HIGHER EDUCATION ESL CURRICULUM TRANSITION POST-COVID-19 ERA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a stir in the field of education. As higher educational institution (HEI) closes its lecture halls and tutorial rooms due to the pandemic, lecturers in HEI are scrambling to adjust to the curriculum transition from having a face-to-face lecture to teaching remotely using an online platform. ESL instructors in HEI were among those affected by the sudden curriculum transition. Therefore, this paper aims to systematically review the challenges faced by ESL instructors from HEI on how they adapted to the curriculum transition post-COVID-19. Related articles were obtained from two prominent databases namely ProQuest and Scopus using specific keyword search terms. A total of six articles were selected for review out of 933 articles that were initially detected from the databases after executing a thorough selection criteria. After that, the challenges faced by ESL instructors and how they cope with the challenges were identified and discussed. Our findings suggest that ESL instructors from different parts of the world are all experiencing an adverse struggle in adapting to the curriculum transition caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, more studies in the context of ESL curriculum are needed to fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on ESL instructors’ teaching performance.

ESL Students’ Perspectives in Understanding English Reading Materials:

Reading is an active language activity which comprises a variety of skills. The reading comprehensionlessons are normally used by instructors to help students develop their reading skills. However, in mostcases, it was found that reading comprehension lessons have been centred on passages or texts followedby a set of questions. These questions were usually designed to merely test the students’ comprehension ofthe given text and not part of the teaching process. It has been seen and said that students merely scan forinformation in the text to answer these questions but were unable to relate to it. This could be due to culturalfactors including the lack of reading habits among the students but most likely due to the manner readinghas been taught. Thus, this study aims to investigate the teaching of English Reading materials and readingcomprehension to a group of 15 students undergoing Diploma courses in UiTM Perlis. This is a qualitativestudy and the data are gathered through classroom observations, students’ journals, instructor’s diary andinterview sessions with the students and instructor to get a clearer picture on the problems they face whenhaving to comprehend English materials. The insight generated by the description and analysis of the datacollected for this study can be used for a variety of purposes, particularly; to better understand the problemsfaced by students when having to read in a second language, to help ESL curriculum and instructionalpractices, and to provide useful insights for educational language policymaking. Keywords: comprehend, perceptions, descriptive, insight

Raising Saudi Students’ (Energy) Sustainability Awareness through ESL – Teachers’ Thoughts

This inaugural qualitative study solicited English as Second Language (ESL) teachers’ thoughts about using ESL to teach Saudi Arabian (SA) university foundation year students about and raise their awareness of energy and sustainability issues. Fourteen participants from three higher education institutions in the Eastern Province of SA prepared typed responses in a word office document to 15 questions pertaining to ESL teachers’ perceptions, opinions, beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, and values of using ESL to teach sustainability. Data returned by email were iteratively read and insights culled to provide an inaugural profile of ESL teachers’ thoughts about this pedagogical innovation in SA higher education preparatory-year programs. The findings indicated a positive picture towards incorporating sustainability topics into Saudi Arabian ESL curriculum. Participants were enthusiastic about such tasks and about seeking knowledge related to sustainability by various means to augment lack of knowledge. They were of the opinion that this is a legitimate role for ESL teachers and believed that they would be effective and bring value to students’ learning. They readily suggested rich ideas about what a sustainability-infused ESL curriculum would look like. This study was an original one in that it solicited and shared the voices of ESL teachers in SA about the idea of concurrently teaching language and sustainability. Nominal research addresses this pedagogical approach meaning the findings are valuable to ESL training schools, SA university foundation program planners, SA higher education curriculum developers and higher education human resource managers who recruit and hire ESL instructors.

