ONLINE ENGLISH SENTENCE CONSTRUCTIONS BY UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF THE ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, NUSA CENDANA UNIVERSITY

This research aimed at finding out: 1. kinds of sentences constructed by semester VI undergraduate students of the English Education Department, School of Teachers Training and Educational Sciences, Nusa Cendana University; 2. their strengths and weaknesses in constructing those sentences; and, 3. solutions to their weaknesses in constructing English sentences.  To achieve those aims, this research used descriptive-qualitative research paradigm.  The phenomenon to be investigated is how students joining TEFL course constructed certain sentences in communicating with their lecturer or in doing their tasks.  The research was done at the English Department of Nusa Cendana University from March 2021 to October, 2021.  The instruments used to collect the data were students’online documents and interviews.  The data were analysed descriptively based on English grammatical accuracy.  It was found that, first, kinds of sentences the students constructed were simple, complex, compound and compound-complex sentences including sentences which are discursive on their own, that is, sentences as complete discourses themselves like “Thank you, Sir!”.  Second, the students’ strengths varied: they used various sentence patterns with various words, tenses, structures, and mechanics.  Third, their weaknesses were sentence structures, tenses, vocabulary, and mechanics which were not always correctly used.  Some sentences, for example, had no subjects or verbs.  Fourth, to solve their weaknesses, they say, for example, that they must study harder, memorize English structure, and be more active in reading, writing, speaking and listening in English

AN ANALYSIS OF EFL WRITING DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT STUDENTS: AN INDONESIAN CONTEXT

This research aims at finding out: 1) kinds of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) essays written by the fourth semester students of the Undergraduate English  Education Department, School of Teachers Training and Educational Sciences, Nusa Cendana University; 2) how the students develop as EFL student writers; 3) elements of EFL writing that the students can produce well; and, 4) elements of EFL writing that the students fail to produce well.  This research using desctiptive-qualitative method was conducted from March to September, 2019.  Its research subjects were the fourth semester students of the department.  Since the department has four classes, the researchers chose two classes purposively as their research subjects.  The instruments used to get the data were writing tests conducted twice, that is, the first one on 18 March and the second one on 18 September, 2019.  In doing the first test, the students were each  asked to individually handwrite an essay whose topic was free for an hour.  In writing their essays,  the students  were not allowed to use any dictionary and they were not allowed to discuss it with their friends.  After it was written, the researchers collected the essays, asked the students for clarrification on their unclear hand writings.  Six months later, that is, on 18 September, 2019, the same essays were handed back to be revised/edited by their relevant writers.  The time used to edit/revise each essay by each relevant writer was an hour and they were not allowed to use a dictionary or to discuss it with their friend(s).  In addition to these writing tests, the researchers also studied the students’ curriculum document to have an insight into any courses they join that could have influenced their writing development.  The focus of  the researchers’ documentary study was on subjects related to EFL writing.  The data were analyzed descriptively focussing on four major elements of EFL writing, namely: content; organization; word choice, sentence structures, and paragraph structures; and, mechanics of writing (i.e. punctuations and spelling).  The data collected were analysed descriptively.  It is found that students produced three major kinds of written products, that is, informative, expressive, and a combination of both, but none was included in creative writing.  The students had two distinctive ways of development, that is, good and poor development in terms of content; organization; word choice, sentence structures, and paragraph structures; and, mechanics of their writings (i.e. punctuations and spelling).  The elements of EFL writings that develop well and/or poorly vary among the research students: some develop well, for example, in relation to content, but poor on word choice and other elements of EFL writing

REDEFINING OUR FORMAL EDUCATION

In this article we argue that our formal education has failed, to a certain extent, to create good quality graduates, namely, those whoare not only competent and independent, but also good in terms of such character traits as “grit, self-control, zest, social intelligence, gratitude,optimism, and curiosity” (Tough, 2012: 76). Such a failure has been caused by some educational practices which are not pedagogically soundlike: institutional manipulations leading to our students’ highly consumeristic behaviours;nondialogical education; teacher-centered approach;misunderstanding of teaching and learning; and, centralised education.To prevent such a failure, we suggest that our formal educational systembe redefined so that it will be capable of creating good quality education that, in turn, can help our students be more competent, independent, andexcellent in terms of the character traits mentioned. It can be done by applying such methods as Ivan Illich’s learning webs, Paulo Freire’sdialogical education, and student-centered education in which teaching is seen as a means of faciliating students’ learning based on theirpotentials, interests, and learning needs. In this sense, it is important that school curricula be also designed by each educational institution andthat each individual instituion has its own independent management system and networking system to make it more successful in achieving itseducational goals

MAKING TEACHING AND LEARNING MORE EFFECTIVE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND BEYOND

In this article, we acknowledged that it is formal teaching and learning that has contributed much in creating a great civilization as we have it in the last few centuries.   Yet, we argue that teaching and learning activities in our formal schools  in general, during this Covid-19 pandemic in particular, are no longer that effective as shown by such facts as students who are not active in learning, who drop out of our school system, and who fail in schools and beyond.  To overcome this problem,  we insist that the following concepts be implemented in schools: 1. teaching should be no longer seen as transferring knowledge, skills, and values, but it has to be viewed as facilitation of students’ learning so that they can be indepent, healthy, and socially and environmentally great; 2. learning should not also be seen as memorizing what teachers teach, but to a process of real development within students themselves so that they can be independent with great characters in and after schooling; 3. dialogical education should be the basis of our formal education; 4. students’ potentials, interests, and needs should be the focusses of our formal education ; and, 5. educational evaluation should be more comprehensively done, that is, it should focus on  students’ cognition, skills, and affection, rather than on their cognitive aspect alone

