESP teachers need to look for relevant and reliable

authentic materials, defining proper teaching

methods, especially specific software that might help

the students interested in learning English (Musikhin,

2016).

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2.3 The Importance of Appropriate

Platform or Resource in Learning

English

Learning English by using the textbook as the

learning media might be useful. However, using

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

tools can give a more effective and efficient learning

outcome. Sri Lestari and Chasanatun (2018)

conducted an experiment related to English learning

by using ICT tools such as Padlet, Animoto, and

Sway. Their finding showed that students’ English

competence had been improved after learning English

by using these three applications. They found that

their students’ English competence has been

improved from band A1 to A2. Based on this finding,

they assumed that the use of ICT tools is helpful in

improving students’ English competence (Lestari and

Wahyuni, 2018). In addition, the implementation of

ICT tools in English learning gives flexible and

various set of technological tools, introduce problem-

solving skills, provide opportunities for the students

to use higher-order skills, improve their critical

thinking and practical information processing skills,

encourages active independence, autonomous and

collaborative language learning and also facilitate

better language learning experience (Cakici, 2016).

Furthermore, it is argued that besides using non-web

ICT tools for learning English such as LCD

projectors, television, English movies, and language

lab, the implication of ICT web tools is practically

necessary in improving students’ English competence

(Abdulkareem and Chouthaiwale, 2018). The ICT

tools can be some webs that most people around the

world are already familiar with, such as Youtube, E-

Mails, Skypes, or even specific Site such as

English4IT.

2.4 Research Gap and Originality

Based on the previous researches that have been

presented above, the gap of this research has focused

on the utilization of English4IT in improving

Computer majored students’ English competence.

The difference and originality of this research

compared to previous research is its utilization of

English4IT for Computer majored students who study

at STMIK Multicom Bolaang-Mongondow and the

data finding also focuses on the students’ perceptions

after experiencing using English4IT Website as their

E-Learning Platform in learning English.

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Method and Design

This research is a mixed-method called descriptive

quantitative-qualitative research which combines

quantitative and qualitative technique in describing

the data findings. This research tends to describe

students’ perceptions about their satisfaction level of

using English4IT Website in learning English and

how this website helps them in improving their

English competence. This research is called

quantitative because this research used numbers to

calculate the data which is found in the

questionnaires. This research can be considered as

qualitative research because it used an interview for

gaining the data as well. This mixed-method research

was implemented because these both methods give a

better understanding of a research problem than either

quantitative or qualitative data by itself (Pallant,

2007). For answering the first research question,

which focused on students’ satisfaction level of using

English4IT, the researchers used questionnaires

which are calculated by using the Likert Scale. They

were then analyzed by using a software called SPSS

16. The researchers interpreted the results of the

questionnaires by calculating the MEAN Score based

on Likert Scale proposed by Pallant as has been

described in Table 1 (Creswell, 2012):

Table 1: Likert Scale Calculation.

Numerical

(MEAN)

Score

Data Interpretation

4.50-5.00 Strongly Agree (Very High)

3.50-4.49 Agree (High)

2.50-3.49 Neutral (Moderate)

1.50-1.49 Disagree (Low)

1.00-1.49 Strongly Disagree (Very Low)

Meanwhile, the second research question will be

analyzed by calculating the “Yes/No” variables

which are written in each item (statement) on the

questionnaire paper. Besides using questionnaire as

one of the facilities to gain the data for the second

research question, the data from the interviewees are

also analyzed and interpreted in order to gain more

reliable result. After the all 25 respondents have filled

in the questionnaires, the researchers arranged the

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interview schedule by asking the ten respondents who

were selected to continue on the interview section

about the appropriate time that they could provide for

the interview section. The interview section was

scheduled on 7

to 8

of May 2019, which were days

after the paper-based questionnaires have been filled

in by those students. The interview was scheduled,

starting at 9 am until it had finished. Five students

were interviewed on 7

of May 2019, and the rest five

students were interviewed on 8

of May 2019, which

made ten students as total interviewees.

