Indonesian high school students’ attitudes towards varieties of English: A survey study

The present study was conducted to investigate Indonesian High School students’ attitudes towards World Englishes, a construct developed based on a three-circle model proposed by Kachru. The study used an online questionnaire consisting of 22 items. The number of high school students from various regions in Indonesia participating in the study was 121. It was found that there was a moderate level of acceptance towards varieties of English. The participants believed that they should learn and be taught English varieties from inner-circle countries. However, the participants seemed to have very strong beliefs towards and pride in their local accents, to have high respect towards various accents around the world, and to perceive English to belong to whoever speaks it. Based on the finding on the participants’ positive attitude towards their local accents, English instruction could focus on the eventual purpose of learning a language, which is communication and building positive students’ self-perception about themselves regarding English. Hence, instead of comparing themselves with native speakers of English, students could focus on sharpening their English skills regardless of accents to be a part of the global community. The limitations and contributions of the present study are also presented, along with possible directions for relevant future studies in the field.

Talking about oneself

Second language instructors often have students talk about their own experiences rather than abstract impersonal topics. Intuitively, such topics seem more likely to encourage student engagement. Unfortunately, virtually no empirical research has examined the effects of personal prompts on spoken output. To address this gap in research, the current study (N = 117) compares the spoken output of Japanese university English students who responded to a personal prompt with students responding to an impersonal prompt. Output was recorded in transcripts and then analyzed using a battery of measures related to complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Findings showed that personalized prompts were associated with greater fluency. Moreover, there was some evidence that impersonal prompts led to output with greater lexical complexity. Rates of accuracy were similar in both groups. Correlational analysis suggested that lexical sophistication was associated with reduced fluency. The conclusion addresses practical implications and avenues for further research.

The Use of Diary to Improve the Writing Ability of the English Second Graders at Hamzanwadi University

The research aimed at finding out the use of a diary in improving the writing ability of the English students of Hamzanwadi University. The problems formulated in this research were (1) Is the use of diary effective in teaching writing for the English students of Hamzanwadi University? (2) How effective is using a diary in teaching writing for the English students of Hamzanwadi University? The research design of this study was one group pretest and posttest. The population of this research was the second-semester students of Hamzanwadi University, which consisted of 105 students in 4 classes. The present researcher took class D as the sample that consisted of 20 students. The present researcher generated a simple random sampling by obtaining an exhaustive list of a population and then randomly selecting a certain number of individuals to comprise the sample. A pretest and a posttest were given to the students to collect the data. The result of the data analysis indicated that the mean score of the pretest was 34.86 while in the posttest was 48.00. In testing the hypothesis, the result of the t-test was -9.706. The null hypothesis was rejected, and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. So, it can be said that using a diary was significantly effective in teaching writing.

Lexical Errors in English Students' Writing

This research analyzed lexical erros in writing of English students and focused on three types of errors; they were errors in literal translation, errors of word formation, and errors in word choice. This research aimed to explore the most frequent errors and the factors of errors made by English students. The design of this research was qualitative in which the data were colleted by using document in the form of students’ writings and interview. The informants of the research were thirty students majoring in English study program at Tadulako University. The result of this research showed that the most frequent errors made were in word choice and followed by errors in literal translation and errors in word formation. The factors causing the errors were students’ inability to consider the context of the topics when writing. They only focused on using dictionary, Google translate, or simply the words that they had in mind to express ideas in their writing. The students also never used words that were related to the topic in their daily interaction.

Fluctuations in willingness to communicate of an EFL lecturer: An observation study in Indonesia

Despite the growing number of research on Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in English students, research of teachers’ WTC in English is still scarce. At the same time, the fluctuations of WTC in English in authentic classroom interactions are still under research. This study aims to observe the fluctuations in WTC of the English lecturer in the Indonesian context. The data were collected through video recordings during an online classroom learning session where participants were teaching their students. The data were then transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically by drawing from MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) Heuristic Model. From the results of the analysis, WTC fluctuations in English are divided into four factors: (1) modeling the use of English in the classroom, (2) the power of affirmation, (3) focusing on the message, and (4) showing language similarity. The implication of this study is also discussed. DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.5983

