ELE Reviews: English Language Education Reviews

Designing English Reading Materials For Law Students

Qosim Khoiri Anwar — 2024-05-31

English is a language that is generally difficult to understand for most students. Providing reading materials is one of the necessary approaches that should be undertaken by professors. This research aims to explore information regarding the needs of students in learning English and describe how reading materials for law students at a university in Indonesia are designed. The research and development (R&D) method is employed, implementing the ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). The results indicate that the majority of students greatly require materials that can enhance their reading skills. After the reading materials are designed and implemented in class, an evaluation is conducted to further develop the materials. The evaluation results, as responded to by students and expert professors, indicate that the materials align with the students’ needs. The average percentage of students’ needs fulfilled by the reading materials is 84%, while the average assessment percentage from the experts is 90.4%. This demonstrates that the reading materials are valid for use as English learning materials for law students.

Pre-Service English Teachers’ Experiences in Joining Kampus Mengajar Program

Siti Alya Fayza — 2024-05-31

Kampus Mengajar is part of Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) initiatives introduced by the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia in early 2020. The objective is to enhance the quality of university graduates, enabling them to thrive in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Society 5.0. Additionally, the program aims to elevate the professionalism of students aspiring to become teachers. The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of pre-service English teachers in joining this program. This study employed a qualitative method with a narrative approach. Eight students of the English Education Study Program at a university in Indonesia participated in Kampus Mengajar were interviewed. They were selected using a purposive sampling technique. The data were collected through interviews and documentation. The analysis of the data resulted in the identification of four themes. These themes encompassed the motivation for participating in Kampus Mengajar program, the various types of activities undertaken, the lessons gained from teaching and non-teaching activities, and the skills that were improved throughout the program. Based on the results of this study, the participants shared remarkably similar experiences aiming to enhance their skills as university graduates and prospective teachers.

An Exhaustive Examination of the Integration of Literature into Teaching/Learning Strategies for Advancing English Reading Comprehension: A Systematic Literature Review

Dulfqar Mhaibes Abdulrazzaq — 2024-05-31

This study aims to provide an extensive literature review of previous studies conducted to demonstrate and investigate the effectiveness of using literature in teaching and learning reading comprehension at the middle education level. Consequently, this literature review was conducted using a systematic approach, involving searches across multiple academic databases on the addressed topic, which resulted in highlighting twenty articles conducted between 2010 and 2021. The systematic review method included identifying relevant studies, evaluating their quality, and synthesizing their findings. Furthermore, the researchers divided the main findings into two groups: the first one focused on using short stories, and the second group included all other literary genres. Both groups showed the positive effect of using short stories, comic stories, or novels as an efficacious method in developing, teaching, and learning reading comprehension skills, especially for adolescents and children. Therefore, this study suggests using different literary genres such as children’s short stories, fiction, and plays in middle education classrooms and employing new reading techniques and strategies to further motivate students. In addition, it recommends using a larger population and random assignment when selecting samples for future studies.

Indonesian EFL Students’ Writing Anxiety: Gender Overview

Benni Ichsanda Rahman Hz — 2024-05-31

This study aims to examine the relationship between gender and foreign language writing anxiety among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers’ students. Utilizing a qualitative case study, the research involved 56 participants, divided equally between male and female students, all enrolled in the English Language Education Study Program at a state university in North Sumatra. A survey of the Second Language Writing Anxiety Scale (SLWAS) was assigned to participants to determine their level of anxiety. To explore how gender, anxiety levels, and students’ experiences and engagement with second/foreign language writing anxiety are connected, the data gathered from the questionnaire were analyzed and grouped according to the participants’ gender. The data analysis shows show that among male respondents, 32.14% experienced high writing anxiety, 64.28% reported moderate anxiety, and 3.58% had low anxiety levels. For female respondents, 39.28% experienced high anxiety, 57.14% reported moderate anxiety, and 3.58% had low anxiety levels. Overall, both male and female participants possess varying levels of writing anxiety, with a higher percentage of females experiencing high anxiety compared to males, although the difference is not significant. More extensive research, incorporating a wider variable, is needed to deepen our understanding of how gender relates to writing anxiety.

Mitigating the COVID-19 Induced Learning Loss in Rural Primary Schools: How Do Teachers Prepare English FAL Learners for Self-Directed Learning in the ‘New Normal’?

Mosebetsi Mokoena — 2024-05-31

In the post-pandemic era, the ongoing discourses are centered around finding innovative ways to sustain teaching and learning as well as reversing COVID-19-induced learning loss, especially in critical areas, such as reading in English First Additional Language (FAL). As a contribution to these discourses, the current study explored how teachers prepared rural English FAL learners for self-directed learning to mitigate COVID-19-induced learning loss and to sustain learning in the ‘new normal’. The study followed a qualitative approach and adopted phenomenology as a research design, while the Capability Approach was used for theoretical framing. Three teachers of English FAL in one primary school were conveniently selected to participate in the semi-structured focus-group interviews. A thematic analysis revealed that teachers prepared English FAL learners to use self-directed learning by apprising learners of their active role in learning English FAL, identifying learners’ weaknesses, strengthening the home-school connection, and encouraging collaboration and problem-solving. These findings imply that self-directed learning could be a useful strategy for mitigating COVID-19-induced learning loss and improving reading skills in rural primary schools.