Evaluation of the Crop Growth Component of the Root Zone Water Quality Model for Corn in Ohio

The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) is a computer model developed to simulate water, chemical, and biological processes in the root zone of agricultural management systems. As of this writing RZWQM is in the beta-testing phase of development. This article reports on a parameterization and evaluation study performed in Ohio on field corn for the crop growth component of RZWQM. The generic crop growth model in RZWQM had not previously been parameterized or tested on field corn. This article reports the results of such a study. One year of data was used to calibrate RZWQM, and two additional years of data from the same site were used to check the predictions of the model once it was calibrated. Crop growth, soil water content, and soil nitrate concentration predictions were compared to observed values collected throughout the growing season at the Ohio Management System Evaluation Area in Piketon, Ohio. The simulation results performed consistently with our expectations of the physical system. Since the generic crop growth model had not previously been tested on simulated field corn growth, we were unsure of its capabilities. For our site, the model was capable of being parameterized with one year’s data, and reliably simulated the soil water content, nitrate in the root zone, corn growth, and yield for two other years

Usulan Penerapan Metodologi Dmaic untuk Meningkatkan Kualitas Berat Produk di Lini Produksi Filling (Studi Kasus: PT Java Egg Specialities)

PT. Java Egg Specialities merupakan salah satu Perusahaan industri makanan yang memproduksi berbagai macam hasil olahan telur. Berdasarkan penelitian yang dilakukan, seringkali ditemukan terjadi ketidaksesuaian kualitas pada produk akhir. Ketidaksesuaian kualitas ini ditemukan pada lini produksi filling yang di dalamnya terdapat kegiatan penimbangan berat. Berat produk yang dihasilkan seringkali tidak mencapai target yang diinginkan atau memiliki variasi yang cukup besar. Masalah tersebut dicari alternatif pemecahannya dengan metode Six Sigma. Pada metode ini penelitian dilakukan melalui 5 tahapan DMAIC yaitu: define, measure, anayze, improve, dan control, di mana di dalamnya terdapat banyak penggunaan metode dan tools kualitas. Tahap define mengidentifikasi hubungan antara elemen-elemen produksi dengan diagram SIPOC, pembuatan flow chart untuk identifikasi proses filling, penentuan critical to quality yang diteliti, yaitu berat produk. Tahap measure dilakukan pengukuran dengan peta kendali X-bar S dan diperoleh Cp 1,09 dan Cpk 0,95 untuk kemasan pouch, dan Cp 1,09 serta Cpk 1,08 untuk botol. Nilai-nilai ini mengindikasikan kapabilitas proses baik untuk kemasan botol maupun pouch tidak baik. Seluruh hasil perhitungan dianalisis pada tahap analyze, pembuatan diagram fishbone, dan FMEA. Akar penyebab dari setiap faktor ketidaksesuaian berat adalah pengaruh setting mesin. Pelaksanaan eksperimen menggunakan metode One Way ANOVA untuk mencari alternatif terbaik mengenai berapa banyak putaran spindle pada setting mesin

Colloidal topological insulators

Topological insulators insulate in the bulk but exhibit robust conducting edge states protected by the topology of the bulk material. Here, we design a colloidal topological insulator and demonstrate experimentally the occurrence of edge states in a classical particle system. Magnetic colloidal particles travel along the edge of two distinct magnetic lattices. We drive the colloids with a uniform external magnetic field that performs a topologically non-trivial modulation loop. The loop induces closed orbits in the bulk of the magnetic lattices. At the edge, where both lattices merge, the colloids perform skipping orbits trajectories and hence edge-transport. We also observe paramagnetic and diamagnetic colloids moving in opposite directions along the edge between two inverted patterns; the analogue of a quantum spin Hall effect in topological insulators. We present a new, robust, and versatile way of transporting colloidal particles, enabling new pathways towards lab on a chip applications

Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD): an introduction

Background and rationale The coastal zone is the interface through which land-ocean exchanges in the Arctic are mediated and it is the site of most of the human activity that occurs at high latitudes. Arctic coastlines are highly variable and their dynamics are a function of environmental forcing (wind, waves, sea-level changes, sea-ice, etc.), geology, permafrost and its ground-ice content and coastline morphometry. Environmental forcing initiates coastal processes, such as the sediment transport by waves, currents and sea-ice and the degradation of coastal permafrost. The coastal response (erosion or accretion) results in land and habitat loss or gain and thus affects biological and human systems. Figure 1 schematically illustrates the major processes involved in Arctic coastal dynamics. Coastal processes in the Arctic are strongly controlled by Arctic-specific phenomena, i.e. the sea-ice cover and the existence of onshore and offshore permafrost. ... (Excerpt