Students’ Voice Toward Good English Teachers' Characteristics at Secondary Schools in Indonesia

This research aims at finding out the secondary school students’ voices towards good English teachers’ characteristics and the most dominant good teachers’ characteristics preferred by the students. This research employed descriptive method supported by descriptive statistics. There were thirty-two students participated in this research who were in the second year in 2012. The instrument used in this research was the checklist in which the students were asked to choose the descriptions which consisted of three choices; disagree, agree, and disagree. The research reports illustrate that students' voices toward good English teachers' characteristics in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at a secondary school in Indonesia are ranging from explaining lesson objective clearly to provide jokes while teaching. The most dominant good teachers' characteristics preferred by the secondary school students were "gives clear explanation" in which there were 56.25% students gave "strongly agree" answer. There were also "56.25% students gave "strongly agree" answer to "the teacher should provide jokes or funny stories in the classroom setting." There were 65.62% students gave "agree" answer to "the teacher should use a variety of materials." There were 65.62% students gave "agree" answer to "the teacher should be relaxed and he should create a pleasant atmosphere." Well prepared is also important in the classroom, where there were 62.5% students gave "agree" answer to this statement. There were 43.75% students gave "disagree" answer to “gives follow up/feedback.” Even though, the “disagree” choice to this statement is highest than other choices in the “disagree” choice but the “agree” and “strongly agree” choice have higher score, because the accumulation of the total score is 56.25%. This means that the teachers need to give feedback to students’ works in the classroom. Keywords: students’ voice, teachers’ good characteristics, EFL, secondary schoo

The Effects of Knowledge Management on Performance of Government Employees (ASN) at Faculty of Languages and Literature State University of Makassar Indonesia

Abstract: The objective of the study was to identify the influence of knowledge management on performance of government employees (Aparatur Sipil Negara/ASN) at Faculty of Languages and Literature Universitas Negeri Makassar (FBS-UNM). The study applied an associative quantitative method with a correlative research to test the influence of knowledge management on performance of ASN at FBS-UNM. The study employed normality test, regression analysis, and hypothesis test using SPSS. The results of the study showed that the tacit knowledge positively influenced significantly performance of ASN at FBS-UNM around 27.6%. Explicit knowledge positively influenced significantly performance of ASN at FBS-UNM around 44.6%. Leaders and employees of ASN UNM especially at FBS had acquired, exploited, and documented explicit knowledge through various ways such as socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization. This was reflected in the Strategic Planning of FBS-UNM 2015-2020 on strategic programs such as training activities, seminars, workshops, and refreshing courses or on the job training, and improving the quality of services and other performances. Simultaneously, tacit and explicit knowledge influenced ASN FBS-UNM performance around 44.8% and the rest around 55.2% are other variables that are not examined

The Effects of Students' Motivation and Family Socioeconomic Status on English Academic Achievement

Abstract: Students’ achievement in English as a foreign language (EFL) or second language (ESL/L2) at schools and universities is influenced by many factors. One of the vital factors is motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Another vial factor is students’ family socioeconomic status (FSES). This study aims to investigate: (1) the effects of students’ motivation on their English academic achievement, and (2) the effects of students’ family socioeconomic status on their English academic achievement. This study employed quantitative approach and the instrument used was questionnaire. The data obtained are from students of English Department Faculty of Languages and Literature Universitas Negeri Makassar (UNM). The results of the study show that students’ motivation has strong relationship to students’ English academic achievement and students’ family socioeconomic status. The educational implication of the study is that motivation, either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation needs to be activated in the EFL classroom. The teachers or lecturers are also recommended to encourage students, motivation in the classroom teaching - learning process

Politik dan Rekayasa Bahasa

Buku ini terdiri atas 5 (lima) bab, bab 1, 2, 3, dan 4 merupakan senarai artikel penulis yang telah dipublikasikan di sejumlah surat kabar dan majalah, seperti Harian Fajar, Tribun Sulbar, Majalah Dunia Pendidikan pada Dinas Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Sulawesi Selatan, dan lain – lain. Adapun bab 5 merupakan tebaran pikiran penulis dalam berbagai topik, yang juga merupakan disiplin keilmuan penulis, meliputi isu – isu yang berkaitan dengan pendidikan, sosiologi, bahasa, komunikasi, dan manajemen. Antologi tulisan ini adalah tulisan lepas penulis yang merupakan respon penulis terhadap peristiwa yang terjadi, dari tahun 2009 – 2013. Mungkin ada sejumlah tulisan yang tidak lagi relevan dengan situasi kekinian, tapi bila dibaca akan memberikan wawasan sekaligus sebagai pisau analisis terhadap masalah dan fenomena yang terjadi di sekitar kita. Isi buku ini sungguh beragam: mulai dari isu sosial

