The application of Swales’ model in writing a research article introduction

This research attempts to suggest an alternative solution for writers in general and graduate students in particular in writing a proper research article introduction. In order to do so, the authors explored how the Swales’ model is applied in writing a research article introduction. The exploration was approached through a library study on the Swales model application. Some previous studies applying Swales Model were gathered and categorized into three categories − application of Swales model on different types of genre besides the research article introduction, different discipline or field and the last is the application of Swales’ on the research article introduction across languages. Another three articles written by professional writers were also collected as samples of introductions that have successfully presented three obligatory moves – establishing a territory (Move 1), establishing a niche (Move 2) and occupying the niche or presenting the present work (Move 3) − proposed by Swales’ model. Those introductions were segmented into those three moves and analyzed based on a communication purpose in every step derived from each move. In order to add more comprehension about the model, an analysis was also conducted on introductions for seven articles in the English Education Journal (EEJ) published by the Graduate Program in English Language Education at Syiah Kuala University. The purpose of the analysis was to show the differences in structure of introductions organized without following the CARS Swales model. Conclusions are that the CARS Swales model is relevant for the teaching of introductions for research writing and it can be a guideline to teach students the moves and steps of this model for communication purposes

The Correlation between school principal leadership competence and teachers’ social behaviours

It has been predicted that the leadership competence of school principals indirectly influences the achievements of students because it has a positive impact on the social behaviour of their teachers. However, the correlation between those variables has not been supported by data. This research was therefore aimed at finding evidence for any correlations between the leadership competence of principals and the social behaviour of teachers under them. The samples were selected randomly, resulting in the selection of 110 EFL teachers in the Province of Aceh, Indonesia. The data for this study were collected using two questionnaires, a questionnaire about the social behaviour of teachers and a questionnaire rating the leadership competence of school principals. The data were analyzed using the Spearman correlation formula at significance level of 0.05. The results showed that almost all the constructs for leadership competence of principals were correlated to all the constructs of social behaviour of teachers at low level (0-0.29, p-value < 0.05) and moderate level (0.30 – 0.49, p-value < 0.05) of correlation. It was unexpected that teachers’ punctuality and accountability was not well-correlated to leadership competence of principals (p-value > 0.05). Based on the research results, it is recommended that the recruitment of school principals involve a standardized test consisting of all constructs of leadership competence

DISCOVERING POLICY, ATTITUDE, AND CONSTRAINTS ON SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT

Purpose of the study: This research mainly focuses on identifying and analyzing policies, attitudes, and constraints made by the bureaucrats of education and other school stakeholders about the existence of school-based management (henceforth called SBM), and further it examines the obstacles encountered in implementing school-based management. Methodology: The research used is descriptive analysis. In assessing data, this study used two types of measurements, namely, questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaire was used to explore the attitude of the stakeholders toward the existence of SBM. A total of 520 respondents have distributed the questionnaires which contained 60 items of each of these categories: instructional competence (10), professional competence (10), financial competence (10), and leadership issue (30). Furthermore, in the interview section, all four respondents are from each representative of four districts; Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Sigli, and Lhokseumawe. The framework of interview guidelines was then adapted from Daresh, et al. (2010) and the interview is eventually to grasp the respondents’ views on the obstacles and constraints on the implementation of SBM. Main Findings: The results of this study reveal that there were no written policies drawn up at the provincial and district level of the ministry of education about the implementation of SBM. Most stakeholders more than 50% tended to view the existence of SBM as positive. Although SBM has never been formally implemented in schools, some schools have started implementing some of the SBM concepts. Applications of this study: The researchers found that there are a variety of obstacles faced during the implementation, including decentralization, authority, decision-making, knowledge of management practices, roles and responsibilities, compensation, finance, leadership, and community care. Novelty/Originality of this study: To date, there is a limited amount of studies with their main focus on school-based management in Indonesia. Based on the written policies of school-based management is considered one of the vital elements to reach a good education.  Besides, schools must have SBM due to it is regarded as the guideline to examine whether the bureaucrats of education and school stakeholders have already implemented the regulation to run the education accordingly

Using contextual teaching and learning (CTL) approach to improve students' speaking ability

The objective of this research is to investigate the implementation of Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) to improve students’ speaking skills in the aspects of accuracy, clarity, and fluency. This research employed a quantitative method in nature. A pre-experimental design with pre-test and post-test was used. The population of this research was all second-year students. The sample of this research was one of the second-year classes chosen by using the purposive sampling technique. The instrument used in this research was a speaking test: pre-test and post-test. The data collected were analyzed statistically. The results showed that the implementation of contextual teaching and learning (CTL) improved students’ speaking skills in terms of accuracy, clarity, and fluency. The result of Wilcoxon showed the value of Asymp. Sig (2-tailed) for accuracy, clarity, and fluency is 0.000 which means that the resulting test is less than the minimum requirements of the statistics range (0.05). Therefore, the use of CTL in teaching and learning speaking is very beneficial for students to improve their speaking skills. Thus, the hypothesis of this research was accepted. There is a significant improvement in students’ speaking skills after they were taught by using CTL

GENDER-BASED DIFFERENCES IN MASTERING ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS

This study aims to find out gender-based differences in mastering English language skills between male and female students in single-sex schooling. There were 330 participants from first and second-year students of Darul Ihsan Islamic Senior High School involved. Direct learning strategies (memory, cognitive, and compensation strategy) along with attitude, motivation, and anxiety are variables analyzed in this study. A questionnaire from the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and Attitude Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) were adapted to collect the data. The data were analyzed by using Mann Whitney-U Test. The findings from the partial test show there was a significant difference between male and female students in attitude, motivation, anxiety, memory strategy, and cognitive strategy. Only compensation strategy and the simultaneous test of the variables were found to have no statistically significant difference between male and female students. The finding of the English subject score showed that female students outperform male students. It also found that male students have a higher level of anxiety than female students. Therefore, it is suggested that teachers should try to adjust the teaching and learning in male classes so that hopefully the learning circumstance will reduce the anxiety of male students

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) for teaching speaking

This research was done to investigate whether the lesson plans designed by the teacher matched the principles and methods of the CLT approach, how the teacher implemented the CLT approach for teaching speaking skills and what learning performances resulted from using CLT. The participants were senior high school students from classes X IPA, X MAK, XI IPA, XI MAK, and XII MAK plus the English teacher from Insan Qurani boarding school. The instruments used were observation sheets and documentation consisting of the teacher’s lesson plan and the students’ test results. The results from this study showed that there were several main procedures of the techniques suggested by the experts which were not completely written into the lesson plan. There were also several activities written into the lesson plans that were not performed well in the classroom. Furthermore, from the speaking performances produced by the students many of them did not reach the minimum passing criteria (KKM) of 70, although they had been treated with the CLT approach with role play, jigsaw, group discussions, picture series, and storytelling technique in their speaking classes. This leads to the conclusion that the students’ failure was because the procedures suggested by the experts were not entirely and effectively implemented by the teacher in her teaching

Language learning strategies employed by higher and lower achieving students in learning speaking

The objectives of this research were to find out the types of language learning strategies employed by higher and lower achieving students on speaking skill and to find out the impacts of language learning strategies employed by them. A questionnaire was used as the instrument of this study. The sample of this research were 82 students who were chosen based on the criteria: (1) the students already passed all the Speaking I to IV classes, (2) the students consist of higher achieving students (score ≥B) and lower achieving students (score ≤C), and (3) the students allowed the researcher to obtain their speaking scores. Thus, purposive sampling was used here. In this research, the researcher used Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by Oxford (2003) to determine the students’ language learning strategy. The result revealed that the higher achieving students used memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social strategies in learning speaking. On the other hand, the lower achieving students generally did not use the learning strategies in their learning activities. Therefore, as the impact of this learning habit, they do not possess a good speaking ability and achieve low scores in speaking class

Analyzing the English translation of the novel ‘Laskar Pelangi’ (The Rainbow Troops)

Initial studies show that there are some translations of literary works (from Indonesian to English) where the quality of the translation is questionable due to the loss of information, the addition of information, and the skewing of information. This is the main reason why this research was made. In this research we sought to assess the translation classification and quality of the English version of the novel ‘Laskar Pelangi’ (The Rainbow Troops). The translation classification of Falk et al. (2011)was employed. The translation quality was analyzed using the framework by Nababan et al. (2012). The research employed a documentation technique of descriptive qualitative study. The study found that among 3556 (words, phrases and sentences) data there are 1889 data classified as loss of information, 1527 data categorized as addition of information, and 140 data labeled as skewing of information. The translation quality of this novel was found to be less qualified since its accuracy and acceptability were both low and readability was found to be medium. In order to improve the accuracy, acceptability and readability of a translation, the authors suggest that the translator should have both good translation capabilities as well as cultural understanding of both the source language and target language.

Impromptu: great impromptu speaking is never just impromptu

Great impromptu speaking, reciting and singing are never just an isolated impromptu act. It is the result of endless practice to perfect performance that can then be given impromptu. One of the main objectives of learning English as a Second Language (ESL) is to be able to speak English impromptu, not just on the stage or in front of an audience but also in a casual meeting, on the street or during a formal meeting in a board-room. In fact to be able to speak “impromptu” should be the Holy Grail of teaching and learning ESL, more important than reading, writing and listening. So how come it is not given the priority it deserves – and how come it seems such a difficult goal? We believe it is because teachers and learners neglect to emphasize and practice the key to learning impromptu speaking. That key we believe is practice, practice and more practice. We can remember songs from our kindergarten years and we can still sing them because we practiced, practiced and practiced them. We believe that the teaching of ESL often overlooks the critical importance of lots of practice to create depth of learning and that creative methods of practicing need to be taught and practiced in ESL courses until such methods become deeply habitual, in fact they become a new personal paradigm. If our students aim to become great at ESL, they, too, must take continuous never-ending practice to heart

Covid-19 Pandemic Implications on Quran Subjects at Primary School in Malaysia: A New Solution Based on 3T Quranic Basic Module

This study aimed to observe the effectiveness of the use of textbooks and exercise books of Quran, primarily online or through Home-based Teaching and Learning (PdPR) during the Movement Control Order (PKP) for primary school students. The study introduced an alternative study material, the 3T Quranic basic module, to teachers and recorded their initial perceptions of the module. A total of 60 teachers representing 9 school branches participated in an online questionnaire online via Google Forms. The study found that most teachers thought the existing textbooks and exercise books of the Quran do not achieve the learning objectives, and are less practical to use online. Most teachers preferred the alternative study materials, the 3T Quranic basic module, as the most suitable material to achieve the school’s learning objectives. Thus, the use of the new 3T Quranic basic module was suggested to improve student achievement through its various contents and interactive implementation such as video guides, digital modules, brief and concise information, and comprehensive training specifically designed for students. This 3T Quranic basic module is also constructive and beneficial alternative to assist and guide teachers as well as caregivers to have appropriate monitoring with small group control (mentoring system)