A Study of Student’s Perceptions towards Online Distance Learning during Lockdown Period of COVID-19 Pandemic

Ensuring the quality of online distance learning in institutions of higher education has been a growing concern during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research was conducted on students’ perceptions toward the quality of online distance learning and utilized qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the perceptions of students. To collect the data, the researchers used a modified questionnaire. Survey analysis was carried out. A total of 570 students from two study programs, Public Sector Accounting and Business Administration at State Polytechnic of Sriwijaya, were asked to answer a questionnaire. The findings of this research revealed that majority of students considered the use of online distance learning in English teaching and learning is effective and efficient in terms of time. The online distance learning is the best choice to keep students away from the COVID-19 pandemic spread. The findings can be used by any lecturers to understand students’ perceptions regarding online distance learning, and ultimately improve their online distance learning instructional practices

IMPROVING SUMMARY QUALITY USING SUMMARIZING STRATEGIES FROM MULTIPLE SOURCE TEXTS

The aim of this study was to examine students’ summarizing strategies in writing summaries from multiple texts. A total of 30 students from the group of high-ability and low-ability based on TOEIC scores were invited to participate in this study for data collection using writing summary task. The participants were taught summary writing using concept mapping strategies. The summarizing strategies of the students were collected through think aloud protocol and questionnaire. This study suggests that explicit instruction in the use of concept mapping strategies during summarizing was crucial to improve the quality of their summaries. This study indicates some differences in the strategies employed by the students of the two different groups. Information about successful strategies employed by high ability students in writing a summary can be used to teach low ability students

The Use of Visualization with Pictures and Concept Mapping to Improve English Vocabulary Mastery of Pre-School Children

Many studies have come to a strong conclusion that pre-school education is important in supporting children to be ready in their future academic and social development. The writer would like to find out if there is an increase in the mastery of the English vocabulary of the pre-school children through visualization with pictures and concept mapping. A combination of qualitative and quantitative study with pre-test and posttest has been conducted to find out if there is an increase in the mastery of the English vocabulary of kindergarten children of Chatya Manis after given materials using the method. 40 children were chosen to be the samples of the study. The study reveals that there is a significant difference between the average value of the test before and after learning model concept mapping activities

THE USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING INTEREST

THE USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING INTEREST Nurul Aryanti Politeknik Negeri Sriwijaya, Palembang, South Sumatera [email protected] Aria Septi Anggaira [email protected] Abstract: This study is aimed at finding out the impacts of the use of authentic materials in improving the reading interest of VIIIC students of SMPN 4 Metro in the academic year of 2015/2016. The data were collected by doing observation during the English teaching and learning process in the classroom, giving a questionnaire to the students, and selecting the authentic texts based on certain criteria. The data of the students’ reading interest were analysed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The findings reveal three important results. First, there are three kinds of materials that fulfill the criteria of authenticity. They are an advertisement, announcement, and descriptive  text in the form of an article taken from a High End Teen magazine. Second, there are four types of students’ positive attitudes towards the implementation of authentic materials. Those are the students’ willingness to own the materials, the students’ willingness to use the authentic materials in the next meetings, the students’ preferences to use the original form of authentic materials instead of the copied materials, and the students’ willingness to comment about the topics and the pictures of the authentic materials. Third, there are quantitative and qualitative data related to the improvement of the students’ reading interest. The two kinds of data show that there are some significant improvements of the students’ reading interest after the authentic materials are used in the classroom. Key words: reading, authentic, material, interest

IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT BY USING FOLKTALES THROUGH HERRINGBONE TECHNIQUE

There is a fact that most of pupils at elementary school still face some difficulties with English at the first time. The teacher needs to encourage them to love the lesson, in order to help them memorize the new vocabulary easily. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to see whether the use of Herringbone technique with folktales improved the pupils’ reading comprehension achievement. Non-equivalent group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. The population was the fifth grade pupils of SDN 39 Palembang in the academic year of 2010/2011 with a total number of 74 pupils. Out of this population, 50 pupils wwere taken as sample. There were two groups, each of which consisted of 25 pupils. The data were collected by using multiple-choice reading comprehension test. The data obtained were analyzed by using t-test formula. The finding shows that Herringbone technique improved the pupils’ reading comprehension achievement. There was a significant difference in reading comprehension achievement of the pupils after they were taught by using folktale through herringbone technique. The result of the study indicates that the pupils had better improvement in their post-test scores

