EFL teacher educators’ experiences in teaching critical reading: evidence from Indonesia

While extensive studies have explored issues of teaching critical reading in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes, there is a paucity of research that examines teacher educators’ conceptions of teaching critical reading in the EFL contexts. To fill the gap, this phenomenological study probes into EFL teacher educators’ experiences in teaching critical reading. It specifically looks at teacher educators’ conceptions of teaching critical reading and how their teaching practices contribute to the development of students’ critical reading skills. Data were generated through in-depth interviews with nine teacher educators in a private university in Malang, Indonesia. Findings suggest that the teacher educators’ conceptions of teaching critical reading, as geared by their lived experiences, involve basic conceptions of teaching critical reading, teaching critical reading from a philosophical lens, and critical thinking empowerment in reading classes. The study also documents that teaching critical reading encompasses higher order thinking skills enacted in the process of reading. Practically, the study’s findings call for the enactment of pedagogic trainings for teacher educators in order to construe their basic tenets of teaching critical reading, the philosophies behind such a teaching practice, and the empowered learning activities in the reading classes.

Promoting pre-service English teachers’ technological awareness in ELT: narratives from a border area of Indonesia

The need for preparing quality teachers with all essential technological competencies is considered crucial. The present study aims to analyze and reveal how a design activity could raise the technology awareness of pre-service English teachers for language teaching. Taking a case in a border area of Indonesia, this study was qualitatively conducted as a narrative inquiry research model. Data were collected through participatory observation, in-depth interview, and written narrative from a lecturer’s journal. Fifteen pre-service English teachers of a university located in East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia were involved in the study. However, only six participants were interviewed to elicit detailed stories about how the activities in ELT media class could promote their technological awareness. Furthermore, thematic analysis with multiple case studies was applied to analyze the data. The results reveal that the pre-service English teachers develop their awareness of the prominence of technology by experiencing the use of technology provided by their lecturer. Furthermore, peer collaboration is essential during the process of developing technological awareness. The findings provide insights for educators and researchers focusing on the technology integration for teaching and learning in remote areas. Further researches highlighting the evaluation of technology integration is needed regarding remote areas.

The implementation of digital storytelling using discovery learning in EFL listening class: middle school students’ and teachers’ voices

Due to the rapid elevation of technology, teachers are expected to integrate technology into the classroom to engage students considered digital natives. Digital storytelling is an alternative medium for teaching listening skills. This case study investigated students’ and teachers' voices of the implementation of digital storytelling using discovery learning. An in-depth interview, classroom observation, and open-ended questionnaire were applied to explore the implementation of digital storytelling using discovery learning. This case study involved a middle school English teacher and 30 students from a junior high school level in Bali, Indonesia. The qualitative data from students and teachers interviews and observations showed that the students perceived that digital storytelling is more engaging, interesting, and motivating to improve their listening skills. The most challenging activities rested on students' limited vocabulary during the communication stage using Bahasa Indonesia. The pedagogical implication of this study is that EFL teachers need to provide learners with relevant vocabulary to support learners' communication skills during the classroom session during the implementation of digital storytelling. Since learners' limited vocabulary becomes one of the hindering factors in teaching listening, it is recommended for a further researcher to address this issue.

The inevitable surge of online learning through the lens of English education lecturers during the unprecedented times

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has obliged universities worldwide to shift to other modalities such as e-learning. Lecturers feel obliged to motivate and aspire their students virtually. This study explores the perceptions and experience of English education lecturers on the inevitable surge of virtual teaching during the Pandemic. This study was a qualitative interview study utilized an interpretive description approach. The data were generated by interviewing 19 English education lecturers based on defined evaluation criteria and an online learning environment. Participants were given ten open-ended interview questions to find out how lecturers undertook online teaching during unprecedented times and perceived some changes in the teaching and learning process. The findings showed three themes emerged from lecturers’ perspectives during the shift to online learning; those themes are the need for iterative process, revamp delivery, and the need to advance technology infrastructure. In addition, there were two (themes that characterize the participants’ experiences in implementing online learning: Agility and adaptability, identification of the underlying needs. All themes in this study emerged from obtained sub-themes. These findings indicated that the inevitable surge of online learning shapes lecturers’ teaching skills and attitude in the process of shifting to other modalities.

Incorporating CEFR bands and ICT-competences in grammar syllabuses of English Language Education Study Program in Indonesia

The incorporation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the educational field has been widely implemented as 21st century skill. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is one of the global standard languages required for global standard. However, in Indonesian context, there is lack of syllabuses incorporating CEFR bands and ICT-competences. This study explores the CEFR levels and ICT-competences incorporating in grammar syllabuses of ELESP in Indonesian universities. A content analysis method is used. Fifteen syllabuses of the grammar of the ELESP from 8 universities in Indonesia were selected purposely based on the proportion of private and public universities. All the grammar syllabuses are identified as Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced grammar. The findings revealed that: basic grammar, the CEFR level was A1-B1, intermediate grammar, the CEFR level was A1-B2, while the advanced grammar showed that CEFR level was B2-C2. In addition, the ICT-competences in entire syllabuses showed insufficient utilization which dominated Knowledge Acquisition and less intended for Knowledge Deepening and Knowledge Creation. These findings contribute as a reference to adjust and re-align the existing syllabuses to be in line with the CEFR bands framework and enriched with ICT-competencies.

