IMPROVING RECOUNT TEXT WRITING ACHIEVEMENT OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 11 PALEMBANG THROUGH GENRE-BASED APPROACH (GBA)

Abstract: The objectives of this study were to find out (1) whether or not there was any significant difference on recount text writing achievement between the eighth grade students of SMPN 11 Palembang who were taught through Genre-Based Approach (GBA) and those who were not, and (2) the aspects of writing that the students mostly improve after they were taught through Genre-Based Approach (GBA). In this study, the writer used quasi-experimental design. The population of this study was 357 eighth grade students of SMP N 11 Palembang in academic year 2013/2014. The sample of this study was 80 students taken from the population by using purposive sampling method in which 40 students belonged to VIII.2 and 40 students belonged to VIII.3. Class VIII.2 was the experimental group and VIII.3 was the control group. The results of the analysis by using independent sample t-test showed that there was significant difference on recount text writing achievement between the eighth grade students of SMPN 11 Palembang who were taught through GBA and those who were not taught through GBA (15.202 > 1.991, p 35.41, mean difference = 42.49). Therefore, it is suggested for the English teachers to use GBA to teach recount writing. Key words: Genre-Based Approach (GBA), Improve, Recount Text, Writin

LANGUAGE LEARNING BELIEFS OF INDONESIAN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM STUDENTS

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate students’ beliefs about language learning. BALLI (Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory) was administered to a total of seventy five first year students of English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education within Sriwijaya university in South Sumatera, Indonesia. The findings showed that  among the five categories of BALLI, the beliefs associated with motivation were the strongest, while those associated with the difficulty of language learning are the weakest. The findings also support significant difference in motivation associated with gender. Key words: language learning beliefs, motivation, Indonesian college student

DEVELOPING ESSAY WRITING TEACHING MATERIALS BASED ON DISCOVERY LEARNING FOR STUDENTS OF THE ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM FKIP UNSRI

Having good teaching materials integrated with good learning model will help students to achieve their highest potential in learning. Discovery learning model is expected to provide the students with the opportunities to improve their learning capacity as they involved in the process of formulating the concept of new learning materials. The purpose of this study was to develop a practical teaching material for essay writing course based on Discovery Learning Model. The teaching materials were developed in accordance with the steps in Discovery Learning Model to help the students involved in the appropriate thinking skills development. This study applied research and development to develop the teaching materials for essay writing course based on the Discovery Learning Model. The study was conducted to the 7th semester students of English Education Study Program Faculty Universitas Sriwijaya. Questionnaires were used to obtained the data related to the validity and the practicality of the teaching materials developed. The results of the questionnaire showed that the workbook developed were in very valid and medium level of validity in terms of the materials and the design. In addition, based on the students’ responses (81.25%) it was found out that the worksheet used was very practical and can be used without revision.                                      

STUDENTS’ ENGAGEMENT IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES AND ITS RELATION TO THEIR MASTERY OF CERTAIN ENGLISH FIXED EXPRESSIONS AND IDIOMS

Abstract: The objectives of the study were to find out to what extent the undergraduate students’ engagement in social networking sites and their mastery of certain English fixed expressions and idioms. This study also investigated whether or not there was a significant correlation between the students’ engagement in social networking sites and their mastery of certain English fixed expressions and idioms. One hundred and six undergraduate students of English Education Study Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Sriwijaya University (Palembang Campus) were involved as population and sample of the study. A social networking sites engagement questionnaire and English fixed expressions and idioms test were used to collect the data which were statistically analized by using correlation and regression analyses. The result revealed students’ engagement on social networking sites level was very high with 82% average agreement questionnaire responses, but their mastery of certain English fixed expressions and idioms was low (60.47) with 79.2% students scored below 71.  Next, the correlation between the students’ engagement in social networking sites and their mastery of certain English fixed expressions and idioms was positive and significant (r=0.328>0.249, p-value=0.001<0.05). The finding also showed students’ engagement in social networking sites contributed 10.8% to their mastery of certain English fixed expressions and idioms. In conclusion, the students have a very high level of engagement in social networking sites, but low level of mastery of certain English fixed expression and idioms. Keywords: engagement in social networking sites, proficiency in English fixed expressions and idioms, EFL student

