Improving Vocabulary Mastery of Elementary School Students by Using Storytelling Strategy

Vocabulary is the language resource for the students to construct a sentence. Despite the important role of vocabulary, studies about vocabulary teaching, especially for young learners, revealed that their vocabulary mastery was still unsatisfactory. The students at Class 5A SDN Lowokwaru 2 Malang also had similar problems. It was found out that there was a lack of a variety of teaching strategy which was interesting for elementary school students who are young learners. This current study was collaborative action research covering four stages: planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. There were 34 students who participated in the current study. The study revealed that of storytelling strategy could improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. The average score of students’ vocabulary test at the end of Cycle 1 was 81.5. It indicated that 91.17% of the students had reached the criteria of success. The researcher did three stages in implementing storytelling strategy i.e. in pre-story stage, in-story, and post-story stage. Based on the research findings, the implementation of a storytelling strategy could improve the students' vocabulary mastery and participation in learning activities. It could be inferred that the storytelling strategy was successful in improving students’ vocabulary mastery. Keywords: vocabulary, storytelling strategy, young learne

Maximizing Students’ Critical Reading through Virtual Literature Circle Strategy: A Conceptual Framework

With the advancement of the 21st century, Indonesia, like other countries, is also facing challenges in education, particularly for primary and secondary school students. Undoubtedly, literacy is one of the crucial skills in 21st-century education, which encompasses critical thinking and critical reading skills. In an effort to maximize students’ critical reading skills, the researchers conducted virtual conferences and workshops for the teachers of English in primary and secondary schools on the practice of Literature Circle Strategy (LCS) to maximize students’ skills in critical reading. In total, 25 teachers from Malang City and 183 teachers from the Kediri area were included in the study. In Kediri, a one-day conference was held that focussed on the concepts and rules of practicing the LCS in online classes. In Malang, a virtual conference was held on the first day followed by a workshop on the second. While the first day was spent explaining the LCS to the participants, on the second day, they practiced the strategy, in offline sessions. At the end of the workshop, the participants shared their perceptions on this strategy by filling in a questionnaire, stating what they thought would be the process of practicing this strategy both in online and face-to-face classes. This study therefore reports the results of the analysis on their perceptions. Keywords: EFL teachers, perceptions, LCS, virtua

Using Storytelling Strategy to Improve Vocabulary Mastery of the Fifth Graders in SDN Lowokwaru 2 Malang

ABSTRAK Vocabulary is the language resource for the students to construct a sentence. It is important as a basic element to develop language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). In spite of the important role of vocabulary, studiesabout vocabulary teaching especially for young learners revealed that their vocabulary mastery was still unsatisfactory. The students at Class 5A SDN Lowokwaru 2 Malang also had similar problems. It was found out that there wasa lack a variety of teaching strategy which was interesting for elementary schools students who are young learners. This study is intended to improve students’ vocabulary mastery by using storytelling strategy which are suitable to young learners.The research design of this study was a collaborative action research covering four stages: planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. The subjects of this study were 34 students. This study was conducted in one cycle which consisted of 4 meetings, 3 meetings for the implementing the strategy and 1 meeting for a vocabulary test. During the implementation of the strategy, the researcher acted as the teacher while the teacher as a collaborator observing the learning process.The findings of this study showed that the implementation of storytelling strategy could improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. The average score of students’ vocabulary test in the end of Cycle 1 was 81.5. It meant that 91.17% of thestudents had achieved the criteria of success. Data from theobservation checklist revealed that most of the students were actively involved and showed positive attitude in the learning activity. Data from the students’ questionnaireshowed that most of the students gave positive comment, and good response towards the implementation of the strategy.The researcher did three stages in implementing storytelling strategy. In pre-story stage, the researcher did warming up activities to attract the students’ attention and gave them some key words of the story by using pictures. The next stage was in-story in which the researcher told the story twice by using gestures, facial expressions, body movement, mime, and some pictures. The last was post-story stage in which the researcher gave the students some vocabulary assignments to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. Based on the research findings, the implementation of storytelling strategy not only improved the students' vocabulary mastery but also made the students more active in the learning activities. It could be concluded that storytelling strategy was successfulin improving students’ vocabulary mastery

Maximizing Students' Critical Reading Through Virtual Literature Circle Strategy: A Conceptual Framework

With the advancement of the 21st century, Indonesia, like other countries, is also facing challenges in education, particularly for primary and secondary school students. Undoubtedly, literacy is one of the crucial skills in 21st-century education, which encompasses critical thinking and critical reading skills. In an effort to maximize students' critical reading skills, the researchers conducted virtual conferences and workshops for the teachers of English in primary and secondary schools on the practice of Literature Circle Strategy (LCS) to maximize students' skills in critical reading. In total, 25 teachers from Malang City and 183 teachers from the Kediri area were included in the study. In Kediri, a one-day conference was held that focussed on the concepts and rules of practicing the LCS in online classes. In Malang, a virtual conference was held on the first day followed by a workshop on the second. While the first day was spent explaining the LCS to the participants, on the second day, they practiced the strategy, in offline sessions. At the end of the workshop, the participants shared their perceptions on this strategy by filling in a questionnaire, stating what they thought would be the process of practicing this strategy both in online and face-to-face classes. This study therefore reports the results of the analysis on their perceptions. Keywords: EFL teachers, perceptions, LCS, virtua

Indonesian language policy and perspectives on its implementation in promoting Bahasa Indonesia as an international language

Bahasa Indonesia is currently studied by many foreign students and taught internationally. This phenomenon tracks the Indonesian government’s language policy goals in promoting Bahasa Indonesia as an international language. But how does this fit together? This study aims to examine the language policy and its implementation. A qualitative design was employed, and data were obtained using narrative inquiry techniques through semi-structured interviews with 15 participants consisting of academicians, activists, and teachers of BIPA. In collecting data, participants’ voices regarding the language policy forms and its implementation were gathered and language policy documents were investigated. The results showed that the Indonesian language policy is enshrined by laws, government regulations, and ministerial decree. The implementation in laws and government legislation have been successful yet the ministerial decrees have not. It can be concluded that the language policy is the nation’s interest for public diplomacy to preserve, maintain, develop, and cultivate the language. The implementation of promoting Bahasa Indonesia as an international language lies on the success of BIPA teaching as a means to spread Bahasa Indonesia use internationally. It indicates the inseparable relationship between the Indonesian language policy campaign and the development of BIPA. Theoretical and several practical implications are also discussed