FOSTERING STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE THROUGH

HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

ARTICLE

This assignment is to fulfil the requirement for Foundation of ELT and Instruction
taught by Dr. Ekaning Dewanti Laksmi, M. Pd., M. A.

By
ZULKHOIR SIREGAR
190221768842

UNIVERSITAS NEGERI MALANG

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION OF GRADUATE PROGRAM
2019
 FOSTERING STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE THROUGH
HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
Zulkhoir Siregar
dzulkhoir19@gmail.com
English Department
Faculty of Letters
Universitas Negeri Malang

Introduction
Real phenomenon in our educational institution, teachers mostly make students as
human beings that are isolated from their own reality. Teachers usually teach them to be
someone else, instead of being of what they want to be. As result, education does not
fully accommodate and develop the potential of the students. The teachers do not give
students chances to express their feelings and opinions.
However, according to Islamic perception, students are human beings born in
state of holy (fitrah). It indicates that they have the potential in the form of specific parts
such as intelligence, mental, and soul. These potentials then are aimed to develop human
capabilities.
In line with Abraham Moslow’s opinion through his humanistic psychology
theory (2001:30), emphasized the search for a philosophical and scientific understanding
of human existence that bring people the highest reaches of human achievement and
potential.
Educational institution then needs to be concerned with topics that are meaningful to
human beings, focusing especially upon subjective experience and the unique,
unpredictable events in individual human lives. It should accommodate students to be
fully human beings.

Humanistic Psychology
As teachers, we do not have full of authority to choose our students. They choose
teachers and the school as the part of their life. They come to us as what they are, and
originally live with different background of family. Some of them are coming from happy

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 family in which they have been treated softly and gently. The rests are coming from
unstable circumstance as they have many untold painful stories to tell.
The phenomena above determine from what corner we should start and bring the
class. We should be able to bring the context that they have history with, make them as if
they are being involved in the topics in order to make them fully participate during the
teaching and learning process.
To overcome these educational problems, Abraham Moslow introduced and
presented his concepts into hierarchy. He stated that people’s needs tend to be obtained
by degrees. The hierarchy is presented as follows:

Self-
Act
uali
zati
on

Self-esteem

Love and belonging

Safety and security

Phsyiological needs

Graphic 1. Abraham Moslow’s Hierarchy

Physiological needs refer to the needs that are usually taken as the starting point for
motivation. People or learners need the physiological needs as their basic needs, for instance,
food, water, breathing, house, clothing, and so on. Maslow also included sexual reproduction in
this level of the hierarchy of needs since it is essential to the survival and propagation of the
creatures.
The second stage of the people’s needs is safety and security. Security means being out of
danger. If the physiological needs are fully well gratified, there then emerges a new set of needs,

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which we may categorized as the safety needs, such as security, stability, dependency,
protection, freedom from fear, from anxiety and chaos (Abraham, 1979:39). It also includes
financial security, health and wellness, safety against accidents and injury, finding a job,
obtaining health insurance and health care, contributing money to a savings account, and moving
into a safer neighborhood and many more. These two needs are usually categorized as basic
needs.
The next needs are love and belonging. Society or even learners in our environment
seems like they focus on this stage. This part includes such things as love, acceptance, and
belonging. At this level, people’s need goes with their action. Some of the things that support
this need include friendships, family, social groups, community groups, and religious
organizations. Learners need to be loved and accepted by other people, it aimed to avoid
problems such as depression and anxiety. Good relationships with friends and family play an
important role, religious groups, sports teams, book clubs, and other group activities as well.

The fourth level of needs is self-esteem. We cannot deny that everyone in our society
have a need or desire to be respected by others. It can be due to strength, achievement, adequacy,
mastery and competence. It is also may needed because of reputation, prestige, status, fame and
glory, dominance, recognition, attention, importance, dignity or appreciation. This satisfaction
later will lead the learners to feelings of self-confidence, worth, strength, capability, and
adequacy, of being useful and necessary in the world. It will make them as if they are
contributing to the world.
The last level is the very peak of hierarchy, self-actualization needs. It refers to the need
of people to achieve their full potential as human beings. Self-actualization is also defined as
being self-aware and concerned with their own personal growth, are not busy with people’s
opinions. What they want to be, they can be. That makes these needs will be different from
person to person. An artist loves painting, a musician likes playing music, and a poet loves
writing. These problems do not matter as long they can achieve or get what they want.

