English Education Journal
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Improving English speaking ability using the Team-Games-Tournament technique
Get PDFThis study aimed to study the application of the Team-Games-Tournament Technique for teaching speaking to Grade X students at SMAN 1 Suka Makmur, Aceh Besar. The research method used in this study was Classroom Action Research which is to improve the quality of the teaching performance and the learning processes of the students as well as to detect and solve problems found in the teaching-learning process. Two cycles were conducted for this research. The subjects of this study were the 24 students. These students were first given a pre-test and then a post-test at the end of each cycle. The pre-test and the post-tests were administered by asking the students to describe a picture. The data was processed manually. From the results obtained, only 12% (3 students) passed the KKM in the pre-test and 88% (21 students) did not pass. The passing percentage increased to 54% (13 students) after the 1st cycle whilst 46% (11 students) still did not pass the KKM. After the last cycle, the percentage that passed the KKM increased to 96% (23 students) and only 4% (1 student) did not pass. Thus the implementation of the TGT technique over two cycles was deemed highly successful, not only the Grade X students improved their speaking ability but also the teacher improved her ability to teach speaking English. Accordingly this study recommends that other teachers of speaking English EFL should also try using the TGT technique
Factors affecting maritime students achievements in maritime English
Get PDFThis study investigated and described factors affecting the achievements of maritime students in learning English and was concerned with four factors that are believed to be closely related to learning English. They are family background, orientation, beliefs and learning experiences. The qualitative descriptive method was used for doing this study. The subject of this study was two nautical classes in the fourth semester in 2014/15 at the Malahayati Merchant Marine College at Durung, Aceh Besar District, on the north coast of Aceh about 22 km, east of Banda Aceh. The instrument used for collecting the data was a questionnaire with 17 items, comprising both open ended and closed questions. In addition, interviews were conducted to clarify the data from the questionnaire. The data from the questionnaire were coded, grouped, classified and concluded. The achievements of the students in learning ESL were affected by four factors, viz: (i) family background, which covered the students origins and their parents level of education, (ii) beliefs, (iii) orientation, and (iv) learning experiences. Of these four factors, belief was the most important one
Building vocabulary using the teaching proficiency through reading and storytelling method
Get PDFThe aim of this research study was to find out how to use the TPRS method for teaching vocabulary to elementary students, whether it would be more effective than other methods to enhance the students vocabulary, and what would be the responses of the students to its implementation. A classroom action research study was carried out in three cycles. The subject of this research was a class of 27 fifth grade students. The data were obtained by using tests, observation sheets and a questionnaire. The test results were analyzed using statistics while the results from the observations and the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive explanations. The results showed that the teachers performance in implementing the activities using the TPRS method improved from cycle 1 to cycle 3, while the students scores increased about 17% over each cycle. Thus the TPRS method was effective to enlarge the students vocabulary and the data from the questionnaires showed that the students responded well to the use of the TPRS. Overall it could be seen that the use of the TPRS method was effective for teaching-learning English especially vocabulary
Perceptions about performance assessments
Get PDFThis research was aimed at finding out how Performance Assessments were implemented in English speaking classes and what difficulties were faced by the teachers in doing them. The sample for this research was all the English teachers at SMAN 3 Banda Aceh. The research design for this study included observations of actions in the classroom during the learning process and also interviews with the teachers outside of the classroom. The instruments used to collect data were an interview guide and the observation sheets. The researcher interviewed the teachers about their perceptions towards the implementation of Performance Assessments and what difficulties they faced in doing them. Observations were made in the four English classes of the tenth and eleventh grades and one interview meeting was held with each teacher. In addition, the researcher recorded and took pictures of the teaching-learning processes in the classroom, and also collected the lesson plans to get more detailed information about the learning materials and assessments. Based on the research results, all of the English teachers at SMAN 3 Banda Aceh, as the sample for the study, were not familiar with the term Performance Assessments, but they recognized the characteristics of Project Assessment or Practical Assessment which they already applied occasionally. They also recognized that Performance Assessments could provide them with a more enthusiastic atmosphere for learning. Even so, such assessments were not favoured by the teachers due to their complexity and the many aspects of scoring required for one form of learning
