This study aims at investigating students’ perceptions of the use of Padlet in the class of Introduction to Functional Linguistics. The population of this study was a class of 2014 batch student of English Language Education program at Sultan Agung Islamic University (UNISSULA) Semarang with a sample of 28 people. This research is in the form of qualitative descriptive design. The data collection method uses observations and questionnaire. The data is then analyzed using interpretive descriptive analysis. The specific target to be achieved in this study is that by knowing students' perceptions of the use of Padlet, then this result can be used as a reference for the Faculty of Language and Communication Science and other faculties in the UNISSULA environment to improve the performance and quality of service to students especially in the learning and teaching process. In addition, the results of this study can also be a reference for both the Study Program and the Faculty to review the curriculum that has been implemented so far. From the data obtained through questionnaires distributed to 28 students of the English Language Education Study Program at the Faculty of Languages and Communication Science of Sultan Agung Islamic University Semarang in the class of 2014/2015, researchers can conclude that these students have very diverse perceptions in the use of Padlet media in learning Introduction to Functional Linguistics. To be sure, most students really positively appreciate the use of this media in linguistic learning in general.

Research on knowledge quality development has been rapidly developed in these several decades, especially to those related to the use of methods in learning. Of the findings, only did few research articles report about the application of constructivist-learning paradigm in the frame of learning process and the model of learning possibly used as the reference to improve the quality of knowledge. This paper aims at discussing the potentials owned by constructivist learning paradigm and trying to put it into a model of learning as an endeavour of improving the quality of knowledge. With regard to the result, it appears that properly using the constructivistlearning paradigm will stimulate the creation of good and competitive academic learning environment, active learning participation, and stimulate education that encourages students to be responsible for their learning where it finally ends in a positive development of knowledge.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant changes to the education sector. The shift from classroom-based conventional learning to virtual mode means that the study from home policy appears to place responsibilities of students learning on parents. By focusing on primary level education, we explored parents’ voices and aspirations in assisting their children in taking online English language classes. As most of the parents have been overwhelmed, we offer some insights regarding how to mitigate the problems. Using photovoice, fifteen parents whose children were learning English language in primary schools were invited to take the photographs from the online English language learning (OELL) program and discussed the photographs. We used Photovoice in the project to capture parents’ concerns over the program and their relationship with the pandemic. Thematic analysis was used as a tool to generate important themes from the photovoice data. While appreciating the program, our respondents highlighted the obstacles and concerns over the online English learning through their photographs. In this article, we demonstrated, that photovoice not only offered a space to explore parents’ experiences in engaging in their children’s OELL program, but also served as a space for parents’ aspirations in disrupting and influencing educational programs and reforms.

This research was an attempt to investigate the use of Jigsaw learning Strategy in term of improving students’ reading ability. This six month project was conducted to Senior-high school students around Semarang. In order to get to know the impact of this program, this research required two classes designed as the class of experiment and the class of control. Each class would have its roles in this research. As the project was completely done, it was observed that the mean score of the posttest in the class ofexperiment (85.4412) was higher than that of the class of control (67.95). Of referring to the data, this was concluded that this learning strategy was positively effective to improve students’ learning performance in reading.

Abstract:Motivation, almost at all aspects, gives a big impact for senior high school students to choose a major or study program at a university. The motivation itself can be both intrinsic and extrinsic. This study aims to investigate the motivation of students to choose English Education department at university. The subjects of this research were 37 students majoring English Education at Sultan Agung Islamic University (UNISSULA) Semarang, Indonesia. This is descriptive quantitative research. Observations and questionnaires were used to collect the data needed. The data were then analyzed by using descriptive statistical analysis. As results, it was found that 81.1% of the students of English Education have strong intrinsic motivation which leads them to choose English Education as their major. This selection was due to students' curiosity and passion to increase their potential and skills in English.