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Examining Gender Representation in an Indonesian EFL Textbook
Full text linkConsidering its influential role in students’ behavior and attitudes, a textbook has to reflect balanced images and information about males and females. It also has to support broad choices and many roles for both sexes to avoid unjust or bias gender issues. This study aimed at examining whether an EFL textbook published by the Indonesian government promotes gender equity by (1) mapping the proportion of textual and visual representation of males and females in the textbook; (2) describing how males and females are treated in the textbook. Through content analysis, the study revealed that the book is gender-biased as indicated from unbalanced (1) textual and visual representation (2) variety of activity, role, and occupation, (3) order of mention, and (4) adjectival portrayal. In all indicators, the female is underrepresented, hidden, and framed within traditional gender stereotyping. Reflecting on these findings, revision by the government and/ or careful treatment by teachers when using the book are ushered. Keywords: bias, content analysis, gender representation, gender stereotype, textbook
Language Use and Language Attitudes of Sumbawanese Speakers in Bali
Full text linkThis study examines the language maintenance model for a local language in another language community, specifically to examine Sumbawanese language maintenance in the Balinese community. This study encompasses 1) the Sumbawanese speakers’ competence of Sumbawanese language; 2) Sumbawanese language use patterns in the Balinese community; 3) language attitudes of Sumbawanese speakers toward their language. This study focuses on Denpasar's several locations, where most of the language interaction occurred, and data were collected through observation, interviews, and questionnaires. Those data were analyzed by using a software program, namely an excel chart data series. The research subjects were both older and younger Sumbawanese speakers. An analysis of language attitudes also considered the roles of language choice and language change in maintaining cultural diversity and ethnic identity, which will psychologically provide a feeling of assurance in personal linguistic competence. In Sumbawanese speakers, the context of communicating in Balinese society will be thoroughly considered. The findings show that speakers of Sumbawa language have good competence towards Sumbawa language, rarely use Sumbawa language, and have more positive than negative attitudes towards their language. Speakers are stimulated to maintain the frequency of language use and their positive language attitudes to be competent intercultural speakers. Keywords: Balinese, language use, language attitude, language change, Sumbawanes
Journal Writing: Effects on Students’ Writing Proficiency and Student and Teacher Attitudes
Full text linkIn today’s world, writing is no longer a natural activity, especially for the younger generation. They look upon this activity as too complex, overwhelming and sometimes irrelevant. These attitudes are amplified when having to write in a second language. In EFL tertiary education, the expectations of academic achievement have become far greater than actual student capabilities. This study examined the possibility of using journal writing, both with and without an audience, as a way to address this issue. It is believed that by engaging students in the act of writing without the burden of an academic topic, it will indirectly impact students’ academic performance. Seventy-six undergraduate students in three groups (one control and two experimental) were involved. Data was collected in the form of pre-test and post-test writing, student focus group meetings and an interview with the instructor. From the study, it was found that dialogue journal writing with an audience contributed to an increase in the proficiency level of students, especially in terms of their organizational skills. In addition, students who undertook journal writing expressed gains in self-confidence, and were aware of the role of journal writing in this. Finally, journal writing was found to offer insight to the instructor with regard to what is happening under the surface of a class, and thus better address students’ needs. Keywords: EFL, academic writing, writing proficiency, journal writin
Reflective Feedbacks and Project-Based Activities to Improve the Students’ Writing Skill: An Exploratory Action Research
Full text linkTeaching writing to Informatics Engineering students has its uniqueness when it comes to what specific issue(s) the students are facing and how to cope with them. This study aims at finding out some feedback for the author’s previous teaching practices in writing a descriptive text which becomes the basis to give an exact intervention as well as to find out whether the intervention is able to improve the students’ skills in writing a descriptive text. This is exploratory action research to the 30 students of the third semester in the Informatics Engineering study program of a private university in Indonesia. To gain feedback on the previous instructional practices, a senior colleague is invited as a consultant and an open-ended questionnaire was distributed to the students. Some issues were found. After a deep discussion with the senior colleague, it is concluded that project-based activities could cope with the issues. To prove it, a writing test and open-ended interview were conducted. During the instructional practices, a collaborator was invited to observe using an observation sheet. The result revealed that project-based activities engaged the students and directed them in accomplishing the task. The test also showed improvement in students’ average scores. These findings proved that implementing project-based activities can improve the students’ skills in writing a descriptive text. Keywords: Exploratory Action Research, Reflective Feedbacks, Project-Based Activitie
The Scavenger Hunt: A Technique for Enhancing Culture Learning and Intercultural Communication Practice
Full text linkIn this changing era, which is characterized by the interconnected world, and the increasing mobility of people, the need to be able to communicate inter-culturally is evident. To be successful in intercultural communication, one does not only need to be linguistically competent but also culturally knowledgeable and sensitive. Bearing in mind these cultural needs, this paper details the scavenger hunt technique as a tool for enhancing culture learning and intercultural communication practice. Although this technique applies to students of any major, this study was specifically implemented to a group of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Indonesia. Participants of this study were nine (9) male and twenty (20) female students of The English Language Education Program at a private university in Central Java, Indonesia. The students did the scavenger hunt in a group of four or five during their three-day trip to a multicultural setting in Indonesia: Bali island, and documented the activities in vlogs. The students’ vlogs which were data of this study were analyzed by using a qualitative content analysis approach. The findings showed that the scavenger hunt task resulted in the students' learning on cultural knowledge, intercultural communication, intercultural adaptation, information technology, and soft skills. During the three-day program, the students could also use English in a meaningful way. The study presented the strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations of this study, as well as some ideas for further research.Keywords: culture learning, intercultural communication, EFL,scavenger hunt.
