Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 51 Teacher-Made YouTube Videos in Online EFL Classes: Non-English Department Students’ Perceptions and Practices Arief Eko Priyo Atmojo UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta, Indonesia arief.atmojo93@iain-surakarta.ac.id DOI: 10.35974/acuity.v7i2.2531 Abstract This research aims to seek answers on the students’ perceptions towards teacher-made YouTube videos for learning English online and how do they take advantage of the videos. Eight non-English department students were invited to become participants and they voluntarily accepted the invitation. Data were garnered through written reflections. It was then continued by three rounds of semi-structured focus group discussion. Coding was performed to analyse the data and done thrice in different times to ensure the credibility of the results. The results indicate the students’ general and detailed perceptions on the use of teacher-made YouTube videos which are very fruitful. The findings also show how the students use and take advantage of the videos and some difficulties they encounter. It implies that the students’ perceptions and how they use and take advantage of the videos should be considered by EFL video creators in the future, including EFL teachers. Future researches may apply different methods, contexts, and participants. Keywords: EFL classes, non-English department students, online EFL learning, students’ perceptions, YouTube videos. INTRODUCTION Research and publication on the use of YouTube for teaching English and facilitating students’ learning are currently growing. Researchers have carried out investigations regarding students’ perceptions of learning English through YouTube (Gracella & Nur, 2020), the use of TED and YouTube in extensive listening (Saputra & Fatimah, 2018), students’ voices on the use of YouTube to improve pronunciation in blended learning (Purnamasari, 2018), grammar video analysis of Brazilian YouTube Channels (de Azevedo & Matias, 2019), incorporating YouTube clips to develop students’ cultural understanding (Maryani & Aguskin, 2019), the selection of learning materials from YouTube for an ESP course (Simbolon & Febrianti, 2020), and the use of YouTube for learning spoken discourse (Albahiri & Alhaj, 2020). These aforementioned publications have reported that the use of YouTube has had great advantages in facilitating English language learning in many aspects such as listening, pronunciation, cultural understanding, and spoken discourse. Fakhruddin, Usman, Rahmawati, & Sulvinajayanti (2020) also highlight that the efficacy of YouTube for teaching English has been reported many times. Obviously, some researches regarding the use of YouTube videos are focused on developing English skills including vocabulary, reading, writing, listening, speaking, and critical thinking skill (Maryani & Aguskin, 2019). Notwithstanding the array of researches on the use of YouTube for teaching English (Maziriri et al., 2020; Wang & Chen, 2020), literature still lacks of researches and publications addressing the use of YouTube for teaching English to non-English department students in https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity mailto:arief.atmojo93@iain-surakarta.ac.id Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 52 tertiary education amidst the COVID-19 pandemic whereas it is urgent since this global pandemic has changed many things including how the teaching and learning of English should take place (Atmojo & Nugroho, 2020; Pasaribu & Dewi, 2021) and YouTube has great potentials to be utilized in a language class from primary to tertiary education (Albahiri & Alhaj, 2020). One relevant work contributing to this body of literature is derived from Simbolon & Febrianti (2020) who publish their work related to the use of YouTube in a maritime English course carried out amidst the COVID-19 pandemic at a vocational university in Indonesia. However, they do not address the students’ perceptions towards the use of YouTube for teaching English in the ESP course amidst this global pandemic. Particularly for non-English department students, English has been one of the challenging courses for them. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate how they perceive the use of YouTube for teaching English and facilitating their learning as students’ voice is one of important feedback to refine the teaching of English in an online setting due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Pasaribu & Dewi, 2021). YouTube has great advantages for teaching English and stimulating students’ autonomy. Through internet connection, YouTube can be used for teaching multiple foreign language skills such as listening, pronunciation, and conversation. It may also function as a realia to embed cultural understanding, provide exposure to World Englishes, and develop authentic vocabulary mastery. Moreover, YouTube enables lessons and activities such as reading and writing to be well structured and detailed. It can also facilitate homeworks and projects which require supports from online streaming videos (Watkins & Wilkins, 2011). It is obvious that YouTube has valuable potentials to function as a medium and resource for learning English such