TEACHING DESCRIPTIVE WRITING THROUGH GENRE-BASED APPROACH

Abstract: The objective of this study was to find out whether or not there was any significant improvement of students‟ skills in writing descriptive texts after they were taught by using Genre-Based Approach. The method of this study was a pre-experimental study which used one group pretest-posttest design. The population was the eighth grade students of SMP N 14, in the academic year 2013/2014 with the total number of 399 students. The total number of the sample was 39 students. The experimental group was taught writing descriptive texts by using Genre-Based Approach. To gain the data, the pretest and posttest were administered to the experimental group. The data obtained from the test were analyzed by using paired sample t-test. The calculation was done by using Statistical Package for Social Science 21 (SPSS 21). The results of test showed that the students got better scores in the posttest than in the pretest. The mean score of pretest was 44.79 while the mean score of posttest was 72.38. Therefore, there was a significant improvement of students‟ skills in writing descriptive texts after they were taught by using Genre-Based Approach. It was also found that the writing aspects namely, content, text organization, and language improved significantly. Conclusively, in this study, Genre-Based Approach can improve students‟ descriptive writing.Keywords: descriptive text, writing skill, genre-based approach, eight grader

STUDENTS’ THINKING STYLES AND ITS RELATION TO THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Abstract: The aims of this correlational study were to find out whether or not (1) there was a significant correlation between thinking styles and language learning strategies of the English Education Study Program students of FKIP Sriwijaya University, (2) there were significant correlations among each category of thinking styles to each category of languange learning strategies, and (3) there were any contributions of students’ thinking styles to their language learning strategies. The sample of this study was the English Education Study Program students of FKIP Sriwijaya University in the Academic Year 2013/2014. To collect the data, Thinking Styles Inventory (TSI) and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) were used. The data were analyzed by using correlational and regression analyses. The result showed that there was a positive correlation between students’ thinking styles and language learning strategies. Significant correlations were also shown by each category of thinking styles and languange learning strategies. However, further calculation by using multiple regression analyses showed that the contribution of thinking styles to students’ language learning strategies was only 38.5%, suggesting that thinking styles did not give much contribution to students’ language learning strategies. It is implied that English teacher should pay attention to students’ different thinking styles and language learning strategies. Besides that, English teacher should care of other factors that can influence students’ learning.    Key words: correlation, thinking styles, language learning strategie

Students’ Attitudes toward Drama Activities and Its Correlation to Their Narrative Reading Achievement

Abstract: The objectives of this study were to fid out: (1) how the attitude toward drama activities of the seventh semester students of English Education Study Program of Sriwijaya University was,(2) the level of the students’ narrative reading achievement, (3) whether or not there was a signifiant correlation between students’ attitudes toward drama activities and their narrative reading achievement, and (4) whether or not there was a signifiant contribution of students’ attitudes toward drama activities to their narrative reading achievement. The population of this study was all of the seventh semester students of English Education Study Program of Sriwijaya University in academic year 2016/2017 with the total number of 93 students. Purposive sampling was applied and 45 students were chosen as the sample. The correlational research design was used in this study. The data were collected by using a questionnaire about attitudes toward drama activities and narrative reading test. Pearson product moment correlation coeffient of SPSS version 22 was used for analyzing the data. The results showed that (1) the students gave positive attitudes toward drama activities, (2) the level of students’ narrative reading achievement was categorized into good to average categories, (3) there was a weak signifiant correlation between students’ attitudes toward drama activities and the students’ narrative reading achievement (r= 0.333), and (4) it was also determined that there was 11.1% contribution of students’ attitudes toward drama activities to students’ narrative reading achievement.Keywords: attitude, drama activities, narrative reading achievementAbstrak: Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifiasi: (1) bagaimana sikap mahasiswa semester tujuh Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sriwijaya terhadap kegiatan drama, (2) tingkat prestasi mahasiswa dalam membaca naratif, (3) ada atau tidak ada hubungan signifian antara sikap siswa terhadap kegiatan drama dan prestasi membaca naratif mereka, dan (4) ada atau tidak ada kontribusi signifian sikap siswa terhadap kegiatan drama pada prestasi membaca naratif mereka. Populasi dari penelitian ini adalah seluruh mahasiswa semester tujuh Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sriwijaya tahun ajaran 2016/2017 yang berjumlah 93 mahasiswa. Teknik purposive sampling diterapkan dan 45 siswa dipilih sebagai sampel penelitian. Desain penelitian korelasional digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan menggunakan angket mengenai sikap siswa terhadap kegiatan drama dan tes membaca naratif. Koefiien korelasi Pearson Product Moment dari SPSS versi 22 digunakan untuk menganalisis data. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa: (1) siswa menunjukkan sikap positif terhadap kegiatan darama, (2) tingkat prestasi membaca naratif siswa berada dalam kategori baik hingga sedang, (3) terdapat hubungan signifian yang lemah antara sikap siswa terhadap kegiatan drama dan prestasi membaca naratif (r = 0,333), dan (4) juga terdapat 11,1% kontribusi sikap siswa terhadap kegiatan drama pada prestasi membaca naratif siswa.Kata-kata kunci: sikap, kegiatan drama, prestasi membaca narati

