English Review: Journal of English Education
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USING BLOGS IN TEACHING TERTIARY ESL WRITING
Get PDFAnchored on the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge or TPACK Framework (Koehler & Mishra, 2009) and Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition or SAMR Model of Technology Integration into the classroom (Puentedura, 2014), this study investigated a corpus of 58 blog posts written by ESL learners through weblogs. It aimed to determine the views of students on the use of blogs in learning English writing skills and to explore students’ feedback on the advantages of blogging as a virtual writing platform. Research participants were 58 freshman university tourism students enrolled at a Study and Thinking Skills class in a private university in Manila, the Philippines during the first semester of the academic year 2017-2018. Research data drawn from students’ blogs, survey questionnaires and focus group discussion revealed that despite accessibility issues due to technological resources, the learners viewed blogging as a viable platform in learning English writing skills because it affords them freedom to express their thoughts, it develops or improves their writing skills, and it allows them to connect and engage with their peers online, inter alia. Pedagogical implications for ESL writing teachers and researchers are offered based on these results.Keywords: Teaching writing, ESL writing, weblogs, blogging, TPACK, SAM
IMPLEMENTING CONSTRUCTIVISM APPROACH IN ONLINE WRITING COURSE: LEARNERS’ NEED ANALYSIS
Get PDFLearning a new language is inevitably working on activities in relation to the four language skills, namely reading, listening, speaking and writing. Reading and listening are categorized as receptive skills, while speaking and writing are productive skills. Differing from the other skills, in developing writing skills learners do not merely focus on the writing products, but more on its process in which they have to follow certain steps. It is the teacher’s responsibility to guide the students to develop excellence in writing. Universitas Terbuka (UT), as a higher education institution applying distance learning, has provided an online tutorial (tuton) to enhance students’ writing skills. In this study, the writer focuses on students’ skills in writing essays, particularly argumentative essays. Furthermore, constructivism is taken as tutor’s point of view to evaluate the materials as well as the learning process in the tuton of PBIS4313/Writing III Course. This research aimed at analyzing the students’ perceptions about the needs of Writing III Course, regarding both the materials and the learning process, particularly the implementation of the constructivism approach. The descriptive qualitative method was applied in this research. An online survey was carried out to gain some information on the perceptions of the students regarding the learning materials as well as the learning approach needed in this course. From the online survey, it showed that more than 50% students find difficulties in writing. However, they shared their opinions about the needs of the materials appropriate for Writing III Course as the basic information for futher development of the materials. Moreover, this research also resulted in some learning activities to be designed based on the constructivism approach.Key Words: constructivism approach, online tutorial, writing skills, argumentative essa
PRESENT SITUATION ANALYSIS: STUDENTS’ EARLY CHARACTERISTICS IN WRITING FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
Get PDFPresent situation analysis is considered to be the umbrella that embraces students’ lacks in language proficiencies. The aims of this study were to (1) find out current students’ writing competence level; (2) identify students’ entry behaviors and characteristics; (3) identify students’ perception concerning with writing skill for academic purposes at non-English education study programs of STKIP Kusuma Negara Jakarta. The descriptive inquiry was used in identifying students’ present situation. The respondents were non-English education study programs students of STKIP Kusuma Negara Jakarta in the academic year 2016-2017 and English lecturers. Non-English education study programs students of STKIP Kusuma Negara Jakarta had low-level writing competence for academic purposes, in the area of academic styles and genres based on their disciplines. Their previous experience in studying English was different with college requirement. They were not interested in studying writing for an academic purpose due to it was difficult and made them confusing. Most of them never practiced and learned it seriously but they realized the importance of having competence in writing for academic purposes, especially related with the learning process in the university level.Keywords: present situation analysis, writing for academic purposes, descriptive inquiry
NEEDS ANALYSIS FOR ENGLISH GRAMMAR LEARNING MODEL FROM STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES
Get PDFNeed analysis is required to take place before developing a model for learning so that results meet the needs of the students who will use the model. This descriptive study aims at finding out the needs in learning English grammar from students’ perspectives at the EESP of the University of Bengkulu. The data was taken through a questionnaire with 65 questions given to 44 students who took Structure I Course in the 2016-2017 academic year and analyzed quantitatively. The results of this study reveal that the students need a clear goals of learning English grammar, learning approaches that uses the story-based, the deductive, and the inductive approach, a friendly and meaningful learning atmosphere, a learning model that incorporates the uses of stories and current technology for the teaching and learning process and has a complete support system especially the learning materials, and has an attitude, a final assignment and an individual learning process result assessments.Keywords: Needs analysis, model, grammar learnin
CRITERIA USED BY PROFICIENT VS. LESS PROFICIENT EFL TEACHERS IN PRAGMATIC ASSESSMENT: THE CASE OF REQUEST SPEECH ACT
Get PDFAbstract: The issue of EFL teachers’ rating criteria and patterns in Interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) assessment is new and needs rigorous analysis. The purpose of this study was to reveal important variables such as raters’ criteria and rating patterns by analyzing the ILP assessment process of Iranian non-native English speaking raters (NNESRs) of both high and low proficiency levels based on the request speech act. The data for this study was collected through a discourse completion test (DCT) and a rating questionnaire from 40 Iranian EFL teachers and were later analyzed through descriptive analysis-test and chi-squares. The results showed that raters considered 9 criteria, including pragma-linguistic and socio-pragmatic components of language which raters noted differently through eight request situations. The results showed that raters considered nine criteria, including pragma linguistic and socio-pragmatic components of language which were noted differently through eight request situations. Among the considered criteria, the highest frequencies belonged to the criteria of authenticity, query of preparatory and softness, and interlocutors’ relationship used by high proficiency teachers, whereas low proficiency teachers used the highest frequencies of accuracy, style, and directness. The result of the study can have important connotations for teachers to consider teaching L2 pragmatics in language classes and in teacher training courses.Keywords: Interlanguage pragmatics; request; speech act; pragmatic assessment
TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY
Get PDFIn this article we report an ethnographic case study of observing the teaching and learning of English at a school for visually impaired students in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia. Data collection included student and teacher interviews. It also covered class observation and used a social constructivist framework of disability. The study revealed that the students received inadequate modifications of instruction in foreign language learning. However, the students used a variety of resources with the screen reader technology such as Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) and Job Access with Speech (JAWS). These findings suggest that visually impaired students actually can have unique ways of learning foreign language supported by the assistive technology. These abilities should be acknowledged to obtain the perspectives of students who receive disability specific education. Moreover, the study might provide a further facet to the research especially on the importance of learning strategies in special education.Keywords: visual impairment; language education; learning strategy; special education
SELF-ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS BY MANAGEMENT STUDENTS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN INDIAN CONTEXT
Get PDFCommunication skills are most sought after by the business world and are considered to be vital for personal and professional growth. There have been many researches on the importance of communication skills and how they act as catalysts in getting a job or a dream job. Furthermore, employers, institutes and universities also emphasise that an individual apt at communication skills is more likely to get a job in comparison to one who is not. This study is meant to decipher the communication skills of management trainees at the time of joining the institute through a self-appraisal questionnaire. The research design employed was Descriptive Cross-Sectional. 125 students were chosen from five management institutes in Lucknow(India) by employing non-random Convenience Sampling. Findings indicated that there is an overall fear of public speaking,respondents fall short of words while writing in Englishand need to be encouraged to read more English magazines and novels.Conclusively, a curriculum may be designed wherein the faculty, along with inputs of the students can build a framework with a view to maximising public speaking activities, and other activities may focus upon reading and writing. Moreover, peer-feedback is recommended to enhance reflective learning.Keywords:management students, active listening skills, oral communication skills, communication building strategies, public speakin
TEACHING PRACTICUM: INVESTIGATING EFL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY
Get PDFSelf-efficacy is influential in determining someone's future competence. Identifying self-efficacy towards pre-service teachers provides significant information about how competent they are in applying theoretical concepts of teaching in the real school. It also becomes reflection for the institution on the quality of courses related to TEFL carried out in the implemented curriculum. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate pre-service EFL teachers' self-efficacy during the teaching practicum. This is a qualitative study involving 27 EFL teacher candidates who conducted teaching performance in some different schools. To collect the data, online Likert scale questionnaire was disseminated to the informants. The responses were interpreted through percentage and analyzed descriptively. The results indicated that generally the pre-service teachers' self-efficacy in terms of teaching skill, constructing and applying lesson plan, assessment, and classroom management, was quite high although some of them seemed to find difficulties in carrying out some classroom activities with the students. Self-efficacy analysis towards EFL learners’ practicum gives implication to any institutional parties for preparing the better quality and program of future generation teachers.Keywords: competent; teacher candidate; self-efficacy; reflection
NEEDS ANALYSIS IN EFL READING CLASS: A STUDY TO PROMOTE LEARNER AUTONOMY THROUGH SELF-ASSESSMENT
Get PDFTeaching EFL reading to the students at colleges or universities requires an appropriate technique that enables students to enhance their achievement as well as to develop their sense of independent learning. This is also to respond to the current trend of that the focus of ELT today is creating learners who are not only competent but also dependent or autonomous in learning. This study is aimed at exploring the needs of both lecturers and students on EFL reading class. The method used was descriptive-qualitative. It was conducted at the English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Pancasakti University Tegal, from April to June 2018. The participants of this study were 64 students of the fourth semester in the department attending EFL reading class and 4 EFL lecturers. The data were collected using triangulation. The instruments used were a questionnaire, classroom observation, and interview. The results showed that the instruction and assessment were still teacher-centered, the learning materials and the method did not meet the students’ needs, the selection of the materials was not in line with the students’ level of competence, the students were given fewer opportunities to explore and share their ideas with others, etc. The result also showed that both students and lecturers agreed that learning EFL reading through self-assessment could be an alternative learning model or technique to cope with the situations.Keywords: needs analysis; EFL reading; learner autonomy; self-assessment
PROBLEMS HINDERING STUDENT TEACHERS’ ELT MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT: A STUDY IN THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM IN EASTERN INDONESIA
Get PDFIn the sense of running qualified teaching and learning, teacher education institutions place their student teachers at schools to experience real teaching practices through the internship program. This study aims to give a comprehensive portrait of problems the student teachers of English have when they develop ELT materials and how the problems vary according to different areas. The present study applied qualitative method. It utilized survey as data collection technique. Twenty-five student teachers are recruited as participants. Having conducted the survey, the results showed that most student teachers have several problems in developing ELT materials during internship program. The biggest problem lies on developing material for practicing grammar elements (2.98 level of difficulty). The participants simply felt it easy to develop material for grading and recycling, and supporting materials with ranging from 3.22 and 3.10 level of difficulty. The following problem lies on how the material promotes the development of language skills and communicative abilities. Overall, the present study indicates that the student teachers are still lacking of grounded concepts on what and how to develop ELT materials that fit to students’ needs. Keywords: English language teaching; materials development; internship program; students-teachers’ problems; survey