Humanistic psychology usage to foster students’ performance

As what is defined above, humanistic psychology emphasizes on students’ freedom,
choice, awareness, and personal responsibility. Learners are given a trust that they are
individuals having their own certain choices, motivations, feelings, needs, achievement, and

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responsibilities. Students can feel relaxed and comfortable during the teaching process. They
can express their feelings without hesitation or negative judgement. We can imagine what a
successful performance they will achieve if all teachers know and apply humanistic psychology
in teaching learning process.
Being teacher is not merely about teaching and transferring knowledge. Professional
teachers have to know their students’ condition physically and psychologically. They should
recognize their students’ needs. The target of education cannot be fully achieved if their basic
needs are not fulfilled. Psychological needs are the most important part of their life. For example,
the students cannot study well if they do not eat breakfast in the morning. It seems only a small
problem, but it actually plays important role. It can distract teaching and learning process.
A higher problem could be like this; students do not feel comfortable with one member of
their classmates, or students may have problem with their parents’ treatment in their own house.
Teachers then wonder why those students are not able to perform well in the classroom. Later, if
the teachers do not fully pay attention to these kinds of problems, the teachers must not expect
too high about the best achievement of students’ performance.
Moreover, after physiological, safety, and love needs of students are fulfilled, their need
goes up to the next level, self-esteem need. They should definitely be respected, appreciated and
trusted by teachers, parents, friends and everyone. Otherwise, it becomes a serious problem as
they may have lack of performance.
Briefly, we can predict the upcoming accidents if teachers do not know about
psychological aspects in teaching students, especially humanistic psychology. It indicates that
knowing adequate comprehension of this humanistic psychology is aimed to make students’
confidence and self-actualization come out from them.
In applying humanistic psychology approach, teacher should put themselves as
facilitators or class controllers. Teachers need to trust and respect the students as what they are at
the same time. Teachers then make and bring the classroom with the atmosphere that is full of
curiosity and natural performances. Teacher do not force the students to learn by providing
certain materials, instead, teachers should give chance to students to decide what and how they
want to learn, and let them perform naturally. It is not an easy job. That is why teachers are
urgently suggested to make the agreement with the students in the first meeting. It is aimed so

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that the teaching learning process runs smoothly and prevents unexpected accidents or errors
during the process.
When the teaching and learning process runs smoothly as what we expect, it means that
students’ performance can be categorized as successful performance. Successful performance
then means that the primary goal of the education is already achieved. It truly can enhance
students’ performance or achievement of their actual potential through their self-actualization as
human being.

Conclusion
Humanistic psychology of educational field perceives humans as free independent
students to choose and decide the direction of their own life including learning materials and
styles. Teacher have no authority to force them to study or do something. Humanistic psychology
approach does not mean free of corrections, comments and criticisms. As long those elements
are helpful, developing and enhancing students’ performances, those elements are definitely
accepted.
Humanistic psychology approach is one of the good alternatives to answer the existing
problems in our educational institution. It deals with the primary goal of education itself, creating
creative, innovative, independent, and autonomous learners. Teachers should not limit students’
creation. In other words, teachers should recognize and support students’ brilliant ideas.

References

Bache, Christhoper M. 2008. The Living Classroom: Teaching and Collective Consciousness.
New York. State University of New York Press.

Corr, Philip J. and Gerald Matthews. 2009. The Cambridge Handbook of

Personality Psychology. New York. Cambridge University Press.

Firdaus, Fauzan Akmal. 2017. Humanistic Approach in Education According to Paulo Freire.
Universitas Darussalam Gontor. Unpublished Thesis for Undergraduate Degree

Maslow, Abraham H. 1970. Motivation & Personality. New York. Harper & Row Publishers.

Schneider Kirk J. and J. Fraser Pierson. 2001. The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology:
Leading Edges in Theory, Research, and Practice. London. Sage Publication.

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Soviyah. 2007. Humanistic Approach in Action: EFL Writing Class. TEFLIN Journal,
Volume 18, Number 2.