A Study of Language Learning Strategy Use among Indonesian EFL University Students
Full text linkThis study investigated the use of language learning strategies among 329 Indonesian undergraduate students in their English as foreign language learning. The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) Version 7.0 for ESL/EFL learners developed by Oxford was employed to measure the students’ EFL learning strategies based on gender, study program, and English proficiency differences. A descriptive analysis and an independent t-test were used to analyze the collected data. The findings showed that the female, the social science, and the higher English proficiency students used overall language learning strategies more frequently in their EFL learning. Metacognitive was the strategy category most used by the students and compensation was the least used one. The memory, cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and social strategy categories were used at a high level and the compensation strategy category, at a moderate level. Although there were significant differences in the use of overall strategy and strategy categories between males and females and between social science and science students, no significant differences were found in use between students with lower and higher English proficiency. The findings had several practical implications in the process of EFL learning, especially in the higher education context. Keywords: Language Learning Strategy, English Proficiency, Gender, SILL, Study Program
EFL Classes Must Go Online! Teaching Activities and Challenges during COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia
Full text linkIn view of the COVID-19 pandemic and government policy to carry out online learning, the present research is aimed at investigating how EFL teachers carry out online EFL learning and its challenges. 16 EFL teachers volunteered to participate in this research through invitation. The EFL teachers were requested to make written reflections regarding their practices in carrying out online EFL learning and the challenges they encounter. Five of them were involved in a follow-up interview individually. Semi-structured interview was administered. Data coding was done and appropriate extracts were informed in results section. To validate the data, data coding was done independently by both researchers, continued by several cycles of discussion. As results, the EFL teachers have carried out online learning through a series of activities ranging from checking the students’ attendance to giving score on the students’ works synchronously or asynchronously depending on each school policy. Various applications and platforms ranging from learning management system to additional resource are employed. However, many problems emerge from the students, the teachers, and the students’ parents along with the valid reasons. Therefore, the online learning does not run well since it lacks of preparation and planning. Implications for better online learning are discussed. Future prospective researches are directed and encouraged. Keywords: COVID-19, EFL teachers, online EFL learning, technology enhanced language learning, technology in language learning
Creating Full English Atmosphere in Teaching English to Young Learners: Teachers’ Perspectives
Full text linkThe research had two objectives; 1) to explore teachers’ belief about the use of full English during learning activities, and 2) to determine the factors that affected the use of full English in teaching English to teach English to young learners. Embedded mixed method was used in this study. The quantitative data were gained by distributing 1 set of closed-response questionnaire item to 38 teachers of English who teach English at elementary schools in Palembang, a capital city of South Sumatera Province, Indonesia. Meanwhile, the qualitative data were gained from one-to-one in depth interview to 15 teachers of English who were willing to be interviewed. Students’ responses to each questionnaire item were analyzed by using descriptive statistics analysis by Employing SPSS program. Meanwhile, the qualitative data gained from the interview were analyzed by using thematic analysis. It was revealed from the study that first, teachers shared positive belief about the use of full English while teaching English in the class. Secondly, there are five factors that affected the use of full English during learning activities; 1) The English Proficiency of the teachers; 2) School Policy; 3) The homogeneous level of students’ language performance 4) Teacher’s classroom management skills and 5) Students’ attitude toward English
The use of Communicative Language Learning (CLL) to Teach Speaking at a Taiwanese Elementary School: Implementation and Students’ Responses
Full text linkSpeaking is one of the important skills to master. The importance of learning speaking skills helps people to share their ideas, agreement or disagreement, compliment, and so on to others. Some students feel a lack of practice in learning English because they don't have enough support, including those in Taiwan. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to investigate how Taiwanese teachers apply CLL in speaking activities and the students' responses towards speaking activities which implement CLL at an elementary school in Taiwan. Data for this qualitative study were gathered from semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. The participants were one Taiwanese English teacher and 32 elementary school students. Data from the semi-structured interview were recorded, then transcribed. After that, themes were drawn based on the transcribed interviews. Based on the data, it was found that the Taiwanese English teacher applied CLL to teach the English language. Some activities such as group discussion and Think-Pair-Share were done. These activities were found useful because students could gain more vocabulary, a fun atmosphere created inside the classroom, and better fluency and pronunciation.
Persuasive power concerning COVID-19 employed by Premier Imran Khan: A socio-political discourse analysis
Full text linkThe researchers investigate Pakistani Premier Imran Khan’s (IK) addresses to the nation concerning awareness about the causes, effects, precautions, and solutions of the Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19). Till the date, experts are not sure whether the vaccine will get developed or would we have to live with this as we did with HIV or Dengue. Consequently, leaders would need to address their nations, focusing specifically on precautions. The present research employs Aristotle’s persuasive and rhetorical devices, integrating them with Socio-Political Discourse Analysis (SPDA), to understand the social and political convincing style employed by the premiere. The researchers analyzed the data employing a qualitative approach. There are reliable findings to suggest that IK has used stable linguistic features to persuade the minds of the people, convincing them to follow the precautionary measures as ‘the only cure.’ The defending arguments about semi-lockdown or smart-lockdown were well-defined persuading the individuals; for instance, he suggested the smart-lockdown during his first address and faced criticism from the opposition. Later, the opposition and the world appreciated the policy of IK, the Premier of Pakistan, even being a developing country in the sight of the world. After one month of the first patient of the corona case reported in China, the policy of smart-lockdown was followed by most of the states fighting against COVID-19. Moreover, The Premier successfully persuaded the international financial organizations – IMF, World Bank, Development Banks, convincing them to waive off the pending payments of developing countries for the upcoming year.Keywords: COVID19, Persuasion, Socio-Political Discourse Analysis, Speeches, Linguistic Feature