English Education Journal
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Using a dialogue journal to develop writing skills
Get PDFThis study investigates a number of scholars opinions regarding the use of dialogue journals for improving the writing skills of young learners. Their views were compiled based on their research findings concerning the use of dialogue journals. This study aims to describe the implementation of dialogue journals in developing the writing skills of young learners. Since this study was conducted in the form of library research, various written resources such as relevant journal articles, textbooks and online documents, as well as reports from previous related research were analyzed to meet the aims of this study. The study mainly used 4 sources of research namely Remiasova (2009), Datzman (2011), Valigurova (2010), Haynes-Mays, Peltier-Glaze, and Broussard (2011). The results show that the use of dialogue journals has improved the writing skills of young learners especially in terms of vocabulary and grammar
THE USE OF CARTOON FILMS AS AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY
Get PDFThe aims of this research are to study the use of cartoon films as an instructional media for teaching vocabulary to fifth grade students in an elementary school in Banda Aceh and to find out the responses of the students towards the use of this media. Two classes were taken as the sample, one as the control group (CG) and another as the experimental group (EG). Each group had 32 students. Data were collected through quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative data were the scores from the pre-tests and the post-tests of the students. The qualitative data were the questionnaire results used to identify the responses of the EG students to the use of cartoon films as an audio-visual aid in teaching vocabulary. The results from the quantitative data show that the mean of post-test scores of the EG is 94 whilst the mean of post-test scores of the CG is only 66. A comparison of the t-test score and the t-table score shows that the result of t-test is 2.35 whilst the result of t-table at a level of significance with =0.05 and 95% probability is 1.67. This means that the score of t-testt-table, hence it could be concluded that the students who were taught by using cartoon films as an audio-visual aid got a better result than those who were taught by using other traditional visual aids. Furthermore, the responses from the students to the use of the cartoon film were highly positive. The use of cartoon films as an audio-visual media aid also resulted in a positive impact to the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects of the students as it enhanced their vocabulary
Assessing Unity, Coherence and Word Usage in Students Writing
Get PDFThis research was done to find out whether unity, coherence, and word usage were used appropriately by students in writing paragraphs in English, the error made most by these students in constructing their paragraphs and the lecturers insight in her students writing errors. This study uses a qualitative research format, where all the data are described in a systematic way based on the research questions. A number of 21 second year students from the English Department in a university in Banda Aceh were the sample of this research. To obtain the data, the writer used a test. She also interviewed the lecturer to gain more understanding on her students writing errors. The findings showed that some students did not use unity, coherence, and word usage appropriately in writing their paragraphs. Most errors were made in word usage (137 errors or 79%). Students made errors in spelling and also omitted words and letters. There were 30 errors of unity (17%) and 9 errors of coherence (5%). It was found that many errors they made were influenced by their mother tongue, and were also caused by their difficulties in learning English. Thus, it can be concluded that many of the students made errors because of interlingual and intralingual transfers. Furthermore, the lecturer believed that her students made errors because they lacked enthusiasm, motivation and rarely did their writing exercises. For that reason, lecturers should know and understand the errors in their students writing so that they can provide appropriate remedies to resolve the problems faced by their learners
Interference of First Language in Pronunciation of English Segmental Sounds
Get PDFThis research was aimed at investigating the interference that occurs in the speaking of English by EFL learners. When students are unfamiliar with new words and they attempt to pronounce them without prior knowledge on how to pronounce them correctly, they may produce errors and may even fossilize such errors. Thus, the teachers are advised to halt the repetition of such errors and direct the students to practice correct pronunciation. This research was focused on investigating the interlingual errors that the students produced as a result of the interference and at finding solutions as to how to avoid such interlingual errors through methods that can be applied by their teachers. To achieve these purposes, the writer applied a process method. First, collecting data in the field, then selecting samples, separating them into sound classifications and comparing the English pronunciation of the samples taken using phonetic transcription, and finally, analyzing the data using phonological theories. The findings showed that mispronounced sounds resulted from the interference are as follows: [ph], [th], [kh], [f] for grapheme ph, [v], [], [], [z] for grapheme s, [], [ks] for grapheme x, and [i], [u], [], and [e]. Therefore, teachers are recommended to apply the Audio-lingual Method, the Phonetic Method, pronunciation drills, Behaviorist Learning Theories (sound imitating), and Phonic-based Approaches to improve the students pronunciation of the consonant and vowel sounds. They are recommended to implement the given methods to ensure that their students to pronounce the sounds correctly in order to avoid the interlingual errors caused by the interference of their L1
COMBINING INQUIRY, LEARNING COMMUNITY AND TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE FOR TEACHING ENGLISH