as enhancing listening skill. It can also create an interesting and interactive learning atmosphere (Fakhruddin et al., 2020). YouTube can be defined as an online video repository which facilitates digital videos storage and exhibition without charge. Having been found in February 2005, YouTube has grown tremendously as a multitude educational resource indicated from its fastly growing and much varied content and the interactivity of its community (Watkins & Wilkins, 2011). YouTube is also considered as a source of teaching materials. It is a website which functions as a medium for online video sharing. YouTube users are allowed to upload videos, share videos, browse videos, watch videos, and discuss or ask questions related to videos (Fakhruddin et al., 2020). Advancement in technology has encouraged more teachers and students to create and share their self-made videos. For teachers and students, there are, at least, three reasons for creating and sharing videos including giving instructions, practicing and acquiring language, and creating online learning environment (Cowie & Sakui, 2021). The shift of English course from face-to-face meeting to online learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic has altered how the teaching and learning of English take place. Fortunately, this online English learning can be facilitated through YouTube, for instance (Nugroho & Atmojo, 2020). In this digital age, the use of YouTube as an educational resource has dramatically increased, particularly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic which causes restrictions and closures in many places, without exception in English language classes (Simbolon & Febrianti, 2020). This global pandemic forces English teachers to have an attempt for creating self-made teaching materials in the form of videos to deliver their explanation and some tutorials through online learning environment (Atmojo & Nugroho, 2020). With these conceptions in mind, the gap has been identified. This research specifically scrutinizes the students’ perceptions on the use of teacher-made YouTube videos which are employed by a teacher for teaching English to non-English department students at a tertiary https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 53 education institution in Indonesia amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this research seeks answers to these following questions: 1) How do the students perceive teacher-made YouTube videos for learning English online? and 2) How do the students take advantage of teacher-made YouTube videos for learning English online? METHODS Eight non-English department students were invited to participate in this research and they voluntarily accepted the invitation. The participants came from three different departments at a public tertiary education institution in Central Java, Indonesia. They consisted of five females and three males. They were all freshmen who joined General English course. The course contained basic general English topics such as greeting, introduction, job, daily routine, family, time, telephone communication, food, grocery, transportation, direction, and hobby. It was taught fully online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The instructional languages were English and Bahasa Indonesia although all the participants had learned English when they were in primary and secondary schools. Prior to this research, all the participants had declared their consent. All ethical issues were appropriately addressed. Data were initially garnered through the students’ written reflections. It was then continued by three rounds of focus group discussion to dig deeper into the data. The focus group discussions really helped to ask new questions, reask unanswered questions, give responses to unique answers, clarify or confirm answers, and so forth. Fortunately, all the participants were willing to create their written reflections and join the focus group discussions. Each focus group discussion session lasted 90 minutes approximately. All the sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed with their permissions. The participants’ names were anonymized to keep their confidentiality. The focus group discussions were carried out semi-structuredly with some basic guidelines according to the results of written reflections. The written reflections were also guided by six stimulating questions to maintain the focus of the reflections. All the participants were encouraged to share their perceptions regarding the use of teacher-made YouTube videos in General English course which was taught fully online amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Actually, the data collection and analysis took over three months. Coding was performed to analyze the data. First, the author read the data intensively for many times. Emerging themes were then identified to create categories. The data were at least coded lexically and thematically. For all data, the coding was performed thrice in different times to ensure the credibility of the results. RESULTS Drawing on the written reflections and focus group discussions, several facts have been discovered and grouped into two general themes according to the research questions. These two themes