USING THEME-BASED APPROACH TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ NARRATIVE WRITING ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract: The objectives of this study were to find out whether or not there were 1) a significant difference in students’ narrative writing achievement before and after they were taught by using Theme-Based Approach, and 2) a significant improvement in students’ narrative writing achievement in terms of content (purpose and narrative development). This study was a pre-experimental study which applied pretest-posttest one group design. The population was the 10th grade students of SMA N 1 Indralaya Utara in academic year 2013/2014 with a total number of 123 students. The total number of the sample was 32 students that was taken purposively. The data were obtained by means of writing test. First, the result showed that the students got better scores in the posttest than in the pretest. The calculation of paired-sample t-test showed that there was a significant difference in students’ narrative writing achievement before and after the treatment. This showed by the t-obtained (12.042) that was higher than the t-table (2.041). Second, the calculation of paired-sample t-test per aspect of writing showed that content (purpose and narrative development) was the most significantly improved aspect out of the five aspects. In other words, there was a significant improvement in students narrative writing in terms of content (purpose and narrative development) after they were taught by using Theme-Based Approach. Key words:narrative text, writing achievement, theme-based approach, improv

STUDENTS’ WRITING ANXIETY AND ITS CORRELATION WITH WRITING PERFORMANCE

Abstract: The present study was aimed at investigating the correlation between students’ writing anxiety and their writing achievement. Eighty five EFL students of English Education Study Program of FKIP at Sriwijaya University in academic year 2016/2017 were selected by using purposive sampling. The study used a quantitative research method of correlational design. The data were collected by distributing writing anxiety questionnaire and a writing test which were analyzed statistically. The results of correlational analysis showed that a fair negative significant correlation between students’ writing anxiety and their writing achievement with r  obtained = -.545 and p-value -.000.  Another finding from this study showed that a significant correlation between each aspect of writing anxiety to writing achievement (somatic anxiety was -.000, avoidance behaviour was -.000, and cognitive anxiey was -.000). Lastly, the contribution of writing anxiety on students’ writing achievement was .297, and it indicated that students’ writing anxiety gave significant effect in the level of 29.7% toward writing achievement. Keywords: Anxiety, Writing Anxiety, writing ahievement, Correlation.

SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF EFL STUDENTS AT HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract: Colleges may find certain difficulties to achieve a good academic achievement, such as personal or social factors. One of the social factors is the ability of the collegians to adapt to their surroundings. It is concerned with how they adjust to the college environment, academic conditions, and people around them. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between social adjustment and academic achievement, as well as the contribution of social adjustment to academic achievement among EFL Students in higher education. Total population sampling was used as the sampling technique. The sample consisted of 226 active EFL students. The study's instruments were the Social Adjustment to College Questionnaire and students' cumulative GPA. The findings revealed a very weak significant correlation between social adjustment and academic achievement, with the r-obtained value greater than the r-table value (0.192 > 0.131) and the p value less than 0.05 (0.004 0.05) in the significance level of 5% two-tailed. Meanwhile, Social Adjustment contributed 3.3 percent to academic achievement