3.2 Respondents of the Study

The Respondents of this research consists of 25

sophomore students who enrolled at STMIK

Multicom Bolaang-Mongondow in the even semester

of 2018-2019 academic year. These 25 students

which divided into 16 students who are taking

Information Technology as their academic major and

nine students who are taking Information System as

their major. From these 25 students, there were 14

males and 11 females. Among these 25 students, ten

students were chosen for the interview section

selecting five males and five females. These ten

interviewees were also divided into five students who

come from the Information Technology major and

five other students from the Information System

Discipline. Acknowledging the respondents’ requests

and privacy issue, all of their data which are used for

this research had been censored and labelled by using

pseudo names.

3.3 Data Collection Process and Data

Interpretation

The process of collecting and interpreting the data are

described as follow:

1. Implement the utilization of English4IT E-

Learning Platform in students’ learning activities.

2. Evaluate all students’ completion of online

learning activities.

3. Re-evaluate students’ understanding and

performance of the materials by conducting final

paper-based tense where the materials that have

been used are the same with what that they have

learnt on English4IT Website.

4. Ask the students to fill in the questionnaires.

5. Select ten candidates for the interview section.

6. Schedule the interview section.

7. Conduct interviews in two days by dividing ten

students into two sections. The first five students

had their interview section on 7

of May 2019 and

the rest five students on the next day. The

interview was conducted by using Bahasa.

Interviewers used Bahasa in order to get more

detailed information from the students because

they were more comfortable to talk in Bahasa.

The interviews were later translated the interview

data into English in the Transcribing process.

8. Transcribe the interview data from the recorder

into papers.

9. Put the questionnaire data in SPSS 16 and

calculated the MEAN Score.

10. Distinguish the data which has been acquired

from the interview section. If there were similar

reports, they were categorized in the same

category.

11. Compile, gather, and analyze the data. Then, the

researchers began the writing process of the

research report.

4 FINDING

4.1 The Experiment of the Utilization

of English4IT Website

The experiment of the utilization of English4IT

Website had been described as follow:

1. The English teacher (one of the researchers)

instructed the students to enroll in online class that

the teacher has created through English4IT

Website. The students need to enter the class

code: 676c1b14a22923c4 in order to be enrolled

in that class and being free of any charge. Each

class in English4IT Website needs to be registered

by the teacher and the teacher needs to pay $9

each month regularly.

Figure 1: Class Image on English4IT E-Learning Platform.

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2. After the students have enrolled, they were

instructed on using the website as their learning

platform and completing activities such as

listening, reading, writing, and speaking

activities. Students were also being taught about

how they could re-do their activities to achieve the

score that they wanted, how to monitor their

performance, and how to complete the class

discussion forum.

3. The students learnt English through English4IT

E-Learning Platform and completed their 20 units

from the 1

to 30

of April 2019. The teacher and

the students agreed that the due date to complete

the 20 units was 30

of April 2019. However,

students might be able to complete their units and

obtained their certificate of completion before the

due date. After the due date came, the teacher had

checked the class activity and students’

performance and evaluated whether all 25

students have completed their units and succeeded

in gaining their own certificates or not.

Figure 2: English4IT Certificate

4. After the teacher has made sure that all 25

students have completed their minimum unit

practices (which is required to be 20 units and

gained at least score of 85 from the total 100), the

teacher re-checked the students’ performance by

conducting the paper-based final test (without

using English4IT Website) on the 3rd of May

2019 by using the materials that have been

provided on English4IT Website.

5. After the final test had ended and the English

teacher had checked the tests, the results showed

that 23 students achieved score more than 85

where four students even achieved the total score

of 100, and there were only two students who

scored below 85 where they scored 72 and 76

respectively.

Figure 3: Students’ Final Test Score

Students’ final test score already showed that

students have truly understood the materials even

without using the online tools that can re-do the

activities in order to gain a better score. It also means

the utilization of English4IT Website gave beneficial

impact in making students understand the English

materials better. Thus, after students’ understanding,

performance, and test score were carefully checked

and evaluated, the researchers researched by using

students’ perceptions as the primary data to research

more in-depth about the utilization of English4IT in

improving students’ English competence.

4.2 Computer Majored Students’

Satisfaction Level of using

English4IT Website

The first research question is focused on finding

Computer majored students’ satisfaction level of

using English4IT Website as their E-Learning

Platform in learning English. The questionnaire had

been filled in by the students to evaluate their

satisfaction level of using English4IT is showed

below:

Table 2: Students’ Satisfaction Level of Using English4IT.