are the students’ perceptions on teacher-made YouTube videos and the students’ ways of taking advantage of teacher-made YouTube videos. The results are presented in this section by quoting some excerpts from the written reflections which are indicated as WR and the focus group discussions which are labelled as FGD. The participants’ names are written in pseudonyms. Relevant previous researches and other forms of publications are also presented to further discuss the results. https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 54 The Students’ Perceptions on Teacher-Made YouTube Videos The students’ general perceptions about teacher-made YouTube videos which can be drawn include helpful, ease learning, good, effective, simple, and less effective. Totally, there are six general perceptions they have which consist of five positive perceptions and only one negative perception. It can be unique and worthy to be investigated further about how and why this only one negative perception exists. Here are some excerpts indicating the students’ general perceptions about teacher-made YouTube videos. In my concern, the use of YouTube videos as learning resources by showing presentation slides and providing the teacher’s voice is quite effective to understand the materials. It makes online learning easier and I easily understand the materials. (WR, Inez) I perceive that the YouTube videos are quite good since they are simple and helpful for learning English well. However, these videos still have weaknesses. I hope that these kinds of videos will be much better in the future. (WR, Sony) According to me, the use of YouTube videos for online English learning is already good but it is still less effective since the duration is too long. It distracts the students’ focus to watch the videos until the end. I reccomend to additionaly use Google Meet or Zoom in this online learning to make sure that the students really listen to the lecture attentively. This also allows the students to directly ask questions when they experience difficulties. (WR, Linda) Besides the general perceptions, the students may have several other perceptions in terms of problems faced while using teacher-made YouTube videos and the weaknesses of the videos. In fact, the students truly experience some problems when utilizing teacher-made YouTube videos for learning English. These problems which include the instability of internet network, limited internet quota, forgetting to watch the videos, lack of understanding, and low vocabulary mastery are depicted in the following excerpts. I experience difficulties when using the YouTube videos for learning English online. For instance, I have problem with unstable internet network. So, it is hard to play the YouTube videos with long duration. Sometimes, I also get trouble with limited internet quota. (WR, Linda) I get trouble with unstable internet network and sometimes forget to watch the YouTube videos. (WR, Inez) I get difficulty to ask questions directly to the teacher when I have problems in learning English through the YouTube videos. (WR, John) I still lack of vocabulary mastery so that I get difficulties when dealing with new vocabulary on the YouTube videos which also affects my learning. (WR, Anya) Regarding some technological issues like unstable internet network, limited internet quota, and others, it is interesting to investigate why the students do not download teacher-made YouTube videos when they are in stable internet network areas which help them to deal with unstable internet network and limited internet quota. There must be valid reasons beyond this phenomenon. Moreover, the students admit that the memory of their smartphones is relatively https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 55 small. However, several students acknowledge that they have stable internet network at home since some of them are facilitated with home Wi-Fi by their parents. The evidence is shown below. My mobile phone does not support that, Sir. The memory capacity is just small. (FGD, Linda) The internet network in my house is excellent, Sir. I use Wi-Fi at home. (FGD, Anne) Despite its advantages for learning English, these teacher-made YouTube videos must still have several weaknesses which need to be improved for maximizing its impact and effectiveness for teaching English online. Drawing on the students’ written reflections, several weaknesses of teacher-made YouTube videos are mentioned. The students point out some weaknesses such as long duration, the inability to facilitate synchronous meeting for Q & A, the absence of the lecturer’s face, fast explanation, less practice, less detailed explanation, the inability to monitor the students directly, and the absence of animation. The weaknesses include the absence of direct Q & A and interaction among the teacher and students as well as less practice in the YouTube videos causing difficulties to understand the videos. (WR, John) Some videos have duration about 25 minutes. I think it should be shortened since the students easily get bored when watching long duration videos. (WR, Nadia) I think the explanation is less detailed. However, it may be because my poor knowledge in English subject. The duration of the videos is also too