The depiction of preferred and needed autonomous learning method among Generation Z in Universitas Aisyisyah Yogyakarta

Article history: Reviewed 06 November 2019 Received in revised from 06 November 2019 Accepted 05 December 2019 Available online 31 December 2019 The study aims in investigating the rate of students who have applied autonomous learning behavior, in analyzing how students learn English, how they maximize the use of new technology in learning process, and what students prefer and need in mobile application that can boost their spirit in developing autonomous learning through new technology. Mixed method with total sampling as many as 206 students is applied to analyze the width and depth of topic studied. Questionnaire and structured interview were employed to obtain the studied data. The study found that low rate of developing autonomous learning (less than 30%) was still shown by students, and students had not maximized the use of new technology to boost to learn English as a foreign language. Moreover, the study also reveals that students prefer and need mobile application which owns dictionary-like feature with complete explanation on each word, what the word means and how the word is used. In addition, good visualization also becomes a plus value in a mobile application. © 2019 EnJourMe. All rights reserved.

The study aims in investigating the rate of students who have applied autonomous learning behavior, in analyzing how students learn English, how they maximize the use of new technology in learning process, and what students prefer and need in mobile application that can boost their spirit in developing autonomous learning through new technology. Mixed method with total sampling as many as 206 students is applied to analyze the width and depth of topic studied. Questionnaire and structured interview were employed to obtain the studied data. The study found that low rate of developing autonomous learning (less than 30%) was still shown by students, and students had not maximized the use of new technology to boost to learn English as a foreign language. Moreover, the study also reveals that students prefer and need mobile application which owns dictionary-like feature with complete explanation on each word, what the word means and how the word is used. In addition, good visualization also becomes a plus value in a mobile application.

Introduction
The dynamic of language teaching follows vibrant development of socio-economic condition of the environment. Language teaching cannot be separated from socio-economic background since different socio-economic background owns different way of learning as well. Of course, Generation X has different learning style from Generation Y. Also, Generation Y has dissimilar ways of language acquisition compared to Generation Z. Generation Z as a digital native perceives digital technology as the part of their life because they are digitally literate since they were born. Digital technology has been a significant part of their life. Thus, language teaching should be adjusted to their nature since they have fundamental changes in the way of communicating, socializing, learning, and creating something (Helsper & Eynon, 2010).
Teacher-centered learning no longer becomes a recommendation in the method of class room learning and teaching. Furthermore, during teaching process the absence of students in class participation, no matter how hard the teacher tries to teach, will be useless (Ningsih & Syaief, 2019). However, student-centered learning becomes more popular and suitable to adjust generation differences. Teachers especially those in higher education should be able to adapt the nature that Generation Z which is strongly attached to technology. Cognitive changes of the digital natives have led to a variety of new needs and preferences in the area of learning (Prensky, 2001). Hence, autonomous learning with digital technology as the main device is massively recommended to them.
The data of the Ministry of Communication and Information of Indonesian Republic in 2018 showed that Indonesia located the sixth position after China, America, India, Brazil, and Japan in the term of the internet user number. Also, internet user population in Indonesia reached 132.7 million people, or 50% Indonesian citizens from the total population of 265.4 million people had access to use internet. Easy access of internet in smart phone encouraged a massive growth of internet users. The growth rate becomes a great potential to realize Jokowi's (President of Republic Indonesia) ideals in term of increasing international competitiveness as well as creating character revolution of the nation through realignment of national education curriculum (Sasmita, 2014).
To encourage and scaffold human resources with global knowledge and competitiveness, young generations are urged to master multi abilities; one of them is English as an international language. Most of Indonesians have known and started learning English since they are in primary school until high education level. However, the learning objectives do not seem to be achieved. In fact there are lot devices that can be used by students to learn English independently without depending on the teacher's order. Hence, the researchers are interested in conducting the research on the depiction of autonomous learning in students of Physiotherapy Program of Universitas 'Aisyiyah Yogyakarta because the study can be used as an effort to analyze the percentage of students who have applied autonomous learning in English as a foreign language. The study also analyzes how students learn English nowadays. Moreover, the study can also become a bridge to know the demand of the students regarding to English learning application in android program. By analyzing the percentage of learning autonomy and the way students learn English nowadays, the researcher expects that the findings of the study may be beneficial for the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching and learning as well as to determine further steps to increase students' learning autonomy.
A lot of studies have discussed learning autonomy as the main discussion of the studies. Most of them discuss about teacher's step in developing methods to encourage students to learn autonomously (Espinosa, 2015;Borg & Al-Busadi, 2012;Bajrami, 2015). Teachers become a significant party to start and boost the process of learning autonomy by fostering the students to determine several steps that may trigger and increase their motivation in conducting autonomous learning. Meanwhile, Khotimah, Widiati, Mustofa, & Ubaidillah (2019) conducted study to investigate teachers' and students' perception of autonomous learning. The result revealed that even there was possitive tenets on autonomous learning, teachers and students still have a lack of understanding of the concept of autonomous learning.
However, this study focuses on analyzing how many students have perform autonomous learning. It is important to analyze it because before planning the most appropriate steps to encourage students to develop learning autonomy, the reserachers have to know the readiness of the students to follow the teaching and learning which will involve and encourage student's autonomy. Almost similarly to this study, a need analysis by emphasizing topics and themes which are related to students' needs and interest and compatible with their background, experience, and abilities had previously analyzed (Sultana, 2018). Diferently, this study emphasizes more on students' need analysis in developing learner autonomy by analyzing what kind of programs/platforms that students expect to have in their smart phones. Smart phone becomes an important aspect that will be discussed in the study due to the novelty and the current social condition among Generation Zs.
Based on the background of the study and the description of the previous studies that had been explained, several research questions can be drawn. Those are (1) how many Physiotherapy students have been eager to conduct autonomous learning in EFL classes; (2) how have students maximize the use of technology to learn English so far; and (3) what kind of android programs do students expect to encourage and develop their learning autonomously.