Problems on English Word Stress Placement Made by Indonesian Learners of English

AbstractThis study focuses its investigation on the problems of stress placement in English words made by Indonesian learners of English (ILE). The subjects of the study were the students of English Literature Study Program Universitas Negeri Makassar (N = 66, 20 or 30.30% males and 46 or 69.69 females). Results of the study show that the Indonesian learners of English (ILE) were able to put the an acute accent (´) illustrating the primary stress on monosyllabic words (one syllable words) easily; two syllable words, except for word permit; three syllable words, except for the word determine; words with suffixes in reading test; words with prefixes, except for word imbalance; compound words, except for word sunrise; noun phrases; stress on verbs and stress on nouns. The ILE were not able to put an acute accent (´) illustrating the main stress on polysyllabic words with suffixes in written test, but the ILE has excellent competence for the words objectivity and disagreement. The ILE therefore tended to put the correct stress placement on reading test than on written test. The ILE often mistress the words in polysyllabic words, like: permit, determine, imbalance, accuracy, anchorage, etc.  Additionally, descriptive statistics shows the percentage of correct and incorrect pronunciation made by Indonesian Learners of English (ILE) in recording and written test. The educational implication of this study is that the practice for stress placement of words, ranging from monosyllabic words to polysyllabic words needs to be taught in English learning and teaching process in the classroom setting. This in keeping with the results of the questionnaires that ‘Learning correct stress placement needs large portion in EFL classroom’ with a mean 3.6061 and SD = .87493 and ‘Correct stress placement on words is important’ with a mean of 4.1515 and SD = .68483. Keywords: Pronunciation problems, stress, stress placement, English, IL

Meningkatkan Kemampuan Bahasa Inggris Siswa Melalui Model Pembelajaran Kooperatif Tipe Think Pair and Share (TPS) Berbasis Karya Sastra pada Sekolah Menengah Pertama di Kota Makassar

Ringkasan: Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) dalam pelaksanaannya lebih cenderung kepada pendekatan Manajemen Berbasis Sekolah (MBS) atau desentralisasi; guru mengembangkan KTSP dan silabusnya berdasarkan kerangka dasar kurikulum dan standar kompetensi lulusan dari Standar Nasional Pendidikan. Bahasa Inggris untuk satuan tingkat pendidikan menengah termasuk mata pelajaran wajib yang harus diajarkan kepada para siswa di SMP. Apakah pembelajaran bahasa Inggris menggunakan kooperatif learning, Tipe Think Pair ami Share (TPS) berbasis karya sastra dapat meningkatkan kemampuan bahasa Inggris siswa? Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah pembelajaran bahasa Inggris menggunakan kooperatif learning. Tipe. Think Pair and Share (TPS) berbasis karya sastra dapat meningkatkan kemampuan bahasa Inggris siswa. Penelitian Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pembelajaran bahasa Inggris pada Sekolah Menengah Pertama pada SMP Negeri 36 Makassar menggunakan model pembelajaran kooperatif learning, Tipe Think Pair and Share f TPS) berbasis karya sastra dapat meningkatkan kemampuan bahasa Inggris siswa

Book Review: Language and Social Relation by Asif Agha

The language user in socio-cultural context, specifically for the different cultural background, needs to understand the way of maintaining social interaction among people from those different cultures in social life. Language and Social Relations has many interesting topics which can facilitate people from different cultures to maintain good social relation in various activities, either in the national or international arena. The book provides an in-depth study on the role of language in various domains of social life, including identity, gender, class, kinship, deference, status, hierarchy, and others which allow researchers, lecturers, students, and other scholars to know many valuable information in the language and interdisciplinary linguistic issues. The aim of the book is to explore a theoretical perspective on the essential social and cultural character of language by methodological and empirical emphasis on language use in its communicative and interactional settings, particularly on the socioculturally grounded “meanings" and “functions” of linguistic forms. The book comprises two interesting topics: “language" and “social relations.” Agha in his book's agenda on the opening page, stating that “language is not simply a tool of social conduct but the effective means by which human beings formulate models of conduct, and models of conduct serve as points of reference for social behavior, even when actual conduct departs from them.” (p.i). Language is a means of communication and becomes a basic aspect of human social life interaction. People can only share ideas or feelings through language, either verbally or non verbally. As Agha notes. we cannot understand the variety of social relations enactable in social life without coming to grips with the range of reflexive relationships expressible through speech (p. 17)