long. (WR, Sony) I think the teacher is too fast when explaining the materials so I do not understand them. (WR, Roy) The weakness is that the videos do not display the teacher’s face. It is important to introduce himself to the students and make the students understand the materials better. (WR, Inez) I think the weakness is the absence of animation which makes us bored and the YouTube videos seem monotonous. (WR, Anya) However, Roy’s statement is refuted in the FGD since other participants are in agreement that the lecturer’s do not explain too fast in the videos. His explanation is clear enough. It is only his accents which are still difficult for the students to discern some words or phrases. Still, the students are helped because the videos can be replayed. Here is the evidence. The explanation is not too fast, Sir. Besides, we can replay the videos when we find some faster parts on the videos. (FGD, Inez) No, Sir. The explanation is not too fast. It is already clear. (FGD, Nadia) I think the explanation is not too fast, Sir. However, the accent is a little bit unclear for me. (FGD, Sony) https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 56 Having known some initial perceptions, it is interesting to discover them further. Many follow- up questions are then addressed to the students through focus group discussions. Having teacher-made YouTube videos as the only medium to provide explanation on the materials, it is necessary to know whether the students perceive these videos as enough or not. Drawing on the students’ responses in the FGD, three different kinds of answers are found. First, they choose streaming videos only such as YouTube. The second group only select conferencing videos like Google Meet or Zoom. Third, they want to use both streaming videos and conferencing videos. Several excerpts are presented to show the evidence. I personally choose conferencing videos since we can ask questions directly when we do not understand the materials. (FGD, Anya) I think that it is better to use both streaming videos and conferencing videos since they both have their own advantages. We can watch videos freely through streaming videos and ask questions directly through conferencing videos. For example, we can have three or four times conferencing videos using Google Meet or Zoom. Alternatively, we can also have scheduled Google Meet or Zoom sessions after watching the YouTube videos. (FGD, Nadia) In my view, it is better to just use streaming videos since they are easy to use and can be played anytime and anywhere. I think the explanation is also clearer and without sound pauses. The YouTube videos can also be replayed for taking notes. (FGD, Inez) Some students perceive that conferencing videos are still necessary. They also support their arguments of choosing both streaming videos and conferencing videos with logical reasons such as the use of conferencing videos can enable synchronous meeting for Q & A, some students have stable internet network, the students can use Google Meet instead of Zoom due to its economical value, conferencing videos can be held occasionally and in short times only, conferencing videos can be scheduled after the students watch the YouTube videos since they aim at facilitating Q & A and enrichment. Here are some excerpts depicting these facts. That is the consequence, Sir. I personally understand the materials by watching YouTube videos. However, I can understand the materials better by utilizing conferencing videos because we can ask questions directly when we get difficulties in learning and I also have personal Wi-Fi facility at home. (FGD, Anya) Yes, Sir. Conferencing videos are more expensive but we can use the cheapest one that is Google Meet. (FGD, Nadia) In my view, we make schedules for watching the lecture through YouTube videos and direct Q & A through conferencing videos. So, the students can write down first their questions before the times of scheduled conferencing videos. It can decrease the duration of conferencing videos. (FGD, Inez) Reflectively, the students attempt to evaluate how communication can run in teacher-made YouTube videos for learning English online. There are two responses regarding this issue. The first response means already good meanwhile the second one is less effective. They are also asked to reflect on the difficulties of materials which are explained in the videos. There are two answers, too, related to this question. The first answer is that the students never experience difficulties. The second answer means that the students, sometimes, ever experience difficulties https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 57 such as having difficulties at the beginning of the course. The evidence of these two issues is then presented below. It is less effective, Sir. We almost never ask questions about the materials. The summary of each video is also written by not really watching the whole video. We only pay attention to the important points and skip unimportant parts. (FGD, Nadia) In my opinion, the interaction and communication of the YouTube videos are already good and responsive. However, we still do not understand new vocabulary on the videos. (FGD, Linda) No, Sir. The videos are clear enough and easy to