<p>This study investigated the effect of reading strategies training on the students’ literal and inferential reading comprehension. The training involved three concrete strategies: predicting, text mapping, and summarizing. To achieve the purpose of this study, a quasi experimental design was selected with the experimental group being given reading strategies training and the control group being treated in a ‘business as usual’ mode. The subjects were students of two classes in a vocational senior high school in East Java, Indonesia (N=71). The students’ scores in the mid-semester teacher made test of English were used as the covariate to control possible initial differences between the two groups. Moreover, a test of reading comprehension was developed to measure the effect of the treatment. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) yielded that the experimental group outperformed the control group in both literal and inferential reading comprehension levels. Implications of this finding for classroom teaching are then discussed.</p>

This paper was a subset report of a research project on skill-based English learning strategies by Indonesian EFL learners. It focusses on the attempts to reveal: (1) the differences in the use of strategies of learning speaking skill by male and female learners, and (2) the contribution of strategies of learning speaking skill on the learners' speaking proficiency. The data from 595 second year senior high school students from eleven schools in East Java, Indonesia were collected using a 70 item questionnaire of Oral Communication Learning Strategy (OCLS) and a 10 item self-assessment of speaking proficiency. The statistical analysis revealed that gender provided significant effects on the intensity of use of six types of strategies of learning speaking skill – interactional-maintenance, self-evaluation, fluency-oriented, time gaining, compensation, and interpersonal strategies – with female learners reporting higher intensity of use. A further analysis found that four strategy types – interactional-maintenance, self-improvement, compensation, and memory strategies – greatly contribute to the speaking proficiency. These findings imply that strategies-based instruction, covering the four most influential strategies, needs to be integrated explicitly in the speaking class to help learners, particularly male learners, cope with problems in learning speaking skill.

Dayah has a significant role in the socio-religious life of the Acehnese. One of the important roles that the dayah institution has played in recent decades is its role in bridging peace in Aceh. This study aims to explore the role of Dayah Mudi Mesra Al-Aziziyah Samalanga in articulating Islamic multicultural education in Aceh. This study uses a qualitative research approach with case study where the data sources are taken purposefully on 20 informants from Dayah Mudi Mesra Samalanga and figures involved in Aceh peace. Data were collected using in-depth interview and documentation techniques. The data obtained were then analyzed using interactive analytical model. The results show that the articulation of Islamic Multicultural Education of Dayah Mudi Mesra Al-Aziziyah Samalanga is carried out into two forms, they are 1) Internalization of values ​​through the Tastafi curriculum, 2) Externalization through involvement in peace in the conflict between GAM (Free Aceh Movement) and the Indonesian Central Government.

Learning a new language is ultimately to be able to commu nicate with it. Encouraging a sense of responsibility on the part of the learners is crucial for training them to be proficient communicators. As such, understanding the strategies that they employ in acquiring the language skill is important to come to ideas of how to promote learner autonomy. Research recently conducted with three different groups of learners of English at the tertiary education level in Malang indicated that they used metacognitive and social strategies at a high frequency, while memory, cognitive, compensation, and affective strategies were exercised at a medium frequency. This finding implies that the learners have acquired some degrees of autonomy because metacognitive strategies requires them to independently make plans for their learning activities as well as evaluate the progress, and social strategies requires them to independently enhance communicative interactions with other people. Further actions are then to be taken to increase their learning autonomy, that is by intensifying the practice of use of the other four strategy categories, which are not yet applied intensively.

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