Rhetorical pattern of the Indonesian EFL undergraduate students’ writings

The present research aimed to study the rhetorical patterns in students’ writings, whether they follow a deductive pattern or an inductive pattern, and whether the pattern is similar when writing in English and the Indonesian language. The sample for this study was 20 undergraduate students from the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education majoring in English Education in several universities in Indonesia. Participants were requested to write two essays and two email-format letters, one of each was written in English, the other in the Indonesian language. The results showed that all students preferred the deductive pattern for their two types of essays. However, for the letter writing, students preferred the inductive pattern more than the deductive one, with 12 students using the inductive pattern in their letters in English and 16 students using the inductive pattern in their letters in Indonesian. It is suggested that the Indonesian culture and the teaching instructions received in the classrooms may influence students’ choice of the patterns they use in different types of writings. The findings should give valuable information for the design of teaching writing courses in English Education majors in Indonesia.

Collaborative learning in creative writing: A teacher’s perspective

This study aims to determine how the impact of collaborative classes on creative writing and how these classes improve students' abilities in achieving learning outcomes. The research question that exposed is how do teachers perceive teaching creative writing through collaborative project. Collaborative learning offers a number of opportunities for students to learn interpersonal skills and character and teamwork by participating in task-oriented learning groups, so that although the content or learning materials continue to develop, collaborative groups are still able to develop various skills that can prepare students to pursue career. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative. The primary data in this study were taken from interviews with lecturers in creative writing courses. From the analysis it can be seen that collaborative learning engages all students from diverse backgrounds personally and actively, inviting each individual to contribute knowledge and perspectives to the world of education from their own unique lives and also from their academic and vocational experiences.

Students’ Attitude on the Use of Machine Translation in Japanese Language Class

The purpose of the study was to determine student attitudes towards the use of machine translation in Japanese classes, especially in Writing 1 and IV classes. Machine Translation is considered an online resource in facilitating the translation process. The method used is descriptive qualitative. Data were taken from questionnaires distributed to students. Participants are semester II and semester IV students who receive Japanese Writing courses. This research activity was conducted at Darma Persada University, Jakarta. The data analysis technique used three stages, namely data reduction, data presentation and concluding. The results showed that students were dissatisfied with the use of machine translation. This means that the student's attitude is negative. However, machine translation is considered to be able to help complete the translation task more quickly, but the translation results are not in the context of the target language

Syllabus Design for Writing Course: EFL Learners’ Needs

Analyzing English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ needs in writing courses is an important thing that should be done by teachers. This is done in order to meet what EFL learners needs for writing course, and what should be planned and written in the syllabus. The purpose of this research is to analyze EFL learners’ needs for writing course especially in terms of learning materials, learning strategies, learning supports, and mastery of writing aspects. The design of this research was descriptive research. 50 EFL learners in Universitas Lancang Kuning were involved in this study as respondents of this research. To collect the data, a questionnaire was used with 20 statements available. The data from the questionnaire was analyzed descriptively by giving deep explanation towards the data. The result showed that most EFL learners were chosen response “agree” from the questionnaire. It means that the EFL learners very need good and acceptable learning materials, learning strategies, learning supports, and good competence in terms of writing aspects. In conclusion, the EFL learners’ needs for writing course are varied, but in general, the EFL learners expect good learning environment for writing course such as utilizing appropriate technology, attractive teaching media, and acceptable learning materials.

Multimodality as a Communicative Tool for Social Engagement and Reform

This article acknowledges the viability of multimodal projects in first-year college-level writing courses in accordance with the evolution of composition pedagogy over the past forty years. Since the 1982 publication of Hairston’s article “The Winds of Change” forecasting the end of the then-ubiquitous current-traditional approach, composition pedagogy has undergone paradigm shifts from process to post-process theory and from textual to digital modes of composition. Inspired by Goodwin’s (2020) research on students’ multimodal responses to local community issues, I developed a public media project for my first-year writing course for which students created media texts addressing local, regional, national, and global issues of their choosing. The project synthesizes the public and interpretative dimensions of writing identified by post-process scholars with elements of multimodality and civic engagement to help students understand how public media texts raise social awareness of current issues and mobilize community efforts toward unified resolution of such issues.

