The nature of English as the world lingua franca and the nature of Indonesian students who are multicultural call for the application of Intercultural language learning (ILL) approach in English education in Indonesia. However, the complexities of ILL seem to demand English teachers’ positive attitude towards ILL even since they became tertiary English students so that ILL could be ideally implemented in the classroom. This study was conducted to delve into tertiary English students’ attitude towards ILL and to confirm their English teaching practices according to the perspective of ILL principles. Tertiary students taking English Education major at a State University in central Java were chosen to be the participants. Interview, questionnaire, and observation were deployed to garner the data. The findings demonstrated that most of the tertiary English students had a positive attitude towards ILL. Their judgments exhibited a positive tendency to accept and support ILL ideologies and principles. Their positive tendency covered three dimensions: affection (76.13%), cognition (75.08%), and behavior (75.16%). Observations showed that their English teaching practices tended to confirm their positive attitude towards ILL. They were able to apply three ILL principles consisting of active construction, making connection, and interaction. Other studies are expected to address ILL implementation in the formal English classrooms at Indonesian schools so that detailed merits and challenges as well as solutions with respect to ILL implementation can be revealed.
One of essential phases in language learning is measurement. Test as a tool of measurement process must then be well constructed. The quality of test itself can be determined through test item analysis. However, in some occasions, teachers tend to ignore test item analysis because of time limitation and other responsibilities. Referring to this problem, this research aimed to describe the quality of test items including the difficulty index, the discrimination index, the distractor index, and the reliability of the test and the Washback of teacher-made test on students’ motivation in learning English. It was conducted at Gamaliel Elementary School in academic year of 2016-2017. This case study utilized purposive sampling. In collecting the data, the researcher used interview, observation, and document analysis as the techniques of collecting data. The informants were an English teacher and students of Gamaliel Elementary School. The documents were students’ answer sheets. In analyzing test items, the researchers used ITEMAN program. The result of this study shows that the teacher-made test can be classified in good test. The test brings both positive and negative Washback in students’ motivation in learning. Therefore, it is recommended for the teacher to conduct test analysis as a way of evaluating and improving his teaching and learning and test itself as well as to encourage the students to study even though they are not confronted with a test.
Vocational High School is course with aim to prepare the students to have specific skills by having practical activities based on its study program. It has the same purpose with English for specific purposes (ESP) course which aims to meet the students’ specific language need. ESP courses help students to use English appropriately as well as accurately to perform their jobs in a various situations where they encounter their English language function. ESP course often begins with the students’ need. Students’ need analysis is needed to be identified to be able to meet the effective learning material based on what the students really need. This study aims to investigate the writing materials needs of eleventh grade students of Office Administration study program in Vocational High School from viewpoints of students. This study used descriptive qualitative analysis with questionnaire and interview method to collect the data. The subjects of the research were eleventh grade of Office Administration students that consisted of 34 students by using purposive sampling. The result indicated that the students have several needs in terms of target needs and learning needs. Target needs are divided into necessities, wants, and lacks. Based on the result of target needs, the students are lack of component of writing skills including express ideas, write with correct organization, use correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling, and use appropriate vocabulary based on the context of the text. Thus, the students need and want to learn those components of writing skills. Meanwhile, learning needs are divided into input, procedure, setting, and accessibility. The input is divided into content of materials, activities, and design. The teachers should pay attention more on those aspects to fulfill the students’ need to help them transition successfully to their future careers after graduation.
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