SFL GENRE-BASED PEDAGOGY AND STUDENT EMPOWERMENT

Abstract: This paper reports on the results of a study, aiming to investigate whether systemic functional linguistic genre pedagogy (SFL GP) can empower students. This study was conducted with a class of students (17 students) in semester 3, learning academic writing. in the English Department of a state university in Indonesia. The study used the model of SFL GP offered by Derewianka (in Hertzberg, 2012); Derewianka & Jones (2012) and the concept of empowerment related to the context of literacy (Stromquist, 2009), released by UNESCO. The concept of empowerment used in the study refers to the set of feelings, knowledge, and skills that produce the ability to participate in one’s social environment and affect the political system and this ability comprises four dimensions, the cognitive dimension, the economic dimension, the political dimension, and the psychological dimension. The study used a case study research design and the data were obtained from participant classroom observations for 16 meetings, in which SFL GP was implemented, analyses of students’ proposals using systemic functional linguistics, and a questionnaire. In the interest of space, the paper will present a small part of the data from the students’ proposals and questionnaire. The data show that SFL GP can empower the students, allowing them to gain the ability especially related to cognitive and psychological dimensions. The students’ proposals show their good control of the structure and linguistic features of a research proposal and their quite strong knowledge of the field and research methodology. Moreover, the questionnaire data indicate their consciousness of improvement in reading and writing competence and positive attitude to the program. All these are expected to lead to the empowerment in terms of the other two dimensions, the economic and political dimensions in the future

Students' Critical Thinking in Writing a Thesis Using the Transitivity System

: Students' Critical Thinking in Writing a Thesis Using the Transitivity System. This paper reports on a small part of the results of a study in attempting to identify students' ability and difficulties in writing an English undergraduate thesis in a state university in Indonesia. The paper centres around the students' ability and difficulties in writing a data presentation and discussion chapter, which are related to critical capacity looked at in this study. The paper begins with a brief introduction, which presents the background and the theories underpinning the study. This will be followed by an account of the methodology, in which it is argued that the study used a case study method, particularly text analysis and involved nine theses selected randomly and analysed based on the elements of a conventional research report and the Transitivity system of systemic functional grammar, developed by Halliday. The paper then delineates the results, showing that despite their good control in the discourse semantic level, students in general still need a lot of guidance and assistance in writing a data presentation and discussion chapter. Recommendation for further research will conclude the paper

TRANSLANGUAGING PRACTICES IN A TERTIARY EFL CONTEXT IN INDONESIA

This paper presents partial results of an ethnographic study in 2021, aiming to identify translanguaging (TL) practices (the use of Indonesian and English), their functions and benefits, and the participants’ opinions about such practices in a tertiary English as a foreign language (EFL) context in Indonesia. The study involved 75 participants in four courses organized online (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), in the English Education Study Program of a state university in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The study drew on the notion of TL, synthesized with principles of effective online teaching. The data were obtained from a phase of teaching with teachers as researchers in 7 meetings (out of 16 meetings required), informal interviews with the participants after the class, and a questionnaire administered online, involving 46 volunteers. The results reveal that TL practices occurred in all courses, which served different functions, including interpretive, managerial, and interactive functions. The practices benefited the students cognitively, socially, and psychologically. Questionnaire and interview data support observation data and previous research about the use of mother tongue in Indonesian EFL classrooms (Emilia, 2010, 2011) that the majority of students (82.6%) wanted mixed Indonesian and English despite few students’ tendency to use English only in the classroom

SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTIC GENRE PEDAGOGY (SFL GP) IN A TERTIARY EFL WRITING CONTEXT IN INDONESIA

This article reports on the results of a study aiming to investigate whether systemic functional linguistic genre pedagogy (SFL GP) can help students develop their writing ability in English and the students’ opinions about the teaching program using SFL GP. The study was conducted in one semester with 19 student teachers taking a writing course on argumentative texts, in the English Department at a state university in West Java, Indonesia. The texts in focus were Exposition, Discussion and Response to Literary Works, but in the interests of space, the article will centre around Exposition. The study used a qualitative case study research design with data collected from participant observations for 16 meetings, analysis of students’ texts collected over the program, and questionnaires distributed at the conclusion of the program. The results indicate that despite some aspects that still need improvement, SFL GP can generally help students develop their writing ability. Observation data show students’ writing skill improvement supported by students’ texts which depicts good control of the schematic structure and linguistic features of the texts in focus. Finally, questionnaire data reveal students’ consciousness of improved writing skill and positive responses to each activity in the program. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that SFL GP be implemented in other contexts in Indonesia and other countries

“Learning Functional Grammar is fun”: A snapshot of functional grammar unit at an English Education Department in Indonesia

This paper reports on a teaching program for the Functional Grammar (FG) unit at an English Education Study Program of a state university in West Java Indonesia in 2020-2022.  Three cohorts of pre-service teachers in semester six were involved in the program (38 students in 2020, 26 in 2021, and 36 in 2022). The teaching program was conducted online due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The report focuses on exploring students’ understanding of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) – FG in particular, and their ability to use SFL in text analysis. The study  also addresses students’ opinions on learning SFL through FG unit. The  study used a qualitative case study design and the data were obtained from participant observations, a questionnaire distributed at the end of the teaching program, and analysis of students’ essays on text analyses. In the interest of space, the paper will only present and discuss data from the questionnaire and three samples of student essays. The questionnaire data were analysed qualitatively using a thematic analysis of different aspects of the unit and SFL, and students’ essays were analysed using SFL, especially theme, transitivity, and mood systems in lexicogrammar stratum. The data from the questionnaire indicate that all the students in all cohorts responded positively to the teaching program. Many students in each cohort said that learning FG is fun, enjoyable, interesting, and useful for both daily and academic life. They displayed a good understanding of SFL, including its basic principles, notions, and values ­ – especially concerning their reading and writing improvement. The data from students’ essays also reveal their ability to show how and why the text means what it does and to evaluate why the text is or is not effective for its own purposes. On this basis, it is recommended that SFL be introduced to Indonesian university students to enhance their literacy capacity and to Indonesian teachers to improve their teaching skills and their ways to develop assessment that is linguistically informed

CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING APPROACH TO TEACHING WRITING

Abstract: This article reports a study on the implementation of contextual teaching and learning approach to teaching English writing to second graders of a Junior High Shool in Bandung. The study aims to investigate the strategies of Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) (as adapted from Crawford, 2001) and the advantages of using CTL approach. The study employed a qualitative case study research design. The data were obtained from several instruments, namely class observations, students’ interview and students’ writing products which were then analyzed using writing assessment criteria taken from Rose (2007, as cited by Emilia, 2011, p. 151). The findings revealed that the teaching writing program was successful to improve students’ recount writing skill. Specifically, they showed some improvement on schematic structure, grammar roles, and graphic features. Moreover, the data from observation, interview, and documentation of students’ text showed some benefits of CTL. These include: (1) engaging students in the writing activity; (2) increasing students’ motivation to participate actively in the writing class; (3) helping students to construct their writing; (4) helping students to solve their problems; (5) providing ways for students to discuss or interact with their friends; and (6) helping the students to summarize and reflect the lesson. Based on these findings, it is recommended that CTL be implemented in teaching writing.   Keywords: contextual teaching and learning, teaching writin