understand. (FGD, Nadia) Sometimes, I experience difficulties since I must attempt to understand the vocabulary on each video. However, it can be handled since I can ask questions to my friends and share our understanding together. (FGD, Linda) After learning English online through teacher-made YouTube videos in one semester, the students perceive some improvement on their vocabulary. However, the students perceieve differently when they are asked whether their grammar has developed or not. Several students perceive that their grammar has really improved. Instead, some of the students feel that their grammar has only increased a little accompanied with what lies beyond. Here are some excerpts which indicate their perceptions. Yes, Sir. It is because I attempt to search the meaning of the words from Google Translate when I find difficult words. So, my vocabulary increases. (FGD, Nadia) Yes, Sir. I feel that my grammar increases after watching the YouTube videos. It is because I have learned some materials in my secondary school such as positive and negative sentences, modal verbs, and imperative sentences. So, it enhances my grammar. (FGD, Inez) I feel that my grammar only improves a little bit. It is because I do not get any feedback from the teacher when I already submit the summary of each video. (FGD, Sony) The Students’ Ways of Taking Advantage of Teacher-Made YouTube Videos There are lots of advantages which can be taken from teacher-made YouTube videos for learning English online. These videos have potentials to improve students’ vocabulary, enhance their knowledge and skills related to English language, and provide clear and detailed explanation on the materials. These teacher-made YouTube videos are also beneficial because they are easy to use, publicly accessible, accessible anywhere and anytime, downloadable, rewatchable, and available for screenshots. Moreover, these videos can remind English lesson which has been learned by the students at their secondary schools and generally make the students understand how to utilize teacher-made YouTube videos for online language learning, especially English. https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 58 The advantage of studying the YouTube videos is increasing my knowledge on English subject. Moreover, the videos also improve a little bit the way I use English correctly. (WR, Sony) My vocabulary improves since I listen, read, and study new vocabulary on the YouTube videos. The videos also remind me about English lesson in my secondary school since some materials are similar. (WR, Nadia) The advantages are that the videos are very easy to use, publicly accessible, and accessible anytime and anywhere. We can learn by watching the YouTube videos although we are away from home. (WR, Inez) The advantages are that I can get new experience in this online learning and study English language through the YouTube videos. It impresses me since I previously never use YouTube videos for learning purposes. (WR, John) There are several steps which are carried out by the students to utilize teacher-made YouTube videos for learning English online. To sum up, there are ten steps which are then organized and chronologically arranged. They include watching videos, pausing at unclear parts, rewatching videos, taking notes, writing summary, translating summary, studying summary, screen shooting slides, studying slides, and having practices. The evidence is indicated from the following excerpts. The way I use and take advantage of the YouTube videos are by watching the videos, pausing the videos when I find unclear parts, and rewatching the videos again. I also screen shoot the presentation slides for minimizing internet quota usage and studying in different times. (WR, Sony) For me, it is not enough to understand the materials by only watching the videos one time. So, I rewatch the videos many times until I understand the materials. I also take notes and make summary to be studied before examinations. (WR, Anya) In using and taking advantage of the YouTube videos for learning English, I watch the videos first. Then, I rewatch the videos for taking notes from the presentation slides on the videos. I usually take notes on my note book. I learn in this way since I easily forget what I have learned. (WR, Inez) I take advantage of the YouTube videos by watching the videos, taking notes from the important points of the materials, and translating the notes into Bahasa Indonesia to make them easier to understand. (WR, Roy) I take advantage of the YouTube videos by practicing the materials in online trading through global online market. I can practice to communicate with foreigners using English. (WR, John) In fact, a few students do not take notes and make summary. They prefer rewatch the videos to take notes or make summary. However, they have exactly the same answers when they are asked about rewatching the videos or not. These are the evidence. https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 59 I take notes to make the materials easier to study, particularly when my mobile phone is off or other conditions which hinder technology so that I can not watch the YouTube videos. Still, I can learn from my notes. (FGD, Inez) I usually do not take notes. I prefer to rewatch the YouTube videos. (FGD, Anne) I often rewatch the YouTube videos when I will deal with the examinations. (FGD, John) Yes, Sir. I often rewatch the YouTube videos since it sometimes makes my memorization of the materials get improved. (FGD, Linda) For facilitating synchronous meeting, conferencing videos can be employed. Several questions which appear in mind are, for example, ‘must the Q & A session be held synchronously based on course schedules exactly?’ and ‘how do the students want to communicate with their lecturer if they have questions on teacher-made YouTube videos?’ To answer these questions, the students are asked to express their ideas related to these crucial issues. Actually, there are two key answers which are basically synchronous and asynchronous along with each valid reason. Communication through WhatsApp and conferencing videos are still favorite among the students. The excerpts related to these two issues are provided below. It must not be directly asked, Sir. We can collect our questions first and ask the questions on the scheduled times. (FGD, Anya) No, Sir. We must ask our questions directly when we get difficulties in learning. (FGD, Linda) There are two alternatives based on my concern. The first is by conferencing videos and the second is by WhatsApp group. (FGD, Anya) Maybe, it can be through WhatsApp personal chat to get more satisfying answers. (FGD, Anne) In spite of its advantages, these teacher-made YouTube videos still need some improvement to make them better in the future. To garner accurate suggestions, the students’ suggestions are very important to be listened since it is the students who completely know the utilization of these videos for the benefits of online English learning. Their suggestions include continuing to use it in the future, shortening duration, additionaly using Google Meet or Zoom, showing the lecturer’s face, and adding something interesting like animation. By listening to the students’ suggestions, it is hoped that these videos will be more effective. Here are some excerpts which denote the students’ suggestions on teacher-made YouTube videos. I hope that the YouTube videos can continously be used and beneficial for learning English. (WR, Inez) I think the YouTube videos can be used again in the future. Additionaly, the lecture must also be delivered by using Google Meet or Zoom to facilitate direct Q & A. (WR, Nadia) I hope that the duration of the videos will not be too long anymore. (WR, Anne) I think the videos should display the lecturer’s face, not only his voice. (WR, Sony) https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 60 I hope the YouTube videos are added by interesting ideas to make the students better in understading the materials by watching the videos. (WR, John) In my opinion, the YouTube videos should be added with animation to make them more interesting. (WR, Anya) In the light of FGD, further evidence is discovered. It includes how long the YouTube videos should be, whether the lecturer’s explanation is too fast or not, why the lecturer’s face should be displayed, what should be added anymore, and why animation should be added. This evidence begins with how long the YouTube videos should be. 7 until 10 minutes, Sir. It is because long videos make us sleepy and distract our focus on the videos which also disturb our learning towards the materials. (FGD, Anne) Around 20 minutes, Sir. When the videos are too long, it decreases our focus. (FGD, Inez) Around 10 minutes, Sir. It is since long videos make us bored causing many skips on the videos. The students only watch the important points for summary. (FGD, Nadia) Around 10-15 minutes, Sir. The videos should focus on the core of the materials instead of unecessary explanation. (FGD, Roy) It is then continued by some insights of why the lecturer’s face should be necessarily displayed. However, the students are not in agreement about this contention. There are two opinions among them. The first opinion is that it is necessary meanwhile the second one is unnecessary. The following excerpts evince the prior conceptions. No, Sir. It is better by displaying presentation slides since the materials can be screen shot. The appearance of the teacher’s face is important but the videos are better using presentation slides. The lecturer’s face can be displayed through Zoom or Google Meet if there is any session. (FGD, Nadia) In my opinion, it is important since we can see how the teacher pronounces English words and how to communicate in English. We can get inspired and imitate the teacher. (FGD, John) In addition, several students perceive that these teacher-made YouTube videos need some additional elements such as animation and subtitle. The followings are the evidence. Animation which suits the topics, Sir. For example, there is an animation for depicting a dialogue or conversation. So, the dialogue or conversation is not read by the teacher himself. (FGD, Anya) I have an idea to add English subtitle, Sir. It functions for supporting the unclear accent and making summarizing easier. (FGD, Sony) However, the students are not in agreement about the addition of animation in the videos. Some of them perceive it as necessary and the rests view it