English foreign language teaching anxiety of Indonesian pre-service teachers of undergraduate internship program

Anxiety is a topic mostly investigated in the field of foreign language education. Unfortunately, the main focus of the studies on the aforementioned topic has primarily been provided in relation to anxiety suffered by students not teachers. Anxiety in speaking English while teaching has been proven to be a separate obstacle to the success of the language teaching and learning. This still happens to teachers who even have years of teaching experience. This study aims to investigate the English language teaching anxiety as experienced by the pre-service teacher at the department. The FLTA questionnaire consisting of 27 out of 45 items was adopted to collect data. Since this study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, the questionnaire was distributed to the participants via email. The analysis was then made by implementing the qualitative descriptive approach and simple quantification to support the description. The results show that there were five factors of anxiety occur during the program. They were teaching inexperience, self-perception of language proficiency, fear of negative evaluation, lack of student�s interest, and difficulty with time management. These findings are expected to become a reference for the efforts of developing an internship preparation program.

Situating east Indonesia's EFL Learners attitudes toward the extensive listening practices

Learning English as a foreign language is very challenging for both teachers and students in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara of Indonesia. The challenges are primarily caused by their lack of exposure to the authentic environment of English. In dealing with this phenomenon, the appropriate listening practices expect to help the learners to obtain and construct their knowledge of English as well as to acquire more comprehensible input. This article reports an investigation on the EFL learners� attitudes toward the extensive listening practices. It applied mixed-method research procedures involving 55 students of the English language and education program of Universitas Katolik Indonesia Santu Paulus Ruteng. The data were collected through a survey coupled with Focus Group Discussions with 15 participants. This research revealed that the learners' attitudes are identified into two main categories called positive and negative attitudes. In this case, 38 % of the participants have positive attitudes toward extensive listening practices and 62% of the participant reflected the negative attitude toward the extensive listening practices. Learners with a positive attitude had a very strong awareness of the significance of listening skills in L2 learning. To improve their listening skills, they develop their listening practices outside the classroom consistently. Meanwhile, learners with negative attitudes were categorized as dependent learners who practiced their listening skills during the listening course only. This group of learners was less aware of the significance of listening skills in L2 learning and their listening practices were highly dependent on the teachers' instruction. It showcased that both of the learners� internal and external factors were strongly contributed to this poor extensive listening practices.� The EFL teachers are then strongly suggested to strengthen the learners� awareness on the significance of Listening Skills in L2 learning as well as design more instructed extensive listening practices outside the classroom.�

Utilizing test items analysis to examine the level of difficulty and discriminating power in a teacher-made test

Apart from teaching, English language teachers need to assess their students by giving a test to know the students� achievements. In general, teachers are barely conducting item analysis on their tests. As a result, they have no idea about the quality of their test distributed to the students. The present study attempts to figure out the levels of difficulty (LD) and the discriminating power (DP) of the multiple-choice (MC) test item constructed by an English teacher in the reading comprehension test utilizing test item analysis. This study employs a qualitative approach. For this purpose, a test of 50-MC test items of reading comprehension was obtained from the students� test results. Thirty-five students of grade eight took part in the MC test try-out. They are both male (15) and female (20) students of junior high school 2 Kempo, in West Nusa Tenggara Province. The findings revealed that16 items out of 50 test items were rejected due to the poor and worst quality level of difficulty and discriminating index. Meanwhile, 12 items need to be reviewed due to their mediocre quality, and 11 items are claimed to have good quality items. Besides, 11 items out of 50 test items were considered as the excellent quality as their DP scores reached around 0.44 through 0.78. The implications of the present study will shed light on the quality of teacher-made test items, especially for the MC test.

Problem-based learning and 21st-century skills: Are they compatible?

Rapid changes in the 21st century require students to have not only theoretical knowledge but also high order thinking skills and communicative skills. Arguing that problem-based learning can be a good alternative for improving 21st-century skills, the present study will elaborate on the characteristics, syntax, strengths, and challenges faced in implementing problem-based learning in the classroom. Library research was employed to choose the references for supporting the arguments. Relevant articles were chosen from reputable international journals through Google Scholar, limiting the publication's date from 2015 � 2020, with keywords related to problem-based learning and developing 21st -Century skills. The results reveal that the problems proposed in problem-based learning must be real-life-based and require problem-solving skills. The syntax of the implementation can be adjusted based on the needs of teachers and students. Although problem-based learning might be intricate, suitable strategies can be employed to obtain maximum benefits from this approach. In short, problem-based learning is an appropriate teaching approach to be implemented to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Affective damage from teachers� written corrective feedback

Several studies believe that providing feedback on a students� writing task offers several benefits. However, giving excessive corrections on students� mistakes can have a negative impact on the students� feeling. This study aims to investigate English Foreign Language students� emotional response to the teachers� written corrective feedback. A qualitative method was applied. The participants were 72 third grade students at an institution in Cimahi. To collect the data, a five-point Likert scale questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were applied. The results revealed that the teachers� written corrective feedback had negative impact to the students� feelings, especially for the students who had mid and low proficiency level in writing. It even led to the students� demotivation. This indicates that the teachers have to consider several things before they give some written feedback as it can affect the students� attitude in a negative way.