URBAN STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT: IMPLICATIONS OF ATTITUDE, MOTIVATION, AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

The reason why the writers conducted the research is to know the correlations among reading attitude, and motivation of urban students, and parental involvement towards their reading comprehension achievement of four private polytechnics in Palembang 2018/2019. In conducting the research, the writers used the method of quantitative-correlation. The sample was 99 students and the random sampling method was used. All the data were analyzed with Multiple Regression. The instrument to collect data in this research is the reading comprehension test comprising 40 questions in terms of multiple choices. The results show that (1) reading attitude has a positive influence towards reading comprehension achievement in which t1= 2.596, p-value = 0.011/2 = 0.0055 < 0.05, (2) reading motivation has a positive influence towards reading comprehension achievement in which t2= 4.658, p-value = 0.000/2 = 0 < 0.05, (3) parental involvement significantly influences students’ reading comprehension achievement in which t3= 6.21, p-value = 0.000/2 = 0 < 0.05, and (4) FCal is 31.189, p-value = 0.000 < 0.05 which imply that students’ reading attitude, students’ reading motivation, and parental involvement positively affect students’ reading comprehension achievement

DISKUSI MAHASISWA DI MASA PANDEMI: SATU CATATAN PADA MATA KULIAH CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING

Pembelajaran tentang Cross Cultural Understanding sangat penting bagi pembelajar bahasa, terutama pembelajar bahasa asin

How Learning Styles Match Language Learner Educational Technology Study Program in Baturaja University

Education is a crucial element in equipping students for their future. Each student has a unique way of understanding and absorbing information in every learning session. Engaging English teaching is an art that requires specific styles and techniques, making the learning process more enjoyable, and the study material more easily accepted by students. The researcher applied a qualitative literary research approach, emphasizing the utilization of texts and library literature as the main sources of primary data, involving three stages, namely data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing or verification. Sampling was conducted within Educational Technology Study Program at Baturaja University, and the analysis of the samples was performed using a quantitative method. Learning style refers to the methods and techniques individuals use to learn and process information and knowledge. Students in Educational Technology study program in Baturaja University employ visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles. This is verified by the analysis results, which reveal that 18 (60%) students prefer visual learning, 7 (23.33%) prefer auditory learning, and 5 (16.66%) prefer kinesthetic learning. The research findings demonstrate that studying learning styles has beneficial effects in the learning process, aiding in the development of confidence and autonomy in managing their learning. This, in turn, contributes to an improved overall learning experience

STRATEGI PEMBELAJARAN DARING: PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING DAN SYNCHRONOUS LEARNING DI MASA PANDEMI

Problem-based learning dan synchronous learning dapat dipadukan menjadi satu pembelajaran yang akan mendukung ketercapaian pembelajaran di masa pandem

BRING TO LIGHT STUDENTS LISTENING COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES AT TERTIARY LEVEL IN EFL CONTEXT

Abstract:  Listening Comprehension has been an obstacle for the students to learn English well. They have untold difficulties in understanding listening text. This paper tries to uncover this problem and the step stone to facilitate teachers finding solution to set the students free from their confinement. 56 students were the respondents of the questionnaire concerning about their listening difficulties. Their biggest responses were limited listening time allocation (10%-25% out of teaching time), failure in listening test (41 students), lack of practice listening at home (46 students), using the right learning media (50 students), No meta-cognitive strategy before listening (30 students), listening to word by word technique while listening (35 students), ignoring the difficult words during listening (29 students), speed of speech (38 students), unfamiliar topic (35 students), and long listening text (25). The conclusion is the awareness of listening comprehension difficulties resulted on identifying the problem. As their attitude toward learning was positive, they were able to apply the right strategy to help them reducing their listening problems