as unimportant. Let’s see these excerpts. https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 61 I think it is not necessary, Sir. Presentation slides are enough. (FGD, Sony) I think animation is necessary to make the videos more interesting since they seem monotonous. Animation must be based on the topics. For instance, there is an animation for a dialogue or conversation. (FGD, Anya) In studying teacher-made YouTube videos, several students have their own way. A group of students sometimes skip some parts of the videos and only watch the most important content. This happens due to the students’ mood, video duration, and internet network connection. Another group of students often skip the videos and only pay attention on the most essential content they need without any valid reason of skipping. Here is the evidence. It depends on my mood and the duration of the videos. However, I usually rewatch the videos in the following days. (FGD, Anya) Yes, sometimes. It depends on internet network connection. If the connection is fast, I watch the videos without skip. If the connection is slow, I choose to skip the videos for searching important parts only. (FGD, John) I often skip the videos and only take the important points. I do not understand the materials if watching the full videos since the duration is too long. (FGD, Anne) The students also have some fruitful suggestions for the better use of teacher-made YouTube videos in online English learning. They can contribute several suggestions since they have experienced using teacher-made YouTube videos for learning English in one semester. For instance, it is suggested to include real-life example of language use such as conversation or speech based on the topic discussed. It is also good to assign the students to create some videos related to the available topics to facilitate them for using English in real-life context which can be uploaded on YouTube too. To be highlighted, examples and practices of real-life language use are very beneficial for the students. Some excerpts depicting their suggestions are shown below. Providing real examples of practices in the videos is very reccomended. For example, the YouTube videos can include the dialogues or conversations which based on the topics of the videos. The video about Shopping may include some real dialogues or conversations of people who buy and sell things in shops, markets, or supermarkets. (FGD, John) I love the assignment, Sir. By giving us assignment to practice the materials on the videos in form of videos to be uploaded onto YouTube too, I think it is the most effective practice for online learning like this. For example, the assignment is to create videos containing dialogues or conversations based on certain topics and others. (FGD, Inez) DISCUSSION ELT scholars have paid much attention to foreign language movies and online media since few decades ago. Past researches discover that exposure to various media brings a positive correlation with foreign language acquisition for both children and adults. It is also evident that secondary school students’ foreign language proficiency is developed through watching the target language videos (Baranowska, 2020). https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 62 YouTube plays role as a video-sharing website which enables us for uploading, browsing, viewing, and sharing videos as well as providing oportunities for innovative and dynamic ways of teaching and learning to promote efficacy. However, it has not been much explored in educational contexts (Alwehaibi, 2015). Having role as a video-sharing website, a wide range of authentic language environment is open through YouTube which has many advantages to learn foreign languages (Eisenlauer, 2020). It makes teachers over the world to utilize YouTube videos for many purposes (Tamim, 2013). Mainly functioning as a video-sharing website, YouTube does not provide features for language learning such as highlighting, memorizing, and practising language forms and meanings. The majority of YouTube videos are also not specified for language learners. YouTube still lacks of well-arranged topics based on learning objectives causing students freely jump from one video to other videos and watch various unnecessary contents (Eisenlauer, 2020). Moreover, teachers are reccomended to become video creators with their expertises. However, this role remains unexplored. We still lack of researches on teachers’ expertises on YouTube videos (Ho & Tai, 2020). Watching subtitled videos is accessible and beneficial for language improvement including incidental and intentional vocabulary learning. It is now how videos should be presented to students which still becomes the debate. In the light of these research results, it is revealed that watching foreign language movies particularly with subtitles can enhance vocabulary effectively. Subtitling best suits with intermediate learners to study new vocabulary or promote listening comprehension skill. Moreover, YouTube comes up with relatively short and often available with subtitles or automated captions videos which facilitate students to have practices of the target language both inside and outside classrooms (Baranowska, 2020). Nevertheless, automated