Students' perceptions of the study group program conducted at The SAC by the English Department

The English Department of Widya Mandala Catholic University aims at training its students to be qualified English Teachers of secondary schools. However, the students come from diverse areas, and they have different levels of English proficiency when they first come to study at the department. At the end of the first semester of 2017/2018, it was found out that the achievements of some of them were below expectation. Therefore, the department conducted a clinic program which was named Study Group. It was a new program; hence, it is important to know the effectiveness of it. This study was conducted to find out the students’ perceptions of this program. The subjects were 16 students attending the program and the SAC tutors who handled the program at the SAC. The data were collected through a questionnaire followed by an interview. The writer also interviewed the tutors. The findings shows that the students’ and the tutors’ perceptions were positive toward the program. The result of the analysis shows that students have positive perceptions of the Study Group in general and positive perceptions of the learning process. The findings has proven that 96% of the students chose ‘high’ and ‘very high’ in their responses to the statements about the program in general and 84% chose ‘high’ and ‘very high’ in their responses to the statements concerning the learning process they have experienced in the Study Group. Based on the result it is suggested that the Study Group should be conducted regularly each year