Strongly Agree



I am satisfied using

English4IT Website

as a medium to learn

English

ree



eutral



Disa

ree



Strongly Disagree



By referring to the data in Table 3, we found that

the MEAN Score fell in point 3.84. By referring to the

Likert Scale, 3.84 is categorized as high (3.50 - 4.49

= high) where it can be interpreted as agreement. In

other words, students have a positive attitude towards

The Utilization of English4IT Website in Improving Computer Major Students’ English Competence

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the utilization of English4IT Website in learning

English. This result showed that Computer majored

students’ satisfaction level of using English4IT

Website is high, and they are satisfied with

English4IT Website as the medium to help them in

learning English effectively and efficiently.

Table 3: MEAN Score of Students’ Satisfaction Level

MEAN SD

Satisfaction Level of

lish4IT Utilization

25 3.84 .541

English4IT Website has provided E-Learning

Platform which is categorized unique and suitable for

students who learn Computer science, Information

Technology, and Information System like what has

been mentioned by one of the respondents which had

been labelled as R1.

“Thank you to Mrs D, who has introduced

English4IT to us. My previous English teacher

only focused on teaching grammar, and he

even kept using traditional teaching method,

which is textbook. I always enjoy spending

time in learning English by using English4IT

because it is suitable for Computer majored

students like us, and I even get many new and

useful vocabularies related to IT. Sometimes,

while learning English, I even could find some

materials which I can use for doing homework

for another subject besides English. For

instance, there is a unit in English4IT named

People in IT. This unit consists of materials

related to IT experts and scientists. At that

moment, I have an assignment from a subject

called Introduction to Information

Technology, and the lecturer asked us to list

the IT experts. I was so excited at the time I

arrived at People in the IT unit on English4IT

Website. I was able to complete the

assignments of two subjects once. I am

delighted with English4IT. Learning English

has never been this enjoyable before. I even

hope the units are not only 25 units but can

also be extended into 100 units!” (R1).

It can be derived from R1’s statement that as one of

25 students who used English4IT as a medium for

learning English, he was satisfied and even pleased

using English4IT as his learning platform in learning

English. R1 mentioned that since English4IT gave

English materials which are related to Information

Technology, he was even able to complete his

assignment from another subject which was

coincidently had the same topic with one of

English4IT’s units. In addition, another respondent

which is labelled as R2, added another reason of why

he was satisfied with the utilization of English4IT

Website.

“English4IT gives English training that we can

re-do anytime as we like. This website helps

us as students to memorize the vocabularies

better. Besides providing a lesson in written

materials, English4IT also provides the MP3

file (audio file) that I can use to learn the

pronunciation. Although I practised the

English pronunciation alone at home without

your help (the English teacher), I can

pronounce the words well because of the MP3

file that English4IT provided. These things are

the main reasons of why I am satisfied with

English4IT” (R2).

Based on R2’s statement, the reason of why he was

satisfied with English4IT Website is because its re-do

activities and its audio files availability that made him

able to study autonomously. This findings is kind of

good news for teachers because it also proves that

English4IT has succeeded to make the students being

independent but still keep being productive in

improving their English competence. After all, based

on the Likert Scale calculation which is analyzed by

interpreting the MEAN score and the students’

interview report, it is found that Computer majored

students at STMIK Multicom Bolaang-Mongondow

agree that they are satisfied with the utilization of

English4IT Website as their E-Learning Platform.

4.3 The Utilization of English4IT

Website in Improving English

Competence

After knowing that the 25 students who have utilized

the Enlish4IT Website as their E-Learning Platform

in learning English are satisfied with English4IT, the

researchers intended to find out about how (in what

ways) English4IT has improved the students’ English

competence.

Table 4: English4IT in Improving English Competence

No Statement Numbers

students

who said

“YES.”

Numbers

students

who said

“NO.”

English4IT helps me to

know new English

vocabularies which are

related to Computer and

Technolo

25 0

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English4IT helps me

to memorize new

English vocabularies

because its website

provides written and

audio materials of the

vocabularies list.

25 0

English4IT helps me

to pronounce new

English vocabularies

through its audio files

that have been

provided on the

website.

24 1

English4IT helps me

to learn English by

providing exciting

materials that have a

correlation with my

major.

