The Washback Effects of Testing Practices on English Language Teaching

Teachers often confused how they can get feedback from their students as one of supporting education components they need. Therefore, washback effects are important as the feedback. This essay studies the washback effects of testing practices on English language teaching. This essay covers three important parts which discuss washback effects. The first part tells the introduction which consists of background to the study, objectives of the study, and limitation of the problem. The second part clarifies English language teaching in Indonesia, English language teaching in Junior High Schools, testing practices on English language teaching, factors influence testing practices, washback effects of testing practices, and areas affected by washback. The third part reviews research studies on washback effects to explore the washback effects of testing practices on English language teaching. The last part, conclusion, is consistent with the effects of washback of testing practices on English language teaching

DEVELOPING ENGLISH LEARNING MATERIALS FOR GRADE X STUDENTS OF AGRICULTURE STUDY PROGRAM AT SMK MUHAMMADIYAH 2 MERTOYUDAN

The objectives of this study are: (1) to describe the target needs, (2) to describe the learning needs, and (3) to develop English learning materials for Grade X students of the Agriculture Study Program at SMK Muhammadiyah 2 Mertoyudan. The type of this study is Research and Development. The stages were conducting needs analysis, writing the course grid, writing the first draft of the materials, getting the expert judgment, and revising the materials to produce the final draft. The subjects of the study were 36 grade X students of the Agriculture Study Program at SMK Muhammadiyah 2 Mertoyudan. The data of this study were quantitative data obtained through the completed questionnaires and qualitative data collected from experts’ opinions and suggestions about the developed materials. The data were analyzed by using descriptive quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The research developed three units of materials for grade X students of the Agriculture Study Program at SMK Muhammadiyah 2 Mertoyudan. Each unit of the materials consists of 22 tasks that are organized into Introduction, Main Teaching and Learning Activities, and Reinforcement. The Main Teaching and Learning Activities section has two parts, i.e. spoken cycle (listening and speaking skills) and written cycle (reading and writing skills). Based on the expert judgment, the content, the language, the presentation, and the graphic design of the developed materials are appropriate as shown by the ranges of mean value 2.52 - 3.27 and 3.28 - 4.03 that categorized as “Good” and “Very Good”. The appropriate task components have the following characteristics. The appropriate goal of the developed materials is helping the students to master English in spoken and written language well in order to be able to understand meaning and function of words, sentences and expressions in English. The appropriate inputs are short authentic monologs or dialogs and authentic texts. Answering questions based on the monolog or dialog in written language, acting out dialogs in pairs, reading a text and answering the questions, and writing texts based on the given example are the appropriate activities. The appropriate teacher roles are as a controller, a prompter, and a resource. The appropriate learner role is to be an active participant as well as problem solver in the learning process. The appropriate setting for accomplishing the task is working in pairs

Developing supplementary reading materials for grade 11 students at a multimedia study program

This research is aimed at developing a supplementary reading material to fulfill students' need in one of the multimedia study program at Mangelang, Indonesia, for learning reading. The design of this research is Research and Development. This research was oriented to the product development, and it was conducted in two main stages; (1) exploration stage and (2) product development stage. The exploration stage includes (1) literature review, (2) field study, and (3) need analysis. Meanwhile, the product development stage describes (1) the prototype development, (2) experts’ judgment, and (3) pilot. This research was conducted in a vocational secondary school involving an English teacher, two material experts, and students. The findings show that the existing textbook used to teach reading contains general English material and it is less specific to be used for the students at the program. Therefore, it implies that there should be supplementary reading materials for the teacher to develop reading to meet the needs of these students