Method
The study applied mixed method study which combined qualitative and quantitative methods at the same time to minimize the gaps that may occur. Mixed method employed data collecting technique in the form of numbers and words. Mixed method study aims at taking benefits and minimizing the lack of each research method in a whole study. The study also provides more comprehensive evidences to analyze the problem of the study rather than using qualitative or quantitative method alone (Creswell, 2009). Descriptive quantitative approach was used as the approach to analyze quantitative data in the form of numbers and diagrams. Meanwhile, phenomenological approach was employed by determining a systematic data and analyzing data into some categories to understand the meaning participants place on the subjects being examined.
Students of Physiotherapy program became the participants of the study. The respondents were those who took English subject in the odd semester of the year of 2019-2020. Total samples as many as 205 respondents were used in the study to analyze more precisely the percentage of students who have developed autonomous learning. In addition, structured interview was also conducted to analyze how students learn English as a foreign language as well as to determine mobile application that the students prefer to use. Students of Physiotherapy were chosen as the respondents of the study since learning materials in physiotherapy program have dominated by English journals and books. Moreover, there are a lot of English terms used as the signatures of physiotherapy matters. By relating the learning materials which mostly consist of English journals and literatures with the understanding of English in general, students are expected to get both beneficial, to master physiotherapy and to master English as an international language as well.
The data were obtained through both asking students to fill questionnaires which consist of several main classifications and to conduct structured interview to obtain a deeper understanding and broader data. Questionnaire was used as the main data source to obtain data in the form of number that would be analyzed quantitatively with the approach of descriptive statistical analysis, and structured interview as the main data source in qualitative analysis was used to know deeper about particular phenomena related to students learning method and their preference of learning English through application in their smart phones.

Result
Based on the research questions that had been stated in the previous chapters, there were three main variables presented in the findings; those were the rate of students who had owned autonomous learning concept, the way students maximize the use of new technology to enhance their autonomous learning, and students' preference related to mobile phone application as a device to promote autonomous learning.
The study involved quantitative data (obtained from questionnaires) and qualitative data (obtained from structured-interview). These questionnaires revealed the rate of autonomous learning (and non-autonomous learning) conducted by students and the use of new technology to enhance the usage of English as foreign language. In addition, structured interview obtained data that reveal students' preference related to mobile application as the device to increase learning autonomy.

