Material Development of English Correspondence Using Task-Based Approach (TBA) for UNNES Students

This study aimed to depict Unnes students’ ability in writing formal letters using English; design and develop correspondence material for English subject in Unnes; and evaluate the effectiveness of correspondence learning by applying Task Based Approach (TBA). This study has been done within a year in Universitas Negeri Semarang by using Research and Development approach. The results indicated that most of the students did not understand formal letter writing using English proven by their lack of knowledge about types of formal letter, letter style, and concept of letter sections. The main problems encountered by the students were garmmar, spelling, and punctuation. Thus, Task Based Approach (TBA) is an effective learning model to teach English correspondence. Correspondence material designing is an urgent need in regards to the advantages obtained by the students that is to develop their skills and ability in writing formal letter in English.     Keywords: Letter, effectiveness, Task Based Approach (TBA

Comparing pedagogical competence performances of English and non-English educational background teachers in teaching English at an elementary school

Regulation of the Minister of National Education number 16 of 2007 stated that Teachers at the Elementary school level (SD/MI), or other equivalent forms, must have a minimum educational academic qualification of diploma four (D-IV) or bachelor (S1) in the field of Primary Education (D-IV/S1 PGSD/PGMI) or psychology obtained from an accredited study program. Thus, there are many schools that have English teachers from non-English educational backgrounds (NEB) rather than English teachers from English educational backgrounds (EEB). This condition will affect the quality of English teaching in Elementary schools. In order to evaluate further the suitability of government regulation regarding teachers’ criteria in teaching Elementary students, this study was to compare the pedagogical competence of English and non-English educational background teachers in teaching English at the elementary school level. The design of the study is qualitative research with a case study approach. The researcher took four English teachers consisting of two English teachers with EEB and two English teachers with NEB. This study used interviews, observation, and questionnaires to collect the data. This study used 10 indicators from the Ministry of Education, 2007. The results showed that from the 10 aspects, it can be highlighted that English teachers from EEB and English teachers from NEB have similarities and differences in implementing the indicators of pedagogical competence established by the Ministry of Education, 2007. It showed that the English teachers from EEB are more dominant in implementing indicators 1,2,8,9,10. Furthermore, the English teachers from NEB are more dominant in indicators 6 and 7. Thus, they have similarities in the rest of the indicators (3,4,5)

English for specific purposes curriculum evaluation from the social semiotic perspective

This paper presents an evaluation of an English for specific purposes (ESP) curriculum using the social semiotic perspective. This perspective highlights the importance of authenticity, multimodality, and communicative competence in ESP teaching and learning. Five main components of the ESP curriculum at the Port and Shipping Management Department of a Maritime Polytechnic in Indonesia were evaluated, including the syllabus, lesson plans, resources, teaching activities, and assessment. In conducting the evaluation, the authors developed an evaluation framework based on three existing frameworks, namely Stufflebeam’s context input process product (CIPP) model for evaluation, Kaewpet’s ESP program evaluation, and Tsou and Chen’s ESP program evaluation. Multiple data collection methods were used and multiple perspectives of research participants were invited. The findings of the study revealed that there were several problems in the ESP curriculum of the Port and Shipping Management Department. The main problem was the poorly designed syllabus that has caused drawbacks on the other components, such as irrelevant and unauthentic teaching materials and activities, low variety of teaching media, lack of multimodal resources used in the classroom, and low validity and reliability of assessments. Pedagogical implications regarding the results of the evaluation are also discussed.

The students’ perception of advance organizer as a background knowledge building strategy on listening comprehension

This study investigated the students’ perception toward Advance Organizer as background knowledge building to the second-semester students of IKIP PGRI Pontianak. Advance Organizer is a strategy that builds and enriches the students’ background knowledge and it is very needed to encounter challenges in listening comprehension activities. A descriptive studies was applied in order to gain the finding of the study by administered a questionnaire to the second-semester students. The researcher adapted the ASSIST questionnaire and used the surface approach as the indicator of the questionnaire. The data indicate that the overall average of the respondents’ achievement is 97,6 and categorized as high. The highest achievement was on the indicator of lack of purpose scored as 82 and categorized as very high. It was followed by unrelated memorizing and fear of failure indicators with the score of achievement 79,5 and 71,7 which were categorized as high. From the data analysis, it was found that the students’ perception of Advance Organizer was positive

Is collaborative peer assessment model effective for genre-based writing in university?

The existing peer assessment model for genre-based writing must be developed to gain the maximum quality of the assessment. It needs to be integrated with collaborative learning and problem-based learning and make the peer assessment as part of learning. Thus, this research has aim to determine the effectiveness of the peer assessment model in the group genre-based writing class. The method used was quantitative method with comparative design. The model was developed at seventh semester of English Education Department, Universitas Islam Negeri Salatiga, Indonesia. There are 23 pre-service English teachers (PSETs) joining on the implementation developed peer assessment model collaborative genre-based writing peer assessment model. The result revealed that there is no difference between the score from the peer assessment and the score given by the lecturer. It can be concluded that the collaborative genre-based writing peer assessment conducted by students has similarities with the assessment conducted by the teacher. It supports that the students’ and teacher’s assessment has the same quality