25 0

English4IT ignites my

interest and

motivation to learn

English because the

materials that this site

provides are always

related to Computer

and Technology,

which are my major.

25 0

English4IT provides

units which are well-

sequenced from the

lower to a higher level

of difficulty, and this

makes the learning

path more comfortable

to follow.

22 3

The Re-do activity,

which is provided by

English4IT helps me

to improve my

listening skill.

25 0

The Re-do activity,

which is provided by

English4IT helps me

to improve my reading

skill.

24 1

The Re-do activity,

which is provided by

English4IT helps me

to enrich my

vocabular

lists.

25 0

The Re-do activity

which is provided by

English4IT helps me

to understand the

English spelling,

grammatical

arrangement and the

lish tenses.

21 4

Based on the finding that has been shown in Table

4, most of the students have positive attitudes towards

English4IT Website. It is reported that students

perceived English4IT as the site that help them to

enrich their vocabularies. Statement No. 1 to 3 were

specifically designed to ask vocabulary enrichment.

The Table showed that all 25 students said “YES” for

Statement No. 1 to 2, and there was only one student

who said “NO” for Statement No. 3. When the

students said “YES”, it means they agreed with the

statement. When the students said “NO”, it means

they disagreed with the statement. The finding mainly

showed that English4IT already helped the students

to know new English vocabularies related to their

major, helped them to memorize new Vocabularies

by using the written and audio materials and helped

them learnt to pronounce the proper English words

through its audio files. Next, Statement No. 4 and 5

were specifically designed to ask the effectiveness of

English4IT as E-Learning Platform, which provides

English learning materials that have a correlation with

Computer and Technology. It is reported that all 25

students agreed that learning English by using

English4IT Website was exciting and enjoyable

because the materials are related to their major. They

agreed that the materials which are related to their

major had boosted their interest and motivation to

learn English. Statement No. 6 was specifically

designed to check whether or not English4IT’s

technique in arranging the level of difficulty from

lower to higher level in every unit could make the

learning process easier to follow. The finding showed

that 22 students agreed with Statement No. 6, and

there were only three students who disagreed. It

means English4IT’s technique in arranging the level

of difficulty was considered useful for the majority of

the students.

In addition, Statement No. 7 to 10 were

specifically designed to check whether the Redo

Activities that English4IT provides on its site is

considered helpful for the students in improving their

English competence or not. For Statement No. 7, it is

reported that all of 25 students agreed that the Re-Do

Activities helped them to improve their listening

skills. Since students were once unfamiliar with the

English words that they heard through English4IT,

they then became familiar with the English word and

its pronunciation through the audio files that the site

provided. The Re-Do Activity that could be done on

the website might help them to listen to each word of

the vocabulary lists and what had been given in

reading materials. Since the students kept listening to

the right pronunciation through the audio files, their

listening skill had been honed and improved. For

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Statement No. 8, it is reported that 24 students agreed

that English4IT helped them to improve their reading

skill while there was only one student who disagreed

with this statement. It means English4IT Website was

useful for students in improving their reading skill.

For Statement No. 9, it is reported that all 25 students

agreed that English4IT Website helped them to enrich

their vocabularies. It means students were able to

know and memorize new vocabularies after using

English4IT E-Learning Platform. For Statement No.

10, it is reported that 21 students agreed that

English4IT Website helped them to understand

English spelling, grammar, and tenses. The rest four

students disagreed with this statement. However,

since the majority of the students agreed with

Statement No. 10, it is concluded that English4IT

helped students in understanding the English spelling,

grammar, and tenses. The students might understand

the English spelling, grammar, and tenses through the

practice section of every unit and the learning

materials that have been provided on English4IT

Website.

In order to strengthen the finding that has gotten

from the questionnaires which consisted of

statements that the researchers designed, the

researchers conducted an interview which let students

give their own perceptions about how English4IT

Website helped them to improve their English

competence. One of the students who has been

labelled as R5 gave her statement as clarified below:

“I am bad at listening and speaking! It is hard

for me to remember the English

pronunciation, which is spoken by the natives

or even the non-natives. Oh Ma’am… to be

honest, I want to talk to the foreigners and

make friends with them. Sometimes, I chat

with my foreign friends via Facebook, but

when they invited me to do Video Call by

using Skype or Zoom In Application, I always

decline it because I am afraid I cannot talk to

them well. After all, I have bad listening and

speaking skill. I realize that listening and

speaking activities are not as easy as writing

or reading. However, after I used English4IT

Website and keep doing listening practice and

also did the speaking activities by recording

my own voice, I slowly regain self-confidence

to try to speak, and even my listening ability

has become better. English4IT gives me

appropriate learning platform to train my

listening and speaking skills” (R5).

