The Covid-19 pandemic that is sweeping across the globe has caused increased anxiety. Studies in linguistics have found a variety of language expressions that convey people's anxiety and fear. However, there are only a few researchers that studied the use of language used in communication by the government, to enhance the citizens' morale and help them recover from psychological distress from the Covid-19 pandemic. This study focused on investigating the discursive strategies used by the Indonesian government spokesperson at daily press conferences during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study employed the Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA) framework. A total of 28 recorded press conference sessions that lasted between 25-45 minutes were analyzed through the identification, interpretation, and explanation stages. Identification was carried out through careful reading of the transcription of the government spokesperson's speech to find out the discursive strategy used by the spokesperson. The interpretation was done by grouping similar quotes with the same themes, based on the context of the discourse. The explanation was done by explaining, in a macro way, the situational aspects and social contexts that provide the background for the texts' production and relating them to the pandemic. The results of the study showed that the spokesperson made use of nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivization and intensification, and mitigation strategies to deliver information to the public. The entire discursive strategies are used to improve the public's optimism and build solidarity of the citizens as a moral force to face the pandemic. Suggestions for future research about analysis of pandemic discourse employed by the government include corpus analysis, power representation and framing.

Abstrak:Penggunaan lingkungan sekolah dalam pembelajaran dimaksudkan menarik perhatian peserta didik materi yang berhubungan dengan lingkungan. Belajar dengan pendekatan lingkungan berarti peserta didik mendapatkan pengetahuan dan pemahaman dengan cara mengamati sendiri apa-apa yang ada di lingkungan sekitar, baik di lingkungan rumah maupun lingkungan sekolah. Hasil belajar adalah ukuran yang menyatakan seberapa jauh tujuan pembelajaran yang telah dicapai khususnya pada pelajaran Biologi dengan menggunakan lingkungan sekolah dalam pembelajaran. Hasil penelitian tentang penggunaan lingkungan sebagai sumber belajar disimpulkan dapat peningkatan hasil belajar Biologi siswa Kelas VII MTs. Abstract:The use of the learning environment in the schools is intended to attract students attention in instructional materials that is related to the environment. Learning by using environmental approach means that the students acquire knowledge and understanding by observing something in the environment, both in the home and school environment. Learning outcome is a measurement of how far the learning objectives have been achieved, especially in Biology lessons using the school learning environment. The results of research on the use of the environment as a learning resource concluded that it can increase students' learning outcomes in Biology Class at the seventh grade of Islamic junior high school. Kata kunci:Lingkungan, sumber belajar, hasil belajar.PENDIDIKAN memiliki peran strategis dalam meningkatkan kualitas sumber daya manusia dan upaya mewujudkan cita-cita bangsa Indonesia dalam mewujudkan kesejahteraan umum dan mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa. Peran strategis inilah yang kemudian mengarahkan pendidikan pada fungsinya dalam mengembangkan kemampuan dan membentuk watak serta peradaban bangsa yang bermartabat dalam rangka mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa. Terkait dengan hal tersebut, di Indonesia pendidikan nasional bertujuan untuk pengembangan potensi peserta didik agar menjadi manusia yang beriman dan bertakwa kepada Tuhan Yang Maha Esa, berakhlak mulia, sehat, berilmu, cakap, kreatif, mandiri, dan menjadi warga negara yang demokratis serta bertanggung jawab. 1