Improving students grammar using dictogloss
Get PDFThis Classroom Action Research (CAR) study was intended to describe how the Dictogloss technique was implemented and how this technique can improve students grammar through collaborative writing. This paper also describes the students participation and their responses to the use of Dictogloss. This research was conducted in two cycles. Each cycle consisted of three meetings which were used for the planning of the action, implementing the action and observing and reflecting. The sample was the second grade high school students in class XI, IPA 4 at SMAN 1, Ingin Jaya, Aceh Besar. The data for this research consisted of the observation checklists, the tests, a questionnaire and field notes. The results from the research are based on the four objectives; first, the researcher was successful in implementing all the stages of the Dictogloss technique. Second, the students scores in the post-test were higher than in the pre-tests. On the first pre-test the students mean score was 11.2 which became 19.5 in the final post-test. So, there was a significant improvement in the students grammar competence after implementing the Dictogloss technique. Third, the students give good responses to learning grammar using the Dictogloss technique. All of them were engaged and participated actively in all stages of the Dictogloss technique. Moreover, the results from the questionnaire showed that 81% of the students were interested and had a positive attitude towards the use of the Dictogloss tehnique for learning grammar. The results showed the students were interested, motivated and enthusiastic in learning grammar using the Dictogloss technique
Improving reading comprehension through Literature Circles
Get PDFThis research was done to test the effect of using Literature Circles to improve the reading comprehension ability of third grade (year 12) Islamic high school students from MAN Cot Gue, Aceh Besar. The objective of this study was to find out if the use of Literature Circles could improve the students reading comprehension more than the teacher-centered (Reading-Aloud) approach. This study used an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG) each with 20 students. The EG was taught using Literature Circles, while the CG was taught using the teacher-centered (reading aloud) approach. The data for this research were collected by means of a pre-test and a post-test. The tests given used multiple choice questions to find out the students understanding of the reading narrative text used for the test. The collected data were then analyzed by using the t-test formula. The research findings showed that the mean of the post test of the EG was 58, while that of the CG was 41. The result from the t-test was 4.69 while the t-table at a level of significance with = 0.05 was 1.697, which means that the students who were taught using Literature Circles did significantly better in reading comprehension than those who were not. In conclusion Literature Circles can be a better ways for teaching English reading comprehension for third grade (year 12) senior high school ESL students
Speaking anxiety as a factor in studying EFL
Get PDFThis qualitative study was designed to investigate the speaking anxiety factors in EFL classes. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) questionnaire adapted and modified from Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986), and Yahya (2013) was used in collecting the data. Sixty five second grade, year 11 senior high students from SMA Negeri 5 Banda Aceh were asked to fill in the questionnaire to find out what factors lead to speaking anxiety among these EFL students. The findings indicated that communication apprehension factors lead to 71% of students speaking anxiety followed by fear of negative evaluations, 53%; then test anxiety, 48%, and the lowest was 39% for anxiety about English classes. English teachers are expected to be able to understand the character of each of their students in the classroom, because the anxiety level for each student can be different, one from the other
The use of Small Group Work techniques for improving reading comprehension
Get PDFThe aims of this research were to find out (1) whether there was a significant difference in students reading comprehension abilities in terms of main idea, vocabulary, detailed information, and inferences for students who were taught using the Small Group Work (SGW) technique compared to those taught through a standard technique. And (2) to find out if the use of the SGW technique motivated students studying reading comprehension to read more compared to other students. The sample for this research was class VIII(1) and VIII(2) from the second year at SMPN 1 Baitussalam in Aceh Besar in the academic year 2014/2015. This research used true experimental design. The result of this study using the SGW technique showed that there was no significant difference in the students reading comprehension in terms of the main idea. The use of the SGW technique did not motivate and did not encourage the experimental group students to develop their reading comprehension abilities
