The development of the era can be inextricably linked to the development of technology as it has entered all aspects of human life, including education. One of the technology utilization in education is e-learning which allows the learning process can be accessed anytime and anywhere. One technique commonly used in asynchronous learning nowadays is online discussion. This research aims at investigating the level of students’ interest and the factors that affect their interest in the implementation of the online discussion techniques. This research was conducted by mix-method, where the data was collected from the questionnaire and interview. The subjects of this research were 40 students in the questionnaire section and 4 students in the interview section. The result of the interview proved that students had a high interest in the implementation of online discussion techniques; while, the result of the interview indicated some factors that affect students’ interest in the implementation of online discussion techniques such as teacher activeness and involvement, internet connection, students’ motivation and concentration. Hopefully, this research can help to maximize the application of online discussion techniques to gain more benefits in the learning process.

The Covid-19 pandemic suddenly attacked the world and led every sector of life affected, including the education process, which is forced to shift into online mode. All educators are forced to adapt and find a learning platform to utilize in this emergency remote learning. This research uncovers the students' preference of digital platforms in learning ESP during the Covid-19 pandemic, the factors accepting their preference, and their perception of those learning platforms. The design of this study is qualitative. The participants of this study were 112 freshmen of a state university in Makassar who learn English for Specific Purposes (ESP), comprising 95 females and 17 males. The participants were consisted of 3 majors and involved in remote learning for one semester (16 meetings) through WhatsApp, Google Classroom, University LMS, YouTube, and Video Conference (Zoom and Google Meet). In order to collect the data, a questionnaire that consists of close-ended and open-ended questions was distributed to the participants. It is found that the students' preference of digital platform in learning ESP during the Covid-19 pandemic is WhatsApp. The factors affecting students' preference of the platform are demographic and economic constraints. The criteria of the application that is highly preferred by the students were the one which does not drain the internet quota, can still work correctly in which the internet connection is not strong, and can facilitate the interaction between lecturers and students. Finally, this study suggests that no one perfect digital platform can replace face-to-face learning since many things are missing during this online learning. So, to keep it running effectively, the combination of several platforms is required to be utilized.

The aim of this study is to investigate students from non-major English department perspectives toward the use of Video-Based Learning in an online English language process. This study was conducted at Politeknik Negeri Ujung Pandang using a convergent-parallel design, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Eighty students of the first semester from the accounting department who were involved in a video-based learning process became the participants of this study. The data was gathered through the use of a questionnaire that included closed-ended and open-ended questions. The data from the closed-ended questions were quantitatively analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS. Additionally, a narrative method was used to analyze the open-ended questions. The results of this study indicate that the non-English major students have a positive perspective toward video-based learning utilization because it increases their motivation to learn and makes it easier for them to comprehend the material. Keywords: Video-Based Learning, Non-English Major Students’ Perspectives, Online Class

This paper aimed at investigating the needs of occupational English for Purchasing Department in PT. Bosowa Lloyd, Makassar. The subject of this research was 12 employees working in Purchasing Department consisting 6 males and 8 females, including one head which is called Purchasing Manager. The data were collected through a questionnaire, interview, and observation. The findings of this research indicates that Purchasing Department are required to have high levels of English proficiency. In order to prepare language program, the information of PSA becomes the starting point to design course and instruction material for the students. To identify TSA, the needs analysis for employee of Purchasing Department was performed through analyzing the responsibilities which were taken from company manual. Moreover, to meet the demands, communicative functioning (which covers discourse communities, business genre, key communication events and function, grammar and lexis), specific expectation of the students and the role of cross-cultural communication are also important to explore.

The world is paralyzed. In the beginning of 2020, the earth is attacked by COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has a massive impact towards all sectors in human daily life. All communication way shift to online communication include teaching and learning process. This research was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of remote learning in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic. This research applied qualitative method. The subject of this research are the English department students of a state university in Makassar, Indonesia. Open-response questionnaire was chosen as the instrument to gain the data. Thus, the pandemic of COVID-19, the researcher spread the questionnaire through Google Form. From the questionnaire, the result showed that the majority of students did not like remote learning. They did not enjoy the teaching and learning program such as discussion class or when they wanted to communicate with their friends and lecturers. There felt some obstacles in creating a real teaching and learning English condition through remote learning due to the unsupported device and unstable internet networks. It can be concluded that Indonesia has not ready yet to apply the remote learning as the standard learning system due to the uneven welfare and the spread of stable internet networks. This condition also possible drives students to some psychological disorders such as anxiety and under pressure. The lesson learned from this COVID-19 pandemic will make the next generation, remote learning platforms, and solutions for future cases more ready and better than today.