<p>Dialogue journal is perceived as an effective technique for teaching writing. This article aims at reporting a study on the use of Dialogue journal to improve students’ writing proficiencies. The objectives of the research were to know how dialogue journal can be implemented effectively to improve students’ writing proficiencies and to know to what extent dialogue journal can improve their writing proficiencies. A classroom action research was conducted in a group of students in one of state junior high school in Surakarta. The data collected were qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were obtained from observations and interviews, while the quantitative data were collected from tests. The findings of the research show that (1) dialogue journal can be implemented effectively by taking some considerations; and (2) the implementation of dialogue journal could improve the students’ writing proficiencies and the classroom situation. This was proven by the improvement of the students’ writing mean scores and their attitude toward the learning. They became more active and motivated.</p><p align="left"> </p>

<p>This article describes a study on the process of developing and using English teaching materials by English teachers in a vocational school. The study was initiated by observing the classroom activities which focused on how teachers used the teaching materials. Beside the observation process, the data also gathered through an interview between the researcher and the two teachers. The result of data analysis showed that the process of developing teaching materials consisted of two major steps; 1) student’s need analysis process and 2) materials adaptation process. Meanwhile, the developed materials such as pictures, videos, course books, and direct listening materials were applied in the arranged discussion activity. It can be sum up that the teachers developed teaching materials by considering student’s needs. The teaching materials were developed by adapting several existed teaching materials. They were then used mostly in the discussion activity and used as a brainstorming for students.</p>

The aims of this research were (1) to find out whether SQ3R method improved the students’ reading comprehension or not and (2) to describe the implementation of SQ3R method. With regards to the second aim, the research was especially aimed at describing (1) the class situation and (2) the strengths and weaknesses of SQ3R method during the teaching and learning process. The research was conducted in two cycles for two months at a senior high school in Surakarta. Each cycle had five steps: identifying the problem, planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting the action. The research findings show that SQ3R method could improve the students’ reading comprehension and the classroom situation. The mean score increased from pre-test, which was 70.76, became 77.33 in cycle I, and improved to be 85.33 in cycle II. The improvement of the classroom situation can be seen from the facts that: (1) SQ3R method could stimulate the students’ prior knowledge; (2) the students were more focused on the task; (3) they enjoyed themselves and had fun joining the teaching-learning process; (4) the classroom situation was more conducive; (5) they were brave to ask when they did not understand the teachers’ explanation; (6) they paid attention to the lesson; and (7) they were active in the class.

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>This article is a report of a classroom action research that aimed at finding out how KWL strategy could be implemented effectively in improving the </span><span>students’ </span><span>reading comprehension, to what extent KWL strategy could improve </span><span>the students’ reading comprehension, and how the classroom situation was when </span><span>KWL strategy was implemented in the reading class. The classroom action research was conducted in two cycles. Each cycle comprised planning, acting, observing and reflecting. The qualitative data were collected through observations, questionnaires, and interviews while the quantitative data were obtained through tests. Some findings are obtained in this research. The first finding is that KWL strategy could be implemented effectively because of the </span><span>students’ ability to use their prior knowledge </span><span>and activate their critical thinking to predict the text, all of which caused them to have better performance in comprehending the text. An effective way of implementing KWL strategy could be developed and applied due to a) a clear explanation of KWL steps to the students, b) the use of new and familiar topics, c) the use of visual representations of the assigned text, d) the use of group discussions and individual activities, and </span><span>e) the teacher’s guidance during the teaching and learning process. </span><span>The second finding is that </span><span>the strategy could improve the students’ reading comprehension in </span><span>their skills of finding main ideas, explicit information, implicit information, and word references, and understanding word meanings based on the context. The third finding is that the strategy promoted a better classroom situation.</span></p></div></div></div>

<p><em>This research is an experimental study of using video in teaching listening to the eleventh grade students of SMA N 1 Slawi. The objective of the research is to find out whether the use of video in teaching listening to the eleventh grade students of SMA N 1 Slawi is effective. The data were obtained from the students’ scores. The findings of the research are: (1) There is a significant difference between the listening achievement of the students taught using video and the listening achievement of the students taught using audio (t_o is higher than t_t or 2.605 &gt; 2.000); (2) The post-test mean score of the experimental group taught using video is higher than the post-test mean score of the control group taught using audio. The mean score of the experimental group is 75.80 while the mean score of the control group is 68.87. Therefore, it can be  concluded that using video in teaching listening is effective.</em></p>