AbstrakPenelitian ini menghasilkan produk herbarium book sebagai media pembelajaran pada mata kuliah struktur tumbuhan tingkat tinggi. Adapun tujuan penelitian untuk mengetahui tingkat validitas, kepraktisan dan keefektifan herbarium book yang dikembangkan sebagai media pembelajaran. Jenis penelitian merupakan penelitian pengembangan (research development) menggunakan model ASSURE yang terdiri dari tahap Analyze learner characteristics, State performance objectives, Select methods, media and materials, Utilize materials, Requires learner participation, and Evaluation and revision. Subjek uji coba pengembangan mahasiswa Pendidikan Biologi UIN Alauddin Makassar tahun akademik 2016/2017 berjumlah 40 orang. Instrumen yang digunakan berupa format validasi, kepraktisan dan keefektifan. Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan analisis statistik deskriptif. Berdasarkan hasil uji kevalidan para ahli diperoleh skor 3,78 dengan kategori sangat valid. Uji kepraktisan diperoleh nilai rata-rata angket respon dosen sebesar 3,5 dengan kategori praktis. Sementara uji keefektifan diperoleh rata-rata ketuntasan hasil belajar mahasiswa 92,5% dengan kategori efektif. Selanjutnya respon mahasiswa terhadap media diperoleh nilai rata-rata 3,29. Dengan demikian, hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan herbarium book sebagai media pembelajaran biologi pada mata kuliah struktur tumbuhan tinggi mahasiswa Jurusan Pendidikan Biologi UIN Alauddin Makassar yang dikembangkan memenuhi kriteria valid, efektif dan praktis. AbstractThis research produced products of herbarium book as a learning media for structure higher plants courses. The research purposes was to know the level of practicality and effectiveness of herbarium book that developed as a learning media. It was a research and development design that adopted the assure model with stages of analyze learner characteristics, state performance objectives, select methods, media and materials, utilize materials, requires learner participation, and evaluation and revision. The subjects on trial test were 40 Biology education students of UIN Alauddin Makassar at the academic year of 2016 / 2017. The instruments that used were the forms of validation, practicality and effectiveness format. Data was analyzed by using statistical analysis descriptive. Based on the results, the score of experts validity obtained categories 3,78 which means perfectly valid. The lecturers response of practicality test gave the average score of 3.5 means practice category. The effectiveness tests of students study results obtained 92,5 % means effective category and their response to media obtained the average score 3,29. Thus research results indicate the herbarium book as a learning media of structure higher plants courses of biology education students of Alauddin Makassar meet the criteria of valid, effective and practice.

Textbook discourse readability is primarily determined by three key factors: the text, the writer, and the reader. Textbook discourse readability from the reader aspect especially among students with poor reading ability is rarely studied. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate textbook discourse readability among junior high school students with poor reading ability based on gender, reading interest, and family socio-economic status. A quantitative survey was conducted on 257 respondents from Indonesia. The data were gathered using a questionnaire and a cloze test. The results showed that textbook discourse readability on all investigated variables was categorized into the frustration level. There was a significant difference in textbook discourse readability among students with poor reading ability based on gender, reading interest, and family socio-economic status. Female students, students with high reading interest, students with well-educated mothers, students with parents earning more than seven million rupiahs (equals to USD480/month) were reported to have a higher textbook discourse readability. These findings suggest the importance of considering students’ individual characteristics and family socio-economic background in writing a textbook and designing reading instructions in junior high schools.

Jenis penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kuantitatif. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh mahasiswa angkatan 2013 Jurusan Pendidikan Biologi Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan UIN Alauddin Makassar berjumlah 120 mahasiswa sedangkan sampelnya adalah 50% dari populasi berjumlah 60 mahasiswa dengan teknik pengambilan sampel "Simple Random Sampling". Instrumen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah skala kecemasan berkomunikasi dan dokumentasi dalam bentuk indeks prestasi semester (I dan II). Teknik analisis yang digunakan adalah analisis statistik deskriptif dan analisis statistik inferensial. Berdasarkan hasil analisis statistik deskriptif, kecemasan berkomunikasi diperoleh nilai rata-rata 82,73 berada pada kategori sedang dari nilai ideal 100 diperoleh nilai terendah 60, nilai tertinggi 110 dengan presentase 68,33%. Untuk hasil prestasi akademik diperoleh nilai rata-rata 3,34 berada pada kategori memuaskan dari nilai ideal 4,00 diperoleh nilai terendah 2,28, nilai tertinggi 4,00 dengan presentase 70%. Adapun hasil analisis statistik inferensial dengan uji regresi sederhana, diperoleh koefisien korelasi nilai sebesar 13,139 sedangkan nilai sehingga = 3,16. Jadi, dapat disimpulkan bahwa > yakni 13,139>3,16, maka ditolak dan diterima yang berarti terdapat pengaruh yang positif antara kecemasan berkomunikasi terhadap prestasi akademik mahasiswa Jurusan Pendidikan Biologi Angkatan 2013 Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan UIN Alauddin Makassar dengan sumbangsih sebesar 18,5 %.