Playing "CABE" (Searching and Whispering) to Increase Children’s English Vocabulary

This study aims to increase children English vocabulary aged 5-6 years old by playing CABE or searching and whispering. This research is classroom action research that was conducted in Marsudirini Sang Timur Kindergarten, Salatiga. The Subjects of the study were 20 B1 kindergarten children. Data was collected by teaching English vocabulary by playing CABE in some cycles which includes four stages in the form of cycles, there are (1) planning; (2) implementation; (3) observation; and (4) reflection. Research instruments used in this research was in sheets observation checklist. The results of a percentage of pre-cycle was 13 %, cycle I was 31 % in first meeting and was 66 % in the second meeting, cycle II was 75 % performed in only one meeting. There is an improvement in pre-action and any action on each meeting until it reaches 75 %. Keywords: Early childhood, English vocabulary, “CABE” method, Learning English References Bawono, Y. (2017). Kemampuan berbahasa pada anak prasekolah : Sebuah kajian pustaka. Prosiding Temu Ilmiah X Ikatan Psikologi Perkembangan Indonesia. Chamot, A. U. (1987). Toward a Functional ESL Curriculum in the Elementary School, in Long, Michael H. & Richards, Jack C. (eds.) Methodology in TESOL. New York: Newburry House Publishers. Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & H., & N. (1990). An Intoduction to Language. New York, NY: Avon Books. İlin, G., Kutlu, Ö., & Kutluay, A. (2013). An Action Research: Using Videos for Teaching Grammar in an ESP Class. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.01.065 Imam, I. (2016). Meningkatkan Kemampuan Menyimak Siswa Kelas I Melalui Teknik Permainan Pesan Berantai Pada Pembalajaran Bahasa Indonesia. PEDAGOGIA: Jurnal Pendidikan. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21070/pedagogia.v3i2.62 Khairani, A. I. (2016). Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Untuk Anak Usia Dini. Digilib.Unimed.Ac.Id. Kurniawan, M., & Tanone, R. (2016). Mobile learning in TESOL: A golden bridge for enhancement of grammar awareness and vocabulary mastery? Asian EFL Journal. Kurniawan, M., & Tanone, R. (2016). Mobile learning in TESOL: A golden bridge for enhancement of grammar awareness and vocabulary mastery? Asian EFL Journal. Matondang, E. M. (2005). Menumbuhkan Minat Belajar Bahasa Inggris Anak Usia Dini melalui Lagu dan Gerak. Jakarta: Jurnal Pendidikan Penabur. Montessori, M. (1991). The discovery of the Child. New York: Ballatine Book. Muflihah, M. (2019). Pentingnya Peran BAhasa dalam Pendidikan Usia DIni (PAUD). ThufuLA: Jurnal Inovasi Pendidikan Guru Raudhatul Athfal. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21043/thufula.v2i2.4642 Mustafa, B. (2007). Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini. Musthafa, B. (2010). Teaching English to Young Learners in Indonesia : Essential Requirements. Educationist. Nugrahani, D., Egar, N., Sumardiyani, L., & Wardoyo, S. L. (2017). PENDIDIKAN ANAK USIA DINI BERBASIS LIFE SKILLS. E-DIMAS. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.26877/e-dimas.v2i1.102 Nurjanah, N, Dwiastuty, Nina, Susilawati, S. (2015). Mengenalkan Model Pengajaran Edutainment Mengajarkan Bahasa Inggris Pada Anak–Anak Usia Dini. Faktor. Jurnal Ilmiah Kependidikan. Nurmadiah, N. (2018). Strategi Pembelajaran Anak Usia Dini. Al-Afkar : Jurnal Keislaman & Peradaban. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.28944/afkar.v3i1.101 Nurvitasari, M. D. (2016). Penerapan Aspek Perkembangan Anak Usia Dini Dalam Media Macca (Balok Susun Interaktif). O’Grady, W. (2008). Innateness, universal grammar, and emergentism. Lingua. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2007.03.005 Santrock, J. (n.d.). Adolesence (Fifth Edit). New York, NY: McGrawHill Company Inc. Sophya, I. V. (2019). Desain Pembelajaran BAhasa Inggris untuk Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini. ThufuLA: Jurnal Inovasi Pendidikan Guru Raudhatul Athfal. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21043/thufula.v2i2.4639 Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development for language learning and languange teaching. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000528 Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and Language. Cambridge, M.A.: The MIT Press Wiratno, T., & Santosa, R. (2003). Bahasa, Fungsi Bahasa, dan Konteks Sosial. Bahasa, Fungsi Bahasa, Dan Konteks Sosial Yamin, M. (2010). Panduan Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini. Jakarta: Gaung Persada Pers Zaini, A. (2015). Bermain sebagai metode pembelajaran bagi anak usia dini. ThufuLA: Jurnal Inovasi Pendidikan Guru Raudhatul Athfal