Assessing an effective collaboration in higher education: A study of students’ experiences and challenges on group collaboration

Studies emphasize that collaboration remains an essential part of learning and working in the 21st century. This study seeks to report on the group collaboration of higher education students. Using Explanatory sequential mixed method design, this study tried to discuss the students’ experiences and challenges on group collaboration environment in the online learning cases. Adopting Razmerita and Kirchner's (2014) questionnaire, 287 students involved in this study. The result indicated that overall students performed positive perception on group collaboration. In addition, to have deep analysis, 15 students were interviewed. This study contributes to an understanding of how students perceived collaboration and how they explain the obstacles recognized in their classes.DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.6971

Indonesian EFL students’ voice on the first language usage in classroom

The first language (L1) usage is still found during the English lesson, specifically in non-native English countries. This may be a debatable issue among experts. Hence, investigation on students’ perception is helpful in this study. It will give an insight into students’ preferences for learning the language. The previous studies related to this topic were mainly focused on senior high school and undergraduate students as the subject. Therefore, this present study proposed to explore the perception of junior high school students. In conducting this study, the researcher applied a quantitative survey design. There were 29 questions in three sections that were distributed to investigate: (1) the language used in the EFL classroom, (2) students’ attitudes as well as (3) students’ well-being during the English foreign language lesson. The participants were 101 students of SMP Shalahuddin Malang. The findings revealed that students have positive responses towards the use of Indonesian langauge during the EFL lesson. DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.6701

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

Modality analysis in Joe Biden’s speech delivered on the anniversary of the Covid-19 shutdown

Covid-19 has been global health problem and become the concern of global leaders in the world. One of them is Joe Biden, current president of American. He delivered his speech on Anniversary Covid-19 Shutdown on March 11, 2021. The clauses in his speech contain modality. Modality is included in interpersonal meaning where language is used to encode interaction between the speaker and the hearer. This research aims to analyze the type of modality used by Biden in his speech and utilize it to find his self-representation. The research uses Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in term of modality analysis as the tool and discourse analysis as the approach. The finding shows that three types of modalities found; inclination, probability and obligation. The self-representation of Biden found are being visionary, being determined, showing sadness, being powerful, and showing respect. DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.6531

Innovative technology in English language teaching: Enhancing early start in teaching English through Zoom

The pandemic situation leads to a change in the education system which requires innovative technology to substitute traditional learning with the modern one. Consequently, it also happened to any level of learners from the early start. The early start in teaching English became an ability to create successful learning by using innovative technology. The purpose of this study is to investigate an early start to learn the English using Zoom by enrolling five students to participate along with problems. The researcher gained the data by observation techniques and interview using qualitative method. The finding revealed that students are more interested while learning by Zoom. The problem was the unstable internet connection. DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.6475

Exploring pre-service teachers’ perception towards gender-biased texts in EFL textbook

In education, gender is a very serious issue that needs to be discussed, particularly in academic circles. Textbooks are the only open and inexpensive resource for education, they should have been a critical tool to identify better gender equity. This study explored the pre-service teachers’ perception of gender biased in EFL textbook. The result of the research reveals that pre-service teachers still cannot really comprehend the idea of gender bias and unable to notice that the texts are gendered. However, after receiving explanations about gender bias and the importance of paying attention to the conditions in certain textbooks, pre-service teachers are willing to do a better job in selecting textbooks. In addition, they will also educate students and other teachers about the situations to reflect the ideal state of gender equality in all aspects of life.DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.5578

Student learning engagement in the online class

Learning online in the pandemic era raises a challenge for educators (lecturer). The challenge comes from the effectiveness of online media used and the good atmosphere built in the interactions between lecturers and students. It is due to several factors that may contribute to learning success; one of them is student engagement. This research aimed to explore student engagement in Paragraph Writing online class, involving behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement. The participants involved in this study are second-semester students of the English Department at a private college in Jombang. Using a case study, the researchers used observation and questionnaire to obtain the data. Based on the analysis, the results revealed that students tend to be actively engaged in behavioral and cognitive engagement. Furthermore, students’ perception toward their engagement in the dimension of behavior, emotion, and cognition gained positive results. DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.6128

Students’ attitudes toward the internet usage for learning

This paper examined students’ attitudes toward the use of internet for their learning and measured the differences between male and female students on the usage of internet-assisted in their learning. The participants of this study were 27 senior high school students in East Java, Indonesia, consisted of 6 male and 21 female. The data was gathered through questionnaire. The findings proved that majorities of students felt positive attitudes toward the use of internet for their learning. There were no differences between male and female students on their attitude of internet usage. Suggestions are for pedagogical as well as future researches. DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.6583

Unveiling students’ writing argumentative essays barriers in online learning

Due to the closure of Schools and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), HEIs had shifted the teaching and learning method from face-to-face to Screen-based learning, such as the use of Learning Management System or Moodle, and other applications. Moreover, screen-based learning, such as the use of Learning Management System or Moodle, and other applications the EFL students’ writing argumentative essays barriers in online learning as well as their learning strategies as alternative solutions to cope with them. The research employed descriptive qualitative design. The participants were six EFL students from the fifth semester who experienced writing argumentative essays during pandemic. The instrument used to gather the data was depth interviews about the issue of research. After analysis, it exposed three barriers in writing argumentative essays made by the participants, namely unusualness on the implementation of e-learning for writing, low bandwidth while learning, and students’ discouragement on writing argumentative essays. To overcome the barriers, students must be given a brief simulation previously before attending the real-time class, making classification and analogy for the complex materials up to the simple one, and get a relaxation during the argumentations class. So, it becomes a crystal clear that teacher must assist students to be aware of their weaknesses in writing argumentative essay class so that they can be more creative in writing. Besides, students are expected to be able to solve their barriers by maintaining well communication among the teachers and classmates to sharpen their understanding and implement the best learning styles individually.

A case study of teachers’ efforts towards learning problems in virtual EFL class during Covid-19 school closure

The Covid-19 has been deemed a global pandemic affecting almost all sectors, particularly in education. Learning activities have been forced to relocate virtually due to the school closure. This study aimed at exploring teaching-learning problems felt by English teachers and their efforts to overcome those problems during the school closure in a state senior high school in West Lombok. Designed in a case study, two English teachers were voluntarily recruited using convenience sampling. The data for this study were gathered from observation, interviews, and documentation. Informed by the theory of Community of Inquiry (CoI) and previous empirical studies, the data were analysed using four stages of the interactive model. The investigation revealed that during the virtual teaching, teachers experienced considerable internal and external pedagogical glitches. It was also uncovered that the teachers disclosed some endeavours to maintain teaching, social, and cognitive presence in the instruction to surmount the nested pedagogical problems. However, their efforts were observed inadequate and left some room for improvement on how teachers could effectively serve in the virtual pedagogical practices. Some implications and future research directions are discussed accordingly. DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.6463