a. Autonomous Learning
Among 205 respondents who participated in the study, the rate of autonomous learners could be presented in the following table. b. Non Autonomous Learning The researchers also included some questions that can be categorized as nonautonomous learning concept in the questionnaires to analyze students' attitude toward the role of lecturers in the classroom and to determine students' dependence on the lecturers as it is shown in the following table. c. Students preference in learning English In addition, the researchers also analyze deeper how students learn English by using structured-interview to fill the gaps and bias that cannot be represented by the questionnaire. Majority students have used new technology media as their means to learn English. Most of them stated that watching video from YouTube, listening to English music, and watching movies with English subtitle have been done to increase their English capacity, as it is stated by one of the students: "So far, I try to increase me English by listening English music, watching foreign movies wing English subtitle, and watching English videos in YouTube channel (Student 30)". Some of them have a unique method in learning English by watching Korean drama with English subtitle. For them, the subtitle in Korean drama can be more easily understood than that in Hollywood movies. Those who like to watch K-Pop also like to watch some K-Pop programs with English subtitle although their idols speak Korean. They said that they can both watch their idols and learn English at the same time.
Reading English materials also become students' way in learning their English; "I study English by reading some articles. If I get some difficulties, I will check the meanings in the dictionary in my mobile application. I think, by learning a lot of vocabularies, I will be able to speak English better (Student 72)". Students also prefer to make some notes in the book especially when they learn about grammar. "I like to write grammar materials in the book. Usually I will understand it when the lecturers explain it in front of the classroom (Student 105)". However, some students admitted that they find it difficult to learn English individually and only study English in the classroom when they have English as a scheduled subject. "I only study English when I have English class because personally I don't like English and I don't have time to study English (Student 65)".
In general, based on the answer by students about how they learn English, most of the students have used new technology as their means to learn English by watching some English movies, by watching some videos from YouTube channel, by listening to English songs, and by reading some English articles online. However, some of them still lean heavily on teachers' role in the classroom without doing more effort in learning English.

The Use of New Technology in Developing Autonomous Learning
The use of new technology in developing autonomous learning among students at Physiotherapy program in Universitas Aisyiyah Yogyakarta can be seen in the following table.

Mobile Phone Application that Students Prefer and Need in Learning English
Students had some considerations when they use new technology to support their learning process of English as a foreign language. Based on structured interview given to them, there were two significant aspects that students concern in determining new technology as in encouraging their learning method.

a. Technical consideration
Most of the students stated that mobile phone application can be a great mean to learn English when the application can be easily accessed and does not require big quota to operate it. Student 23 stated that the application that she wants is the one which is easily accessed wherever she is. Moreover, student 50 also admitted that other than the content that can be easily used, she wants that the mobile phone application can be used smoothly without buffering and fast. One of important consideration that students mentioned was that mobile phone application should not be paid and free form them because some good mobile applications are not free, and students have to pay in order to be able to access the content (Student 203).

b. Content consideration
Word-by-word explanation still becomes the most favorite application that students expect. Students still want to access mobile application which consisted of thematic dictionary with clear explanation for each word. Student 80 stated: "I want a program that can help me in learning English. In the program there is complete materials altogether with the examples. There is also dictionary or translation from the material. Then, there should be some questions both in the form of multiple choices and in the form of essay, and final score should be included. Hence, I am able to know my understanding, and I will increase it day by day." In addition, good visualization also becomes the consideration to install some mobile applications. Student 130 wants a mobile application which contains great visualization because by having good visualization, he will feel more comfortable to learn, and he can access the application for a long time without feeling bored. Visualization also becomes a significant aspect to install mobile phone application because it may help students to understand the material better (Student 78). Visualization can be used in the form of animation (Student 59) and in the form of videos (Student 67, 150, and 201). Hence, three students are willing to install a mobile application which can record students' speaking, analyze the utterance grammatically, and make some corrections because they can learn from their mistake and make some correction from it (Student 42, 161, and 187).

Discussion
Three main objectives of the study have been achieved by conducting the study related to learning autonomy. The rate of students who developed learning autonomy, the rate of students who have used new technology to generate their learning autonomy, and mobile phone application that students prefer and need in increasing their autonomous learning become the main focus of the study due to their importance in determining further steps to apply autonomous learning strategy to students.