The cultural repertoire of recontextualized superhero in the Avengers sequels

This research presents content analysis to the cultural repertoire of Marvel Cinematic Universe�s superhero motion pictures. It investigates the content, theme, and core ideas of Avengers sequels: The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). It explores how the Avengers sequels portrays recontextualization of superhero characters and whether as well as to what extent it provides US cultural monomyth. The finding shows that each character of the Avengers has flaws and vulnerabilities as common human beings that leave them from traditional superhero monomyth. Nevertheless, it still illustrates US cultural imperialism, pharmakon portrayal, hegemonic masculinity, and sovereignty. These motion pictures still serve US heroism and patriotism interest as well as binary interplay: order-chaos, law-violence and villain-superhero that occurs among superheroes, extra-terrestrial race, robots and Titans despite its recontextualized characters. Moreover, it depicts the traditional masculine ideal valorisation where men are more likely powerful, intelligent, and equipped by sophisticated technology whereas women are seen as supportive superheroes with implied beauty standards. The recommendation for future research is discussed.

FbG as an around the clock support for an essay writing course amidst the pandemic

This study aimed to explore the potential of Facebook Group (FbG) for teaching essay writing skills in the period of social distancing due to covid-19 pandemic. The study involved three groups of students who had been attending Essay Writing Course. Data was collected through questionnaires, interview, home assignments, and documents. Questionnaires were distributed via Google Form. Interviews were conducted with students through WhatsApp chats and calls. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse data obtained from closed questionnaires, home assignments, and mid-term test. Data from open questionnaires, interviews, and documents was analysed using qualitative inductive approach to identifying themes � topics, ideas, and patters of meaning. Study findings indicated that FbG has been an appropriate place for developing essay writing skills amidst the pandemic. FbG as networking site has made possible an effective, efficient, and practical essay writing learning for the following reasons.� Firstly, FbG discussion forum provided invaluable learning input. Secondly, FbG was easy to operate. The students could learn independently at their own pace.� Lastly, use of FbG brought them convenience and raised confidence to better engage in learning online. FbG has supported students� essay writing learning process that has led to good writing performance. This can be seen not only from the conducive learning process in comparison to traditional classroom instruction prior to the pandemic, but also from learning outcome apparently observed in writing portfolios as well as mid-term test.

Tidayu ethnic harmonization in semiotic review of face negotiations conflict styles

The various ethnic groups with distinctive characteristics of each culture in Indonesia have consequences for potential conflicts among them. Tidayu ethnicity is a complete reflection of the interwoven between the three dominant ethnicities in the West Kalimantan region, including: Tionghoa, Dayak, and Malay. This study aims to reveal the meaning of the various signs displayed by the style of inter-ethnic conflict in a video show entitled �Bhinneka Tunggal Ika� with a review of the face negotiation theory proposed by Stella Ting-Toomey. The Thomas Albert Sebeok's Six Sign Semiotics method is used to examine the audio-visual data. The results of the research show that there is a harmonization of signs of various styles of conflict between ethnic groups, so that it becomes a great strength for the Indonesian Nation and State in particular to increase its social solidarity.

Performing motherhood in the height of the New Order era: The contestation of two women in Dua Ibu

The New Order regime in Indonesia was marked with a strong and centralized power including in defining motherhood. This article is aimed at investigating how the �Ibu� or motherhood becomes a contested arena between nameless Ibu and Tante Mirah and how this arena reflects the contestation of tradition and modernity in Java in the 1980s. Using close reading technique and contextualization, an investigation is done to see how the one role is contested by the two women. The nameless Ibu represents traditions shaped by the cultural and traditional milieu in Solo, Central Java. Meanwhile Tante Mirah migrates to Jakarta and builds her new economy and life.� It is evident that performing traditions has drained out Ibu�s financial resources. At the same time, Tante Mirah is successful in accumulating wealth. Consequently, Ibu goes bankrupt and lets Mirah take the son back. The novel documents the inevitable change of socially defined motherhood performed in the center of Javanese culture.

An instrumental analysis of oral monophthongs in Aceh Barat dialect of Acehnese

As among the ten most spoken languages, Acehnese inevitably has many varieties. Many previous studies on Acehnese have been heavily conducted on the northern varieties of Acehnese, leaving other Acehnese varieties unexplored. Pase dialect of Acehnese has been described to have oral and nasal monophthongs and diphthongs, but no studies on Aceh Barat dialect phonetic features of Acehnese have been made. Aceh Barat dialect has also been stigmatized as being rough and vulgar in the previous study. Thus, the current study aims to explore the instrumental analysis of Acehnese oral monophthongs by Aceh Barat speakers. Three male speakers (aged 35-50 years old) speaking only Acehnese as the local language participated in the current study. The ten Acehnese words used to target the ten phonemes were adapted from study. A total of 90 tokens of Acehnese oral vowels production were analyzed using PRAAT version 6.1.29. The oral monophthongs of the Aceh Barat dialect are generally similar to the previous study on the Pase dialect. Exception emerges for the vowel /?/ and /?/, which seems to be produced differently across the speakers. Both vowels appear to stretch further down the vowel space closer to the back vowels /u/ and / ?/, respectively.