The Undergraduate English Students’ Perception, Plan, and Implementation of Critical Thinking Skills in Their Presentation

Previous studies shows that several learning strategies have been used to promote critical thinking skills for students at the university level, the most frequently used is presentation. The students in the third semester of the English department in IAIN Pekalongan have distinctive responses regarding their critical thinking skills in their presentation. This study aimed to explain students’ perception, plan and implementation in their use of critical thinking skills in their presentation. This study was qualitative case study. The data gathered by classroom observation, questionnaires, and interviews. The findings showed (1) The students positively perceived their use of critical thinking skills in their presentation, they believed that critical thinking skills help them to enable their presentation, English skills, and performance (2) the students plan their critical thinking skills by preparing the schema, skills, and practicing (3) the implementation of critical thinking skills in students' presentation by combining students' awareness, activeness, and learning style. Theoretically, critical thinking skills are fundamental to be implemented in higher education students. Practically, the result of this study gave benefit for the lecturer in giving students challenging tasks that encourage them to use their critical thinking skills. Pedagogically, the implementation of critical thinking skills in students’ presentations needs a student-lecturer relationship.

How Poetry as A Dual Genre Draws its Themes from the Author’s Origin, History and Setting: A Case Study of Two Selected Kiswahili Poetry Books

The study explores how poetry as a dual genre draws its themes from the origin, history and setting or environs of the author in the society. Basically, literature like any other art has its own way of expressing its aesthetic value. This is done through the channel of language. On the other hand, literature has many genres. Despite that, poetry is considered to be the most ancient genre in many communities universally. Poetry, therefore, is a genre that has a dual nature, which implies that it is a genre of both oral and written literature. Kiswahili poetry encompasses itself fully with the society in question, its ideologies, philosophies, traditions, culture, and the general life of the Swahili people without taking into consideration the language in which it was constructed. Therefore, it is not possible to disassociate the Kiswahili poetry from their culture as it is fully drawn from their way of life. Since a people’s culture is enclosed in their language, this study selected two Kiswahili Poetry books through purposive sampling to show how poetry draws its themes from the author’s origin, history, setting, and culture. The selected books were: Sikate Tamaa (Said A. Mohamed) and Dhifa (Euphrase Kezilahabi) The study employed the Hermeneutics theory as interpreted by (Newmark and Michael Forster, 2007) . This theory was very vital to this study as it puts into consideration the words used, the history and culture of the author, context, and specific analysis of the text to come up with the objective of the general text. The study also used textual analysis as well as an observation checklist to analyse data. The study discovered that poetry is rich and has a lot to be desired as far as teaching and depicting the author’s origin, history, and setting in the society is concerned hence drawing the themes from that. This study aimed at highlighting the need for more in-depth research as this can reduce the negative notion that poetry is a hard and complicated genre to some learners and scholars. There is also a need for the poetry learners to identify the history of the author in order to provide a starting point for the analysis in question. Therefore, the study proposes that poems be taught at all levels of learning and their various elements in order to enlighten the Kiswahili and English students, scholars, and researchers.

Level of Cellphone Usage and Academic Performance

This descriptive research paper was conducted to find out the level of cellphone usage and the English academic performance of the AB English students of the Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College, Estancia, Iloilo. The respondents were the 46 AB English students, 16 of which were the first year and 30 were the fourth year AB English students enrolled in the first semester AY 2018-2019, classified according to sex and year level. The statistical tools used were mean, frequency counts and percentage, t-test, Pearson r. The researcher made questionnaire underwent the validity and reliability testing. Researcher made questionnaire were classified into two parts: Part I, the personal data sheet which include the questions name, sex and year level. Part II has 30 item-cellphone usage questionnaire. It was generally found out that AB English students have always level of cellphone usage. In view of these findings, it can be concluded that the level of cellphone usage of the AB English students when taken as an entire group was always but when classified as to sex, female always used their cellphone while males used their cellphones sometimes. The study also showed that first year AB English students have sometimes level of cellphone usage while the fourth year AB English students always used their cellphones.