Male and female Indonesian EFL undergraduate students’ metacognitive strategies in academic reading: planning, monitoring and evaluation strategies

Metacognitive strategies have been investigated as helping tools for students’ reading comprehension, but their use may vary between males and females. Though gender is an essential factor in language learning, few studies highlighted the influence of gender on the metacognitive reading strategy use by Indonesian students. To fill in the gap, this study investigated the use of metacognitive strategies during academic reading from a gender perspective. A mixed-method was adopted, with open-ended and close-ended questionnaires and a semi-structured interview used to gather the data. From the quantitative data analysis, the students used most metacognitive strategies to a high degree. The only significantly different strategy use was guessing meaning (F=0.232, p<0.05), where male students used it more often. From the qualitative data analysis, the female students used more strategy variations than the male students (20 and 18 strategy variations respectively). The students shared some similar and some different reasons to use metacognitive reading strategies. The results suggested the gender influence on male students to make predictions. The findings from this research will prompt English teachers to introduce metacognitive strategies in reading through appropriate instructions and guidance to enable the students to implement and develop their metacognitive strategies in academic reading.

Assessment by Thai academic English writing teachers of the flow of given to new topic information within academic writing

Adhering to a structured process of the flow of given to new topic information within academic written discourse is a significant challenge for most tertiary-level non-native EFL students. The progression of given to new topic information in written academic text is equally difficult for many non-native academic English writing teachers to distinguish, much less assess. This research seeks to determine if given to new information progression can be significantly identified, and explore the possibility of such topic progression being utilized as a practical form of academic writing assessment by experienced Thai tertiary teachers of academic English. Multiple Linear Regression was employed to determine the relationship between the Thai writing teachers' identification of the flow of given to new topic information and a preliminary analysis of topic information flow by a qualified native English writing teacher. The insights gained from this study show that the Thai academic English writing teachers could not significantly detect the presence of given to new topic information progression within the academic texts. The implication of this research suggests that at this time, the practical utilization of a given to new progression analysis may not be a feasible evaluative measure in written assessments for Thai academic English writing teachers.

Course review horay and critical thinking skills: the effective teaching model for students’ grammar competence in remote EFL classrooms

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, EFL lecturers need to be creative in handling their remote teaching. However, scarce studies investigated the use of course review horay (CRH) and students’ critical thinking skills (CTS) in remote EFL classrooms especially in grammar classes. The study aimed to explore whether or not CRH was more effective than explanation model to teach grammar and the students having high CTS had better grammar competence than those of low CTS. This experimental study employed a 2x2 factorial design. The population was the second semester students of non-English departments in a private university in East Java, Indonesia. The sample was four groups comprising of two groups (high and low CTS) in the experimental class and two groups (high and low CTS) in the control class. To categorize them into high and low CTS, an Indonesian argumentative essay writing test was used. After six meetings of treatment, the students did the grammar test. The grammar scores were, then, analyzed using ANOVA and TUKEY tests. The results indicated that CRH was more effective and the students with high CTS possessed better grammar competence. The present study implies that CRH and CTS created a joyful learning atmosphere in remote grammar teaching.

Infographics and independent learning for English learning in the secondary level context

Visual media are still ineffective in covering all learning focus and learning activities to support independent learning. Independent learning guides students to learn the material by themselves, but it is still not supported by the existing visual media. Infographics are a medium that underlies transformative skills in teaching because they can provide a complete learning focus in each material. This study was aimed at developing English teaching media for the 9th grade. A Design and Development research (DnD) proposed by Richey and Klein (2005) was used in this study, including design, development, and evaluation. Initial observations have been carried out at one of the junior high schools in Buleleng, Bali, Indonesia. Data collection was carried out by library research relating to the development of infographics and the nature of independent learning, document analysis by doing syllabus analysis, and expert judgment. The results obtained from the research are infographics are considered to be very good as a medium for teaching English for independent learning. This research implies that teachers' technology-based teaching skills can be assisted by developing this infographic teaching media.

Taiwanese EFL learners’ English proficiency, intercultural competence, and willingness to communicate

Although issues on intercultural competence and willingness to communicate have been largely studied, most studies focused on learners’ personality traits, motivation, or communication apprehension as affected factors. The significant relationship between intercultural competence, willingness to communicate, and learners’ English proficiency was less addressed. This study hereby examined the relationship of these three. It drew on quantitative research by employing a questionnaire to 409 Taiwanese college freshmen studying at one Taiwanese university (216 high- & 193 low-English-proficiency). A printed questionnaire of fifty-two items with the use of the five-point Likert-scale was adopted. The result showed significant differences between high- and low-proficiency students’ intercultural competence and willingness to communicate. Students of high English proficiency showed more intercultural competence and willingness to communicate. They demonstrated sophistication in operating their skills of intercultural competence and were more confident in communicating with people of different cultures in English. This study also found that learners’ growth of intercultural competence and willingness to communicate were interconnected per se; this interconnectedness was evident on both high- and low-proficiency groups. This study adds new threads to relevant studies and suggests that language teachers seek ways to enhance their students’ intercultural competence and willingness to communicate.