The Kind of Speech Styles in Allan Plenderleith’s “The Bunker (2017)” Movie

This research aimed to find out the kind of speech styles in “The Bunker (2017)” directed by Allan Plenderleith. This research used descriptive method according to Martin Joos’ theory. The data were taken from The Bunker (2017) movie. The data were analyzed by watching the movie as much as possible and trying to understand all of the conversations occur in the movie. All the subtitles in the movie will be transcribed, so that they become movie scripts. Then, the writers categorized several dialogues in the movie that showed the kind of speech styles in The Bunker (2017) and the kind of speech styles appears between the two main characters, John and Margaret. The results of the research showed that the kind of speech styles in The Bunker (2017) among others is: an intimate style, a casual or an informal style, a consultative style, and a formal style. An intimate style is the style that always used between the main characters, because they are a mother and her son

Exploring the Implementation of Student-Centered Approach: A Case Study of EFL Teachers’ Classroom Management on Junior High School

The objectives of this research were to find out: (1) Teacher’s perceptions about student-centered approach. (2) The implementation of student-centered approach in the EFL classroom. (3) The process of classroom management of student-centered approach in the EFL classroom. The researcher applied the case study research method. This research was carried out at SMPN 1 Polombangkeng Utara at Takalar. The subjects of this research were two English teachers at SMPN I Polombangkeng Utara. All of them were chosen by using purposive sampling the researcher observed and interviewed all the teachers who apply student-centered as teaching approach at the classroom as the participant to be observing base on the recommendation of the headmaster and the coordinator teacher of the English and supervision value. It will be narrowed as a sample of 2017-2018 academic years. For the students, the researcher takes the classes taught by the teacher i.e.teacher A taught IX.1, and IX.2 then teacher B taught IX.3, IX.6, and X.7. Each class has 30 students. The researcher conducted observations by using video recording and field notes. Video recording was used to record students’ and teachers' performance in the class. Meanwhile, field notes used by the researcher to obtain more accurate data. It revealed that that student-centered approach is good, even better if it is compared with teacher-centered There is a significant correlation between SCA and classroom management in EFL classrooms where in SCA the learner is the center point in exploratory teaching and learning. The teachers mainly responsibility is in assisting learners designing for the section, pace and evaluating of an appropriate learning experience. The implementing SCA in the class is not fully one hundred percent. It because of the various student's level ability that makes student-centered is not running smoothly. Learning material provide influence implementing SCA in the class, not only that, the willingness of the teacher, and also the school facility are the factor of implementing SCA in the class. The process of classroom management of SCA in EFL classroom teachers divides the lesson into three main activities. They are Pre activity, whilst activity and post activity. The activities in whilst activity involves observing, asking, data collection, associating, and networking where whole the activity is done by the students through the guidance of the teacher. These activities make SCA different from other approaches. .Key Words: Student-Centered Approach, Classroom Management, EFL Classroo

Formal Instruction and Its Effects on the Acquisition of English Affricate Consonants

Abstract: Indonesian and English have some differences dealing with their symbols or phonemes in the points and manner of articulation. On the other hand, they have the same symbols and phonemes in affricate consonants, voiceless alveolar-palatal /ʧ/ and voiced alveolar-palatal /ʤ/.This study therefore aims to find out whether formal instruction improve the acquisition of English fricative consonants by Indonesian learners of English. The study employed quasi experimental design, the onequivalent control group design. It used two groups, one received treatment (formal instruction) and another group was taught conventionally. The population of this study is students of English Literature Study Program Faculty of Languges and Literature Universitas Negeri Makassar Indonesia. There were 64 students participated as subjects of this study. The subjects ranging from 17 – 19 years old attended an English phonology subject in 2016/2017 academic year. The study reveals that formal instruction improves the acquisition of English affricate consonants by Indonesian learners of English. There are two main conclusions of this study. The first one is that the Indonesian learners of English met difficulties in transcribing English affricate consonants [tʃ] and [dʒ] in pretest, either for control group or experimental group. The second main finding as the primary concern of this study is that the formal instruction improved students’ acquisition of English affricate consonants [tʃ] and [dʒ], where the subjects’ answers toward the list of words significantly improved