Based on R5’s statement, we found that she has

the willingness to interact with a foreigner, but she

once thought that she did not have sufficient listening

and speaking skill. R5 did not have any doubt for her

writing and reading ability but doubted her listening

and speaking ability so hard. The utilization of

English4IT Website as her learning medium has

helped them to practice her listening and speaking

skill and caused her to be more confident in listening

and speaking. There was also a student who perceived

English4IT as the most suitable medium to learn to

spell. The student or so-called respondent has been

labelled as R8.

“In every unit, we were given some activities

such as multiple-choice, listening test, writing

task, reading comprehension, speaking

activity, and that is an activity which is called

spelling and recognition. I personally think

that the spelling and recognition section

trained me more about how to memorize

vocabularies and definitions faster. I just

realized this method suits me well lately”

(R8).

R8 reported that he found activity in English4IT,

which is called spelling and recognition section has

helped him to memorize vocabularies and definition

faster. Spelling and recognition section is one of the

unit’s activities that requires the student to type a

complete word from the first letter, which is given by

the operator. Each word is a vocabulary related to IT

which has provided by English4IT. Students will be

able to guess the word by reading the definition,

which is also provided by the operator. In addition,

besides providing features that can help students

improve their listening, speaking, and spelling, one of

the respondents which have been labelled as R9

testified that English4IT does not only teach students

the right pronunciation but also the perfect intonation.

“In every unit, we do a reading activity which

is also supported by the MP3 file (audio file).

The reading materials are varied in each unit.

There are general texts, biography, story, and

even conversation. Interestingly, I found that

every type of reading also served different

intonation. Eh.. For example… eh.. Do you

remember ma’am the unit about Server

Problem…? Oh right!! It was about solving a

customer’s server problem. I remember

clearly that it was a conversation about an

account manager and one of his customer…

the conversation was quite funny, and they

even used slangs in their conversation. I learnt

a lot from this unit, and I realized that

English4IT gives me more knowledge about

English slangs and the right intonation that we

can use when we talk to each other” (R9).

ICVHE 2019 - The International Conference of Vocational Higher Education (ICVHE) “Empowering Human Capital Towards Sustainable

4.0 Industry”

230

After reviewing R9’s statement, we found that

English4IT has provided many different styles of

reading materials which are also supported by the

audio files and this caused students to be able to

distinguish each type of reading and interestingly

helped them to know the correct intonation that they

can use in their conversation.

5 CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

This research found that the Computer majored

students’ satisfaction level of using English4IT

Website in learning English is considered high, and it

proved that the students agree that they are satisfied

with English4IT Website. It is also concluded that

English4IT Website that provides E-Learning

Platform in learning English gives benefits to

Computer majored students in their process of

learning English in many ways. English4IT has been

proved to enrich students’ English vocabularies, train

them to pronounce and spell each English word

correctly, improve their listening, reading, writing,

and speaking ability, and also teach them to use

perfect intonation when they speak in English. These

findings suggest that English4IT website as a part of

technology in 4.0 Industry is more than capable of

being used as a medium to develop students’ human

capital since English4IT Website has helped the

respondents of this research in improving their

English competence in more enjoyable ways.

English4IT Website has been considered as E-

Learning Platform for Computer majored students or

any student or worker who involve in the area of IT,

technology, or engineering to learn English

effectively and efficiently.

5.2 Recommendation

This research only involved 25 students as the

respondents due to English4IT’s rule and obligation,

which only allowed 25 students as the maximum

numbers to be enrolled in one teacher’s classroom.

There were only 25 students who can participate in

one class without any financial charge. The

researchers expect the future researchers to find a

possible way to gain more respondents to test the

effectiveness of English4IT Website in improving

Computer majored students’ English competence.

The researchers also recommend future researchers to

evaluate whether English4IT Website might have

lacked in its unit’s activity or not.

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