Get PDFThis study aims at finding out if the combination of the Inquiry (IQ), Learning Community (LC), and Total Physical Response (TPM) methods of teaching English will be able to improve the performance of the students English language skills. The study focuses on the students performance to verbally respond to simple instructions with acceptable actions within the context of the classroom and school environments and to give verbal expression for some simple acts: showing how to do something simple, gesticulating, and giving directions (as stated in KTSP or Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (School Based Curriculum or SBC) in Depdiknas, 2006). In terms of speaking skills, this study concentrates on the pronunciation and comprehension aspects. To achieve the goal of study, an experimental approach with one-group pre-test and post-test design was used. A number of 20 students out of a 58 student population were selected randomly as the sample for treatment. The results showed that the students comprehension and pronunciation improved significantly (from 34 to 60). In conclusion, the combination of IQ, LC and TPR of teaching did improve the ability of students to respond to simple instructions, and to express simple speech for giving simple directions, gesticulating, and showing how to do something simple. The hypothesis (Ha) of this research is then accepted as the combined teaching method generated greater ability in English than previous methods
An Analysis of the Second Grade Syllabus for Bilingual Elementary School Level
Get PDFThis study analyzed the syllabus for second grade of the elementary level at private bilingual school in Banda Aceh. It is a qualitative case study which analyzed the syllabus using a coding system. Out of six aspects to be reviewed based on Breens (2001) concepts, five aspects were fulfilled by the syllabus. However the syllabus did not cover one important aspect for an ideal syllabus, namely local content. Moreover, the syllabus was developed without a balance of language skills. It failed to describe the methods to be used in the teaching and learning processes and only specified a small number of games. On the other hand, this syllabus had a theme-based syllabus design which favors young language learners learning a foreign language. The syllabus had also a good time table for assessment in order to monitor the progress of students during and at the end of the course. Finally, this syllabus specified the teaching objectives which thus enabled teachers to expand the teaching materials
THE USE OF KNOW, WANT TO KNOW AND LEARNT (KWL) STRATEGY TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION
Get PDFThis Classroom Action Research (CAR) was conducted to find out how KWL strategy is applied in English reading class and the students responses towards it. It was done in 2 cycles, in which each cycle consisted of planning the action, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflection. The instruments used in collecting the data were tests, observation sheets for the researcher and students, and questionnaires for the students. The results showed that KWL strategy gave better result in improving the students reading comprehension skills in finding out the main idea, detailed information, word meaning, and references. The results from tests showed that students mean score from pre-test was 62.8 and this increased to 68.2 at the end of cycle 1, and reached 80.4 at the end of cycle 2. Furthermore, the percentage of students participation in the teaching and learning process gradually increased. This is shown from the observation checklist where the percentage of students involvement is 57% (in the enough category) in cycle 1 and increased up to 80% (in the very good category) in cycle 2. It means that they worked well in conducting all activities. Furthermore, the results of questionnaire showed that 80% of the students responded positively towards the implementation of KWL. This strategy was found to help overcome problems encountered by teachers in getting the students to be more active to participate in the process of learning, expanding knowledge, learning about their needs and their interests, and activating their background knowledge
TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION TO EFL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Get PDFTeachers have a vital role in the teaching learning process; their role supports the development of students competency through learning. A teacher is required to possess comprehensive knowledge in pedagogy. In fact, a teacher can choose from a variety of methods to teach reading. In this study the researcher tried to find out the relationship between theory and facts. This study used descriptive research methods. The populations of this study were the English teachers and students in a junior high school in Banda Aceh. The instruments used were: observation sheets, questionnaires and interviews. Based on the data gathered, the researcher found several problems that needed to be solved, even though the teachers at the junior high school in Banda Aceh already had standard knowledge in teaching, especially in preparing lesson plans, but, they lacked the ability to implement their knowledge especially in teaching reading comprehension. Based on observations the researcher concluded that the methods and strategies generally applied by the teachers at the school were: Direct Method, Grammar Translation Method and Think Pair Share Method, which still required supervision. Therefore, the researcher hopes that this study can be continued by subsequent researchers in the future in order to provide more input for better implementation of methods in teaching English, especially for teaching reading comprehension
Improving Speaking Skills through the Learning Community Technique
Get PDFThe aim of the study was to find out if there was an improvement in students English speaking skills through the Learning Community Technique (LCT) than through the conventional way (teacher-centered) of teaching English speaking skills. The subjects of the study were the students in class eleven in a high school in Bireuen, Aceh Province. This study is a collaborative classroom action research project carried out in two cycles, and each cycle was conducted over three meetings. The data was collected using observation sheets, self-assessments of participation in groups, and questionnaires. The findings were then presented after the data was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative data processing procedures. Based on the result of the teachers observation sheet in cycle 1, there were some aspects of his activities that should be redesigned since he did not conduct the activities fully according to the lesson plan. Based on the result of the data analysis in cycle 1, there were several aspects of the students activities that were still far from the required standards. Furthermore, the result of the questionnaire on the responses of the students to the implementation of LCT revealed that they had good responses toward its implementation. In addition, they did self-assessment of participation in groups that aimed at evaluating their own progress in learning and how well they performed their tasks