Sustaining Synchronous Interaction Effectiveness in Distance Writing Courses: A Mixed Method Study in a KSA University

The sudden transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for many learners and teachers due to the fact that most universities suddenly shifted to online learning without providing adequate time for preparing and training teachers and learners in using interactive educational technologies. Such challenges are even more pronounced for language instructors in cultivating and sustaining interactions among learners, especially in writing courses that demand active engagement and interactions. Therefore, this study focused on what and how a writing instructor did through technology in creating an interactive writing environment for KSA learners joining five online writing courses and how learners perceived interactions and identifies the major factors affecting their perceptions. The data were collected from multiple sources: WhatsApp chats, Google Docs chats and comments, screencast recorded discussions, students’ texts, and their responses to an electronic (e-) survey as well as follow-up interviews. The study revealed that in connecting Google Docs to the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, the instructor engaged learners in multidirectional and multimodal interactions and text writing and revising. The WhatsApp group was also used for individual learner-learner and learner-teacher interaction illustrating support and consultation-seeking behaviors of learners beyond the online classroom time. The learners’ perceptions of technology-mediated interactions (overall, learner-learner and learner-teacher) in the online writing courses were at high levels, though such perceptions varied according to several factors, including socio-demographic characteristics. The study concludes by offering useful pedagogical and research implications.

Genre Effect on L2 Syntactic Complexity and Holistic Rating for Writing Quality of Intermediate EFL Learners

This exploratory study examines whether genre has an impact on syntactic complexity and holistic rating in EFL writing. Over 300 sample texts produced by intermediate learners were collected from a test and some regular after-class assignments for English writing courses. Each participant completed two writing tasks, one argumentative and the other narrative. Results show that genre type has a significant impact on L2 syntactic complexity. Genre effect is found stronger with timed writing tasks. L2 holistic ratings show correlation with syntactic complexity on the different measure(s) depending on genre type and planning conditions. Regression analyses reveal that for timed writing tasks, clausal density (clauses per sentence) is a reliable predictor for holistic assessment on intermediate EFL learners’ writing quality. It is found to account for 6% of the score variance for timed writing and 10% for timed argumentative writing. Genre is evidenced to be related to EFL writing holistic ratings. Closer examination indicates that while syntactic complexity is predictive of holistic writing scores for argumentative writing, it does not correlate with holistic scores for narrative writing. Other linguistic features rather than syntactic complexity may be accountable. Overall, the study lends support to genre effect in the relationship between syntactic complexity and L2 writing quality holistic rating.

KAJIAN PERSEPSI PELAJAR TERHADAP PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN (PdP) ATAS TALIAN BAGI KURSUS PENULISAN PANTUN KREATIF (Student Perception Study on Online Teaching and Learning for Creative Poem Writing Course)

Online teaching and learning (PdP) is a new trend that is happening everywhere, including in Malaysia. The process of seeking knowledge that was previously face to face with teachers or lecturers is now only on the computer screen or smatrphone respectively. This change occurred due to the Covid-19 epidemic that hit the whole world at this time it is certain that this sudden change is affecting the ongoing PdP process. This study is to look at students' perceptions on the effectiveness of the online PdP process for creative poem writing courses. The study will involve approximately 60 students who registered for this course in semester 2, academic session 2020-2021. This study will use a questionnaire to obtain research data which is also the main instrument of the study. The focus of this study is to see the effectiveness of the PdP process of this course is conducted online, especially in terms of input achieved by students after attending this skills-shaped course. This study is important to see if there are any KAJIAN PERSEPSI PELAJAR TERHADAP PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN (PdP) ATAS TALIAN BAGI KURSUS PENULISAN PANTUN KREATIF (Student Perception Study on Online Teaching and Learning for Creative Poem Writing Course) weaknesses in the implementation of the PdP of the online Creative Poetry Writing course and follow -up steps that need to be taken to improve the weaknesses that occur. The results of this study are also important to be used as a guide in sustaining the skills course in the future if the PdP process is still happening online. Keywords: Online teaching and learning; Covid-19 pandemic; Poetry writing