a. Autonomous learning
In general, the result of the survey shows that autonomous learning behavior in students of Physiotherapy program at Universitas Aisyiyah Yogyakarta is still low. It shows by the rate of students who answer always correct option was less than 30%. The highest rate (26.7%) in autonomous behavior is shown by students' behavior to listen carefully on English conversation both directly and indirectly by watching TV. Similarly, students also had positive vibe when they use cassette/videos to learn English outside the classroom and to have activity when they can learn with their own way. In the same rate, students presented positive work in keeping learning English in the future without the help from the lecturers.
The first thing to own by students achieve autonomous learning is learning goal that helps students to determine what to learn and how to learn it (Nunan, 2013). Goal can be determined periodically such as in one semester or in one year. Based on the data presented in table 1, only 6.3% students have been sure to the goals that they have determine every semester. Most of them answered that they rarely had learning goal (52.9%). However, in the point whether they keep learning English in the future by learning English individually, the rate increased to become 26.7%, and 40.8% of the students stated positive answer by choosing often correct answer.
The notion of autonomous learning behavior was still low in the term of trying new things when they learn English by showing only 19.4% who had strong behavior and 42.7% who had often correct as their answer. Students also find it difficult to determine the best way to learn English; 56.8% students were not sure the best way to learn English; only 12.1% showed very positive attitude in learning English, and 31% among them chose to answer often correct option.
The most difficult learning material for the students is grammar. 22.3% students admitted that they cannot understand grammar without the help from the lecturers, and only 4.4% of them were sure that they can learn grammar independently. However, students showed more autonomous learning behavior when they study vocabularies by using dictionary (61.2%). Students also preferred to watch videos or movies to increase their vocabulary capacity outside the classroom by 59.7%.

b. Non-autonomous learning
Questions with non-autonomous learning behavior as presented in table 2 shows that students still had high dependency on their lecturers. 35.4% students admitted that they can understand more when the lecturers explain something on the board by answering always correct, and 42.2% among them answer with often correct option. It showed that explanation by lecturers brought great impact to students' understanding in English learning. High rate of students with always correct answer (34%) and with often correct answer (45%) was also presented in the table in the notion that students expect the lecturers to give them vocabulary list to learn. Hence, the rate on non-autonomous learning behavior showed by students of Physiotherapy in Universitas Aisyiyah Yogyakarta was still high.

The Use of New Technology in Developing Autonomous Learning
Although new technology offers a lot of interesting activities for students to learn English independently, there are only 26.7% students had mobile application in their cell phone, and 19.4% of the students never use mobile application to learn English. The data show surprising result because the result is contradictive with the theory mentioning that the use of technology to learn English has encouraged the development of learner autonomy which includes aspects of learning motivation, metacognitive awareness, self-confidence, and social skill (Warni , Aziz, & Febriawan , 2018). Most of the respondents can be considered as Generation Z because mostly they were born from 1995 to 2000. They should have been familiar with the use of technology as a significant device to enhance their language learning method. On the other hand, 42.2% among students stated that they rarely maximize the function of mobile phone to learn English. In addition, 35% among them stated that they still prefer to use manual method (taking some notes in the book) to learn English as a foreign language.

Mobile Phone Application that Students Prefer and Need in Learning English
Based on the response of structured interview to 206 students, it can be known that most of the students are interested in learning English in a fun way. Students prefer to use mobile applications which include some interesting visual effect or videos. Besides, dictionary-like applications also become students' main choice in learning English. However, students expect dictionary-like applications which include explanation in each word, example of the use, and word classification. In addition, technical consideration like easy access of program application and programs that do not require big quota become significant concerns among respondents.

Conclusion and Suggestions
Based on the data analysis above, it can be concluded that respondents who were students at Universitas Aisyiyah Yogyakarta still had low behavior on autonomous learning. Although the rate was not high enough, autonomous learning method that had been applied by students to learn English as a foreign language was mostly difficult meaning of some vocabulary by the help of online translation application or by using dictionary. Besides, watching movies both English movies and foreign movies with English subtitle were also chosen to gain their understanding in English. However, students had not maximized the use of new technology as an interesting media to learn English although the respondents were considered as Generation Z who were born from 1995 to 2000. Most respondents still leaned heavily on the role of the lecturers to guide them choosing the best materials to learn English especially when they have difficulties in learning grammar. According to the response of the students related to mobile application that they prefer and need in learning English, students prefer to have mobile application which contains dictionary-like content with complete explanation on what a word means, how to use it in the sentence, and how to pronounce it. The application will be better if it also contains interesting visualization. Moreover, application which can be easily accessible and does not require big quota is also considered.
The study can be used as a reference in how to develop autonomous behavior among students not only in Universitas Aisyiyah Yogyakarta but also in other places elsewhere. The study implies that lecturers still have significant role in determining the vibes to students to develop autonomous learning behavior since students lean heavily on lecturers in the classroom to determine the materials and activities that students can learn independently. On the other hand, students need more encouragement from the lecturers because although they are Generation Z, they have not maximized the use of new technology in increasing their English capability that has great impact in their future career. In addition, a mobile application which suits to the preference and the needs of the students should be developed further to achieve autonomous learning behavior.