captions feature is not appropriate for learning languages since the automated captions results are often inaccurate. Therefore, it is suggested to use subtitles which are made by individuals for language learning purposes (Eisenlauer, 2020). Teachers’ perceptions on the advantages of YouTube for teaching purposes, its recent practices, and main obstacles are reported in a mixed-methods research carried out in United Arab Emirates. An open-ended questionnaire was filled by forty five teachers. The results of this research suggest that YouTube is beneficial to support learning process, promote interest and efficiency, and provide enriched content. However, the results indicate that most participants only employ YouTube videos for presentation in teacher-led classrooms. Connectivity, technical issues, appropriateness of content, and administrative support also become main problems (Tamim, 2013). Szeto & Cheng (2014) publishes their research carried out in a teacher education institution in Hong Kong. Drawing on multiple data sources such as interviews, in-class observations, a questionnaire, and related materials, the results indicate that the level of ICT usage is high and YouTube is beneficial for educational purposes at all school levels namely kindergarten, primary, and secondary. The key advantages of YouTube for teaching include ‘information’, ‘demonstration’, and ‘open-ended constructivist’. Nevertheless, the participants have not fully employed YouTube as part of the constructivist approach. The next relevant research is carried out by Almobarraz (2018) involving Saudi university students as the participants. His research reports perceptions and attitudes towards the use of YouTube as an information resource for facilitating learning. The findings show that the use of YouTube has impacts on student engagement. The findings also suggest that the participants understand well the importance of YouTube and encourage teachers along with their students https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature, and Culture. Vol.7 No.1 2022 https://jurnal.unai.edu/index.php/acuity 63 to create YouTube videos together. It additionaly implies that universities should provide videos which are relevant to their courses. Maziriri et al. (2020) also report that YouTube is positively perceived in a formal education institution. It is revealed that the correlation between the student attitudes towards YouTube and behavioral intentions is significantly strong. It indicates that YouTube is well received at tertiary education. Drawing on t-test analysis, the results suggest that YouTube brings positive impacts on EFL students’ learning significantly as previously reported in other relevant researches. YouTube can promote learning in various ways since it fosters students’ enjoyament and interest, encourages them to learn, and motivates them to get involved in class activities. Therefore, YouTube is reccomended for enhancing content learning of EFL students. It is truly a valuable resource for teaching (Alwehaibi, 2015). In addition, Alobaid (2020) reports that writing fluency, particularly accuracy and organization, can be developed by exposing students to YouTube videos. Compared to other platforms, YouTube is determined as more effective. Ultimately, it is known that watching online videos becomes one of the most favorite online activities. YouTube is determined as a valuable resource for learning foreign languages. It provides an ample of user-generated videos and broadcasts related to daily English language use through vlogs, product reviews, travel diaries, tutorials, soap operas, comedies, and movies which usually include the intercultural and pragmatic aspects and offer authentic input to acquire new phrases, idioms, and formulas (Eisenlauer, 2020). CONCLUSION This research expands on the positive values having been known by previous researchers in relation with students’ perceptions on YouTube videos. It presents more detailed and fruitful perceptions of the students towards the use of teacher-made YouTube videos for online EFL learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The results also show how the students use and take advantage of the teacher-made YouTube videos and some problems they encounter. It is reccomended that EFL teachers are quite competent to create YouTube videos for their own teaching purposes. It also implies that the students’ perceptions and how they use and take advantage of the videos should be considered by EFL video creators in the future. Future researches are encouraged to utilize a wider range of methods and contexts and involve a considerable number of research participants to generate more generalizable data. REFERENCES Albahiri, M. H., & Alhaj, A. A. M. (2020). Role of visual element in spoken English discourse: Implications for YouTube technology in EFL classrooms. The Electronic Library, 38(3), 531–544. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-07-2019-0172 Almobarraz, A. (2018). Utilization of YouTube as an information resource to support university courses. The Electronic Library, 36(1), 71–81. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-04- 2016-0087 Alobaid, A. (2020). 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