Parental Perspectives and Practices in Maintaining the Heritage Language (A Case Study of Preserving Ambonese Malay)

Intensity of using national and foreign languages ​​in various sectors indirectly changes people's views on the importance of learning or even maintaining the heritage languages. Consequently, the heritage language may experience a transition because it is rare or even no longer used in daily communication, particularly in the family context. This current study aims to analyze parents’ perspectives about the maintenance of the native language, including their practical ways to preserve the cultural heritage, namely Ambonese Malay. Twenty two parents were randomly selected to participate in this study by filling in the questionnaire that was distributed by electronic system through Google Form. Findings of this research showed that parents have positive language attitudes towards Ambonese Malay and its maintenance as heritage language. Their attitude was revealed in their willingness to teach the Ambonese Malay to their children, use the language in their family communication and at traditional ceremonial and family events, including their expectation of having Ambonese Malay in the school curriculum. Moreover, practical ways of using Ambonese Malay as the dominant language in discussing daily topics at home with the family members were the indications of parents’ persistence ways in preserving the Ambonese Malay in the family domain.

Sequential Blended Teaching Materials: Scaffolding Non-English Language Learners’ Scientific Literacy Using Online Sources, Edpuzzle

This study aimed to explore information from 44 Students of Primary Teacher Training Education Department as the sample of research. The 40 items of statement in questionnaires designed from positive point of view and scaled in Likert from; strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). By the content area of two basic research questions in regard to Preferences and benefit for students in applying a sequential blended learning material in teaching English. Data was analyzed in statistic descriptive to get meaning. The result found that, there was 4,22% of students respond to items of questionnaires to more agree and strongly agree to the statements of questionnaires. This total average number of the respond of 44 students were found in 4,6816 % in questionnaires that represented preferences (13 items of statements) and 3,7727% in average found in statement of questionnaires that represent benefits (27 items of statements), meant there was positive respond toward this teaching approach and fixing to the preferences of student and scaffolded students’ other related scientific literacy.

ITEM ANALYSIS OF AN ENGLISH SUMMATIVE TEST

While almost half of the teachers’ activities are assessing their students, they are not well-prepared with assessment literacy training. Hence, they are unable to produce good tests to measure students’ level of knowledge and skills. This study is aimed at analyzing item difficulty and item discrimination of a test made by an English teacher at a junior high school in Kupang. It was descriptive qualitative research and the instruments of the research were test items, answer keys, and students’ answer sheets. For the difficulty index, it was revealed that more than half of the test items were easy, while only 2% of the test items were difficult. In terms of the discrimination index, it was found that only 10% of the test items were excellent and most of the test items (46%) were poor. These findings indicated that the English test had a poor item difficulty index and low item discrimination index. Hence, it did not fulfill the criteria of a good test and could not measure students’ true ability. It is highly recommended for the teachers to improve the test items and for the government to provide assessment training for the teachers so that they can produce good tests.